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 with some Badlands flavoring to help wash it down.
Now, onto the news from the Weekend that Was …
Interview Disaster: Biden Claims to Have 'Put NATO Together' but Was Just 6 Years Old When It Was Founded
President Joe Biden’s interview with George Stephanopoulos was better than his debate performance last Thursday, that much can be said. That was due to the fact that almost anything that wasn’t the debate last Thursday would be better than the debate last Thursday. If those were the low expectations, that bar was cleared, scarcely.
Other than that, it was a disaster.
Take Biden’s answer at the top of the interview when he was asked by George Stephanopoulos, ABC’s lobber of softballs for the evening, if he knew how bad things were going during the debate. From the transcript:
“Yeah, look. The whole way I prepared, nobody’s fault, mine. Nobody’s fault but mine. I, uh — I prepared what I usually would do sittin’ down as I did come back with foreign leaders or National Security Council for explicit detail. And I realized — ’bout partway through that, you know, all– I get quoted The New York Times had me down, at ten points before the debate, nine now, or whatever the hell it is. The fact of the matter is, what I looked at is that he also lied 28 times. I couldn’t — I mean, the way the debate ran, not — my fault, no one else’s fault, no one else’s fault.” — Western Journal
Our Take: The much anticipated George Stephanopoulos damage control interview with the so called ruler of the US aired on Friday. It didn’t go well for scrotus, which was hilarious, and we dissected the entire 22-minute interview on Friday’s Liberty Den.
While there is much to pick apart, Biden’s stunning admissions — and delusions — about NATO must be critically examined.
In a bizarre moment, Biden claimed that he was the guy that ‘put NATO together.’ This is weird because NATO was established in 1949 when scrotus was just six and a half years old. No one has ever accused Biden of being a prodigy, so it’s just a lie born of his demented confusion.
Worse, Biden bragged about being the guy that ‘expanded NATO’ at least three times during the interview. NATO expansion is widely accepted as the reason for the Russia-Ukraine war, so Biden’s admission here is important. He’s literally bragging about starting this war.
Scrotus went on to claim that he was the guy that ‘shut down Putin,’ a jarring statement in light of the NATO expansion admissions, and another fundamentally untrue statement.
First, it’s the opposite. Biden (and, really, ‘his’ administration) are the reason for the war. They provoked Putin, and their recklessness indirectly slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians.
Second, in what universe is Putin shut down? Despite the media begging their audiences to believe that Ukraine is winning — or even that they can win — Putin is making critical gains across the country as we speak.
Take this headline from AP News on the Fourth of July:
Ukraine’s army retreats from positions as Russia gets closer to seizing strategically important town
Biden is obviously living in his delusions, as do many with advanced dementia. While that’s been the case for many years, its recent public exposures have led the media, as well as many in the rest of the blue establishment, to call for scrotus to drop out of the race.
Curiously, no one is calling for him to lose access to the nuclear codes — which implicates the entire administration, and their institutional lapdogs, in a criminal conspiracy to hide an incapacitated President.
Unfortunately for them, they can no longer hide the scrotus. Everyone can see now.
Will those who hid Biden’s decline be able to hide themselves as their treasonous actuals of the past three and a half years come sharply into focus?
I really don’t think they can. —
Behind the Curtain: Unbendable Biden vs. breaking-point Dems
We're now in uncharted, historic waters: President Biden — backed by first lady Jill Biden and his convicted son, Hunter, who's serving as de facto gatekeeper for longtime friends — says that nothing, besides an act of God, will persuade him to quit his re-election campaign.
But outside Biden's protective bubble, a fast-growing number of Democrats are praying for —and plotting — a more earthly intervention. They want everyone from the Obamas to congressional leaders to beg Biden to drop out by this Friday.
Why it matters: Biden and his Democratic critics share one common passion — the intensity, certainty and irreversibility of their positions. Both plan fierce public and private campaigns to see who buckles.
It won't be him, Biden says publicly and privately. On a Saturday call with his national campaign co-chairs, Biden sounded full-speed ahead. He vowed to spend more time talking directly to voters, whether at town halls or press conferences.
The big picture: Democratic lawmakers have gone from shock, to sadness, to madness since the debate 10 days ago. These Democrats, further deflated by Biden's high-stakes ABC interview, believe there's nothing he can do to reverse the damage — or his aging. — Axios
Our Take: They lost control of Joe Biden some time ago. Now ... some of them are starting to notice, and the panic is palpable.
I've been gone for a few days, and am overjoyed to discover that, upon my return to the Info War, the carrion crows that make up the Deep State's media and political establishment are devouring themselves in a desperate bid to counter Biden's stellar work as an agent of chaos.
Last week, the Deep State and its media mouth pieces seemed utterly sure that Biden would be stepping down any day now ... and yet, here he remains, fighting the good fight, carrying on as the most potent walking red pill we have at work in the zeitgeist.
Our Boy Blue is acting as an ambassador to awakening for tens of millions across our lands, while patriots pull strings that used to be wrapped around the gnarled, hooked claws of those in the shadows, who've now been forced into the light.
How long can he keep it up? How long can [they?]
Embrace the Panic Pattern. —
In Ukraine, Killings of Surrendering Russians Divide an American-Led Unit
Hours after a battle in eastern Ukraine in August, a wounded and unarmed Russian soldier crawled through a nearly destroyed trench, seeking help from his captors, a unit of international volunteers led by an American.
Caspar Grosse, a German medic in that unit, said he saw the soldier plead for medical attention in a mix of broken English and Russian. It was dusk. A team member looked for bandages.
That is when, Mr. Grosse said, a fellow soldier hobbled over and fired his weapon into the Russian soldier’s torso. He slumped, still breathing. Another soldier fired — “just shot him in the head,” Mr. Grosse recalled in an interview.
Mr. Grosse said he was so upset by the episode that he confronted his commander. He said he spoke to The New York Times after what he regarded as unwarranted killings continued. It is highly unusual for a soldier to speak publicly about battlefield conduct, particularly involving men whom he still considers friends.
But he said he was too troubled to keep silent.
The shooting of the unarmed, wounded Russian soldier is one of several killings that have unsettled the Chosen Company, one of the best-known units of international troops fighting on behalf of Ukraine.
Mr. Grosse’s witness recollection is the only available evidence of the trench killing. But his accounts of other episodes are bolstered by his contemporaneous notes, video footage and text messages exchanged by members of the unit and reviewed by The Times. — The New York Times
Our Take: Everything happening makes perfect sense, in my mind.
What we are witnessing is a cadre of ruthless criminals banding together in one final stand. So it makes sense that other reprobates would join them to die on this unholy hill.
Last week, we saw reports that the Ukrainian legislature had passed a bill allowing the conscription of prisoners to serve in the dwindling military. It sounds like they will fit right in with the scumbag mercenaries who have traveled from around the world, seeking glory on the battlefield. (Go ask hardened combat veterans about the "glory" that is found in warfare.)
Should Bloomberg be concerned with the piece that Cameron Manley wrote for them a few weeks back, glorifying the "viral videos" being published by one of Ukraine's elite military units—the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade—as part of the effort to drive recruitment among foreign mercenaries.
From Manley:
"The squad emerged from the Azov Brigade, a controversial regiment founded by the right-wing politician Andriy Biletsky in 2014 that played a crucial role in the Russian siege of Mariupol in 2022. The 3rd Brigade has since become famous for its battle-hardened, fearless approach to combat."
Hey Cameron, you deceptive twit, why are you covering up the fact that the Azov Battalion—a Neo-Nazi mercenary group—was founded by a Jewish billionaire name Igor Kolomoisky? Who also happens to be an Israeli citizen and former KGB agent? Is it because that devastating truth invites unwanted questions? (We'll table that conversation for another day.)
But seriously, Bloomberg should be investigated for its role in promoting propaganda that has led to the commission of war crimes. They are, ostensibly, working on behalf of war criminals, even if unwittingly; and as any novice lawyer will tell you: ignorance of the law is not a criminal defense.
Let's stop and think about this.
Americans are leaving their children to go brutally torture and execute bound prisoners in foreign lands, merely to satiate their own sadistic bloodlust? And the corporate media and political "elite" are glorifying the exercise, and calling them "heroes?" Am I missing anything?
I said it before and I will continue to say it: The Ukraine narrative is going to get much darker and more twisted as the lies unravel and the truth shines through. The people who have canonized the criminals running Ukraine will be tainted with such shame that they may be unable to ever show their face again in public. Their hubris has betrayed them. —
Trump requests delay in Florida classified documents case after immunity ruling
Former President Donald Trump's legal team on Friday requested a months-long delay in his classified documents case in Florida, citing the Supreme Court's recent ruling regarding presidential immunity.
The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that presidents have presidential immunity for some "official acts," but not for unofficial ones. However, the high court did not specifically state what constitutes official versus unofficial acts.
Trump's team told U.S. District Court Judge Aileen Cannon that his decision to remove the classified documents out of the Oval Office and into his Mar-a-Lago resort should constitute an "official act," according to Politico. But special counsel Jack Smith's team has argued that the document transfer happened after Trump’s term ended, and so he does not enjoy any immunity protections and had no power to declassify the documents.
The former president's legal team also asked for a chance to argue the presidential immunity claim to her in or before September and that the case be delayed until then. Cannon previously declined to rule on Trump’s immunity claim until after the Supreme Court came to its decision on the matter.
Trump has been charged with 40 felony counts related to alleged mishandling of classified materials, including the willful retention of national defense information and obstruction. — Just the News
And …
Classified documents judge hands Trump a win as she agrees to delay case to consider Supreme Court immunity ruling
The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s classified documents case has handed him yet another win as she has agreed to consider hearing arguments that the criminal charges should be dropped based on the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential “immunity.”
In an order filed on Saturday, Trump-appointed Judge Aileen Cannon said she was temporarily granting Trump’s motion to stay proceedings, pushing back several filing deadlines in a case that has already been plagued by delays and is yet to have a trial date.
Judge Cannon is setting a two-week timeline for prosecutors and Trump’s attorneys to file briefs arguing whether there should be more hearings on “immunity” in the case.
The order came just hours after Trump’s attorneys filed a motion on Friday asking the judge to pause his classified documents case for several months so that he could argue for the charges to be tossed under the immunity ruling.
In a separate filing, the former president’s attorneys pointed to an opinion from Justice Clarence Thomas, who appeared to agree with Trump’s argument that special counsel Jack Smith was unconstitutionally appointed and funded — a claim at the center of Trump’s attempts dismiss the case. — The Independent
Our Take: Last Monday’s SCOTUS immunity ruling was met with weeping and gnashing of teeth by prominent Democrats and their intellectually-delayed influencer class, with ubiquitous calls to impeach Supreme Court Justices and/or pack the court.
Leftists lost themselves in the days that followed, crying for assassinations and escalations in the weaponization of government. As I said last week, their position appears to be that, ‘in order to stop hypothetical future fascism, we must become actual fascists right now.’
On Saturday, Judge Cannon responded to President Trump’s immunity motion in the classified documents case, staying a number of upcoming deadlines, and calling on Jack Smith to respond to Trump’s immunity arguments by July 18.
From Just Human on X: ‘Judge Cannon has issued an ORDER temporarily granting in part and reserving ruling in part on Defendant Trump's Motion for Supplemental Briefing on Presidential Immunity and a Partial Stay 664. Cannon suspends several upcoming deadlines, but not all. She gives Special Counsel Smith until July 18th to respond to Trump’s recent motion concerning Immunity (that’s the 664 entry mentioned above.)’ (internal quotations omitted)
The carefully crafted, multiyear lawfare scheme against 45 is crumbling in spectacular fashion, with ‘trust the system’ shills crying about fairness and demanding radical reforms.
But while these radicals agree (with normal people) that no one is above the law, they seem to lament the fact that we are all equal under it.
Their very public reactions reveal that uncomfortable truth — equal justice — which is going to lead to the narrative defection of even more of our countrymen.
That’s a good thing — it is, perhaps, even the most important and necessary outcome.
Regardless, the timing on all this couldn’t be better if Trump planned it himself.
MAGA. —
The NATO Summit Is On July 9, But Zelensky Is Already Angry
Another year of war and another NATO summit, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is still not going to get the NATO membership Ukrainians are fighting and dying for. At last year’s NATO summit, Zelensky was offered only “an invitation to Ukraine to join the Alliance when Allies agree and conditions are met.”
“Ukraine isn’t ready for NATO membership,” U.S. President Joe Biden said because, as he told CNN, there are “qualifications that need to be met, including democratization.”
Zelensky was outraged: “It’s unprecedented and absurd when time frame is not set neither for the invitation nor for Ukraine’s membership. While at the same time vague wording about ‘conditions’ is added even for inviting Ukraine.”
At this year’s NATO summit, to be held in Washington from July 9-11, corruption reform will be added to democratic reform. Ukraine will neither be offered membership in NATO nor a timeline to membership. Instead, they will be told that they are still too corrupt to join NATO.
According to a senior official in the State Department, although the U.S. has to “applaud everything that Ukraine has done in the name of reforms over the last two-plus years… we want to talk about additional steps that need to be taken, particularly in the area of anti-corruption.” In a recent interview with TIME, Biden cited “significant corruption” for not being “prepared to support the NATOization of Ukraine.”
Instead of being given membership, Ukraine will be given “a list of reforms it will be expected to carry out before its membership ambitions can be realized.” — AntiWar.com
Our Take: "At this year’s NATO summit, to be held in Washington from July 9-11, corruption reform will be added to democratic reform. Ukraine will neither be offered membership in NATO nor a timeline to membership. Instead, they will be told that they are still too corrupt to join NATO."
Hahahahaha... this is rich.
You mean the guy who is laundering and embezzling billions of American tax dollars—sending his wife around the world to purchase multi-million dollar cars and homes—kidnapping civilians off the street and forcing them to serve in his military, conscripting violent inmates from Ukrainian prisons, and recruiting an international consortium of ruthless mercenaries who are engaging in horrific war crimes, is outraged that he is being accused of being "too corrupt" to join the Fourth Reich?
I'm sure I don't have to explain to this audience that under Article Five of the NATO charter, should Ukraine be allowed to join before this war with Russia is resolved, America and the rest of NATO will be automatically at war with Russia. (Not that Putin doesn't already consider us at war with him.)
I look forward to seeing the actor throw a cocaine-fueled temper tantrum at today's summit, while wearing one of those track suits that Eastern Europeans are always sporting in Hollywood films. Zelensky is absolutely a caricature of that stereotype, and I have to applaud whoever made the decision to cast him in this role. What a performance.
The public is going to hate these people before this is all over, and I think that is the point. —
Mega-Donors Cut Off Biden, Prepare PACs To Fund 'Mini-Primary' And New Candidate
On Saturday, a fifth Democratic member of Congress called for embattled, enfeebled President Biden to quit the 2024 presidential race. Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig also became the first incumbent in a tight race to do so, saying, "I do not believe that the President can effectively campaign and win against Donald Trump."
Coupled with reports that Senate intelligence committee chair Mark Warner is point man in a drive to organize Senate Democrats into a united front urging Biden to quit, the political pressure is clearly mounting. However, Biden is also under rapidly-rising pressure along a second front, as major Democratic donors are not only telling him to quit, but are closing their checkbooks -- or creatively using them to pave the way for a new candidate.
One of those deeply-disenchanted donors is Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, who gave more than $20 million to boost Democratic candidates in recent years, including upwards of $1.5 million for Biden's 2020 campaign. Last week, Hastings publicly called for Biden to quit. He reiterated that stance after watching Biden's terrible Friday interview with George Stephanopoulos, telling ABC News. "Biden is unfortunately in denial about his mental state. He needs to step aside to let a vigorous Democratic leader beat Trump."
Then there's Kase Capital Management portfolio manager Whitney Tilson, who told ABC, "[Biden]'s not in [a] condition to handle the rigors of the presidency for another four years...All of us are standing by to see what happens here. Even the wealthiest people have limitations to money." More bluntly, he took to Twitter to say, "Biden's campaign is a ghost. It's over."
Rather than simply moving to the sidelines, some mega-donors are engaging in creative political-financial engineering -- such as former Inuit and Paypal CEO Bill Harris, who donated $620,000 to the Biden Victory Fund in 2020 and told ABC that, given his performance in the debate and the Stephanopoulos interview, most observers would see Biden's departure as "inevitable." — ZeroHedge
Our Take: The Biden Crisis Cascade has been some of the most delicious schadenfreude delivered yet in the Info War, and it shows little signs of abating anytime soon.
But there's an Actual layered just beneath the surface that's starting to pick up more narrative steam, and that I think gives us a hint as to the Game Theory strategies currently being employed by patriot ghosts in the machine, which is why you're seeing the Panic Pattern spread not just through the Media and Political Industrial Complexes, but to the Elitist funding class that buoys the whole thing.
The Biden Campaign has raised hundreds of millions in funding in 2024, with estimates varying according to the source. So, while the optics of the Establishment attempting to force Biden out are catastrophic enough on a narrative level, they're also running on fiat fumes on an Actual level.
You see, that funding can ONLY be passed legally from Biden to Kamala Harris.
Their energy is being drained, apparently by one of their own. —
Klaus Schwab Says Humanity Must Be "Forced Into Collaboration" With Globalist Elites
World Economic Forum founder Klaus Schwab told delegates at a conference in China this week that humanity needs to be “forced into a collaboration” with globalist entities.
Speaking at the WEF’s ‘Annual Meeting of the New Champions’, often dubbed the “Summer Davos,” in China, Schwab stated that in order to drive the “Fourth Industrial Revolution” forward, elites must aggressively drive their agenda home.
“To drive future economic growth we must embrace innovation and force the collaboration across sectors, regions, nations, and cultures to create a more peaceful, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient future,” Schwab proclaimed.
He added, “At this critical juncture the active participation of all stakeholders is essential to ensure a sustainable development path.” — Modernity News
Our Take: What makes these villains so evil is their pursuit of artificial scarcity in order to generate a sense of panic and desperation, on which they intend to capitalize and exploit, implementing a dystopian future where humanity is impoverished and enslaved, and they are the masters.
This concept is rooted in Malthusianism, a satanic doctrine to which all globalists subscribe.
While we may hope that characters like Klaus are guilty of serious crimes that can be prosecuted, and result in serious punishment, the reality is that organized crime is often set up in such a way that figureheads are insulated by layers of fall guys. Even if we are able to pinch the big names, there are plenty of followers who may very well evade justice, and continue to push these perverse ideas.
We must recognize that our problems cannot always be solved through prosecution. We must remember that it is the Left that seeks to imprison their political enemies.
Ultimately, we have to train ourselves to become capable of standing onstage next to these sociopaths, and be able to present more compelling arguments that win the hearts and minds of the people—something that will likely become infinitely easier, once the propaganda machines are shut down.
If we want the people to be free, then we must be prepared for the prospect that they could willingly [even unwittingly] choose Malthusian politics. Persuasion trumps coercion, and demanding freedom also means demanding the responsibility to deal with all that comes with it. —
BONUS ITEMS
French vote gives leftists most seats over far right, but leaves hung parliament and deadlock
A coalition of the French left won the most seats in high-stakes legislative elections Sunday, beating back a far-right surge but failing to win a majority. The outcome left France, a pillar of the European Union and Olympic host country, facing the stunning prospect of a hung parliament and political paralysis.
The political turmoil could rattle markets and the French economy, the EU’s second-largest, and have far-ranging implications for the war in Ukraine, global diplomacy and Europe’s economic stability.
In calling the election on June 9, after the far right surged in French voting for the European Parliament, President Emmanuel Macron said turning to voters again would provide “clarification.”
On almost every level, that gamble appears to have backfired. According to the official results released early Monday, all three main blocs fell far short of the 289 seats needed to control the 577-seat National Assembly, the more powerful of France’s two legislative chambers. — AP News
Prosecutors Knew Epstein Had Sex With Underage Girls Years Before Plea Deal, "Outrageous" Transcripts Reveal
While the entire world - or rather Democrats - are shocked to learn that Biden's dementia is not a vast right wing conspiracy as they themselves had claimed prior to the catastrophic Trump-Biden debate, and that their eyes and ears had not in fact been deceiving them for the past three years, last week a Florida judge dropped a bombshell 150-page transcript related to a 2006 grand jury investigation of Jeffrey Epstein (readers may remember him if not his clients, none of whom it would appear are notable enough to be criminally charged), revealing that prosecutors were aware that Epstein sexually abused underage girls.
As Breanna Morello explains, the transcripts reveal that the deal between Epstein and prosecutors came two years after they learned that Epstein engaged in statutory rape of teenage girls, and resulted in minimal punishments for the billionaire human trafficker. In the end, Epstein was charged with only one count of solicitation of prostitution from a minor, despite evidence of multiple rapes and a pattern of behavior. Thanks to this slap on the wrist which meant he would be free shortly after, Epstein went on to sexually exploit children until his "suicide" in 2019 and made hundreds of millions from child trafficking with countless billionaires and political oligarchs, ferrying them back and forth on his Lolita Express to Epstein island, where countless underage girls were raped by the true ruling class which to this day remains immune from the legal system.
"Details in the record will be outrageous to decent people,” Judge Luis Delgado wrote, adding that the transcript has (further) diminished public perception of the criminal justice system, which in recent months is best known for getting hijacked to serve Biden's failed crusade to incarcerate Trump before the election. The filings were released after a 2024 Florida law made it legal to do so for transcripts related to Epstein.
As noted above, the 2008 charges boiled down to a count of solicitation of prostitution from a minor, despite investigators’ knowledge of Epstein’s pattern of behavior, including numerous incidents of rape. The charge was significantly less severe than the evidence warranted, especially since investigators had knowledge of Epstein's pattern of behavior, including numerous incidents of rape. The limited charge ignored the full extent of Epstein's criminal activities.
The filing, which itself further unveils prosecutorial missteps that enabled Epstein’s later conduct, came years after the lenient, and delayed, sentence was criticized.
“The story of how Jeffrey Epstein victimized some of Palm Beach County’s most vulnerable has been the subject of much anger and has at times diminished the public’s perception of the criminal justice system,” Delgado wrote. — ZeroHedge
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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The next 6 months are going to make the last 8 years look like a walk in a park. Buckle up Buttercups as it’s going to be a rollercoaster ride into insanity. Hugs and much love to all my fellow Badlanders!💜
So, what I glean from today's EXCELLENT news brief can be stated in two points:
1. Our entire Congress is and has been FINE WITH Presidency by Committee. This FACT shines a light on THEM and their feckless ineptitude or blatant contempt for their constituents.
2.The PACS believe they own our elections. (Well, I've acquiesced to the tragic reality that SOMEONE owns and has owned our s-elections my entire adult life and it's NOT We The People!) Do all those millions go to advertising, pamphlets, door-knocker subsidies and the like? Or, do they go directly to pockets that perpetuate and proliferate my point #1?
Just askin'.