Readers Write: Time change, endorsing Trump, Super Tuesday, rideshare wages, state flag, energy

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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Every time we move our clocks forward or back, we hear a lot of complaints about how bad this is for our health. So, why aren’t we warned against vacationing in different time zones? How much risk are Minnesotans taking by going to Daytona for spring break? That’s an hour difference. What about people who travel for business? Think of our sports teams. How do they keep life or health insurance?

I know a man who is a pilot on transatlantic flights in which the time zone changes by seven hours! My gosh, how is he even still alive?

David Rosene, Brooklyn Park

Regarding “McConnell endorses Trump despite long feud” (March 7): Am I reading this right? Sen. Mitch McConnell endorses Trump? Reading further, McConnell states: “It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.” Well, I have a surprise for you, senator. I’m not only surprised; I’m astonished, shocked and flabbergasted! This, after Trump made demeaning and racist remarks about your wife? Not to mention his less-than-flattering comments about you?

Of course, you’ve demonstrated your ability to put aside principled behavior — perhaps most notably when you denied President Barack Obama his constitutional right to fill a vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. Maybe I should remind myself of this side of your history. But this endorsement? Really?

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I was astonished to see that the Star Tribune felt McConnell’s endorsement of Trump was news, even worthy of a teaser on page 1. Feels a bit like “dog bites man,” doesn’t it? Find a Republican with enough courage to stand by their convictions and against the former president, and that will be news.

Carla Steen, St. Paul

Don’t assume that all of the uncommitted votes in Tuesday’s primary were protesting President Joe Biden’s handling of Gaza (“Rebuke of Biden sees traction,” March 7). Some of us are simply uncommitted in our support for a presidential candidate in the Democratic Party.

Dave Larson, St. Paul

The writer’s logic makes no sense at all. Workers are constantly negotiating with their employers for better wages and working conditions while continuing to do the same work for that employer. This is especially true when companies like Lyft and Uber are taking advantage of those who do all the work while taking “60% of ride income when the drivers provide the service.” The writer’s solution to the plight of these drivers seems to be that if they don’t like what they’re paid, then they should quit and find another job that pays better. Maybe in his world this strategy makes sense, but in the world where these drivers live and work, this strategy makes no sense at all.

Driving for Uber or Lyft is their occupation, and they should be paid a livable wage.

George Larson, Brooklyn Park

Regarding “GOP seeks a vote on new flag” (March 6): The article says the present flag “shows a white settler plowing a field in the foreground while a Native American man on horseback rides into the sunset.” You have repeated this previously. If you draw a line from the settler to the sun, the Native American is riding at right angles to the line — not toward the sun. And the horse is going from off the plowed field onto the field (what does that symbolize?). He is not riding into the sunset away from the settler. And the Native American and settler are looking at each other.

The new flag will be among the most abstract state flags (which “flag experts” apparently like). The abstraction means little to me, and will mean less to the rest of the country.

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An apartment house across from our local grocery is already flying the new state flag. The design wasn’t my first choice among those proposed, but I have to say: It’s bold, sharp, distinctive and really eye-catching. It looks great atop that flagpole! I think the flag commission has served the state very well indeed.

Richard Shelton, Roseville

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In response to the letter writer of “Is this really our main concern?” who criticized the GOP spending time on the new flag: I would think the same could be said for entertaining the process of changing the state flag in the first place.

The article published on March 2 “Northern Foundry will close Hibbing facility, lay off 91 workers” noted that high utility rates was one reason for the closure. It also said: “The state’s entire electric grid is undergoing transformation as renewable energy sources are straining capacity, requiring new high-voltage transmission lines.” Another article published on March 5 (“Xcel wary of open market power”) noted the same strain on the electric grid, adding: “That can be especially troublesome during extreme weather events, which have become more frequent and severe.”

Renewable energy is the cheapest form of power today (per a recent United Nations report), but we cannot realize the full benefit if this energy cannot be transmitted efficiently, or if the transmission is jeopardized by weather events. A bill before Congress addresses the problem by improving the reliability of the energy grid. The aptly-named Big Wires Act would encourage the states to build the infrastructure needed to move clean energy, along with new transmission lines. Learn more by looking up Citizens Climate Lobby and the Big Wires Act. Take action by contacting your U.S. representative and your senators, and ask them to support the bill. Let’s get that clean energy moving!

Roger B. Day, Duluth, Minn.

I read with concern the Feb. 25 article on recycling. My concern was triggered by the phrase in the first sentence, that the bill would force “manufacturers to help pay for recycling all those cardboard boxes and plastic clamshell containers” (“Bill would greatly expand recycling”).

Ultimately, manufacturers don’t pay for anything. Consumers do. If manufacturers don’t get paid for their products, they go out of business.

I’m concerned, too, and I don’t know the best answer. Reuse of packaging might be a better approach than recycling.