Coffee, Fishing, & ICE

February 15, 2026
David R. Kotok
Reading Time: 6 minutes

As a public service to readers who like also fishing, I will start with this item. I cannot remember any fishing trip that didn’t begin with good strong morning cup of regular coffee, not decaf. This study from JAMA is easily readable. Here’s the link:

“Coffee and Tea Intake, Dementia Risk, and Cognitive Function” | JAMA, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2844764?guestAccessKey=c47ed8f5-4979-46ec-972b-0ff3c63d2a56&utm_medium=email&utm_source=postup_jn&utm_campaign=article_alert-jama&utm_content=olf-tfl_&utm_term=020926

Here’s a summary:

Findings: In this prospective cohort study of 131,821 individuals from 2 cohorts with up to 43 years of follow-up, 11, 033 dementia cases were documented. Higher caffeinated coffee intake was significantly associated with lower risk of dementia. Decaffeinated coffee intake was not significantly associated with dementia risk.

Conclusion: Higher caffeinated coffee intake was associated with more favorable cognitive outcomes.

Now let’s get to a fishing report.

We were seven people in three bass boats with professional guides, on the water by 7:15 AM. We stayed the night before at the Hampton Inn in Okeechobee City and had dinner at Lightsey’s, a quintessentially local and popular restaurant that I recommend. Here’s Jay Greenblatt with a result in his hands.

This was on January 24^th in between cold spells. Because of the cooler water temperature and because bass do not feed when they are on the spawning beds, the fishing was slow. In January, the guides position the boat between the lake and spawning beds in the weeds. The only fish that will “hit” are those that are migrating to the lake to feed. So we caught a few, but most of the time was spent waiting. We’ll be back in March and April when it is warmer and the spawning season is over.

Let’s turn to ICE.

Some of the fishing guides will talk about their business. Others avoid conversation. Those that talk have indicated a falloff in bookings even as the peak season approaches in February–April. “Not many Canadians” is how they answer when I ask. Same is true for other foreigners, especially from Europe. The headlines and images about ICE “make it worse.” These comments are typical and come from folks who live in the middle of FL, not on the condo-high-rise coasts. This part of the state is redder than a MAGA hat. They don’t like what they hear and see about ICE.

Florida state tourism officials are trying to lure foreign tourists back. As far as I can see, it isn’t working. Here’s an Orlando Newspaper headline.

“Migrants languish in US detention centers facing dire conditions and prolonged waits” | Orlando Sentinel,
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/02/09/migrants-languish-in-us-detention-centers-facing-dire-conditions-and-prolonged-waits/

Visit any Orlando resort hotel and the dearth of foreign visitors jumps out at you. Some foreign visitors say they are afraid to come to the US. Others who have been snowbirds have now listed their FL houses or condos for sale. Ask restauranteurs, “How’s business?” and see what they tell you. I will stop with examples. If you’re in FL, you can see the damage ICE is doing to travel and tourism for yourself.

ICE economics is costing taxpayers a lot. Here’s an analysis by a fiscal hawk organization.

“ROI: Return on ICE Investment – What are Taxpayers Getting for their Spending Surge?” | Open the Books,
https://open.substack.com/pub/openthebooks/p/roi-return-on-ice-investment-what?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

And ICE operates on the fringe of best business practices when it comes to payments. For example, here’s how they use no-bid contracts. Check out this video:

“ICE using non-bid contracts and boosting private companies to get more beds for detaining migrants” | AP News Archive,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyNg0-9FTbg

ICE contractors ignore shareholder initiatives. Here’s an example:

“Priests say ICE contractor GEO rejected shareholder vote on human rights review” | Yahoo Finance,
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/priests-ice-contractor-geo-rejected-193409320.html

I will stop the economic arguments.

Some folks ask me: “Aren’t they removing criminals, and isn’t that what we want?” No one I talk to wants murderers, rapists, and criminals roaming around. NO arguments about that.

But what about those who aren’t murderers and who are still being snatched or deported while they were following US law. Or snatched while they were enroute to their court hearing to make their temporary status permanent? Or what about those US citizens who get detained? Or what about using five-year-olds as “bait.”

What about shooting folks? The Pretti case is now declared an alleged homicide by ICE agents:

“Alex Pretti’s death ruled a homicide after Border Patrol shooting in Minneapolis | FOX6 Milwaukee” | FOX 9,
https://www.fox6now.com/news/alex-pretti-death-homicide

See also

“Courts have ruled 4,400 times that ICE jailed people illegally. It hasn’t stopped” | Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/courts-have-ruled-4400-times-that-ice-jailed-people-illegally-it-hasnt-stopped-2026-02-14/

DHS has, of course, attempted to counter the negative impressions that ICE has created:

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said that wrongdoing was not widespread in the agency, and that ICE “takes allegations of misconduct by its employees extremely seriously.” She said that most new hires had already worked for other law enforcement agencies, and that their backgrounds were thoroughly vetted. “America can be proud of the professionalism our officers bring to the job day-in and day-out,” she said. (“Several ICE agents were arrested in recent months, showing risk of misconduct, AP News, https://apnews.com/article/ice-agents-arrested-misconduct-crimes-abuse-corruption-45b0d2248c0add9523e0bf5a953faaea)

Dear readers, do you believe McLaughlin? Do you think anyone contemplating a visit to the US believes her? Polling data is showing that more than 60% of Americans do not like what they see coming from DHS. Here are recent poll results based on a sample of almost 22,000 Americans.

“NBC News Decision Desk Poll” | NBC News,
https://legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/26948008-nbc-news-decision-desk-poll-jan-feb-2026-topline

Let’s sum this up. The image of ICE is worldwide and ugly. Who wants to see masked men shoot and kill someone? For America, this has become a black eye. It is discouraging visitors from coming, which is one of the reasons travel and tourism in FL is down. The economic shock is impacting not just FL or Minnesota; it’s everywhere in the country. Here’s Texas.

“Immigration Raids in South Texas Are Starting to Hit the Economy,” Trade groups are raising alarms about aggressive immigration enforcement hurting businesses in the region | WSJ,
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/texas-immigration-raids-economy-87e23e2e?st=1PE4KG&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

We have written about the K-shaped economy. The upper branch is flourishing. The lower branch is weakening and worsening. ICE is costing a huge amount of money, adding to the federal deficit, and hurting the national economy.

Meanwhile, taxpayer dollars are buying empty warehouses for more detainees. The news keeps rolling in:

“ICE Begins Buying ‘Mega’ Warehouse Detention Centers Across US” | Bloomberg,
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2026-01-29/us-spends-hundreds-of-millions-on-warehouses-for-ice-detention-centers

“ICE outside UCF? Agency may be looking at office space near university” | Orlando Sentinel,
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/02/11/ice-outside-ucf-agency-may-be-looking-at-office-space-near-university/

Does anyone in Washington think the money can be better spent on speeding up the immigration processing system so that the 86% who aren’t criminals can become working and taxpaying contributors to American society?

For this closing section we owe a hat tip to Professor Scott Newstok, Executive Director of the Spence Wilson Center for Interdisciplinary Humanities and author of How to Think like Shakespeare (Princeton University Press, 2021).We close with a lesson from the “Great Bard” otherwise known as the “Bard of Avon.” Ian McKellen performs this speech written by Shakespeare for a play with multiple authors called Sir Thomas More. In the play, which was not performed in its time, Sir Thomas More is sent as a young lawyer to speak to a crowd intent on ridding London of “strangers,” meaning immigrants. Most recently, McKellan performed the speech at the close of an extended interview with Stephen Colbert on American TV (Colbert), and the YouTube short was circulated widely.

“The Stranger’s Case” performed by Ian McKellan playing the role of Sir Thomas More, https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nwd6vcfR3HI

For background about the play and the speech, see

“The banned 400-year-old Shakespearean speech being used for refugee rights today” | Quartz, https://qz.com/786163/the-banned-400-year-old-shakespearean-speech-being-used-for-refugee-rights-today

Ian McKellen offered this introduction before reading “The Stranger’s Case in 2017:

“Ian McKellen Reads a Passionate Speech by William Shakespeare, Written in Defense of Immigrants” | Open Culture, https://www.openculture.com/2017/01/ian-mckellen-reads-a-passionate-speech-by-william-shakespeare-written-in-defense-of-immigrants.html

To reduce risk of dementia, I’m going to have stronger caffeinated coffee. Clearly, Washington isn’t getting enough caffeine.