Badlands News Brief

Media Death Spiral, Vaccine Lawsuits & Beaver Butts

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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 picks 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 commentary from members of our growing team of citizen journalists. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see their other work.

Now, onto the news from Tuesday, May 2 …

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CNN says Trump will appear at New Hampshire town hall next week

As president, Donald Trump frequently derided CNN as “fake news.” Now that he’s running again, Trump has agreed to appear on a live town hall forum from New Hampshire next week for CNN viewers.

The event, scheduled for May 10 at St. Anselm’s College in Goffstown, New Hampshire, will be televised at 9 p.m. Eastern. Kaitlan Collins will moderate. Trump will take questions from Republicans and undeclared voters who are planning to participate in the 2024 GOP primary.

Although Trump has taken audience questions at some rallies and has been interviewed by Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson in recent weeks on Fox News, this is his first town hall-style event of the 2024 campaign.

The booking is a clear attempt by Trump to draw a contrast with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an expected GOP presidential primary opponent. It is also a big deal for slumping CNN as it works to get beyond the era of former leader Jeff Zucker.

Trump never gave an interview to a CNN journalist while he was president.

A Trump adviser who was not authorized to speak publicly said stepping outside of the traditional comfort zone for Republicans was key to Trump’s success in 2016. The advisor said CNN executives made a compelling pitch to Trump. — AP News

Our Take: “Well, well, well. The rumor train made a stop by the quaint town of ‘Trump and the patriots are in control of CNN now.’ Population: Nothing Can Stop What's Coming believers.

Are they wrong? That remains to be seen. What we do know for certain is that if anyone can use verbal fencing to win a battle for truth and freedom, it's Donald J. Trump. Regardless, the popcorn must flow to accommodate the interest in what will happen next week during this ill-fated (for the Deep State) town hall.

I know I'll be watching with bated breath.” — Justin Deschamps

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Major Banks Could Be Liable For Jeffrey Epstein Sex Trafficking: Judge

Two major banks and a bank executive could be liable for Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking, a judge has ruled.

Plaintiffs have presented enough evidence that JPMorgan Chase, longtime JPMorgan executive Jes Staley, and Deutsche Bank could be liable for Epstein’s sex trafficking, U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff said on May 1 as he rejected motions to dismiss cases brought against Staley and the institutions.

“Plaintiffs have pled sufficient facts to support their allegations that JP Morgan had … knowledge of Jeffrey Epstein’s sex-trafficking venture, either directly or by recklessly disregarding what was plainly to be seen,” Rakoff, a Clinton appointee, wrote in a 54-page decision.

One of the plaintiffs, a woman who says she was abused by Epstein and his associates, has also pled “sufficient facts to support her allegation that Deutsche Bank knew or recklessly disregarded that Jeffrey Epstein ran a sex-trafficking venture,” the judge also said.

The ruling came in cases brought by several alleged Epstein victims and the U.S. Virgin Islands government against JPMorgan and Deutsche Bank. It also covers a claim filed against Staley by JP Morgan. — The Epoch Times

Our Take: “Political. Cultural. Financial. Clandestine. Spiritual.

These are the pillars of the Deep State's System of Systems.

They're being exposed one-by-one. But increasingly, they're being conflated in the Collective Mind, with the threads that only this community could see being rendered more clear and obvious for the slowly awakening minds just joining the party.

Narrative Convergence is all around us, if you have the eyes to see it.

And Game Theory is a bitch, if you're on the wrong side of it.” — Burning Bright

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Texas AG Ken Paxton Announces Investigation Against Pfizer, J&J, and Moderna Over Deceptive Practices

On Monday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that his office would launch an investigation against three major pharmaceutical companies for deceptive practices, alleging that they had misrepresented the safety and efficacy of their vaccines.

In a press statement, Paxton claimed that his office would look into whether or not “profit motive or political pressure” played a role in any “pandemic interventions forced on the public.”

“The development of the Covid-19 vaccine, and the representations made by and knowledge of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, are of profound interest to the public’s health and welfare. This investigation aims to discover the truth,” said Attorney General Paxton in the news release.

“This pandemic was a deeply challenging time for Americans. If any company illegally took advantage of consumers during this period or compromised people’s safety to increase their profits, they will be held responsible. If public health policy was developed on the basis of flawed or misleading research, the public must know. The catastrophic effects of the pandemic and subsequent interventions forced on our country and citizens deserve intense scrutiny, and we are pursuing any hint of wrongdoing to the fullest,” he added. — The Gateway Pundit

Our Take: “Hopefully this is the start of a growing trend. We've been asleep at the wheel. We've let our lawmakers and elected officials repeatedly ignore our wishes and instructions, violating their trust-bound oath to uphold the will of the people.

They fail to hold to account corporate powers (Big Pharma) that are repeatedly found to have manipulated studies, hidden dangers from public inspection, and profiteer regularly at the cost of the wellbeing of the customers.

This bill is a good start, but there's much, much more to be done.” — Justin Deschamps

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Vice Media heads for bankruptcy after laying off staff

The American-Canadian digital media and broadcasting company Vice is preparing to file for bankruptcy, New York Times has reported citing two people with knowledge of its operations.

As per the NYT report, the media firm has received interest from five companies and might consider a sale to avoid bankruptcy. The report further added that in the event of a bankruptcy, which could happen in the coming weeks, Vice's debtholder Fortress Investment Group could end up controlling the company. 

This news of bankruptcy comes just days after after the well-regarded TV and online video outlet laid off staff and canceled its flagship program Vice News Tonight. Last week, Vice Media said it will cancel popular TV program "Vice News Tonight" as part of a broader restructuring that will result in job cuts across the digital media firm's global news business, capping years of financial difficulties and top-executive departures.

Vice, which operates a cable channel of the same name and creates documentaries and other video content for its own outlets and others, was once valued at $5.7 billion. Investors included Walt Disney Co. and Fox Corp., although their equity may now be worthless, the Times said. Its largest debt holder is Fortress Investment Group, according to the newspaper. — Mint

Our Take: “Vice News was once valued as a company at $5.7 billion. You’d think that, with that much money, they’d last forever, wouldn’t you? It has been said that standing armies cannot stop an idea whose time has come. On the flip side, one could also say that billions of dollars cannot save a company whose time has gone…

The dissolution of Vice News strongly suggests that the genre of progressive ‘infotainment’ peddled by them—and companies like them—simply doesn’t have the staying power or the popularity we are told it has. If this is indeed the case, then it calls into question the ‘broader narrative’ (to use a phrase adored by academics) that the modern left has, in fact, successfully “captured” modern culture.

It would seem, quite literally, that no one is ‘buying’ what their selling anymore. The goal of propaganda is not to inform, but to misinform—to take ordinary men and women out of the game of life by misrepresenting the truth as effectively as possible.

In the book Public Opinion, by Walter Lippman, we learn that the mass proliferation of newspapers roughly a century ago was not an ‘organic’ event; rather, it was the result of powerful moneyed interests coming together to capture the minds of the masses, firstly by creating an entire ‘news’ industry from the ground up, and then by convincing the people that said industry came into existence by virtue of popular demand. In light of such history, it makes one wonder if indeed outlets such as Vice ever rose to prominence due to popular demand, or if the demand was engineered after their creation.

It takes a lot of ‘free’ money to make something like that happen, leading one to ask: did the money-faucet run dry? And if so, then how and why? We don’t fully know the answer to these questions, but either way, this is an undeniably positive development.” — American Hypnotist

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FDA Approves First Oral Pill Made from Human Poop

On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revealed that it had authorized the first pill taken orally made from donated human feces.

An enema-based medicine was cleared for use in December 2022, making this the second treatment produced from human feces to receive approval.

The FDA has given its approval for the pills, Vowst, to be used by adults aged 18 and older who have a history of repeated infections with Clostridium difficile, a kind of bacteria that can cause severe cases of nausea, cramps, and diarrhea. — The Gateway Pundit

Our Take: “First bug paste, now this.

The drug apparently has a valid benefit. You can use it to treat some bacterial problems. But surely there has to be another way? In all seriousness, the fact we can derive beneficial compounds from things as seemingly useless as feces just goes to show you how value-packed our universe really is. God truly let's nothing go to waste—a source of endless torment for the irrationally disgust prone.

For centuries, we used all sorts of nasty things to tan leather, like bird droppings or vats of collected urine. But there is a line to be drawn. Unfortunately for our would-be masters, they don't seem keen on finding a decent line.

Eating bugs in the name of ending climate change is decidedly over the line, mainly because most bugs have exoskeletons that contain Chitin, known to cause pro-inflammatory responses in mammals (Source). We can only hope that the products produced from human poop are limited to ones we don't have to interact with on the regular. And yet, we already have flavorings made from beaver butts, so maybe we're already too far gone.” — Justin Deschamps

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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.