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No confidence: Hegseth sacks all the competents on board

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has fired Secretary of the Navy John Phelan. This comes after Hegseth fired Army Chief of Staff General Randy George. Hegseth keeps firing senior leaders, often arguing the fired were “woke,” but the common thread seems to be that they had good relationships with the president and were competent. When I was in college, I would go back to Louisiana in the summer to work for the public school from which I had graduated. The school was in a building that combined K-12, but elementary, middle and high schools were separate entities until after I ...

What has passed is not always what was best

Your memories will try to trick you. I thought about that as I was driving down a street near my house the other day, when I spotted a father walking down the sidewalk, his young daughter slung over his shoulder like a sack of coal he was hauling out of a mine. Her hair bounced along on his back and she looked thrilled. They had been out on a stroll, and she’d asked for a ride: That was the story the image told me. Adorable, I thought, for a second. But wait. What was that look of resignation on the dad’s face? Did I recognize that parental exhaustion myself, that feeling of ...

Let logic settle Poland library controversy

The effort to “save” the Poland Library is well-intentioned and even noble. It is also, at this point, misguided and bordering on unhealthy. The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County has spent the better part of a year — if not longer — studying, documenting, analyzing and contracting with reputable professional consultants about every aspect of the building. On April 9, the Library’s Building and Sites Committee heard everything library staff had learned through their efforts. They learned about the problems with the 25-year-old building, what it would cost to ...

The 10 most important ways you can resist now

In light of President Donald Trump's increasingly cruel and bonkers behavior — toward Iran, toward the pope, his posts, his bottomless vengeance, his continuing ICE raids, his continuing use of the Justice Department to target his enemies, his shameless corruption — many of you want to know: "What can I do now?" Here are 10 recommendations, in rough order of importance. 1. Protect the decent and hardworking members of your communities who are most vulnerable. This is an urgent moral call to action. As Trump's ICE and Border Patrol continue their roundups, many of our neighbors ...

Responding in a Christ-like manner

President Donald Trump has received a lot of backlash for his recent posts on TruthSocial of himself as a "Christ-like" figure and his criticism of Pope Leo's views on the Iran war. Most people on social media are familiar with the often belligerent nature of Trump's posts, and, for the most part, his devoted supporters defend him. This time, however, was different, as many conservatives thought Trump went too far in his war of words with the pope and his AI-generated image of himself laying his hand on a bedridden man with the American flag, the Statue of Liberty and the adoration of ...

Criticism of Campbell misses the mark

DEAR EDITOR: As Trumbull County sheriff, I am responsible for overseeing the operation of the Trumbull County Jail. Since taking office, the facility has consistently operated at or above its intended capacity. Managing inmate population levels is an ongoing challenge. To remain in compliance with legal requirements and ensure safe operations, we regularly communicate with courts across the county. At times, we ask judges to review cases involving individuals currently in custody to determine whether adjustments to sentencing or bond conditions may be appropriate. These efforts are ...