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Has US fallen for Iran's 'rope a dope' plan?
DEAR EDITOR:
The United States' conflict with Iran reminds me of "The Rumble in the Jungle" heavyweight championship fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974. Foreman, the reigning champion, 25 years old, a devastating puncher and at the peak of his physical abilities, faced Ali, a former champion, 32 years old and arguably past his prime. The odds were overwhelmingly in Foreman's favor. Ali adopted a strategy he called "rope a dope" that ultimately proved successful: He withstood his opponent's relentless and furious barrages until Foreman, in the eighth round and utterly exhausted, was easily knocked out.
The parallels seem to me to be apparent. This conflict is now in its seventh "round" (month). Despite our relentless bombing, the Strait of Hormuz is still closed, the price of gas is still increasing and is now over $4 per gallon on average, Iran's nuclear ambitions have not been derailed, while our weapons stockpiles have reached dangerously low levels. Iran appears to be following Ali's strategy with the United States playing the role of the dope!
Thank you for your consideration.
STEPHEN HANZELY
Poland
Amy Action still owes Ohioans an apology
DEAR EDITOR:
After the incident involving Amy Acton at the Canfield Fair, I had to reflect a bit on my own experiences with her back in 2020 -- because of her "stay at home" directives, my dad had to die alone in his hospital room and we were told by the hospital that we could only say our goodbyes over the telephone. Of the truly terrible days in my life, that may have been one of the worst. As it happened, he passed on April 1, and we were the fools that day.
We were not given the courtesy of having a proper funeral that everyone else has had before 2020 and since the COVID years ended. Per Amy Acton's directives, gatherings of any kind were disallowed.
All my family could do was stay at home and live with my dad's passing because there was nothing else anyone was allowed to do. People forget what that time was like, but it is seared into my memory.
This story is only one of thousands in Ohio. In addition to these end-of-life situations that have caused heartbreak for countless Ohio citizens, an immeasurable amount of small businesses shuttered their doors.
Ridiculous rules on social distancing carried on for well over a year, and kids' social development was hindered behind stringent mask mandates that at best would be considered a placebo to calm the masses. Ohio may still not have fully recovered from some of these decisions.
Mike DeWine will claim responsibility -- I guess a good boss will do that when an employee messes up. But he is no more a doctor than I am. He's just a guy relying on people he thought were smarter than him to fix a problem he didn't know how to fix. Unfortunately, Amy Acton was not that person, and it cost a lot of people a lot they will never get back.
I like to think my dad deserved better than the end he got. DeWine may have had the final say, but Acton's recommendations were asinine from the start and did more harm than good. She owes my family an apology for denying the most basic human courtesy. Maybe I'll forgive her someday, but it will be a long time.
ALEX MANGIE
Canfield
Bishop Bonnar's response just missed the point
DEAR EDITOR:
I get the sense that Bishop David J. Bonnar didn't like the imagery or content of the Muccio editorial cartoon. Too bad. It was spot on. Tombstones are appropriate symbolism for churches and parishes that have been shuttered as part of an obviously failing plan to save the Catholic presence in the Youngstown Diocese.
Rationalizing with platitudes or one-sided debating points won't keep people in the pews or bring disheartened Catholics back. St. James' grave marker belongs in the middle of the cartoon. It stands as an immediate and glaring example of the shortcomings of the Bonnar plan.
The Presbytery Council, the Bishop's advisory, refuses to invite stakeholders to their table.
That is sad and detrimental to the image of an encompassing spiritual cornerstone. As a Catholic who has been outspoken about the closing of St. James, I'd advise Bishop Bonnar to toughen up, accept the messages you're getting, and accommodate the stakeholders before another mistake is made.
JOHN VOGEL
Mineral Ridge
Some thoughts as election season fast approaches
DEAR EDITOR:
It seems we are in full-blown election time -- a silly season, when I see the ads and the people in other areas on TV. The first thing I think is, "Where is the 'Twilight Zone' music?" Then I wonder, "What are they smoking? And is it legal? Can I get some? If that is effective on their minds, will it work for my hands and knee?"
More random thoughts:
When 46 was giving out free crack pipes, I asked a state trooper and a local cop how I could get one. They looked at me funny till I asked how much this would be worth in 20 years. Unopened.
It seems the Smithsonian is trying to rewrite history. I was there as a little kid; I saw the Hope Diamond and a Wright Flyer before I knew what they were and a huge steam locomotive with a velvet rope around it. So, when I tried to climb on it, my dad snatched me up and beat my butt in front of God and everybody. He understood why I wanted to but explained what the velvet rope meant.
I saw on TV they are harping about the war department budget. Is it possible to have a stick too big to walk softly with … I don't think so.
I don't know who said it or when. If you don't study history, you are doomed to repeat it.
When I see these people posturing for 2028, I get a shot and a beer. I've talked to many bartenders in my life. AOC is not the brightest. Gavin checks which way the wind is blowing before he answers. Real authentic.
I don't get the hoopla about Flock cameras. The departments need to control who and when anybody gets access. A lot like a loaded, chamber-locked, cocked firearm. If nobody touches it, it will not go off by itself.
Don't these politicians realize that the cameras are on? When Ilhan Omar referred to World War 11 (Eleven), I spit up a little beer, laughing. Maybe people in Congress should pass a basic American history test.
I spent most of my life in the seat of different tow trucks. Most street-level people can agree on many things. Why can't elected officials?
Why does it seem that the party that cries the most about affordability tries to close the companies with the jobs, easing up on the regs and taxes? Like Jim Traficant said, "My dad never worked for a poor man."
In closing, I found out before the primaries that my wife was still on the voting rolls, even after being dead for over seven years. Maybe we should take a look at election integrity. It kind of fuels that old joke I've heard since I was a kid: Dead people always vote Democrat. Was it a joke?
TIM VAN DYKE
Struthers
U.S. should condemn killings in Lebanon
DEAR EDITOR:
Today's news in The Vindicator covered a story about Israeli airstrikes killing many in Lebanon including children and a paramedic with the Lebanese Islamic Risala Scout Association amongst those killed.
The United States should speak out and condemn these attacks. They will never bring peace to the Middle East with such attacks. Just like sending envoys to waste time talking to Putin.
HAROLD WILSON
Austintown
We understand Flock cameras, and they must go
DEAR EDITOR:
The Vindicator recently ran not only a story but an editorial highly biased in favor of mass surveillance cameras. The tired narrative is that opponents of Flock and other surveillance simply misunderstand the technology and should just accept it, rights be damned.
The thing is, we do understand this technology. ALPRs photograph vehicles, read plates, record time and location, identify vehicle characteristics, and feed those observations into searchable databases connected across jurisdictions and analyzed by AI at a speed and scale traditional surveillance never could, often without judicial oversight.
We also understand this is bigger than Flock. Motorola, Axon and others are building the same broader surveillance infrastructure. An $8 billion industry has built five cameras here, ten there, until we arrived at a scale that would make China's CCP blush.
More importantly, we understand our rights.
Recording everyone first and deciding later whose movements interest law enforcement is a dragnet. Traditionally, government develops suspicion, establishes cause, obtains a warrant, and gathers evidence.
These systems reverse that. AI can turn millions of observations into routines, associations, and assumptions in seconds while skipping pesky judicial blessing.
Court cases like Jones, Carpenter or the decided this year Chatrie, all reinforce that technology does not erase the Fourth Amendment.
The most predictable defense of surveillance is the emotional argument: invoke the worst scenario imaginable and use it to dodge the constitutional question. "Guardrails" are no answer either. Especially when they are not independently verified or lack teeth, they do not cure the dragnet; they help legitimize it.
Agencies say they "own the data," while it sits in corporate data centers, blurring Fourth Amendment obligations. But when the same data is often licensed to the camera provider, it calls into question claims of control and retention.
We understand the technology. We understand the constitutional problem. We understand the oath our officials swore to uphold.
Will they?
"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." Cancel the contracts. Remove the cameras.
ZACHARY ZARZYCKI
Boardman