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.
Netanyahu Rejects Trump’s 15-Point Peace Plan, Insists He Can Stand Up To Trump
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected a U.S.-backed 15-point roadmap for Gaza and said Israeli forces would not withdraw until Hamas is fully disarmed. Netanyahu specified that the requirement would cover heavy weapons, lighter weapons and all other arms.
Netanyahu said Israel remains in discussions with the United States over the proposal, adding that some U.S. ideas are acceptable to Israel and others are not.
The comments came as President Donald Trump signaled a less aggressive immediate posture toward Iran. Trump told Axios on Sunday that the United States was “low-keying” the confrontation and was only “semi-negotiating” with Tehran while watching economic pressure build.
Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran and Oman were close to an agreement on a new shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, but said the arrangement alone would not reopen the waterway. Araghchi said additional conditions would have to be met, including compensation from the United States. Iran’s Foreign Ministry had earlier said Tehran and Muscat had agreed on geographic coordinates for a navigation route and were preparing a joint statement.
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: We did cover the early reports of this story in Friday’s edition of the Brief. However, we now have a video of Netanyahu explicitly stating that he rejects Trump’s peace plan.
“Israel rejects the 15-point document.”
What makes this even more interesting is the follow-up reporting from Israeli journalist, Barak Ravid, who claims that a Trump admin official told him that Trump is “not bothered” by Netanyahu’s public statements—citing that Bibi is facing an intense election campaign in Israel. As long as Netanyahu does what they say, he can say whatever he wants publicly.
This is an important development, mainly for two reasons.
First of all, it establishes recognition that public and private statements by these figures can be different, and that the White House is okay with public friction as long as there is compliance in the action taken.
Secondly, and more importantly, I think this attitude is what is baiting Netanyahu and the entire Zionist Diaspora along and into a situation from which they won’t be able to retreat. Trump is effectively giving Netanyahu permission to defy him, without any guarantee that doing so will go unpunished.
Remember the quote the White House gave Ravid: “We understand Bibi's political needs. We have no problem with it as long as he continues to do what we ask - especially regarding restraining attacks in Gaza.”
“…as long as he continues to do what we ask…”
And what if he doesn’t do what they ask? What if Bibi is being serious about rejecting this peace agreement, and continues to escalate against both Hamas and Iran? I find it hard to believe that President Trump would just take that disrespect on the chin, and not punish the Israelis for their defiance.
If Trump was truly concerned with Netanyahu and the Zionist regime, wouldn’t he be taking greater care to help Bibi rehabilitate his public reputation? Wouldn’t that be what is best for Israel?
What if Naftali Bennett “wins” the election in October, and throws Netanyahu in jail after he is convicted? Wouldn’t that give Trump narrative shielding to walk away from Israel entirely and let the chips fall where they may?
And it’s not just Hamas that Netanyahu is escalating against…
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Iranian State Media Circulates Old Video of Fake and Gay Ayatollah to Make Sure We All Know He is Fake and Gay
An Iranian paramilitary official said footage of Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei would be released as questions continued over his health and absence from public view, Reuters reported Sunday. Khamenei has not been seen publicly since succeeding his father as supreme leader in March.
Basij Organization deputy Qasem Qoraishi said footage and other documentation would show Khamenei among members of the public, on the streets and meeting commanders of Iran’s armed forces. Qoraishi said the material would counter critics of Iran.
Iranian state media also said President Masoud Pezeshkian met Khamenei in late July. The meeting covered military affairs and economic issues, including foreign exchange management, energy use and economic relations with foreign partners.
Pezeshkian has given differing descriptions of his access to the supreme leader. He said July 21 that interactions with Khamenei were increasing but said in early August that communicating with him was “very difficult.” State media had previously reported that the two met for several hours in May.
Reuters reported that Khamenei was seriously injured in the Feb. 28 strike that killed his father and predecessor, Ali Khamenei. His continued absence from public appearances has fueled questions about his condition.
Burning Bright: I might have done some SLIGHT editorializing with that header ... but hear me out.
In the wash of Iran on-again, off-again tensions in the very real and definitely not at all fake war Donald Trump has been waging against the Invisible Enemy, Iranian State media decided to follow the line of discussion from the most recent episode of the Badlands Blitz, wherein Ghost and I spent a good deal of time discussing the Fake & Gay Ayatollah, and wherein we reminded you of just a few of the following points:
- Badlands Media psychos (ie: Ghost and I) told you the Ayatollah was Fake at the start of the so-called War.
- Donald Trump told you (and the rest of the world) that he was Gay, thereby completing the Fake & Gay memetic dialectic, and for which we thank him.
THEN, in April, when the fake and real war that is not a war, but that also is, in a manner of speaking was about 8 weeks old, the New York Times published a wide-ranging special report on the inner workings of Iranian leadership, in which they claimed (citing those dastardly and sneaky sneaky unnamed sources close to the situation, as well as some named sources close to the situation) that, even IF the Fake & Gay Ayatollah DID resurface in the central narrative, he would not LOOK or SOUND the same, so badly damaged had he been by the fake war.
And that's where they jumped the Hormuzian Shark, in my estimation
You see, you can tell the people there's a real war being fought by a real leader, and that we just aren't allowed to SEE or HEAR from that leader due to, well, the fact that he's ostensibly fighting a war against the most powerful empire in human history (that's us, by the way.)
You can even tell us at some point down the line that he got killed off-screen, one of the machine's favorite ways to re-cast and to shift us into a new season of the Forever War television series, this time in a desert with more rocks!
You cannot, however demonstrate to the audience that the very real (but also very gay, even if he is real) Ayatollah is going to be played by a different actor before you even attempt to re-cast him, as doing so gives away the game, and the fact that you're playing one.
What's more, never refuting Trump's assertion that this Ayatollah is gay, and that this fact is known in a nation in which we are told (by the same media) that such men are routinely thrown off of rooves beggars belief, and shatters it.
Now, Iranian State Media follows up ALL of the above by releasing OLD footage of the Fake & Gay Ayatollah, while saying the footage is new, thereby placing the media regime into quite a pickle: either they say the footage is fake and gay, bringing up uncomfortable questions over why the Regime is pretending to have a leader right now ... or the guy is.
Either way, sooner or later, they'll need to admit he isn't the leader of anything, and never has been ... and that they (the media, that is) have literally no idea what is happening in Iran, because Donald Trump and his allies ... IN IRAN ... have pulled a fast one (and a gay one) over on them.
Sucks to suck.
Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkey Sign “Mecca Agreement,” Expects Egypt to Join Coalition… and Maybe Even Iran
Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan signed a joint defense agreement Aug. 7 that commits the three countries to regard an armed attack against any one of them as an attack against all three.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in Mecca. The agreement is intended to strengthen collective deterrence against aggression, according to a joint statement reported by Reuters. The statement did not specify what military commitments would be required from each country in response to an attack.
Turkish Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said the agreement should not be viewed as directed against Iran or any other country. He described it as a deterrence mechanism and said it is not an alternative to NATO or other alliances to which Türkiye belongs. Yilmaz also said the agreement is open to additional countries, with the three founding members responsible for jointly deciding on expansion.
The agreement expands an existing Saudi-Pakistani mutual-defense framework. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan signed a Strategic Mutual Defense Agreement in September 2025 under which an attack on either country would be considered an attack on both.
Pakistan has since deployed about 8,000 troops, as well as fighter jets, drones and an air-defense system, to Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters.
Here is the map I drew in MS Paint back in the first week of February, when I was describing what I believed was a new emerging security architecture in the Middle East:
And here is the diagram being circulated now:
“But Ghost, you said that Egypt was going to be involved.”
Indeed.
“But Ghost, you also said in those clips from February that Iran would probably join the coalition, as well.”
Indeed.
It’s all coming together. I suspect we will see the other countries of the Middle East join this group, led by Syria and Iraq, and then endorsed by Russia, China, and President Trump. This could be how the Sovereign Alliance is formally revealed to the world.
And to those who assert that this is all a giant Zionist plot against Iran:
Keep an eye on Greece.
Blanche Confirmed as Attorney General After Congressional Struggle Session
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as U.S. attorney general Saturday, Aug. 8, in a 50-49 vote, elevating President Donald Trump’s former defense attorney to lead the Justice Department. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska joined Democrats in opposing the nomination.
Trump formally nominated Blanche for the position June 8. The Senate Judiciary Committee held his confirmation hearing July 15, followed by a second day of testimony July 16.
Blanche had been serving as acting attorney general while holding his Senate-confirmed position as deputy attorney general. The Justice Department says Blanche previously represented Trump in three criminal cases brought against him in 2023 and 2024.
The Senate had confirmed Blanche as deputy attorney general on March 5, 2025, by a 52-46 vote.
Ashe in America: Bill Cassidy, a Republican Senator from Louisiana who is a real pain in the ass in obstructing the President’s anti-globalist agenda, was talking tough last week when the Senate was pretending that the outcome of this vote was in doubt so Senators could get their campaign soundbites.
On Friday, Todd Blanche was confirmed as Attorney General in a 50-49 vote. Mitch wasn’t there to vote because he’s allegedly recovering from health issues, though he is widely speculated to be deceased by most outside the mockingbirds and their dodo followers.
McConnell would have ostensibly made the Blanche vote 50-50, in which case JD Vance would have been the hero in casting the 51st vote for Blanche. Said another way, Mitch’s medical drama blocked a JD spotlight moment.
Note: The 50-49 vote thing is more sad than funny. They can do this with literally any legislation they want, including the much lauded SAVE America Act. Any legislation at all, at any time, including before they gavel out for an entire month (just mocking the people to their faces). They write their own rules, before they write ours.
Anyway, Vance didn’t get his moment; instead, the Republican hero of the entire affair was Bill Cassidy. Take a look:
He cried, and it was extremely unnerving.
The last time I remember a politician seem to authentically cry because of a vote they “had” to make, it was Melissa Hortman, the former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House. She cried after voting to end state-funded health coverage for the criminal invaders, and a few days later she and her husband, Mark, were assassinated in their bed.
Vance Boelter pled guilty to those murders, and he was just sentenced a couple of weeks ago to two consecutive life sentences plus 40 years, without parole. The plea agreement spared him the federal death penalty. How does one serve a second life sentence, and why do we have to pay for that?
I hope Bill Cassidy is just crying because he is a political pussy and not because he thinks voting for Todd Blanche will get him killed. I absolutely hate violence, political or otherwise.
If that’s what’s going on, Todd Blanche should investigate.
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Case Against SPLC Will Proceed
A federal judge has rejected the Southern Poverty Law Center’s effort to dismiss an 11-count criminal indictment on grounds that the organization was targeted for its political speech, finding that it failed to produce sufficient evidence that prosecutors acted with unconstitutional animus.
U.S. District Judge Emily C. Marks on Aug. 7 denied the SPLC’s motion in full, including its alternative request for discovery into the government’s prosecutorial motives. The SPLC had argued that political actors, including President Donald Trump, drove the prosecution because of the organization’s First Amendment-protected speech. The government denied that allegation.
A superseding indictment unsealed June 2 charges the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering. The charges are allegations and have not been proven at trial.
The court said an investigation involving the SPLC’s paid-informant program began during Trump’s first term and was closed without charges during the Biden administration before later being revived. Marks found that closing and reopening the investigation did not, by itself, demonstrate vindictive prosecution.
Marks also found that criticism of the SPLC by Trump, Republican lawmakers and FBI Director Kash Patel did not establish that prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Alabama brought the charges because of the SPLC’s protected speech. An October 2025 FBI report showed that Acting U.S. Attorney Kevin Davidson concurred in opening a matter involving the organization, but the judge said the SPLC had not established how that concurrence figured into the eventual charging decision.
The court concluded that the SPLC failed to produce sufficient objective evidence connecting alleged political animus to the prosecutors who made the charging decision. Marks therefore ruled that the organization was entitled to neither discovery into prosecutorial motives nor dismissal of the indictment.
Ashe in America: From The Hill: “The SPLC has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, including taking any actions that would undermine its effort to fight hate groups. It has said its donors were well aware they were spying on extremists.”
I love the word “vehemently”. When I imagine someone doing something vehemently, I picture them shaking. I picture the SPLC shaking with anxiety as they try to cast themselves as victims for fabricating racism to keep their campaign – their illegal psychological warfare campaign – going. They’re accused of serious crimes, including bank and wire fraud.
When Caleb was in first grade, one of the dads of a kid in his class was sentenced to prison for 13 years for wire fraud. It was essentially an insurance scam, but his big mistake was defrauding some cops in the northeast. 13 years. I think he did most of it.
What if they can prove that the SPLC was running illegal psychological warfare campaigns on the American people as an intelligence front? If wire fraud in service of defrauding a few cops is 13 years, what do you get for wire fraud in service of a seditious conspiracy?
I think we should find out. Is SPLC weaponizing civil rights narratives with the intent of deliberately destabilizing our nation to enable global marxism? Note: They aren’t charged with that. Yet.
Regardless, the DOJ should make an example of the SPLC, and of any NGO or entity that is weaponizing civil rights narratives to undermine the civil rights of their ideological and political opponents (allegedly).
Air it all out. Show the man behind the curtain.
I hope we get a full blown made-for-tv trial, with all the race baiters and fake racists and real racists called as witnesses. I’m not holding my breath, but it would be a blast.
Iranian President Pezeshkian Appoints Mohsen Rezaei Secretary of Supreme National Security Council
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed former Revolutionary Guard commander Mohsen Rezaei secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council on Aug. 9, following the resignation of Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, Iranian state media reported.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei separately appointed Rezaei as his representative to the council earlier Sunday. The council, formally chaired by the president, coordinates Iran’s security and foreign policy and includes senior government, military and intelligence officials.
Rezaei commanded the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1981 to 1997. He later held senior political and economic posts and currently serves on the Expediency Discernment Council and as secretary of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, according to IRNA.
Rezaei is also among six people for whom Interpol’s Executive Committee approved Red Notices in 2007 in connection with Argentina’s investigation into the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Interpol has said a Red Notice alerts member countries that a person is wanted on the basis of a national judicial warrant and is not itself an international arrest warrant.
The appointment comes as the Strait of Hormuz remains a focus of Iran’s security policy. Rezaei said in July that control of the strategic waterway was more important than “dozens of atomic bombs.”
GhostofBasedPatrickHenry: Do you remember that super autistic take I vomited out in Thursday’s Brief? The one about all those Iranian figures who I had never heard of until I went down that rabbit hole on Wednesday night?
On Friday, I saw this headline and about fell out of my chair.
What are the chances that I stumble upon this guy for the first time ever, and the next day he is appointed to one of the top positions in the Iranian government? (Perhaps we are living in a simulation…)
The opening paragraph to the article made it even better:
Remember: The Supreme National Security Council is the body that implemented Iranian Devolution last August, under the leadership of Ali Larijani—who purportedly died while marching in a military parade with his son, when it was struck by a US/Israeli airstrike.
Who the hell would go march in a military parade in the middle of a war? Who the hell would bring their son out to march with them?
The whole story feels fake, but what feels even faker is the idea that President Pezeshkian appointed Mohsen Rezaei to a position of power when it was Mohammed Karrazi (brother-in-law to the gay Ayatollah) who was calling for Rezaei to be appointed to this exact position, while also calling for Pezeshkian’s resignation. You would have to think that Rezaei shares Karrazi’s animus toward Pezeshkian, as it has been Rezaei who has been vocally criticizing both Pezeshkian and [Foreign Minister] Abbas Araghchi for negotiating with President Trump.
Why would Pezeshkian give this guy power? And why would he appoint him to run the agency potentially responsible for implementing Devolution?
Unless the Supreme National Security Council no longer exists? As it perhaps was abolished as part of the Devolution procedure? Would that explain why they would have potentially faked Larijani’s death? Because he doesn’t have any more power to exercise and keeping him “alive” would have brought pressure and threats against his family from the hardliners?
Is Pezeshkian allowing the hardliners to occupy a position with no legitimate power, as President Trump ignores all of that and chooses to interface with Pezeshkian and Araghchi? If Trump does that, then does it even matter who formally holds the title of leadership? The real power would reside with whomever President Trump acknowledged as the governing authority in Tehran.
Something here doesn’t add up. I don’t know what it is, but something seems off.
That said, I think we do said deep dive in a way that should not only make what has become a tired narrative anything but, but which also serves as a preview of that narrative’s projected ending.
And as we’ve been told before, both of us think you’re going to like how this particular movie ends.
Jump in the comments and let us know your thoughts.
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Leave it to Ashe! "The last time I remember a politician seeming to authentically cry because of a vote they “had” to make, it was Melissa Hortman, the former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House. She cried after voting to end state-funded health coverage for the criminal invaders, and a few days later she and her husband, Mark, were assassinated in their bed." In case you wondered if the 5GWar was real - these folks aren't breathing anymore.
Leave it to Ashe! "The last time I remember a politician seeming to authentically cry because of a vote they “had” to make, it was Melissa Hortman, the former Democratic speaker of the Minnesota House. She cried after voting to end state-funded health coverage for the criminal invaders, and a few days later she and her husband, Mark, were assassinated in their bed." In case you wondered if the 5GWar was real - these folks aren't breathing anymore.
Another great Brief - thank you!