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‘Toy Story 5’: A reminder of imagination’s importance

I found the “Toy Story 5” theme of tech versus toys very intriguing, as folks like me from older generations often lament that today’s kids are missing out on one of the most wonderful parts of childhood: using your God-given imagination. Screentime on tablets can lock so many kids in, and while tech toys can teach them useful skills they will need, such as problem solving, language development and trial-and-error learning, they cannot replace the joyfulness and thrill that emanate from toys coming alive through the extraordinary power of creativity. “Toy Story 5” continues ...

Who will speak for the animals?

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

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?

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 ...

Pete Hegseth’s vaccine policy has backfired

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 ...

JD’s foreign policy directives invite great harm

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 ...