Produced by Brian Tyler Cohen News update: No Lie episode 351 reports Newsom showing openness to expanding the Supreme Court. The piece discusses a major SCOTUS expansion possibility, signaling potential changes to the Court’s composition and structure. Includes links to pre-order a new book, sponsor offers, and the YouTube video.
Created by Dangerously Informed with Evie In February 2025, the leader of a tiny Pacific island nation boarded a plane bound for Beijing.
The trip was supposed to be routine.
Instead, it triggered one of the biggest diplomatic crises in Cook Islands history.
As Prime Minister Mark Brown flew toward China, officials in Wellington, New Zealand were desperately trying to find out exactly what he was planning to sign.
New Zealand’s foreign minister had been demanding answers for days. He wasn’t getting them.
That was a problem.
Because the Cook Islands may govern itself, but it remains in free association with New Zealand. Its people carry New Zealand passports. New Zealand helps provide defence, foreign affairs support and millions of dollars in funding every year.
And now its prime minister was about to sign a major strategic agreement with China without telling New Zealand what was in it.
Mark Brown argued he didn’t need New Zealand sitting in the room with him. Wellington disagreed. What followed was a diplomatic meltdown that sparked protests in Rarotonga, a no-confidence vote against Brown, accusations of secrecy, and eventually New Zealand freezing millions of dollars in funding that the island’s people relied on.
To most people, it probably looked like a weird diplomatic argument.
In reality, it was something much bigger.
Produced by Brian Tyler Cohen The text announces a Democracy Watch episode covering a Supreme Court decision affecting Trump in a major mail-in ballot case. It also promotes pre-ordering a new book, The Day After, with a promotional YouTube link included.