Badlands Brief
Bessent's Bounty Hunters and Olympic Phallacies
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.
Marc Elias & Democrats Panic Over Midterms
The Virginia Supreme Court cleared the way for an April 21, 2026, referendum on a Democratic-backed congressional redistricting amendment, ruling Feb. 13 that voters can decide the plan even as legal challenges continue. The measure, passed by the Democratic majority in the General Assembly, would amend the state constitution to permit mid-decade redistricting of U.S. House districts, a departure from the traditional post-census process.
If approved, the redrawn map could allow Democrats to expand their representation in Virginia’s 11-member U.S. House delegation from six seats to potentially ten, making the referendum a national focal point in the broader battle over control of Congress. A lower court previously blocked the referendum on procedural grounds, but the Supreme Court reversed that decision and allowed the special election to proceed while litigation continues.
Separately, a blog post published Feb. 13 on the Patheos site by Ted Peters, a pastor and emeritus theology professor, discussed predictions and recommendations associated with attorney Marc Elias for Election Day 2026, framing them in religious and political terms. The piece reflects opinion content rather than reporting.
Ashe in America: As CannCon and I discussed with Rachel Alexander on Why We Vote Friday, Marc Elias is wigging.
His legal proposal is, essentially, that the Federal Legislative bans the Federal Executive from investigating the State Executive after the State Legislative bans all local authorities and their people from investigating or questioning the State.
The pageantry of democracy involves too many checks and balances where democracy can be corrupted, so we need to remove all the checks and balances from democracy to save democracy.
Having the people involved in democracy is a threat to democracy!
That is how I take the position of the founder of “democracy docket.” He also said local election certification should just be done by Microsoft Excel. Local people and federal people are a threat to state election administration according to Marc.
That tells us quite a bit, actually.
Marc is very authentically acting as though transparency in elections is an existential threat to his existence. It’s the most encouraging thing I’ve seen.
In response to this and other election news over the weekend, self-proclaimed experts on the internet claimed (again) that nothing is happening.
“No one has been arrested yet!”
People are being arrested – we will discuss that on Friday’s Why We Vote – but arrests are not the goal. Convictions are the goal. And cutting corners to scratch itches for internet lynch mobs will all but ensure that the traitorous scumbags walk.
Our system of justice, as designed, prioritizes the rights of the accused. No matter how much you hate the accused or how guilty you know they are, you cannot punish them unless they’ve had due process.
You certainly want that protection for yourself, right? If you’re accused of a crime, you demand your rights to due process. Well, we have equal justice under the law (again, as rightly designed).
We don’t want a political outcome, we want justice.
The former jeopardizes the latter. The treasonous traitors know that.
The latter means that every search and seizure, every grand jury, every investigative and prosecutorial step must be done meticulously by the book.
If you want convictions that stick, you need to dot every “i” and cross every “t”.
It’s clear to me that justice is coming – if for no other reason than how absolutely and desperately deranged Marc Elias and his friends appear right now.
That being said, it sucks to wait. But this process — if it is to be legitimate and successful for justice — will take time.
Patience is a pain in the ass sometimes, but it remains a virtue.
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Scott Bessent Creates Bounty System to Hunt Fraud
The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Feb. 13, 2026, a new website to accept confidential whistleblower tips on fraud, money laundering and sanctions violations, expanding federal efforts to combat financial crime.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the portal, operated through the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) Office of the Whistleblower, will allow individuals to report suspected misconduct involving violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, U.S. sanctions programs and other financial laws. People whose tips lead to successful enforcement actions may be eligible for financial awards.
The initiative aims to strengthen enforcement tools and encourage reporting by offering whistleblowers a confidential channel and potential monetary incentives. The Treasury encourages submitters to provide detailed documentation to support their claims.
Treasury’s action comes amid broader federal scrutiny of financial abuses and fraud schemes, with officials highlighting the role of whistleblowers in safeguarding the integrity of the U.S. financial system.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: Years ago, I once suggested that a bounty system be established to reward whistleblowers or researchers who expose corrupt politicians so that they can be charged with the applicable crimes.
This idea is so much better.
The bounty system for politicians had too many moving parts. Where did the money come from? Donors? Crowd-funded? At what point did the applicant qualify for the reward money? When the targeted politician lost an election? When they were arrested? The metrics all seem rather subjective.
There were too many opportunities for the incentive structure to be corrupted, which could results in some really unfortunate and unintended consequences.
This program that Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent is rolling out with FINcen seems to streamline the bounty system while focusing on the critical evidence: the money.
“Follow the money” is a notorious refrain not only in the Q Research community, but in the entire cultural ethos of “criminology” as well. Whether you are talking about a crime drama presented as a work of fiction on Netflix, or academic detective work, forensic accounting is the ideal method of mapping out criminal networks because the money flow is objective and traceable.
If you’ve listened to the past few episodes of Breaking History, we have been discussing FINcen and the Egmont Group. While FINcen is the financial crimes intelligence unit in the US government, the Egmonth Group is an international network of over 170 of this type of intelligence unit from nearly every government on earth. The purpose being to share in this intelligence.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro was sanctioned by the Treasury Department last year, and in the sanctioning document Petro is accused of getting Colombia’s financial crimes intelligence unit suspended from Egmont for allegedly sharing information he collected from the Egmont servers.
It is fascinating that both Petro and Maduro have accused all of the most powerful banks in the US and Europe of literally being the cartels. Petro says that it is institutions like Egmont Group that allow the criminality to continue and prosper, because it covers for them.
Bessent’s strategy is brilliant because it creates a practical incentive structure and has a reliable source of reward money. It also inherently targets the core culprit in all organized crime syndicates: the financial institutions.
We are going to pay criminals to rat out their friends. We are going to pay bureaucrats and accountants to blow the whistle on shady stuff they see around the office. And we are going to pay them with the money collected from fines imposed on the guilty parties. The idea being that the investigations will lead to criminal referrals and indictments.
Scott Bessent is weaponizing the financial system against itself by tapping into base human instincts.
2026 Olympics: Canadians Cons, PenisGate, & other Wild Tales
A rules controversy engulfed Olympic curling at the 2026 Winter Games, as both Canadian men’s and women’s teams were accused of committing “double-touch” infractions during the round-robin competition.
The dispute erupted in an 8-6 men’s victory over Sweden when Swedish curler Oskar Eriksson alleged Canadian third Marc Kennedy had touched his stone after release, a violation that, if confirmed, would lead to the stone’s removal under World Curling rules. Kennedy vehemently denied any wrongdoing, responded to the accusation with profanity on the ice and later suggested his team might have been deliberately targeted in what he characterized as a planned effort to catch violations.
In a subsequent women’s match against Switzerland, Canadian skip Rachel Homan was penalized for what officials ruled was the same double-touch violation, resulting in the removal of her stone. Homan protested the call, but officials upheld it without video review, citing the sport’s current officiating standards.
World Curling acknowledged that umpires cannot visually monitor every delivery infraction and clarified that while accredited Olympic Broadcasting Services may film within venues, viral footage circulating on social media was not authorized. Officials indicated that no violations were recorded during designated observation periods by umpires.
The controversy widened as other nations, including the British men’s squad, also had stones removed under the same rule enforcement. In response to the uproar, World Curling adjusted its officiating procedures by increasing monitoring officials at subsequent matches to better enforce the hog-line rule.
Ashe in America: Karli Bonne’ posted a wild video of Olympic headlines on X over the weekend, and they were so outlandish, I had to look and see if they were real:
Penisgate had that “pump, pump it up” crypto song stuck in my head for most of the weekend. ICYMI: The ski jumpers are allegedly injecting hyaluronic acid into their penises to inflate them before their bodies are scanned for their suits, so when their penises shrink back down before they compete, there is extra fabric – and it’s like a sail while they’re in the air. The anti-doping league is investigating, and I can’t stop laughing.
The biggest scandal of the elections (so far) is the Canadian curling scandal. First of all, let’s talk about the outsized focus on curling during this Olympics. Everyone was talking about curling even before the Canadians made these headlines.
The Swedes allege that the Canadian men’s team serially cheats when throwing their stones by double-touching them, ostensibly to direct them, after the throw. They were so frustrated, they set up a surveillance sting operation to catch them in the act. It came to a head when one of the Swedes called out the Canadian, the latter profanely denied the allegation:
Canadian Marc Kennedy: “I haven’t done it once. You can fuck off.”
Swede Oskar Eriksson: “I’ll show you a video after the game. I’ll show you a video where it’s two meters over the hog line.”
Then came the video:
World Curling issued a verbal warning to Kennedy for his language: “Following the Friday evening session, World Curling spoke with the Canadian officials to issue a verbal warning regarding the language used by a Canadian men’s player during the game. During that meeting it was made clear to those officials that further inappropriate behavior, determined by rule R.19 would result in additional sanctions.”
According to reports, other teams confirmed Sweden’s frustrations, while the Brits were also accused of the same violations. Since Britain and Canada are basically the same country, does that make it the crown’s curling con?
When I was telling a friend about this whole thing – very excitedly on Saturday – I said, “If this were an election investigation, they’d prosecute the Swedes.”
Well, what do you know?
Canada is accusing the Swedes of recording violations inside the arena.
“How dare you catch us cheating?!”
The Canadians are ballsy, I’ll give them that. Check their lockers for Hyaluronic acid…
Let’s go week two!
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Pentagon Gaming Out “Sustained Campaign” against Iran
U.S. defense and administration officials are reported to be planning for the possibility of a sustained, weeks-long military campaign against Iran if President Trump orders such action, moving beyond limited strikes toward broader targeting of Iranian state and security infrastructure. This planning comes amid increased U.S. military deployments, including the arrival of an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, and ongoing diplomatic efforts between the U.S. and Iran mediated by Oman. President Trump has publicly suggested regime change in Iran would be desirable, while Israeli leaders call for dismantling Iranian nuclear capabilities. The overall situation underscores rising tensions and the complex interplay of diplomacy and military readiness in U.S.–Iran relations.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: They want us to believe that Israel doesn’t control our government. They say that I am an antisemite for suggesting such a thing. And yet, things like this keep happening that support—if not affirm—the allegation.
Can somebody explain to me why Iran needs a new government? Even if we were to assume that the people running that place were the worst tyrants who ever lived, in terms of how the government treats Iranians, why exactly is that our problem? Despite all the consternation and hyperventilating from the kosher crowd (Loomer, Levin, Lady Lindsey) there is no evidence to suggest Iran poses a threat to the United States or even to Israel.
Not to mention that Iran, which was once geopolitically isolated, now has strong international relations with a number of world powers, most notably Russia and China. Iran has also become a geographic centerpiece of the North-South Transport Corridor, which is a trade route developed by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization to compete with the Suez Canal.
The deep economic entanglement between these nations will actually keep Iran accountable as economic pressure from both inside and outside of the country will promote peace and deter kinetic conflict.
Put simply, there is absolutely no reason to believe that Iran wants to start a war with Israel or the US—even assuming that Iran harbors ill-will toward Israel and would prefer to see it somehow destroyed. The point is that Iran is not going to start or provoke such a war with Israel because it knows that it will end up fighting the US and Europe.
So why the hell are we allowing the Israel lobby to drag us into this situation?
Trump Rages at Maher, Tells Republicans to Stop Simping
On Valentine’s Day 2026, President Donald Trump used his Truth Social account to deliver a highly critical message aimed at comedian and television host Bill Maher, eschewing a traditional holiday greeting in favor of a lengthy personal rebuke.
In the post, Trump described a 2025 White House dinner with Maher as “a total waste of time,” writing that the comedian had been “extremely nervous” and lacking confidence during their meeting, and that he asked for a vodka tonic to calm himself.
Trump also attacked Maher’s HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher, calling it “very boring” and “anti-Trump,” and referred to Maher as “a highly overrated lightweight” while suggesting he was slightly more talented than other late-night hosts.
The Valentine’s Day message went beyond Maher, including jabs at Canada and China, and reflected a sharp deterioration in public tone between the president and the long-time media figure.
Representatives for Maher and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Burning Bright: It’s not a shock to this audience when Donald Trump puts out a lengthy and scathing Truth Social post.
But I found this one to be particularly signal-soaked, not just because Trump calls out Maher in the midst of the latter’s seeming public about-face on the establishment, during which time he has continued to spew hatred toward the MAGA agenda while strangely glazing the ‘QAnon’ conspiracy theorists who have long considered him a member of the ‘red shoe club,’ even while he conveniently skips past the more sordid and dark implications of the drops.
The reason I found Trump’s statement so gratifying is because he takes a beat to assign blame to ‘Republicans,’ ie: MAGA for “using [Maher] to show how the Left is coming over our way,” going on to say that, “Our Base, the Greatest of All Time, laughs at your weakness when you do it!”
Now, this might have been directed at ‘Republicans’ on the surface, but there is absolutely a lesson to be found for the MAGA faithful, the Truthers in this audience and perhaps especially the Q Decoders who have suddenly latched onto FOX News as being full of secret white hats, all of which I wrote about in my latest (and potentially most controversial) long-form.
“While the Q Drops absolutely prompted many of the digs of myself and my peers, key learnings about the true nature of the System and potential solutions to it have only come through that self-propelled discovery process.
For those whose commentary is limited to an analysis of drops from a decade ago WITHOUT the ensuing analysis of the macro concepts they were attempting to elucidate, their true, measurable knowledge base remains largely static from the moment Q first appeared.
They frame everything they do understand as part of ‘The Plan’—a plan they cannot fully describe—and everything they do not understand as also part of that same Plan, and therefore, which does not need to be described.
This creates a comfortable, self-reinforcing loop that relieves them of the responsibility for independent analysis.
This permanent present reading of the operation is also, not coincidentally an extraordinarily convenient position for anyone pretending to support the Plan while actually working against it or those executing it.
To wit, all such actors need do is echo a popular phrase or refrain from the most widely read and disseminated ‘secret’ plan in history, and they are granted presumptive alignment with said plan.
Consider the practical implications of this reality: Donald Trump is not using outlets like FOX News as primary force multipliers because they are secretly packed with white hats delivering coded communications. He is forced to engage with them because significant portions of the awakened audience still consume them—often unironically, or explicitly because they believe those outlets are vehicles for secret comms.
This is absurd on its face, and I believe it’s a slap in the face to a community that once propped itself up in direct opposition to the Media Industrial Complex, not as cheerleaders for a new version of that very same monolith, replete with the same three-letter networks that marched the American Mind through the most recent forever war in the Middle East, and which would gladly do so again.
By continuing to lend attention, energy and thus power to these institutions, we perpetuate their relevance within the info ecosystem, compelling those working to dismantle the broader System to allocate precious strategic resources toward them as well.
Put another way, I did not drag my own psyche over the broken glass of a shattered Neo-Liberal Mindscape in order to unironically watch FOX News with people who happily cheered on a jingoist response to the inside job that was 9/11 before finding the gall to claim moral superiority over ‘The Democrats’ because lifelong Democrat Donald Trump chose to put an ‘R’ next to his name when he finally decided to embark on a decades-long liberation tour to free us not from ‘the left,’ but from the Uniparty we all ignorantly—but never willingly—helped to power.”
(From ‘The Cult of Morpheus,’ which you can read free on Burning Bright.)
BONUS ITEMS
Kiev on the brink of catastrophe – mayor
Kiev is “teetering on the brink of catastrophe” amid large-scale power outages, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko told the Financial Times in an interview published Sunday, according to RT.
Klitschko said “the question of the future of our country – whether we will survive as an independent country or not is still open.” He accused President Vladimir Zelensky of infringing on municipal authority by appointing military-civilian administrations in the capital. RT reported that Zelensky claimed last month that Kiev was falling behind other Ukrainian cities in responding to power outages. Klitschko dismissed the criticism and said electricity generation falls within the central government’s purview.
RT reported that in recent weeks Russia has intensified drone and missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s power grid. Moscow has said the strikes are aimed at undercutting weapons production and are retaliation for Kiev’s attacks on Russian civilian infrastructure. The situation has been compounded by severe cold weather, according to the report.
Separately, RT said Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office uncovered a $100 million corruption scheme in November 2025 involving the country’s state-owned nuclear energy operator. The report said the scandal led to the resignations of Justice Minister German Galushchenko, Energy Minister Svetlana Grinchuk and Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak. Ukrainian media reported Sunday that Galushchenko was detained while attempting to flee to Poland.
The Badlands Blitz
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"... arrests are not the goal. Convictions are the goal."
Ashe, you are so, So, SO right about this! It's infuriating to hear people complaining (or bragging) about the lack of high-profile arrests, no perp walks, no Madame Guillotine at every street corner, especially from people nominally on the patriot side. We can't attain justice by setting justice aside. Ὀψὲ θεῶν ἀλέουσι μύλοι, ἀλέουσι δὲ λεπτά" (often translated "The wheels of justice grind slow but exceeding fine").
This Olympics has some of the most amusing stories, but I don't think we can call the Canadian Men's Curling team "ballsy" after they've had their stones removed ...