Badlands News Brief
Teflon Don Marches Into the New Year as Biden Stumbles
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.
Some items feature original (and subjective) commentary. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see our writers’ corresponding Substack accounts and check out their other work.
Now, onto the news from the Weekend that Was …
Red Sea Chaos: Maersk Ship Hit By Missile; US Attack Helicopters Annihilate Houthi Rebel Boats
Maersk, one of the largest shipping companies in the world, suspended all container ship sailings in the Southern Red Sea after Iranian-backed Houthi militants attacked one of its vessels. This comes a day after the shipper reportedly attempted to restart sails in the critical waterway under the US' Operational Prosperity Guardian security umbrella.
US Central Command wrote in a post on X that the Maersk Hangzhou container ship was struck by a missile while transiting the Southern Red Sea. The vessel requested assistance from the US military, to which two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, USS Gravely (DDG 107) and USS Laboon (DDG 58), responded.
"While responding, the USS GRAVELY shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles fired from Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen toward the ships," CENTCOM said, adding this is the 23rd "illegal attack" by Houthi rebels on commercial vessels on the critical waterway since Nov. 19.
In a separate X post, CENTCOM described the attack more in-depth, indicating Houthi rebels were on four small boats, attempting to board Maersk Hangzhou. Fortunately, the vessel had a private security team, which repelled the rebels.
CENTCOM said attack helicopters from the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS Gravely quickly responded to the distress call. Houthi militants from the small boats fired on the helicopters, and in self-dense, the helicopters unleashed a barrage of firepower, killing the crew of the three boats. A fourth boat evaded the area. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “Last week, we remarked on the utter failure that was ‘Operation Prosperity Guardian’ even before the directive launched under the current ‘Commander-in-Chief’ occupying the White House … and the nation on behalf of … other interests.
Now, we begin to see the failure cascade that is the Biden Admin transit its way from the waning days of 2023 into the early hours of 2024 with Actualization.
Houthi rebels attacking container ships isn’t surprising, if you’ve been paying attention to the stories emerging from the chaotic Middle Eastern theater of late, but what I suspect WILL be surprising to the Collective Mind is just so inept and inert the Biden Administration seems as these attacks escalate.
When you add in a bit of Devolution-National Essential Function flavoring to the mix, you stop worrying about why the US MIL seems unable to completely control this shipping corridor at present, and consider the larger Narrative and Actual plays that could be in the offing.” —
California Secretary Of State Rejects Calls To Remove Trump From Ballot
California's secretary of state has kept former President Donald Trump on the state's 2024 presidential primary ballot despite the contrary decisions in Colorado and Maine that have sought to remove him.
On Dec. 28, California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, certified the list of candidates ahead of the March 5, 2024, Presidential Primary Election ballot.
Ms. Weber’s decision comes after being confronted with calls from the state's lieutenant governor, Eleni Kounalakis, to remove President Trump from the ballot.
In a letter sent to California's top election official on Dec. 20, one day after the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to disqualify President Trump from the state's ballot, Ms. Kounalakis urged Ms. Weber to explore any and all legal options to ensure voters in California would not be able to cast a ballot for him.
California's lieutenant governor, citing the Colorado Supreme Court's Dec. 19 decision, accused President Trump of insurrection during the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the Capitol. She concluded that this disqualifies him from holding office under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.
The Colorado Republican Party has appealed the 4–3 ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court, which is composed entirely of Democrat appointees, to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The nation’s highest court is expected to be the final arbiter on whether President Trump is eligible to hold office. — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “‘There is no doubt that Donald Trump is a threat to our liberties & even to our democracy, but in CA we defeat candidates we don’t like at the polls …Everything else is a political distraction.’ — Gavin Newsom
While I blame California, in part, from much of the problems here in Colorado, Newsom and his Executive team have the right view of the ballot access drama. Elections belong to the people, and bureaucrats should never be allowed to use their power to unilaterally neutralize their political opposition (looking at you, Maine).
That said, the position of California’s governor is curious, especially considering that he is a popular choice to replace Biden when he inevitably gets removed as the candidate in 2024. Does Newsom want to run against President Trump? Or does he just want to appear fair and uncorrupted to the 68%+ of likely US voters who are most concerned about corruption’s impact on democracy?
We likely won’t know Newsom’s play for a few months, but we can be certain that 2024 is going to get weird. Happy New Year, everyone!” —
Shelling kills 21 in Russia's city of Belgorod, including 3 children, following Moscow's aerial attacks across Ukraine
Shelling in the center of the Russian border city of Belgorod Saturday killed 21 people, including three children, local officials reported.
A further 110 people were wounded in the strike, said regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov, making it one of the deadliest attacks on Russian soil since the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine 22 months ago.
Russian authorities accused Kyiv of carrying out the attack, which took place the day after an 18-hour aerial bombardment across Ukraine killed at least 41 civilians.
Images of Belgorod on social media showed burning cars and plumes of black smoke rising among damaged buildings as air raid sirens sounded. One strike hit close to a public ice rink in the very heart of the city, which lies 25 miles north of the Ukrainian border and 415 miles south of Moscow. While previous attacks have hit the city, they have rarely taken place in daylight and have claimed fewer lives.
Russia's Defense Ministry said it identified the ammunition used in the strike as Czech-made Vampire rockets and Olkha missiles fitted with cluster-munition warheads. It provided no additional information, and The Associated Press was unable to verify its claims.
"This crime will not go unpunished," the ministry said in a statement on social media. — CBS News
Our Take: “The brilliance of the Acceleration and Escalation patterns we've seen the Deep State's System of Systems corralled into over the course of the last few years (largely since the advent of the Biden Admin,) is that, lately, you don't need to be an Info War sleuth to put the pieces together with the consolidation of 'shot-chaser' headline patterns hitting the Collective Mind with frequency.
To wit, we entered the weekend with warnings to the Globalist, collectivist crowd (and to the useful idiots supporting their messaging,) that Ukraine was about to run out of funding, prompting largely invisible, but very serious ramifications for the peoples of the west.
Just 48 hours later, we see reports that Ukraine has launched a series of strikes against the Russian Belgorod region, targeting civilians in a serious Death Blossom pattern.
The Anon Layers of the Collective Mind likely replace the word 'Ukraine' with 'Deep State intel assets.'
But even Normies see Escalation ... and flinch.” —
Bankman-Fried Won’t Face Second Trial on Remaining Charges
Fallen cryptocurrency king Sam Bankman-Fried won’t face a second trial on additional charges after the co-founder of FTX was convicted of a massive fraud last month, prosecutors told a judge.
The government told US District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a letter Friday that in the interest of expediency it would drop plans to try Bankman-Fried for conspiracy to bribe foreign officials, commit bank fraud and operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, among other charges.
Bankman-Fried, 31, was found guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy and faces the possibility of decades in prison.
Prosecutors said in the letter that the Bahamas, which extradited Bankman-Fried to face the original US charges, has yet to consent to the US going ahead with trying him on the additional charges. Such consent is required under treaty obligations but the former FTX chief executive officer launched a legal challenge in the Bahamas earlier this year, prompting the US to split the case in two.
The government said much of the evidence that would be presented at a second trial was already introduced at Bankman-Fried’s original trial and can be considered by the judge at sentencing set for March 28. — Bloomberg
Our Take: “A second SBF trial is now cancelled after DOJ drops charges.
But keep in mind …
He’s already been convicted and his sentencing is in March. These charges were in addition to those he was already convicted on and featured almost ALL of the same evidence that was presented in his trial last year.
The reason the charges are dropped is that the government of the Bahamas hasn’t consented to them and it’s a requirement of the US’s treaty with that nation that they do so in order for DOJ to proceed.
SBF is in federal prison now, has been for like six months, and will remain in federal prison for years.
So the right question to ask right now is:
Why won’t the government of the Bahamas consent to these charges?
Psst … hey …
Do y’all know who wasn’t in the Bahamas and wasn’t extradited from there?
Do you know who is here in the US and could possibly be charged with the same or similar crimes that SBF and his convicted co conspirators committed?
Do you know who was most likely the brains behind the SBF campaign finance scheme?
His parents.” —
'Experts' Say New COVID Strain Will Cause Global "Heart Failure Pandemic"
Scientists are warning that a new COVID strain will cause a global “heart failure pandemic,” prompting much skepticism.
A new strain known as JN.1 will cause many people to suffer from “reduced cardiac function,” according to the report.
“Japan’s top research institute Riken has now issued a warning in the new report, which states that the ACE2 receptors, which the coronavirus clings to within human cells, are ‘very common’ in the heart,” reports GB News.
“Even though conclusive clinical evidence that persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with declined cardiac function has not been reported so far, the proof-of-concept study of the possibility of SARS-CoV-2 persistent infection of the heart and the potential risk of opportunistic progression of heart failure should be validated by a three-dimensional human cardiac tissue model which would serve as the alarm bell for a global healthcare risk,” states the report. — Modernity News
Our Take: “Of course, no one appears to be buying this narrative — that the explosion of heart problems is due to a new variant — except those desperate to leverage a global pandemic during a US Presidential election year.
Again.
But what’s more concerning than people falling for the narrative is that the regime is so comfortable propagating it. ‘Died suddenly’ is a phenomenon that started shortly after mass vaccination, and its viral moments have come in waves through the past couple years.
The common denominator among young people collapsing and dying suddenly is that they received the experimental mRNA injections. First they blamed climate change, but that was inpersuasive, so now the regime is going for ‘new variant’ to describe (cover for) the damage of their coercive, multi-year policies.
In the film (and, better, book), ‘The Girl on the Train,’ the heroine is an alcoholic with memory problems who spends her days wallowing in shame. She believes that she is to blame for her bruises and injuries, the sudden damage to her home, and all other adverse outcomes of, she believes, her drinking problem.
Come to find out that, SPOILER, her husband was responsible for all of it — beating her, throwing her down stairs and hallways, breaking pictures and furniture, leaving a bloodied wife and wake of destruction.
In the light of day, the alcoholic didn’t remember the night before. Gone was the monster from the night before, and the ‘loving’ husband went about filling in the gaps — blaming the oblivious alcoholic for his actions, playing victim after severely beating her… Gaslighting his victim that she was the real perpetrator.
As you can imagine, she damn near went crazy. ‘I have lost control over everything, even the places in my head,’ and ‘There’s nothing so painful, so corrosive, as suspicion.’ — Paula Hawkins, The Girl on the Train
The regime is doing the same thing with their new variant and gaslit messaging. The explosion of heart problems in young people are not the fault of the young people. They are not the fault of the carbon monster or the victim’s carbon footprint.
They are the lacerations and bruises from the global regime, accompanied by dulcet, ubiquitous messaging that subversively sows blame and shame and self doubt. They are the visible tell that, both intimately and broadly, we are in an abusive relationship with our government.
In the book, Justice came when the anti-hero alcoholic finally stood up, enlisted some allies, and reclaimed her power. Something to think about.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Lindsey Graham Says US Should Hit Iran Base: 'Blow It Off the Map'
Senator Lindsey Graham is urging the Biden administration to blow parts of Iran "off the map."
The South Carolina Republican said he told Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin not to show "weakness" and make clear what the U.S. red lines for a retaliatory attack are.
"Without Iran there are no Houthis," Graham told Fox News on Wednesday. "The Houthis are completely backed by Iran. I have been saying for six months now...hit Iran. They have oil fields out in the open, they have the Revolutionary Guard headquarters you can see from space. Blow it off the map."
He continued: "If you really want to protect American soldiers, make it real to the ayatollah [that if] you attack a solider through a proxy, we're coming after you." — NewsWeek
"We're Headed To A System Where The Elites Pick Our Leadership": RFK Jr.
Facing a monumental challenge to get on the ballot in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues to criticize legal efforts to prevent former President Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot in multiple states.
The Colorado Supreme Court on Dec. 19 declared President Trump ineligible in the state based on a provision in Section 3 of the 14th Amendment that prevents individuals who have engaged in "insurrection" against the United States from holding office.
Mr. Kennedy, who announced on Oct. 9 that he would run for president in 2024 as an independent instead of as a Democrat because the Democrat National Committee was “rigging the primary,” has expressed his disapproval of the decision several times since.
He wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter:
“Colorado Supreme Court ruling makes America look like a Banana Republic. Why doesn’t every American understand that if they can do this to a former US President, EVERYONE is vulnerable to punishment for crimes with which they have never been convicted. Democracy would be a total shambles.”
In another post on the platform, Mr. Kennedy wrote:
“If Trump is kept out of office through judicial fiat rather than being defeated in a fair election, his supporters will never accept the result. This country will become ungovernable.” — The Epoch Times
Socialist Protests Erupt In Argentina As Milei Implements "Austerity" Cuts
In a scene that is probably a small taste of what is to come, socialist activists and workers unions carrying images of Che Guevara and Eva Peron converged on Buenos Aires to protest Javier Milei's impending “austerity” cuts. The cuts are a part of Milei's sweeping economic measures that will erase or rewrite over 300 rules regulating and restricting private enterprise within the nation.
Deregulation, protesters say, will pave the way for big business interests while reducing welfare programs and protections for the public. The protests are of course built upon a number of assumptions and are reactionary at best, given that Milei has been in office for a mere two weeks.
"The goal is to start along the path to rebuilding the country... and start to undo the huge number of regulations that have held back and prevented economic growth," Milei said in a televised speech from the presidential palace.
The protests and anger from leftist elements within Argentina illustrate the numerous pitfalls of allowing socialism to be rooted within any country for any length of time. Though Milei's opposition often argues that Argentina has never been “truly socialist,” the government policies that have been in place for decades certainly are. It is a classic far-left deflection: Whenever a socialist government or economy fails, claim it wasn't real socialism. Rinse, and repeat. — 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.
Oh … AND HAPPY NEW YEAR, BADLANDERS!
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Happy New Year to the Badlands news brief team.
2024 is going to be your busiest, and best, year thus far.
Thank you to you all for your commitment to unveiling truthful news.
🍀All the best for you in 2024 & thank you all for your tremendous and outstanding work!