Is Islam really a religion of peace?

DEAR EDITOR:

Is Islam a religion of peace, as the media often claims, or is it also a political system that can be used to challenge or overtake an existing free and open society?

If Islam is truly a peaceful religion, why do some Islamist extremists promote terrorist activity, and why do Muslim leaders fail to condemn such activity publicly and forcefully when it occurs in our country and around the world?

How many Catholics or Christians in the past 50 to 100 years have bombed, destroyed, or killed large numbers of people in the name of Jesus Christ? The answer is near or nearly zero, one can’t bring up a news article of a Christian bombing or attack that killed multiple people. By comparison, one study found more than 48,000 Islamist terrorist attacks worldwide between 1979 and 2024, resulting in more than 250,000 deaths. Another frequently cited analysis found that between September 11, 2001, and April 2019, there were approximately 31,000 Islamist terrorist attacks, causing about 147,000 deaths.

Does that sound peaceful?

We are often told that religious absolutism and extremism exist in all religions. If that is true, then why does violence appear so prevalent among Islamist extremist movements compared with many other religious groups today?

The real question for our country is whether Islam, as a religious and political ideology, can fully coexist with Western civilization. Western values include freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of expression and open debate. These freedoms are guaranteed under the Bill of Rights. However, those freedoms come into direct conflict with any authoritarian ideology that rejects free speech, punishes dissent, or threatens death against those who choose differently.

Individuals or groups who believe they possess the only truth and that violence is justified to impose God’s will are extremely alarming. That behavior should not be tolerated in our country.

This raises an important question: What is the difference between a religion and a political system when that system uses freedom of religion to form a separate society within a free society, while rejecting the very freedoms that allowed it to exist?

To be clear, I am not condemning Muslims. I understand that many Muslims are not involved in terrorism and are often victims of radical Islamist groups themselves. But any ideology that promotes violence as a way to enforce God’s will is intolerable and cannot be accepted in a free society.

No one has the right to use threats, intimidation or violence to force another individual or group to believe in or practice any faith. Destroying a human life is destroying God’s creation, and only God has ultimate authority over life. May God bless America and keep it free.

TIM SANTELL

Kinsman

Ask why Democratic Socialists are winning

DEAR EDITOR:

Among letters to the editor today, I’m sure there will be an outrage over the Democrat Socialist success in the New York and Colorado elections. There is a simple, scientific explanation why.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

WILLIAM A. ROBERTS

Niles

Pondering data centers in the year 2525

DEAR EDITOR:

“Too smart for your own good” might be printed out by digital organisms at some point in time.

It came to us in the form of an office Trojan horse, taking back vast information with unmatched speed and accuracy. Too good to be true; however, unforeseen circumstances kept multiplying.

The United States hosts approximately 4,400 to 5,400 operational data centers with 1,500 more planned or under construction.

What data centers expel into the atmosphere, at some point, will extinguish human life “as we know it today.”

Your smartphone might be thriving in the future. The question is, who will be listening?

Zager and Evans’ 1969 song, “In the Year 2525.”

PAUL LAWSON

McDonald

Listen to Gov. DeWine on Haitians’ TPS

DEAR EDITOR:

Gov. Mike DeWine is right.

Ending Temporary Protected Status for Haitians is a mistake — not only for Springfield, but for Ohio’s working communities. The Supreme Court’s decision in Mullin v. Doe lets the Trump administration move forward with ending TPS for more than 330,000 Haitians and about 6,000 Syrians. But this is bigger than Haiti and Syria. Nearly 1.3 million people in the United States had TPS as of last year. This ruling opens the door to stripping legal status and work authorization from far more families. TPS is not citizenship or a green card. It is temporary humanitarian protection for people already here when war, disaster or extraordinary instability makes return unsafe. In Haiti, that danger is not theoretical. The U.S. State Department still warns: Do Not Travel to Haiti.

Many Haitian TPS holders did what we say immigrants should do. They came forward, registered, passed background checks, paid fees, received work permits and worked. They followed the rules. DeWine understands the Ohio consequences. He warned that more than 10,000 Haitians living legally in Ohio, mostly around Springfield, could now be treated as unlawfully present and subject to deportation. People working legally yesterday may be illegal for employers to hire today.

Youngstown should pay attention. This region has spent decades fighting population loss, vacant housing, industrial decline and shrinking tax bases while trying to rebuild through manufacturing, health care and small business. A region that needs workers, families, customers and taxpayers should be careful about removing them.

Springfield has faced real strain: housing, schools, language access, health care and local services. Those problems deserve planning and support. Ending TPS will not fix them. It will make them worse. According to FWD.us, Haitian TPS holders in Ohio contribute about $160 million annually to the state economy, including $18 million in federal and payroll taxes and $21 million in state and local taxes.

Ending TPS does not make people vanish. It does not make Haiti safe. Employers lose workers. Families lose income. Local governments face confusion. Taxpayers pay for enforcement.

Congress should create an earned path to stability for long-term TPS holders who passed background checks, paid taxes and built lives here.

Ohio gains nothing by stripping legal status from people who followed the rules and went to work.

RICHARD T. HERMAN

Immigration Lawyer

Cleveland

Celebrating 36 years of the ADA

DEAR EDITOR:

July 26, 2026, marks the 36th anniversary of the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act. It was signed into law in 1990 by President George H.W. Bush to ensure individuals with physical impairment have full access to programs and services in the mainstream community.

The signing of the ADA in 1990 ushered a lot of change over the years. Revisions were made to provide guidelines for the disabled such as service dogs for the deaf and the blind in government-subsidized buildings. Other changes require public transportation to be wheelchair accessible and placing disabled children in the same classrooms with able-bodied students in the public schools.

However; discrimination against deafness exists in several areas. Some major hospitals refuse deaf patients’ requests for a live interpreter due to the high cost of interpreting. Communicating with medical teams through a remote interpreter on a pixelated screen or an iPad may not be suitable for the deaf-blind in a hospital room. Deaf individuals who are college educated or completed their training at a trade school face rejection by employers due to the high cost of interpreting for staff meetings.

At the workplace, every disabled person should be aware of their ADA rights to protect themselves against liability by providing them with reasonable accommodation such as qualified interpreters and visual aids. This law has been in place for 36 years, and it is time that we all take personal responsibility for preserving the rights of fellow Americans who are deaf or disabled. In the fight for social change, let’s make sure we do not leave the deaf community behind.

IRENE TUNANIDAS

Poland

Will politicians talk about spending cuts?

DEAR EDITOR:

Mr. Majcher’s letter about Trumbull County property tax was right on. That 2.5% reduction really does spell relief; it’s enough to buy a pack of Rolaids. While being a nasty surprise to those services that depend on that money.

My wish for politicians is for them to stop talking about how they’re going to cut taxes, and start talking about how they’re going to cut spending. That is the real problem.

ROBERT LOWE

Girard

Another potential blow hits the Valley

DEAR EDITOR:

Kroger Supermarkets, headquartered in Cincinnati, is acquiring Giant Eagle for $1.65 billion. The merger, disclosed July 1, is the latest one-two punch that will affect not just the Mahoning Valley, but several more communities including other grocery stores in Ohio, Indiana and Washington, D.C.

Giant Eagle, based in Pittsburgh, has been an anchor in our Valley for decades, their pharmacies, so familiar. I grew up going to the Giant Eagle on Route 224 in Boardman. I knew where everything was located. And the staff, always so friendly. A lot of my classmates worked there and it was a nice place to make some cool cash. No word yet whether or how many employees will be losing their livelihoods.

America is 250 years old. During the last several decades, we’ve felt the exodus of GM Lordstown employees, (we still haven’t recovered, even with the plants reopened.) I am reminded of several old timers’ obituaries: Sparkle Markets, A&P, Golden Dawn, Kaufmann’s, Horne’s, Higbee’s, Strouss’, Phar-Mor and most of downtown Youngstown. The sudden lack of parking murdered that dream. A city that could have rivaled Cleveland, even Chicago. So many more establishments are still decaying in their graves.

Of course, circumstances of all kinds cause establishments to close. But our Valley, our hometown, KO’d again. We’re still passed out in the ring, with Schwebel’s, a hometown favorite, closing soon and 500 more people unemployed. What are they going to do without their dough?

It started with the extinction of the steel mills, their huge bones still rotting.

We’re a scrappy, tell-it-like-is, town. Like Ray “Boom-Boom” Mancini, Youngstown can become a champion. Again. But we need some time away from the ring.

NAOMI REICH

Streetsboro

Feeding stray cats is kind, but think again

DEAR EDITOR:

I have had many clients tell me they feed the stray cats in their neighborhoods. This sounds like a very virtuous thing to do; the poor cats are hungry, and they gobble down the kibble you put out. They even come running when they hear you. There are so many!

But, fortunately for you, you do not see the results of your humanity and kindness. Mother Nature says, “When food is plentiful, reproduce!” A female cat is an induced ovulator, which means she can come into “heat” repeatedly throughout the year. She can have two or three litters a year! Gestation (pregnancy) is 63-65 days, and litter size can be up to 10 or more. She has 10 mammary glands to feed them.

Then what? Let’s say the litter is six, and because Mom isn’t vaccinated, they are wide open to rhinotracheitis, panleukopenia, chlamydia, calicivirus, feline leukemia, feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), and rabies. At 1-2 weeks of age they get sick, with runny noses, mattery eyes, mouth breathing. And then there’s worms. Ninety percent plus of puppies and kittens born in the USA have intestinal worms at birth, roundworms, hookworms, or both. They weaken the newborns’ strength to fight off disease.

We see these kittens when their eyes are glued shut from pus, and their noses occluded with snot. If the eyes are infected too long, they are irreversibly damaged, often blind. The upper respiratory infections can be treated if they have enough time for the antibiotic to work, along with intense nursing care and rehydration. Those are the lucky ones we see.

What about the other kittens who just die under a bush, infested with maggots? Or the ones eaten by predators that drive off their mother? No matter, she’ll get bred again and the whole process will repeat. It never seems to end. I’ve discouraged breeding dogs and cats for 46 years, and haven’t made a dent in overpopulation and filled shelters. “Oh, I just want her to have one litter so the kids can see the miracle of birth.” NO! I’m sure there’s a YouTube of that. Look at the big picture, not just what’s in front of you. The bucket is overflowing, people.

The United Nations has a plan to eliminate 90% of humans from the world this century, hence, “UN Agenda 21.” Then, I suppose Mother Nature will once again be in charge?

DONALD K. ALLEN, DVM

Boardman

Natural gas and oil revenue helps Ohioans

DEAR EDITOR:

Ohio’s natural gas and oil industry remains a powerhouse for our communities, consistently fueling our economy.

Cleveland State University recently found that Ohio’s shale-energy sector drew approximately $2.9 billion in direct investment during just the first half of 2025. Driven by rising royalty payments and growing demand.

However, these investments aren’t new. At the beginning of the year, analysis found overall upstream investments were up by about $615 million in the second half of 2024. Since 2011, cumulative natural gas and oil-

related investments have surpassed $117.5 billion.

As the global energy landscape shifts and worldwide demand climbs, Ohio sits in a position to answer the call. Our abundant natural resources do more than just keep the lights on; they create long-term economic prosperity and financial security.

The immense revenue generated by natural gas and oil creates a rising tide that lifts all boats, delivering an unparalleled, direct benefit to every single Ohioan.

BRUCE TAGUE

Executive Director

Ohio Natural Energy Institute Looking at Trump’s three biggest lies

DEAR EDITOR:

How the Trump Republican administration attempted to destroy the United States of America — he used his three biggest lies: voter fraud, rigged elections and fake news — a dictator’s path and plan.

Trump’s Republican Party had 59 law cases of voter fraud, rigged elections and fake news in front of many different kinds of judges. The judges all ruled 59 times there was no evidence of voter fraud and rigged elections.

The Republican Party had three cases of voter fraud and rigged elections in front of the Republican Bush-Trump Supreme Court. The justices ruled three times there was no evidence of voter fraud and rigged elections.

On Jan. 6, 2021, why did the Trump‒inspired insurrectionists attack and invade our U.S. Capitol if there was no evidence of voter fraud and rigged elections?

I guess American workers and voters will have to wait until the 2026 midterms and the 2028 general election to get rid of the corrupt Republican cesspool we have in Washington, D.C.

DAVID P. GAIBIS SR.

Edinburg, Pa.

Are we really still a benevolent country?

DEAR EDITOR:

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, during a press conference this week, rambled on about how Americans should be celebrating our 250-year history, seemingly concerned that because so many Americans have expressed serious misgivings about our country’s current economic, political, and domestic problems they are in no mood to celebrate. In his comments, while praising his party and his president, he said that America is the “most benevolent nation that has ever been on the planet earth.” That benevolence was precisely the reason that our ancestors, including Mr. Johnson’s, immigrated to this country.

But are we still that country? Are we still “benevolent”? Being a benevolent country implies that we are kindly, charitable, that we care for others through helpful and generous actions, that all of our policies and principles are well-meaning and good-intentioned. It is highly unlikely that most Americans, and certainly people throughout the world, view our United States as the benevolent country we once aspired to be.

Perhaps the more appropriate description for our current administration would be “malevolent,” for it implies the intention of causing suffering, misfortune, distress and harm or injury to others; being malicious and spiteful. How is that malevolence expressed? In the complete elimination or substantial cuts to federal K-12 funding, food stamps (SNAP), Medicare, healthcare subsidies, low-income home energy assistance (HEAP), community service block grants, scientific research by the National Institutes of Health, the CDC, the Small Business Administration, global health initiatives, humanitarian and famine relief, EPA, USAID (which will result in 23 million losing access to education and 95 million losing basic health benefits), persecution of immigrants, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the weaponization of the DOJ to prosecute perceived enemies of the President, as well as attempts to suppress voters’ rights. And all this while building monuments to himself.

No, Speaker Johnson, you misspoke, we are no longer that benevolent nation that inspired the world and drove freedom loving peoples to our shores. That time, with purposeful intention and malevolence by this president, has passed.

THOMAS BRENT

Struthers