Kennedy Center is for the arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has long been one of the few places in Washington where Americans could gather without feeling the weight of politics. It was created as a living memorial to President Kennedy — a national home for music, theater, and dance, not a platform for any political figure or ideology.
That tradition has been shaken. In the past year, we have watched a series of actions that have politicized the institution: the removal of long standing trustees, the installation of political loyalists, the attempted renaming of the center, and the increasing perception that programming decisions are being influenced by political considerations. A federal court has now ruled that the renaming was illegal and ordered the removal of the signage and branding.
The consequences have been real. Major performers and arts organizations have canceled appearances, not because of disagreements over policy, but because they no longer view the Kennedy Center as a neutral space. When artists feel pressured or politicized, they withdraw — and the public loses.
The path forward is clear. The Kennedy Center must restore a balanced, bipartisan board; reaffirm the independence of its artistic leadership; comply fully with the court’s ruling; and recommit to the values that made it a national treasure. Transparency, professionalism, and respect for the arts must replace political influence.
The Kennedy Center belongs to the American people. It should once again be a place where the arts rise above politics, where performers feel welcome, and where audiences can gather without division. We owe it to the legacy of President Kennedy — and to the future of American culture — to return this institution to its rightful, apolitical role.
Linda Lindquist, North Fort Myers
Puppy mills
When you hear the term “puppy mill,” the image of a squalid facility with dogs kept in small cages and deplorable conditions probably comes to mind. Most of the puppies that are sold in pet stores or online are sourced from these facilities. Often the puppies from these origins develop health conditions that can cost the new owner significant money to treat, and, in some cases, it results in the death of the animal. The Humane World for Animals (formerly Humane Society of the United States) has started a new initiative to track this consumer issue. If you or someone you know has been the victim of this heartbreaking or financially devastating situation, please consider reporting your complaint at humaneworld.org/puppycomplaint.
Suzanne Thomas, Naples
Prediction for midterms
In 2024 just before the presidential elections, I wrote the Mailbag and made a prediction that the Republicans would win the election because the Democrats were for open borders and placing a man in a women’s restroom. I am now stating that as long as the liberals’ only platform is negative comments about Trump and against what he does and says that they will continue to lose elections. So, let’s see how that works for midterms.
Jim McMenamy, Fort Myers
Our next senator
Alex Vindman will be a great senator and will finally put Florida on the right track. He is a man of his word and stood up for what was right against President Trump not an easy thing to do. Trump and his enablers are spending huge amounts of money to defeat him because he cannot be bought off if elected. He is the kind of person we need in the Senate. He served in the Army 21 years with distinction. When we needed a candidate, he stepped up.
Benjamin Glick, Naples
Partisan voting
I am so annoyed with the debates about how or who people should vote for. I did my own research, and this is how people vote: Democrats votes for Democratic candidates no matter what good or bad things they have done. Republicans vote for the Republican candidates no matter what good or bad things they have done. The Independents, or unaligned, do research to determine the best candidate. The only variation to the Independent or unaligned voter is some of them are phonies. The phonies claim to be Independent because they get a lot of attention, or it’s safer, or they can say up to the last minute that they have not made up their minds. The phonies are really Democrats or Republicans and vote accordingly.
John Piccolo, Estero
MAGA hypocrisy
Fortunately the Naples Daily News has a couple of MAGA writers who get into the paper most often. It’s the same old stuff but it’s still entertaining. A lot of it is projecting. Most of it makes little sense. And they accuse the media of being a puppet for Democrats. One claimed that the president has made life so much better for Hispanics, Blacks and minorities all the while he’s whitewashing Black history and Black accomplishments. The Hispanics, well ICE is profiling them in the streets of America. If you look Hispanic, maybe you don’t belong here. Immigration is left to the whites from South Africa. Remember when MAGA ridiculed Pete Buttigieg because he was married to a man, had kids and was taking time off to “nurse” them. Unbridled juvenile taunts. I haven’t heard one word, not one word from MAGA regarding the Secretary of the Treasury who goes home he shares with a man. The hypocrisy is staggering. It’s time for a change this November, we know the Republicans have no platform so they will cheat. It started with their redistricting the voter maps and it won’t stop there. Time to end the corruption.
Laurence Jacks, Estero
Local Democratic candidates
Monday’s (6/1) lead story in the NDN was a retread of a USA Today piece and was a weak attempt to dial up drama and make a mountain out of a molehill. The fact that the story was the headliner under the banner makes me wonder who’s making such poor editorial decisions. Getting to the premise of the story — the recruitment of Democratic candidates — there is an in-house disagreement regarding strategy, but no argument about the fact that Democratic candidates need to be recruited and placed on the ballot. As one of those candidates (FL HD-81), I am here to say we are informed, credentialed, and boldly planning to represent our constituents — who are our neighbors. We are serious candidates with great ideas targeting the current super majorities in the Florida Legislature. For too long, those in office have ignored high costs, diminished public schools, minimized local control, and ceded power to developers (often out of state). Current legislators have also failed to adequately address the assault on wildlife, water quantity and quality, and the health of our fragile ecosystems. I encourage voters to look at our ideas rather than the letter behind our names. Local Democratic candidates are neither “hopeless” nor “sacrificial” on the altar of politics; rather, we are hopeful and determined. Stay informed, be a voter, and make good decisions regarding who will represent you in 2027 and beyond.
Kim Finer, Naples
Smart, articulate women
Recently there have been letters attempting to deride Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s intellect and character. Clearly Republicans are afraid of smart, articulate women in positions of power who might actually work to improve the lives of all of our citizens and clean up the cesspool we are all currently swimming in.
Madelaine Gardner, Naples
Cost of ballroom
If you were surprised when the cost of building the “Great big beautiful ballroom” jumped from two hundred million dollars to four hundred million dollars, hold on − the Great big gold stripper poles haven’t been priced in yet but aren’t going to be free.
Robert F. Tate, Naples
Project 2025
It’s interesting how not one Project 2025 recommendation seeks to empower We the People with final decision-making power over important decisions our servants make via regular and emergency referendums. Sounds like it’s all about securing the welfare of the big donor ruling class while making average Americans believe they are patriotically slaying the big government, “socialistic” monster in order to “Save America” while they get richer and we have less money, higher prices and no evil health care and other vital public services. You’ll never hear a peep from our oligarch-funded representatives and senators about handing over final decision-making power in this republic to its owners: the People.
J. Cant, Naples
Attacks on police
It is disheartening to see all the physical attacks on law enforcement officers. It is all coming from Left-wing idiots. The only response those on the Left have is to point to January 6 where right-wing idiots attacked law enforcement officers. That was a riot that lasted for 3 or 4 hours and what we have seen from the George Floyd riots and the current ICE riots is daily attacks on officers. The Left likes to suggest that January 6 was an insurrection, but the facts are that around 1,600 people were charged for their actions on January 6 and not one was charged, let alone convicted of an insurrection. It is just the Left with help from the mainstream media that continues the charade that it was an insurrection. In addition, no police officer was killed as a result of physical attacks on January 6. Any officer who was involved in the January 6 riot that later committed suicide has been credited as a result of January 6 with no evidence to support that conclusion. If the Right were to use the same method, literally hundreds of law enforcement officers have died as a result of the George Floyd and ICE riots.
Ron Wobbeking, Naples
An unhappy president
Donald Trump has been looking for love in all the wrong places. His lies, his sexual aggressions, his bullying, his lack of guilt and remorse, his need for retaliation and retribution, his unrelenting narcissistic ego —- these and more show Donald Trump’s failure at morality, failure at developing virtue.
The stoic, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Confucius taught that virtues, not vices, cause one to be loved. Today, long-term studies by psychology researchers Dr. Robert Waldinger and Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky reveal that feeling loved is the primary secret to human happiness. Feeling loved reduces stress and improves physical health. It is not just about having friends, but about feeling truly connected and understood by others.
Donald Trump has gone unloved because he lacked virtue. He could find no substitute for virtue in spite of his power and wealth. All of his life, Trump has looked for love in all the wrong places: wealth (born into millions), libido (sexual escapades e.g. Epstein), power (the U.S. presidency and wars). He ignored virtue and never felt loved.
Had he shown compassion for his fellow man, had he shared his wealth, had he respected sexuality and intimacy as acts of love and not aggression, had he dedicated his role in government as one of serving and not one of being served, people would have grown to love him. He would have truly felt loved and as a result, he would have been very happy.
Donald Trump wants to be loved as Jesus is loved, as Pope Leo is loved; Trump just cannot bring himself to be virtuous as Jesus and Leo. Without virtue, Trump cannot be loved; without being loved, Trump cannot be happy.
Joe Haack, Naples
Where are the priorities?
Can someone explain how we can issue a drivers license to anyone that cannot speak or read English? The driver responsible for killing five couldn’t do either! Also how did he become a U.S. citizen follow and pass the necessary guidelines to do so? Do we really expect this person to assimilate? Is this another attempt be the previous administrations to gather more votes by simply pointing who to vote for? The folks in New Jersey are more concerned with the food of criminals rather than getting them out of our country. Where are the priorities?
Dennis Rosenhagen, Naples
Nothing new about gerrymandering
Regarding all the whining about redistricting, did you know the 396,408 registered Republican voters in Massachusetts, for example, have zero representatives in Congress? California’s 5.8 million registered Republicans have only 9 representatives, while 10.3 million registered Democrats have 43 representatives! There is nothing new about states trying to get an unfair advantage by gerrymandering and Democrats have been winning. Now they want to end the Electoral College and pack the Supreme Court, contrary to the U.S. Constitution and their sworn oaths to support it. Democrat leadership in Congress is much less than stellar and has become a major impediment to their party and our country.
Finally, one cannot help but wonder if we would be in a war with Iran right now if Presidents Obama and Biden had not given Iran’s radical Islamic dictators billions of dollars while they were saying death to America and trying to build nuclear and offensive weapons.
Dr. Robert A. Strohaver, Naples
Enjoy this cartoon
I really enjoy the ZIGGY cartoons, especially when they involve “aliens,” UFOs and such. Today’s, 6/2/2026 about E. Musk being out “For Launch” was just too funny.
Hannelore Lee, Fort Myers
No end to dirty tricks
Remember the huckster on the street with his three shells? Which one has the pea under it? That’s Trump and we’re all suckers. First, he insults us with a mega billion-dollar lawsuit against his own government, the IRS. Then he “negotiates” with his own personal lawyer, DOJ’s interim leader Todd Blanche, for a $1.8 billion slush fund and no future audits of him, his children, or their businesses. So, while we’re reacting with outrage about the lawsuit and then the “settlement” slush fund, he and his family get away with a free ride in stiffing our government with his tax avoidance scams. Just watch, we’ll all relax again as he “gives up” on the slush fund idea due to backlash even from his bootlickers in Congress. But he’ll walk away with a deal to never be audited again. He never really cared about giving money to the January 6 rioters, not really. What he wanted to do is keep lining his own pockets and make a big deal about his lie that the Biden administration “weaponized” the DOJ. Talk about weaponization! I did chuckle when I saw Comey and others he’s been demanding the DOJ attack, were planning to file for some of the money in that slush fund. Don’t take your eye off the ball, folks. There is no end to the dirty tricks and obscene behavior our president will do.
Jennifer Walker, Naples
Education gap
I was the only one of my siblings to attend and graduate from a bona fide liberal arts college (Edison Junior College) in 1965 — thanks in large measure to my father’s financial help. I discovered a world of knowledge beyond the “high school mentality” that existed for so many Americans during the mid Twentieth Century. Any one of my siblings could have done what I did but instead took the more common path in life that most chose back then. And herein lies the “Education Gap” between myself and my siblings. I didn’t continue my higher education beyond EJC but I definitely did catch the “education bug” and the love of knowledge for its own sake and so kept reading and learning voraciously through the years. Finally I do not think my situation is unique but likely very common for many other Americans besides myself and thus we have the “Education Gap” that only a free and universal higher education itself can eventually close. Kenneth L. Carson, Lenoir, NC
Waste, fraud and abuse
The News-Press has an opportunity to perform a public service. Our tax money has been spent on many unintended things that have no benefit to the general public. Doing an investigative piece on how much taxpaper money has been spent on things like: investigation, indictments, trials, etc. that were done for no public benefit (personal vendettas), defending (and losing) illegal administrative actions (like tariffs), settling with aggrieved parties for actions taken by the administration, paying off contractors and countries that have entered into good faith contracts to provide services/goods for the future benefit of the country, renaming government entities, initiating construction without proper approval and then having to defend the action in court. The list is very long of actions taken by the administration that have no benefit to the citizens that elected them. Our citizens deserved to know the financial cost of these actions.
Steve Wiener, Fort Myers
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Arts should rise above politics at Kennedy Center | Opinion letters
Reporting by Letter writers / Fort Myers News-Press
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