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In debacle in Minneapolis, goal posts keep on shifting

Renee Good should be alive. The activist, killed by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, met her end in tragedy. What has happened since, predictably, saw people rush to their tribal corners. ICE “murdered” Good. Good was the villain. Your politics positioned your stance. What got left behind were the facts and a press corps that proved again it cannot be trusted. On the day of Good’s death, those who took ICE’s side claimed Good hit the ICE agent with her car. Others denied it. Some insisted ICE agents were sending mixed signals, some telling her to drive off and ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To Mahoning County Career and Technical Center instructors and technicians Jason Moore and Matt Peters for their selection as delegates to the esteemed Congressional Robotics Caucus recently at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The two showed other participants from across the nation how robotics technicians can get certified, providing career pathways at a fraction of the cost of traditional colleges. Their representation also illustrated the growing recognition of the Mahoning Valley — and particularly MCCTC and the Valley STEM Academy – as a national model for ...

Work to advance MLK’s ‘Dream’ toward reality

A sad and ironic reality once again permeates America on this federal holiday weekend dedicated to the life and teachings of civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. For far too many in the Mahoning Valley and in the nation, the third Monday of January rises as just another day to sleep in, another day off work or another day to catch up on neglected personal tasks. Nonetheless, special events in Youngstown, Warren and elsewhere appropriately are taking place this weekend to memorialize the man and preserve his dream. (See a complete listing of them in this newspaper or at ...

It depends on where you stand

“For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are.” — C.S. Lewis, The Magician’s Nephew Let’s start with the shooting of Renee Good, a Minneapolis woman killed by an ICE agent while attempting to drive away from the scene of an ICE operation. Moments after the first videos were available the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz blamed ICE and called the shooting unnecessary. The leftist activist group that Good was reportedly part of is dedicated to tracking and ...

Trump’s rage machine runs on distraction

Surely, I have plenty of company in wanting to jump off the Donald Trump distraction express. Rage is its fuel. A weekend isn’t short enough to contain the demands on attention. Just this last two-day break encountered: The cinematic ICE raids in Minneapolis. Threats against Exxon for its skepticism over Trump’s plans for Venezuela. A stated willingness to bomb Iran. His vow to take over Greenland “one way or another.” A patently sham investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Angst over the social unrest in Minneapolis took center stage with the fatal shooting of ...

President Donald Trump’s war footing

At the same time agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Patrol are swarming into Minnesota and other states and cities, President Donald Trump is planning bombing raids on other countries. Domestically and internationally, he is putting America on a war footing. ICE is reportedly investing $100 million on what it calls “wartime recruitment” of 10,000 new agents, in addition to the 20,000 already employed. Its recruitment is targeting gun and military enthusiasts, people who listen to right-wing radio, who have gone to Ultimate Fighting Championship ...