Readers Write: The Twins, Trump and women voters, measles, languages

Chip Scoggins was right on the money in his Sept. 29 column, "Time for the Pohlads to get serious or sell the Twins," when he wrote, "What a lousy message to send to fans, and to the players." But there's one group Scoggins forgot to mention: taxpayers. To build Target Field, Hennepin County instituted a 0.15% sales tax, which everyone pays, whether they're fans or not. What's more, according to an by Northeastern University, sales taxes are regressive because they take a larger share from low-income people than they do from high earners. Minneapolis' poverty dashboard shows that more than 100,000 people in Hennepin County are below the poverty line. So for Joe Pohlad to take money from even the poorest people in the county and act like he doesn't even care is unconscionable. He told Athletic reporter Aaron Gleeman repeatedly that he thinks of the team as a business, and not a community asset. Well, if it's a business, he owes something to his investors. That's us. So, I'd like to amend Scoggins' suggestion: Pohlad should get serious, sell the team or pay back every cent of taxpayer money that helped build Target Field.

The Pohlads completely abdicated their responsibility by fielding a team that was AAA at best for most of the season. They need to be reminded that the reason the team plays in one of the best venues in Major League Baseball is the commitment made by the state, Hennepin County and the city of Minneapolis. Apparently they have forgotten this and played the fans for chumps.

Plus, he tries to scare women about immigration, but we know better. Trump single-handedly tanked the bipartisan bill that would have poured $20 billion into immigration enforcement, providing thousands more asylum claims evaluators, hundreds more Border Patrol agents and helping stop the flow of fentanyl. Trump killed this bill for one reason only: So he could continue to spread lies about immigrants (like the one about Haitians eating pets in Ohio) and the number of illegal border crossings, which have actually decreased dramatically because of President Joe Biden's executive action.

I appreciated the Sept. 29 "Trump aims pitch at women" and felt compelled to respond. The recent posting on social media by Trump (cited in the ) proclaiming that he will protect women and that we will miraculously become more hopeful, healthy, safe and free under his watch was, at best, hypocritical, callous and disingenuous. It displayed an unmistakable lack of respect for all women. Has he not made it definitively clear that he intends to take, take, take our freedoms away? For example, he and his archaic running mate have campaigned on the premise to limit women's reproductive rights and our right to choose what is best for our health and have the audacity to criticize us for wanting to remove ourselves from abusive marriages. How dare they presume that our well-being is reliant on being controlled by them! We are not amused, and we will not be fooled by their deceptive strategies. My message to the Republican presidential candidates: Please, do continue to spew your irrational and dangerous rhetoric. It will only remind us women that our only choice at the ballot box is to end your political careers once and for all!

It is disheartening to observe the significant cases of measles and the adverse effect in Minnesota. A strict enforcement of a requirement that all students attending public and private schools be immunized is necessary. Experience has demonstrated that when parents realize that their children will not be able to attend school without being immunized, they will comply with the requirement. As in California, very limited exceptions should be allowed to the immunization requirements. Parents deciding not to immunize their children can home-school their children.