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Why won’t former President Obama ever go away?

Editorials

In 1921, Woodrow Wilson, the first of America’s four transformative progressive presidents, became the first president to remain in Washington and make the nation’s capital his permanent home after leaving office. In very mild defense of the man who did more than any other to establish the administrative state and thus pervert America’s carefully constructed constitutional design, Wilson had suffered a debilitating stroke two years prior that left him partially paralyzed and nearly blind. He died just a few years later, in 1924. Barack Obama, the nation’s fourth transformative ...

Who is monitoring the debt?

Editorials

People of a certain age will recall a lyric from the Tennessee Ernie Ford song “Sixteen Tons”: “Another day older and deeper in debt.” I thought of that song as Secretary of War Pete Hegseth asked Congress to approve a $1.5 trillion budget for fiscal year 2027 to put the military on what he called a “wartime footing.” Hegseth says the Pentagon needs the money for more drones, munitions and modernized systems. Though President Trump has denied it, bragging that we have the strongest military in the world, it would appear that the Iran conflict has significantly depleted ...

Valley airport merits support for new service

Editorials

Things are looking up — literally — at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport in Vienna. For the first time since Allegiant Airlines withdrew the last regular passenger carrier at the airport in early 2018, the wheels are spinning fast and furiously toward restoring vitally needed commercial service there. In the name of maximizing use of the 1,468-acre facility and of catalyzing further economic development for the Mahoning Valley, that campaign merits maximum momentum. Though challenges toward reaching that lofty goal remain many, reason for optimism abounds. The Western Reserve ...

Letters to the editor

Letters to the Editor

Administration makes us wonder DEAR EDITOR: We are all familiar with the line, “Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner still wave o’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?” but many do not realize that that famous line in our national anthem is actually a question. Considering the destructive and incompetent decisions being made by our administration and the cowardly silence of our Republican representatives, it appears that the answer to that question is “NO.” THOMAS BRENT Struthers Community School nearing reality DEAR EDITOR While driving down South ...

Tucker’s somebody days are nearing end

Editorials

Tucker Carlson’s problem, it would seem, is that what he says doesn’t matter, because he has a long history of not saying what he thinks. True, he once starred at Fox News, and even now his followers on social media number in the millions. But he’s shifted into crackpot conspiracies and turning on Donald Trump. Anything for an audience. Carlson long hated Trump in his heart while praise poured from his mouth. The war in Iran polls poorly as does Trump, and so Carlson uses the opportunity to inflate his diminished importance by blaming himself for making Trump possible. ...

Orchids & onions

Editorials

ORCHID: To Mark Lamoncha, president and CEO of Columbiana-based Humtown Products, for being honored by President Donald Trump earlier this week as Small Business Person of the Year for the U.S. Small Business Administration. Lamoncha was selected among all other state nominees for the prestigious honor. And for good reason. He has overseen amazing production and hiring growth in recent years at Humtown, a global leader of conventional and 3D printed sand cores and molds. In his remarks, the president said the federal government could use more leaders just like Lamoncha. Truer words were ...