Badlands News Brief
Donald's Drive-Thru Goes Viral as Iran Makes Moves ...
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 …
Trump makes fries at Pennsylvania McDonald's: 'I've now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala'
Former President Donald Trump took on a new role as he cooked and served french fries to customers at McDonald's on Sunday afternoon in Pennsylvania, while dishing out plenty of jabs at Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Hello, everybody. It's my first day at McDonald's, I'm looking for a job," Trump said as he entered the establishment and shook hands with the owner.
Thousands of Trump supporters surrounded the McDonald's restaurant as Trump spent the afternoon working as a fry cook after accusing Harris of lying about working at the fast food restaurant.
"I've now worked for 15 minutes more than Kamala at McDonald's," Trump said through the drive-thru window as he handed out orders. — FOX News
And …
Antonio Brown says he would take job in Trump administration and is ready to run for office
NFL legend Antonio Brown says he is all in and ready to do whatever it takes to get Donald Trump to the White House and make his presidency a success.
That means he is ready to join the Trump administration or even become his man on Capitol Hill, he said with a grin, if the former president wins the election in November.
After appearing at a Trump rally on Saturday, the former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver led a voter registration drive at a tailgate party before Sunday evening's game against the New York Jets.
And he had time to talk to DailyMail.com in between tossing out Trump-Vance rally towels in Steeler yellow.
He said he would do whatever was needed to help make Trump a success, he said, from a job in the White House to becoming an elected representative. — Daily Mail
Our Take: This whole thing just keeps getting more surreal.
President Trump goes to work at Mc-Donald's, and we get yet another iconic image that will help define the spectacular nature of this absurd moment in time.
We also get one of the greatest NFL wide receivers of all time, who only recently retired, speaking at a Trump rally.
Drafted in 2010, Antonio Brown (AB) had one of the most prolific NFL careers ever. The "prime" of his career was from 2014-2018, when he broke basically every record on the books with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and it was only cut short due to what appeared to be a mental health situation. In a matter of weeks during the 2019 offseason, AB went from being the highest-paid and most highly coveted wide receiver in the League (a contract worth tens of millions of dollars) to unemployed and unlikely to even play for any team in the 2019 season, after being traded to the Oakland Raiders and a series of incidents with their management resulted in his termination.
But everybody loves a good comeback story, and AB won a Super Bowl with Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020. Remember Tom Brady? The only professional athlete from a "mainstream" sport that endorsed Donald Trump up until recently? And he did that during the campaign cycle in 2016.
But what really makes this AB storyline surreal is this little nugget that I discovered as I was writing this take.
He is the current President of Donda Sports, which is Kanye West's sports fashion brand. Meaning AB works for Kanye West.
Looks like Yevolution is not only back on the menu, but merging with the Trumpamania storyline. —
CBS Hit With FCC Complaint Charging "Significant And Intentional News Distortion" Over Edited Kamala Interview
CBS News has been formally issued with an FCC complaint regarding its surreptitious editing of Kamala Harris’ 60 Minutes interview.
The complaint charges that the network engaged in “significant and intentional news distortion.”
Edited and unedited portions of the interview were shared side by side as it became clear CBS was attempting to make Harris appear less incompetent.
Fox News reports that The Center for American Rights argues that the discrepancies “amount to deliberate news distortion — a violation of FCC rules governing broadcasters’ public interest obligations.”
The complaint seeks to force CBS to release an unedited transcript of the interview to set the record straight.
“This isn’t just about one interview or one network,” CAR president Daniel Suhr said in a statement.
“This is about the public’s trust in the media on critical issues of national security and international relations during one of the most consequential elections of our time,” Suhr continued.
He added, “When broadcasters manipulate interviews and distort reality, it undermines democracy itself. The FCC must act swiftly to restore public confidence in our news media.”
As we highlighted, despite CBS News’ best efforts to make Harris appear coherent, she still came across as totally unprepared and rambling. — Modernity News
Our Take: The internet is buzzing with the news that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is investigating CBS for their misleading edits on Kamala Harris’ interview.
Before people get too excited in thinking that MSM propagandists will be held accountable, remember that the FCC rules by committee — five commissioners are appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The current balance is 3-2 Democrat:
1. Jessica Rosenworcel - Democrat (Chair)
2. Geoffrey Starks - Democrat
3. Brendan Carr - Republican
4. Anna Gomez - Democrat
5. Nathan Simington - Republican
The comments about CBS liability in this article are from one of the Republican commissioners. He is ideologically outnumbered, so I’m skeptical that this complaint is going to go anywhere beyond rhetoric.
Still, the scandal is massive because of its deception. That a “major” news outlet would so extensively edit the prerecorded answers of a Presidential candidate, in an obvious effort to benefit that candidate and rehab her responses, is antithetical to journalistic integrity.
Thankfully, very few Americans are watching the MSM anymore.
According to Ad Week, the CBS interview was Harris’ third most watched media appearance, with 5.7M viewers (live plus same day x 1000):
FOX: Harris with Bret Baier: 7.8M
CNN: Harris & Walz first interview with Dana Bash: 6.3M
CBS: Harris on 60 Minutes: 5.7M
ABC: Harris on The View: 3.1M
CBS: Harris on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: 2.9M
MSNBC: Harris and Stephanie Rule: 1.8M
Again, the numbers are [(live + same day) x 1000]. The number of people getting their news from mainstream outlets — and, thus, the impact of mainstream news stories — continues to decline as the networks struggle to maintain eyeballs. According to Forbes, “…in 2023…not one cable network maintained a primetime average audience in excess of two million viewers.”
While the FCC goes hard on regulating the internet — and independent creators — they throw up their hands when it comes to accountability for MSM deception.
All that to say, while it’s important to talk about this CBS scandal, don’t get your hopes up for networks to be held accountable by the FCC. At least until after January 20, 2025. —
Wall Street Going "All-In On Trump"
JPMorgan's closely followed Positioning Intelligence team published a must read report (available to pro subs), in which John Schlegel summarized the recent hedge fund positioning rather simply: "all-in on Trump themes."
This is how the JPM trader summarizes the findings of his report:
As odds of a Trump presidency and Red Wave have increased over the past few weeks, we’ve seen themes that are perceived to be Republican Winners (JPREPWIN) outperform Democratic Winners (JPDEMWIN) by ~7% over the past month. Crypto stocks and small caps have performed better, while Renewables have underperformed. In addition, the wider US equity market continues to make new ATHs and positioning appears to be elevated. Based on the thematic shifts, historical returns around elections, and elevated positioning, there’s room for a bit of disappointment and reversal in coming weeks if odds start to shift the other way.
In other words, the "smart market" is increasingly going all-in on a Trump victory. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: Polls are fake ... and for quite some time, elections have been, too.
But there are "real" votes in the ether. Those come in the form of bets, and hedges.
Now, betting sentiment favoring Donald Trump isn't indicative of his overall support levels, which we're told are closer to 80% than 60%, but they DO mark an interesting shift in how big money THINKS the election is going to play out.
I don't believe "smart money" suddenly got wise to Trump's populism, or Kamala's falsity.
Instead, I take this shift as evidence of the fact that Wall Street and money makers don't believe the machine is going to get away with it this time, and they tend to sniff this stuff out before we do.
The breakouts of Gold, Silver and Bitcoin represent votes all their own ... mass psychological, even subconscious votes against the System's survival.
Fake money is being transformed into real money. Fake sentiment is being overshadowed by real sentiment.
Will a fake administration be replaced by a real one? —
Leaked US Intelligence Documents Related To Israel's Attack Preparations On Iran Appear Online
A major leak of US classified documents has appeared online Saturday... or we should qualify alleged leaks of at least two TOP SECRET documents, with both marked NOFORN - which is among the highest classifications - given it indicates the specific intelligence cannot be shared with allied foreign intelligence agencies (with the exception of the "Five Eyes").
A breaking Axios report suggests their authenticity: "U.S. officials are extremely concerned about a potentially major security breach after two alleged U.S. intelligence documents about Israel's preparations for an attack on Iran were published by a Telegram account affiliated with Iran," Barak Ravid, who maintains close Israeli military and intelligence sources, writes.
The documents include one which was reportedly authored by the Department of Defense National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), dubbed a "Visual Intelligence" report and distributed among the US intelligence community (IC) earlier this week, and dated to Oct.14-16.
Neither the Pentagon nor NGA have offered official confirmation or comment, nor are they likely to. The documents first appeared on a pro-Iran Telegram channel. Axios has identified the channel name as "Middle East Spectator".
The docs first appeared online Friday, but the Axios report has strongly pointed to the authenticity of leak.
The region has remained on edge as Israel prepares to retaliate against Iran for its Oct.1st ballistic missile attack which saw some 200 projectiles pummel various sites in central Israel, some of which were said to be Iranian hypersonics. Axios has noted that "The leak could be an attempt to disrupt the Israeli operation." — ZeroHedge
And …
Drone strike launched from Lebanon toward Netanyahu's house, no casualties reported
A drone strike was launched toward Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s house in the town of Caesarea, north of Tel Aviv, on Saturday morning, according to the Israeli prime minister’s office.
Netanyahu and his wife were not in the building, and there were no casualties.
In a post on X, Netanyahu blamed “Iran’s proxy Hezbollah” for the attack he described as an assassination attempt, saying any actors who try to harm other citizens of Israel “will pay a heavy price.”
“The attempt by Iran’s proxy Hezbollah to assassinate me and my wife today was a grave mistake,” he said. “This will not deter me or the State of Israel from continuing our just war against our enemies in order to secure our future.”
The Israel Defense Forces said the drone in question crossed from Lebanon. It “hit a structure in the area of Caesarea,” the town where Netanyahu’s residence is located, about 50 miles from the northern border with Lebanon, the military said in a statement.
The IDF added that two other drones were intercepted and that the incident was under review. — NBC News
Our Take: Barak Ravid, huh?
He's the Israeli journalist that Trump always uses to deploy narratives to the Israeli people, such as the interview from December 2021 when Trump described Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas as a "father figure," said that Abbas wanted peace and Netanyahu did not, implicitly endorsed Benny Gantz for Israeli Prime Minister over Netanyahu, and said "F-ck him" about Bibi, referring to the fact that Netanyahu was the first world leader to call Biden and congratulate him on defeating Trump in the 2020 election, effectively consecrating the coup.
"The leak could be an attempt to disrupt the Israeli operation."
This was actually my first thought when I saw the headline. The fact that Netanyahu's house was allegedly targeted over the weekend is the gasoline Bibi has been looking for to pour on the bonfire of war, and kick this thing off to the next level. (Funny how that always seems to work out for Bibi.)
Nevermind the fact that Netanyahu opened this can of worms, by assassinating the leaders of his declared enemies. The fact remains that Putin just drew a red line in the sand, and now Netanyahu believes he has the justification to cross it.
It makes sense that an earnest actor would attempt to subvert the situation, by doing something extreme like this. The fact that it leaked not only on Telegram, but on a pro-Iran Telegram channel, is also not insignificant, to me.
Here's what Trump said during the 2021 interview with Ravid:
"[Netanyahu] did not do the right thing [with Iran/Soleimani]. I am very disappointed with Israel. I can't talk about it, right now. I will be talking about it, at the right time..."
When would that be? Maybe when Netanyahu is trying to start a major war with Iran?
The narrative is captivating and tense, which makes for a great story. And I expect this story to only get more intense and exciting, from here. —
Shoplifters Gone Wild: “They pop the locks; they melt the glass; they take the keys out of employees’ hands.”
The splendor of the American big-box store lay before me, with its endless variety of shaving products in every imaginable size and color—a retail extravaganza, all of it locked behind Plexiglas. I needed a razor, and in order to obtain one at my neighborhood Target, I had to press a red button to summon a store clerk. Depending on where you live, you may know the drill. I waited in Aisle B45 with two women, one in front of the Dove deodorants, the other in the Old Spice section.
“I keep pushing, but no one comes,” said the Old Spice lady.
Six minutes passed. I pressed my button; my fellow shoppers pressed theirs. The Dove woman let out a dramatic sigh and left. Was a clean shave really worth all this? I looked at Old Spice; we shook our heads and departed. Result: three paying customers sacrificed to the War on Shoplifting.
By definition, most shoplifting is petty plunder—candy bars, baby formula, lipstick. But the small stuff adds up, as demonstrated by viral videos showing shelves of deodorant or cold medicine swiped into Hefty bags by thieves who can’t even be bothered to run away. Some people contend that all of the noise about shoplifting reflects mainly a race-tinged social panic, but the retail industry is not locking up its goods, annoying its customers, and closing stores because of a few viral videos. Companies are doing it because they’re seeing their goods walk out the door, costing them billions.
Big corporate retailers, mom-and-pop shops, cops, prosecutors, and lawmakers have tried everything to stop the thefts: get tough, be gentle, invest in new surveillance technology, turn pharmacies into fortresses. Nothing seems to work. At my Target in Washington, D.C., I counted 21 aisles of goods locked behind plastic, including toothpaste, body wash, underwear, earbuds, and air fresheners—all items that impulse thieves and organized criminals alike find desirable and easiest to resell, on the street or, more often these days, online.
Who is taking all of this stuff? And why has this age-old nuisance crime become so prevalent? — The Atlantic
Our Take: “Stealing, he wrote, was a way of ‘fighting for dignity.’”
That, friends, is how we got here. Decriminalizing crime leads to an increase in crime. Shocking, I know.
After decades of decriminalizing crime, and inverting its moral burden, the narrators have changed hearts and minds towards the very concept of theft. This isn’t new; in fact, Western children have been conditioned into this mind shift for generations.
Consider the 1973 animated epic, Robin Hood:
As the Atlantic piece concludes, it’s socially acceptable to steal now. This is, of course, working as designed by the social justice reformers.
“So, they go out and they need to feed their child and they don't have money...they need to shoplift some bread or go hungry that night,” AOC infamously said of in response to criticism of widespread looting in Philadelphia.
There are many examples, with these reformers, of reframing those that steal — whether it’s bread or earbuds, formula or flat screens — as benevolent Robins Hood, stealing from the rich (business owners) and redistributing to the poor; stealing in defiance of systemic power’s ongoing injustice.
The coordinated, multigenerational programming has worked, as indicated by the social tolerance for theft. It’s how we got here. But, at its core, this messaging is just more sociopathic gaslighting from the regime.
The top-line message of Robin Hood is that “he stole from the rich to give to the poor.” In the pre-modern story, which dates to the late 15th or early 16th century, Robin Hood stole from the treasury and gave to the people. His advocacy the common people and his opposition to the Sheriff — who was collecting taxes for the king…the government — are features of the earliest recordings of this legend.
He stole from the government and returned to the people what was rightfully theirs.
Social justice reformers claim to advocate for the people. In reality, they are the Sheriff of Nottingham, cosplaying Robin Hood, while at the same time demanding the King’s tribute and snatching the last farthing from the offering plate.
To illustrate, Democrats in Colorado, a one party state for nearly a decade, conspire every legislative session to erode our state constitution’s “taxpayer bill of rights.” They claim the taxpayer bill of rights is hurting their ability to care for the poor — which in practice means funneling millions to their favorite NGOs, who always seem to exacerbate the problems they’re solving. “We need it for the poor!” they cry, while rapidly implementing policies to ensure the number of poor increase.
This is the logical conclusion of using weaponized empathy to decriminalize crime, while simultaneously reframing the government as a benevolent public good.
It’s working as designed.
Resist. —
NATO Membership Or Nuclear Weapons: Zelensky Stuns Allies With Demand
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, having received a lackluster response when he pitched his 'victory plan' to US officials in Washington last month, now says that Ukraine must either join NATO or obtain nuclear weapons.
He made the ultra provocative comments while speaking before the EU’s European Council in Brussels, where he presented the victory plan before European lawmakers. That's when he referenced a recent private conversation with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, saying he told Trump that his country needs "some kind of alliance" or be "forced to pursue nuclear weapons."
"In a conversation with Donald Trump I said – this is our situation: What way out do we have? Either Ukraine will have nuclear weapons, which for us will be a defense, or we’ll need to have some sort of alliance, besides NATO. But today we know of no other alliance," Zelensky said.
"NATO countries today are not at war. NATO countries are not fighting. In NATO countries people are still alive. Thank God. That is why we choose NATO, not nuclear weapons. And Donald Trump heard me. He said you have a just argument," he continued.
At one point in these comments he referenced this historic Budapest Memorandum, a 1994 agreement where Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal from Soviet times in exchange for security guarantees from Russia, the US, and UK.
He also emphasized in a rhetorical question, "Which nuclear states suffered? None except Ukraine… Who gave up their nuclear weapons? All of them? No. Only Ukraine… Who is fighting today? Ukraine." — ZeroHedge
Our Take: Oh that's cute. Zelensky-- who has no leverage-- making demands of the guy who wrote The Art of the Deal.
Demanding a nuclear weapon is a narrative that I think aligns with the Iran/Israel storyline. Imagine how silly it will appear if Ukraine is actually given a nuclear weapon, after all the bed-wetting we have endured over the idea of Iran getting one?
Meanwhile former Russian president and current deputy chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has claimed that Ukraine is working on a dirty bomb. He said the Zelensky government "has everything necessary for that: resources, technology and specialists."
Perfection.
The narratives are all converging in the most brilliant and twisted ways imaginable. Looking forward to the two theaters of war (Ukraine/Israel) formally converging in the mainstream storyline. —
BONUS ITEMS
Trump Considers No Taxes for Military, Police and Firefighters
Donald Trump said he’d consider exempting police officers, firefighters, active duty military and veterans from paying taxes, the Republican nominee’s latest campaign trail idea to deliver tax breaks to key groups of supporters.
“It’s something I would think about,” Trump said in response to a question about excluding first responders and military members from tax bills on an online show Maintaining with Tyrus that aired Friday.
“You’re like my tax person there, but yeah. I mean something has to be done,” he said. “It’s almost an incentive to where you can get people interested.”
The idea to exempt military members and first responders from taxation is the latest in a long list of tax proposals the former president has talked about while campaigning against Democrat Kamala Harris. He’s pledged to eliminate taxes on tipped wages, overtime pay and Social Security benefits. Trump didn’t give any more details about the service member tax exclusion. All of those ideas would require congressional approval in order to become law.
The no-taxes-on-military-and-first-responders idea could be among the largest new tax cuts he’s discussed to date, exempting more than 20 million people from federal tax payments. There are about 18 million living veterans in the US, roughly 1.3 million active duty troops, approximately 1 million police offers in the US and more than 300,000 professional firefighters, according to several estimates.
The US does offer some broad tax exemption to military members, but that is largely limited to people who are serving in active combat zones. — Bloomberg
Who has cast mail ballots so far in Pennsylvania? Highly engaged voters.
Voting is underway in full force now, with just shy of 14 million Americans having already cast ballots ahead of November’s election. And data from one key state shows how, even with patterns shifting, those ballots come from the voters who are highly engaged.
In all-important Pennsylvania, 787,900 voters had successfully returned ballots as of Friday, the most recent data update from the Pennsylvania Department of State. Democrats account for just over 500,000 of those ballots cast so far, while Republicans have sent in just 210,000.
For both parties, the ballots cast so far are largely from voters who have participated in recent elections. A POLITICO analysis of the state’s mail ballot data found roughly 84 percent of voters in the state who have cast ballots so far voted in the state in 2020, and that share is relatively similar for both Republicans and Democrats. And the real percentage of this year’s mail voters who voted in 2020 is actually even higher, because of people moving and re-registering.
Looking at all elections in the last four years, at least 93 percent of voters who have cast ballots in Pennsylvania have voted at some point in the past four years, including 95 percent of Democrats and 93 percent of Republicans. — Politico
Trump overtakes Harris for first time in Decision Desk HQ/The Hill election forecast
Former President Trump on Sunday overtook Vice President Harris for the first time in the Decision Desk HQ/The Hill election forecast this cycle.
The model predicts Trump has a 52 percent chance of winning the presidency while Harris has a 42 percent chance, as of Sunday.
Since late August, the election forecast put Harris’s chances of winning at approximately 54 to 56 percent, with Trump’s chances at approximately 44 to 46 percent. In early October, however, those dynamics began to shift, and the election forecast predicted both candidates’ chances to be closer to 50 percent.
On Oct. 17, the model predicted the two candidates were equally likely to win next month, and Trump took the advantage on Oct. 20.
The shift in election forecast coincides with the Republican candidate’s improved polling averages in Wisconsin and Michigan, two battleground states that previously leaned slightly toward Harris. Trump already had a slim advantage in Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina.
Of the seven swing states seen as decisive in determining the outcome of the 2024 election, Pennsylvania is alone in still favoring Harris in its polling average. — The Hill
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.
Badlands Media will always put out our content for free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Help our collective of citizen journalists take back the narrative from the MSM. We are the news now.
“Make Criming Criminal Again” and “Viva Le Yevolution!” I am enjoying this. We absolutely need to return to holding people to high standards and to rituals of public humiliation for criminals (including/especially when it comes to breach of trust)
Thanks for the first salvo of the week. It is hard to believe that two weeks from today will be the eve of what should be our next election... did not think this dystopia would last this long... but here we are and we survived.
God Wins!
God Bless!!!