Ukrainian forces have paused counter-offensive operations to “reevaluate their tactics” just weeks after they began, and following minimal gains.
Defense officials from NATO member Estonia – one of Ukraine’s strongest backers – predicted “we won’t see an offensive over the next seven days,” while Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said Russia has conducted “relatively effective defensive operations” and “[b]oth sides are suffering high casualties”.
“In the constant contest between aviation measures and counter-measures, it is likely that Russia has gained a temporary advantage in southern Ukraine,” Britain’s MoD accepted.
The U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says the Ukrainians “may” be halting their attacks “temporarily” to rethink their approach, but also claims “Ukraine has not yet committed the majority of its available forces [or] launched its main effort” – despite reports that a large portion of U.S.- and Western-supplied vehicles have already been destroyed.
show less
Ukrainian forces have paused counter-offensive operations to "reevaluate their tactics" just weeks after they began, and following minimal gains.
show more
Leftists raged at an obscure sketch artist following Trump’s arraignment in Miami, seething that the former president looked too young and handsome in his courtroom drawings.
“The courtroom sketch artist, William Hennessy [J]r., is far too kind to [Donald Trump],” wrote one Twitter user.
“His pastel drawings make the pig look at least 20 years younger and 90 pounds thinner.”
“Any chance you can whip up a quick indictment for false depiction of an indicted grifter?” wrote another, tweeting at a parody account of Jack Smith.
“Yo Bill, why trim 70lbs off Trump? Just weird. Do you privately think of him as a trim superhero?” demanded one person on a Facebook post. “It’s rare I get any kind of feedback,” Hennessy said of the backlash.
“Some said he looked too thin, too young, and some said he looked too good,” he continued, noting that the negativity was coming from people who “didn’t care much for Trump.”
The artist insisted he doesn’t “editorialize” in his work, however: “I just draw what I see.”
show less
Leftists raged at an obscure sketch artist following Trump's arraignment in Miami, seething that the former president looked too young and handsome in his courtroom drawings.
show more
Political campaigns are bracing for the mass deployment of “deep fakes” and artificial intelligence, a report in POLITICO reveals, following a progressive convention of 70 strategists in May.
Participants in the conflab expressed concern over the AI production of “misinformation” in the run-up to the presidential election as well as whether regulation is possible by 2024. In effect, this concern may extend to common-place memes often deployed by the political right on social media.
Betsy Hoover, co-founder of the leftist Higher Ground Labs, said, “People are going to be looking for trusted messengers more than ever… In the same way in 2016 and 2020, we started to say, ‘Okay, we need to invest in influencer messaging and relational organizing,’ those things become more important this cycle.”
Earlier this year, the American Association of Political Consultants’ board of directors condemned the use of deep fakes in political advertising, examples of which include images of President Donald Trump embracing and kissing Dr. Anthony Fauci, published by Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign.
show less
Political campaigns are bracing for the mass deployment of "deep fakes" and artificial intelligence, a report in POLITICO reveals, following a progressive convention of 70 strategists in May.
show more
“Julian Assange must not be extradited to the US, for such an action will shame our country,” argues British writer Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail, claiming “[t]here is still just time for prominent figures in [British] politics and the media to place themselves on the side of justice and liberty, where they ought always to be.”
Hitchens, 71, has long criticized the imprisonment of Assange, the founder of the non-profit Wikileaks, who has now been in Belmarsh prison since 2019, having previously lived in a room in London’s Ecuadorian embassy for years. Assange is perhaps best known for the release of hundreds of thousands of classified documents pertaining to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“[I]f Mr Assange is sent to face trial in the US, any British journalist who comes into possession of classified material from the US, though he has committed no crime according to our own law, faces the same danger,” Hitchens explains.
“This is a basic violation of our national sovereignty, and a major threat to our own press freedom. I think that no English court should accept this demand,” he adds.
Earlier this month Assange, who remains imprisoned in London, lost an appeal to the High Court to avoid being extradited and has since appealed again.
show less
"Julian Assange must not be extradited to the US, for such an action will shame our country," argues British writer Peter Hitchens in the Daily Mail, claiming "[t]here is still just time for prominent figures in [British] politics and the media to place themselves on the side of justice and liberty, where they ought always to be."
show more
First Lady of Florida Jill “Casey” DeSantis made her husband Ron wear the cowboy boots he is often mocked over, as well as demanding she be styled like Melania Trump, according to a lengthy new feature piece on the White House hopefuls.
Casey, real name Jill, has dictated her husband’s political and staff decisions for years – in addition to his wardrobe – Ruby Cramer writes, detailing her rise through local media and into the Governor’s mansion.
She knew the cowboy boots he should wear, even though, at first, he complained that they hurt his feet, until a staffer suggested he buy dress shoes instead, at which point he said, “Casey got them for me,” and that was the end of the conversation about the cowboy boots.
And while her husband attempts to politically model himself on Donald Trump, “Casey” looks to the former President’s model wife Melania for inspiration:
As she was preparing for her new role, she asked an aide what Melania Trump would do or wear, what stores and designers she liked, looking to the president’s wife as a model.
The full feature – which reads like a puff piece, but has been described by Tallahassee staffers as a “hit piece” – can be read here.
show less
First Lady of Florida Jill "Casey" DeSantis made her husband Ron wear the cowboy boots he is often mocked over, as well as demanding she be styled like Melania Trump, according to a lengthy new feature piece on the White House hopefuls.
show more
The former deputy Mayor of Washington D.C., John Falcicchio, sexually harassed a female employee while using his office as a dating pool, according to an investigative report.
The investigator analyzed “thousands of emails and other communications including screenshot messages” between Falcicchio and his former employee, and allegations of “physical sexual advances” and “unwanted, sexually-explicit messages, including a graphic video” were eventually substantiated.
The investigator also found that Falcicchio made sexual advances toward the employee while she was in his apartment, with Falcicchio going so far as to expose “his sexual organs.”
The Office of Legal Counsel for the Mayor of Washington D.C., Muriel Bowser, concluded:
“Based on the foregoing, the Complainant’s substantiated allegations against [Falcicchio] more likely than not constituted sexual harassment as defined and prohibited by Mayor’s Order 2017-313.”
The investigation began on March 10, just over a week following Falciccho’s resignation “without explanation.”
As a result, Mayor Bowser released a statement on Saturday reading, “sexual harassment allegations and findings seriously and will continue to work urgently to ensure our workplaces reflect our policies and our values.”
show less
The former deputy Mayor of Washington D.C., John Falcicchio, sexually harassed a female employee while using his office as a dating pool, according to an investigative report.
show more
The New York Times (NYT) is peddling racial stereotypes, recommending the celebration of “Juneteenth” — the new federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of African American slaves in Galveston, Texas in 1865 — by eating chicken and watermelon.
Juneteenth is a “day to share food, culture and identity with loved ones,” with “watermelon chow chow and oven-roasted chicken” being particularly well-suited to the occasion, according to the NYT.
This comes despite the paper arguing that serving Kool-Aid and Watermelon for Black History Month had “racial connotations,” in a piece from February 2018.
“Watermelons, especially, have been used for more than a century as a “symbol of black people’s perceived uncleanliness, laziness, childishness and unwanted public presence,” argued the Times just five years prior.
Juneteenth was recognized as an official federal holiday in June 2021 after President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. The Times is owned by a slave-owning family and once declared “negro suffrage” to be a “failure.”
show less
The New York Times (NYT) is peddling racial stereotypes, recommending the celebration of “Juneteenth” — the new federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of African American slaves in Galveston, Texas in 1865 — by eating chicken and watermelon.
show more
Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
“The Republican Party committed a great public crime when it gave the right of suffrage to the blacks,” the New York Times once roared, calling “barriers against negro suffrage” a consequence of “wiser counsel
“The Republican Party committed a great public crime when it gave the right of suffrage to the blacks,” the New York Times once roared, calling “barriers against negro suffrage” a consequence of “wiser counsel show more
The 2021 Halderman Report, released this past week, lays bare a litany of “critical vulnerabilities” in Dominion Voting Systems’ machines, currently being used in a number of states, and in all voting locations in the U.S. state of Georgia.
Compiled by Prof. Alex Halderman and Prof. Drew Springall as part of the lawsuit Curling v. Raffensperger, the newly released though still partly redacted report explains how ballot scanners ad ballot marking devices (ICX), “can be exploited to subvert all of its security mechanisms” and that “ICX could be used to change the votes of individual Georgia voters.”
The seven principles findings establish that “attackers can alter the QR codes on printed ballots,” and that attackers “can install malware with only brief physical access to the machines.”
“An attacker with brief access to a single ICX or a single Poll Worker Card and PIN can obtain the county-wide [cryptographic] keys,” writes Halderman, warning that “[a] dishonest election worker… with just brief access to the scanner’s memory card could violate ballot secrecy and determine how individual voters voted.”
The security issues are so bad, the report says, that “merely patching these specific problems is unlikely to make the ICX substantially more secure… It is very likely that there are other, equally critical flaws… yet to be discovered.”
The 96-page report is extremely technically detailed, with Halderman showing how “ICX malware can still change individual votes and most election outcomes without detection.” Even the “auditability of the ballots” can be compromised, and “such cheating could not be detected by [a risk limiting audit] or a hand count.”
“My technical findings leave Georgia voters with greatly diminished grounds to be confident that the votes they cast on the ICX BMD are secured,” Halderman concludes.
By November 2020, 24 states used one or more components of the Dominion Democracy Suite voting system, and the ICX mentioned used in 16 states, with Georgia mandating the system as the primary method of voting.
show less
The 2021 Halderman Report, released this past week, lays bare a litany of "critical vulnerabilities" in Dominion Voting Systems' machines, currently being used in a number of states, and in all voting locations in the U.S. state of Georgia.
show more
Editor’s Notes
Behind-the-scenes political intrigue exclusively for Pulse+ subscribers.
California-based GOP donors are refusing to put their names on Ron DeSantis’s “roundtable breakfast” fundraiser in the state, according to a report from the local, right-leaning California Globe.
The event – due to be held on Monday morning at Del Paso Country Club, Sacramento – has failed to gather more than one name as a sponsor of the event, with one source telling the Globe: “They asked everyone to put their name to this and no one would. Of all the local GOP fundraisers, all refused to put their name to it or host it at their homes.”
Instead, the event’s attendees – who must pay up to $3300 for a ticket – will only be met by Steve Eggert, founder of the real estate development company Anton DevCo and long-term GOP donor. Eggert’s largest contributions have been to Kevin McCarthy’s “Protect The House” PACs, as well as John McCain, Mitt Romney, and the Republican National Committee.
Typically, the Globe correctly explains, events like these have “host committees” of upwards of a dozen donors, and are held at private residences, not venues. The news follows a steady decline in support for the Governor of Florida, who hit a new low of just 14 percent support amongst Republican voters this week.
show less
California-based GOP donors are refusing to put their names on Ron DeSantis's "roundtable breakfast" fundraiser in the state, according to a report from the local, right-leaning California Globe.
show more
A Democrat Delegate to the House of Representatives told MSNBC that former President Donald Trump “needs to be shot,” before quickly correcting herself and saying “stopped”.
Delegate Stacy Plaskett (D-VI) committed the Freudian slip in an appearance on the Weekends with Jonathan Capehart show on Sunday morning. Placket argued:
“Having Trump not only having the codes but now having the classified information for Americans and being able to put that out and share it in his resort with anyone and everything who comes through should be terrifying to all Americans. He needs to be shot… stopped.”
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) June 18, 2023
Last month, Plaskett, who is a committed despiser of Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, made headlines following her statement in Congress that “MAGA Republicans are a threat to the rule of law in America.”
show less
A Democrat Delegate to the House of Representatives told MSNBC that former President Donald Trump "needs to be shot," before quickly correcting herself and saying "stopped".
show more
Share Story
FacebookTwitterWhatsappTruthTelegramGettrCopy Link
Real News Fan? Show It!
Many people are shocked to learn that because of active censorship, we currently have to spend more time making sure you can even see The National Pulse, than on producing the news itself. Which sucks. Because we do this for the truth, and for you.
But the regime doesn’t want you being informed. That’s why they want us to go away. And that will happen if more people don’t sign up to support our work. It’s basic supply and demand. So demand you get to read The National Pulse, unrestricted. Sign up, today.
We don’t sell ads, and refuse corporate or political cash. It all comes down to you, the reader. I hope you can help.
