Readers Write: Minnesota’s fine beer, politics, Uber and Lyft, college debt, guns and cows

Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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Congratulations to all the fine breweries recognized in this year’s Minnesota Brewers Cup (“Best beer in the state? Cup winners listed,” March 26). However, the author states that Surly Brewing “is credited with starting Minnesota’s craft beer boom.” I think most of our state’s discerning beer drinkers would award that distinction to Summit Brewing Company, which began brewing its game-changing Extra Pale Ale back in 1986. And I’m confident in speculating the fine folks at Surly would agree.

Michael Gottsacker, St. Paul

Thank you for the report on GOP hopefuls for Third District representative, and their early positions (“Four in GOP seek suburban seat,” March 17).

It makes it easy to plan how to vote. In summary: Three actually profess support Trump after all we have witnessed, all four support more fossil fuel use, and two are smart enough to not fully state their position on abortion rights — while two oppose such rights. If I had to choose among these four candidates with their little concern for climate change, civil decency and the rule of law, I probably would support the candidate smart enough to not try winning over an educated electorate by promising to support more mayhem and lawlessness at the highest levels.

Fortunately, I can choose outside people who believe in what I see as real American values, an M.D. who believes in science, integrity among politicians and confronting the real challenges we all see, who also has a proven record in government: state Sen. Kelly Morrison. Now, I look forward to this paper publishing her positions on issues important to the Third District electorate — without having them told to me by her opponents.

Apologists for Donald Trump are once again contorting themselves into pretzels over his “bloodbath” speech. Trump claimed he would put a “100% tariff on every single car” that’s imported “if I get elected. Now if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s gonna be the least of it, it’s gonna be a bloodbath for the country, that’ll be the least of it.”

Putting aside for a moment the utter incredulity of referring to auto pricing/tariffs as in any way resembling a “bloodbath,” let us look into exactly what Trump said. What was the initial subject of these lines? Tariffs on cars. Now then, if he doesn’t get elected, the subject — auto pricing — will be “the least of it,” because he will instigate a bloodbath revolt, when, of course, auto pricing — again, remember that is the object to which he refers — will not be important. Not be important in relation to what? To the violence he threatens to unleash if he loses once again.

“Oh, that’s just Trump being Trump,” the apologists will counter. But this man is the most dangerous demagogue/hustler/charlatan/threat to American democracy ever, and “Trump being Trump” is simply a frighteningly accurate description; it is in no way a defense.

Bruce Hughes, Brooklyn Park

The notion that Minneapolis can easily duplicate the services of Uber and Lyft, as J. Dan E. Maruska’s commentary of several days ago suggests, is based on magical thinking (“Minnesota can do better than Uber, Lyft,” March 23).

And 2023 is only the first year since it became public that Uber has reported positive earnings. The losses for the prior seven years total a staggering $28.4 billion (also see finbox.com).

This business model, which allows individuals to enhance their take-home pay on a schedule that they determine, has been difficult to convert into a successful business. It has taken many years and a vast amount of capital. The notion that a Minnesota community could duplicate this service quickly and easily is as far-fetched as the belief of the Minneapolis City Council that they will be able to convince Uber and Lyft to modify this business model for one community after so many years of expensive development.

Sheldon Sturgis, Minneapolis

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I’m in my 70s and, luckily, still drive my car, so I am not at the whim of both forms of transportation except occasionally. I do remember a time when local cabbies came to the door, helped with your bags, drove clean cars and were friendly workers, sometimes your neighbors. You could often ask for the same cabbie when you needed him. I don’t like the monopoly at the airport in the taxi location, so my wife and I avoid it. We’ve had some difficulties with that — unfriendly drivers, drivers who need us to give them directions and overcharges. Now if we are desperate, we hire a limo service where we get the same kind of service we used to get from all the local cab companies.

Jerry Carroll, Roseville

The writer of the letter “Don’t be so myopic” is referencing an editorial in the Star Tribune regarding whether a college degree is “worth it” by analyzing starting salary. She says it is a mistake to use this as a measuring stick. The point she should be making is that this is a good measure to look at when deciding on how much debt a student will acquire to get a degree in a low-paying field with a low starting salary. We read and hear of those who chose a decision that precludes them from marriage and homeownership.

Duane Dana White, Edina

Thank you for reporting on the comments by state Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, at Friday’s Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee hearing on a bill for safe storage of guns (“Senator cites cows on gun bill,” March 26). I was in the audience at the hearing and wished that other Minnesotans could hear the senator’s ill-informed comments. Not to minimize the 20 deaths nationally per year from cow trampling, but these numbers simply don’t compare to the more than 117,000 firearm suicides between 2003 and 2018. During the period 2003-2021, more than 1,200 children 17 or younger died by unintentional firearm injury. Independent researchers have shown the overwhelming link between unsecured firearms and suicide and accidental death.

This is a serious issue that deserves serious consideration of real facts, not a bunch of speculative bull.

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I don’t know if I should laugh or cry after reading article about gun safety and cows. I was born on a farm and also worked on a large dairy farm, and not once did I need a gun to protect myself from mad cows. Maybe raise chickens or turkeys; they’re less dangerous.