Losing the Home State

Plus: Adderall shortages, infrastructure lessons, Kanye West, and more…

LIZ WOLFE

Haley has said she will not be dropping out of the presidential race “until the last person votes” with her campaign announcing more ad spends ahead of Super Tuesday. Meanwhile, her Koch-affiliated funders at Americans for Prosperity Action have decided to pull support, instead choosing to focus on more winnable House and Senate races. (Disclosure: Reason Foundation, the nonprofit which publishes this website, has also received Koch funding.)

Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, that billionaire Charles Koch “and his group got played for suckers right from the beginning!” and called Haley “braindead.”

Haley is right that both candidates’ disapproval ratings are stunningly high, and that third-party candidates such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are somewhat unprecedentedly gaining traction. But that doesn’t mean that staying in the race will do much of anything.

Self-immolation outside the Israeli embassy: An active-duty U.S. airman named Aaron Bushnell has reportedly died after setting himself on fire outside of the Israeli Embassy in Washington D.C., protesting the Israeli government’s invasion of Gaza.

Bushnell filmed his protest and livestreamed it on Twitch. “I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” said Bushnell, prior to setting himself on fire. “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest,” he said before dousing himself in a liquid, lighting himself on fire, and shouting “Free Palestine!”

This is the second self-immolation in front of an Israeli embassy that’s happened in response to the current conflict in Gaza. The first protest took place in Atlanta late last year, and it resulted in severe injuries but not death of the protester.

Meanwhile in Gaza… The Israel Defense Forces have reportedly presented plans for removing civilians from active combat zones in Gaza, which “reinforces Israel’s intention to send troops into Rafah,” per The New York Times. Rafah, which is on the border with Egypt, is where hundreds of thousands of Gazans have taken refuge. The Israeli military’s intentions have drawn criticism from the United States. Very little information has emerged to the general public about what is in the plan.

Scenes from New York:

QUICK HITS

• “A bill to legalize testing strips for xylazine, a powerful tranquilizer that has been showing up in cities, towns and villages across the state, passed the state Assembly Wednesday on a voice vote,” reports the Wisconsin Examiner. “Like fentanyl testing strips, tests for xylazine are considered drug paraphernalia under current Wisconsin law.”
• “The United States has the most expensive transportation infrastructure in the world,” writes Alon Levy at Asterisk. “That’s because we refuse to learn from experts, other countries, and our own history.”
• “Vultures 1 is not Kanye’s best work, but his B-minus is an A-plus for most artists,” writes Eli Lake in The Free Press. “And in 2024, despite his controversies and failed cancellations, Kanye is still capable of finding musical brilliance inside of his crazy.”
• More straight-up absurdity from Google’s artificial intelligence chatbot, Gemini:

• This app-powered trash food article from The New York Times is actually kind of awesome, if you’re willing to look past a lot of the climate-related justifications.
• Mail delivery in Ukraine amid the backdrop of war.

GET REASON MAGAZINE