The news cycle is impossible to fully track these days. That’s where we come in. The Badlands News Brief is a uniquely curated selection of the stories dominating the info war — with context and commentary from Badlands hosts.
A divided Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for the Trump administration to use a controversial wartime authority to deport alleged members of a Venezuelan gang, but said detainees must first have an opportunity to challenge their deportations.
The 5-4 ruling did not touch on the underlying legal questions about the government’s use of the Alien Enemies Act, one of the most high-profile and contentious immigration enforcement actions so far in President Donald Trump’s second term.
Instead, the majority ruled that the five Venezuelan immigrants who challenged the policy did so in the wrong court, leaving open the possibility that those targeted for deportation could refile their case in Texas or other jurisdictions where they are detained.
“The detainees are confined in Texas, so venue is improper in the District of Columbia,” the justices wrote of the challenge in U.S. District Court in D.C. “As a result, the Government is likely to succeed on the merits of this action.” – The Washington Post
Our Take: The way I read it, Boasberg’s pride and obstructionists’ plans for judicial overreach are most impacted by this opinion.
Sotomayor’s dissent is a temper tantrum in which Kagan and Jackson, of course, joined. Barrett also joined in two parts of Sotomayor’s 17-page dissent.
Apparently, a bunch of gang members became a (provisionally) certified class so they could access the D.C. District Court under the Administrative Procedures Act to stop their deportations.
But the Y-Chromes on the High Court said they can’t do that, because the Executive’s powers under the Alien Enemies Act are pretty off limits for the courts – judicial review is only permitted for habeas claims (wrongful detention). Now check out this bit from Sotomayor:
“The plaintiffs in this case sued not to challenge their detention, but to protect themselves from summary deportation pursuant to the Proclamation. Indeed, because all of the plaintiffs were already in immigration detention under other statutes when the Government subjected them to the Proclamation, they have repeatedly emphasized throughout this litigation that they do not seek release from custody and are not contesting the validity of their confinement or seeking to shorten its duration. The plaintiffs in this case sued not to challenge their detention, but to protect themselves from summary deportation pursuant to the Proclamation. Indeed, because all of the plaintiffs were already in immigration detention under other statutes when the Government subjected them to the Proclamation, they have repeatedly emphasized throughout this litigation that they do not seek release from custody and are not contesting the validity of their confinement or seeking to shorten its duration.” (internal quotations omitted, emphasis ours)
So, they aren’t seeking relief under habeas? That means we’re done here. From the majority opinion:
“Initially, the detainees sought relief in habeas among other causes of action, but they dismissed their habeas claims.”
In fact, these plaintiffs brought habeas claims originally but voluntarily dismissed them to join the criminal migrant gang class action suit (that was probably concocted by some communist NGO. Or Norm Eisen. But I repeat myself).
Now migrant gang members have to be tried individually in the district where they’re detained – and their deportation is only subject to judicial review under habeas. But these specific migrant gang members likely waived those claims when they dismissed them to join the class.
“The dissents would have the Court delay resolving that issue, requiring—given our decision today—that the process begin anew down the road. We see no benefit in such wasteful delay.”
In my (non-legal and possibly wrong) opinion, the court didn’t reach the migrant gang class action’s arguments – which were essentially to reinterpret the AEA and assume the Executive’s Powers over national security and foreign policy – because they can’t.
Those presidential powers are NOT subject to judicial review.
That’s what the majority stated in this opinion:
“We grant the application and vacate the TROs. The detainees seek equitable relief against the implementation of the Proclamation and against their removal under the AEA. They challenge the Government’s interpretation of the Act and assert that they do not fall within the category of removable alien enemies. But we do not reach those arguments. Challenges to removal under the AEA, a statute which largely ‘preclude[s] judicial review… must be brought in habeas. … their claims fall within the core of the writ of habeas corpus and thus must be brought in habeas.”
When a statute “precludes judicial review” that means that the law says the courts can’t review the action. The AEA is a wartime power, as Kavanaugh said in his concurrence:
“In the extradition context and with respect to transfers of Guantanamo and other wartime detainees, habeas corpus proceedings have long been the appropriate vehicle… That general rule holds true for claims under the Alien Enemies Act, the statute under which the Government is seeking to remove these detainees.”
As I’ve said many times, I love it when they sue. Authorities get clarified.
Boasberg has a hearing on this scheduled today, and many online are speculating that the judge is going to find the Trump administration in contempt.
Setting aside that the Supreme Court just found Boasberg never had jurisdiction – so his ability to issue that finding and levy any sort of sanction is debatable – even if he has that ability… so what?
I personally don’t think the Trump Admin even has to show up. We’ll see what happens today! – Ashe in America
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Another Take: It’s amazing how Leftist NGOs can judge shop, get standing, and have a trial in Washington DC from plaintiffs in Texas… That is allowed to proceed with existing case law, a usurpation of Presidential authority, and the judge rules in favor of a foreign terrorist organization.
But we couldn’t get any judges to allow voters to bring election challenges in their own local courts.
Our judicial system is either utterly compromised or broken beyond repair. – CannCon’s Newsletter
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The scheduled press conference with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump has been cancelled, according to a White House official.
The Prime Minister’s Office confirms this to The Times of Israel.
The press conference was set to take place after their meeting. Joint statements are still expected in the Oval Office. The White House did not offer any immediate explanation for why the news conference was canceled. — The Times of Israel
Our Take: Nobody – and I mean nobody – is talking about the fact that President Trump cancelled the scheduled press conference with Bibi Netanyahu. The clips circulating the internet are from the Oval Office press pool huddle, which was a separately scheduled event on the White House itinerary.
I covered the Oval Office huddle on Badlands Live yesterday, and found the event highly amusing. In fact, I think the whole thing was designed to humiliate Netanyahu.
First of all, they were about 75 minutes late – which, frankly, isn't unusual – but then President Trump proceeded to speak, nonstop, for over 50 minutes, pausing only to field questions from the press. At one point, the press were all screaming questions at POTUS, so he settled them down by assuring them that Bibi "has all day" to sit there and listen.
The one time Trump did give Netanyahu permission to briefly speak, Bibi put his foot in his mouth by affirming his desire to expel all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip – an idea that was considered a taboo conspiracy theory just a year ago.
Trump baited the press, and the anti-Trump influencer community, by bringing emphatical attention to the narrative that there "isn't a single example or shred of evidence that Hamas has ever been kind or delicate to the Israeli hostages." This is something that I quickly debunked moments after the huddle ended by accessing the search function on X and scrolling through video after video of hostages smiling and laughing with their supposed captors, being given bottles of water, coffee, and tea by Hamas as they awaited for their rides, and even a video of a man kissing a few of the "terrorists" on the forehead as he said goodbye to them.
Two old women who were among the first released last June are shown being carefully walked by the Hamas soldiers to the vans sent to pick them up, and one turns and shakes their hand in an apparent act of genuine gratitude. When asked by the media why she did this, the woman replied that it was because of how well she was treated by Hamas throughout her captivity. (Her frail appearance leaves little doubt that had she been abused in any way, it would have been physically obvious. Even Trump commented on how good all of the hostages actually looked upon their release, speculating that all of their trauma must be psychological.)
So the question is, will the MSM take the bait and "prove Trump to be a liar" by showing the world these clips? If they do, it would be a moment of self-defeat, as they’d be undermining their own narrative that they have spent the past 18+ months building.
There were a number of other notable moments from the Trump-Bibi huddle that seemed intended to humiliate Bibi, but one of the most memorable was when Trump started ranting about Afghanistan and the disaster that was the US occupation, post-9/11.
Trump asked, "Whose idea was it for us to go in there, anyway?"
Funny enough, it was Bibi Netanyahu, who told Congress during a testimony on September 11, 2002 that if they wanted peace in the region, they needed to kill Saddam Hussein and invade Afghanistan. (Iran, too.)
So why did Trump cancel the press conference?
Because I don't think there is anything noteworthy to announce between him and Netanyahu – other than the fact that Trump will be speaking with the Iranian leaders this upcoming weekend, and he hopes the conversation will be fruitful. (An announcement that seemed to rattle Netanyahu.) – GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
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Another Take: If you come away with Trump's meeting with Netanyahu under the impression he's the puppet and not the puppet master, you might just be a shill.
Funny, how the majorly boosted (double meaning) Con Inc. Doom Brigade was mobilized against Trump the Zionist this week.
US stocks have mostly closed lower after a day of wild swings in the market, as investors scrambled to make sense of United States President Donald Trump’s tariff plans.
The benchmark S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday fell 0.23 percent and 0.91 percent, respectively, racking up a third consecutive day of losses. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite finished slightly up, rising 0.099 percent.
The dip followed a day of volatile trading, with unfounded reports that Trump was considering a 90-day pause to his tariffs briefly sending the S&P 500 up more than 7 percent. The index quickly reversed its gains after the White House dismissed the report, which was picked up by a number of news outlets after being circulated on social media, as “fake news”.
US stock futures, which are traded outside of usual market hours, pointed to a possible reprieve from the losing streak on Tuesday, with contracts tied to the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq up 0.98 percent and 1.02 percent, respectively.
After following Wall Street’s earlier losses, some Asian markets opened higher on Tuesday. – Al Jazeera
It would be hard to top last week’s hilariously misnamed “liberation day” for extraordinary drama, but it seems a defiant President Donald Trump regrets nothing and is bent on causing a full-on market crash. Any prediction I might make now is hostage to the markets — there must surely be some level at which he draws back — but there really does seem to be a lot of momentum behind his rank idiocy.
I’ve had lots of people asking if I was surprised by what he announced last Wednesday. The answer: yes and no. I had no idea the administration would use such a mad formula to calculate the bogus “reciprocal” tariffs, but some kind of chaos looked inevitable. I predicted before the election there would be turmoil because Trump was promising “at least five sometimes contradictory or outright impossible policies”. – Financial Times
Our Take: BREAKING: The people who told you to wear two masks in your car and that Joe Biden received 81 million real, lawful, American votes want you to know that our economy is collapsing and you need to be angry at Donald Trump over what they’re saying on TV. – Chris Paul
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Another Take: I pulled the FT piece after searching the legacy press to see who was the biggest doomer on the economic front. This guy didn’t disappoint:
I literally googled “apocalypse” to see who was going the hardest. He was the first hit.
I read his “apocalypse” article, then searched him up — top hit was his bsky. That made me giggle because bsky is a safe space for fragile people with bad ideas, but when I went there, I found this:
“Nobody. Knows. Anything.”
Now, that made me belly laugh. Alan should read the Badlands News Brief.
China vowed not to bow to "blackmail" from the United States as a global trade war ignited by U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs showed little sign of abating on Tuesday even as battered stock markets steadied.
The rebuke came after Trump said he would impose an additional 50% duty on U.S. imports from the world's No.2 economy on Wednesday in response to Beijing's decision to match the 34% 'reciprocal' duties Trump initially unveiled last week.
"The U.S. side's threat to escalate tariffs against China is a mistake on top of a mistake, once again exposing the American side's blackmailing nature," China's commerce ministry said.
"If the U.S. insists on having its way, China will fight to the end."
The European Union proposed counter-tariffs of its own to Trump's tariff onslaught that swept up dozens of countries, sent financial markets into a tailspin and fuelled expectations that the global economy may be headed for recession. Stock markets appeared to find a firmer footing after a gut-wrenching few days for investors which prompted some business leaders, including those close to Trump, to urge the president to reverse course. – Reuters
Our Take: Trump vs. China doesn't contradict the Sovereign Alliance. It helps crystalize its end goals.
Since the Covid Scamdemic, the two countries have been engaged in a rapid economic decoupling process. This benefits the middle classes of both nations and advances multipolarity, a core tenet of Xi Jinping's mandate.
This process is not only already in the offing; it's accelerating. Or did you think it was only Trump who was prompting companies like Apple to flee the east and re-shore production in the nation responsible for its prosperity in the first place?
The Trade War provides Narrative Shielding to both leaders, allowing them to move full speed ahead with removing the corporate oligarchy from key vectors of international trade. Trump deploys, and Xi gets permission to counter. The result is a more nationalized economy for both countries.
The benefits to the US in this scenario are obvious: less reliance on foreign manufacturing, especially when it comes to MIL materials (think steel,) and pharmaceuticals, along with the on-shoring of domestic production and all the jobs and economic stimulus that comes with it.
The benefits to China are less obvious to Americans, but are no less profound. After all, do you think making iPhones in Chinese factories with suicide nets benefits the Chinese people?
Xi Jinping has been waging an anti-corruption campaign against the very oligarchs Trump and Vladimir Putin stand opposed to in their respective nations. This is called the 'Tigers and Flies' campaign, and it's been in the offing since 2013. It has also resulted in the arrest of over 10,000 CCP members, including generals, politicians, judges and magistrates, many of whom ushered in and perpetuated the very communist-globalist system the Sovereign Alliance is taking apart.
The tensions between the three leaders are entirely manufactured, and will be resolved in full view of the Collective Mind. Don't get caught up in the noise. Look for the signal. Decoupling from China is good for both nations, and both leaders know it. [more] – Burning Bright
US President Donald Trump on Monday touted himself as a mediator between Israel and Turkey in their struggle over politically fragile Syria, where both countries are jostling for influence.
Trump, speaking alongside Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, said negotiations could be helped by his “great relations” with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he said he likes very much and called “very smart.”
Turkey is a key backer of the Islamist-led coalition in Syria that toppled Bashar al-Assad in December after almost 14 years of civil war. Trump appeared to acknowledge Turkey’s dominance in Syria, saying he told Erdogan he had “taken it over through surrogates.”
“I said, ‘Congratulations, you’ve done what nobody’s been able to do in 2,000 years. You’ve taken over Syria.’ With different names, but same thing,” Trump said. “I told the [Israeli] prime minister, I said, ‘Bibi if you have a problem with Turkey, I really think I’m going to be able to work it out,'” Trump told reporters, using Netanyahu’s nickname. – The Times of Israel
Our Take: It is interesting that ever since the "fall" (I see it as a strategic retreat) of Assad and the Syrian government back in December, President Trump has been giving narrative credit to Turkey and President Erdogan for toppling the Syrian government. The reason it is interesting is because the more commonly held view among earnest geopolitical analysts is that the operation to bring down Assad was an Israeli-directive.
Indeed, the IDF has occupied the southern quadrant of Syria – beyond the Golan Heights territory, which is a mountain range in Syria that the IDF has occupied since 1967– though now they have sought to move east and establish a "buffer zone" that has inched closer and closer to the capital city of Damascus.
Meanwhile, Turkey has moved in from the north and occupied the historic city of Aleppo, with its own eyes on Damascus.
The reports from yesterday are that Netanyahu is lobbying Secretary of State Marco Rubio to block the reported sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, which comes on the heels of last week's news of the Turkish Foreign Ministry accusing Israel of engaging in continued air strikes in Syria that are designed to destabilize the region.
“Israel has become the greatest threat to regional security” and is a “strategic destabilizer, causing chaos and feeding terrorism,” the foreign ministry in Ankara says. “Therefore, in order to establish security throughout the region, Israel must first abandon its expansionist policies, withdraw from the territories it occupies, and stop undermining efforts to establish stability in Syria.”
Hm. Interesting rhetoric. And it is worth noting that these are the guys Trump is backing, narratively, in Syria. – GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
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President Trump turned down a proposal by the European Union Monday for a “zero-for-zero” tariff scheme on industrial products, saying the offer was “not” enough to reverse 20% duties on imports.
“The EU has been very tough over the years,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked about the offer. “It was formed to really do damage to the United States in trade.” [...]
“This is America First,” he said. “There can be permanent tariffs, and there can also be negotiations.”
European officials noted the first offer they had made to reduce trade disparities earlier Monday on imports like chemicals, pharmaceuticals, rubber, plastic machinery and cars. “We have offered zero-for-zero tariffs for industrial goods as we have successfully done with many other trading partners,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
“Because Europe is always ready for a good deal. So we keep it on the table,” she said at a press conference alongside Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
“We stand ready to negotiate with the US,” von der Leyen added. – New York Post
Our Take:
If the US is getting crushed economically and its people will suffer, why are nations and coalitions negotiating away their own leverage to get the US President to stop what he’s doing? – Chris Paul
Three genetically engineered wolves that may resemble extinct dire wolves are trotting, sleeping and howling in an undisclosed secure location in the U.S., according to the company that aims to bring back lost species.
The wolf pups, which range in age from three to six months old, have long white hair, muscular jaws and already weigh in at around 80 pounds — on track to reach 140 pounds at maturity, researchers at Colossal Biosciences reported Monday.
Dire wolves, which went extinct more than 10,000 years old, are much larger than gray wolves, their closest living relatives today. Independent scientists said this latest effort doesn’t mean dire wolves are coming back to North American grasslands any time soon.
“All you can do now is make something look superficially like something else"— not fully revive extinct species, said Vincent Lynch, a biologist at the University at Buffalo who was not involved in the research. – AP News
Our Take: Is AP News not trusting the science? They’re throwing shade with that headline, compared to how their peers are handling the news:
This story was everywhere Monday, with the terms “de-extinction” used.
“All you can do now is make something look superficially like something else not fully revive extinct species.”
Asia-Pacific markets rose Tuesday, rebounding from previous session’s losses over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policy and threats of even higher levies against China.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.92%. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 5.31% while the Topix gained 5.65%. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.34% and the small-cap Kosdaq added 0.96%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index climbed 1.58%, while the Hang Seng Tech Index jumped 3.57%. Hong Kong’s stock market led losses in the region on Monday, with the Hang Seng Index plummeting over 13% to log its steepest one-day decline since 1997, data from FactSet showed.
Karen Read asked the Supreme Court to block her ongoing retrial on accusations she killed her police officer boyfriend until the justices can resolve her double jeopardy claims.
Read faces retrial after a jury last year failed to reach a unanimous verdict, leading to a mistrial. Her case has garnered national attention and spurred a documentary series.
Jury selection in Read’s new trial began April 1 in Massachusetts and has now entered its second week. The new emergency application asks to block the proceedings until the Supreme Court can resolve her appeal. – The Hill
Pro-Palestine protesters took their demonstration into New York City’s Grand Central Terminal on Monday, April 7. The protest action, organized by Within Our Lifetime (WOL), kicked off at 4:00 pm outside the United Nations headquarters to coincide with World Health Day and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
This video, posted to X by WOL founder Nerdeen Kiswani, shows dozens of demonstrators chanting and waving flags inside and at the entrance of the world-famous train terminal.
“Today, @WOLPalestine took over Grand Central Station, NYPD shut down multiple entrances, and brought the heart of NYC to a halt,” the source wrote. “We protested in front of the UN and Egyptian embassy. We are just getting started.” – Townsville Bulletin
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Thanks for your take on the Trump / Netanyahu press conference being canceled, Ghost!
“Trump asked, "Whose idea was it for us to go in there (Afghanistan), anyway?"
And there it is! Let’s remember that Netanyahu’s immediate response to 9/11 wasn’t sympathy for the victims and the United States. No. The NYT reported that when he was asked what the attack meant for Israel’s relations with the US? Netanyahu’s first words were that it was “very good”…for Israel!
Will the truth about 9/11 and Israel’s part in it ever come out?
Thanks for your take on the Trump / Netanyahu press conference being canceled, Ghost!
“Trump asked, "Whose idea was it for us to go in there (Afghanistan), anyway?"
And there it is! Let’s remember that Netanyahu’s immediate response to 9/11 wasn’t sympathy for the victims and the United States. No. The NYT reported that when he was asked what the attack meant for Israel’s relations with the US? Netanyahu’s first words were that it was “very good”…for Israel!
Will the truth about 9/11 and Israel’s part in it ever come out?
Judge Barrett seems to agree with the court leftists more and more. And yet, we're told menstrual synchrony likely does not exist. Hah!