Who wants to live in Texas?

Migration to Texas from other states has fallen for the 3rd year in a row.  In fact, in-migration has sunk to the lowest level since 2005.  The state’s rapid growth is over.  Texas is still getting more in-migration than states like New York and California, but I predict that in just a few years people will start moving out.  

Florida also has seen a major decline of people moving in, even more steep than Texas.  

On the other hand midwestern states have seen an increase in population after years of decline.  Personally, I would much rather live in Atwood, Kansas, or Cozad, Nebraska, than in Dallas or Miami.

Some info for this post is from J; David Goodman and Jeff Adelson, “Trend of Migration to Texas Falls for 3rd Year in a Row,” New York Times, (Jan. 31, 2026), p. A10.

1968 and now

In 1968 the nation was polarized, the National Guard was deployed against demonstrators (remember Kent State), the President abused power and misused federal agencies, campuses were shut down, mass demonstrations occurred, people worried about urban rioting, the cops beat people (remember Chicago), and  our foreign policy was a mess (soldiers were dying every day in Vietnam).

Nonetheless it wasn’t the same.  There was more optimism then.  We believed that state of affairs wouldn’t last.  Things would get better.  And they did. 

Nixon was impeached by congress members from both sides of the aisle.  The war did end.  Women were winning rights.  The Supreme Court ruled that the New York Times had a right to publish the Pentagon Papers.  Roe v. Wade was decided.  And Nixon, for all his chicanery, knew American history, hired some competent people, supported the EPA, never sold presidential pardons, and resigned when he knew it was over.

Today the pessimism is overwhelming.  It is hard to imagine things getting better.  Our business and political leaders lack courage.  The Republican Party has been corrupted.  Much of the media is complicit.  The full force of the national government is used to harass opponents.

Nonetheless, I don’t think it is too late.  I am given hope by those people in Minneapolis out there in bitter cold, united with their neighbors.  All kinds of people, from high school students to retirees.  I think we can still turn this around, but it will take courage and a lot of effort and commitment.

"Variety" pans "Melania"

It’s a fake, but it is too funny not to repeat.  The supposed “Variety” judgement of the Bezos-financed film “Melania” said, “If they showed this film on the plane, people would still walk out.”

The film was screened at the “Trump Center.”  Most of the media was kept from the screening.  The audience didn’t show up either. 

Following the authoritarian handbook

 I really think there is a handbook.  I don’t know the order of the actions, but they would include:

form a national police force

capture the legal system

control the media

sow fear among the citizenry

intimidate business leaders

discredit your opponents

seize the law enforcement apparatus

     There are more, but Trump and his lackeys are doing all of those things.  Today the FBI was sent into Atlanta to seize 2020 ballot materials.  These are the people who lied about Minneapolis; of course they will lie about “voter fraud.”  Trump will say, “See, I really did win.”  His followers will believe him.  The Republicans in Congress will back the lie, as will Kash Patel and Pam Bondi. 

We know the truth.  Speak it.

Prime Minister Carney's speech at Davos

I watched it yesterday on YouTube.  What a great speech.  Not stupid, not silly like the rambling screed from the U.S. President.

The speech has been compared to Churchill’s “iron curtain” speech at Fulton, Missouri.  Carney talked about a new order in the world.  He said it was too late to fix the one we had; he noted that Canada was in talks with China, and he discussed the power of what he called the “middle countries.” 

He noted that trying to appease Trump would not work, and referenced a speech by the former Czech President Vaclav Havel, who told about the merchant who put a sign in the window praising a dictatorial government because he was afraid.  Soon all the other merchants began to put similar signs in their windows, fearing the consequences if they didn’t.  Carney then said Canada was taking down the sign.

You can watch it yourself.  It’s not that long.  I had two reactions.  The first was what an intelligent and moral man Carney is.  The second was profound embarrassment at Trump’s speech with its self-congratulations and its stupidity.

Better Training for ICE

I’ve hard quite a few discussions explaining that the men and women of ICE need better training.  They need to be better at crowd control, need to get warrants, should learn about the proper use of firearms and tear gas, etc.  

This may help around the edges and might have prevented some of the murders.  That would be a good thing.  Nonetheless, in the scheme of things, a lack of “training” isn’t the problem.  The mission is the problem.

Once ICE abandoned the idea of going after “the worst of the worst” (i.e., actual criminals) and decided to focus on college students, construction workers, aides in elderly care, waitresses, meat packing plant workers, and older people who had been living productive lives for decades, training doesn’t matter.  The mission is at fault.

The terminology is at fault.  (illegals, scum, people from “shithole countries”).  The prejudice is at fault.  (“Somalians,” Haitians, drug “kingpins”).  The assumptions are at fault.  (brown people, people with accents, Muslims).

Think of it this way.  Would better training have improved the Gestapo?  

Stalin would have done this

In Russia in the Thirties and Forties, history books were rewritten to insure that the latest government line was followed.  This system had some drawbacks; sometimes citizens had copies of the old texts and the changes would be apparent. 

The Trump administration is more adept at rewriting history or even denying present reality.  In Philadelphia the Independence National Historical Park removed an outdoor exhibit called “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation.”  The exhibit mentioned the nine slaves owned by George Washington.  The exhibit did not “focus on the greatness of the achievements and progress of the American people,” to quote the Administration’s orders.  Let’s never talk about the fact that the Father of Our Country and the first President owned slaves.  

The White House also posted a digitally altered photo of a demonstrator who spoke out at a church service where the pastor was working for ICE.  A photo was digitally altered to show a crying woman taken into custody.  In reality she was not crying; she was quite calm.  The altered photo made her look very bad.  When confronted with this fake image, the deputy communications director wrote, “Enforcement of the law will continue.  The memes will continue.”

This is our government.  It manipulates history.  It lies.  It says that the Jan. 6 rioters who beat cops and tried to kill them were tourists.  It tells us to believe the lies and not our own eyes.  

Try to hold on to truth.  It is increasingly difficult in a world of AI and digital manipulation, but do not believe these government lies.  This week ICE murdered two people.  And then our government lied about it and continues to lie about it.