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Why does the Star Tribune, along with NPR and the BBC and countless other mainstream media outlets, insist on using the inaccurate term "militant" to describe those members of Hamas who have been killing innocent Israeli citizens, most of them noncombatants, since Saturday morning? Surely the term "terrorist" would be a more accurate word to describe individuals who kill little children, fun-loving young people attending a music festival and elderly men and women waiting at a bus stop — individuals who paraded a half-naked woman through the streets in the back of a Hamas pickup truck, with one leg at an unnatural angle, while jeering and spitting on her.

George Orwell taught us that language can be used to corrupt thought. As we observe the unfolding tragedy in the Middle East, let us strive, therefore, to use accurate terminology to describe the horrors that are taking place there. Calling those who commit unspeakable crimes "militants" and not "terrorists" is an offense not only against the English language, but a grave insult to the dead and those who mourn them.

Bernard Carpenter, Chanhassen

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Knowing it has $6 billion in cash coming its way for food and medical expenses, Iran can easily afford to spend its oil revenue on terroristic endeavors like planning, backing and carrying out the attacks on the innocent citizens of Israel. So President Joe Biden and his minions can say all day long that their ransom payment to Iran has nothing to do with those attacks, but it does. Iran just traded one amount for another. Now if Biden had any stones at all (which he doesn't) he'd rescind the money.

Robert Huge, Edina

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It seems war in Israel has been going on forever: long before the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt, before and after the Romans, the Crusades, World War I and World War II, and almost continually since its re-establishment on May 14, 1948. However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's blatant and continued total disregard of the Palestinian people, his frequent military invasions of their territory and destruction of their property, his wanton disregard for international law in building settlements, his total refusal to work toward a two-state solution and a more equitable relationship and his continual dogmatic abuse and unyielding "might makes right" diplomacy has forced the current eruption of horrific conflict.

The peoples of Israel and Palestine are not the only ones suffering from an indicted man's moral and political hubris and intransigence.

John Crivits, St. Paul

Monsters entered Israel on Saturday. How can these Hamas terrorists be described any other way? They killed indiscriminately. They killed children. They killed the elderly. Young people celebrating a holiday with dancing and laughter with the joy that comes so easily to youth were killed.

Israel has responded. It is strong, it is courageous, and it is rightfully angry. Electricity and water have been cut off. Goods are blockaded. Precision bombs are being dropped from planes and missiles. But without food, do not children starve? Without water and electricity do not the elderly suffer and die? Are the bodies of children, mothers and the elderly not shredded by bombs along with the monsters?

To the people of Israel, I have to ask: Has not your leader's indifference to peace become your own indifference? By failing to do the hard work needed to make peace, you've made your work infinitely more difficult. How do you bring the monsters of Hamas to justice without becoming monsters yourselves? You are strong, and you are courageous, but please, I beg you, find the strength and the courage to achieve justice without using the tactics of monsters. Find the strength and the courage to finish making peace with Saudi Arabia. Don't let the monsters win out.

Dan Martin, Minneapolis

It's fitting that Michael Bloomberg runs a news outlet because his commentary about Democrats ("Dems share blame for mess in the House," Opinion Exchange, Oct. 7) is best understood as fish wrap, greasy pages of ink that were never meant to be read.

McCarthy and House allies were hoisted with their own petard, the charge for which was set when they courted these destructive right-wingers who cajoled McCarthy into giving up his power before he even wielded it.

The former speaker and House Republicans rejected bipartisanship and genuine leadership when they reneged on their oath to the Constitution and failed to rebuke a wannabe autocrat, a dangerously hollow man who continues daily to subvert the foundations of our republic. Then McCarthy broke his bipartisan budget promises and launched a politically calculated impeachment inquiry against Joe Biden.

Is this the sort of bipartisanship Bloomberg wants Democrats to emulate?

Republican leadership is responsible for Republicans tearing down the House and starting a food fight atop the rubble of their own destructive behavior. Like all people suffering self-inflicted harm, Republican leaders must admit they have problems before they can fix them.

Thereafter, they are obliged to make bipartisan change we all want to see effected: Join other patriotic citizens to save our democracy by keeping all petulant tyrants forever outside the halls of power and far removed from our democratic institutions.

Many years ago, one of my children attended a school that had a very good basketball team. I enjoyed going to the games and cheering them on. But then the fans started chanting. They would chant the initials of the school over and over again. It was obnoxious. I quit going to games.

I was thrilled to see that major crowd noise has returned to Twins games during the games against Toronto last week. It's interesting that the fans can drum up that much noise in a stadium without a roof. It's a credit to a long-suffering fan base.

But then, perhaps led by the scoreboard messaging, there was this chant, "Let's go Twins. Let's go Twins." It accomplished the purpose of being loud, but it also veered into that unpleasant zone. Just because 40,000 people can chant the same thing in unison isn't really a good reason to do it.

Chanting at college basketball games can be fun because of the creativity of the students, where the chant is more spontaneous and often reflects what's happening in the game.

But my question as I heard "Let's go Twins" for the 50th time last week was: "Is this the best that Minnesota can do?" If we must chant, can't we at least be a little more creative? Maybe something, considering the weather forecast, like "The 'Stros are froze." Or even "Give peace a chance"?