I want to commend the Sun-Times, and especially freelance writer extraordinaire Selena Fragassi, for the outstanding coverage of the 20th Riot Fest, held in Douglass Park last weekend. I was there for all three days, and she accurately described and reviewed the artists that I was able to experience live. For those artists that I didn’t see live — because you can’t be two places at once — Ms. Fragassi let me know what I was missing. And the photographs which accompanied the articles were amazing. Thank you Sun-Times and Selena Fragassi!
Thomas H. Joens, Lombard
Calling out FCC’s Carr
Dear Brendan Carr,
The Federal Communications Commission is supposed to safeguard the airwaves for all Americans. Under your leadership, it looks less like an independent regulator and more like Donald Trump’s personal press office.
Jimmy Kimmel delivered a comedy monologue — a late-night TV staple for decades. Sinclair and Nexstar, both heavyweights in conservative broadcasting, didn’t like what he said about Charlie Kirk. They demanded apologies and even pulled Kimmel’s show from their stations. That’s bad enough.
But you, Chairman Carr, went further. Instead of defending free speech, you floated the idea of punishing ABC/Disney with regulatory action. That wasn’t Sinclair making the threats. That was the FCC, under your direction, threatening a major network because a comedian told jokes that the president and Republicans didn’t like.
You claim to support the First Amendment and deny you had threatened to pull licenses of ABC stations. But your actions say otherwise. You seem comfortable with a two-tiered system of free speech: unlimited for MAGA allies, censored for their critics. That isn’t freedom. It’s the creeping architecture of state-run media.
Do you want state-run media? Because that’s the path you’re paving, and you did recently say, “We’re not done yet.” History won’t remember you as a guardian of free expression. It will remember you as the man who turned an independent commission into Trump’s censorship committee.
Free speech doesn’t mean “free for Trump, censored for everyone else.” The First Amendment is not a partisan perk; it is the cornerstone of our democracy. If the FCC cannot uphold that principle without playing favorites, then it is failing the very people it was created to serve.
Chairman Carr, step away from the partisan games. Start acting like you work for the American people — not for Donald Trump’s ego.
Jody-Anne Martin, Oak Park
Not sowing the seeds of love
Jesus Christ: “Love thine enemy.”
Donald Trump: “I HATE my enemies.”
The current president may not actually be the Antichrist, but his messaging is certainly anti-Christian.
Richard Wetzel, Old Town