Editor:

Ms. Mager in her 13 January letter to the editor seems mighty upset over criticisms of Donald Trump, but then does little to defend him, instead diverting our attention to Minnesota, which, while a real scandal, does not affect you or me in the way that most of Trump’s specific policies do.

So I will address the general criticisms of Trump’s policies, and provide reliable, verifiable statistics to back up my points. It is easier to trust facts rather than emotional comments.

Here are some of Ms. Mager’s claims that I most strongly refute:

1. That Trump boosted manufacturing jobs: No. The 2024 data showed an average monthly gain of 168,000 jobs. That was already one of the weakest years outside of recessions.  Then, in 2025, under Trump, the average job gain averaged only 49,000 a month, which included negative growth in June, August and October. Data comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

2. That Trump secured the border: Better, with only 10,000 crossings per month. But not secure. That’s still some 120,000 people this year.

3. That Trump disrupted criminal networks: I was unable to research this, because it is not clear what she means by this statement.

4. That Trump expanded addiction care access: With cuts to health care nationwide, it is hard to see how health care in any area could have improved. According to Congressional Budget Office analysis, Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” aims to cut health care spending.Medicaid cuts will push 5 million to 7.8 million people off Medicaid.

The Affordable Care Act  tax credits will expire; up to 4.8 million more people could lose their insurance in 2026, with 7.3 million losing ACA coverage overall. Did you know they have cut the budget for the National Institutes of Health? They do our medical research.  This does not improve health care. On January 15, the Trump administration cut thousands of federal grants for mental health and addiction. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said the grants had been cut off because the programs “no longer effectuate” the agencies’ priorities. These cuts amount to nearly $2 billion.

5. That Trump raised public safety and industry standards: In 2025 the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to repeal or weaken greenhouse gas standards for power plants and vehicles (which increases air pollution). They plan to extend compliance deadlines for oil and gas industries to clean up their sewage and emissions. This causes more air pollution and rivers and waterways filled with industrial poisons. Any fishermen out there who care?

They will no longer assign dollar values to health benefits—for example, air pollution causes emphysema, which causes hospital visits, surgeries and medication, which costs money. They will no longer keep track of the harm to human health in terms of dollars. The Big Beautiful Bill makes steep cuts to investments in solar energy and wind energy, both of which make a cleaner environment and can also create more jobs to build those systems.

Now let’s talk about the Minnesota mess.  It is truly a case of gross mismanagement. It will cost Governor Tim Walz his job. But Trump did not send ICE to clean up the fraud in Minnesota, as Ms. Mager claims. ICE was sent to arrest immigrants. It has arrested 2,400 as of this writing. Only 85 are Somalis. Actually, ICE does not deal with crime. The FBI does.  ICE finds and arrests foreign-looking people, whether they are citizens or not.

But while we are on the subject of ICE:  These ICE people have been sent mainly to liberal cities. They come in unmarked cars, without uniforms, without search warrants, with face coverings (are they ashamed?), armed with more assault weapons than our regular combat troops in a war zone, and they refuse to provide any identification.

You know all this is illegal! You know this is unAmerican! We don’t behave this way! We don’t tear people out of their cars after breaking their car windows, and throw folks on the ground. You know five armed masked guys against one lone man or woman face down on the cement is not a fair fight.  You know that they do this even if the person says they are an American citizen. You are an American citizen… it could happen to you. In fact, they arrested and took away three Oglala Sioux Indians. Who’s the immigrant now?

Some ICE statistics:  Over 73% of those arrested had no criminal record and many of the rest had only traffic violations. Many were not border arrests, but inside the country away from any border. According to TRAC Immigration, 41,624 were booked into detention centers in October 2015; 68,440 people were in detention as of mid-December 2025.  622,000 have been deported; 1,900,000 self-deported. There have been 34 deaths in custody. 4,250 are reported missing, just plain gone.

Trump gave permission for ICE to raid schools, hospitals, places of worship.  This isn’t the America that I grew up in.

Let’s talk about economics.  Trump said prices would come down dramatically on day one of his administration. We all know when we go to the store that everything  is much more expensive now that it was before Trump. He says higher prices are a “con job” made by fake news, a “scam.”  We know different. Some statistics to consider:

The Tax Foundation has studied the impact of the Trump tariffs on American households.  Here are some of their findings. The tariffs amount to an average tax increase per US household of $1,000 in 2025 and $1,500 in 2026.

The Trump tariffs are the largest US tax increase as a percent of GDP since 1993. Historical evidence and recent studies show that tariffs are taxes that raise prices and reduce available quantities of goods and services for US businesses and consumers, resulting in lower income, reduced employment, and lower economic output.

The tariffs have caused other countries to retaliate. China has changed from buying our soy beans to buying them from Brazil and Argentina. They are buying more beef from South America. US sales to China decreased significantly due to tariffs; some reports show a decrease of  38%.  Our farmers can’t find a buyer for their products now.

The US is Canada’s largest trading partner in goods and services. Now Canada is seeking trade relations with China due to Trump’s tariffs and Trump’s statements about taking over Canada and making it our 51st state. According to USMCA statistics, before, Canada exported between 75-80% of its products to the US but now seeks to diversify due to tension between the two  countries. Almost all of Canada’s oil came here, according to the Canada Energy Regulator, but is now being diverted to China.

Let’s get back to corruption. We can agree that the Minnesota situation is very shameful.  The Somalis and the Americans who worked with them should go to jail.

On the subject of corruption, here is a very small sample of what Trump has done:

He has terminated criminal investigations into companies that have donated to him.

He has pardoned or rolled back sanctions for known bad actors that have provided financial support for his ventures.

He has dismantled anti-corruption laws so that criminals can go free. He has pardoned President Juan Orlando Hernandez of Honduras, who was let out of prison after being granted a full pardon by Trump. Hernandez had been convicted in an American court of major drug trafficking and weapons dealing and sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm has received significant investments from Qatar—amounting to billions of dollars— which have bought Qatar direct access to Trump and the White House.

Qatar has invested $5.5 billion in a Trump golf resort. Qatar will be allowed to build a Qatari Air Force facility in Idaho.  You scratch my back, I scratch yours…

Qatar gave Trump as a present a huge plane costing $400 million. They called it a “flying palace.” Not only is it illegal for Trump to accept this gift (please look up the “emoluments clause” in the Constitution, which forbids our officials from accepting gifts, which could be bribes) but the taxpayers (that’s you and me) are paying to have the plane retrofitted with security systems etc. that a president must have. This will cost at least an extra $1billion. And with the luxury, and the security, it won’t be finished until after Trump leaves the Presidency. Now, that’s corruption.

These actions by Trump affect you and me. They make our lives poorer in terms of money, health, safety, and security, and peace of mind. There are things that make American great, like honesty and fairness for all of us, and they are going away day by day, not coming back again unless we demand a change.

Karen Galeano

Ashburn, VA

Editor:

Hey neighbors! Let’s come together to stop the monster that threatens us and our way of life.

Local residents of Genesee County are outraged and horrified by the new plan from STREAM US Data Centers and their corporate backer, private equity firm Apollo Global Management, to ruin our quality of life to make a profit.

Our community strongly opposed the siting of a data center at STAMP one year ago when GCEDC first tried this scheme. The Tonawanda Seneca Nation and the Sierra Club sued to challenge the environmental approvals and they succeeded in getting GCEDC to withdraw the approvals for a 900,000 square foot / 250 MW data center being proposed by STREAM.

Now, STREAM has been bought out by one of the world’s largest private equity firms, Apollo Global Management, and they are coming back to try with an even more outrageous plan. They have proposed to build a 2.2-million-square-foot data center that would guzzle 500 megawatts of power per year – enough to power roughly 400,700 households total – or the equivalent of nearly every home in Monroe, Genesee, Livingston, Orleans and Wyoming counties combined.

The data center would raise our power bills, increase air pollution, and would make 24/7 noise that would affect the physical and mental health of local residents and harm wildlife. We also can expect that the data center developers will ask for all of us to subsidize this monster data center – possibly up to 750 million dollars (they asked for $472 million the first time around).

And for what? Data centers don’t create many permanent jobs – STREAM is claiming around 100 for this project. They have a short lifespan – 15 to 20 years before they get mothballed. The AI-based economy is heading for a crash. This is not a good investment for our region.

Across the country, communities are saying no to data centers that are trying to steal their resources – and they are winning! This is not a partisan issue. This is an issue about local control over our shared environmental resources, our tax dollars, and our quality of life.

So join us in telling GCEDC, STREAM, and Apollo to go away: No Data Centers in Genesee County. Together, we can stop this monster.

Come to our next meeting: Desserts and Data Center Discussions: 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, January 27 at The Goose Community Center, 33 South Main St. in Oakfield. We will share more info about the data center plans, answer questions, and talk about

next steps to stop this monster from invading our community!

Here are a few other dates to keep in mind: 1) The Town of Alabama Planning Board will meet on Monday, February 2 at 7 p.m. They are responsible for reviewing the data center site plan, which so far hasn’t been shared. And 2) The GCEDC Board of Directors meets on Thursday, February 5 at 4 p.m. at the MedTech Center in Batavia. Their meetings are open to the public, but they won’t let you speak or ask questions! We will be there with signs.

For more info, call or text (585) 300-4925 or email alliesoftsn@gmail.com.

Alyssa Beuler

Oakfield