Did Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce engagement deserve to be on Page One? Yep | Opinion

Good news

I was surprised by Wednesday’s front-page headline in The Star: “ENGAGED! Taylor Swift tells the world she’ll marry Travis Kelce.” My first thought was that there are certainly more pressing issues facing our area than the engagement of two celebrities.

But on reflection, I concluded that this was indeed something that belonged on the front page. Showcasing the engagement of two people who love, honor and respect each other was a welcome respite the chaos and ugliness that usually tops the news.

I wish Taylor and Travis all the luck (and love) in the world.

- Fran Abram, Overland Park

Coward’s tool

Gerrymandering is not democracy — it is political theft. From its namesake, Massachusetts Gov. Elbridge Gerry in 1812, to Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe today, it has always been the coward’s tool: the weapon of elected leaders too afraid to face the will of the people. And now Kehoe is dragging Missouri into yet another shameful scheme to silence voters and rig the system.

More than 40% of Missourians are about to be robbed of fair representation. That isn’t governing — it’s gutting democracy. It is a betrayal of trust, a denial of due process and the desperate act of politicians who know they cannot win on ideas. Missouri is not a red state — it is a rigged one, and Mike Kehoe is holding the pen.

This is not leadership. It’s bowing to the whims of a power-hungry president with deeply unpopular policies, and selling out the very people Kehoe swore to represent. The governor doesn’t stand with Missourians — he kneels before Donald Trump.

But Missouri will not bow. Missouri will not be silenced. If Kehoe thinks he can steal the people’s voice, he’ll learn soon enough: The one thing he cannot rig is the judgment of the people at the ballot box.

- Becky Kroll, Lohman, Missouri

Fortunately?

The Missouri General Assembly — that cutting edge Midwestern political trendsetter — will soon meet in special session to tilt the state’s political landscape one seat further to the right and, as a twofer, make it legally impossible for any unwanted popular initiative petitions to be brought forth by what politicians must think are the uninformed and antidemocratic common citizenry.

Fortunately, Missouri keeps electing Republicans. Hard telling what might happen if democracy should be allowed to emerge.

- Jim Bretz, Blue Springs

Follow Trump

To reduce crime in Washington, D.C. (which is significantly controlled by the federal government), President Donald Trump placed the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department under direct federal control and deployed the National Guard there.

The president’s mission is to make D.C. safe for the people who live, work and visit there. The increased presence of law enforcement is making a difference in our nation’s capital.

The Kansas City Star reported Aug. 25, “Another string of violence in Kansas City over the weekend left four people dead and six others injured,” and that “the killings follow last weekend’s surge of gunfire that left three dead and wounded two others.”

Mayor Quinton Lucas is quoted in the Star’s article demanding that parking lot owners “take responsibility for their properties.” This logic makes it sound as if the criminal is the parking lot itself and not the people actually committing the crimes.

Perhaps Mayor Lucas shouldcall Trump to obtain the president’s advice on how to reduce crime?

- Kevin Lindeman, Kansas City

No more words

After yet another mass shooting, when is my former Republican Party going to act and address gun violence? (Aug. 29, 2A, “What we know about the Minnesota Catholic School shooting”)

I’m sure the talking points are:

• It’s too soon to talk about gun control.
• Guns don’t kill people — people do.
• We can’t go down a slippery slope to ban all guns.
• My thoughts and prayers go out to you.

Their conversations are ridiculous, old and illustrate their lack of empathy and morals. Please call your leaders and demand action for commonsense gun laws.

No more words. Take action.

- Susie Rawlings, Leawood

Priorities?

I was so relieved to hear from Sen. Jerry Moran that he is leading the charge to crack down on ticket scalpers while the person occupying the Oval Office is shaking down corporations, law firms and universities, arming the military to occupy our cities, sending immigrants to detention centers without due process and enforcing tariffs that Americans pay for without congressional approval — and this is only the beginning.

Meanwhile, his enablers blindly follow, some in a valiant effort to end the nation’s leading threat to democracy — the dastardly deeds of ticket scalpers.

Way to go, Sen. Moran. I will sleep better tonight.

- Ron Fugate, Overland Park

Dangerous history

I remember, as a student at the time, when President Richard Nixon began a full invasion of Cambodia in 1970 during the Vietnam War era. This invasion was opposed by many Americans, especially students, who turned to protests — some of which were destructive and too violent to be ignored.

Shortly after Nixon’s actions, student protests erupted at Kent State University in Ohio. The governor of that state, following his own inflammatory rhetoric, sent National Guard forces — untrained in dealing with domestic tensions — to the campus. In short order, four students were dead and nine injured, having taken fire from National Guard members who said they feared they were being attacked by the unarmed protesters.

Based on current news reports, many military commanders are aware of the danger to their own troops and others because of lack of training. Should President Donald Trump be aware, having been a student himself shortly before Kent State?

Danger lurks.

- Steve Schwegler, Liberty

The right choice

With Donald Trump requesting five new Republican seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott set in motion a process for further gerrymandering of his state. Democrats responded in kind. Now several more states are considering following Texas’ lead, including Missouri.

Gerrymandering is a political ploy designed for those in power to remain in power. It has nothing to do with fair representation. “Might is right — not might for right.” Citizens must demand fair representation.

In 2022, Kansas Republicans drew congressional district boundaries that placed Lawrence voters with folks living eight hours and 560 miles away — instead of with their own county neighbors.

One way to correct this untenable state of voting affairs would be to implement ranked choice voting, which would move the United States to a more fair, more popular winner. Ranked choice has been used in Australia since 1918.

With gerrymandered congressional districts, voters lose. Democracy loses.

- Angela Schieferecke, Prairie Village