What happened to America’s compassion | Joyce M. Davis in The Patriot News, Pennsylvania

Detail of one of "25 Million Stitches" panels on display at ArtRage GalleryArtRage Gallery- Each individual embroidered panel represents a portion of the millions of displaced people worldwide, with every stitch symbolizing a single refugee life. https://www.25millionstitches.com/

What happened to America’s compassion

By Joyce M. Davis  Outreach & Opinion Editor. The Patriot News, Harrisburg Pennsylvania

Sometimes the simplest questions can provoke the deepest thought.

When American leaders talk of helping people in need around the world, why do they focus on how it will benefit the United States instead of how it will benefit humanity?

That was the essence of Holly Leggett’s question that came at the end of the International Peace Forum at Gettysburg College this weekend.  

Why do members of Congress and President Trump’s hand-picked department secretaries think Americans voters want an ROI for every smidgen of humanitarian assistance they send around the world?

Why can’t Americans look at humanity and see that alone as reason enough to help relieve suffering?

These are profound questions that get at the very heart of America’s current moral dilemma.

What happened to the compassion that once sent food to starving Germans after World War II? What happened to the American values that once treated even former enemies with kindness because they were human beings?

What happened to that shining city on a hill... READ MORE   https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2026/09/what-happened-to-americas-compassion-joyce-m-davis.html?gift=9475d54a-e92a-486d-9b65-aaf900034170

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Let’s give peace a chance

On the International Day of Peace, you can give a voice to the war victims who need food and peace so they can return home

 Sep. 21, 2026  

by William Lambers in The Patriot News 

William Lambers is the author of the Road to Peace and has partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book Ending World Hunger.

In the movie “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy famously says “There’s no place like home.” On International Day of Peace , Sept. 21, there are millions of war refugees who just want to go home and live there again. Peace is precious to them because it can lead them home.

Asha is a mother from war-devastated Sudan who was forced to flee with her daughters to South Sudan. She told the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) that she worries her daughters may have to grow up away from home.

Asha and her family wish every day could bring peace. War refugees may be thousands of miles away from you, but you can actually help them get home. The theme of this year’s International Day of Peace is “‘everyday architects of peace’—people driving local action, laying the groundwork for stability, and building a lasting peace from the ground up.”

As the UN reminds us, “Peace isn’t just built in conference rooms—it is shaped by everyone, everywhere, every day.” You have the power to make a difference in building peace.

First, pay attention to conflicts, even those that aren’t in the headlines. You can ask your elected officials to make global peacemaking a priority. Ask them to fund peacemaking initiatives rather than fuel arms races.

You can... READ MORE  https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2026/09/lets-give-peace-a-chance-opinion.html?gift=707a9de1-ed48-4171-ac4a-3ca02af7116b

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"The parallels between the Germany of the 1930s and the United States of America today are frightening." A Holocaust teacher’s warning: Will ‘good Americans’ speak up this time? | PennLive letters

Photo Credit: The Nazi concentration camp at Dachau was liberated by American soldiers of the 45th Infantry Division, Seventh Army, on April 30, 1945. Prisoners who were able to stand and to comprehend that the hour of deliverance had come cheered the liberators just days before the final collapse of the Third Reich.

Published: Mar. 23, 2026

As a former Social Studies teacher who taught a 30-day unit on the Holocaust, I had the good fortune to have had several Holocaust survivors and numerous college professors speak to my classes over the years.

As we discussed how Germany, a country with a constitution, an elected government, and a system of law was taken over by an ego-maniac (Hitler, and the Nazis), the lyrics of the song from the musical South Pacific, a”You’ve Got to be Carefully Taught," were offered as one of the explanations.

When asked by the students if there weren’t any “good Germans” who stood up to the Nazis, the poem “First They Came” by Pastor Martin Niemöller was introduced.

The parallels between the Germany of the 1930s and the United States of America today are frightening.

We have a government today that violates the Constitution, refuses to obey the decisions of the courts, and kills American citizens... READ MORE   https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2026/03/a-holocaust-teachers-warning-will-good-americans-speak-up-this-time-pennlive-letters.html?gift=6cf2e016-c23b-421b-b8fd-e1b2d895a4ba 

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On top of all that, official Washington is disregarding decency, a minimal need for a sustainable society, and playing footsy with the truth. An example of action devoid of decency is having fun promoting the war on social media. The White House, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command posted videos mixing actual war scenes with clips from violent video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” and blues artist John Lee Hooker’s song “Boom Boom” (opening lyric: “Boom, boom, boom, boom. I’m gonna shoot you right down.”)" - John Baer in The Patriot News

D.C.’s decency deficit is costing Americans more than money | John Baer

·       John Baer | For PennLive

We’re entering the second spring of “The Golden Age” promised by President Donald Trump at his second inaugural last year.

We’re in a foreign war (or as Trump calls it, “a little excursion”) that he pledged we would not get into. As a result, the economy, energy prices and geopolitical tensions are, let’s just say, providing some instability.

The first two weeks of the war cost the lives of 13 U.S. service members and $12 billion. Time reports that’s enough to fund child care for 900,000 children, or health care for 1.3 million people, or more than 100,000 new teachers or nurses, or the entire National Park Service.

Nearly six of 10 Americans (57%), according to the Real Clear Politics average of major polls, see the country moving in the wrong direction.

On top of all that, official Washington is disregarding decency, a minimal need for a sustainable society, and playing footsy with the truth.

An example of action devoid of decency is having fun promoting the war on social media. The White House, Pentagon and U.S. Central Command posted videos mixing actual war scenes with clips from violent video games such as “Call of Duty” and “Grand Theft Auto,” and blues artist John Lee Hooker’s song “Boom Boom” (opening lyric: “Boom, boom, boom, boom. I’m gonna shoot you right down.”)

There also are film clips featuring maxi-macho stuff: “Superman,” “Top Gun,” “Ironman.” And, with images of planes and buildings being blown up, presumably by American bombs, the cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants asking, “You wanna see me do it again?”

One wonders what family and friends of killed-in-action service members think of treating the war like a video game. And there’s the broader issue. The Archbishop of Chicago, Cardinal Blasé Cupich, said, “Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store… READ MORE 

https://www.pennlive.com/politics/2026/03/dcs-decency-deficit-is-costing-americans-more-than-money-john-baer.html?gift=20f2428c-1a47-496e-99dc-10b21c88c468

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Mark S. Singel: "This war is illegal and unconstitutional. It is raining death and destruction on countless innocent civilians who are simply in the way. The war is draining America of resources and costing families billions of dollars in higher prices and declining pension accounts. ​But it may be worse than that. It may be the beginning of a cycle of destruction caused by the deranged vision of one man. "

"... This war is illegal and unconstitutional. It is raining death and destruction on countless innocent civilians who are simply in the way. The war is draining America of resources and costing families billions of dollars in higher prices and declining pension accounts.

​But it may be worse than that. It may be the beginning of a cycle of destruction caused by the deranged vision of one man.

In a stunning article featured in The Guardian, some commanders are carrying an “end-of-times” message into the fray. One officer reported that his commander “urged us to tell our troops that this was ‘all part of God’s divine plan … that President Trump has been anointed by Jesus to light the signal fire in Iran to cause Armageddon and mark his return to Earth.”

​Even the most ardent MAGA supporters must know that it has never been the policy of America to initiate wars.

Yes, there have been clandestine operations that presidents have undertaken in the past.

Yes, we have engaged in conflicts that bogged down in the jungles of Vietnam or the deserts of Afghanistan. But we have never boasted about kidnapping foreign leaders or decapitating regimes just because we had the ability to do so.

​The real cost of Trump’s adventurism in the Mideast is that it validates behaviors that were, until now, reserved for the worst blood-thirsty leaders in history."

Trump’s war on Iran is an unconstitutional assault on American democracy | Opinion

• Published: Mar. 14, 2026

• Guest Editorial

By Mark S. Singel

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https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2026/03/trumps-war-on-iran-is-an-unconstitutional-assault-on-american-democracy-opinion.html?gift=d437e2df-540e-4bbd-87f7-bfa1f787eaf6 

When the holiday lights come down, our commitment to world peace must endure - William Lambers in The Patriot News

"It’s important that each of us be an advocate for peace and charity. You can do this by speaking out and letting your elected officials know your support of humanitarian aid." -William Lambers

Dec. 28, 2025

As we enter the New Year of 2026 each of us has the power to carry on the holiday spirit of peace and charity. As President Dwight Eisenhower once remarked during a Christmas/New Year event, “When the trees come down and the lights are put away--as they always are--then we have a true testing of the spirit.

“That testing will be answered, throughout the year ahead, by the success each of us experiences in keeping alive the inspiration and exaltation of this moment.”

We must keep the Christmas spirit alive year round to prevent war, end hunger and build peace.

As President Eisenhower said at the 1956 Pageant of Peace Ceremonies, “We must believe that the truth of Christmas is constant; that men can live together in peace as Lincoln said, “with charity for all, with firmness in the right.”

Eisenhower urged peaceful means to settle disputes, instead of resorting to war which often leads to harmful and lasting consequences.

As we enter a new year with new challenges, America must remember its roots as a peaceful and charitable nation.

As we try to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, we must also prevent war from starting with Venezuela. Members of Congress have rightly expressed alarm over the U.S. military buildup... READ MORE 

https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2025/12/when-the-holiday-lights-come-down-our-commitment-to-world-peace-must-endure-opinion.html?gift=49d3311d-37f0-4767-8254-3a47e1facc74 

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"Families buried under rubble, hospitals struck, and deliberate starvation of an entire people are not isolated mistakes. They are the product of a system driven by power, sustained by impunity, and empowered by propaganda..." World leaders cannot claim to seek peace while enabling war and ignoring human suffering

Displaced Palestinians walk with their belongings past destroyed buildings as they return to their homes in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, after Israel and Hamas agreed to a pause in their war and the release of the remaining hostages. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi)AP

 

World leaders cannot claim to seek peace while enabling war and ignoring human suffering | Opinion

• Published: Oct. 28, 2025, 1:00 p.m. 

By Momin Bhatti

The world has just marked the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, a horrific tragedy that must never be forgotten. The slaughter of civilians in Israel was an atrocity. But remembrance cannot mean silence about what has followed.

For over two years, Israel has invoked Oct. 7 repeatedly to justify collective punishment and evade accountability. This justification has been sustained by propaganda tactics, amplified again around the anniversary. The narrative manipulation distorts perception and normalizes Israel’s crimes against humanity. It conditions people to look away while hospitals are bombed and aid convoys blocked, numbing empathy and allowing cruelty to masquerade as policy.

A key tactic is victimhood inversion. Israel consistently insists it is merely “defending itself” as it exercises overwhelming force against a besieged population. The vast majority of those killed are children, families, and ordinary people who have nothing to do with Hamas, yet are punished as though their very existence were a crime.

When entire neighborhoods are flattened, the recurring narrative is... READ MORE  https://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2025/10/world-leaders-cannot-claim-to-seek-peace-while-enabling-war-and-ignoring-human-suffering-opinion.html

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