Emigrate Expectations

Leaving America, AI Boom Boxed

Good luck movin’ up
‘Cause I’m moving out
-- Billy Joel

Americans are known for voting with their feet. Recently, they’ve been voting with planes, too. While the politics of the moment have been fixated on immigration, emigration isn’t getting nearly the attention it deserves. A growing number of Americans are exchanging the American dream for a one-way American dream-trip to any country they believe will be more affordable and safe. You may assume that the increasingly common choice to book an exodus out of this place is being driven by Trumpism (if that State of the Union address went on for another five minutes, I may have called my own travel agent). But this trend can’t be painted with such abroad brushstrokes. It has been ramping up and to the right for a while. “Some commentators have labeled this wave of American emigrants the ‘Donald Dash’ since numbers have spiked under President Trump’s second term. But the phenomenon has been building for years—fed by the rise of remote work, mounting living costs and an appetite for foreign lifestyles that feel within reach, especially in Europe.” There are multiple factors behind the trend. There would have to be, because the shift is so stark. “When Gallup asked Americans during the 2008 recession how many wanted to leave the U.S., the answer was one in 10. Last year: One in five.” WSJ (Gift Article): Americans Are Leaving the U.S. in Record Numbers(Alt link). “The exodus poses elemental questions for a country that has always prided itself as a destination. Are the new American emigrants a credit to the strength of their homeland’s economy? After all, it is America’s enviable salaries that allow a new class of students, remote workers and retirees to finance a second chapter abroad ... Or do these émigrés personify a loss of faith in America’s future and way of life?”

+ I have no plans of moving, either from the country or from this couch. But I did try to get out of the house on Monday night to avoid the State of the Union address. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one. TV ratings were way down, and many of you could relate to my efforts. If you missed yesterday’s SOTU wrap... Not on My Watchlist.

2

Boom Boxed

“Even as more than half of Americans have tried large language models (and virtually everyone who has done anything online has inadvertently used A.I.), studies show that people are far more worried than they are excited. According to Pew, 61 percent of respondents to a 2025 survey said they wished they had more control over how A.I. was used in their own life.” NYT (Gift Article): People Loved the Dot-Com Boom. The A.I. Boom, Not So Much. On one hand, this makes perfect sense. The dot com boom threatened to give you pet food delivery and streaming movies. The AI boom is threatening to take your job. But I think there’s more to it than that. People are worried about the AI boom in part because they don’t trust (and in some cases, deeply hate) the messengers who are leading and promoting the revolution. The companies are too big. The CEOs are too rich and too powerful. Some have already proven they don’t care about our privacy. Others have repeatedly bent the knee to our current AI regulation hating-regime. Some heil in public. It’s not just the tech we don’t trust. It’s the technologists.

+ Elon Musk’s makeshift AI power plant generates sound and fury in Mississippi.

+ Of course, whether we like it or not, AI is here to stay, and it will play a bigger and bigger role in our lives. As rabid is the race for consumer adoption, the race to win the war to fight future wars is even more extreme. And more dangerous. Bloomberg(Gift Article): Anthropic’s Pentagon Showdown Is About More Than AI Guardrails. “The confrontation has exposed the Defense Department’s reliance on Anthropic in a head-to-head military rivalry with US adversaries including China. Yet the battle also amplifies the tension between Silicon Valley and the Pentagon over who controls the future of AI as a tool of war and surveillance, including whether the rapidly evolving technology can be used in a lawful manner.”

3

In A State

“Pro-Trump activists who say they are in coordination with the White House are circulating a 17-page draft executive order that claims China interfered in the 2020 election as a basis to declare a national emergency that would unlock extraordinary presidential power over voting.” WaPo: Trump, seeking executive power over elections, is urged to declare emergency. Trump has already shown he’ll go to great lengths to remain in power. And the current polling trends couldn’t be much worse. So you can expect emergency declarations and actual emergencies.

+ This doesn’t mean Trump’s efforts will work, of course. He doesn’t control elections, states do. And a state of emergency doesn’t equal an emergency in a state. But there is some value in expecting the worst, especially when the past has shown you it’s coming. Josh Marshall: Time for the States to Gear Up for Trump’s Fake Elections Exec Order. “The issue is not simply President Trump’s never-ending efforts to destroy the Republic, violate the Constitution, etc. Again, the Constitution is crystal clear about who runs and controls elections. States do that with guidelines set by Congress. Period. The issue is whether we — everyone, the opposition, everyone who purportedly needs to be in perpetual orbit around Donald Trump’s degenerate brain — need to always be allowing him the initiative.”

4

Green Thumb on the Scale

“Few countries anywhere in the world are passing new climate policies into law anymore. After a period of growing concern and accelerating momentum, the project of greening the world’s energy systems certainly feels as if it has been thrown into reverse. But by the most straightforward measures, that’s simply wrong. There is more green stuff being installed than ever, and judged simply as a global infrastructure project the volume is pretty staggering. In 2024, 92.5 percent of all new power capacity installed around the world was renewable. In 2025, it’s believed that global green installations were even greater. And even in Trump’s United States, which has been behaving in many ways like a petrostate, more than 92 percent of utility-scale electricity capacity planned for 2026 is green.” David Wallace-Wells in the NYT (Gift Article): Don’t Look Now, but the Green Transition Is Still Happening.

5

Extra, Extra

Kansas Backwards: “Please note that the Legislature did not include a grace period for updating credentials. That means that once the law is officially enacted, your current credentials will be invalid immediately, and you may be subject to additional penalties if you are operating a vehicle without a valid credential.” Kansas informs trans residents their driver’s licenses become invalid on Thursday. “Governor Laura Kelly vetoed the bill on February 13, calling it ‘poorly drafted,’ but the Legislature overrode her veto days later. In addition to the driver’s license provisions, the law bans transgender people from using bathrooms matching their gender identity in public buildings and creates a bathroom bounty hunter system allowing citizens to sue transgender people they encounter in restrooms for at least $1,000 in damages, including potentially in private restrooms.” Erin Reed: Kansas Sends Letters To Trans People Demanding The Immediate Surrender Of Drivers Licenses.

+ A College Try: “Department of Homeland Security agents allegedly detained a Columbia University student early Thursday morning after making ‘misrepresentations to gain entry’ to a residence hall.” And the US justice department sues UCLA over alleged antisemitism amid pro-Palestinian protests. (I don’t think it will work, but I have a feeling there will be an increased effort to make colleges the enemy because polling was better back when that was a focal point.)

+ Hill v Hill: “You have compelled me to testify, fully aware that I have no knowledge that would assist your investigation. in order to distract attention from President Trump’s actions and cover them up despite legitimate calls for answers. If this committee is serious about learning the truth about Epstein’s trafficking crimes, it would not rely on press gaggles to get answers from our current president on his involvement; it would ask him directly under oath about the tens of thousands of times he shows up in the Epstein files.” Hillary Clinton says she has no new information on Jeffrey Epstein in testimony excoriating Republicans. Meanwhile, while Americans are being distracted by this nonsense, people around the world are paying a price for Epstein connections. World Economic Forum chief quits after Epstein investigation. This is part of a broader trend. Adam Serwer in The Atlantic (Gift Article): How America Chose Not to Hold the Powerful to Account.

+ Six Figure: “The average long-term U.S. mortgage rate slipped this week below 6% for the first time since late 2022, good news for home shoppers as the spring home-buying season gets rolling.”

+ Point Taken: “The crypto bros who spent millions getting Donald Trump elected seemed to get virtually everything they might want: a longtime industry investor elevated to White House adviser; one type of crypto given the imprimatur of the federal government; the near annihilation of effective regulatory scrutiny; invitations to White House dinners hosted by Mr. Trump. But instead of cementing crypto’s legitimacy, the administration has only pulled back the curtain on the fundamental worthlessness of its assets.” NYT (Gift Article): Crypto Is Pointless. Not Even the White House Can Fix That. (Well, not pointless. It provides the means to a lot of crime and corruption and financial gains for insiders.)

+ Fraudian Slip: White House to pause $259M in Minnesota Medicaid dollars in fraud crackdown. Gov Walz: “His [U.S. Department of Justice] is gutting the U.S. Attorney’s Office and crippling their ability to prosecute fraud. And every week Trump pardons another fraudster.”

+ Snowball Effect: Mayor Mamdani has his first controversy. It’s about snowballs.

6

Bottom of the News

“People of all ages and body mass indexes line up like spandex-wearing cattle outside the Marina del Rey Marriott on a recent Wednesday morning and are ushered to the sand for a group photo. A 20-something man cups his genitals as he jogs to the lifeguard tower in nothing but red underwear. A middle-aged woman does some last-minute scissor kicks in the parking lot. The 50-degree weather doesn’t stop some contenders from slow-motion running in the water. Yes, the dream of becoming Hollywood’s next David Hasselhoff or Pamela Anderson is palpable.” ‘This Whole Thing Is Not Normal’: Inside the ‘Baywatch’ Reboot Casting Call With 2,000 Wannabe Lifeguards.