Badlands News Brief

Mutations, Laptops & Chinese Balloons

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 is going to take you through a few news items of interest from the previous day in an attempt to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community while introducing you to some brief, original commentary from our growing team of citizen journalists.

(Feel free to follow the corresponding link attached to each Badlands contributor’s name to check them out on other platforms.)

Now, onto the news from Thursday, February 2 …

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Merck Covid Drug Linked to New Virus Mutations, Study Says

Merck & Co.’s Covid-19 pill is giving rise to new mutations of the virus in some patients, according to a study that underscores the risk of trying to intentionally alter the pathogen’s genetic code.

Some researchers worry the drug may create more contagious or health-threatening variations of Covid, which has killed more than 6.8 million people globally over the past three years.

Mutations linked to the use of Merck’s pill, Lagevrio, have been identified in viral samples taken from dozens of patients, according to a preprint study from researchers in the US and at the Francis Crick Institute, Imperial College London and other UK institutions. — Bloomberg

Our Take: “So, it's been revealed that Lagevrio, a drug designed by pharma giant Merck and meant to treat COVID, is actually causing the virus to mutate in patients, thereby making the virus far more communicable and deadly. This is something that should be filed under "surprising to no one," as Merck has had a troubled history of dishonesty, but then again, show me a pharma company that hasn't. Back in 2017, Merck was found to have manipulated the science in regard to it drug Vioxx, it did the same with Gardasil. The real question here is whether or not these virus-mutating capabilities were a happy accident, or by design.” — Ryan DeLarme

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House Republicans pass resolution to remove Democrat Rep. Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs committee

The Republican-led House on Thursday passed a resolution to remove Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar from the chamber's Foreign Affairs Committee.

The unofficial vote was 218-211, along party lines.

House Republicans argued that Omar, a Minnesota lawmaker, should not be on the committee, considering her past statements related to Israel that sparked controversy and in some instances were criticized by Republicans and fellow Democrats as antisemitic. — Just the News

Our Take: “For far too long, Congress has failed to deal with the character defects and other signs of bad faith on the part of representatives and senators. Ilhan Omar is one of the most corrupt, at least what we know in the public domain. It is quite possible she is far more corrupt than we know. Hopefully the GOP takes the time to clear out all the corrupt influences within the government as they take a larger share of the control.” — Justin Deschamps

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FBI to Search Mike Pence’s Home for Additional Classified Materials

The FBI is expected to search former Vice President Mike Pence's Indiana home for classified material in the coming days, according to people familiar with the matter, as senior government officials come under increased law-enforcement scrutiny of their handling of such documents.

The Justice Department is in talks with Mr. Pence’s legal team about scheduling the search, the people said.

Federal Bureau of Investigation agents collected documents from Mr. Pence’s Indiana home on Jan. 19 at the request of the Justice Department, according to a letter from Mr. Pence’s lawyer, Greg Jacob, sent to the National Archives dated Jan. 22. Mr. Pence agreed to the transfer, the letter said. Agents haven’t yet undertaken a search of their own there. — The Wall Street Journal

Our Take: “This is similar to the searches conducted of Biden's office and homes, but Pence's lawyers say that because the DOJ took the docs directly from Pence, instead of them first going to the National Archives, they “bypassed the standard procedures.” Might be something to that.” — Just Human

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General Flynn: Vice President Biden Visited Ukraine 12-13 Times in His Last Year as VP – ALL OF THESE Trips Need to be Investigated!

Earlier on Wednesday The Gateway Pundit’s Jim and Joe Hoft interviewed General Michael Flynn on the Hunter Biden laptop.

During our conversation, General Flynn pointed out that Joe Biden visited Ukraine 12 or 13 times his last year as vice president. Why? And why did Obama allow this? Obama is as much at fault as Joe Biden.

[…]

General Michael Flynn: “Vice President Biden… I don’t think most people know but Vice President Biden, I think in his last year that he was the Vice President, he visited Ukraine like 12 or 13 times. It’s an incredible amount of times. First of all, there’s only 12 months in a year and for the Vice President of the United States spending that much time in the Ukraine, you have to ask why?

And every single one of those trips needs to be investigated. How many of them did Hunter participate on? Or how many did Joe Biden bring his brother on? All these kinds of issues, the kinds of questions, the type of questions that need to be asked, and it doesn’t need to be asked in back rooms. It needs to be asked in public.” — The Gateway Pundit

Our Take: “The people's General Mike Flynn was interviewed on Wednesday by Jim and Joe Hoft of the the Gateway Pundit. During the interview, Flynn mentions that Vice President Joe Biden made 12 or 13 trips to Ukraine in the last year of the Obama administration. That's at minimum 1 trip per month for a whole year, which is a tremendous amount of time for a Vice President to spend anywhere.

What was Biden doing there?

Was he setting up and facilitating his families dirty dealings? If only those numbered accounts from Switzerland or the Caymans could talk. One thing is for certain—anyone who thinks giving weapons and billions to Ukraine and risking WW3 has anything to do with American national security is probably still wearing a COVID mask.” — Ryan DeLarme

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Hunter Biden Admits Infamous Laptop Belongs To Him, Calls For Criminal Probe Into Attempts To 'Weaponize' Contents

A lawyer for President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, urged state and federal agencies in a letter on Feb. 1 to probe what he said were attempts by close allies of former President Donald Trump and others to “weaponize” the contents of a laptop that an electronics repair shop owner says was dropped off at his Delaware store in 2019.

The letters from Hunter Biden’s attorneys mark the first time he and his legal team have publicly acknowledged that it was his personal data found on the laptop.

The letters were sent by Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell to the Delaware attorney general, the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). — The Epoch Times

Our Take: “While those of us who spend most of our free time—and time we should probably be working—digging in the dark on matters such as this one, and while we have believed that Hunter’s laptop is one of many that will be making news in MAJOR ways over the months ahead, seeing his legal team publicly and legally acknowledging the existence of said laptop, and some of the circumstances and controversies surrounding it is a not so subtle indicator that the powers that would be have relinquished a good deal of the previous control they wielded over the Narrative infecting the Collective Mind of American society.

This revelation should also get some gears turning in the minds of our sleeping, slowly-waking fellows, as they find themselves confronted with new revelations on a near-daily basis that folks like us were telling them about years ago.

All we need to prompt further awakening is questions in the minds of the sleepers. ‘How much else are [they] hiding from us?’ our friends and family members are beginning to ask.

How much, indeed?” — Burning Bright

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Chinese intelligence-gathering balloon seen over Montana

An object seen floating over the Billings area Wednesday has been confirmed to be an intelligence-gathering balloon, most certainly launched by the People's Republic of China.

On Wednesday, the Billings Logan International Airport was shut down for roughly two hours around the same time many Montanans were noticing an unexplained object in the sky.

Shane Ketterling, the Director of Aviation at Billings Logan, says two flights to the airport were diverted, and one flight was delayed from taking off while the air space was closed. The diverted flights were eventually able to land.

He tells us BIL was directed by the Salt Lake City FAA tower to shut down, and they closed 50 square miles of air space over the Livingston area, impacting Bozeman, Helena and Billings.

On Thursday, the Department of Defense (DoD) shared that the object was an intelligence-gathering balloon, most certainly launched by the People's Republic of China (PRC). — KULR

Our Take: “A Montana airport was shut down for about two hours after people noticed an unidentified object in the sky and reportedly saw military jets in the area.

The first question in this sort of situation is always the same: ours or theirs?

Chances were slim that it was actually something not of earth origin, meaning it was most likely something man-made and highly classified. When we ask "ours or theirs," the question really means, is it the property of the United States Military, a foreign nation, or is it the property of some corporate entity like Raytheon, Boeing, or Lockheed Martin?

It has since been determined that the unidentified object was a spy balloon belonging to China.

Why Montana?

They ain’t looking for more farmland—more like US ICBM facilities.” — Ryan DeLarme

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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.

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.

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