Badlands News Brief

Iranian Crashes, Israeli Maneuvers & Trumpian Rhetoric

The News Cycle is almost impossible to track these days. At least, to do so fully.

That’s where we come in.

In the Badlands News Brief, the Badlands Media team hand pick news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community.

Many items feature original (and subjective) commentary. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see our writers’ Substack accounts and check out their other work.

Now, onto the news from the Weekend that Was …

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Iranian President Raisi is confirmed dead after helicopter crash, state agencies say

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed along with the country’s foreign minister in a helicopter crash on Sunday in the country’s remote northwest, state news media has confirmed.

The loss of Raisi — a conservative hardliner and protege of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — is expected to sow further uncertainty in a country already buckling under significant economic and political strain, with tensions with nearby Israel at a dangerous high.

Drone footage of the helicopter wreckage taken by the Red Crescent and carried on state media FARS News Agency showed the crash site on a steep, wooded hillside, with little remaining of the helicopter beyond a blue and white tail.

Sunday’s crash occurred as Raisi, 63, and Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian were returning from a ceremony for an opening of a dam on Iran’s border with Azerbaijan, state media reported. Among those onboard were three crew members, the governor of Eastern Azerbaijan province, an imam, Raisi’s head of security chief and a bodyguard, according to IRGC-run media outlet Sepah. — CNN

Our Take: “As I write this take, conflicting reports have been coming in all day. First they say that Raisi has been rescued and is fine, then they say that he is at the hospital in critical condition, then they say that his condition is unknown, then it's disclosed that the crash site hasn't been found, then there are a number of videos—from both UAV drones and guys on foot trekking through the wilderness—showing purported crash sites that turned out to be bad intel.

Now we have video and picture images of the purported helicopter crash site, and it looks bad. There are reports that there were no survivors, and given the images that I've seen (taken from the air, showing a pile of debris with a helicopter tail sticking out) that is not hard to believe.

(Editor’s Note: Obviously reports came in overnight allegedly confirming Raisi’s death. Ghost’s commentary still felt pertinent to include, here.)

This is a developing story, so you can expect more takes in the immediate future. If President Ibrahim Raisi is actually dead, then that really changes the political landscape of Iran, as Raisi was expected to become the next Supreme Leader— with the current Ayatollah effectively in hospice care right now.

But Raisi wasn't always the odds-on favorite. His predecessor, former President Hassan Rouhani, was once the odds-on favorite to be selected Supreme Leader by the Assembly of Experts, until he was officially disqualified by Iranian courts from consideration just this past January.

There are some really interesting posts about Rouhani by that one infamous anon, which become even more interesting through the lens of this new development.

More to come on that in the future.” — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

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Biden Declines Further Debates With Trump

The Biden campaign has rejected a further two proposals for debates with Donald Trump as well as a Vice Presidential debate, leading to accusations that they are afraid to let their candidates participate.

In addition to the two debates scheduled for June and September with CNN and ABC, which Biden has also agreed to, Trump has accepted proposals from Fox News as well as NBC/Telemundo.

“I have accepted a fourth Presidential Debate against Crooked Joe Biden, this time with NBC & Telemundo,” Trump announced on Truth Social, following a previous announcement accepting the Fox debate.

“This is all in addition to our accepting an invitation from Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum of Fox News to host the Vice Presidential Debate at Virginia State University, or another venue, in Virginia, to be named later,” Trump continued.

“These are the Debates that Voters have been asking for, and these are the Debates that Voters will get!” Trump emphasised.

In a separate post, Trump wrote, “On behalf of the future Vice President of the United States, who I have not yet chosen, we hereby accept the Fox Vice Presidential Debate, hopefully at Virginia State University, the first Historically Black College or University to host a Debate – Date to be determined. I urge Vice President Kamala Harris to agree to this. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

The Biden campaign, which has decreed strict conditions for two debates only, stated “President Biden has explicitly set his conditions for two one-on-one debates, which Donald Trump has agreed to.” — Modernity News

Our Take: “The takeaway, obviously, is that Biden is incapable of true democratic debate. Whatever is happening with the 2024 presidential debates, it’s not true democratic debate. That much is undeniable.

After his hilarious challenge video, in which the editors required at least five takes, it was revealed that Biden demanded very undemocratic debate conditions. No audience, a mute button, a hand-picked moderator team.

That the Commission on Presidential Debates agreed to such nonsense proves that we are living in a different America than we all believed possible. How is one candidate setting all the terms?

We know how.

The commission, not the candidates, are supposed to set the terms. This uniparty manipulation is so transparent that only the intellectually dishonest can ignore it at this point.

Awakening, accelerate.” — Ashe in America

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Trump Ends NRA Speech With ‘Horror’ Warning Set to Dramatic QAnon Music

Donald Trump followed up his endorsement by the National Rifle Association on Saturday with a speech stoking fears of the government under Joe Biden “coming for your guns,” and a bizarre monologue set to dramatic music resembling a song favored by QAnon.

Addressing thousands of members of the NRA at their annual meeting in Texas, the former president stuck to his usual talking points, hailing the reversal of Roe v. Wade as an “amazing thing,” comparing himself to Al Capone, and insisting “genius” runs in his bloodline.

Then, as he wound down, in a disorienting shift, sentimental music began to play and Trump furrowed his brow and shook his head to deliver the grim message that America is “a failing nation.”

In a monologue set to melodramatic instrumental music, Trump described the current state of the country as if he were breaking the news to a small child that his mother had just died: “Now we are a nation in decline. We are a failing nation. We are a nation that has the highest inflation in 58 years, where banks are collapsing, and interest rates are skyrocketing.” — The Daily Beast

Our Take: “You guys know I love picking the most absurd of the narrative cherries from the Media Industrial Complex when it comes to translating Donald Trump’s narrative deployments.

This one is too funny, but I wanted to focus on one particular aside in Trump’s viral NRA speech over the weekend:

‘You know there is a genius to what I'm doing. You do know that? I go from here to there, and it all comes back into a beautiful picture.’

This has to be my favorite clip of Trump yet, if for no other reason than it stands as direct acknowledgement that his public speaking style is highly intentional.

As I wrote about in 'The Master' series, Trump doesn't say anything by accident, but in addition to the usual theories that abound regarding him baiting enemy narratives, front-running and curtailing MSM deployments and intentionally obfuscating his true understanding of underlying agendas, the greatest technique Trump implements is the 'Trump Aside.'

In Chapter 6, 'Aside of Truth,' I argued, ‘I believe that what Donald Trump tosses in seemingly at random in his communications style—little quips and digs, jokes and tangents—often communicate his true thoughts on a given subject, and I do not believe these asides are accidental.’

Now he’s telling you himself.” — Burning Bright

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Frustration with Netanyahu boils over on plans for Gaza after Hamas

Frustration is growing in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war against Hamas and his growing split with President Biden, raising fears that the public tensions could invite increased attacks from Iran and its proxies across the region. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is the most senior official to call out his premier, demanding that Netanyahu decide on a day-after plan for the Gaza Strip after defeating Hamas. 

“I call on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to make a decision and declare that Israel will not establish civilian control over the Gaza Strip, that Israel will not establish military governance in the Gaza strip, and that a governing alternative to Hamas in the Gaza Strip will be raised immediately,” Gallant said in rare, blunt remarks while commemorating Israel’s Memorial Day on Wednesday.

It was the second time Gallant had issued such a direct challenge to Netanyahu, having warned in March 2023 that the prime minister’s pursuit of widely controversial judicial reforms was threatening the security of the country.

The division in the country at that time, some analysts say, fed into Hamas’s calculation to launch its massive terrorist attack on Oct. 7. — The Hill

Our Take: “The knives are now out.

As the DC sources say in the article, Netanyahu has yet to develop any plan on how to hold and/or govern territory that the IDF has cleared, thereby allowing Hamas to regenerate in those areas.

It's almost like Netanyahu's siege of Gaza is not about destroying Hamas, but growing it. (Now where have I heard that before?)

I have been digging deep into the history of Benjamin Netanyahu, and I have determined that he was groomed for this campaign since before he was born.

His grandfather, Nathan Mileikowsky, attended the World Zionist Organization's Sixth Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1903, where the Uganda Programme was submitted for vote. This proposition called for the creation of a Jewish nation in British East Africa (modern-day Kenya). Mileikowsky vocally opposed the measure, and it was defeated in a vote.

Mileikowsky immigrated to Mandatory Palestine in 1920 and became the director of a school. He joined the Revisionist Movement—a form of Zionism that calls for territorial maximalism on both sides of the Jordan River, with the ambition to annex both Palestine and Jordan as parts of Israel—and became one of their big advocates under Ze'ev Jabotinsky. He and his sons would affiliate with the Irgun terrorist organization, which engaged in irregular warfare activities against Palestinian civilians throughout the 1930's and 1940's. Irgun propaganda posters prominently displayed the ‘Greater Israel’ map, which is identical to the map on the podium at which Bezalel Smotrich spoke at an event in March 2023.

Mileikowsky began signing his published articles as ‘Netanyahu,’ which is a Hebrew form of his first name. One of his sons, Benzion, liked it enough to adopt it as his surname. (Interestingly, Argentina President Javier Milei's paternal name is also Mileikowsky, but that's a rabbit hole for another day.)

The Irgun was formally disbanded in 1949—the same year Bibi was born—after the Zionists succeeded in establishing their government, but the membership would morph into the Herut Party, which would eventually become the Likud Party in 1977, the same time that Bibi Netanyahu was cycling out of the IDF and partnering with his father to plot his political career. (Netanyahu would publish many books beginning in 1977 that framed the term ‘terrorism’ for western audiences, equating it with Islam.)

Like I said, Bibi Netanyahu is the prodigal son of Ze'ev Jabotinsky and the Revisionist Movement. I suspect that the invasion of Rafah was designed to provoke the Arabs and Iran to attack Israel, which would have created the conditions of war that could have ultimately resulted in the annexation of these lands, expanding the borders of Israel far beyond the Jordan River.

That provocation was not answered, so now Netanyahu is trying to grow Hamas in order to keep the dream alive for the future.” — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

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Senate votes to kill SEC crypto accounting rule

A resolution condemning a rule on how to account for cryptocurrency assets has been passed by both houses of the U.S. Congress, setting up a likely veto by the White House.

Why it matters: The crypto industry began its fight against chairman Gary Gensler's SEC in the courts, but has successfully extended it onto a new field: the legislature.

The latest: In a 60-38 vote in the Senate, legislation striking down the Securities and Exchange Commission's staff accounting bulletin 121, which makes it very expensive for financial institutions to participate in the crypto custody business, has passed.

This follows passage by the House.

The White House has indicated it would veto any such legislation.

The big picture: The SEC had been feeling more confident after a procedural win on most points in its case against Coinbase, the country's largest cryptocurrency exchange, and on key points in the case against Terraform Labs.

However, that follows a string of major losses, such as on the characterization of the cryptocurrency XRP and approval of a spot bitcoin ETF.

Today, the full Congress finalized a rebuke of the agency's creation of the rule commonly known as SAB 121.

In response to a request for a comment on the vote, SEC staff sent Axios a description of SAB 121 without commenting on the legislative action. — Axios

Our Take: “The Senate has forwarded the House's resolution to kill SAB 121, an accounting rule regulating the custody of crypto assets, putting the final buck on Joe Biden's desk, where it is widely expected to be vetoed.

This is one of the best Bicameral stories currently percolating in the Info War:

On the one hand, the decentralization of crypto custody for exchange traded funds makes sense.

On the other hand, the party most affected by this rule NOT being overturned are the very banking apparatus who've subsisted on selling the American people derivatives off of assets they traditionally haven't even held on their balance sheets.

If you think Coinbase is acting as a custodian for an eventual seizure of corrupt assets, like I do, this is good news.

If you like seeing the entire crypto space AND banking sector unified in their fury at the Biden Presidency, like I do ... this is also good news.

And I have a feeling Trump will come forward with the magical solution circa 2025.

Controlled.” — Burning Bright

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Responding to Gallant, Netanyahu says he won’t replace ‘Hamastan with Fatahstan’ in Gaza

Responding to Defense Minister Yoav Gallant’s declaration that he would “not allow” Israeli “civil or military governance of Gaza after Hamas,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declares that he is “not ready to replace Hamastan with Fatahstan.”

Fatah is Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’s party.

“After the terrible massacre on October 7, I ordered the destruction of Hamas,” Netanyahu states in a video response to Gallant’s televised address. “As long as Hamas remains intact, no other party will step in to manage civilian affairs in Gaza, certainly not the Palestinian Authority. 80 percent of the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria support the terrible massacre of October 7,” Netanyahu said, referring to the West Bank.

“I am not prepared to switch from Hamastan to Fatahstan,” he says, referencing the Fatah-dominated PA.

The data cited by Netanyahu appears to come from a December poll by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research which showed that 82 percent of West Bank Palestinians supported the events of October 7. A second poll released by the same organization in March showed that number had dropped to 71%.

“The Palestinian Authority supports terror, educates for terror, funds terror. And so the first condition for preparing the ground for another party is to eliminate Hamas, and to do so without excuses,” Netanyahu adds. — Times of Israel

Our Take: “So in the other take on Netanyahu, I explained his family background, and his long-held desire to fulfill Jabotinksy's dream of a Greater Israel.

I explained how Hamas is an instrument that Netanyahu is wielding, like a weapon. The intended recipient of that blunt trauma, as far as I can tell, is Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Fatah faction of the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Authority was established in 1993 with the signing of the Oslo Accords (promise for a Two-State Solution) between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat. (The peace talks were first initiated by the then-new Russian Federation...)

While Arafat is given all the credit for the Oslo Accords—and rightfully so—if you go back and watch the YouTube video of the signing ceremonies at the Clinton White House, you'll notice that it is not Arafat who signs the Accords on behalf of Palestine, but a young Mahmoud Abbas. This was a symbolic gesture by Arafat and the Arabs towards the West to promise that the PLO—which had spent decades engaged in bloody conflict with Israel—would be riding off into the sunset, allowing the new, peace-seeking Palestinian Authority to govern Palestine and make peace with its neighbors.

Since that signing 31 years ago, Abbas and the Fatah faction have maintained a consistent message: A Two-State Solution.

But Fatah has faced its own challenges. After Arafat was assassinated with poison in 2004, the gang known as Hamas began engaging in real political activity in Gaza, which at the time was controlled by Fatah and occupied by the IDF. They used Arafat's death to rally support for a more militant activism against their ostensible oppressors, and defeated Fatah in the 2006 election. They immediately attacked the Fatah security forces, driving them out of Gaza, before turning their attention to the IDF. (Spoiler alert: Hamas won that war, thanks in part to funding from Bibi Netanyahu.)

Now Netanyahu says that he will not ‘trade Hamastan for Fatahstan,’ in an obvious attempt to conflate the two rival factions.

From what I can tell, Hamas is a weapon of insurgency that is intended to unseat Fatah not only in Gaza, but also in the West Bank. Thanks to the optics of the IDF's siege, public sympathy for Hamas worldwide is at an all-time high. One could imagine the levels of political support Hamas may enjoy in the West Bank, in any upcoming election...

From the perspective of a warmonger, a Hamas-controlled West Bank is far superior to a [peace-seeking] Fatah-controlled West Bank. Abbas, Saudi Crown Prince MBS, and Jordanian King Abdullah (among others) have been holding back the Arabs from satiating generations of perceived oppression against the IDF, and I believe conducting a counterinsurgency against Bibi Netanyahu that is designed to protect Abbas from being ousted by Hamas.

What do we think would happen if President Abbas and Fatah were removed from the equation?” — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry

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Bill Maher Scolds Pearl-Clutching Lefties Over Harrison Butker Tradwife Speech

90s Democrat Bill Maher has come to the defense of Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker over a recent graduation speech in which he said that one of the "most important" jobs a woman can have is being a homemaker.

"How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world. But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world," Butker told graduates at Benedictine College last weekend.

Butker's speech resulted in a collective gasp from the left, which has spent decades programming young women to believe that becoming a housewife is tantamount to failure, and that real women become titans of industry - delegating the raising of children to others, or hitting peak girlboss and simply not reproducing (and definitely not grappling with deep regret as their eggs expire).

And so, coming to Butker's defense is "Real Time" host Bill Maher, who says he doesn't see "what the big crime is."

During a Friday night panel discussion, Maher mocked Butker's critics for trying to make him out to be "history's greatest monster."

"I can't express how much this guy is not like me," said Maher. "He's religious. He loves marriage. He loves kids… And he's now history's greatest monster." — Zerohedge

Our Take: “Here’s what no one wants to admit: There is only outrage against Harrison Butker because what he said is true.

Last year, when my oldest son graduated from high school, I wrote about my experience as a working mother. I believed so many lies. I don’t generally ascribe to regret, but rather take the learning and strive to be better.

Here’s the thing: It’s not that women are less capable. It’s that women are built for something better, more important… something generationally transcendent.

Consider the words of G.K. Chesterton in What’s Wrong with the World, in the section named, ‘Feminism, Or the Mistake about Woman,’:

‘How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and a small career to tell one's own children about the universe?’

Our choices are not without consequence. Butker is right. Women are better served if we all acknowledge that fact.

‘…meanwhile do not talk to me about the poor chain-makers... They are engaged in a very wide-spread and flourishing industry of the present age. They are making chains.’” — Ashe in America

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BONUS ITEMS

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White House Reacts To Ultra-Rare Putin-Xi Hug During Visit Highlighting Closer Military Ties

The Biden administration has reacted to what might be called the hug heard around the world (or 'felt' perhaps). During the last day of Russian President Vladimir Putin's two-day visit to China where he met with President Xi Jinping, the two shared an ultra-rare embrace in host city for the visit Harbin.

During the two leaders' final 'goodbye' interaction, it was Xi who appeared to initiate the hug. One regional expert, Arnaud Bertrand, has commented "It is indeed incredibly uncommon to hug in Chinese culture, especially for senior officials, which is why you can see Putin is taken aback at first."

White House national security communications adviser John Kirby weighed in later in the day Friday, saying somewhat sarcastically, "That’s nice for them." 

Kirby went on to say that it's "no surprise" that Putin and Xi "continue to try to develop this burgeoning relationship" but that that it remains officials in both governments "aren’t necessarily all that trustful" of each other, according to the remarks.

"What they have in common is a desire to challenge the international rules-based order, challenge the network of alliances and partnerships that the United States enjoys," Kirby followed with. He said the two are trying to "look for ways to bolster each other’s national security interests as well." — ZeroHedge

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Texas Governor Pardons Daniel Perry, Veteran Who Shot Armed BLM Protester

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has pardoned former U.S. Army Sgt. Daniel Perry, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison for shooting an armed Black Lives Matter (BLM) protester who wielded an AK-47.

Mr. Abbott issued a proclamation on May 16 indicating that Mr. Perry has been granted a full pardon and restoration of full civil rights of citizenship, while taking aim at Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza for allegedly directing the lead investigator to withhold exculpatory evidence and demonstrating “unethical and biased misuse” of his office in prosecuting Mr. Perry.

“Texas has one of the strongest ‘Stand Your Ground’ laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney,” Mr. Abbott said in a statement announcing the pardon. “I thank the Board for its thorough investigation, and I approve their pardon recommendation.”

Earlier in the day, the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles issued a pardon recommendation to the governor’s office, indicating in a statement that it had “delved into the intricacies” of Mr. Perry’s case, including reviewing police reports, court records, witness statements, and interviews with people linked to the case.

“The Board voted unanimously to recommend a full pardon and restoration of firearm rights,” the board said in the statement.

Mr. Garza’s office told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that board’s decision and the governor’s pardon amount to a “mockery of our legal system.”

“Their actions are contrary to the law and demonstrate that there are two classes of people in this state where some lives matter and some lives do not,” he said. — The Epoch Times

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We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.

As always, if you have any thoughts on these news items or the MANY others swirling in the digital ether, drop into the comments below to share them with your fellow Badlanders.

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