You can't farm a data center

Mervin Raudabaugh, Jr., an 86-year-old farmer from Cumberland County, was offered $15 million to sell his farm to data center developers.  He said no.  Instead he put the 261 acre farm into the Pennsylvania Farmland Preservation program, which means it will be farmland in perpetuity.  I know how it works, because we did the same thing to our 23 acre farm.  Raudabaugh received $7,200 per acre to preserve the farm, considerably less than 15 million he was offered.

I like this guy.  They should put up a statue for him.  The people of Silver Spring Township, where the farm is located, are so lucky.  I wish we had more farmers like Mr. Raudabaugh, Jr., and fewer greedy landowners.

Info for this post is from “Farmer Rejects Data Center’s Millions, Preserves His Land,” Lancaster Farming, (Jan. 31, 2026), p. A1, A 7.

America Needs Total, Unfettered Access to Greenland

That was the headline in an article in the Times by Jeff Landry, who is the governor of Louisiana and Trump’s special envoy to Greenland.  Do you catch the arrogance of that statement?  What would Gov. Landry say if Putin said Russia needed unfettered access to Greenland?  What about the Greenlanders?  What about Denmark?

He brings up the Monroe Doctrine.  Really?  President Monroe’s “doctrine” had no legal standing then and doesn’t now.  In fact, if you look at history, the only reason the doctrine worked at all was because of the British navy.

Who the hell does this Jeff Landry think he is?  I know one thing–he is a Trump sycophant.  That certainly comes through in his article in which he praises Trump’s military acuity.

These clowns running this government with no knowledge of history, bluster instead of analysis, no comprehension of how stupid they sound–it makes my head hurt.

More good news from Texas

I’m kind of on a Texas kick, but this was too good not to mention.  Democrat Taylor Rehmet just won a Texas state senate seat in a district that Trump won by 17 points.  

That gerrymandering the Texas Republicans did just might come back to haunt them.  Wouldn’t that just be special.

Turtle rescue in the Gulf of Mexico

Last night I said nasty things about Texas, but tonight I will give some Texas residents a big thumbs up.  Volunteers went down to the beach in the Corpus Christi area and rescued 522 Green Sea Turtles.  The turtles were in a bad way because of the extremely cold weather.  Over 300 were taken to the Texas State Aquarium near Corpus.  Some of the turtles required intubation and specialized care to restart their breathing.

These were not the baby turtles that people often help to reach the ocean before they are gobbled up by gulls.  Some of these turtles were very large indeed.  Great effort.  Great outcome. 

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.