Breaking News

Editorials

American press proves it’s the real threat in Iran war

Three weeks into a military engagement in Iran, a war Republicans will not call a war, the American and Israeli militaries have all but wiped out Iran’s capacity to make war. We have killed their leadership, the replacement leaders and militia members on the ground. We have destroyed their missile launchers and the factories in which they made the missiles. But Iran still has one of the most powerful weapons in the world on its side and it is ruthlessly deploying it — the American press corps. “Families mourn as dead are laid to rest in Tehran,” blared the front page, above the ...

In a battle of wills, the mullahs clearly defeat Americans

Three weeks after the start of the Iran war, the picture is coming into focus. Why would a president who promised countless times not to start new wars have leapt into this conflict? As always in the age of Trump, it’s necessary to separate the president’s motives and mindset from the old ways we used to decide questions of war and peace, tariffs, sanctions, immigration, taxes and other matters. Before venturing into Trump’s mind, let’s consider the shape of the discussion. Those who imagine that we are still operating in a normal world are making arguments in favor of military ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To William and Linda Roemer for donating a masterpiece painting by famed 20th century German-American artist Josef Albers to the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown. The Roemers donated the 1957 oil-on-Masonite work titled “Homage to the Square: Now” in memory of William’s parents, James and Helen Roemer. James Roemer, many will recall, was a leading industrialist in the Mahoning and Shenango valleys as president of the former Sharon Steel Corp. The colorful abstract work is a splendid addition to the Butler’s permanent collection. Through their gift, the ...

Spring into season of road work zones with extreme caution

Fasten your seat belts — literally and figuratively — as the start of spring this weekend and the coming of Easter usher in exciting periods of renewal and improvement on personal, spiritual and even practical fronts. Nowhere will that renewal be more visible than on the streets and highways of the Mahoning Valley as the spring and summer work-zone construction season rolls into full swing. But with so much-anticipated renewal to many of our congested and potholed thoroughfares also comes the increased potential for life-threatening danger. Even without the added hazards of large ...

Should America have a red line?

President Trump has acted as no other president has by unleashing a war on Iran whose objective is not only preventing the ayatollahs from ever building a nuclear weapon but ideally (though unmentioned) replacing the fanatics with leaders more friendly to Israel and the West and delivering freedom and prosperity to the Iranian people. With two more terrorist attacks last week — one at Old Dominion University in Virginia and the other at a synagogue and Jewish school in Dearborn, Michigan, is it time to talk of terrorists crossing a red line in this country? How many more terrorist ...

The energy policy we could have had

Oil, oil, oil. The war with Iran has oil prices soaring. And no thanks, President Trump, for your other war, the one against green energy. As Americans freak over gas prices, they are taking another look at electric vehicles. But guess what? Most domestic automakers dropped ambitious investments toward that end, leaving car lots bereft of these gasoline-replacing vehicles, at least American-made ones. It didn’t have to be that way. Barack Obama and Joe Biden launched serious programs to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. Trump trashed those ambitious plans to bring Americans ...