Badlands News Brief
Kamala Takes the Cheese as Things Get Weird Out East
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 Thursday, August 8 …
Trump recommits to a Sept. 10 debate and lashes out at Harris at news conference
Donald Trump recommitted to debating Vice President Kamala Harris after recently backing out, holding a lengthy news conference Thursday in which he taunted his new rival, boasted of his crowd on Jan. 6, 2021, and lashed out at questions about the enthusiasm her campaign has been generating.
As the Republican presidential nominee addressed reporters at his Palm Beach, Florida, estate, ABC announced that Trump and Harris, the Democratic nominee, have agreed to a Sept. 10 debate, setting up a widely anticipated faceoff in an already unparalleled election. Trump said he had proposed three debates with three television networks in September.
Trump again wrongly insisted there had been a “peaceful transfer” of power in 2021 and renewed attacks on Republican rivals like Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, whom Trump has harshly criticized since Kemp refused to go along with his false theories of election fraud.
In taking questions from reporters for more than an hour, Trump tried to draw a contrast with Harris, who has not held a news conference since President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race. — AP News
Our Take: As I’ve argued time and again in the wandering ways of the Info War, and as I will likely continue to argue, my favorite Narratives are Bicameral.
Here, we can approach the actualization of the September 10 debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris on either side of Patriot Control—from the literal, ‘you are watching a movie’ sense of the term, to the more Game Theory, asymmetric Info War perspective.
By hook or by crook, Donald Trump ALWAYS seems to get the enemy to do exactly what he says he wants them to do, and he somewhat astoundingly seems to do so by appealing—or rather, devolving?—to base human instinct, sometimes reducing his rhetoric all the way down to the opposite game.
By implying that Harris was some mix of too intimidated, dishonest or—most likely—too stupid to put her ideas to work against Trump’s on a public stage, and in a small approximation of the sort of high-pressure settings she’d ostensibly face as Fake Leader of the Free World, he once again gets them to take the cheese.
Now, I’m still far from certain that Kamala is going to be on any ticket come November 5—and I think Trump is certain she won’t be—but either way, he’s going to wring every drop of narrative value out of the ultra progressive DC Cackler he can in the meantime.
Once again, he’s not trapped in this game—this Walz, if you’ll allow it—with [them.] They’re trapped with him.
Shame they can’t seem to do anything about it. —
National Guard Disputes Walz's Military Bio; CNN Calls Out 'Absolutely False' Claim Over Deployment
The Minnesota National Guard has disputed Governor Tim Walz's military biography, saying that his claims of retiring at the rank of command sergeant major is untrue.
Minnesota National Guard spox Army Lieutenant Colonel Kristen Augé told Just the News that Walz, Kamala Harris' vice presidential running mate, was demoted and did not retire as a command sergeant major as he has claimed for years - including on his official gubernatorial biography - as he failed to complete a 750-hour course in the Army's Sergeants Major Academy, a mandatory course for E-9s, the Army's highest enlisted rank.
While Walz temporarily held the title of command sergeant major he "retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy," Army Lt. Col. Kristen Augé, the Minnesota National Guard’s State Public Affairs Officer, told Just the News.
The statement reignited a controversy that began during his 2018 election for governor in which National Guardsman claimed on social media and in a paid ad that Walz declined to deploy to Iraq for combat duty in 2005 and forfeited his title of command sergeant major. Walz chose to run for Congress that year. -Just the News
The governor's biography, however, says that "Command Sergeant Major Walz" retired from the Minnesota National Guard in 2005. At the time he was serving as one of the highest ranking members of the 1-125th Field Artillery Battalion.
"He retired as a master sergeant in 2005 for benefit purposes because he did not complete additional coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy," said Augé. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: I’ve never served in the Military, though I have family members that have, and I have the privilege of working alongside several right here at Badlands Media, from
to .That said, you don’t have to be directly or tangentially connected to the armed forces to know that this is one of THE no-no’s in the American Mind … and no matter how “progressive” the enemy tries to make our culture, that core truism holds.
While this red line has been blurred with frequency in the political landscape, it has rarely been crossed so brazenly, but Tim Walz has apparently decided to tap-dance all the way along it before dragging his ass over it en route to his accepting the fake appointment to the fake position of fake Vice Presidential candidate to the acting Fake Vice President herself.
I mean, it’s entirely possible Walz, Harris and the media apparatus exhaustively attempting to cover for both are crazy like a collectivist fox … but I’m not so sure.
I think they’re just idiots.
Works for me. Not so sure it’s gonna work for them. —
UK's Met Police Chief Threatens "Keyboard Warriors" With Terrorism Charges
Head of the Met Police Sir Mark Rowley has warned that “keyboard warriors” could be hit with terrorism charges for inciting riots online, even if they are living abroad.
Rowley made the comments in response to waves of rioting that unfolded across the UK following the murder of three young girls at a Taylor Swift dance class in Southport by a 17-year-old of Rwandan migrant origin via his parents.
Asserting that the “full force of the law” would be used against offenders, Rowley made it clear that this included not just people physically involved in the riots, but those who make inflammatory comments about them on social media.
“And whether you’re in this country committing crimes on the streets or committing crimes from further afield online, we will come after you,” Rowley threatened.
A Sky News reporter than mentioned Elon Musk as a ‘high profile figure’ who was “whipping up hatred,” when in fact Musk merely asked Prime Minister Keir Starmer, “Why aren’t all communities protected in Britain?”.
“What are you considering when it comes to dealing with people who are whipping up from behind a keyboard and maybe is in a different country,” the reporter asked Rowley.
“Being a keyboard warrior does not make you safe from the law, you can be guilty of offences of incitement, of stirring up racial hatred, there are numerous terrorist offences regarding the publishing of material, all of those offences are in play if people are provoking hatred and violence on the streets and we will come after those individuals just as we will physically confront on the streets the thugs and the yobs who are causing the problems for communities,” said Rowley. — Modernity News
Our Take: Well, Sir Mark Rowley, I have a very specific message for you, delivered by a man of far greater consequence than me:
Call me whatever name you want, despot. Your control words have no power, here.
Keep fighting, anons. Do not fear the primal screams of weaklings like Mark Rowley.
Fight! Fight! Fight! —
Israelis practise red heifer ritual in front of Al-Aqsa Mosque
A group of religious Israelis have been pictured practising the ritual of the red heifer, which is meant to herald the building of a new Jewish temple on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque.
According to Jewish tradition, the ashes of a perfectly red heifer cow are needed for the ritual purification that would allow a third temple to be built in Jerusalem.
That temple, say radical Jewish groups, must be constructed on the raised plateau in Jerusalem’s Old City known as the Temple Mount, where Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock shrine stand today.
Some believe this will herald the arrival of the messiah and possibly even the end of the world.
"Temple worshipers are now practising the mitzvah [religious duty] of a red cow in front of the Temple Mount, which will enable the return of purity and the observance of all the temple mitzvahs," posted journalist Yinon Magal on Tuesday, along with a picture of activists from the Temple Institute.
In 2022, five red heifers arrived in Israel from a Texas ranch and are now kept in an archaeological park next to Shilo, an illegal Israeli settlement near the Palestinian city of Nablus.
The Temple Institute imported the heifers for the eventual purpose of using them in a ritual after years of searching for blemish-free cows, without a stray white or black hair.
Their eventual slaughter on the Mount of Olives will - according to advocates - allow Jewish people to be purified so they can perform rites and worship on the site of Al-Aqsa Mosque. — Middle East Eye
Our Take: This may be one of the most important takes I ever write for this newsletter. I only say this to communicate the gravity of this situation, and so you understand that I have done extensive research into this subject, and do not share these thoughts lightly.
First, please listen to this clip from this week's Breaking History, where Matt and I explain the "Kabbalah," and how it is not Judaism:
The form of Judaism that was practiced in pre-Biblical and Biblical times was based on the Torah—the first five books of the Old Testament. After the death of Christ—which was orchestrated by the Sanhedrin (supreme rabbinical court)--the Roman province of Judaea fell into chaos, culminating in the destruction of the Second Temple in the year 70 AD, resulting in the diaspora (exodus) of the Jewish people from the Holy Land. Many of these people became the early Christians.
By the Fourth Century AD, after the Council of Nicaea in 325, Emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. At the same time, the remnants of the Sanhedrin--the Pharisees who had rejected Christ—were reorganizing Jewish theology with new ideas. They wrote the Talmud, which they claimed were oral traditions that pre-dated Christ, and later—in the 13th century—the Zohar, which was the origin of Kabbalah. (Jewish Mysticism)
It is important to understand that unlike Christianity and Islam, Judaism has no central doctrine outside of the Torah. Therefore, there is a wide spectrum of beliefs in modern Judaism, and I will never claim to be anything more than a novice in my understanding. But I understand enough to know that while many of these sects focus on the Torah and the Talmud, to varying degrees, as well as other writings, some sects—particularly those originating from Eastern Europe, among the Ashkenazi Jews—focus on the Zohar and Kabbalah. (The Pale of [Jewish] Settlement, which we have covered before.)
The first Jewish Mystics (from 800 years ago) believed that they had overlooked important teachings from the distant past, and so they looked back to the earliest forms of organized religion for insight, before Abraham, some 6,000 years ago. These mystics—Kabbalists—believed that King Solomon had used the Kabbalah to communicate with divine beings, who gave him the knowledge and power to construct the First Jewish Temple in the 10th century BC.
The concept of Kabbalah is that these mystics can also communicate with these "deities" through rituals and wield their power, just as Solomon did. This is what is called "Practical Kabbalah." In the 16th century (1550's), Rabbi Isaac Luria— whose teachings later became the foundations for Hasidic Judaism in the 18th century—said that the pursuit of Practical Kabbalah (magic/sorcery) without the Third Temple constructed, or the ashes of the burned Red Heifers, could result in something very detrimental, such as the unwitting summoning of demons. So Practical Kabbalah became prohibited among commoners. (In the clip, I said this happened in the 17th century, I was mistaken.)
In an article published by The Atlantic in 1921, written by Albert T. Clay, he writes:
The Temple Institute is the NGO responsible for organizing the sacrificial Red Heifers, and the construction of the new temple—which will require the destruction of the Al Asqa Mosque. I believe it has nefarious origins, but need to dig deeper to validate that instinct. For now, you should know that their organization claims to be ancient, and in possession of the Ark of the Covenant. (Yes, the Biblical artifact from the original Indiana Jones film.)
I believe that these people are Mystics who embrace Practical Kabbalah. And while they may actually believe they are about to summon their messiah, as a Christian, my faith and instincts lead me to believe they are actually trying to summon the Anti-Christ.
Do you see why "Trump's Gambit" is so important? The Counterinsurgency against Netanyahu and his cohorts must succeed. Remember: these are the same people who created Jeffery Epstein. They are not men of God. —
Nancy Pelosi’s Art of Power
Nancy Pelosi likes to say that she went from “housewife to House member to House Speaker.” Along the way, she became the most persuasive and dominant figure on Capitol Hill since the nineteen-fifties, when Lyndon Johnson was, in Robert Caro’s phrase, “the master of the Senate.”
Johnson, of course, had a radically more domineering style—and not only when contending with senators foolish enough to resist his will. He was also a terror with people “unable to defend themselves,” Caro wrote in his biography of L.B.J. “Storming into a hotel kitchen, a towering figure holding a large steak in one hand and waving it in a cook’s face, he raged: ‘Who told you you were a cook? Didn’t you ever hear of cutting the fat off? I’ve never seen so much fat on a steak in my life.’ ”
Pelosi’s methods of persuasion are, it is fair to say, significantly less beastly, yet Johnson would surely appreciate her brand of Machiavellian arm-twisting. And right now, as we witness the transformative results of Joe Biden’s decision to stand aside in the 2024 election and cede the nomination to Kamala Harris, it is worth remembering Pelosi’s interview on July 10th on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Her stated reason for appearing was to stand beside, and promote, the cause of freedom in Belarus with the dissident politician Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. — The New Yorker
Our Take: Way back in 2017, Nancy Pelosi kindly explained the concept of the “Wrap-up Smear” to the American people.
This political dialectic involves first seeding claims or rumors into the media apparatus before then citing said reporting as the basis for making public comments about said claims, even if you were the one that planted them in the first place.
The benefit of the practice for both parties (the politician and the media outlet) is that it provides shielding for each. The politician gets to cite “reporting,” while the media has an “unnamed source close to the situation.”
Now, the American people are being shown the same dialectic where it concerns an intra-party Civil War on the Dem ticket, as the Old Guard is all but admitting they did indeed stage a political coup on Joe Biden.
Patriots like Donald Trump and Dan Scavino know this, which is why they’re signaling the return of #OurBoyBlue into the central narrative.
If Joe was [theirs,] this wouldn’t matter.
What if he’s not? —
Glencore Corruption Probes Draw to a Close With Swiss Fine
Glencore Plc will pay $152 million after Swiss authorities wrapped up an investigation into the commodities trader and miner, marking the end of more than six years of legal probes across Europe and the Americas.
Swiss prosecutors found that Glencore failed to take reasonable measures to prevent the bribery of a Congolese public official by a business partner in 2011, the office of the attorney general said in a statement on Monday.
Glencore said it does not admit the findings, but has agreed not to appeal the summary penalty order in the interests of resolving the matter. A parallel investigation by the Dutch Prosecution Service has also been concluded and dismissed.
“The OAG stated in the summary penalty order that it did not identify that any Glencore employees had any knowledge of the bribery by the business partner, nor did Glencore benefit financially from the conduct of the business partner,” Glencore said in its statement.
With the latest penalties, Glencore will have paid at least $1.7 billion to resolve various investigations into bribery and corruption around the world. The company in 2022 pleaded guilty to corruption and market manipulation cases in the US and UK, admitting that it had paid bribes to win business in eight countries from Brazil to South Sudan. — SwissInfo
Our Take: Here we go again... Glencore.
This story actually represents the end of the story for this particular case—at least as far as Glencore is concerned—which was about mining rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo, with Israeli billionaire Dan Gertler being at the center of the plot line.
Remember: Last week we reported on criminal charges brought against Alex Beard, who was an oil executive at Glencore and whose 2019 departure appears to have been connected to the departures of Glencore executives Telis Mistakidis (who retired in December 2018) and Ivan Glasenberg (who left in July 2021). The charges against Beard appear to be connected to a civil action lawsuit brought by Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro in March 2018, a year after he received a "laptop from hell" from the scorned ex-wife of one of his oil officials.
Maduro brought the civil suit (citing criminal charges) against 40 executives from Glencore, Trafigura, and Vitol, the three largest commodity trading companies in the world. That investigation appears to have provided materials that were used by President Trump's DOJ to go after oligarchs with Executive Order 13818.
A 2018 Bloomberg article makes it clear that Gertler, Mistakidis, and Glasenberg all worked closely together to exploit the Congolese people in their mining operations. Mistakidis served as a board member for Katanga Mining—Gertler's company—but also for Mopani Copper Mines Limited, a company that was lawfully acquired by International Resources Holding (IRH) in March 2024. IRA is a UAE company owned by Mohammed bin Zayed—close ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. (Which we also reported on, back in May.)
Though Glasenberg is a South African citizen, his father was a Jew born in Lithuania. From my experience of studying the Israeli Mafia and the international cartel, that is not a coincidence, especially when you consider Glasenberg's ties to Israeli oligarchs like Dan Gertler.
The more I dig into these names, the more I realize how connected all of this stuff truly is. And as all of these entities and individuals cut deals, more charges are announced against bigger fish, like Alex Beard.
I am eager to go deeper down this rabbit hole, but what is clear is that Africa is being liberated from the bloodsucking globalist oligarchs. —
BONUS ITEMS
CNN Effectively Worthless After Parent Warner Bros Takes $9.1 Billion Writedown
What had been obvious "to the rest of us" for years, is finally official: late last night, shares of Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent of CNN and TNT, crashed 10% to the lowest level on record after it reported dire results, which missed across the board and plunged across every income statement category...
... but the biggest hit - and surprise - was the company's stunning $9.1 billion charge taken to write down the value of its traditional TV networks, such as CNN and TNT, which were acquired in 2022 when Warner Bros Discovery was created as part of its acquisition of WarnerMedia. The write down confirmed that legacy cable channels like CNN and TNT are no longer worth what they were when the $42 billion merger was completed. In fact, judging by the ongoing mass layoffs at the former, one can argue that CNN's value is now negative and will continue to be so until it stops hemorrhaging cash.
For the quarter, Warner Bros. reported a net loss of $10 billion, which included additional charges of $2.1 billion related to its merger. Revenue for the quarter fell 6.2% to $9.71 billion. Of note, the revenue collapse in the company's Networks segment, which includes CNN, just won't stop. — ZeroHedge
Wearing Masks Illegal in New York's Nassau County
Lawmakers in New York's Nassau County approved a bill banning masks in public spaces, saying the move will help fight crime during protests.
The measure, which passed earlier this week and was headed to Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman's desk to sign, makes wearing a mask and concealing identity a misdemeanor that is punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine, ABC News reported.
Proponents for the bill in the suburban Long Island county say the measure was necessary after the protests in connection with the Israel-Hamas war.
Legislator Howard Kopel said during a public meeting about the mandate this week that the bill was brought about to respond to the "antisemitic incidents, often perpetrated by those in masks" during the protests.
The ruling has exceptions that exempt people who are wearing face coverings for religious or health reasons, but says that masks that are worn otherwise are "often used as a predicate to harassing, menacing or criminal behavior."
Under the legislation, local law enforcement will have the right to demand that people remove their masks when there is a "reasonable suspicion of criminal activity or intention to partake in criminal activity," and during traffic stops. — NewsMax
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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There was a peaceful transfer of power in 2021 even though many of us saw the counting shut down in 6 swing states simultaneously and we knew the real winner would not be president. They think people are really stupid. For those who haven't heard Pelosi Jan 6th was Pelosi and a Trump frame up and it worked for weak minded Americans and the Democrats know they can convince most people of anything. Pelosi had 200 FBI agents in MAGA hats shooting rubber bullets into the crowd. And thousands of innocent people are in filthy prisons for 3 years denied medical attention, denied privacy of their attorneys, some have been beaten by guards others thrown in solitaire without clothing and 2 have committed suicide. Only people that died were 2 Trump supporters. Ashley Babbitt was shot and Roseanne Boland was beaten to death IN THE TUNNEL by Capitol Police. All these people tried to do was attend a peaceful protest. THIS WAS A MESSAGE TO AMERICANS FOR FUTURE ELECTIONS. SHOULD YOU EXPERIENCE CHEATING DURING AN ELECTION PERSONALLY YOU BETTER KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!!
All of this ceremonial garbage in the religions is nothing more than a distraction from the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who by the way, never asked for any of this in order to be saved. Sacrifices, ceremonies, rituals, all trash!