1) Nothin' Could Be Finer

The new 2025 state population data has just been released by the Census Bureau and our world-class demographer Wendell Cox has analyzed the numbers.  

Two of the surprise winners were the Carolinas - North and South.

North Carolina saw the biggest surge with 84,000 and South Carolina was third (behind Texas) with 67,000 net new arrivals.

Notice the Florida boom has slowed, perhaps because housing prices have nearly doubled in five years in the Sunshine State. (Reminds us of the old Woody Allen line about a restaurant: "no one ever goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

One of the most significant turnarounds has been in Ohio, which lost more than 40,000 net domestic migrants from 2020 to 2024, but regained 12,000 last year. Michigan also had a small inflow.  

The Midwest as a region registered its first net increase in population from domestic migration we could find, going back to 1991. But just barely. The South is still booming. Nine of the 10 fastest growing states were in the Southeast and Southwest.  

2) Goodbye, California

The new Census release also included five-year net domestic migration numbers, confirming the biggest demographic story of recent times: the sad, ongoing collapse of California.

We are witnessing day after day the greatest transfer of wealth and political clout in American history. New York and California are shrinking while Texas and Florida are getting steadily richer.

Florida and Texas gained a combined 1.7 million people from domestic migration so far this decade, while nearly three million people fled New York and California.

New York has its own set of problems, but one of life's great mysteries is how Gavin Newsom has made one of the most beautiful places on the planet so toxic. Amazingly, he's now the front-running Democrat for president in 2028. He’s going to run on his record!  

Meanwhile, nine of the 10 states from 2025 with the fastest rise in population were red states.

If current trends continue, the next redistricting could look like this:

3) Global Warming Caused the Winter Storms - Or Something Like That

Here's our headline of the day from The New York Times:

Okay...

But If warmer air causes storms, why did the storm happen in arctic conditions? We’re confused.

4) Schumer Shutdown Part II

We were the first to call it the Schumer Shutdown in 2025, and now get ready for the 2026 encore.

The odds of a government shutdown soared over the weekend when Chuck Schumer announced he would filibuster the funding package he had personally negotiated - unless Republicans cave to demands to defund ICE.

Ironically, a shutdown would not shut down ICE at all, because the agency was already well-funded in the Big Beautiful Bill - but it would mean military personnel and TSA agents would go unpaid again, with the same predictable results as the last shutdown.

Schumer claimed he learned his lesson last time, but here we are days away from a shutdown and he's once again captive to his radical activist base. He is choosing to engage in the politics of symbolism, rather than fulfill the most basic responsibility of governing.

This is all part of the left's master strategy of causing havoc and mayhem all over the country. Burn down the village.

We can get through this, despite the Left’s second grade temper tantrum. Even with the six-week first Schumer shutdown, the economy sprinted to a 5%+ fourth quarter growth rate.

5) Another California Nowhere Train for Nobody

California's high-speed rail boondoggle has become a laughingstock. New cost estimates have been upped to $135 billion--over $100 billion more than originally estimated and the final route from San Francisco to LA has been shelved.

Now, the transit and intercity rail advocates are doubling down and building a SECOND boondoggle leg of its rail train.  It would link the San Fernando Valley and West Los Angeles, which is parallel to the I-405 San Diego Freeway, then on to Los Angeles International Airport, supposedly by 2040.

The project was costed out at $5.7 billion in 2016 when it was approved. Since then it has risen by one report to $20 to $25 billion.

Already, $20 billion has been spent to build LA's existing subway and light rail system, but ridership remains well below peak. In 1985, there were 497 million annual boardings on the principal LA public transit system (when there were only buses). By 2024, ridership on both its rail and bus systems had dropped to only 311 million, a loss of 37% and still well below its prepandemic level of 370 million (2019). The subway was supposed to reduce traffic congestion in Los Angeles.  It's worse than ever.

California can't build enough houses. It can't build needed refineries. It can't build enough water storage facilities. But it is determined to build rail lines to nowhere ridden by no one.

6) This Demands an Investigation!

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