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Letters to the editor

Letters to the Editor

Some sobering and sad thoughts to consider DEAR EDITOR: I find it incredibly sad to know that: Not only is racism rampant in our country and accepted by so many, but that it is led first and foremost by our president. That this administration is working to erase black history and replace it with lies. Almost 7,000 immigrant children are in detention centers right now. The number of children killed in these latest wars numbers in the thousands. Immigrants are being rounded up, thrown to the ground and beaten by thugs who would never let that happen to their own family ...

Who will speak for the animals?

Editorials

If it seems like there are more and more disgusting cases of animal abuse popping up almost daily in the Mahoning Valley, that’s because there are. It’s become an epidemic. Last week, authorities responded to a property in Coitsville Township. Jennifer Falvey, Animal Charity of Ohio board president and interim executive director, said the agency responded on June 25 to an animal welfare concern at 502 Coitsville-Hubbard Road. According to a story in the June 26 edition of The Vindicator, six dogs were removed from the dilapidated house, which was red-tagged as unfit for human ...

The American experiment still depends on us

Editorials

As America approaches its 250th birthday, I’ve spent some time thinking about the extraordinary endurance of our democracy. When the Founders met in Philadelphia for the constitutional convention, there was no guarantee that their experiment would succeed. What the founder’s drafted was not a finished or perfect system. In fact, the American experiment has always assumed we will not agree on everything. The real expectation was that, even when we disagree, we would still work through our differences. As Americans, we all share a responsibility to keep this great experiment ...

Our anthem’s question: After 250 years, how are we doing?

Editorials

After hearing and singing our national anthem throughout our lives, we may miss the grammatical twist at its heart. Its entire text is a question. When Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner in 1814, its question was literal for him: “O say can you see, by the dawn’s early light; What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming…?” Captive on a British ship during the bombardment of Fort McHenry, he could see our flag still flying in the flashes of artillery that lit up the dark. Come dawn, however, he wondered who won the battle. America had, and the Battle ...

JD’s foreign policy directives invite great harm

Editorials

There is a coherent world view behind the vice president’s foreign policy and that is exactly the problem. J.D. Vance does not stumble into the outcomes he produces. He believes in them. He sees a tripartite world with America secured in its own hemisphere, Russia dominant across its near abroad and China supreme in Asia. He appears willing to trade away 70 years of American primacy to build it. The retreat is the design. Start with Iran. Vance made himself the public face of a memorandum of understanding that reopens the Strait of Hormuz toll-free, lifts the naval blockade and ...

Pete Hegseth’s vaccine policy has backfired

Editorials

An influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has sickened almost 160 people in the past few weeks and might have even killed one person going through basic training. If it wasn’t already clear why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to eliminate the military’s universal flu vaccine mandate was an exceptionally bad idea, it should be now. Hegseth announced the policy change in April, and since then, fewer than half of Air Force trainees have opted to get the shot. The vaccine does not provide perfect protection, but it reduces infections, lessens the severity ...