Letters: Trump’s unfair approach to Middle East; Proud to support PSU football

Trump’s unfair approach to Middle East

I believe we need to have international recognition of the state of Palestine. I believe that actions taken by the Trump regime, especially those of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have consistently undermined the efforts of the Palestinian people for legitimate recognition as a independent governing body. There has been an extreme toll on the citizens of Palestine who have been crushed under authoritarian Israel occupation. As a country we need to move to compromise and support agreements between Israel and Palestine for the mutual benefit of all people in the Gaza strip and the Middle East as a whole.

Actions taken by the Trump regime to broker peace talks between Israel and anyone without taking into consideration that of the Palestinian people, or even recognizing the atrocities that are happening at the hands of Israel are unfounded and take an obviously biased stance under the guise of peace process is disgusting.

Proud to support PSU football

I’m a die heart PSU fan. Our football team is a failure due to the COVID virus. They are used to getting off the bus and having thousands cheering them to the walk to the stadium. Then when they walk out of the tunnel to 100,000-plus screaming for them. They are fired up and can play honorable Penn State football. If we are not there to cheer you because of the virus, our hearts were there. Think about the smaller schools that have no crowds to cheer them on, and they play their hearts out for them. We cheered you on, but you let us down. When you are gone and we are here, we will still have blue and white blood and cheer a group of fighters who represent us.

We are always Penn State. We have had good teams before and will after. It’s your choice to regroup; life goes on. You can be better and remember there will be ten times 100,000 rooting for you. I only hope you could hear us. You would be so proud to represent us. Thank you and give your best — that is all we ask, and if this is it, then we are with you. God bless you and PSU. We Are.

Learning from the past

I am worried about the future of our Republic. Current events provide ominous parallels with the later years of the Roman Republic. Most of us have heard about Julius Caesar, his crossing the Rubicon and later assassination. However, Mike Duncan makes clear in his recent book, “The Storm before the Storm,” that the rot leading to the fall of the Republic actually began a generation or two before Caesar came on the scene. The underlying cause of the Republic’s demise was brought about not by dramatic events like an assassination, but by the slow erosion of norms of behavior and public trust brought about by powerful and ambitious men who flaunted tradition and established rules of behavior in order to get their own way. Their successes were transient, swept away by later events including violence, perpetrated by equally ambitious and ruthless men.

Today, we see respected norms being swept away by powerful and ruthless men while the public is powerless. Duncan writes: “But this was an age when a lie was not a lie, if a man had the audacity to assert that the lie was true.” The Roman historian Sullust wrote: “It was this spirit which has commonly ruined great nations when one party desires to triumph over another by any and every means and to avenge itself on the unvanquished with excessive cruelty,” to which Duncan adds: “accepting defeat was no longer an option.” Winning is everything. What followed was three civil wars ending the Roman Republic.