Badlands News Brief
Draft Dodgers, Peacemakers & Warmongers Galore!
Badlands Media will always put out our content for free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Help our collective of citizen journalists take back the narrative from the MSM. We are the news now.
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 picks news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community.
Items feature original commentary from members of our growing team of citizen journalists, whose stated opinions are their own. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see their other work.
Now, onto the news from the Weekend that Was …
Zennials Are Terrified Of Military Draft As War Looms
The irony and hypocrisy is dripping across social media as : slowly begin to realize that the consequences of their support for establishment elitism might come back to bite them in the ass. Keep in mind that this is the generation most inclined to vote for Joe Biden and his ilk, and the generation most inclined to rabidly support war against Russia in Ukraine. These were the same people clamoring for hundreds of billions of dollars in American weapons and funding to be sent to Ukraine to prolong a losing war leading to the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian draftees.
These were the exact same people that applauded the argument that sacrificing drafted Ukrainian troops in an ideological proxy conflict with Russia was "cheaper" and more efficient than sending American troops to fight. Now, when they are faced with the possibility of being drafted into a different foreign quagmire, their blood thirst has suddenly abated.
As we have seen in the past year in the Donbass, wars are won with soldiers, not technology and money. Without a steady supply of troops any defensive or offensive posture will steadily degrade.
This month, Google searches for "Will I get drafted into war..." hit the highest number since the 2007 Iraq war surge; people are getting worried. If the US is dragged into a multi-front conflict in the Middle East, then a new draft is almost assured. Military recruitment numbers for the past several years have been dismal, with up to 77% of Gen Z not even meeting preliminary physical and mental qualifications as well as not being able to pass criminal background checks. In some cases, the DoD has been forced to build pre-boot facilities called "fat camps" just to get recruits physically ready enough to survive normal boot camp. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “I disagree with the author’s words in this piece, as they drip with disdain for the youngest of American adults — the same disdain displayed by Boomers as they condescended Gen X back in the day. There is truly nothing new under the sun.
Gen Z is the most educated generation in American history with greater access to information than any other. The reality is that this access to information has led the kids to reject the establishment — and they got there more quickly than the rest of us. Don’t hate.
They aren’t going to vote for Joe Biden; rather, they aren’t going to vote because they see that elections are theater. They aren’t signing up for military service because they reject the premise of the banker wars. They don’t watch the news because they know it’s fake and, while they’ve been more emotionally manipulated than the rest of us, they’re more comfortable pushing back against the emotional tactics because they’re more familiar with them.
Maybe it’s because I have three Gen Z’s and I spend a lot of time with this generation — my house is grand central for teenage boys — but these kids have the potential to be the best of us … if only we could stop mocking them for their moment in history and teach them the way out of the war of stories. In other words, the kids are alright. It’s the rest of us that need to step it up and bring them into the light.” —
Putin warns Israel-Hamas conflict could spread beyond Middle East, condemns Gaza bombing
President Vladimir Putin warned on Wednesday that Israel's conflict with Hamas could spread well beyond the Middle East and said it was wrong that innocent women, children and old people in Gaza were being punished for other people's crimes.
Putin, who made the comments in a Kremlin meeting with Russian religious leaders of different faiths, said bloodshed in the region had to stop. He said he told other world leaders in phone calls that if it did not, there was a risk of a much wider conflagration.
"Our task today, our main task, is to stop the bloodshed and violence," said Putin, according to a Kremlin transcript of the meeting.
"Otherwise, further escalation of the crisis is fraught with grave and extremely dangerous and destructive consequences. And not only for the Middle East region. It could spill over far beyond the borders of the Middle East."
In remarks that criticised the West, he said that certain unnamed forces were seeking to provoke further escalation and to draw as many other countries and peoples into the conflict as possible. — Reuters
Our Take: “Donald Trump may be publicly backing one side over the other in the Israel-Hamas conflict … after all, it’s not hard to do for him from a public optics perspective when one side are literal terrorists and the other represents a sovereign nation.
That said, Trump is also towing a line deftly as he wends his way between defending Israel’s right to defend itself while also refusing to escalate rhetoric toward Iran.
This stance is being mirrored by Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, who are warning that the actions and statements of the Biden Administration are threatening global stability by provoking escalation in an already-tense situation for surrounding nations.
When deescalation becomes an ‘extreme’ stance according to the Central Narrative, it may just be time to change the narrative.” —
Maine gunman Robert Card found dead after 2-day manhunt, officials say
The gunman in the mass shootings that killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, 40-year-old Robert Card, has been found dead, the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office confirmed Friday.
The body of the gunman was found by law enforcement near a recycling plant in the Lisbon area, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said in a news conference Friday night.
Sauschuck said the body was located at about 7:45 p.m. local time near the Androscoggin River in Lisbon, a town about 8 miles southwest of Lewiston. The suspect's vehicle, a white Subaru Outback, had earlier been found abandoned by a boat launch on the river.
Officials said Saturday that the gunman's body was found in the overflow parking lot at the Maine Recycling Corporation, in the back of a tractor-trailer. While authorities had twice earlier searched the business, where the gunman worked at some point, Sauschuck said they had not searched the overflow lot. The owner of the property had contacted police, Sauschuck said, asking them to check.
Sauschuck said Saturday that the first three people to contact authorities to identify the man in photos released of the gunman were members of his family. — CBS News
Our Take: “Another mass shooting has concluded and, conveniently, the shooter has been found dead.
Let’s recap: The shooter was known to the FBI. His alleged chan posts paint him as a racist that was mad about unfettered immigration and, if those posts are to be believed as authentic, he broadcast that he was planning to take matters into his own hands. He should have been red flagged according to his mental health evaluation, but continued as a firearms instructor — and reportedly, he was hearing voices.
All of the official details depict a ‘radical far right extremist’ that was legitimately ‘racist’ and should have been disarmed to protect the community. That’s convenient for the central narrative. The story also provides cover to the open border bros, and will chill speech that criticizes the regime’s great migration. Finally, the calls for disarmament are reaching a fever pitch at a time when the American gun owner presents the greatest check on establishment power in modern history.
And he’s dead. Meaning he can’t be questioned about whose voices he was hearing or what his FBI handler’s instructions were. False flags often have real victims, and the loss of life is a tragedy. I will always pray for the families of the victims. That said, this story and all it’s details are most beneficial to the regime — and that makes it extremely suspect.
Low public trust in institutions combined with modern technology and deepfake-driven reality collapse has created a skepticism-first approach to news analysis for many of us. As well it should. Truth matters and official narratives should never be believed without critical examination.” —
Gaetz Says Johnson Speakership Proves 'MAGA Is Ascendant' In GOP, 'Swamp Is On The Run'
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) on Wednesday declared the election of Rep. Mike Johnson (R-La.) as House speaker a sign of the strength of the "MAGA movement" in the GOP and the waning power of the "swamp."
After a three-week leadership void in the House, the GOP conference chose Mr. Johnson as their speaker nominee; he went on to win 220 votes in the first floor ballot on Wednesday.
Mr. Gaetz, who led the motion to oust Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the former speaker, touted Mr. Johnson's victory as exemplary of the growing power of the "MAGA movement" on Capitol Hill.
"The swamp is on the run. MAGA is ascendant. If you don't think that moving from Kevin McCarthy to MAGA Mike Johnson shows the ascendance of this movement and where the power in the Republican Party truly lies, then you're not paying attention," Mr. Gaetz declared during an interview on Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast on Wednesday.
The Floridian congressman shed light on the internal party deliberations that led to Mr. Johnon's election following the short-lived race of Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), who withdrew his name hours after receiving the GOP nomination on Tuesday.
Mr. Johnson was runner-up to Mr. Emmer, who was the third speaker nominee after Reps. Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) failed to garner the needed support. — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “I’ve been quite open about the fact that I didn’t see Mike Johnson as Speaker coming, and I don’t think I was alone in that projection, or lack thereof.
That said, I think Gaetz summed up the overall meaning of Johnson’s (temporary?) ascendance when he characterized it as something of a proxy for the America First, MAGA and Trump-inspired movement in this nation.
No matter what Johnson does or does not get accomplished as Speaker on behalf of the America First movement, his ascension is a key indicator of where the true power in this nation lies, and hopefully, a key hint as to its future direction.” —
Democrats' Rating Of Biden Tumbles As Overall Approval Hits Record Low 37%: Gallup
President Joe Biden’s job approval rating among Democrats has tumbled 11 percentage points in the past month to 75%, the worst reading of his presidency from his own party. This drop has pushed his overall approval rating down four points to 37%, matching his personal low.
At the same time, Biden’s approval among independents has declined four points, to 35%, while Republicans’ rating remains unchanged, at just 5%.
After ranging from 49% to 57% during the first eight months of his presidency, Biden’s approval rating has been mired in the low 40s for much of the past two years. Including the latest 37% job rating and an identical reading in April, Biden’s approval has fallen below 40% four times in the 33 readings Gallup has taken since he took office.
The latest downturn in Biden’s job rating, from an Oct. 2-23 Gallup poll, comes in the wake of the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel by Hamas militants that resulted in at least 1,400 deaths and more than 200 kidnappings. The attack by Hamas precipitated a counteroffensive by Israel, which has resulted in an estimated 5,000 deaths in Gaza thus far while also setting off a humanitarian crisis. — Gallup
Our Take: “Amidst all of the noise from all sides on the game board when it comes to the War of Stories and the Info War spilling out of the Israel-Gaza conflict, if there’s a capital WHY of it all, I would point to Biden’s careening poll numbers within his own base as a pretty nifty white pill to take.
And we don’t even need a spoon full of sugar for this one.
The Middle East has long been a political, military and cultural powder keg, virtually impossible for even well-meaning figures to traverse on a Narrative level.
In this case, whether you agree with all of Trump’s statements on the theater or not, there is growing bipartisan agreement that the Biden Admin is mishandling the whole of it in catastrophic fashion.
The Mind War rolls on … and it looks better for us every day.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Going All-Out For Pro-Israel Vote, DeSantis Ships Guns, Ammo, Drones To War Zone
2024 Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis has taken his pursuit of the pro-Israel vote to a new extreme by facilitating the shipment of weapons, ammunition and military gear.
In an ongoing spectacle that would repel Washington and Jefferson, DeSantis and fellow presidential hopeful Nikki Haley have been locked in a contest over who can demonstrate the most intense loyalty to a foreign country - Israel.
While Haley is limited to warmongering, interventionist rhetoric, DeSantis' status as a standing governor gives him opportunities for executive action.
Having already arranged flights to evacuate 700 Americans from war- and terrorism-shaken Israel, DeSantis on Thursday announced that the state of Florida has used cargo planes to send drones, body armor and helmets to Israel -- and that he's also facilitated the shipment of guns and ammunition that were privately purchased.
Right out of the gate, details of DeSantis's announcement were challenged by an Israeli official. The governor's office claimed that DeSantis had acted in accordance with a request from Israel's Miami consulate. However, Major Elbaz-Starinsky, the consul general in Miami, said that was false. — ZeroHedge
Slovakia's New Populist PM Follows Through On Blocking Arms To Ukraine
The new government of Slovakia has followed through with its campaign pledge to terminate arms transfers and is calling on the rest of Europe to adopt Bratislava’s policy.
Slovakia’s new leader, Robert Fico, has called for the European Union to take on a peacekeeper role in the Ukraine war, and Bratislava will not support further sanctions on Moscow.
Fico told members of Slovakia’s legislature on Thursday that Bratislava was abandoning the West’s proxy war against Russia. "I will support zero military aid to Ukraine… An immediate halt to military operations is the best solution we have for Ukraine. The EU should change from an arms supplier to a peacemaker,” he said. Adding, Slovakia will “no longer supply weapons to Ukraine.”
As well as terminating support for Kiev’s war effort, Fico explained Slovakia will no longer support Washington’s economic war on Moscow. “I will not vote for any sanctions against Russia unless we see analyses of their impact on Slovakia.”
He continued, "If there are to be such sanctions that will harm us, like most sanctions have, I can see no reason to support them."
Additionally, Fico said, "the people in Slovakia have bigger problems than (dealing with) Ukraine" and "further killing [in Ukraine] will not help anyone."
Fico’s left-wing Smer-SD won Slovakia’s election early this month on a platform that highlighted ending arms transfers to Ukraine. — The Libertarian Institute
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.
The Badlands Media team will continue to combine our cognitive powers in order to slow things down and find the signal amidst the noise as this series expands.
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.
“Gen z is the most educated generation in US history”. REALLY??? Maybe there individuals that have great potential. But as a generation, I would love to know on what basis you make that claim !! I think the educational institution in our country is at rock bottom. How could their “clientele” be the best ever. That is a tough one for me to grasp.
Ashe... I agree with most of your writing .. with the exception to “ Gen Z is the most educated in Us History ... “ Maybe yours are .. though sadly ... the majority have been in indoctrination stations since four weeks postpartum ....and look how well the government is doing being their daddy....??!!! ..