I was very disappointed with the sports headline about the WNBA Finals game, “Wrong side of history.” An awful headline for two reasons. First, it doesn’t fit the situation: Dictators and racists, for example, are on the wrong side of history; basketball teams are not. Second, it contained no acknowledgment of the truly special excitement and competitiveness of the series. Both teams played their hearts out. The underdog Lynx, especially, deserve credit for pushing the Liberty to the brink. How about something like “Liberty wins championship in historic five-game battle.”
I see this paper has gone a different direction this year with regard to endorsing political candidates. Rather than endorsing one over the other(s), the Minnesota Star Tribune Editorial Board is summarizing policy differences and prescriptions among the candidates and letting readers decide. I have no objection to this format other than one glaring omission: For each candidate, the board needed to report if the aspiring officeholder — at least those for federal office — believes the 2020 election was stolen. In other words, we readers need to understand if the GOP candidate seeking our vote has hitched their wagon to Donald Trump. If the answer is yes (or if they are evasive on the question), none of this candidate’s stances on the issues really matter. Should a Republican candidate confess their allegiance to Trump — by way of admitting skepticism that President Joe Biden won in 2020 — they are essentially telling us how they might vote on legal and constitutional matters under a Trump presidency. They are also telling readers that our vote may not count in future elections. For the readers’ full understanding of how candidates’ regard our democracy, this paper needs to ask, and report first and foremost, if a candidate is an election-denier.
Jill Schwimmer, Minneapolis
