White House Dossier's

Dozens killed by blast in Iran at ceremony honoring general US assassinated . . . Explosions at an event honoring a prominent Iranian general slain in a U.S. airstrike in 2020 have killed at least 73 people and wounded over 170 others, state-run media in Iran reported Wednesday. A senior official called the blasts a “terroristic” attack, without elaborating on who could be behind them amid wider tensions in the Mideast over Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. No group immediately claimed responsibility. Iranian state television quoted Babak Yektaparast, a spokesman for the country’s emergency services, for the casualty figure. The blasts struck an event marking the the fourth anniversary of the killing of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s elite Quds Force. who died in a U.S. drone strike in Iraq in January 2020. Associated Press

Trump to skip CNN debate . . . Former President Donald Trump will participate in a Fox News town hall next week, the network announced Tuesday, skipping CNN’s GOP primary debate scheduled for the same time. The town hall will also take place at 9 p.m. on Jan. 10 in Des Moines, Iowa, and will be moderated by Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. Only Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley qualified for the Iowa debate, CNN announced Tuesday. Politico

Trump appeals Maine decision booting him from ballot . . . Former President Donald Trump has appealed the Maine secretary of state’s decision that he is ineligible to run for president because he engaged in an insurrection, the first step in his court fight to remain on the ballot in the state. Trump’s legal team filed the appeal in state court on Tuesday, just five days after Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat, plunged the state into an intensifying national dispute over whether the Constitution bars Trump from returning to the White House. Politico

Maine official who removed Trump said voter ID laws "rooted in white supremacy" . . . The Maine official who moved to disqualify former President Trump from the state's 2024 Republican primary ballot last week has previously said that voter ID laws are "rooted in White supremacy." Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows made the claim while giving testimony to the legislature in April 2021, expressing her opposition to proposed state laws that would require voters to show photo identification to cast a ballot. Fox News

So, she's worried about the right to vote and kicks a candidate off the ballot . . . 

A third of adults say Biden election illegitimate . . . About one-third of U.S. adults say they believe President Biden was not legitimately elected president of the United States in 2020, according a poll released this week. The Washington Post/University of Maryland found that

As of last month, 62 percent of U.S. adults say they believe Biden was legitimately elected, down from 69 percent overall in the 2021 poll. The Hill

Polls show Jewish voters stand behind Biden amid Israel-Hamas war

Bannon threatens big fight to keep Haley off Trump ticket . . . Steve Bannon said he anticipates a big fight over whether GOP presidential hopeful Nikki Haley should be the former president’s pick for vice president in the general election. Bannon advised strongly against Trump choosing the former South Carolina governor to be his running mate. “One of the fights we’re going to have, a big fight, it will take place in the spring, will be — they’re going to try to force Nikki on the ticket,” Bannon said. “They’ll say Trump needs a woman — Nikki — on the ticket. She balances things,” he continued. The Hill

GOP House majority down to two . . . The Republican majority in the House of Representatives will decline to just two seats after the departure of Republican Rep. Bill Johnson of Ohio, whose resignation was announced on Tuesday. Following the expulsion of George Santos and the resignation of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy from the chamber, Johnson’s departure will bring the number of Republicans in the chamber to 219, which is just one member more than the 218 seats in a full House that a party needs for a majority. Daily Caller

Biden returns from St, Croix sporting lobster burn . . . Joe Biden sported a sunburn as he returned to Washington DC from his New Year's vacation in St Croix - just nine months after he had surgery to remove a cancerous skin lesion from his chest. Upon return to the White House, the President answered one question from the press when pushed on what was going to be done about the border crisis this year. 'We gotta do something, they gotta give me the money I need to protect the border,' Biden said, after officials revealed over 302,000 people crossed the border illegally in December. Daily Mail

The West needs more missiles . . . The Ukraine war has highlighted the West’s deficiencies in quickly producing more weapons at a time of need. The Gaza conflict may tighten supplies for certain armaments. The constraint is particularly acute for missiles and the systems that defend against them, and also guard against the swarms of drones that have become a central element of modern warfare. The problem is that modern weapons are hugely complex, often requiring thousands of parts. Wall Street Journal

You can't fight everyone's war an also fight your own.
    

Hamas leader killed in Beirut was linchpin of relations with Iraq, Hezbollah . . . The killing on Tuesday night of a senior Hamas leader marked the biggest hit to the group’s top leadership in years, taking out a key player who was responsible for aligning the Palestinian militant group with Iran and Iran’s proxy Hezbollah. Saleh al-Arouri was killed in Beirut in a suspected Israeli strike, although Israel hasn’t officially claimed responsibility. The death of Arouri, a Hamas political leader known for his diplomatic abilities and who helped establish the organization’s military wing in the 1980s, represents a symbolic and operational blow to the Islamist, Palestinian nationalist group. Wall Street Journal

At least 62 dead after Japan earthquake . . . A series of powerful earthquakes that hit western Japan left at least 62 people dead as rescue workers fought Wednesday to save those feared trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings. Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas two days after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed the area. The first 72 hours are considered crucial to save lives after disasters. Politico

How every passenger made it out of a burning jet alive after airport crash

China ramps up nuclear power while US turns to wind and solar . . . The United States is closing older nuclear power plants and only taking baby steps toward building new ones while China, the world’s No. 2 economy, aggressively ramps up its nuclear power inventory to add 37 new reactors in the past decade. Only one new nuclear power plant has opened in the U.S. in the past 30 years because of concerns about safety and costs. Washington Times

Money

Tech's AI hangover may just be getting started . . . One thing already seems certain about 2024: AI is going to need to start showing the money. Whether it can is a whole other question. Excitement for generative artificial intelligence sparked by OpenAI’s chatbot was the dominant theme for investors in 2023. The Nasdaq Composite jumped 43% for the year—its second-best annual performance in 15 years. But the new year might already be ushering in more-sober perspectives. Wall Street Journal

Culture

Disgraced former Harvard president Claudine Gay likely to continue making $900K a year . . . She won’t be leading the Crimson, but green shouldn’t be a problem. Outgoing Harvard President Claudine Gay will still likely earn nearly $900,000 a year despite being forced to resign her position as the school’s top administrator. Gay — who stepped down amid a tempest of allegations she did not do enough to combat antisemitism and academic plagiarism Tuesday — will now return to a position on the Cambridge, Mass., school’s faculty. Prior to being named president just six months ago, Gay earned $879,079 as a Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean in 2021. New York Post

Dave Chappelle's trans jokes enrage liberal critics . . . Comedian Dave Chappelle's latest comedy special for Netflix was attacked by media critics for continuing to make jokes about the transgender movement, following a years-long pattern of the comedian frustrating the left. The brash comic tells a story about meeting Jim Carrey on the set of his 1999 movie, "The Man on the Moon." Carrey employed a "method" approach to portraying Andy Kaufman by remaining in character at all times, and Chappelle was told by the crew to address Carrey as "Andy" when meeting him. "I wanted to meet Jim Carrey and I had to pretend this n---a was Andy Kaufman all afternoon. And he was clearly Jim Carrey," he remarked. "I could look at him and I could see he was Jim Carrey. Anyway, I say all that to say that's how trans people make me feel." Fox News

Court rules federal government cannot force Texas hospitals to do abortions . . . A court ruled that the federal government cannot force Texas hospitals to carry out abortions, even in "emergency" scenarios. A 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled unanimously in favor of Texas and two anti-abortion organizations, who sued President Joe Biden's Department of Justice over a July 2022 guidance in the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act, which said hospitals in states with abortion bans are allowed to carry out abortions in situations deemed emergencies. Washington Examiner

New Philadelphia mayor declares public safety emergency . . . In her first official act since being inaugurated Tuesday, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker signed an executive order declaring a citywide public safety emergency and directing the Police Department to develop “comprehensive plans” that address crime across the city. The order directs new Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel to work with Managing Director Adam Thiel and other city department heads to deliver a plan within 100 days detailing how they will hire more police officers, reduce violent crime, quell quality-of-life offenses, and “permanently shut down all pervasive open-air drug markets.” Philadelphia Inquirer

Parker is a moderate Democrat who is pledging to reverse the crime wave in the city and hire lots of police. Because black lives matter. Inner city blacks are the ones being killed, not white suburbanites with Black Lives Matter signs on their lawns.

Pentagon directed to study using psychedelics to treat veterans . . . An idea once widely mocked on Capitol Hill now has broad bipartisan support as part of the recently passed defense spending bill, and proponents say the change in attitude will save lives in the real world. Tucked inside the massive $886 billion fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act is a provision directing the Pentagon to study the effects of psychedelic-assisted therapy on veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injuries, depression, insomnia and other invisible wounds of war. Washington Times

Far out.

Pastor tries to put worker's head in McDonald's deep fryer . . . A North Carolina pastor was arrested and charged with assault last week after police say he put his hands around a McDonald’s employee’s neck and tried to dip his head into a deep fryer. The pastor, identified by police as Dwayne Wayden, was charged with assault and battery and was later released on $1,000 bond, records reviewed by PEOPLE show. An incident report from the High Point Police Department alleges that Wayden, 57, angrily walked into the McDonald’s restaurant after his wife called him to complain about a co-worker “disrespecting” her during her shift. People

Hey, those are for french fries, not human heads!