Readers Write (May 7): Politics in 2016 — Trump, Clinton, Dayton, Coleman; Black Lives Matter; parenting

Lori Davis took a stand against Maryland's speed cameras, but not about North Carolina's discriminatory transgender law legislating the use of a bathroom ("It's unfair to pick on college athletes to push an agenda," May 6). It seems she would prefer a man who identifies and dresses and appears as a woman to sashay into the men's room in North Carolina to fix her face and use the facilities in the privacy of a stall. Little 8-year-old boys won't be confused at all, right? The mature men will respect this person's privacy, and not a hoot nor a holler will be heard. Just be ready to call 911!

Davis is upset that Gov. Mark Dayton doesn't want to do business with these bigots. On these same pages, a letter writer extolled those "willing to make tough decisions" who are "not corrupted by Washington," pointing with approval to Donald Trump ("Voters, will you have the courage?"). Well, here we have a governor who thinks protected classes should be protected, and he's willing to put a lot on the line to stand tall for human dignity. He has the brass tacks to do the right thing.

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Republican officials are leaping overboard from the Trump Yacht of State; a Star Tribune poll shows that Minnesotans find Trump a tough prospect. No need for them to worry. A tough, intelligent, experienced, socially and economically moderate, internationally hawkish candidate is already in the running. And you already know her name.

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Two days, two Hillary Clinton items:

• May 4: An editorial cartoon by Steve Sack showing a "fat lady" opera singer performing, signifying to a tuned-out Bernie Sanders that his campaign is over.

Maybe Bernie Sanders shouldn't pack it in quite yet. A not-so-fat lady named Hillary Clinton may do some singing of her own, as the e-mail/server issue is investigated further. If Clinton clears the e-mail scandal hurdle, there are still pending issues dealing with Clinton Foundation transactions while she was secretary of state.

All one can see with Clinton's candidacy are distractions that won't go away soon. If she really cares about the country, really were a patriot, really were a stateswoman, really gave a rat's rear end, she would bow out of the race.

Forty-plus years ago, the country went through the Watergate scandal/crisis. Why would voters now want to elect someone who would probably force the U.S. to put up with another round of under-the-microscope presidential investigations?

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Paul Ryan's not accepting Trump as the Republican presidential candidate should be a wake-up call to all Americans and politicians. Ryan should see that we citizens are sick and tired of the same-'ol that the career politicians have done to our country and of our damaged view to the rest of the world. We want change, but not the change we have seen for the last seven-plus years. There has never been such a divided America since the Civil War. Change, as President Obama kept promising, is not always good. Change can also be bad. If Obama's promised change was good, why the divided mess?

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Many have written about Trump's unsuitability to serve as president. One common observation is his temperamental and inappropriate responses to those who disagree with him or who have engaged in any conduct that he chooses to belittle. Imagine the number and depths of political disagreements that will surely confront him if he is placed in a position of responsibility. His days will be filled with controversial and often difficult issues. The best evidence of Trump's ability to respond presidentially is his behavior to date. His propensity to command simple, uninformed and inappropriate solutions to complex problems borders on idiocy. There are consequences for bad judgment. But when our president behaves badly in foreign affairs, the consequences are especially frightening. It is almost a certainty that Trump's style will generate anti-U.S. agendas on the international scene, which will draw us into military conflict and loss of life. Trump is an unacceptable risk. His presidential candidacy is way beyond disturbing.

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It's the moment of truth for Republican conservatism in America. Ever since Ronald Reagan, conservatives have preached their gospel of high-minded principles with lofty rhetoric. We have been inundated with slogans of God-given freedoms and inalienable democratic ideals. They have invoked our founding fathers, the great patriots of our past, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Enter Donald Trump! He is crass, vulgar, a pathological liar, an egomaniacal blowhard, a man who believes that President Obama was born in Kenya, a racist, a xenophobe, a completely inexperienced dilettante and a reckless flip-flopper. And these are just a few of the characterizations put forth by Republican conservatives themselves.

Choose, conservatives: You can't have it both ways. Now we will discover your true character.

Norm Coleman, your claim that environmentalists have an "extremist" view against sulfide ore mining needs correcting. It is not extremism at all. Rather, it is a factual, realistic view based on historic evidence, which is that every sulfide ore mine ever operated on our planet has failed.

Norm, we all get the jobs thing. So what will it take for you to get the pollution thing? It really is not extreme at all.

Where is the Black Lives Matters crowd after the crimes committed this week? The poor little 5-year-old girl in St. Paul who was assaulted and raped while waiting for a school bus — I hope everybody is praying for her. And then the shootout in north Minneapolis that left one dead and several people hurt and that left a bullet waist-high in the side of a good friend's house with two little girls inside. How come no marching in the streets, stopping traffic of people who are working and demanding justice for the victims of those horrific crimes? I have never heard any one of the leaders who jump in front of the cameras or interrupt somebody trying to make a point explain that.

On May 6, in the Faces column on Page A2, there is an item titled "Super Dad" that describes the actor and comedian Eddie Murphy as now the father to nine children. There is no indication that he deserves the title of Super Dad other than the fact that he now has nine children. On behalf of all dads who put in the time, money and effort to raise their children the best they can, I object to singling out Murphy without more explanation. The short paragraph seems to say that he is "super" just because of the number of children he has fathered.