Gavin Newsom is suffering from what the Rand Corporation, right here in California, calls “ truth decay ” — the steady disappearance of facts and reason from public debate. The latest example is the governor’s attempt to claim that California’s population is growing — after his own government released a report warning that it isn’t. California lost a net 54,000 residents last year, the first population drop since the pandemic, when Newsom’s shutdowns drove out freedom-loving residents. Gavin Newsom has boasted that “no other state has outperformed the economy of the State of California.” AP Sure, the state’s Department of Finance tried to blame federal immigration restrictions for the decline.  But that just highlights the fact that California’s population growth has not been natural. It has been driven by immigration — including illegal immigration (which the state laughably calls “International humanitarian migration”).…