Trump is no JFK

A sign at the protest Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


Thank you for your attention to this matter!

Thousands turned out Friday night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to join hands and form a human chain around the JFK building and listen briefly to politicians and others decry Trump's attempt to destroy the city by erecting ugly monuments and slapping his name on the ones which still stand before he tears them down.

"Hands Off the Arts" quickly called for a protest after Trump's plans to destroy the Kennedy Center surfaced in a photo through an airplane window. (May that photographer be nominated for the Pulitzer.)

Thousands gathered and police kept a low profile. The trio of National Guard members usually found at the Foggy Bottom Metro station were nowhere to be seen nor were any Guard members present Friday night at the KC, which, until Trump, was a lively venue for daily and evening shows, 365 days/year, now fallen silent with the destruction of its board by a fake arts enthusiast.



Before the demonstration Sept. 18, 2026, fencing went up around the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

Where there's Trump, these likelinesses will follow. At the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 18, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

In case readers have not seen Trump's Tarp covering President Kennedy's name /By Patricia Leslie


Tara Hoot (center, in red) at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


Drag queen Tara Hoot (she was!) was the moderator Friday night when Washington's Gay Men's Chorus sang and U.S. Congressman Don Beyer (D-VA) addressed the crowd, saying he'd never known anyone as insecure as Trump who demands that his name go up on public buildings. 

Trump's motto: "It's my way or the highway."

Other speakers Friday night included a union official and D.C.'s Democratic congressional candidate, Robert White. 

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026, a fake Trump came to present his constant message at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

After the talks ended, the crowd took off, moving slowly with the flow to find waiting hands to clasp at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie
The sign says "Take Care Of This House. Be Always on Call. For This House Is The Hope Of Us All." At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

Moving to find hands for the human chain at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

On the way to form a human chain around the building at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie
Les miserables marched to save the union at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


Spilling off the front plaza at the JFK Center Sept. 18, 2026 on to F Street, NW, "les misérables" joined hands to stop the destruction of the JFK Memorial. The circular buildings comprise the Watergate complex/By Patricia Leslie

Crossing Rock Creek Parkway at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


On Rock Creek Parkway where motorists honked their horns in support of the people at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

On the Potomac River side of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, motorists sounded their horns in support of the people marching to save the center at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie
Inside the "Reach," all is quiet Sept. 18, 2026 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

At an empty hall at the "Reach" at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 18, 2026/By Patricia Leslie

An empty entrance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts where millions enjoyed performances annually before Trump tore out its heart and soul, but when Trump's term ends, a heart transplant will be conducted and the center's soul, restored/By Patricia Leslie

A silent Concert Hall at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Sept. 18, 2026/By Patricia Leslie
 The D.C. Activist Street Band played on with their wonderful New Orleans flavor at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie


The crowd danced to the tunes of the D.C. Activist Street Band at the "Hands Off the Arts" rally Sept. 18, 2026 to save the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts/By Patricia Leslie

A photographer at the JFK Statue at the Center Friday night, the statue, a gift in celebration of the Center's 50th anniversary, Sept. 1971-2021, from David M. Rubenstein, the Kennedy Center chair 2010-2025 until he was ousted by Trump.

At the statue I met a couple from California in town for a few days who happily joined the throng, seeing signs around town announcing the event, they said. They were astonished to hear of Trump's proposed destruction of the JFK Memorial. And of the golf course. And to build the arch. 

Other people at the statue asked each other:  "Where were you when ...?"



patricialesli@gmail.com

Beltway bullies try to ensnare Biden: cartoon idea

On a map of the U.S., President Biden is surrounded in the center of the Beltway by the "elites," the "know-it-alls," the "yakkers," the politicians (commonly known as the Beltway bullies) who form on the BW a team of connecting wagons led by donkeys with their heads hung low. 

Like common criminals, the bullies are dressed alike in all black; they wear sunglasses and hoods. They whip the donkeys.

The president in top hat and aviators (of course) is dressed like Uncle Sam with the tails on his coat flying in the wind as he cries "Help! Help!" from the top of the Capitol to those outside the BW, the VOTERS, who fill the rest of the U.S. map.

Some of the VOTERS are on rearing horses but they all surround the BW with their lassos ready to throw to the president and THEY cry: "We're coming to the rescue, boss man!"

In a sandbox nearby, Trump plays with dolls.

patricialesli@gmail.com

The July 4, 2024 Parade in Washington, D.C. in pictures!

Honoring the Folds of Honor in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Chaparral High School Marching Band from Las Vegas, NV in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

What would a parade be without the Clydesdales?  Thank you, Budweiser! In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie
 

Troop 55 from Great Falls, VA, chartered by St. Francis Episcopal Church, National Capital Area Council in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Beauties on parade, July 4, 2024 Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Waconia High School Marching Band, Waconia, MN in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

He is? Representing the Netherlands in the Euro Bowl? In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

This group represented areas in and around Seattle who not only played music but stopped to perform, too, in the the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

This group represented areas in and around Seattle who not only played music but stopped to perform, too, in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C.  

"Jump when I say jump! 

"You put your right foot in, you take your right foot out, you put your right foot in and you shake it all about! You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around; that's what it's all about!""/By Patricia Leslie

These thirsties didn't get the message that D.C. had an areawide alert to boil water. At the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Bolivian dancers in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Would you walk a mile in these shoes?  She did in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Sikhs love America and marched in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Sikhs in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

John Marshall High School's Lawyers from Cleveland, OH marched in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

It'll be here before you know it but now you have the date for the 2025 National Cherry Blossom Festival: Mar. 20 - Apr. 13.  You sure about that late date? Climate change has the blossoms flowering long before March 20! In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Gotta Swingers were dancin' in the street in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

What would a parade be without the Falun Dafa? At the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Falun Dafa had straight lines in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

George and Martha?? Couldn't be since vehicles weren't around in the 18th century. But who's counting? The 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

Bring on the dogs! In the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

At the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Deuel High School Marching Cardinals from Cedar Lake, SD in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

The Dev Garjana Percussion Band from Chantilly, VA in the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

At parade's end, crowds gathered to enter the cool Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. but no one jumped in the water (at last sighting)/By Patricia Leslie

A side show on 12th Street, N.W. after the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

A side show on 12th Street, N.W. after the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

A side show on 12th Street, N.W. after the 2024 Independence Day Parade, Washington, D.C./By Patricia Leslie

patricialesli@gmail.com