Badlands Brief
God Bless The USA
The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY
President Trump Says Communism is the Greatest Threat We Face. Is He Right?
President Donald Trump and Republicans are escalating attacks that cast progressive Democrats and democratic socialists as communists ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, after a series of left-wing primary victories in several states.
Trump used a July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore to warn of what he called a “communist menace” and linked the message to recent progressive wins. Reuters reported that four progressive candidates, including three democratic socialists, won competitive Democratic primaries in New York City and Colorado, with additional progressive victories in Kentucky, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
The Associated Press reported that experts said Trump’s broad claims linking Democrats to communism are inaccurate. Fox News, citing Heritage Foundation senior fellow Mike Gonzalez, reported that Gonzalez warned socialist electoral gains could lead to “communists in double digits” in the House.
Ashe in America: “It’s not real communism.”
Sure it is. Communism is the idea that “the community” (aka the government) owns the means of production and private property is outlawed.
You will own nothing and be happy.
For certain, today’s communism doesn’t look like the so-called communist societies of the past and present. Those also weren’t real communism. Communism is only real communism if it succeeds at utopia; and it never has, so it’s never real communism when the starvation and mass murder inevitably begin.
If we want to get specific, today’s ideology is a globalist, collectivist novel authoritarianism enabled by technology and fueled by weaponized empathy.
It’s just easier to say “communism.” Also, it is just communism. It is poison to liberty. It is “the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy,” as Winston Churchill famously said. Note he said “socialism” but that’s a distinction without a difference.
This poison is in the seats of power; it commands the airwaves; it’s in the curriculum at every level; it’s preserved in judicial precedents, both federal and in the states.
We cannot defeat an enemy that we refuse to acknowledge exists.
Thankfully, the enemy is less invisible now. The ideology and her followers can no longer hide behind the legitimacy of their institutions.
Will the American People be brave enough to defeat the invisible enemy — the greatest threat to the future of the Republic?
I believe we will.
Accelerate.
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Trump Boasts That He Gave Iran a Week Off For Ayatollah’s Funeral; Mossad Media Calls For Acts of Terrorism Against Civilians
Iran began a funeral procession Monday for late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with ceremonies moving through Tehran before continuing later this week in other cities and religious centers. Arab News, citing AP and AFP reporting, said Khamenei’s coffin and those of family members killed in a Feb. 28 airstrike were being carried through the capital toward Mehrabad International Airport. Thousands gathered at Tehran’s Grand Mosalla on Sunday to pay their respects.
According to the report, funeral events are scheduled to continue in Qom, Iraq’s holy cities of Najaf and Karbala, and conclude with Khamenei’s burial in Mashhad. Iranian authorities have presented the ceremonies as a major national event and have implemented crowd-control measures during the mourning period.
Far-right activist Laura Loomer posted on July 2 that the funeral was a “target rich environment,” adding a bomb emoji.
Trump told Axios he was monitoring developments surrounding the funeral of former Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and said U.S.-Iran talks would pause for about a week. Trump said neither side would engage in hostilities during that period.
“They are all there. One shot [and we can take them all out], but we are not going to do that because then we would have nobody to negotiate with,” Trump said. He added that he was surprised to see some Iranians crying at the funeral, saying he thought people hated Khamenei. Trump said of Netanyahu, “We get along very good. He knows who the boss is.”
RT reported that Ali Abdollahi, commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, warned the United States and Israel against any attacks during the funeral ceremonies. RT also reported that Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz had said Mojtaba Khamenei was “marked for death.” Those statements were reported as remarks by the respective officials.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: It was a moment of hilarious levity that only President Trump could successfully land; But it was also signal to those with even a shred of discernment that maybe this war isn’t what it seems.
Since when do you give your enemy “a week off” from war so they can mourn the death of the very leader that you purportedly killed in an airstrike? Especially when you also champion the concept of Total War?
And how about Khamenei being buried on the Fourth of July? Symbolism anybody?
Then you have Trump’s comment to Barak Ravid of Axios about the Iranians crying at the funeral.
This is a classic Trumpian ploy to bring attention to a subject using the Streisand Effect. In this case, the subject is that western audiences have likely been lied to regarding the Ayatollah and his relationship with the Iranian people. (Because, again, we Americans are more heavily psyop’d by our own government than even North Korea.)
But the real story here is the reaction by Mossad Media online.
Laura Loomer spent the Fourth of July rage-posting about Iran and calling for terrorist attacks against civilians and world leaders attending Khamenei’s funeral.
Mark Levin chimes in.
It’s interesting how much time and energy is spent whining about Palestinian children throwing rocks at heavily armed IDF soldiers in armored vehicles—those children are typically arrested or shot and labeled “terrorists”—but Israelis are allowed to openly fantasize about killing tens of thousands of civilians by bombing a funeral for a deceased world leader.
I realize that some will accuse me of “sympathizing with terrorists,” so allow me to simply post the definition of terrorism.
The intended outcome, of course, for bombing the Ayatollah’s funeral [in the mind of Mossad Media] is that it will somehow lead to the Iranian people denouncing the state religion and overthrowing the government. Nevermind the natural human desire to avenge the thousands that would be killed. Nevermind the hundreds of world leaders and diplomats who were in attendance—what their murder would mean for the United States and Israel.
This is exactly why the world now despises Israel and its online culture. Not because they are Jewish; Because they consistently possess a rotten disposition while expressing violent extremism with total impunity, and demanding that said violence is conducted by the US military on the US taxpayer’s dime. When President Trump called Iran a “spoiled child” over the weekend, I’m almost certain that he was actually referring to Israel.
Speaking of world leaders and diplomats attending Khamenei’s funeral, the Saudis—who until recently have been historic enemies of Iran, and had not formally announced any plans to attend the funeral—surprised everybody by showing up unexpectedly to pay their respects to the Ayatollah and the Iranian People.
Again: I believe that the Ayatollah died years ago from natural causes—cancer or illness—and that this new “gay” Ayatollah is not even a real person. The martyrdom story is a face-saving exercise to allow the Iranian leadership to end their theocratic age on a high note of sorts. Remember, as we reported in this news brief, they implemented a continuity of government (COG) protocol last August, removing the Ayatollah from the chain of command and effectively dissolving the IRGC, citing concern that it had been infiltrated by Mossad and that Israel would attempt to decapitate the Iranian government. (Which they did end up attempting to do.)
World peace is coming. But there are those who will do everything in their power to stop it.
PS - If you needed any additional proof that Laura Loomer is a Deep State propagandist, here she is promoting Zelensky and disparaging Putin in back-to-back posts.
Note: Russia is not a communist country, but Israel is. (Which is why Naftali Bennett is currently running for Israeli PM on a platform of opening up their marketplace from government control.) In fact, when the Soviet Union collapsed, all the Soviet oligarchs fled to Israel.
Then there was this:
This smells like Fake News; the irony being that in 2020 it was revealed that the Mexican cartels were using Israeli-made weapons. (A long-running practice going back to the 1980’s.)
And this:
LMAO
Putin Invites Trump to Moscow in “Constructive” July 4th Call
Russian officials said Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin held a roughly 90-minute telephone conversation on July 4. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said Trump expressed a willingness to work toward ending the fighting in Ukraine and finding solutions to the conflict. Ushakov described the call as “business-like and quite constructive” and said Russia continues to seek a political-diplomatic resolution of the war while maintaining its stated positions.
According to the report, Putin also renewed an invitation for Trump to visit Russia for further bilateral discussions. The article attributed that detail to reporting referenced from Axios.
Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with Trump and described their conversation as “very good” in a Telegram message. Zelensky said there was a “real prospect” of ending the war and thanked the United States for military and political support, including assistance such as Javelin and Patriot systems.
Burning Bright: This is the sort of headline that confuses Normies, that fills the Globalist Deep State with existential dread, and that this particular audience simply shrugs to behold, so versed are you, are we on the contours of the theorized Sovereign Alliance I first named in 2022, and that the Q Drops first hinted at several years earlier.
But what stands out to me is the following observation:
Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin AND yes, Volodymyr Zelenskyy have all stated that the war will end only at an agreed-upon time.
While that seems obvious, I believe it communicates a core truth that will help to retroactively codify what many of us already believe we know, and that is that the deals, such as they are have already been agreed to in the shadows, and that what we're watching play out among these leaders on the world stage is a show, albeit one with multitudinous purpose.
The world is going through a transition that is being translated through a cascade of narrative deployments while the actuals are disentangled through processes I've been writing about all year.
And yet, every so often, the core pairing at the heart of the Sovereign Alliance pops up to remind us where things are going, and how awesome they're going to be when we get there.
Putin isn't inviting Trump to Russia because he's trying to make a deal.
He's inviting him to Russia as a signal flare to the Invisible Enemy that the Sovereign Alliance is alive and well, and that its myriad missions are still in full swing, and perhaps that they might be coming to an end in the months ahead.
Timelines are impossible to guess at from a temporal perspective in this war, and so, I think we're given hints in narrative time.
Trump meeting Putin in Moscow is a foregone conclusion. WHEN it happens, nobody knows, but THAT it happens, I think you can take to the bank.
Unions Mad As Robots Replace Workers
A labor dispute has emerged at General Motors’ Factory Zero electric-vehicle plant in Detroit following the installation of new manufacturing robots, according to reporting published July 4 by Futurism. The report, citing Crain’s Detroit Business, said GM installed 50 AI-integrated manufacturing robots at the facility.
The report said the United Auto Workers contends that more than 1,000 employees at the plant were idled after the robots began operating. UAW Local 22 President James Cotton told Crain’s Detroit Business that the union was concerned about the introduction of robots following the workforce reductions.
According to the report, the robots are collaborative robots, or “cobots,” designed to work alongside human workers. Futurism, citing Autoblog, reported that the machines are primarily used to attach body panels to electric vehicles at the Detroit facility.
The Futurism article attributed several key details regarding staffing levels and robot deployment to prior reporting by Crain’s Detroit Business and Autoblog. GM’s response was not included in the material reviewed.
Ashe in America: Back in 2023, we covered the cross-industry labor strikes in this Brief extensively. I also wrote “A Time to Strike,” in October 2023, examining the unrealistic expectations of organized labor as a vehicle to destroy industries:
“Trump is 100% correct that the auto industry is being assassinated, considering optimization policies streamlined and automated many manufacturing processes, and global sourcing policies moved many of the remaining jobs outside of the US.
And more is coming.
Global corporations have been making investments in automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence for over a decade, and what you’re witnessing is the return on that investment.
There has been a discussion about the ‘future of work’ happening in global corporations for almost ten years for a reason: There are going to be fewer jobs than people. The globalists know this – they designed it.”
The UAW deal reached in 2023 is supposed to continue until 2028. But the transformation is, apparently, ahead of schedule.
Back to my October 2023 article on the Summer of Strikes:
“The transformation of our society is endgame, it’s here, and the final stand is likely too late. The time to strike would have been – at the latest – 2017 in my opinion; but these strikes never stood a chance. Maybe if they were striking to protect our liberty and way of life there could have been a course correction. But the demands across industries prove the ‘Summer of Strikes’ to be self-interested and delusional, driven by greed in denial of industry talent models that no longer exist.
They might get some of what they want in the short term; but any deals reached will be short-lived because the bigger picture is a long game.
Ignore the inevitable – in a world addicted to progress – at your own peril.
And learn to code, I guess.”
AI can code now, too. Sorry.
It will be interesting to see how long it takes the workers of the world to realize that their organizing entities don’t actually have any power to stop what is coming.
Can you believe those guys are still paying dues?
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Multi-Cultural Brawls Over Air-Conditioners in France Act as Microcosm For Current State of Non-USA West
Crowds seeking discounted air-conditioning units at Lidl stores across France on July 2, 2026, formed long lines and, in some locations, became involved in physical altercations as the country prepared for another forecast heatwave. Lidl had offered approximately 200,000 air-conditioning units for sale during the promotion.
Lidl France said it “deplores the incidents” that occurred in its stores and said employees were required to manage tensions in what it described as a difficult environment. The retailer attributed shortages to its product sales cycle and inventory planning process.
According to BFMTV, about 100 people gathered at a Lidl store in Nanterre, with customers lining up before opening and disputes occurring over a limited number of available air conditioners. Other French media cited in the report described similar scenes elsewhere. La Voix du Nord reported approximately 60 customers competing for four units in Hazebrouck, while Ouest-France reported police intervention at stores in Trélazé and near Angers.
The rush for cooling equipment coincided with heightened demand following recent extreme temperatures. Fnac Darty CEO Enrique Martinez told BFM Business that customers had been waiting outside stores from as early as 4 a.m. during the heatwave and that some incidents involved physical confrontations among shoppers.
Burning Bright: Social engineering goes both ways.
On the one hand, the timing of millions of European tourists flooding the United States during the World Cup followed by weeks of viral videos touting the incredible awesomeness (technical term,) of America bumping up against the rapid and amplified decline of the rest of the Global West seems ... convenient.
On the other hand, if that convenience is trending more in the West toward the very Awakening this movement was built on, and that this country represents, then I'm all for it.
The French Air Conditioning Riots of 2026 might be funny, but they actually bear the three markers of truly memetic (and therefore, culturally significant) deployments in the digital age.
The Story is Funny.
The Story is Scary.
The Story communicates a Core Truth.
We've got all three in this banger of a trend, which is being contrasted sharply with European experiences in America, up to and including our frequent and unabashed use of air conditioning.
Seeing mobs of Europeans (and by Europeans, I mean the third-world invaders masquerading as Europeans) fight old ladies for air conditioning is darkly humorous.
Seeing the same is also scary, especially in light of the rash of immigrant-on-native crimes that have been taking over the zeitgeist in recent months, a trend that has been going on for years.
And finally, the combination of the above acts simultaneously as a humiliation ritual and a motivating factor for native-born French and Europeans writ large.
They SHOULD be angry at the current state of their countries.
They SHOULD be embarrassed about the humiliation ritual they've been subjected to.
They SHOULD be envious of the American position on the world stage.
And they SHOULD think not having air conditioning as a common, everyday convenience rather than a rare luxury is bullshit.
Welcome to the battlefield, you sweaty, cheese-eating and wine-drinking savages.
Enjoy your stay.
BONUS ITEM
Badlands Blitz Episode 23
The Badlands Blitz is an all-out sprint through the week that was in the Info War, and we're launching this week's early in honor of America's 250th.
Join Ashe in America and Burning Bright for a discussion on intra-Uniparty Civil Wars and Generational programming.
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I heard on the radio (yes, I listen to the radio!) that Ford tried to replace quality engineers with AI...didn't work. They hired back what they call the "gray beards". Older skilled engineers to replace the AI and teach the new engineers!!
Ashe’s take 👍
Accelerate the end of communism in the American Pursuit of Happiness!
Communism is a system wearing a fake veneer of “equality”…unless it is understood as equality of misery.
Churchill stated, "The inherent virtue of Socialism is the equal sharing of miseries," contrasting it with capitalism's "unequal sharing of blessings." Later, in 1948, he described socialism as a "philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy.”