Badlands Brief

Agencies Aflutter, Corporate Compacts & Discombobulated Drones

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.

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Trump Administration Eyes AI Data Center Compact as Legacy Media Spins Trust in Energy

The Wall Street Journal published an opinion piece titled “Even Trump Can’t Go Back to the Future” on Tuesday, arguing that structural energy shifts in the US economy limit how far a future Trump administration could “reverse” current trends.

The editorial framing is that US electricity demand is rising, driven in part by data centers and AI expansion. WSJ posits that the US energy mix has structurally shifted toward natural gas and renewables over the past 15 years somewhat organically – that Coal generation has declined due to cheap gas and plant retirements, not solely regulation.

The piece concludes that nothing can stop what is coming with the energy transition. That, even with aggressive deregulation or fossil-fuel expansion, market forces, capital cycles, and physical infrastructure constraints shape outcomes more than executive action alone.

On Monday, Politico reported that two administration officials granted anonymity to discuss private conversations claim the Trump administration is courting the world’s largest technology companies to publicly commit to a new AI data center compact.

Politico claims to have seen a draft of the compact, and their article details its alleged contents, laying out commitments designed to ensure energy-hungry data centers do not raise household electricity prices, strain water supplies or undermine grid reliability, and that the companies driving demand also carry the cost of building new infrastructure.

According to a related report from Politico on Monday, entitled “Poll shows Democrats hold edge over Trump in energy cost battle,” 37% of US adults believe Democrats care more about protecting them from spiking natural gas, heating, and utility bills while just 25% said Republicans care more about protecting them from those costs.

Burning Bright: Every great conflict in human history has been, at its core, a war over energy (power) projection, and the current Golden Age War is no different, fought simultaneously on Actual and Narrative fronts, as patriots seek to reclaim the Age of Abundance that I believe was stolen from us and reverse-engineered into hard-capped and uneven austerity.

This week, these dueling Narratives collided in the War of Stories ... and nobody noticed.

On the one side, the Trump Administration announced the largest act of deregulation in American history: the full repeal of the Obama-era “endangerment finding” that branded greenhouse gases a threat to public health, the legal cornerstone propping up decades of EPA climate mandates.

Motor vehicle emission standards—gone.

Compliance programs, credit schemes, reporting obligations—ripped out root and stem.

The Media Protectorate’s response was immediate and predictable, with environmental groups wailing about millions endangered and democratic strongholds vowing legal warfare.

The narrative frame crystallized overnight—Trump as once more as a true existential threat, rolling back ‘settled science’ in service to fossil-fuel oligarchs, thereby steering America toward cataclysm under the guise of flourishing.

This is the Hegelian Nightmare in its purest form: existential threats woven into the fabric of the Story, where progress itself is painted as planetary suicide, where abundance is recast as greed and where the very technologies that once promised a retro-futurist Golden Age are demonized as inverted world-enders.

Yet, on the very same day this rollback dominated the surface-level narrative, a series of counter-deployments emerged—signal-soaked and precise, for those with the eyes to see them.

First, reports surfaced of the Trump administration crafting a voluntary compact with Big Tech titans—OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, Meta—forcing them to bear 100% of the infrastructure costs for their voracious AI data centers: new power generation, transmission upgrades and long-term contracts to shield residential ratepayers from price spikes in addition to water positivity mandates, grid reliability commitments, community mitigation and planning.

All designed to preempt the coming energy crunch as data center demand threatens (rather, promises) to triple by 2028.

Then, a fresh ‘poll’ dropped showing Democrats suddenly holding a double-digit edge over Republicans on the question of who is more committed to lowering energy costs—a stunning inversion of historical trends.

These are Narrative deployments targeting the heart of Trump’s domestic energy acceleration agenda, which seek to frame his abundance push as the driver of the scarcity model they have actually engineered; they paint a concurrent fossil fuel transitory push and a nuclear renaissance as the culprits behind rising bills rather than the decentralized, sovereign solution to them.

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Ashe in America: Requiring corporations to engage in compacts feels right in an age where, as Burning Bright says, corporations are more powerful than nation states.

This is especially true of technology companies.

AI technology is currently disrupting every industry. Blue Eyes and I discussed this on Monday’s Culture of Change. It was a fun show:

The reality is, that we are in a transformation. Those companies that harness the power of AI in a smart way will leap frog their competition into the Golden Age, while companies (and people) that forget themselves and chase shiny objects will spin out, waste a ton of money, and end up irrelevant and without seats at the new tables.

The AI companies will serve both types of companies, so they win either way. And to platform all that success and failure, they’re going to need infrastructure.

Planned growth for that kind of transformation – in every industry and sector in a nation still dominated by global business – is an imperative.

President Trump’s position is that planned growth must be centrally planned; that’s why he is trying to prohibit states from doing their own thing while luring corporate countries into treaties (essentially).

I hate the precedent, but the premise is sound. Allowing companies to define the future without accounting for the interest of and impacts to the people is how we got to the America last dystopia of which we’re currently climbing out.

Remember the way solar fields shaped our reality? The President seems to be getting ahead of AI’s threat to do the same.

I’m on the edge of my seat to see how this plays out. It will indicate the pace of change for building the Golden Age.

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Netanyahu Meets Trump in Washington as Iran Talks Continue

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, for discussions that included Iran’s nuclear program and regional security issues. The meeting was held behind closed doors and marked the seventh meeting between the two leaders since Trump returned to office. No joint press conference followed.

President Trump posted about the meeting on Truth Social:

“I have just finished meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, of Israel, and various of his Representatives. It was a very good meeting, the tremendous relationship between our two Countries continues. There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a Deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be. Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a Deal, and they were hit with Midnight Hammer — That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible. Additionally, we discussed the tremendous progress being made in Gaza, and the Region in general. There is truly PEACE in the Middle East. Thank you for your attention to this matter! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP”

In related news, US and Iranian officials recently held indirect nuclear talks in Oman. With another round of talks expected, Iran is maintaining its position that its ballistic missile program is non-negotiable.

“The ‌Islamic Republic’s missile capabilities are non-negotiable,” Ali Shamkhani, senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, reportedly said Wednesday during an event marking the 47th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

Iran holds that it retains the right to enrich uranium under international agreements. US officials maintain that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains a policy objective.

Netanyahu has previously indicated that Israel seeks firm measures to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons capabilities. Israeli officials have also raised concerns about Iran’s ballistic missile program and support for regional armed groups.

GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: After all of that build-up, we come away with nothing from the meeting. No video, no photos, no announcement or formal statements recapping the meeting.

Tough look for Netanyahu.

He flew all that way and walked away with nothing. But honestly, in this situation, no news is good news.

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Trump Directs Intelligence Agencies to Provide 2020 Election Material to Attorney Kurt Olsen – Everyone Freaks Out

An anonymous US intelligence official and “a person with knowledge of the matter” told NBC News on Tuesday that President Donald Trump instructed US intelligence agencies to provide 2020 election-related intelligence to attorney Kurt Olsen.

Politico is also reporting the story, citing “four people with knowledge of the effort.”

Olsen represented Kari Lake in her 2022 election challenges as well as myriad other election cases. The President appointed him as a special advisor on elections last year.

According to the anonymous sources, the President directed intelligence agencies to share information with Olsen related to claims of foreign interference in the 2020 election, and was issued to US spy agencies, including the CIA.

The six anonymous sources across the two stories reported that intelligence officials raised concerns about “sharing classified information with a private attorney.” Olsen became a federal “special government employee” in October.

Ashe in America: If there is one person in the United States that I can confidently say has the comprehensive, macro level view of election issues in the United States of America, it’s Kurt Olsen.

I met Kurt Olsen in August of 2021 at the Cyber Symposium. Over the next year, I worked with him on several projects and, in the time since then, CannCon and I have interviewed him both on and off Badlands.

Olsen is described in recent, panicked media reports as a “private attorney,” and he was – before being appointed as a special government employee in October. Before all that, he was a Navy Seal.

Olsen entered the election-related narrative in January 2021, when The Washington Post reported Mike Lindell at the White House meeting the President about the 2020 election. Lindell was holding a papers, and the photographers caught a glimpse:

That’s the story of how Mike Lindell and Kurt Olsen met. They would work together over the next several years on all manner of election-related projects.

Any lawsuit or legislative effort or cyber analysis work that grassroots election researchers, analysts, and activists were pursuing during the scrotus administration had, in my opinion, at least the awareness of Olsen.

Think about that for a second.

The significance of Olsen being the clearinghouse for the election-related portfolios of the intelligence agencies cannot be understated. As I said at the top, he’s seen it all. If there is anyone that knows where to prioritize the pursuit of justice for the endgame of real elections, it’s Kurt Olsen. He’s been in the weeds of the battle for real elections for the past five years.

There are massive efforts to spin election stories in recent months (and days), but it’s much harder to hoodwink the people that lived the journey.

As the intelligence agencies – and the Americans they comprise – try to rewrite their records and roles in stolen US elections, Trump just ordered them to give all their info to the one guy that can informedly fact check them.

Let’s see what happens.

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Lavrov Accuses France of “Revanchist” Actions in Africa

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said France is pursuing “revanchist” policies in Africa.

“France is attempting to overthrow undesirable nationalist governments in the Sahara-Sahel region and other parts of Africa,” Lavrov said in a speech to the Russian parliament on Wednesday,” according to RT. “While the African nations ‘have long since abandoned their ties to their former metropolis,’ Paris has chosen to undermine them via opposition figures, ‘outright terrorist groups and Ukrainian militants.’”

Lavrov made the remarks in the context of ongoing diplomatic tensions between Russia and Western nations over influence in Africa.

France has previously stated that it respects the sovereignty of African nations while also expressing concern about unconstitutional changes of government in the region.

GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: Legendary diplomat Sergei Lavrov has confirmed what I have dubbed The War of Sovereignty is a very real and a coordinated subversive campaign orchestrated by the Unipolar Hegemony.

For context, this would be Conflict A on this map that I made:

As Lavrov said, it’s not just ISIS and coup plotters funded by the Deep State, but also Ukrainian mercenaries. They are targeting the Alliance of Sahel States, which is led by Burkinabe President Captain Ibrahim Traore.

It was the Russian military and the Wagner Group who trained these guys in Syria to fight.

I wonder if we will see Russia re-mobilize and redeploy back to the Sehal?

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Pentagon Says US Disabled Cartel-Linked Drones Near Texas Border

The Trump Administration confirmed that “cartel drones” entered US airspace near El Paso, Texas, and were disabled by the FAA and the Department of War. Secretary Duffy (Transportation) posted on X:

“The FAA and DOW acted swiftly to address a cartel drone incursion. The threat has been neutralized, and there is no danger to commercial travel in the region. The restrictions have been lifted and normal flights are resuming.”

The FAA earlier issued a surprise notice shutting down the airspace above El Paso, a major city in west Texas on the US-Mexico border, and halting all flights up to 18,000 feet for 10 days due to “special security reasons.” The restricted area covered a 10-mile radius, and restrictions were lifted Wednesday night.

Business Insider cites anonymous officials claiming that the administration disabled the drones using counter-drone measures. The department did not publicly specify the exact technology used.

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected reports of the alleged drone incursion, stating, “There is no information about the use of drones on the border,” according to reporting by Newsweek. The same article reports that Representative Tony Gonzales responded to the drone news:

“For those of us who live and work along the border, daily drone incursions by criminal organizations are part of everyday life. It’s a Wednesday for us.”

GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: I was just saying how I had been wondering whether this massive military buildup in the eastern Mediterranean was actually some sort of a head-fake.

So Colombian President Gustavo Petro comes to town last week (nearly gets assassinated later on the way home to Colombia) and vows that he and Trump are working together to bring down cartels and the bankers that finance them.

Our friend, Eric Rice, presented an interesting question: Who sold Mexico the drones?

This is an interesting question, and I found an interesting article from 2015.

Now to be fair, this article is about the Mexico government, not the cartels, but is there an actual difference? Trump seems to have a low opinion of the Mexican governor.

First the FFA shuts down the airspace around El Paso. Then we get conflicting reports about an invasion. This is definitely an invasion.

It does seem like Mexico is the last bastion of these Hispanic narcotics cartels, and Trump has dropped plenty of signal that he considers the Mexican government in bed with cartels and therefore a threat.

What will happen next? Hopefully something based.

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BONUS ITEM

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Bondi Questioned Over Epstein in Fiery Congressional Hearing

Attorney General Pam Bondi testified before Congress Wednesday. Lawmakers questioned her about the DOJ’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein master. It was contentious.

Following the hearing, Epstein survivors spoke publicly in response to Bondi’s testimony, according to NBC video reporting.

The hearing also included questioning on broader Justice Department oversight and policy issues.

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Another Trans Shooter Kills 8, Injures Dozens in Canada

An 18-year old male to female transgender called Jesse Strang killed eight, including five students between 12 and 13 years old on Wednesday. He also killed his 11 year old stepbrother. A 12 year old girl is in critical condition and fighting for her life in the hospital.

According to CNN, the shooter transitioned about six years ago, making him around 12 years old at the age of transition. Note that reports vary about the suspect’s age (17 or 18). The suspect was known to Canadian police, with CNN reporting that they’d visited his residence several times due to mental health concerns.

Authorities said the investigation is ongoing.

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