Badlands Brief
FaKKKe Racists Plead Not Guilty & You Can Expect More Dugans
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.
SPLC Pleads Not Guilty to Federal Fraud Charges
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) entered a not guilty plea Tuesday to federal fraud charges during a remote arraignment in Montgomery, Alabama, following a superseding indictment that adds detail but no new charges to the original case. The Justice Department alleges the nonprofit misled donors by failing to disclose that millions of dollars in donations were used to pay confidential informants embedded in extremist organizations between 2014 and 2023, including reimbursements for activities tied to those groups.
The SPLC denies wrongdoing, arguing the paid informant program generated intelligence that was regularly shared with law enforcement and helped prevent violence. The organization has characterized the prosecution as politically motivated, while federal prosecutors contend the conduct constituted wire fraud, false statements to federally insured banks, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The case is scheduled for trial in October.
Ashe in America: I hope this goes to trial and we get to examine the extent of the SPLC programs to fabricate racism by embedding activists inside extremist organizations.
Note that the SPLC claims it was regularly sharing information with law enforcement. Is the SPLC operating as an extrajudicial entrapment operation?
Remember in the Whitmer kidnapping plot op how the majority of the kidnappers were Feds? How many of the alleged klansmen in question were actually SPLC. Do you think the fake racists were the most vocal and action oriented racists? I’m leaning that way.
Note that, unlike the Whitmer kidnapping plot op, the SPLC has significantly less oversight than government entrappers…and using NGOs creates plausible deniability for the government.
Still painful for the NGO. SPLC is finding that out now.
So, were they generating intelligence or racism and white supremacy narratives? That’s the question to explore at trial.
CannCon and I are definitely streaming it if it happens. I hope they don’t do something super lame like take a plea deal.
The People, at this point, deserve to see the evidence from “The People.”
Top State Department Official Accused of Going “Rogue” on Venezuela Policy
Deputy Secretary of State Chris Landau is facing internal criticism after senior Trump administration officials accused him of twice miscommunicating US policy regarding exiled Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado’s efforts to return to Venezuela following the June 24 earthquakes.
According to Axios, Landau appeared to signal support for Machado’s travel in conversations with Dutch and Panamanian officials, despite the administration’s stated position that it would not facilitate her return.
The reported miscommunications triggered diplomatic confusion, including the reversal of one of Machado’s travel plans after Secretary of State Marco Rubio personally reiterated US policy to her. Landau has denied contradicting official policy, saying he also communicated that the United States was neutral regarding Machado’s travel. A State Department spokesperson dismissed reports of internal conflict, stating the department remains aligned with President Trump and Secretary Rubio’s foreign policy agenda.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: It was Marc Caputo who wrote this article. (Caputo is Steve Bannon’s White House correspondent.)
This article is great. Is it true? Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn’t really matter. The only thing that matters now is the narrative.
The narrative now is that Marco Rubio and the Trump Administration do not support Maria Corina Machado and are against allowing her to return to Venezuela. The reason she publicly states that she wants to return to Venezuela is to challenge the Maduro regime by running in the next election—which is yet to be scheduled by interim President Delcy Rodriguez.
Both Rodriguez and President Trump have said that it would not be appropriate to hold an election any time soon, given the instability of the country.
President Trump is effectively stonewalling Maria Corina Machado and preventing her from taking over Venezuela.
Whether this story about Chris Landau “going rogue” is true is inconsequential. The narrative of Landau going rogue (and being blocked by the Trump team) simultaneously demonstrates the Trump team’s tenacious persistence in preventing Machado from overthrowing the Maduro/Rodriguez government; it also seems to clearly define Machado as some sort of intelligence operative who is hellbent on seizing power in Venezuela.
This is quite the rebrand for Machado, who has spent the past 20+ years being the darling of the GOP and the “Free Venezuela” (read: USAID) movement.
Remember: It was Marco Rubio and five other GOP Senators who penned the letter to the Nobel Committee in August 2024 nominating Machado for the Nobel Peace Prize. Now Marco is ostensibly leading the effort to block her from power—at least, according to the narrative.
Why would “rogue” actors in the State Department be so hellbent on installing a specific outsider into power, when the current Venezuela government appears to be cooperating fully with President Trump and the US government?
Could it be because the State Department is full of rogue actors who are hellbent on overthrowing every government in the world and installing their own meat-puppet as leader?
I don’t really care whether this story about Landau is true. I am grateful that this new dialectic is being framed, and the net effect is recasting Machado as the vindictive dissident and the Maduro/Rodriguez government as the poor victim. I think we are going to see the public perception of these two opposing entities flip and the Maduro/Rodriguez government come out looking like the good guys. (Because they always have been.)
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Senate Defense Bill Would Establish Government Private Investment Fund
The Senate’s Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) includes a provision that would authorize the Department of Defense to establish a strategic investment fund capable of taking equity stakes in private companies deemed critical to national security.
The proposal is intended to strengthen domestic defense and technology supply chains by allowing the government to invest directly in firms developing strategically important capabilities, particularly in areas such as advanced manufacturing, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, and critical minerals.
The legislation would centralize the Pentagon’s direct equity investment authority, establish congressional reporting requirements and oversight mechanisms, and require regular disclosures regarding investment decisions. Supporters argue the fund would help preserve critical industrial capabilities that might otherwise fail to attract private capital, while critics contend it would expand the federal government’s role as an investor in private enterprise and expose taxpayers to investment risk.
The provision remains part of the Senate version of the NDAA and would still need to survive negotiations with the House before becoming law.
Burning Bright: Now this is a fascinating story on the back of a tantalizing trend I think I’m going to be spending a lot of time discussing in the months (and potentially even years) ahead.
As I’ve been commenting on since the president first announced stakes in Intel and MP Materials in 2025, the Trump Administration is breaking sharply from tradition and investing directly into the private sector, all under the guise of national defense.
There are a few ways of looking at this.
On the one hand, direct government investment into private industry is something most Americans (well, most Conservative Americans) tend to be opposed to, as it stinks of socialism, right?
The thing is, not only have the Trump Admin’s investments already borne fruit for both the companies involved and the American people (who are the true shareholders of any stakes that are purchased, ostensibly,) but you can also look at these moves as forms of fifth-gen warfare, wherein Trump is either forcing or coercing the American Oligarchy that currently controls the means of production in the most prosperous nation in the world to, well, redistribute that wealth at home rather than stashing it in private coffers after employing foreign labor on the back of companies, intellectual property and corporate governance and financing rights unique to the those incorporated in the US.
In other words, these companies have been benefiting from being American companies without, well, acting like American companies.
That’s all changing now.
This Senate bill and similar moves would mean future administrations would have no need to issue temporary Executive Orders or find creative workarounds to take strategic, public market stakes in private companies if such stakes provided a boon to the American people and a strategic advantage to the US as a nation, and when it comes to rare earths, semiconductors, energy and defense production, you can bet your ass these stakes represent strategic advantages.
But the greatest bit of irony to this Trumpian trend lies in the fact that it runs along parallel rails to policies Bernie Sanders, American socialist has been advocating for decades ... thus putting Trump in the growing good graces of ... American Socialists?
We’re living in strange times, my friends.
Just wait until American Conservatives and Socialists are joined together in common cause on a Golden Age transition that bears the hallmarks of both, but fully encapsulates neither.
Asymmetrical Justice Rears Its Head Again
Former Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was sentenced Wednesday to a $5,000 fine with no prison time after her felony conviction for obstructing a federal immigration arrest at her courthouse. The case stemmed from an April 2025 incident in which prosecutors said Dugan directed Eduardo Flores-Ruiz through a private jury door while federal immigration agents waited to arrest him, although agents ultimately apprehended him outside the courthouse.
Dugan was convicted of felony obstruction but acquitted of a separate concealment charge. During sentencing, Judge Lynn Adelman said the punishment should reflect Dugan’s lengthy public service and characterized the incident as an isolated lapse in judgment. Prosecutors had argued that federal sentencing guidelines supported a prison term of 15 to 21 months, while the defense maintained the prosecution was politically motivated and said it plans to appeal the conviction.
Ashe in America: This woman, under color of law while wearing a robe of “justice” helped a criminal invader to evade federal immigration enforcement, while inside the People’s courtroom.
And she got a $5,000 fine.
Few things make me madder than perversions of justice… than judges thinking their discretion can rewrite law…than activists weaponizing government for ideological struggle sessions and politicized example-making.
Tina Peters received eight years and three months for a single misrepresentation with the earnest intent of fulfilling her duty. Hannah Dugan received a $5,000 fine for abdicating her duty in aiding and abetting a criminal invader to our country because she disagreed with the law.
The precedent is set that it’s of little consequence to weaponize the government for your personal cause. And it’s of no consequence if you don’t get caught.
Expect more Hannah Dugans.
Trump Says He’ll Remove Syria as State Sponsor of Terrorism For FIRST Time Since 1979
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he will remove Syria from the State Department’s State Sponsors of Terrorism list, a designation Syria has held since the original list was created in 1979. Trump made the comments while seated next to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa at the NATO summit in Turkey, saying al-Sharaa has “done a great job.”
The administration has notified Congress, starting a mandatory 45-day review period before the removal can become final. Delisting Syria would ease major restrictions on US aid, defense exports and financial transactions, and follows Trump’s earlier move to unwind parts of the US sanctions program against Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.
This is the Venezuela Model all over again.
As Mossad Media ramps up the hostile rhetoric against Turkey and Syria, President Trump is pivoting to bring them both deeper into his orbit.
From ABC News:
“The repeal provided a way for Syria to begin transacting with regional and U.S. businesses, but the state sponsor of terrorism designation blocks it from accessing significant U.S. foreign assistance.
Lifting this designation on Syria could facilitate a whole range of investments in the country, including in oil, banking, technology, and real estate -- which could lead to an economic sea change for the country and more overall stability.”
It’s amazing, in hindsight, what former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was able to accomplish, economically, in Syria in the 2000’s given these restraints on Syria due to this designation. in 2010, Syria had one of the best economies in the Middle East and was touted as a great tourism destination in mainstream media.
Trump giving his glowing review of current Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa made heads explode across Mossad Media.
Just look how mad Laura Loomer is.
That’s a great sign that President Trump is doing the proper and prudent thing in lifting this designation and removing Syria from the short list of nations considered state sponsors of terrorism.
Perhaps it is time to consider placing Israel on this list?
BONUS ITEMS
Trump Declares Iran Ceasefire “Over” After New Attacks
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the interim US-Iran ceasefire agreement is “over” following Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and subsequent US military strikes. Speaking at the NATO summit in Ankara, Trump said the United States had already carried out a new wave of strikes and warned additional military action was likely, adding that Iran would be hit again if it continued attacks.
The latest escalation follows Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, prompting the United States to strike more than 80 targets inside Iran and revoke a license permitting Iranian oil sales. Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting US facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, while global oil prices climbed roughly 5% on concerns that renewed fighting could further disrupt energy shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
As of Wednesday evening, no new agreement has been reached and the administration has indicated future military action will depend on Iran’s next moves.
AND
Rutte Backs US Strikes ON Iran AS Trump Blasts Spain at NATO Summit
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte defended the latest US military strikes on Iran, calling them “absolutely necessary” after Iranian attacks on commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz ended a fragile ceasefire. Speaking ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara, Rutte said Iran had violated the ceasefire and argued the US response was warranted, while emphasizing that NATO itself is not a party to the conflict.
During the summit, President Donald Trump sharply criticized Spain over its opposition to the US military campaign against Iran and its defense spending, calling the country “bad people” and ordering a halt to US trade with Spain. Trump also accused Spain of refusing to support US operations against Iran, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez maintained his government’s opposition to the conflict.
Despite the public disputes, Trump later said the summit concluded with “a lot of unity” among NATO allies.
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The NDAA's potential to return some of the profits of American companies to the American people instead of just as kickbacks to politicians seems vaguely improper at first glance but actually fits the real world quite well. Our past hesitancy in this regard has led more than a few times to the more troubling situation in which the government competes with private industry.
It will be interesting to see whether Sen. Sanders supports this, or if TDS drives him to change course.
Wait, if the SPLC pled "Not Guilty" that should end it, right? 😆😄😅😂🤣