Voters in New Zealand have elected a right-wing government, ousting the party once led by COVID tyrant Jacinda Ardern.
The coalition government will be led by Christopher Luxon, a former chief executive of Air New Zealand, and will consist of his center-right National Party and Act, a smaller libertarian party.
Voters cited the cost of living as their primary concern, leading to the collapse of support for the Labour Party, which won 50 percent of the vote in 2020. With most of the vote counted, the National Party won 39 percent of the vote, up from 26 percent in 2020, and will now lead the coalition government.
The new right-wing coalition government in New Zealand is a return to form for the country, which has mostly had coalition governments since implementing proportional representation in 1993.
This is the first time the National Party, which last governed alone in the early 1980s, has been in coalition with a more conservative partner.
The National Party campaigned on tax cuts, promising relief for ordinary families. However, critics question the funding for those cuts and believe they disproportionately favor property owners while cutting benefits for disabled people.
The inflation rate has slightly eased but New Zealanders still face challenges such as high house and rent prices, a high cost of borrowing, and the ongoing effects of global shocks.
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Voters in New Zealand have elected a right-wing government, ousting the party once led by COVID tyrant Jacinda Ardern.
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A former advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly called Ukraine’s counter-offensive a “disaster” following the inability of the country’s armed forces to break through the Russian defenses as was initially predicted by the government, adding “[o]ur leadership, in my assessment, has exhausted the limits of its competence a long time ago.”
Oleksiy Arestovych, who resigned his post at the Office of the President of Ukraine in January this year after claiming the Dnipro civilian disaster was caused by Ukraine, took to X.com (formerly Twitter) to claim the government has made “a number of mistakes” in its management of the counter-offensive.
His scathing analysis states, “Now we are at an impasse. The Russians cannot defeat us, we cannot defeat them,” adding: “[Ukrainian leaders] are not telling the truth. There will be no return to the borders of 1991, and there will be no Crimea in the near future.”
Concerns about the success of the counter-offensive have been growing across the country in recent weeks, with Ukraine’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, telling critics to “shut up” about the failed military campaign.
– Когда я создавал завышенные ожидания от нашего контрнаступления, я делал это, полагаясь на расчеты.
Тогда эти ожидания не касались завышенными, известные мне цифры обещали значительный успех.
Но мы совершили ряд ошибок, которые, и это нужно признать (если мы уважаем…
A former advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly called Ukraine's counter-offensive a "disaster" following the inability of the country's armed forces to break through the Russian defenses as was initially predicted by the government, adding "[o]ur leadership, in my assessment, has exhausted the limits of its competence a long time ago."
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Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
Arestovych’s full statement, translated into English, follows: When I created high expectations for our counteroffensive, I did so relying on calculations
Arestovych’s full statement, translated into English, follows: When I created high expectations for our counteroffensive, I did so relying on calculations show more
Carolyn Andriano, a victim of sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose testimony helped convict his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, died earlier this year from an “accidental overdose”, according to a police investigation in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The 36-year-old mother-of-five had planned to start a new life in North Carolina with her husband and children, but was found unresponsive in a hotel room in West Palm Beach on May 23. The police investigation into her death has concluded, but Andriano’s mother, Dorothy Groenert, has called for further investigation.
Before her death, “she was ecstatic,” Groenert, told The Daily Beast. “She was all set up for a whole new lifestyle.”
“[The investigation] shouldn’t be closed,” she added, explaining how she has “begged [police]… I sent them numerous messages. I’ve asked for them to make meetings, contact me, and to no avail.”
Carolyn Andriano, a victim of sex-trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, whose testimony helped convict his accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, died earlier this year from an "accidental overdose", according to a police investigation in West Palm Beach, Florida.
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Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the European Union (EU) has “legally raped Poland and Hungary” by “forcing through” a new Migration Pact which requires all EU member-states to make so-called “solidarity contributions” during times of high illegal immigration.
Despite opposing EU border states’ policy of allowing boat migrants to land in Europe in large numbers, often facilitated by nonprofits funded by the German government, Poland and Hungary will now be required to take a share of the migrants, take over examining their asylum claims, or make “financial contributions” to provide for them.
Orban has vowed to fight back against the Migration Pact, insisting “there will be no compromise on migration. Not today, and not in the upcoming years. We will defend our borders from migrants and from the Brussels bureaucrats as well!”
Led by national conservative governments, Poland and Hungary successfully resisted EU efforts to impose migrant quotas on them in 2015, when Germany’s former leader Angela Merkel attempted to recover from the migrant crisis she created by redistributing the new arrivals across Europe.
Similarly, the new migration redistribution scheme follows Italian leader Giorgia Meloni’s failure to stop and unprecedented influx of boat migrants. While she promised to implement a naval blockade to end the crisis before she was elected, she has refused to do so now she is in office, attempting to lighten Italy’s burden by having the EU move migrants on to other European countries instead.
Hungary may find it harder to resist the new pact if the Polish government changes after national elections later this month, however, with polls suggesting globalist former European Council president Donald Tusk could take over the country.
Brussels legally raped Poland and Hungary by forcing through the #MigrationPact . So there will be no compromise on migration. Not today, and not in the upcoming years. We will defend our borders from migrants and from the Brussels bureaucrats as well! pic.twitter.com/YRR5IJfQKR
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban says the European Union (EU) has "legally raped Poland and Hungary" by "forcing through" a new Migration Pact which requires all EU member-states to make so-called "solidarity contributions" during times of high illegal immigration.
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Rasmussen polling shows a clear majority of Americans, across all parties, political ideologies, age groups, and ethnicities believe “Israel has no choice but to seek the complete eradication of Hamas in Gaza,” as Israeli forces instruct civilians to evacuate the north of the territory ahead of an expected ground offensive.
Sixty-six percent of all likely voters agree with the statement – including 41 percent who “strongly agree” – against 19 percent who disagree, and just seven percent who “strongly disagree”.
Anti-Hamas sentiment is strongest among conservatives, with 77 percent agreeing Israel should try to wipe the radical Islamic terror organization out, and weakest among liberals – but liberals are still supportive of Israel’s efforts overall, at 55 percent agree versus 29 percent disagree.
In terms of age groups, Americans over the age of 65 are most supportive of eradicating Hamas in Gaza, at 77 percent, and Americans aged 18 to 39 are the least supportive, at 53 percent.
Rasmussen also found most Americans – 53 percent of likely voters – believe “the Palestinians are mostly to blame” for the current conflict, against 24 percent who believe the blame should be shared equally, and ten percent who believe Israel is mostly to blame.
Black Americans and 18 to 39-year-olds are the groups most likely to blame Israel, at 19 percent, although pluralities of 41 percent and 33 percent still think the blame lies primarily with the Palestinians.
This is despite the fact multiple Black Lives Matter organizations have come out in “solidarity” with the Palestinians, with BLM Los Angeles describing Hamas’s mass murder of civilians in Israel as “self-defense”.
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Rasmussen polling shows a clear majority of Americans, across all parties, political ideologies, age groups, and ethnicities believe "Israel has no choice but to seek the complete eradication of Hamas in Gaza," as Israeli forces instruct civilians to evacuate the north of the territory ahead of an expected ground offensive.
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Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
Parents have won a landmark legal battle against the Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin, with Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Maxwell banning school authorities “from allowing or requiring staff to refer to students using a name or pronouns at odds with the student’s biological sex, while at school, without express parental consent.”
Parents represented by the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) and the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) had been socially transitioning supposedly transgender children, including pre-teens, behind their backs, and even over their express objections. Judge Maxwell ruled this violated the parents’ constitutional rights.
“The school district could not administer medicine to a student without parental consent. The school district could not require or allow a student to participate in a sport without parental consent. Likewise, the school district cannot change the pronoun of a student without parental consent without impinging on a fundamental liberty interest of the parents,” Maxwell said.
“[Can] a school district can supplant a parent’s right to control the health care and medical decisions for their children? The well-established case law in that regard is clear: Kettle Moraine cannot,” he added.
“The court confirmed that parents, not educators or school faculty, have the right to decide whether a social transition is in their own child’s best interests,” commented WILL deputy counsel Luke Berg. “The decision should be a warning to the many districts across the country with similar policies to exclude parents from gender transitions at school.”
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Parents have won a landmark legal battle against the Kettle Moraine School District in Wisconsin, with Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Maxwell banning school authorities "from allowing or requiring staff to refer to students using a name or pronouns at odds with the student’s biological sex, while at school, without express parental consent."
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Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosure of tax returns on Thursday. Littlejohn, 38, was charged with stealing tax return information and providing it to two news outlets from 2018 to 2020. Sentencing is set for January 29th, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
“The unauthorized theft and disclosure of tax return information by government employees or contractors is a serious breach of the public’s trust,” commented Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri.
“The American people have every right to expect the utmost integrity from those who are granted access to sensitive taxpayer information through their employment with the IRS,” added Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) Deputy Inspector General Trevor Nelson.
In addition to Trump, whom the Justice Department did not name in their statement but is known to be Littlejohn’s main victim due to admissions he made to the court, the contractor “separately stole tax return information for thousands of the nation’s wealthiest individuals.”
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Charles Edward Littlejohn, a former contractor for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), pleaded guilty to unauthorized disclosure of tax returns on Thursday. Littlejohn, 38, was charged with stealing tax return information and providing it to two news outlets from 2018 to 2020. Sentencing is set for January 29th, with a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
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Australia is set to reject a proposal to recognize Indigenous people in the nation’s constitution. The referendum sought to divide the country by enshrining a new advocacy committee called the Voice to Parliament which would advise the government on policy that affected the 3.8 percent of Indigenous residents of Australia.
Early counting indicates that the “no” vote is dominating in most states, including New South Wales and Tasmania. The creation of the indigenous body would require majorities in each of the four remaining states as well as a national majority, leading advocates to concede defeat in the referendum.
Proponents claimed the move would help the impoverished Indigenous, though opponents pointed out the move would simply drive a wedge, and potentially be the first step towards reparations.
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Australia is set to reject a proposal to recognize Indigenous people in the nation’s constitution. The referendum sought to divide the country by enshrining a new advocacy committee called the Voice to Parliament which would advise the government on policy that affected the 3.8 percent of Indigenous residents of Australia.
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Since Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, House Republicans have met almost daily in an effort to coalesce around a successor, culminating in the Conference seemingly backing Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise over Jim Jordan of Ohio by a vote 113 to 99. Despite the initial victory of being named Speaker-designate, Scalise’s camp failed to gain traction among members – leaving him well short of the 217 votes needed to win the Speakership on the House floor. Just over 24 hours after winning the Conference vote Scalise bowed out of the Speaker’s race – leaving House Republicans back at square one.
There are now a handful scenarios. The first entails the Conference’s second-choice for Speaker, Jim Jordan, capturing the 217 requisite votes. This is easier said than done for Jordan – who is backed by former President Donald Trump. Scalise allies blame Jordan, at least in part, for the collapse of his Speaker bid and are unlikely to back Jordan’s own bid. Rep. Anne Wagner (R-MO), a Scalise ally, responded with a firm “Absolutely not,” when asked if she’d support Jordan. Moderate Republicans from California and New York appear to be as equally opposed to Jordan.
The next possibility is Speaker Pro Tempore Patrick McHenry (R-NC) is granted, temporarily, the full powers of the Speaker. This idea being pushed by Rep. David Joyce (R-OH) – although with no official ruling from the House Parliamentarian, it is unclear if such a move is allowed by House Rules or even constitutional to begin with.
Alternatively, McHenry could become a consensus candidate and be elected Speaker – although this scenario faces the same math problem faced by Scalise and Jordan unless moderate Democrats also back the bid. McHenry has made a name for himself as the feisty chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and fierce opponent of over-regulation – despite being a leadership loyalist, he’s avoided taking firm stances on some of the more divisive issues in the Republican Conference. Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) could also emerge as an alternative consensus candidate.
The third option would be restoring Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. This would likely require the McCarthy camp to cut a deal with moderate Democrats, a significant defeat for House conservatives.
Finally, Moderate Republicans like Don Bacon (R-NE) and Steve Womack (R-AR) – along with Republican members in states like New York whose districts voted for Joe Biden – could opt to back Democrat minority leader Hakeem Jeffries for Speaker. Jeffries would secure the Speakership outright if 5 Republicans backed his bid or if enough Republicans voted ‘present’ during a floor vote. While currently remote, the possibility of Speaker Jeffries becomes more likely the longer the House leadership crisis drags on.
At the moment, securing the 217 votes needed to become Speaker of the House appears to be a daunting – if not insurmountable – task.
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Since Speaker Kevin McCarthy's ouster, House Republicans have met almost daily in an effort to coalesce around a successor, culminating in the Conference seemingly backing Louisiana Republican Steve Scalise over Jim Jordan of Ohio by a vote 113 to 99. Despite the initial victory of being named Speaker-designate, Scalise's camp failed to gain traction among members – leaving him well short of the 217 votes needed to win the Speakership on the House floor. Just over 24 hours after winning the Conference vote Scalise bowed out of the Speaker's race – leaving House Republicans back at square one.show more
WhatsApp messages from Boris Johnson’s tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom reveal key figures in his government considered his then girlfriend, now wife, Carrie Symonds to be “the real person in charge” of the British government and its decision making.
According to messages sent by Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, the UK press was wrong to label Dominic Cummings – the chief advisor to Johnson – as the “secret Prime Minister”.
“I was always told that [Dominic Cummings] was the secret PM. How wrong they are,” Johnson wrote in October of 2020. “I look forward to telling select [committee] tomorrow – ‘oh, fuck no, don’t worry about Dom, the real person in charge is Carrie’.”
The National Pulse editor-in-chief Raheem Kassam extensivelycoveredtheoutsized influence the former-Prime Minister’s significant other had on the U.K. government. According to Kassam, Johnson’s wife “…immediately corrupted what little semblance of conservatism Johnson once had, as only a third wife can… almost every single scandal had her bungling fingerprints all over it.”
Symonds reportedly directed government policy on a range of issues including transgenderism, environmental regulations, and the COVID-19 pandemic response. Benjamin Harris-Quinney, chairman of the conservative U.K. think-tank the Bow Group, told The National Pulse in February of 2021 that the power Symonds wielded in government raised serious constitutional concerns.
Harris-Quinney noted that unlike the First Lady of the United States, the spouse or partner of the Prime Minister has no real legal framework allowing for a direct role in government. The latest revelations from those who served in Johnson’s government serve as further confirmation that the un-elected, unaccountable Symonds, not Johnson or Cummings, ran the U.K.
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WhatsApp messages from Boris Johnson's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom reveal key figures in his government considered his then girlfriend, now wife, Carrie Symonds to be "the real person in charge" of the British government and its decision making.
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Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
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