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National security requires building our industrial base from the mine up

Ten months of intense fighting in Ukraine is forcing a rapid rethink among Western allies. It’s about the importance of a dynamic industrial base capable of producing weapons and munitions at speed and scale. “Ukraine has focused us . . . on what really matters,” William LaPlante, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer, recently remarked. “What matters is production. Production really matters.”  LaPlante hit the nail on the head. Simply stockpiling weapons and munitions—and underinvesting in productive capacity—will not suffice as the U.S. prepares for conflicts of ...

Ohio ballot proposal creates a big backlash

A proposal that would make it harder for citizen-initiated amendments to the Ohio Constitution to become law is drawing opposition from several organizations. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, and state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, recently announced they would seek to get the GOP-dominated state Legislature to approve a resolution in the final weeks of this year’s session for the ballot proposal. It is on the fast track to be passed. It would require citizen-initiated constitutional amendments to get at least 60 percent support from voters to be approved. Those ...

New maps to give GOP more edge

Ohio Democrats who hated the latest state legislative and congressional boundaries approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission and ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court will be even more upset with the next maps. They need to be redrawn for the 2024 election. The new ones that will be adopted by the commission and upheld by the court will be even less kind to Democrats. There are two reasons. First, objections filed by various left-leaning groups to new maps contending gerrymandering in favor of Republicans almost certainly will be rejected with a ...

Americans facing costly winter energy crunch

Americans know that inflation has hit hard. Food prices alone are up 10 percent this year. And energy costs are now a key problem—thanks to OPEC and Russia manipulating oil prices even as natural gas prices surge. To put it bluntly, the news isn’t good. Americans are going to face some very costly heating and electricity bills this winter. And New England may even experience blackouts. Let’s start with energy prices. U.S. government data shows that the cost of electricity has climbed 15.5 percent since last year. That’s the largest jump in 41 years. And at the same time, the ...

Second Vance-Ryan debate more hostile than the first

The final U.S. Senate debate between Republican J.D. Vance and Democrat Tim Ryan was far more hostile than the first one. Ryan of Howland, a 10-term U.S. House member, and Vance, a venture capitalist and author, were aggressive in criticisms of the other during last Monday’s debate in Youngstown on a variety of topics including blind loyalty to the leadership of their political parties, abortion, the Jan. 6 commission, guns and particularly immigration. When a question was asked about the “great replacement theory,” which contends whites are systematically being replaced by ...

Republican candidates boast financial leads

Money isn’t the only thing that matters in political races, but just ask those running for elected office and — if they’re being truthful — they will tell you it’s much better to have more than their opponents. There are five state legislative races between Mahoning and Trumbull counties with Republican candidates in four of those, including three incumbents. Republicans didn’t field a candidate in the 59th Ohio House District race. In the other four races, Republicans enjoy a large financial advantage over their opponents. Democratic opponents in two of those races have ...