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.

Rosebud

I have a Flexible Flyer sled hanging on the wall in the shed.  Every December I bring it down and put it on the porch so I can sled down the hill.  Tonight would have been a good night for a ride; the snow has melted on top and the freeze today left a nice crust for the runners to glide over.

Unfortunately, while I can pull the sled and ride down the hill, when I get to the bottom I have a really hard time getting back up.  My sledding days may be over. 

Right on cue

This morning when I heard the Weather Channel announcers discussing the big winter storm headed our way, I said to Linda, “Now some idiot will say this proves there is no global warming.”

This evening I heard that our President said this winter storm proves that global warming is a hoax.  

Advice for potential U.S. allies

Don’t do it.  After one Afghan refugee attacked two members of the U.S. national guard in Washington, the Administration then criticized all Afghan refugees, ending support for various aid programs for Afghans who had helped American troops in that country.

Today I read that the U.S. is no longer supporting the Kurds who have been allied with the U.S. in Syria.

We are not loyal to our friends.  I was in CA working for a State Senator when the Vietnamese “boat people” were arriving in CA.  You should have read some of the nasty letters that came in, full of vitriol against the refugees.  These were people who had supported the U.S.  Now many Americans were angry that they being allowed into the U.S. 

If I were a Venezuelan today, I’d think twice about giving support to the U.S.  If we behave as usual, we will abandon you at the first sign of trouble.

Trump's Davos speech

I watched a portion of it this morning.  What an embarrassment.  I wish there was some way to apologize to the rest of the world.  He cannot believe the stuff he says.  Can he?  Is he that delusional?  It makes one long for Buchanan.  Or Harding.  Not great presidents, but normal people.  Sane people.  

The damage that man has done to this country and the rest of the world may be patched up a bit, but in many respects it is too late.  Our former allies can never trust us again.  They realize that this guy was elected once, and then a majority of the voters, knowing what he was, elected him again.  

We did this to ourselves, and we will never be great again.  I will not be celebrating our 250th anniversary.  I don’t have anything to celebrate.

Christian nationalist is an oxymoron

As an atheist, I’m always hesitant to criticize Christians.  Who am I to set them straight when they don’t follow the teachings of Jesus?  Nonetheless, I have read the Gospels.  I know about the Sermon on the Mount.  I get that when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, he was making fun of the powerful rulers on their powerful steeds.  

And I also know that his skin was brown.  If he were in Minneapolis today, ICE would pick him up in a flash.

Pope Leo, originally from Chicago, has it right when he defends immigrants and Ukraine and foreign aid.  And I respect the three Roman Catholic leaders–Cardinal Tobin of Newark, Cardinal Robert McElroy of Washington, and Cardinal Blasé Cupich of Chicago who noted yesterday that this country’s “moral role in confronting evil around the world” is now slipping away.

I’d probably say that in the past we often gave “moral role” more lip service than having an actual moral policy, but at least we did that.  Now we no longer bother.  We have become the evil we once opposed.

College football

I didn’t watch the so-called college championship game tonight.  Two nights ago I wrote about American universities losing ground to Chinese universities, with only one American university in the top ten for scientific research and scholarly papers.  That one American university was Harvard.  

I wonder where Indiana and Miami are ranked.  

More awards for Trump

I have friends in Santa Cruz who have two adult sons.  They are boxing up all of the athletic trophies their boys received along with any other awards and recognitions and are mailing them to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. with a note that says “Thanks, your majesty.”

I think this is a wonderful idea.  Your kids won’t care.  And, as you know, it will make Trump so happy.  

Bad News for U.S. Universities–and the U.S.

According to a ranking by the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands, Chinese colleges take eight out of the top ten spots in the number of scientific and research papers published.  This is a globally-respected ranking.  

In the decade of the 2000s American universities in the top ten included Harvard, the U. of Michigan, UCLA, Johns Hopkins, the U. of Washington, Penn, and Stanford.  While these universities are churning out more studies than in the past, Chinese universities have surged ahead.

Now the top two are Zhejiang U. and Shanghai Jiao Tong U.  Then comes Harvard.  Then six more Chinese universities, with the University of Toronto coming in at number 10.

What has happened?  One word:  Trump.  Fewer foreign students; fewer distinguished foreign professors, financial cutbacks, grant cutbacks, and constant criticism and  political interference.  MADA.

Some info for this post was taken from Mark Arsenault, “If Harvard Is Slipping, It’s Because China Is Soaring,” New York Times, (Jan. 17, 2026), p. A11.

In reference to the post yesterday: The two movies from 1942 that I showed students in my Political Films class were Casablanca and Sullivan’s Travels.  Everybody knows Casablanca.  In Sullivan’s Travels, the character Sullivan wants the studio to make movies with a social conscience.  He thinks it is what America needs.  He goes out to a hobo camp with no money and no I.D. and, through a series of bad adventures, is arrested for murder.  His claims of being a movie star are laughed at, and he is sentenced to a chain gang.  The prisoners are both black and white, and they aid each other under terrible and brutal conditions.  One night a warden allows them a movie, and it is a Disney cartoon.  The prisoners love it and laugh at it, and Sullivan realizes that Americans go to the movies for a good time, not a lecture.  The irony of the film is that the movie also exposes racial prejudice, the poverty of the hobo village, and the cruelty of the prison system.  What a wonderful movie.  (Spoiler alert:  Sullivan does get back to Hollywood at the end.)

Take a break from all this

Trump is using the authoritarian dictator playbook, going after minorities and using the court system to try and discredit opponents.  Perhaps that’s why he had Maduro brought here from Venezuela–he needed some pointers.

But I thought you and I both needed a break from all this, so I decided to give you the New York Times list of the top ten movies of the year I was born.  Most of them I’ve never seen, but I was born near the end of 1942, so I have an excuse.  Two of them I showed in my political films class.  See if you can guess which two.  Here’s the list:

In Which We Serve

Journey for Margaret

Casablanca

One of Our Aircraft Is Missing

Wake Island

Mrs. Miniver

Yankee Doodle Dandy

The Gold Rush

Woman of the Year

Sullivan’s Travels

Advice for Secretary Hegseth

Everything I’ve ever read about military strategy concludes that it is best not to fight a two-front war.  You split your forces to your disadvantage.  In World War II the U.S. did fight a two-front war, but we didn’t have much choice, and the decision was made early to concentrate on the European front.  First Germany, than Japan.

Now I worry that the U.S. is about to embark on a two-front war, and it is one which we have not sufficiently thought through.  By dividing our forces between Minneapolis and Greenland, we might easily be headed for a big disaster.  Even worse, there have been rumblings about attacking Iran for shooting demonstrators, although I am not sure who in the current Administration would even think that’s a problem.

Finally there is the issue of Venezuela.  And didn’t we recently bomb Nigeria?  Who is in charge here?  I hope, dear Secretary, that you aren’t drinking again. 

Pedophile protector

I think that every time Trump appears in public, some brave soul should yell out “pedophile protector” or something equally appropriate.  It would be nice if that pedophile was called out every time he is in front of the public.  

Dispatch from Minneapolis, Part 2

Here is the continuation of last night’s post:

Food, water, and bathroom breaks were extremely difficult to acquire. I would ask over the intercom provided in the cell for a bathroom break, be told someone was on their way, then ask again 20 minutes later, be told someone was on their way, wait another 20 minutes, etc. Eventually they either turned off the intercom or it stopped working, because no one would respond. I could get water and bathroom breaks by pounding on the glass when someone happened to walk by and beg them directly. Hours would go by without anyone checking on us. I am vegan and the only food they offered were turkey sandwiches, fruit snacks with gelatin, and granola bars with honey. I eventually ate a granola bar out of hunger.

I was in the cell alone for between 1 and 2 hours, then another man was put into my cell, whose shirt was ripped open from his arrest, and an injured toe, who was carried aggressively into an unmarked car during his arrest. After about 4-5 hours, another man was brought in who had a cut on his head from his arrest. He told me he was tackled by 4 or 5 agents during his arrest. At no point was he offered medical assistance.

Later I was told that a lawyer was here to see me, and I was able to speak with him in a visitation room. The special agent told me that the door could not be closed all the way, so it was cracked during my interaction with my lawyer. I got the impression that they were not used to having lawyers present, and were trying to follow procedure as best they could. I asked an agent if the other detainees were allowed lawyers and was not answered.

At one point, 3 men from the department of Homeland Security Investigations brought me into a cell. They insinuated that they could help me out. After inquiring several times what exactly they meant they finally told me that they could offer undocumented family members of mine legal protection if I have any (I don’t), or money, in exchange for giving them the names of protest organizers, or undocumented persons. I was shocked, and told them no.

Finally, after hours of detention, I was told to follow an agent. At no point was I told whether or not I was being charged, or where I was going, but I was led out of the building. I asked if I could use a phone to call my wife to pick me up, and was told I could not. After pleading for several minutes eventually Special Agent William let me use his phone to call my wife. As I was escorted off the property by government agents, I was told to turn right. I was escorted to the protest area, where 5 minutes later, tear gas was deployed and I was struck by a paint ball gun. I was not protesting, I was simply being released without charges after an 8 hour detention. I was on the other side of the street, as instructed by the agents that released me and the agents shouting orders over a bullhorn. A passerby who was tear gassed was panicking and having an asthma attack, so I helped her find a medic to get her an inhaler. I used a stranger's phone to co-ordinate pickup, and was picked up by my wife.

During my detention I knew that I was being released. I knew that as a citizen of the United States I have legal protection. The hundred or so other people being detained had no such protection. At this time I don’t need your help, it is the families that are being separated, abused, terrorized, harassed and killed that need your help. If this is happening to me, an American citizen born in the United States, then what is happening to the people in here that have no one calling lawyers on their behalf? That have no constitutional rights to due process? What is happening to the people that they will never be released to see their families, go to their jobs, or walk through their city ever again? 

Dispatch from Minneapolis

The sister of a very good friend of mine lives in Minneapolis  The sister is part of a group of parents trying to guard bus stops to protect parents (and kids) from being harassed by thugs from ICE.  She sent testimony from another volunteer who was recently arrested.

I have redacted the person’s name.  [That’s a word I learned from the attempt to block the president’s name in the Epstein files.]   Here is a portion of what he wrote.  I know it is long, but as you read it, remember this is occurring in the U.S., now:

I am a US citizen from Minneapolis. Yesterday, while doing legal observation, ICE stopped their cars to harass my friend and me. They sprayed pepper spray into the vent of our vehicle. We held our hands in the air and told them we were not obstructing, that the car was in park and they were free to drive forward and away. There was no active immigration raid. They returned to their cars, and drove forward a bit, then decided to stop again. They surrounded us, smashed the windows of our car, opened the doors (they were unlocked), ripped my friend and I out of the car and arrested us on charges of obstruction.

I was put in an unmarked SUV, separated from my friend. As I was put in the back seat an ICE agent tore the whistle off my neck and said “I’ll be taking this, I might need it later.” My phone was knocked out of my hand while being arrested. As we drove away I asked the driver and the passenger if they wouldn’t mind buckling my seatbelt, as they were driving erratically. I was ignored. I asked them if I could have the handcuffs loosened, as I was losing circulation, and was told no. At one point the passenger realized his own driver's license was in the backseat next to mine, and tried to surreptitiously grab it without me seeing it.

We were taken to the Whipple federal building, where I saw dozens of brown people being processed in an unheated garage. I was frisked, told of my charges, and saw buses and vans being prepped. I later learned that these were being filled with detainees and driven to the airport for deportation. As we were led in, I noticed that the building was very busy. I got the impression that one of the 2 agents bringing me around was being trained. At multiple points throughout my stay, government agents were unable to open doors, not sure where they were meant to be going, and overall confused and overwhelmed. They couldn’t figure out how to use the building phones, or complained about a lack of cell service preventing them from checking the internet or making calls.

The people in the cells were extremely scared. We heard people screaming "let me out!", crying, wailing and terrified screams. There were cells with as many as 8 people. I have no way of knowing how long they have been there, if they were allowed any contact with the outside world, or if they were being brought food or water. Most people were staring at the ground with almost no energy. I was not allowed to talk to anyone imprisoned. I distinctly remember seeing a desperate woman. She was staring at the ground with her head in her hands crying, hopeless, while her friend or family member sat on a bathroom seat observed by 3 men.

My friend and I were put in an area for "USCs," which we eventually learned meant US citizens, separated by gender. We were imprisoned for 8 hours, during which my friend was never allowed a phone call. I was allowed to call my wife and tell her where I was. During my interview with Special Agent William and Special Agent Garcia, they asked me to empty my pockets. When I pulled out gloves, Agent William said those were meant to be taken when I was processed, and complained about having to fill out the form again. He frisked me once more, where he found glass in my pocket from when our car window was shattered. He filled out the form listing my personal items again, but put the wrong date. I was read my rights, I pleaded the fifth and was led back to my cell.

Part II Tomorrow