Well Done
Amagansett
January 28, 2026
Dear David,
Kudos to our town supervisor, Kathee Burke-Gonzalez, for her leadership and organization during the recent snow and to Steve Lynch and his crews for a fabulous job.
Well done!
DAVID HILLMAN
Dedication
Wainscott
January 29, 2026
Dear David,
A loud applause for the superb response by Highway Superintendent Stephen Lynch and his department staff. Our roads were plowed promptly. They provided access in case of an emergency to protect us all. We are lucky to have such dedicated public employees. I know full well what an arduous task they faced.
I recall during many winters dozens of my off-duty co-workers were hired by Snow-Lift at J.F.K. Airport. We drove giant Walter Snow Fighter trucks with large plows and huge front-loader Caterpillar 175s. We cleared the runways and terminal buildings and could not leave until clear.
Our Highway Department at that time purchased some of the low-mileage trucks, and I recognized one of the numbered trucks plowing my street.
Our current highway staff worked long, hard hours that are quite exhausting. Mr. Lynch also saved the taxpayers a lot of money by purchasing lightly used equipment!
Thank you for your dedication.
Best wishes,
ARTHUR FRENCH
Wonderful People
Montauk
February 1, 2026
Dear David,
I would like to thank heartily the three nurses and their support staff and doctor who took care of me on my recent stays at the East Hampton Emergency Department. Their treatment was professional, respectful, and truly caring.
Stony Brook University Hospital should be proud to have such wonderful people on staff. Their modesty precludes naming these individuals, but they know who they are, and so do their colleagues and supervisors.
I can reveal that two of the nurses were raised in Montauk, and one was raised in Sag Harbor. They are living proof of the Bonacker adage the “finest kind.”
Sincerely,
BRIAN POPE
Our Gratitude
Amagansett
February 2, 2026
To the Editor,
My family has lived in East Hampton and Southampton since the 1950s, and for generations, Southampton Hospital has been a constant presence in our lives. Our shared history with the hospital spans from my grandparents, to my late husband, Joel Bass, and most recently, my mother, Michelle Labbat Shulman.
Over the past eight years, our relationship with the hospital deepened through weekly visits to the wound center and many trips to the emergency room with my mother. She was strong and resilient, and each time we took her in, we believed she would once again pull through, as she always had before. It is the final two weeks of her life that I wish to focus on here.
We are a large family, and when my mother was hospitalized for the last time, many of us gathered — some flying in on red-eye flights from Los Angeles — to be by her side and say goodbye. What we experienced during those days was compassion and humanity at a level that was truly extraordinary.
From the I.C.U. resident doctors and nurses, to the second floor nurses, to the transitional team resident doctors, every individual treated my mother — and all of us — with dignity and kindness. The security guards at the front door at 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. gently guided exhausted family members through the hospital. A janitor, Maria Gosk, brought in a beautiful blue and white quilt and placed it over my mother as she was passing away — a moment of grace we will never forget.
One nurse, recognizing both the severity of my mother’s condition and the number of family members coming to say goodbye, helped arrange for her to be moved to a private room. It was a peaceful, beautiful space with comfortable chairs and a couch, giving us privacy to be together as a family during our final hours with her.
We later learned that this room was made possible through the foresight and compassion of a palliative care physician, Dr. Sony Modayil. Dr. Modayil was not only exceptionally intelligent and empathetic in guiding our family, but she was instrumental in creating these dedicated rooms — one on each floor — so families can say goodbye with dignity.
Equally meaningful was the support we received from the palliative care team beyond medicine alone. Michael Pratt, palliative care social worker, helped our family navigate an overwhelming and emotional time with calm guidance and genuine care. Samantha Nahavandi, case manager, ensured that nothing fell through the cracks. Liss Larsen, chaplain with palliative care, offered comfort and spiritual presence when words were hard to find. And the visit from “Dogtor” Cooper Weston brought a moment of peace and warmth that touched all of us more than we can adequately express.
Our gratitude extends beyond the names listed here to all the nurses, doctors, and staff who make Southampton Hospital a place not just of medicine, but of compassion. During the most painful days of our lives, you gave our family comfort, dignity, and grace. For that, we will always be thankful.
Sincerely,
LISA BASS
STEPHEN KENNY
BRYAN KENNY
MARC KENNY
DR. MONICA SARANG
Shared Values
Amagansett
January 30, 2026
To the Editor:
When I was a child, I imagined one day a world in which airplanes only flew if every passenger aboard believed they could; if anyone doubted, the plane crashed.
Our democracy is like that plane. Its fragility, the degree to which it works only if everyone wants it to, became evident these last nine years. President Trump was able to ignore guardrails that every prior president had respected (even his most-chaotic predecessor, Richard Nixon), because they had at least a little residual belief in them, and Trump had none.
We are spectators to a rather interesting example of this problem at the local level: the “party raiding” assertions against Jerry Larsen (Christopher Gangemi, “ ‘Party Raiding’ Alleged,” in last week’s paper).
A system in which anyone can freely register as a Democrat or Republican only works if people believe they should only join a party if they share many of its values. The moment this belief ceases, nothing in the system prevents raids to hijack membership organizations. My whole life I have heard it said that someone “brought a knife to a gunfight.” Increasingly, it seems as if democracies are bringing Robert’s Rules of Order to a gunfight.
Despite his denials, I am personally of the opinion that Mr. Larsen is the same kind of amoral operative as the president. He ran for town board as a Republican some years ago. The village, as part of its bubble world pretensions, has made-up parties instead of real ones; Mr. Larsen won the mayoralty as a candidate for the New Town Party.
“By their values, ye shall know them.” Mr. Larsen hasn’t evidenced any that I can see.
The problem is (as I have written so frequently), neither does the organization under attack, the East Hampton Town Democratic Party. It could defend itself most effectively if its members had a standard to rally around. Since they have none, rather than being a drama about human aspirations and dangers, the spectacle becomes more like a bleak but fascinating nature documentary: a digger wasp paralyzing a grasshopper.
I am a professional optimist. I haven’t lost hope that we can turn this around. A necessary if not sufficient condition of doing so is asking ourselves what we believe in, and proceeding from there. I believe, for example, that the United States Constitution, despite the crimes of some of its framers and the flaws of all of them, is a pretty good design for a machine we could still ride into the future. If we all clap for it like Tinker Bell, we can then at least start the work that will be needed.
For democracy in East Hampton and America,
JONATHAN WALLACE
‘Full Picture’
East Hampton
January 30, 2026
Dear David,
I was gratified to read Mayor Larsen’s letter to the editor (“Important Decisions,” Jan. 19) and the change of tone it showed from the one he usually expresses in other letters he’s recently written.
He decries the “closed and unfair process,” and the “insider politics” of the East Hampton party that doesn’t “represent the broad Democratic electorate” in “terms of how important decisions are made within our Democratic Party.”
He wants to “let the voters decide.”
The fact that he got 3 votes from 30 Democratic party establishment insiders and now calls to open up the political process that rejected him, realizing that a more-open system is his only possible path to victory, shouldn’t keep us from welcoming him to his new found political expansiveness and consciousness.
How one serves five years as mayor without becoming some sort of political insider oneself is another question I have, but let’s let that go too, for the sake of the larger cause.
In his letter, he states he wants to be “honest, transparent, and give voters the full picture.”
Democratic political leaders, mayors, governors, senators, and grassroot activists have been speaking out across the country on the growing reality of a full-blown authoritarian, surveillance state developing in America, supported by an expanded militarization of police, border guards, masked ICE officials, and ultra-right wing fascist nationalists who are all displaying cruel and murderous violence in Minneapolis and around the country.
We have a president who may lash out at our community because he may be peeved that Bill Clinton has been an umpire at the Artists and Writers summer softball game and he hasn’t.
It’s not a far-fetched concern, if you think about it. We’ve seen how easily his feathers can get violently ruffled and turned on Minneapolis, Norway, Greenland, etc., etc., etc.
The mayor should give the voters a full picture of his positions, as he’s stated he wants to do. Here are a few questions to get the ball rolling on ICE, the Flock cameras, and East Hampton police policies and protocols:
What is his opinion of what ICE is doing? What are the safeguards, if any, that he’s set up as mayor for abuses by ICE toward our fellow citizens, neighbors and friends? Does he support members of our clergy who try to protect their congregants and others from this cruelty? If so, in what ways? If not, why not?
Does he advocate sanctuary status for East Hampton? If not, why not? What are the directives he’s given to his police chief in these matters?
Does he support the national and New York State Democratic leadership who are advocating reducing funding and developing stronger restrictions and controls for ICE? What restrictions and controls would he advocate and put in place for our community?
What is his position on the Flock cameras? What does he feel justifies their use? Does he believe it truly deters and lowers crime? If he does, what is his evidence or research backing up his belief?
Does he believe there should be safeguards for the possible abuses by this new surveillance technology of data collection and social control? If so, what are those safeguards? Is he specifically concerned with privacy issues, civil liberties and expanding AI technology infiltrating into our lives even more as a result of these cameras? Is he aware of the corruption and monied interests beyond the Flock technology?
Does he feel the voters of East Hampton, through the vote or a referendum, have a right to say whether they want the technology to function in their community?
Does he believe policing practices and protocols are being administered and enforced fairly and equitably to all members of our community? If not, what are some of his ideas to improve police and community relations, particularly among ethnic minorities and the police?
What are some of the specific policies he’s asked his police chief to follow addressing their interaction with minority youth? With ICE officials? What are his ideas about mental health professionals helping police in difficult situations with community members who are obviously experiencing extreme emotional distress?
Are there police resources and protocols that are directed towards the needs of the poor, homeless, mentally ill, or people with substance abuse issues? What are those protocols, if any, and directives he’s given to his police chief? If there aren’t protocols, why not?
I and many other voters and would-be voters, look forward to the mayor’s responses. A letter in The Star would be perfect for the dialogue to continue. It would also be an indication of how seriously he takes his statement of wanting to be honest, transparent, and give voters the full picture.
As Minneapolis has shown, we need a mayor who offers clear leadership and has the moral clarity that provides direction to prevent the possible death, abuse, and injury to any member of our community. His views on ICE, Flock and police practices are central to the “full picture” we still need to hear from Mayor Larsen. We need to hear it from all candidates running, for that matter.
Sincerely,
JIM VRETTOS
Year-Round Ban
East Hampton
February 1, 2026
To The Star:
Yes! Your Jan. 29 editorial “Ban the Blowers” is on the mark, clearly, unambiguously, and rationally making the case for a year-round ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.
The current seasonal restrictions are overly complicated and easy to ignore, despite the best efforts of our town’s Code Enforcement officers.
You make an analogy to the public health campaign to ban indoor tobacco smoking, and it’s a good one. For most of my adult life, smoking was okay in movie theaters, doctors’ offices, and college classrooms, among other public places. Supporters of the status quo made dire predictions then about the effects of a smoking ban on the hospitality industry, saying it would put small businesses out of business. The bartenders and waitstaff who worked their shifts in smoke-filled rooms would be unemployed and desperate to get their jobs back, whatever the cost.
Opponents of a gas-powered leaf blower ban today are using the same playbook, whether they know it or not. Education, not regulation, is the solution, they say. Call it a transition. Make it voluntary. Phase out the equipment over decades. Claim you’re looking out for the little guy, the underdog, the voiceless, while you oppose any changes. Appeal to fear, not facts.
Nonprofit organizations like Healthy Yards and Quiet Communities provide page after page of science-based evidence about the damage done by gas-powered leaf blowers. The equipment, first of all, harms its operators. It also damages the environment.
The noise disturbs everyone, and has adverse effects on physical and mental health. Do we need more training and education on the maintenance and operation of electric-powered landscaping equipment? The American Green Zone Alliance offers education and certification. We also have successful local landscape companies like Eco Harmony Inc. as examples.
Are solutions really worth pursuing, given the magnitude of “polycrises” we’re experiencing? In December, the New York Public Interest Research Group and Environment America released a study about gas-powered landscaping equipment that named Suffolk County number 1 in carbon dioxide pollution (greenhouse gas emissions) in the state. Westchester County cames in second and Nassau, third.
Over all, the study’s authors estimated that in 2020, New York State’s emissions from gas-powered landscaping equipment (mowers, blowers, trimmers, chain saws, etc.) totaled 1.37 tons, the equivalent of emissions from more than 300,000 gas-powered cars.
Electric landscaping equipment, when it’s overused and misused, also harms the environment and the work crews operating it. No one benefits from kicking up clouds of dust, dirt, gravel, and particulate matter. Few people bother with protective equipment like goggles, respirators, or ear protectors when they’re doing yard work.
Despite the challenges, banning gas-powered equipment in East Hampton is a significant first step toward changing landscaping practices and homeowners’ expectations. Using human-powered rakes, leaf sweepers, or leaving the leaves are safer, quieter alternatives. We may not be there yet, but The Star is showing us the way. Town board members, please take note!
NANCY ERBER
Homeowners the Cause
East Hampton
January 29, 2026
To the Editor:
I agree leaf blowers are obnoxious — so annoying and noisy. But maybe the solution is if homeowners insist that only e-blowers are used and only during allowed times.
I will now require that my landscapers not use gas blowers. That is the solution.
Homeowners are the cause and the solution, not hard-working landscapers. We all hate the noise.
Thanks,
MARK DAVIS
Health Consequences
East Hampton
February 2, 2026
Dear David:
Thank you for your editorial about the human health hazards of gas leaf blowers in particular and the biodiversity loss connected to all blowers.
And for reporting on the national and international movement to ban — at the minimum — gas leaf blowers.
And thank you for pointing attention to the near impossibility of enforcing our current complex regulations in East Hampton regarding dates and times of permissible use.
We cannot ignore the health consequences from high-decibel gas blowers (much higher than our town’s permissible noise level from music). Medical scientists have pointed to the mental health effects of high-decibel noise, not only on our nervous systems, our mental focus (think children with homework or home workers), but researchers also warn about the effects on our heart health.
You also point to the troubling air pollution that extremely high forced air pressure blows out of lawns — pesticide residues, mice and animal droppings, mold and dangerous particles, etc.
A recent article by Mount Sinai researchers points to the especially hazardous health effects on children and workers who spend all day on these machines.
In addition, gas blowers are based on an antiquated two-stroke engine that only burns 70 percent of its gas intake, releasing 30 percent into the atmosphere and ground. The dangerous air-bound emissions from one hour of leaf blowing with gas is the equivalent of a single car driving 1,100 miles or 15 cars for an hour. Think of the gasoline contamination of our groundwater, drinking water, our bays.
If our community — and town government — does not work to extend the ban of gas leaf blowers year round what message does that send? Are we saying it is okay to endanger the health of our children, our landscape workers, our community? The health issues associated with the use of gas leaf blowers should not be a partisan decision for our town government.
Also, since we live in a part-time, weekend and holiday community, those of us who work at home endure an insanity- inducing cacophony of gas leaf blowers in our neighborhoods on weekdays (often Thursdays before the weekend) that these part-time dwellers are unaware of. Why should we suffer for their quiet enjoyment of their properties on the weekends?
There is a coalition forming in Suffolk County to end the use of this dangerous piece of equipment, especially when there is a quieter, safer alternative: electric blowers.
Some critics in the industry have complained that the batteries aren’t strong enough to do the job. But many landscapers making the transition to electric argue that new more efficient batteries and chargers are doing an equivalent job.
And there is a bill (S1574) that has passed the New York State Legislature that would provide rebates or up to 70 percent for companies wanting to make the transition. New York City has passed legislation to ban gas leaf blowers after Dec. 31, 2026.
Some in our community argue that we must protect the profits of the landscaping industry. Over our children’s health? Workers’ health? Our health?
I would like to think that our elected representatives at the town, county, and state levels will prioritize our health.
And hopefully soon we can return to the quiet beauty and eco-sense of raking and sweeping leaves, using nature’s fertilizer and mulch, loving the aesthetic and eco-system services of leaves.
The birds, butterflies, bees, and beneficial insects that we need to survive, will thank us.
GAIL PELLETT
At War With Nature
East Hampton
February 2, 2026
Dear David,
Thank you for your editorial “Ban the Blowers” (Jan. 29). As you accurately point out, gas leaf blowers are more than annoying, they are a health hazard associated with a wide range of serious illnesses, and the workers who use them are most at risk. Gas leaf-blower exhaust produces a wide range of hazardous materials, from fine particulate matter to carcinogenic compounds. Numerous studies from major physicians’ organizations have called for their ban.
Suffolk County emits more greenhouse gases from gas-powered lawn equipment than any other county in New York State. That’s the equivalent carbon dioxide emissions of 52,657 gas-powered cars. (We seem to be good at winning these dubious distinctions. We are also number one in pesticide use.)
Gas leaf blowers are environmentally hazardous in other unfortunate ways. Birds and other animals, like many of us, have no protection from the noise. Studies show their reproductive health is damaged. Box turtles are deprived of winter cover. Countless soil microorganisms necessary for soil health are harmed. Our lawn “care” practices in general are at war with nature.
Some argue that workers will suffer the consequences of a ban, that they won’t be able to afford new equipment, or that battery-powered machines are not powerful enough.
First, we already have banned gas blowers in the summer. All the landscapers I see have electric blowers for summer use. Second, a recent headline in the trade publication, Lawn and Landscape, put the lie to the power question, “Battery-Powered Landscaping Equipment: No More Need to Hesitate.” As the article pointed out, electric is coming; the technology is ready. Home Depot, for example, plans to sell 85 percent battery-powered lawn equipment by 2028.
I’m writing from a country in Central America where workers are paid $6 a day to spray toxic herbicides. They cover their faces with bandannas. I’m sure some would argue that banning these toxins might deprive these workers of jobs.
We’ve heard these arguments before, whether about asbestos, cigarettes, leaded gasoline, etc. We adjust, and the jobs seem to survive.
LEONARD GREEN
Not a Partisan Issue
East Hampton
February 2, 2026
Dear David,
Thanks for your timely and insightful editorial on banning gas leaf blowers. There are three crucial issues the East Hampton Town Board ought to consider in joining other towns that have already done the right thing:
I want to believe the board understands that the emissions of dangerous chemical dust clouds from lawns by gas blowers including 2,4-D, benzene, formaldehyde, permethrin, glyphosate, phosphate, carbon monoxide from the notoriously leaky machines, and animal feces all adversely affect the health of our neighborhoods. The use of gas leaf blowers does not serve the public good.
I want to believe the board recognizes that gas leaf-blowing noise violates current town noise ordinances for music. Also, the challenges of enforcing the current seasonal restrictions, which are routinely flouted by landscapers from in and out of town, doesn’t benefit the community — which includes the voting population of our town.
I want to believe the board agrees that prioritizing the private profits of landscapers and other special interests over the physical and mental health of the community is not in the public interest.
Furthermore, any new regulation and enforcement should be directed at owners, not workers who bear the brunt of hearing loss, asthma, lung damage, vascular disease, and other costly health consequences.
I look forward to our municipal government making the right decision after weighing the scientific facts in favor of our community’s health and the health of our environment.
As a final note, ChangeHampton was founded on this very issue and is supportive of banning gas leaf blowers as a first step toward reducing significantly all blowers, which are destructive of habitat for critically important pollinators. There is a petition circulating by an ad hoc group that is not a ChangeHampton campaign, but rather, we are building a coalition of organizations, groups, and individuals who prioritize the health of our community. This is not a partisan issue but a health issue affecting everyone.
Best,
STEPHAN VAN DAM
In Real Time
East Bay, Calif.
January 30, 2026
Dear David,
I’m not feeling hopeless because that’s useless, I’m just grossly disappointed in people’s indifference to — what else? — the state of things in our country. We’ve become anathema to the rest of the world. No wonder. Though not everyone is numb; many are stepping up to say enough!
It is ridiculous agony, this administration and where we are. Who could have predicted this years ago? Not even the Amazing Kreskin.
It is certainly not the way we were meant to evolve emotionally, so our brains are going wild with despair, anger, and disbelief — or shorting out in some cases or maybe there’s not much gray matter to begin with or they’ve intentionally shut off their good radar. This does not compute.
Oh, let me ask A.I. or ChatGPT. Ugh. City of robots. It seems like a sci-fi plot. But believe you me, this is “for realzy,” as the young ones say. Beyond the beyond, as we used to say.
What do we do besides rail at the heavens, stare into our coffee and wine, and say, “W.T.A.F.?”
Yes, Virginia, common sense and thinking on one’s own has exited stage right. There must be an intervention in the near future, sooner not later, a good change from good trouble. It’s the only way. This current program is unsustainable.
A nutter cannot be in charge of a country. You all get that now, yes? We have to find a way to watch him leave. Visualize it. Use your mind, Spock. Set it to music: a German waltz, a Scottish jig. Maybe the whole nutsy Fagan family goes to Slovenia to film a reality show: “Melancholia II,” the return home. A girl can dream.
In the meantime, hold fast to your loved ones. Be kind to yourself. Don’t slip on the ice. Don’t look ICE in the eyes. Storm Troopers. Pretend it’s a “Star Wars” movie and you’re running for the safety of the Millennium Falcon, but the Death Star is looming. Remind yourself the bad guys never win. Not forever, anyway.
It’s good vs. evil being played out in real time in our country and on the world stage. Do we join together and defeat evil? Or are we stuck in a time warp of religious subservience and unmindful allegiance and fear, and to heck with our fellow people? Is anyone out there? Did we drink the spoiled milk?
Seems simple to me: A good change on the horizon. But then I’m a thinker not a follower. Don’t preach to me, darlin’. I’ve walked my talk from the moment I could. I had opinions. I can smell a phony baloney a mile away. I have learned to trust my intuition. Friend or foe? I know the difference. Do you?
Goddess-speed we start now building a caring world to grow old in and a future one that is kind to the ones just crying their first notes.
Lovingly,
NANCI LAGARENNE
Reads Like Deflection
East Hampton
February 1, 2026
Sir,
Representative Nick LaLota’s Jan. 28 email on Minnesota reads more like deflection than leadership.
We are told the “temperature is too high,” that “both sides” must calm down, and that extremism is the problem. This language sounds reasonable but it avoids responsibility. When everyone is blamed equally, no one is held accountable.
He affirms the right to protest, briefly, before pivoting to warnings about trespass. He mourns “avoidable deaths” while stripping them of agency and cause. Protesters should not die, yet the state’s use of force is treated as an unfortunate backdrop rather than the central issue.
This is not balance. It is moral fog.
A token criticism of his own party, safely aimed upward, is followed by familiar talking points about deportations and “sanctuary policies.” We are meant to see this as courage, but it costs him nothing.
Lowering the temperature does not mean ignoring reality. Leadership requires more than condemning “violence on all sides” while sidestepping questions of power and accountability.
Calling for decency is easy. Moral clarity is harder. Mr. LaLota’s email offers the former while carefully avoiding the latter.
Sincerely,
ANDREW VAN PRAAG
Tennis Rackets
East Hampton
February 1, 2026
Dear David:
After her quarterfinal loss at the Australian Open, the American tennis phenom Coco Gauff walked briskly off the court. She waved to the crowd. She nodded. She looked composed, resigned to the upset.
She kept it together until she turned a corner and, believing she was finally out of sight, erupted. Ms. Gauff smashed her racket, again and again, pounding it into the ground in a raw release of anger. It was caught on camera. Of course it was. In minutes, it raced through social media.
Ms. Gauff explained herself plainly: “I just felt like all the things I do well, I just didn’t do well today.” She could have been speaking for America.
America used to do a lot of things well. We used to do democracy well, protecting our Constitution, respecting elections, valuing the rule of law. Now that racket is being smashed. And it should make us angry.
We used to take care of the world’s sick and poor. We used to work with our allies, not threaten them. We used to keep our military and federal agents off suburban streets. We used to speak about peace, instead of flirting with imperialism. Our presidents used to be role models, even when we disagreed. Not anymore.
Mr. Trump attacked Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, calling her “garbage,” “anti-American,” and demanding she be “sent back to Somalia.” Trump has spent years filling his supporters’ minds with vengeful, dehumanizing rhetoric. He taunts. He smears. He invites backlash.
What happens next? It was only a matter of time before someone caught up in that rhetoric took him literally. Thank God that when Ms. Omar was attacked in Minneapolis on Tuesday, it wasn’t with a gun, a knife, or a fist. Instead, she was sprayed with vinegar.
Rather than retreat, Ms. Omar’s anger rose. She raised her fists. She was ready to smash her racket in the anger of the moment.
America is angry — angry at grocery prices that never come down. Angry at exploding health-care costs. Angry that millions of Americans have lost health insurance or Medicaid coverage. Angry that millions of Americans are going hungry. We’re angry that the superrich enjoy every advantage while the rest are told to be patient, grateful, and quiet as the grift continues.
We’re angry at the talk of attacking Greenland. Angry that America has turned its back on those Americans who sacrificed their lives to protect the world from fascism. We’re angry that in the face of natural disasters our G.O.P.-led administration and Congress do not speak for us, act for us, or help us.
When Coco Gauff smashed that racket, when Ilhan Omar raised her fists, they weren’t just reacting to personal moments. They were channeling something millions of Americans are feeling but which they have felt helpless in the face of.
Like Ms. Gauff and Ms. Omar, America’s anger has boiled over. The thuggery of ICE in Minneapolis has angered people in cities, townships, and suburbs. Everywhere. The killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti have ignited a raging blaze. It has made America furious. And then millions of Americans took to the streets — everywhere — trying to shake off that feeling of helplessness. They are taking America’s tennis racket and smashing it with each and every step.
As America smashes its racket, the question is whether anyone in power will step up, willing to stop this match before we are beyond repair. And their inaction should make the rest of us angry.
Sincerely,
BRUCE COLBATH
Trump’s Law
East Hampton
January 29, 2026
Dear Mr. Rattray,
Isaac Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Consider what happens when a rocket takes off into space: The rocket fuel ignites, creating an explosive force that pushes downward. An equal and opposite force from the ground propels the rocket upward.
Not surprisingly, President Trump has created his own law: For every action there is an opposite and more-powerful reaction followed by a distraction.
Consider what is happening in our cities. People have taken action by protesting the presence of ICE in their communities. Trump has reacted by ordering ICE to act swiftly, overwhelmingly, and at times violently in response. According to Trump’s Law, what will follow is a distraction so that the public’s and media’s attention will be drawn elsewhere.
For example, will Trump decide to declare Greenland (or perhaps Iceland if he still can’t tell the difference) as part of the U.S.? Will he order the Department of Justice to seek an indictment against a high-profile person like President Obama? Will he follow up on his statement that the U.S. is “locked and loaded and ready” to intervene in Iran?
If the attention to what ICE is doing continues, look for Trump to carry out his law of action-reaction-distraction.
Like all dictators, Trump wants to have the public slowly accept what once would have been unthinkable as simply the way things are now. If he succeeds, he will have created his empire from the ruins of our democracy.
SALVATORE TOCCI
Unprotected Labor
North Haven
February 2, 2026
Dear David:
United States immigration laws have been sloppy for decades. I doubt this is by accident. We take advantage of it to some extent here in the Hamptons. But of course nationwide, large corporations have enjoyed massive benefits from unregulated migrant labor for ever.
This situation is very profitable for them, while remaining deliberate and abusive. It is no oversight, accident, or the inability to legislate effective legislation. This failure to create legal paths for needed voluntary immigration, or emergency humanitarian and refugee and/or asylum status, makes available a large unprotected labor resource subject to slave wages, harassment, and exploitation.
Powerful corporate lobbying inhibits effective immigration legislation that invites a steady flow of cheap, at-will labor that undermines our own domestic labor market. This continues their ability to resource distressed migrants who are willing to put up with hardships and abuse, perhaps somewhat less than suffered in their homeland.
We frequently see our own corporations aiding and abetting unethical foreign governments to enhance their profitable extraction of foreign natural resources. This often results in native labor populations being threatened and economically disadvantaged, leading to migration to richer safer countries for basic labor, income, and survival.
Of course, this situation is a big economic benefit to large unscrupulous corporate operations that are focused entirely on their bottom-line profits. They fiercely lobby to keep the status quo — and their profits high.
Republican President Ronald Reagan created the slogan “Let’s Make America Great Again” during his 1980 presidential campaign. Reagan actually ordered amnesty for millions of “undocumented immigrants” four decades ago. He signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, granting legal status to nearly three million undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S. before Jan. 1, 1982. It was meant to curb illegal immigration, with new penalties for employers continuing to hire unauthorized workers. Enforcement was ineffective, and no legal immigration legislation was ever proposed. This lack of follow-up resulted in the failure to curb continuing undocumented immigration.
Perhaps Reagan actually thought a fresh start would enable sensible immigration laws, but none were created.
Biden and Obama tried to overhaul immigration, and even Republican Senator James Lankford spearheaded a 2024 bipartisan border bill that Trump and MAGA killed because they wanted to use immigration as a wedge issue.
Both Republicans and most Democrats remain in collective limbo by failing to create any meaningful legislation. All these political hacks are prey to massive corporate lobbying as the money talks louder than the voters.
The Times columnist Thomas Friedman has often said, “We actually need a high wall with a big gate,” meaning strong effective barriers to illegal immigration coupled with broad understandable terms for legal access to our country.
As long as no useful legislation is enacted, the humans in this seemingly endless equation will always lose in favor of cash-rich corporate greed seeking endless profit growth.
Decent people are now dying in our streets, while a massive indiscriminate deportation with political intimidation takes place. Nothing is being done to legislate sensible, humane immigration laws.
It’s time for politicians to change this inhumane out-of-control situation with effective immigration laws that recognize our need for a safe, humanitarian, and civilized legal system. Our current lawless system allowing victimized labor must end. It also destroys our citizen labor force as collateral damage.
Let’s support our hard-working community by demanding legal immigration. Please remember to call your senators at 202-224-3121 to demand this.
ANTHONY CORON