The News Cycle is almost impossible to track these days. At least, to do so fully.
That’s where we come in.
In the Badlands News Brief, the Badlands Media team hand pick news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community.
Many items feature original (and subjective) commentary. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see our writers’ Substack accounts and check out their other work.
Now, onto the news from Thursday, March 21…
US falls out of world’s top 20 happiest countries list for the first time ever
The US has fallen out of the top 20 happiest countries to live in for the first time ever, according to a new report.
In findings released on Wednesday, the World Happiness Report revealed that the US has slid from its 15th place last year to 23rd place this year.
The report, created via a partnership involving Gallup, the Oxford Wellbeing Research Centre, the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and the World Happiness Report’s editorial board, pointed to happiness decreasing in all age groups for the US. It also found a significant decline among young people, who are now the least happy age group.
“This is a big change from 2006-10, when the young were happier than those in the midlife groups, and about as happy as those aged 60 and over. For the young, the happiness drop was about three-quarters of a point, and greater for females than males,” the report said.
Among people below the age of 30 from 2021 to 2023, the US ranks 62nd in happiness. Meanwhile, among those who are 60 and above, the US ranks 10th.
— The Guardian
Our Take: “Young people, and particularly young females, are miserable, according to a new report out of the UN. It’s odd to me that the UN would highlight this finding considering their agenda is what made women so unhappy. Let me explain.
For generations, women had been conditioned to believe that traditional gender roles are oppressive and that they’d be happier competing with, rather than complementing, men. It’s a lie, and I know this because I fell for it.
I’ve publicly shared how I would make a different choice if I had it to do over again. That doesn’t mean I regret my choices. But if I could choose again, I would choose differently.
The reality is that the UN agenda, and particularly Sustainable Development Goal #5 — Gender Equality, are deceptive and destructive. They’re designed to be. The good news is that it’s because super obvious — like how we now rank 62nd in happiness among young people and women especially.
The question is what are we, as a society, going to do about it? Consider that question as you read the next story below, which is also a product of UN Sustainable Development Goal #5 — Gender Equality. The answer to that question must begin with speaking uncomfortable truths.”
EXCLUSIVE: WPATH-Certified, Trans-Identified ‘Kink Professional’ [REDACTED] Influenced Standards of Care
A trans-identified male associated with the world’s leading transgender health lobby group is drawing attention for speculating about experimental “artistic and creative” genital surgeries. Laura A. Jacobs, a New York-based psychotherapist who influenced the development of transgender health guidelines regarding “gender dysphoria” in adolescents, previously contributed a chapter to an anthology in which he promotes BDSM practices, including “age play” and “genital torture.”
Video footage of a TedX talk given three years ago by Jacobs began circulating on social media this week, drawing criticism for Jacobs’ bizarre statements about “gender affirming” surgeries.
In the clip, which was shared by Gays Against Groomers and Helen Joyce, Jacobs states: “Medical interventions allow some of us to change our primary and secondary sex characteristics… but it’s clear that cisgender bodies are still the reference point. Will technology give us options that are artistic and creative? Do we have to stick to penis and vagina norms? Can we have genitalia that look like flowers or abstract sculpture? Can we have multiple? Can they be interchangeable?”
But while Jacobs was presented as being a certified member of WPATH, his influence in the organization goes far deeper, and he served as an influential member of the committee which established the most recent Standards of Care.
Jacobs, who counsels troubled pre-teens, has described himself as a “kinky, BDSM sexworker” and says he works with “adolescents to the elderly.”
— REDUXX
Our Take: “There are two things I need to point out and unpack from this article.
The first is this quote:
“Will technology give us options that are artistic and creative? Do we have to stick to penis and vagina norms? Can we have genitalia that look like flowers or abstract sculpture? Can we have multiple? Can they be interchangeable?”
The particular concoction of Neo-Marxist Transhumanism we are up against is finally becoming obvious enough for more people to perceive it.
Queer theory and Klaus Schwab’s fourth Industrial Revolution are seeking to produce pretty horrific offspring.
The second thing is the relationship between Neo-Marxism and the normalization of pedophilia.
Since the women’s rights movement, this evolving Marxist philosophy has used the same formula: transform the oppressor/oppressed narrative to leverage the oppression of a minority group to restructure our entire society.
Man(Oppressor)/Woman(Oppressed)
The Neo-Marxist re-framing of women as the new proletariat was then duplicated for the Civil Rights Movement, and again for the Same Sex Rights Movement and now for the Trans Rights Movement.
Understand that this new form of Marxist philosophy can act as a kind of plug & play. Just plug the new oppressed identity into the program and play communist revolution.
This is how the pedophile will be given a new status: through framing them as the new oppressed class that needs to be freed from violent norms. Arguments will be made about how ‘children are safer when the pedophiles aren’t suffering from the stigma and rejection.’
That is the stage being set by creeps like this who are not only normalizing pedophilia in their own lives, but also being put in positions of immense power and influence.
The conceptual bridge between the Transhumanist agenda and the pedophilia agenda is Neo-Marxist philosophy.”
Gemini, Google's AI, is not woke by mistake: Former employees claim the design was on purpose
Gemini, Google's new artificial intelligence tool, has generated controversy in the United States due to its notorious progressive tendencies when producing results related to political, historical, racial and gender issues.
Far from being an objective A.I., which delivers impartial results to the public as a result of its rapid search, Gemini develops responses with clear woke ideological influence.
[…]
While senior Google officials have publicly said that the ideological bias within its AI responses is a “mistake,” some former company employees told The Free Press that the design of the new tool was on purpose, as a result of the progressive culture within the company.
"I was not shocked at all," Shaun Maguire, a partner at Google Ventures, the company's investment wing, from 2016 to 2019, said of Gemini's design.
"When the first Google Gemini photos popped up on my X feed, I thought to myself: 'Here we go again.' And: 'Of course.' Because I know Google well. Google Gemini’s failures revealed how broken Google’s culture is in such a visually obvious way to the world. But what happened was not a one-off incident. It was a symptom of a larger cultural phenomenon that has been taking over the company for years," added Maguire, a former employee who experienced Google's internal politicization firsthand.
According to The Free Press report, several former Google employees said that the design and programming of Gemini is largely due “a corporate culture that prioritizes the ideology of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) over excellence and good business sense.”
— VOZ News
Our Take: “Let’s talk about Google’s story arc. The company made its name, its brand equity, on accurate search results. I remember navigating away from Yahoo! and conducting my searches on Google in the early 2000s, because the results were so much better.
Accurate search results became a distinctive feature of the Google brand, and the company’s growth over the next decades is so profound that their name became a verb.
All built on trust derived from a superior product and user experience. ‘Just google it and you’ll find the right answers. Just google it and you can know what is true.’
By 2015, it became clear that the company was abusing that trust and manipulating search results — and by President Trump’s inauguration day that was indisputable.
The traditional capitalist response to such discoveries is, ‘companies won’t jeopardize their brands that way — the markets would destroy them!’ I was raised on that idea, and the arc of Google was a big part of my awakening.
When I realized that companies were willing to jeopardize their brand promises and compromise their product stacks — the manipulation and biases are in the code — for ideological reasons, I began to realize that fourth industrial revolution is running on a different set of rules.
Now, we have marxism coded into Google’s AI, Gemini, because of course we do. It’s the logical conclusion.”
New York Attorney General makes first move to seize Trump's assets
New York Democratic Attorney General Letitia James took her first step toward seizing the assets of former President Donald Trump as part of the more than $450 million civil fraud judgment he faces.
James' office filed judgments in Westchester County, which indicates that the state is getting ready to try to seize Seven Springs, Trump's golf course and private estate, CNN reported Thursday.
The judgments were entered with the Westchester County Clerk's Office on March 6, one week after Judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump to pay the major fraud fine and well before Trump's deadline to satisfy the judgment.
The filing is the first step a creditor takes to try to recover property. The next steps could be putting liens on assets or trying to force a foreclosure, among other things.
Trump offered last month to post a $100 million appeal bond instead of the full $464 million he is required to post to appeal, but Engoron denied the proposal.
— Just the News
Our Take: “On today’s episode of As Clown World Turns, NY Attorney General Letitia James has begun taking steps to seize Donald Trump’s property pursuant to the sham judgement made by Judge Engoron.
First, let’s be very clear: This is the very definition of “Lawfare.” Trump broke no laws. He did nothing wrong. The ultimate goal here is to drain President Trump of personal funds in the run up to the 2024 Election.
However, even more than it is wielding justice as a weapon against political opponents, it is pure panic. 100%, unadulterated, unhinged, complete panic. It is a totality of panic that would make the upcoming eclipse jealous.
Ask yourself this: Would they really be going to these means in an attempt to stop the MAGA King if they knew they could beat him in November?
I don’t think so. Enjoy the show.”
Texas Bus Firm Stops Transporting Illegal Immigrants to NYC Amid Lawsuit
Roadrunner Charters, a bus company paid by the Texas government to transport illegal immigrants from the southern border to New York City, has agreed to stop doing so while the city’s lawsuit against them proceeds.
Roadrunner Charters was one of the 17 bus companies sued by New York Mayor Eric Adams’ administration in January over their collective hauling of about 33,600 individuals from Texas to the self-proclaimed “sanctuary city.”
Mr. Adams’ administration is arguing that the bus companies should be held liable for the $708 million the city has had to spend to care for their passengers.
The charter bus operators have earned “millions of dollars” while acting in “bad faith” to carry out Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s agenda, the lawsuit alleged.
[…]
Mr. Abbott’s office didn’t respond to a request for comments, although the governor has condemned the lawsuit as “baseless and deserves to be sanctioned.”
— The Epoch Times
Our Take: “I think it’s improper for Adams to sue the bus companies. This bus company was executing a lawful contract with another government entity. This bus company transporting migrants is arguably a state action.
That means Adams needs to sue Texas if he wants relief, but that raises another set of issues for Dollar Store Brian Fellows. His city has declared itself to be a sanctuary from immigration laws. If Adams sued Texas, that matter would be litigated, and methinks it would spell the end of sanctuary cities more broadly.
Instead, he is suing the bus companies for not denying a government order. That’s hilarious, although the bus companies probably aren’t find it as amusing as the rest of us.
If Texas were honorable, they would intervene in this lawsuit… So it’s worth reiterating that, ‘Mr. Abbott’s office didn’t respond to a request for comments, although the governor has condemned the lawsuit as baseless and deserves to be sanctioned.’
Should the bus companies be grateful for Abbott’s strongly worded letter?”
Congressional leaders roll out final $1.2T funding package ahead of Saturday shutdown deadline
Congressional leaders are one step closer to closing out a particularly chaotic government funding season, releasing a massive, $1.2 trillion spending package early Thursday morning that they aim to pass through both chambers by week’s end.
Lawmakers are again racing against a partial government shutdown that would hit just after midnight Saturday morning, after a fight over border-related funding delayed legislative text. The new package leaders unveiled overnight would boost budgets for the military through the end of September, while keeping funding for most non-defense agencies about even with current spending levels.
The six-measure bundle is the most substantial bipartisan legislation Speaker Mike Johnson has negotiated during his nearly five months leading the House, representing a much more controversial package than the one Congress cleared earlier this month. The latest bill would wrap up the government funding work that vexed former Speaker Kevin McCarthy throughout his tumultuous nine-month run leading the House last year.
Johnson called the newly unveiled legislation a “serious commitment” to “strengthening our national defense” by moving the military toward its “core mission.”
The cross-party compromise is also a conclusive defeat for House conservatives. The Freedom Caucus has continuously pressured leadership to cut federal funding — even at the cost of a shutdown — and pass the 12 regular spending bills individually. After some in the right flank ousted McCarthy for defying those demands and averting a shutdown with Democratic help in September, members of the group have made similar asks of Johnson, who has instead pursued bipartisan spending levels that nearly mimic a deal McCarthy reached with Biden last year.
— Politico
Our Take: “Don’t worry folks, as your borders remain open and the economy continues to careen off a cliff, in what will inevitably end up mimicking the finest Wile E. Coyote escapade, the clowns and cretins on the Hill have managed to spin up a $1.2T spending package in an effort to keep the government running past midnight on Saturday.
On the bright side the spending measure does provide funding for Border Control, and National Defense, and also blocks a cost of living increase for members of Congress.
If the package passes, it will also provide funding for Federal Education, Health and Labor programs, as well as the IRS (gag) and the Departments of State, Treasury and Homeland Security.”
BONUS ITEMS
Liz Warren and Socialist Pals Want To Normalize Confiscation Of Assets With 'Ultrarich' Tax
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) on Tuesday reintroduced her 'Ultra-Millionaire' Tax Act, by which the government would confiscate 2% from households worth between $50 million and $1 billion, and 3% on households worth over $1 billion.
Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) and Brendan Boyle (D-PA) have introduced a companion bill in the House.
"As President Biden says, no one thinks it’s fair that Jeff Bezos gets enough tax loopholes that he pays at a lower rate than a public school teacher," Warren said in a statement. "All my bill is asking is that when you make it big, bigger than $50 million dollars, then on that next dollar, you pitch in two cents, so everyone else can have a chance."
While Warren insists that the bill would affect the wealthiest 100,000 households in the US - roughly 0.05% of the population, Democrats routinely lie to sell voters on their plans, and normalizing the confiscation of assets would obviously open the door to the consideration of confiscation among lower wealth brackets.
— Zero Hedge
Louisiana Republicans Pass Bill Ensuring Ranked-Choice Voting Can’t Disenfranchise Voters
The Republican-controlled Louisiana Senate advanced legislation on Wednesday prohibiting the use of ranked-choice voting in elections.
SB 101 stipulates that a “ranked-choice voting or instant runoff voting method … shall not be used in determining the election or nomination of any candidate to any local, state, or federal elective office in this state.” The measure would, however, allow the system to be used “for absentee voting by military and overseas voters pursuant to the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act.”
SB 101 passed the Senate in a 29-9 vote, with two Democrats joining 27 Republicans in voting “yea.” All “nay” votes came from Democrats, while Republican Sen. Michael Fesi was absent.
The House will soon consider the measure.
[…]
When pressed by Democrat Sen. Edward Price on the need to prohibit RCV, given that no Louisiana locality currently uses it, bill sponsor and GOP Sen. Blake Miguez noted the importance of preventing the chaotic system from being implemented in the future and disenfranchising Pelican State voters.
“We are trying to ensure that ranked-choice voting doesn’t become a reality here in Louisiana,” Miguez said. “America is about … one person, one vote, and to have these complex tabulated ballots is un-American, and I think both sides of the aisle understand this. And that’s why we don’t want it here in Louisiana.”
Miguez is a member of the Louisiana Freedom Caucus and sponsored the recently enacted constitutional amendment banning “Zuckbucks.”
— The Federalist
‘Hong Kong is China’s Hong Kong’: Beijing hits back at U.S. for ‘slandering’ city’s new security law
China’s embassy hit back against U.S. criticism of Hong Kong’s new national security law on Thursday, saying the U.S. should “respect China’s sovereignty.”
Hong Kong lawmakers passed a new national security law on Tuesday which critics say grants the government more power to quash dissent.
The law includes stringent penalties for a wide range of actions including “treason” and “insurrection” which are punishable by life imprisonment.
Following the announcement, the U.S. State Department described the threats outlined in the law as “poorly defined and incredibly vague.”
“We believe that these kinds of actions have the potential to accelerate the closing of Hong Kong’s once open society,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said.
China’s embassy in the U.S. responded by saying that other countries should not interfere in its affairs.
— CNBC
SCOOP: House Oversight Committee launches investigation into Transition Integrity Project housed at Georgetown Law ahead of 2024 election
The House Oversight Committee has officially opened an investigation into the Transition Integrity Project at Georgetown University. In a letter to Rosa Brooks, who is the founder and facilitator of that group, Rep. Pete Sessions spoke about the "intensely partisan exercise" which he states is "intended to sew dissension and subversion regarding the American election system and the institution of the president of the United States."
In so doing, he cites an op-ed written by Brooks in the Washington Post in advance of the 2020 election, called "What’s the worst that could happen? The election will likely spark violence — and a constitutional crisis."
It was here that she explained the work of the Transition Integrity Project, explaining that her team had "built a series of war games, sought out some of the most accomplished Republicans, Democrats, civil servants, media experts, pollsters and strategists around, and asked them to imagine what they’d do in a range of election and transition scenarios."
They determined that "The concept of 'election night,' is no longer accurate and indeed is dangerous," that "A determined campaign has opportunity to contest the election into January 2021, and that "The administrative transition process itself may be highly disrupted."
Sessions told Brooks in the letter that he has been "particularly concerned by the activities of TIP in 2020, and any similar endeavor in advance of the 2024 election, because this exercise seems to have been administered adjacent to the Georgetown University Law Center."
— The Post Millennial
We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.
As always, if you have any thoughts on these news items or the MANY others swirling in the digital ether, drop into the comments below to share them with your fellow Badlanders.
Editor’s Note: I’ll be taking a short break from the Info War (and other work) to enjoy some R&R (and I’m not talking about Righteous Russia, for once,) but our own
is going to be handling the Brief in the interim. Thank you all for your continued support of this publication and this team. —Badlands Media will always put out our content for free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Help our collective of citizen journalists take back the narrative from the MSM. We are the news now.
Concisely stated, I like it...
"""For generations, women had been conditioned to believe that traditional gender roles are oppressive and that they’d be happier competing with, rather than complementing, men. It’s a lie, and I know this because I fell for it."""
I have the same experience as Ashe. Women have been sold a bill of goods that we were oppressed or somehow only worthy if we were competing with men for jobs. “Get the big job” was what I heard….and followed.
I will never give my daughter the same advice. Never.