Letters to the editor: Taking issue with sports betting and political ads

Betting on sports

1. The basketball anticipation/excitement that I felt as a UK freshman in 1978 has finally been crushed by the full weight of the current NIL mallet. The fan base is now held hostage by greedy 19-year-olds who are simply seeking the biggest cash payout. Capitalism I support, mercenary athletes I do not.

2. And hand in glove with this is the state and university sanctioned gambling business. It’s sad to watch grown statesmen, sports figures and corporations sell-out to sports betting.

To the young family man: delete your sports betting app, then put all future bets into a savings account. You’ll thank me in five years. Gambling benefits one entity and it’s not the one placing the bets. It will drain your bank accounts eventually.

John Mackey, Lexington

Solving social crises

Cutting public funding for nonprofits will not solve homelessness — it will make it worse. Nonprofits are not a substitute for government; they are a partner. Public funding allows organizations to deliver services efficiently and at lower cost, while remaining flexible to respond to changing conditions.

In the case of homelessness, that means providing emergency shelter, connecting individuals to services, and helping people move toward stable housing — work that benefits the community. Across Central Kentucky, including Frankfort, nonprofits are often the first and last line of support for individuals experiencing homelessness.

On any given night in Kentucky, thousands experience homelessness, underscoring the scale of the need and the importance of coordinated response. Without these partnerships, the burden does not disappear. It shifts—to emergency rooms, law enforcement, and other systems that are far more costly and less effective at creating long-term solutions.

In Kentucky, where many communities are already stretched thin, reducing support for nonprofits would not decrease spending. It would increase it, while worsening outcomes for our most vulnerable neighbors. As someone involved in this work locally, I see firsthand the impact these partnerships have. The question should not be whether to fund nonprofits, but how to do so effectively and responsibly to achieve the best outcomes for our communities.

Brenda Rice, Frankfort

Political ads

I’ve never been a fan of political ads, but those currently airing are exceptionally nauseating. Historically they show competent men/women promising things they cannot possibly deliver, who downplay and degrade their competitors, dramatize cliches, and manipulate voter fears and prejudice. Mostly we get it and don’t need to hear these commercials more than once or twice to understand the candidate’s persona.

This time, we also see (continuously) experienced, successful and educated Republicans openly salivating for approval from a convicted felon; a bully of a man guilty of well-documented sexual misconduct. They seem to assume their connection to, support of and capitulation to this narcissist are selling points!

Imagine voting for another rubber stamp on policies that have made us less safe, more isolated and complicit with autocrats rather than with our longstanding international allies. How insulting and demeaning, especially to women and minorities, often pushed aside and verbally abused by this President. Somehow family values and “tough on crime” taglines scream hypocrisy from these candidates as they align themselves with a womanizer who has so far managed to avoid the punishment of the very laws he uses against his personal and perceived enemies.

Sorry, no sale.

Janice Russell, Lexington

Presidential record

Some new and doozy presidential statements for the record

• “The U.S. military is looking forward, actually, to its next conquest.” Yep, hopefully some nation will resist arrest by President Donald J. Trump, so he can then unleash the military on them.
• “If I wasn’t in the White House, Leo wouldn’t be in the Vatican.” I guess Trump is so admired in the Vatican that the Cardinals wanted to flatter him by hoisting up the first American Pope ever.
• “If I pulled up stakes right now [in Iran], it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country.” I guess that’s the “help” Trump promised to send Iranian protestors.
• JD Vance: “Trump is smart. Earlier presidents were dumb.” I guess Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and the rest of boys just didn’t have that much grey matter.
• Regarding a pilot shot down in Iran, “We leave no American behind.” Hmmm, what about federal employees fired by DOGE, DEI participants, immigrants in process, Obamacare subsidy recipients?

Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross, Utah