White House Dossier's

Trump soars to a decisive victory in New Hampshire . . . This time, New Hampshire didn’t surprise. Instead, its famously fickle voters stuck to the script of delivering a ringing ratification of the front-runner, Donald Trump, the former president. His victory over a defiant Nikki Haley cemented his hold on core Republican voters and substantially reduced the chances of any challenger overtaking him. Never before has a presidential candidate won the first two contests on the primary nomination calendar — as Trump has now done — and failed to emerge as the party’s general election nominee. Associated Press

Trump is now the presumptive nominee. As I said in a previous email, to have a chance, Haley needed to beat expectations in Iowa and win New Hampshire. She did neither. Not only that, she actually got destroyed in New Hampshire. Trump won by 54.5%- 43.2%, but New Hampshire allows independents to vote in either primary. Among Republicans, Trump won by 75%-24%. While about half of states allow either unaffiliated voters or voters of the opposite party to vote in a primary, Trump's choice by Republicans to be their nominee is unambiguous. Nikki Haley should withdraw today so that Republicans can unite, to the extent that's possible, and gear up for the general election. 

Haley loves South Carolina, but it's not gonna love her back . . . The state holds the next major primary, on Feb. 24. South Carolina’s electorate is far more conservative and more evangelical — the types of voters among whom Trump has dominated in the first two nominating contests this month. It’s an electorate that’s different from the college-educated moderates and independents who comprised Haley’s coalition in New Hampshire. Politico

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Biden wins write-in campaign . . . A write-in campaign for President Joe Biden won the New Hampshire Democratic primary Tuesday, after the state was stripped of its delegates by the Democratic National Committee. Voters who wrote in Biden’s name beat out Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minn.) and self-help author Marianne Williamson, according to three news networks, with early counts of unprocessed write-in ballots outnumbering votes for Phillips by a more-than-three-to-one margin. Politico

Former Obama adviser says best strategy for Biden is to "stay hidden"

Fake AI robocall simulated Biden's voice to tell NH residents not to vote . . . A digitally altered message created to sound like President Biden urging New Hampshire residents not to vote Tuesday’s primary added fuel to calls for regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) as the 2024 campaign heats up. The robocall is the latest example of how AI is being used in races as the U.S. lacks fundamental guardrails to curtail threats posed by the technology, which can make it appear like a candidate is saying or doing something that never happened. The Hill

Biden declares Trump the GOP nominee

Arizona GOP chairman appears to have offered Kari Lake a bribe to get out of Senate race . . . An audio recording obtained by DailyMail.com reveals the extraordinary moment when what appears to be Arizona's top Republican official tried to bribe populist firebrand Kari Lake not to run in the state's Senate race. Jeff DeWit, 51, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, can be heard asking Lake to name her price. 'There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,' he tells her in a conversation recorded at the start of March last year.  'So the ask I got today from back east was: "Is there any companies out there or something that could just put her on the payroll to keep her out?’ Lake reacts with indignation. This is about defeating Trump, and I think that's a bad, bad thing for our country,' she said. Daily Mail

Biden chemical ban would force reliance on China . . . A Biden administration proposal to effectively ban a chemical used to produce U.S. military equipment would make America's national defense apparatuses reliant on China and other foreign sources, domestic manufacturers are warning. President Joe Biden's Environmental Protection Agency last year unveiled rule proposals aimed at banning certain chemicals under the Toxic Substances Control Act. At least one chemical on the chopping block—methylene chloride—is used to produce military equipment such as bulletproof glass, helmets, and fighter jet canopies. Washington Free Beacon

International

Zelensky weighs into the US election against Trump . . . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was worried at the prospect of Donald Trump returning to the White House, branding Trump’s claim that he could stop Ukraine’s war with Russia in 24 hours as “very dangerous.” In an interview with the U.K.'s Channel 4 News that aired Friday, Zelenskyy invited the former president and front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination to visit Kyiv, but only if Trump delivers on his promise. “Donald Trump, I invite you to Ukraine, to Kyiv. If you can stop the war during 24 hours, I think it will be enough to come,” Zelenskyy said sarcastically.

Zelensky pokes another bear. Bad idea.

Farmers block roads across France to protest regs, low wages . . . French farmers staged protests Wednesday across the country and in Brussels against low wages and what they consider to be excessive regulation, mounting costs and other problems. Farmers have also been turning road signs upside down to protest what they argue are nonsensical agricultural policies. Some were planning to protest in Brussels, home to EU headquarters, where French farmers’ union Rural Coordination called for a demonstration against the “ever-increasing constraints of European regulations and ever-lower incomes.” Associated Press

The populist fire continues to spread across Europe. The home continent of American democracy is finally starting to recoil from the subversion of its freedoms and its culture.

Ukrainian-born model wins Miss Japan . . . The newly-crowned Miss Japan, Carolina Shiino, is flanked by her court after her coronation in Tokyo. "There have been racial barriers, and it has been challenging to be accepted as Japanese." That's what a tearful Carolina Shiino said in impeccable Japanese after she was crowned Miss Japan on Monday. The 26-year-old model, who was born in Ukraine, moved to Japan at the age of five and was raised in Nagoya. BBC

Russian plane carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners crashes . . . The Russian defence ministry says a military plane has crashed in Belgorod, near the Ukrainian border "On board were 65 captured Ukrainian army servicemen being transported for exchange, six crew members and three escorts," the ministry says. BBC

Money

Credit card spending rises, and it's taking longer to pay down . . . From fuel and groceries to hotels and airline tickets, consumers are putting more purchases on credit cards—and taking longer to pay them off.  The four biggest U.S. banks reported higher credit card spending in 2023 compared with the previous year. In fact, since 2020, credit card spending has steadily increased at three of the four. At

DC CVS store forced to close after repeated ransackings . . . A Washington DC CVS store will close its doors after a group of sticky-fingered teens routinely ransacked the store, leaving the shelves bare.

According to Fox affiliate, WTTG-TV, the pharmacy storefront in Washington D.C’s Columbia Heights neighborhood is closing on Feb. 29. The closing comes months after videos surfaced in Oct. 2023 of row after row of empty shelves at the CVS store after a group of shoplifting teens ransacked the store. New York Post

Culture

Musk calls DEI "fundamentally antisemitic" . . . Tech billionaire Elon Musk called diversity, equity and inclusion policies “fundamentally antisemitic” on Monday after his trip to the Auschwitz concentration camp. “The diversity and equity inclusion — we should always be … wary of any name that sounds like it could come out of a George Orwell book,” Mr. Musk said. “What it really means is discrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, and it’s against merit, and this I think is fundamentally antisemitic.” Washington Times

Oregon Democrats seek to roll back drug decriminalization  . .  . Democratic lawmakers in Oregon on Tuesday unveiled a sweeping new bill that would undo a key part of the state’s first-in-the-nation drug decriminalization law, a recognition that public opinion has soured on the measure amid rampant public drug use during the fentanyl crisis.

The bill would recriminalize the possession of small amounts of drugs as a low-level misdemeanor, enabling police to confiscate them and crack down on their use on sidewalks and in parks, its authors said. It also aims to make it easier to prosecute dealers, to access addiction treatment medication, and to obtain and keep housing without facing discrimination for using that medication. Associated Press

Let's see. They decriminalized drug use, and they got more drug use. Go figure.

New Jersey bag ban backfires . . . Plastic consumption in New Jersey spiked by nearly three times following the state’s implementation of a strict ban on single-use plastic shopping bags, a study found.  New Jersey implemented a ban on single-use plastic bags in 2022, the strictest ban on bags in the nation at the time. Reusable bags made of non-woven polypropylene are much thicker than the typical single-use plastic bags typically found at grocery and convenience stores, using roughly 15 times the amount of plastic, the study reported. Though the bags are built for repeated shopping trips, most New Jerseyans only reuse the bags two to three times before they're discarded. Fox News

How many of those things do you have lying around? They pile up!

Trial seeks to hold parents responsible for their son's murder rampage . . . Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley's mother will stand trial this week for her alleged role in the murder of four students.

Jennifer Crumbley and her husband, James Crumbley, face four counts of involuntary manslaughter each in the Nov. 30, 2021, shooting at Oxford High School. "When given the option to help [Ethan] and take him out of school, defendants did nothing," a March 2023 court filing from the Michigan Court of Appeals states. It lays out the reasoning for a trial for James and Jennifer Crumbley. Fox News

Los Angeles Times slashes newsroom staff . . . The Los Angeles Times on Tuesday laid off at least 115 people, including about a quarter of its newsroom, in a stunning second round of major layoffs in less than a year that underscored broader challenges facing the news business.

Cuts included reporters, editors and columnists, according to the union that represents the newsroom and social media posts from individual journalists. Politico

Tallest building in the US to be built in Oklahoma . . . The Matteson Capitol real estate developers announced that they now want to build the tallest building in the US. An application for zoning called for the main tower to be 1750 feet, which would be the tallest in the U.S., and the fifth tallest in the world according to a statement. Oklahoma Free Press

Passenger removed from Americans Airlines flight for excessive farting . . . A disgruntled passenger was removed for farting excessively on an American Airlines flight from Phoenix to Austin last week, it has been claimed. The early evening flight from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona was forced to return to its gate and delayed by 15 to 30 minutes, according to a passenger who was on the flight said. The Texas-based traveler wrote on Reddit: 'I was on a direct American flight from Phoenix to Austin and I was seated near the row where this situation occurred.' Daily Mail

At what point does farting become "excessive"? Are there rules? Do any airlines have a "zero-farting" policy?