Readers Write: Protest locations, the Trump campaign and Russia, Bill Clinton at the convention, police contracts, debating Minneapolis

Thank you to Blois Olson for his Aug. 19 commentary "America is losing its grip on civility." One issue he barely touched on that deserves more attention is the trend of protests occurring at public officials' homes.

As much as I detest Minneapolis police union leader Bob Kroll, the protest at his home in Hugo was appalling. Recent protests at the homes of Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and several Minneapolis City Council members send a disturbing message. These are people doing a job, and they are entitled to a private life with their families. Protest at City Hall, protest at the office of the Police Officers Federation or march down the street, but stop intimidating and harassing our public officials at their homes. I give Frey great credit for his courage when he faced thousands of angry protesters outside his front door.

In this climate, why should anyone want to run for office, especially if they have a home or business that becomes a target for protests or vandalism? Ultimately these protests will have a chilling effect on our ability to attract good candidates to run for office and on our democracy itself.

• • •

I was surprised Wednesday to find "Trump campaign's Russia contacts a 'grave threat,' " with the summary "GOP-led Senate panel details how Moscow interfered in '16 election," on Page 10 of the first section of the paper. An indictment of this magnitude by a bipartisan Senate committee led by members of the president's party, if related to any other president in U.S. history, would have brought about his removal from office and, for those who were complicit, criminal charges or disgrace. But somehow, this president is still in office, and his appointees continue to undermine our federal institutions, most recently the U.S. Postal Service.

Have we become numb to the daily onslaught of hateful, untruthful political rhetoric from this president and those supporting him, or in the midst of a pandemic and awakening to years of racial injustice is it more than we can take in?

I hope not. This president has failed to uphold his oath of office — has failed to uphold the Constitution in protecting the United States of America against its enemies. Evidence that he is unfit for office and a danger to our country should still be front-page news, and is reason for him to be lawfully removed from office. It might be helpful information for the more than 40% of Americans, as reported in the polls, who still support his re-election.

I understand the desire to show unity behind Joe Biden, but Democratic National Committee officials need to recognize that including former President Bill Clinton as a party convention speaker doesn't help.

Clinton addressed several of President Donald Trump's shortcomings, including Trump's egregiously inadequate response to COVID-19 deaths: "It is what it is." But to have Clinton utter a five-word sentence that has the word "is" in it twice?!! Eww, no, stop — icky flashback to then-President Clinton before the grand jury testifying about his sexual relationship with then-intern Monica Lewinski: "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."

I'm thinking that many can agree to just say "no" to re-electing Donald Trump — and also to just say "no" to giving Bill Clinton airtime.

Management has a lot of power in most public employee contracts. All contracts carefully delineate management's responsibilities. They go even further than that. The contracts usually contain an article that clearly states that anything not delineated in the contract is the purview of management. Most of the contracts also include in job descriptions a statement something like "and all other assigned duties."

Therefore, one would assume that management could easily change the Minneapolis police contract to its liking (Readers Write, Aug. 19). Nothing is further from the truth. No union willingly gives up anything it already has contractually, such as binding arbitration. The suggestion of changing binding arbitration to consider only monetary damages requires a change to the Public Employees Labor Relations Act, which is also highly unlikely.

The Aug. 19 letter writer decrying the opinions of the suburbanites on the opinion page ("A Minneapolitan's take") needs to look at the big picture. It is we suburbanites and outstate citizens who flow downtown for dining, sporting, musical and theatrical events supporting the economy of Minneapolis. Do you think I am going to subject family and friends to the lawless environment that has been created by the lack of leadership in Minneapolis?

Also, we (the citizens of Minnesota) are being asked to support funding for the rebuilding of the areas destroyed by the lawlessness permitted by the so-called leaders of Minneapolis. On the surface, I would tell my legislator "hell, no" to demonstrate to the Minneapolis elected officials our collective distaste for their lack of leadership. In my case, I realize that the elected officials' lives will go on unscathed and it is the innocent citizens and entrepreneurs of Minneapolis who will suffer the most. I am empathetic toward them and would be in favor of direct aid (that means not passing through Minneapolis government) to them to help restore their lives and businesses as best they can.

I can go on and on, but I think I have explained why our opinions matter.