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A rebuttal to Juan Williams on Justice Clarence Thomas

Editorials

Juan Williams calls Justice Clarence Thomas’ place in history tragic. His argument rests on two sweeping claims: that Thomas is at the heart of a historic decline in public trust in the Supreme Court, and that he has damaged trust in black conservatives as a source of ideas about race. Those are serious accusations. They deserve more than confident assertion. They deserve evidence, careful reasoning and the same respect for individual judgment that Williams should expect for himself. Thomas is one of the most respected, trusted and consistent members of the court. His majority ...

Letters to the Editor

Editorials

A grocery store is more important than a hotel DEAR EDITOR: I find it quite interesting that The Vindicator offered an orchid to the Youngstown Council representatives who voted down the proposed bailout of the Cornersburg Sparkle market. While I find myself torn about the subject and do agree with the statement that this would have set a dangerous precedent, it makes me reflect on a similar situation here in Youngstown. It raises questions that nobody seems to want to answer. Where was the outrage when the city bailed out that failing hotel downtown by extending its loan? The ...

If TMH will not reopen, start with houses next door

Editorials

Warren has spent two years trying to keep a hospital on East Market Street. That effort was right. A city this size should not have to send its emergencies, its births, and its paychecks somewhere else. It is time to say out loud what a lot of people already know. The building we still call Trumbull Memorial Hospital is not, at this moment, on a path back to being a hospital. The TMH campus has passed through Forum Health, Steward Health Care, and Insight. Steward’s bankruptcy closed the doors. Insight took over, closed, briefly reopened an emergency room, then surrendered its Ohio ...

Stop buying votes, everybody!

Editorials

It would be hard to find a more insulting offer than to exchange money for your vote. That’s exactly what President Donald Trump did in announcing that if voters keep Republicans in power come the midterms, he’ll send every adult citizen a $5,000 check. Now, one would not put money on that promise. Even if Republicans do retain control of both the House and the Senate, the promise will surely be thrown in the same manila folder as the vow to release the Epstein files, all of them. Of course, Trump would not be paying us five grand — the federal government would. That would ...

Remove the label of shame from schools in Youngstown

Editorials

For 16 years now, the Youngstown City School District has stood as a distant relative of Hester Prynne, the adulteress protagonist of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic 1850 novel, “The Scarlet Letter.” Like Prynne, who was forever branded with a scarlet single-letter A for her transgressions, the urban school system has been forced by state decree to suffer the stigma and endure the public humiliation of its previous shortcomings, namely through branding it with a big, bad, bold AD for the entire state to see. That AD, signifying its status as the sole Academically Distressed ...

Orchids & onions

Editorials

ORCHID: To sexagenarian Dan Gallagher of Boardman for his resilience, perseverance and endurance as he plans to compete in and complete a 24-hour , 62-mile run in Cape Fear, North Carolina, next weekend. Talk about prepared; Gallagher has logged more than 1,400 miles of running and biking just since April. It was not until about eight years ago that Gallagher, then about 40 pounds heavier and not in top form, caught the running bug and hasn’t let loose of it since. Today, his now long-running passion for long-distance races serves as an excellent model for middle-aged and older men and ...