I'll take whatever humor I can find.

I read Tuesday's opinion piece "Minnesota, in decline, needs a turnaround" (Opinion Exchange) in which a local writer disparaged state efforts in business, government, law enforcement, taxes, education (he forgot hot lunch!), etc.

Then, in the same paper, the Business section carried the story "State's industrial rebound continues," which noted the state's business expansion and the good news that Minnesota once again outperforms in a nine-state regional ranking of manufacturing business growth.

Irony can be so entertaining.

Paul Hager, Northfield

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Andy Brehm opened the New Year with a nostalgic tour of Republican talking points circa 1971 ("Minnesota, in decline, needs a turnaround"). Criminals are driving business out of Minnesota. Just throw the book at 'em. Our governor is mediocre — no new ideas except more government programs. What we need is bold new leadership who will bring us less government, less taxes, more people in prison. Easy-peasy.

Second, and more troubling, Brehm ignores the elephant in the room: the rise of extremist ideology in the Trumpist Republican Party, including white supremacy, virulent anti-public-health sentiment, and the biggest elephant of all, the project to subvert the electoral process. Not one current Republican candidate for governor is willing to state, unconditionally, that Joe Biden is the legitimate president of the United States. This is not just normal politics — it is social disintegration.

So: We're on the verge of an authoritarian revolution instigated by his party, and Brehm is yammering about crime and taxes as if the Republican Party were just a benign advocate of "small government." Look, I disagree with even old-fashioned Republican ideology, but that old-fashioned party no longer exists. Until Brehm is willing to honestly confront the neo-fascism that has infected his party, he can't expect anyone to take him seriously on substantive policy.

Stephen Bubul, Minneapolis

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Brehm's piece needs to be fixed. He writes that "Minnesota last year lost an alarming 13,453 residents to other states." The 2020 census shows that Minnesota's population grew 7.6% from 2010 to 2020, the last count that is deemed reasonably accurate. He then rails that Minneapolis and St. Paul are becoming unappealing places to live. Minneapolis has a population growth rate of 1.08% annually and St. Paul has one of 0.37%, according to worldpopulationreview.com. What needs to happen in Minnesota is for people like Brehm to get their context straight.

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It is clear Brehm is reacting forcefully to issues in Minneapolis that have worsened. Crime, in particular.

Beneath that reality of crime on the rise, Brehm's remarks check off the recent Republican mantras, some with recognizable racial overtones. Here are rerun complaints about high taxes that destroy jobs, move businesses out and stall our economic engine. And the Lincoln-Humphrey references are essential to build the necessary facade of seeming racial equality. Touch 'em all, Andy. This may get you a look-see at political office.

On those racial overtones, he laments overspending on entitlements (for whom?), and because crime rates have spiked, we are denied the "economic benefits and amenities a thriving, prosperous and safe Twin Cities can provide." Great sound bite, were it not for his leap to "woke politicians" (anyone sympathetic to historic institutional Black oppression), his sneering at social workers on the beat, and his mocking the essential tool — "understanding" — to promote community relations.

In Brehm's black-and-white political playbook, "the root cause of crime is simple: criminals." This corporate lawyer advises to "Throw the book at violent offenders"; no nuance or empathy for the Black experience of anger, frustration and fear (need we mention economic disparity, affecting health care and mortality rates?). Is crime a symptom of any of these? Is George Floyd listening to this?

Steve Watson, Minneapolis

I'm as disturbed by the wave of recent carjackings as anyone, but Sheriff Bob Fletcher's insinuations about the influence of video games are ridiculously off base ("Who is stealing so many vehicles?" front page, Jan. 2). He believes "Part of it comes from the video game of 'Grand Theft Auto,' and that bleeds over into real life." Oh, does it now? After gaming for over 30 years, I've never taken to the roads to destroy other cars à la "Super Mario Kart." Nor have I ever reached for a grenade launcher or sniper rifle to solve my real-life problems like I have in "Far Cry." Or, to Fletcher's point, I've never assaulted a drug dealer, stolen a submarine, or flown a plane through a tunnel, despite having played plenty of "Grand Theft Auto." Maybe I'm particularly well-adjusted and immune to the hypnotizing effect of games, but I tend to think people can separate out fictionalized entertainment from reality. Like how one doesn't leave "Ghostbusters" fearing the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man.

Video games have been the favorite scapegoat of out-of-touch lawmakers (or in this case, law enforcers), since way back in the 1990s, when the Senate held hearings surrounding the violence of "Mortal Kombat," which now seems absurdly quaint and cartoonish. And with roughly a third of this planet's population actively playing games now, one would think the wave of global violence perpetrated in the name of the Xbox would be apocalyptic in scale.

Or ... perhaps video games don't have quite the power of moral manipulation that Fletcher imagines. It's a great boogeyman, but games can't hold a candle to the real-world inequities that allow this kind of amorality to flourish.

Travis Anderson, Minneapolis

There is no comparison.

Jan. 6 was a partisan and illegal mob rioting to keep their corrupt leader in power by using brutal and violent force.

The worldwide demonstrations after Floyd's murder were nonpartisan against the use of brutal and violent force by police departments, especially against people of color.

My observation was that the Floyd demonstrators, who included children and adults of all imaginable variations, went home at the end of the day, and the insurrectionists came out at night to riot.

A further difference is that "left-wing extremists" did not cause and are not responsible for the police misconduct, for the unchecked racism responsible for the murder and death and incarceration of people of color all over the earth, while the "right-wing extremists" are the cause and are responsible for the lies and partisan dogma that created and encouraged the death and mayhem at the capitol on Jan. 6.

John Crivits, St. Paul