Badlands News Brief
Trump Trounces Haley (Again) as the Media Spins
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 Tuesday, February 27 …
Trump marches to victory in Michigan primary, though with a familiar note of caution
Former President Donald Trump easily won Tuesday’s Michigan primary, continuing his march toward the Republican Party nomination.
But his opponent, Nikki Haley, continued to score a significant enough percentage of the vote so as to raise questions about the former president’s standing in the general election.
Trump appeared on path to win roughly 70 percent in the state’s GOP primary. That will increase the pressure on Haley to exit the race, though the former U.N. ambassador has said she plans to remain in it at least through the March 5 “Super Tuesday” primary, when 15 states hold nominating contests.
The former president has swept the primaries so far, notching clear wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina. And while Haley drew more than a quarter of the vote, she did not match her vote shares in the last two head-to-head contests with Trump in South Carolina (40 percent) and New Hampshire (43 percent). That suggests that as the campaign becomes more nationalized on Super Tuesday, she may struggle to replicate those stronger performances. — Politico
Our Take: “The more we see out of the MSM in 2024, the more firm I am in my belief that a Deep State archipelago has developed in the wake of Trump's 'departure' from office ala Jon Herold’s Devolution research.
One of the debates we have most often in the Info War centers around control, but I think 'coordination' might be a more effective and worthwhile trend to track ... especially when we see a LACK of it from the other side.
Headlines out of the establishment usually march in lock-step, advancing predetermine Narratives designed to seed predictive programming, forward agendas or massage social mandate for subversive eventualities.
That said, we're seeing increasing divergences, and the Nikki Haley campaign is one of them.
While half the corpo media is lambasting her entire run, the other half is sounding faux alarms toward Trump on her behalf. I don't think they know where this is going any more than we do, so they're hedging their narratives at every turn.” — Burning Bright
Key Witness Says He Doesn’t Know When Romance Between Trump Prosecutors Began
In a potential setback to former President Donald J. Trump and his co-defendants in the Georgia election interference case, a key witness testified on Tuesday that he had no knowledge of when a romantic relationship began between the two prosecutors leading the case.
Defense attorneys are seeking to disqualify Fani T. Willis, the district attorney of Fulton County, claiming that her romantic relationship with the lawyer she hired to run the case, Nathan Wade, has created an untenable conflict of interest.
Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade have said that the relationship began only after she hired him in November 2021. Mr. Trump’s lawyer has accused them of lying.
For weeks, the defense had suggested that the key witness, Terrence Bradley, the former divorce lawyer and law partner of Mr. Wade, could provide crucial testimony contradicting Ms. Willis and Mr. Wade. But Mr. Bradley testified in court on Tuesday that “I don’t know when the relationship started,” and that he “never witnessed anything.”
Lawyers for Mr. Trump and other defendants hammered at Mr. Bradley’s credibility on Tuesday, reading aloud text messages he wrote in January that appeared to suggest that he knew more about the prosecutors’ relationship than he was letting on. In text exchanges, Mr. Bradley told a defense lawyer, Ashleigh Merchant, that the romance between the prosecutors had begun before Nov. 1, 2021, when Ms. Willis hired Mr. Wade.
“Do you think it happened before she hired him?” Ms. Merchant asked Mr. Bradley in one text exchange, which was entered into evidence. “Absolutely,” Mr. Bradley replied. — The New York Times
Our Take: “The hearing on the disqualification of Fani Willis Tuesday saw the return of Mr. Bradley to the stand to answer questions about his text messages with Ms. Merchant, Michael Roman's attorney in the broader RICO case. Mr. Bradley as impeached a number of times on the stand about his recollection. His testimony revealed the 'convenience' of Mr. Bradley's memory as it pertains to Mr. Wade.
In evidence now is the fact that Mr. Bradley told Ms. Merchant that Willis and Wade's relationship 'absolutely' started before they claimed, according to the text messages. On the stand, Mr. Bradley testified that he was just speculating and he couldn't recall why. Mr. Bradley also reviewed Ms. Merchant's motion, made edits, and said 'looks good,' though he claims now that he was only referring to the inclusion of his edits when he said 'looks good.'
The movants spent time making it clear to the judge that Bradley reviewed the motion and did not advise Ms. Merchant of any other defects than his prior edits. At the end of that line of questioning, it was clear that Bradley and reviewed and, effectively, approved the motion alleging the details of the relationship.
The star of the hearing was President Trump's attorney Steve Sadow, who ravaged Mr. Bradley about his prior testimony. He repeatedly hammered the witness as to why he would speculate to Ms. Merchant about the allegations against Mr. Wade, whom he considered a friend, when he knew Ms. Merchant was filing the motion and pursuing these allegations against Mr. Wade and Ms. Willis. Bradley didn't have any good answers for this, and the judge eventually made Sadow stop — but not before the absurdity of Bradley's testimony was beyond doubt.
The hearing will be back on the record on Friday at 1pm ET, and we will bring it to you live as it happens.” — Ashe in America
Houthis Deny Israeli Media Reports They Sabotaged Internet Cables Under Red Sea
The Houthi military spokesman has explicitly denied any intention to knock out undersea regional internet cables in a fresh Tuesday statement, however, he reiterated that the Iran-linked group's top goal is to block commercial shipping and supplies to Israel.
The full statement is as follows, cited in Al Mayadeen news: "We are keen to spare all cables and their services from any risks and to provide the necessary facilities for their maintenance. The decision to prevent the passage of Israeli ships does not include ships belonging to international companies licensed to carry out marine cable work."
Over the past two days there were widespread reports that up to four undersea telecoms cables in the Red Sea area between the Saudi city of Jeddah and the state of Djibouti were damaged. As we reported below, the operator Seacom reported connectivity problems, following reports which originated in Israeli media sources. Sky News Arabia had also picked up on the reports Monday.
For months there has been speculation that Red Sea waters, which has been scene of daily Houthi attacks on international shipping as well as Western coalition warships, could be subject to sabotage of global fiber optics lines. However, such a sabotage campaign would be difficult to carry out, given it would likely require submarine or deep water equipment and capabilities, which the Houthis likely lack. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “If I was a raging globalist, hellbent on world domination, looking to construct all the moving parts of a narrative that justifies a sudden internet blackout in North America, I would probably use everything going on with this Houthis story.
Firstly, the possibility of a blackout would at first be pinned on a radical group that is completely alien to Americans' everyday lives—a group that people literally need the news to contextualize.
Then I would lean into the ambiguity of that same group denying involvement and get the two sides of an extremely polarized war all emotionally riled up.
I would make the initial damage somewhere far away like... India, just to seed the notion of terrorist-based internet outages to the North American public.
Then I would set a vague-but-upsetting timeline for repair... at least 8 weeks long.
All of this would create a useful fog of war so that when I need an internet blackout, let's say to stop some really damaging revelation of something like...oh I don't know, evidence of rampant elite Satanic pedophelia, it would be super handy!
I'm not saying this is for sure what's going on. It could just be a coincidence that these moving parts are all just chilling, waiting at the beck and call of a desperate shadow government. Or not...” — Simon Esler
Denmark Drops Probe Into Nord Stream Gas Pipeline Sabotage
Denmark is dropping the investigation over what it described as a “deliberate sabotage” of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, due to insufficient grounds to pursue a criminal case, the Copenhagen police said on Monday.
Gas leaks in each of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were discovered at the end of September 2022 from the infrastructure just outside Swedish and Danish territorial waters in the Baltic Sea.
Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September of 2022, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions.
An investigation launched by the Swedish authorities concluded that the leaks were the result of detonations, likely the result of “serious sabotage”.
But earlier this month, Sweden’s authorities concluded a preliminary investigation into the Nord Stream blasts but found they lacked jurisdiction to continue, as the incident occurred in international waters and involved no Swedish nationals. Therefore, Sweden ended the probe in early February.
Denmark also ended its investigation on Monday, with the Copenhagen police saying in a statement that “The joint investigation conducted by the Copenhagen Police and the Danish Security and Intelligence Services (PET) into the Nord Stream explosions has been concluded.” — OilPrice.com
Our Take: “Denmark has officially joined Sweden in dropping its investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, citing insufficient grounds on which to continue looking into the case, which is a slight spin on Sweden's own excuse that it didn't have the jurisdiction to continue the investigation ... something it apparently took them over a year to determine.
Buried in the reporting in both instances is the tantalizing morsel that Germany is still continuing its own investigation into the matter, but that it is unknown whether or not any report will be made public.
This makes sense to conspiracy theorists (also known as people who are right about almost everything all the time,) as many of us suspect Germany itself to have signed off or actively participated in the CIA-planned sabotage of its own energy infrastructure in a false flag meant to draw the enforcement arm of the western hegemon (also known as the US MIL,) into direct conflict with Russia.
Thank God for Devolution.” — Burning Bright
Intuitive Machines' Moon Mission Nears End, Shares Crash Harder Than Lunar Lander
Shares of Intuitive Machines plummeted once again in premarket trading following the announcement by the space exploration company that its Odysseus moon lander is expected to lose communication capabilities today.
"Flight controllers intend to collect data until the lander's solar panels are no longer exposed to light. Based on Earth and Moon positioning, we believe flight controllers will continue to communicate with Odysseus until Tuesday morning," Intuitive Machines wrote in a post on social media platform X.
Intuitive Machines posted an image of the lander on the lunar surface. While landing late last week, the lander tipped over when it touched down. This landing position means the solar array cannot be properly deployed, and antennas are pointed toward the moon's surface, slowing communications down with operators on Earth. Without power, the lander's heaters won't work, so it might not survive the frigid lunar night.
Shares are down as much as 27% in premarket trading in New York. From the high of nearly $14 a share before the landing last Thursday, shares have crashed 67%. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “I love the symmetry of this story. The moon lander broke a leg, tipped over, and failed to deploy its video camera. And since this drama got underway, shares of Intuitive Machines have lost 67%. It's the kind of seemingly unintentional narrative disaster that results in involuntary giggles.
Seriously, though, why are space narratives ubiquitous right now? They really want us gazing at the stars in wonder. Are they setting up the alien narrative? A quick google search for ‘aliens’ and ‘UFO’ reveals dozens of articles in the past 24 hours (as I write this). The top hit on ‘UFO’ is Axios, ‘Mapped: UFO sightings in Georgia.’ FFS.
Now I may be getting tunnel vision on the AI thing, but check out Google's top hit on "Aliens." Deseret News: 'Could AI help scientists find aliens?' And the sub header reads: 'Scientists have been using AI to help them find extraterrestrial evidence, but there’s also talk that the aliens could be extraterrestrial AI.'
This is a religion.
Mark my words, in a few months this 'talk' is going to develop into super-sciencey proof, and we are going to 'discover' that AI was our creator all along. Paul Fleuret and I talked about this on Sunday's Culture of Change: Skynet Rising. They are already setting the narrative that AI will be god from an intelligence perspective. Sam Harris said that we need to make sure to build a 'god we can live with.'
Now consider that cyber vulnerability reports are also ubiquitous. Basic, here-on-earth technology domains, like security, are a challenge for all of the technologists. Basic technology is foundational to advanced technology. Something doesn't add up with this narrative.
All that is to say, I believe the Ai-Alien Mashup is a faith-based, religious endeavor for the science community, and new world order plot.
They want us gazing at the stars in wonder...
Waiting for their god.” — Ashe in America
Wendy’s planning Uber-style ‘surge pricing’ where burger prices fluctuate based on demand
Wendy’s is preparing to test an “Uber-style” surge-pricing model where the cost of menu items will fluctuate throughout the day based on demand — meaning a Dave’s burger will cost more during the lunch or dinner rush.
The fast-food chain’s unappetizing plans, set to be tested in a high-stakes rollout next year, will squeeze more money out of already inflation-battered Americans who may not have the option to eat their meals during “off-peak” hours.
Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner announced the new system on a call with investors, noting the Ohio-based company will invest $20 million on high-tech menu boards that will be able to update prices in real-time without incurring additional overhead costs.
“As we continue to show the benefit of this technology in our company-operated restaurants, franchisee interest in digital menu boards should increase further supporting sales and profit growth across the system,” said Tanner, who rose to the chief role earlier this month.
Tanner didn’t put a ceiling on how much the dynamic pricing model could spike the cost of a meal or whether the base price would actually fall during slower periods. — NY Post
Our Take: “I can't help but think about the war for health freedom and medical sovereignty that was ignited by the COVID mandates when I see fast food chains like Wendy's struggling to exist.
If this was a chain that had any benefit to humanity at all, I would see the relevance in an upset that they are potentially ripping people off.
The problem is that they were already doing that, because when you eat there, you are paying to poison yourself.
Should there be fear that McDonalds and Burger King might follow suit?
No. Stop paying to poison yourselves. Let these weaponized food systems destroy themselves.
We cannot enter an era of medical sovereignty and health freedom unless radical individual responsibility for everything put in your body is a cultural norm.” — Simon Esler
BONUS ITEMS
"I'm Done With Google": Wholesale Loss Of Trust After "Unbelievably Irresponsible" Racist AI Goes Mask-Off
The fact that Google's Gemini AI is a complete woke mess comes as no surprise to anyone who's been paying attention.
Between Google's internal culture, and the fact that large language models (LLMs) are largely a reflection of their creators, Gemini is was the predictable digital poster-child for racist, anti-white, anti-conservative, historical revisionist culture - as opposed to the neutral purveyors of information they claim to be.
Mask-off, as they say.
In fact, we couldn't sum it up better than Mario Juric, director of the DiRAC Institute at the University of Washington, Seattle.
In a lengthy post on X, Juric says that despite known "many good individuals working there," he's "done with Google.” — ZeroHedge
G.O.P. Leaders Optimistic on Spending Deal After Meeting With Biden
Congressional leaders emerged from a meeting with President Biden on Tuesday saying they were optimistic about averting a partial government shutdown at the end of the week, but remained short of a plan to do so before a Friday deadline.
Speaker Mike Johnson, who is facing intense pressure from Mr. Biden, Democrats and Senate Republicans to agree to a spending deal over the fierce objections of right-wing lawmakers in his ranks, suggested he might be ready to do so in the coming days.
“We have been working in good faith around the clock every single day, for months and weeks, and over the last several days, quite literally around the clock, to get that job done,” said Mr. Johnson, who met with the president one on one after holding a group session with Mr. Biden and the other three top congressional leaders.
“We’re very optimistic,” he added, saying that preventing a shutdown was “our first responsibility.”
Senator Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and minority leader, gave a similarly upbeat assessment to reporters at the Capitol.
“We are making some real headway on the appropriations process,” he said. — The New York Times
Biden hopes for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza by Monday
United States President Joe Biden says he hopes to have a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza by next Monday as negotiations to halt hostilities and secure the release of captives appear to gather pace.
Biden’s comments in New York came on Monday as Israeli media reported that an Israeli military delegation had flown to Qatar for intensive talks.
The negotiations – mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US – seek to secure a six-week-long pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to allow aid into Gaza, where the United Nations says some 2.3 million people are on the brink of famine.
The proposed pause would also allow for the release of dozens of captives held by Hamas in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Biden, when asked when he thought a ceasefire could begin, said he hoped for a truce to take effect within days.
“Well, I hope by the beginning of the weekend, by the end of the weekend,” he told reporters at an ice cream shop in New York. “My national security adviser tells me that we’re close. We’re close. We’re not done yet. My hope is, by next Monday, we’ll have a ceasefire.” — Al Jazeera
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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Hopefully there are more people of faith in God than not on our planet! The AI BS will fool those who have no spiritual discernment and maybe some who do. These people will need us. It’s the same playbook as any other “scare” tactic, think Covid and the jab! I hope we have a government shut down! This playbook is so old. They rip off the citizens as they intended to in the first place and then blame the party in “power”. So sick of most of them! We don’t need them!
100% on Simon’s comments about Wendy’s and the rest of them. On an extension of that note, all these price hikes in the supermarkets have had little affect on my wife and myself because we eat ‘clean’ - no processed, highly refined foods, no GMOs, organic as much as possible, including fruits and veggies. Our refrigerator is fuller than our pantry. And places like Wendy’s and McDonalds are invisible to us; we don’t consider them to be food sources. It’s all the not-foods on the shelves that are most subject to price fluctuations because those are the products that the roughly one dozen mega giants control. So if the cost of Frosted Flakes goes up, big deal.