#114 Time in Florida

 

                                                                                    January 31, 2026

                                                                                    Saturday afternoon

Hello everyone.

            The time we are spending in Naples marks the sixth year we have left Minnesota winters for the pleasant climate of southwest Florida. For most of my adulthood, I (silently, and only gently) sneered at the idea of snowbirds and spending time away from Minnesota in the winter. “I’m a hardy Minnesotan, I can keep on living here in the winter! You’re all wimps!” My, how one’s attitude changes as age and retirement creep up on you.

            Late last fall, while still able to sit on our porch, I asked Kathy what our frame of mind would be if we didn’t have the time in Florida to look forward to. I think we agreed we’d be depressed. All the years I was working I disliked the January and February period the most: the end of the holidays and seeing family and friends, short days—often dreary—and long nights, cold, snow, and ice, and a bleak landscape. When the option to leave became available, after Kathy retired in September 2020, we decided to go. (We had taken short breaks in Florida and Arizona before we retired, so we knew the value of warm and green, even if only in short bursts.)

* * *

            As for what’s been going on at the local level: I begin by noting that I have nothing insightful to add to the thousands of words that have already been written about the awful activities of ICE in my hometown of Minneapolis (and in the state of Minnesota). My hope is that those responsible will be subject to prosecution for (what appears to be) murder or abduction or assault or whatever appropriate statutes come into play. I am aware that state prosecution of federal officers has hurdles to overcome, but I’m alarmed at the possibility that ICE officers might be immune from prosecution for criminal acts.

            We have all learned that nothing that comes out of Kristi Noem’s office has any credibility.

            I am impressed that the Department of Homeland Security believes the Fourth Amendment is inoperative. “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” I hope the courts, and the Court, do not agree.

            I do not give much credence to conspiracy theories. If someone were to propose, however, that Stephen Miller and RFK Jr. are moles for China and/or Russia, I’d have to consider the possibility. Weaken the national research structure, weaken public health, weaken higher education, weaken the economy, destroy relationships with allies—what more could Messrs. Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping want?

            As for the general situation in the country, I think the comparisons with Weimar Germany and the rise of the Nazis are overblown. I have seen Facebook memes with the ghost of Hitler smiling over Trump’s shoulder. Nah.

First, we have a free press, which Nazi Germany did not. Second, there is social media. Third, there is no group being targeted for concentration/extermination camps; I think that not even the vile mind of Stephen Miller envisages that happening. Yes, ICE is going after folks who aren’t white, but mass executions/genocide are not part of what’s happening. Deportation is not (mostly) murder. (And, ironically, the two people allegedly murdered in the Twin Cities were white folks. The alleged murders are a tragedy but symptomatic of a policing organization out of control and nothing greater than that in terms of lives lost.) Fourth, the legal system—the courts—is functioning and has imposed some barriers to ICE and the Trump administration (not nearly enough, IMO, but the courts still act with authority). Yeah, ICE seems like the Gestapo, but the legal system may impose significant costs on ICE (i.e., civil liability lawsuits, criminal lawsuits). Fifth, no demonstrations like what we’ve seen in Minnesota and elsewhere would have been tolerated in Nazi Germany. Those huge public outcries may be putting a brake on how far Trump is willing to go. Sixth, there would have been no vigorous dissenting political leaders (e.g., Gavin Newsom, J. B. Pritzker); Hitler’s Brownshirts, the Sturmabteilung, would have eliminated them.

I don’t downplay the significance of what’s going on here, and as all my friends know, I detest just about everything about this administration, but I think a realistic assessment says the comparisons with Nazi Germany aren’t accurate.

* * *

            Going from the depressing to the happy.

            I cannot compose one of these epistles without including Svea photos. Elliott & Martha & Svea visited us in Florida for a week; they returned home last Thursday.

My goodness, a (nearly) 1-year-old requires a lot of attention, and Svea received it all the time she was here. Maybe all infants are good-natured and smiley if they are treated well, and Svea certainly is both. Elliott & Martha were good enough to continue to do most of the parenting, but Kathy and I spent time with Svea as well.

This brief experience leaves me in awe of grandparents who must assume responsibility for their grandchildren when the parents are unable to care for them. I would be exhausted after about two days. That said, two days after they left, I miss her.

This townhouse has several mirrored walls and sliding glass doors; I will need to use about half a bottle of Windex to clean off all the little fingerprints.

            Climbing on grandma.

Feeding Cheerios to the ibises (white) and moorhens (black). Despite the look on her face, she found the birds fascinating.

Playing in the chair with grandpa.

* * *

            And one more positive note:

            For those of my vintage, recent research news about vaccinations has been encouraging. The New York Times reported on the “off-target” benefits (“meaning that the shots do good things beyond preventing the diseases they were designed to avert”). A recent meta-analysis of years of research: “the findings ‘are really very consistent,’ said Dr. Stefania Maggi, a geriatrician and senior fellow at the Institute of Neuroscience at the National Research Council in Padua, Italy. She is the lead author of a recent meta-analysis, published in the British journal Age and Ageing, that found reduced risks of dementia after vaccination for an array of diseases. Given those ‘downstream effects,’ she said, vaccines ‘are key tools to promote healthy aging and prevent physical and cognitive decline.’”

            I keep up with all vaccinations in any case, but I’m glad to learn they may also help forestall a cognitive decline. (I am hoping that regular attendance at the fitness center will take care of forestalling physical decline.)

            On that note, I’ll sign off. Stay warm if you’re in a cold place. And stay in touch.

            Gary