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.
Federal prosecutor Maurene Comey, who worked on the criminal cases of Jeffrey Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell, was fired Wednesday, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Comey, the daughter of former FBI director James B. Comey, was also a prosecutor in the recent trial of Sean Combs, the entertainer known as Diddy. The reason for her firing was not immediately clear.
The notice informing the younger Comey of her termination did not provide a reason, citing the broad powers afforded to the president in the U.S. Constitution, according to one of the people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter. The notice was signed by Francey Hakes — a political appointee in the Justice Department who runs the Executive Office of U.S. Attorneys.
It was not known whether the younger Comey’s firing was connected to the Epstein case or her relation to the former FBI director, who was fired during President Donald Trump’s first term. – Washington Post
Donald Trump has called his own supporters gullible “weaklings” for questioning the transparency of a secretive government inquiry into the late high-profile socialite and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as he spent another day trying to stamp out a conspiracy-fuelled uproar among his Maga base.
Elsewhere in Trumpland, the president has privately indicated he is on the verge of firing the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, rattling Wall Street and renewing questions over the US central bank’s independence. – The Guardian
Our Take: On Saturday's show, Chris Paul and I discussed what it might mean when Trump calls the Epstein files a hoax...
We aren't being honest with ourselves by thinking we know the full truth to any of these stories...
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Keep that line in mind when anyone talks about the FBI investigating former Director James Comey, former CIA Director John Brennan, and beyond.
It’s what Lisa Page, former FBI lawyer, texted then-boyfriend FBI Special Agent Peter Strzok amid the 2016 campaign. We tend to dismiss Page as “Strzok’s girlfriend.” But she was far more than that. Comey’s deputy was Andrew McCabe. McCabe’s right hand was Page. What’s more, Page was the FBI’s White House liaison during the Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump investigations. And her message to Strzok, a top soldier in the war against Trump: “POTUS wants to know everything we are doing.”
That president, of course, was Barack Obama. And he wasn’t talking about their canoodling. When Fox News broke the story last week about a criminal investigation into Brennan and Comey, its sources used the word “conspiracy.” – Daily Signal
President Donald Trump on Wednesday embraced the FBI’s decision to open a conspiracy probe into a decade of alleged intelligence abuses and weaponized law enforcement, suggesting it could be led by a special prosecutor and even delve into “credible evidence” in the Jeffrey Epstein case in order to give Americans a greater dose of transparency and accountability. He also vowed to declassify two highly sensitive pieces of intelligence to help further the prosecutor's efforts. […]
“It was a disgrace what happened, what happened in 2016 and what happened in 2020. It's a disgraceful situation," he said. "And our voting has to be straightened out. I always say if you don't have borders, if you don't have fair and free voting, you don't have a country.”
Unprompted, Trump then volunteered on his own that a special prosecutor – if one is appointed by Justice – to look at weaponization could also delve into "anything credible" on Jeffrey Epstein and his files to make sure Americans have a full accounting. – Just the News
Our Take: This is the first time we have a case that promises to provide truth and reconciliation for the American traitors’ expansive portfolio of crime.
Brian and I talked about this on Book Club earlier this week:
Political deception by institutions based on trust is literally treason. We cannot tolerate forever psyops. To end that season, Truth and Reconciliation are required.
Accountability is required.
All the co-conspirators need to be dragged into the light.
I’m excited about the RICO Grande (even recognizing that it could be a rug), because it provides a vehicle for that Truth and Reconciliation. It’s a vehicle we haven’t had before now, and it could happen rapidly. And it would, I posit, if the plan is real.
Another Take: On June 16, 2015, Donald Trump declared war on the Deep State by announcing his candidacy for president.
10 years later, the Collective Mind is held captive by Act 1 narrative re-runs.
From Russiagate to Pizzagate, the end mirrors the beginning.
Seeding. Germination. Harvest.
Combine this reading with the fact that Trump is re-focusing the Collective American Mind on the Russiagate Narrative the same week the entirety of the media hellscape goes all-in on Epstein.
Several NATO member states were not notified in advance that they would be asked to fund new arms deliveries to Ukraine under US President Donald Trump’s latest proposal, Reuters has reported, citing European officials.
On Monday, Trump pledged to provide more US-made weapons to Kiev through a new scheme funded by European NATO members. “We’re not buying it,” Trump said during an Oval Office meeting with the bloc’s secretary-general, Mark Rutte. “We will manufacture it, and they’re going to be paying for it.”
Trump noted that the plan is seen by Washington as a business opportunity.
Rutte said six countries – Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, the Netherlands, and Canada – were willing to take part in the arms procurement scheme. However, high-ranking sources at the embassies of two of those countries told Reuters they only learned of their supposed participation when the announcement was made. – RT
Ukraine is unsure what US President Donald Trump meant when he announced that Kiev would receive “17 Patriots” from NATO countries, the deputy head of Ukraine’s military intelligence agency (HUR), Major General Vadim Skibitsky, has said.
When Trump made the statement during his meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Monday, he said a European member of the bloc would supply the American-made air defense systems, but did not specify if he was talking about whole batteries or separate launchers. – RT
Our Take: So as we speculated in yesterday's Brief, Trump's announcement on Monday with Rutte that the US plans to sell weapons to NATO, who will then send those weapons to Ukraine, is a ploy designed to undermine and bankrupt Europe. The member-states of NATO are now saying that they first learned about this plan for them to fund the Ukraine War while watching the Trump-Rutte press conference — meaning they were never "read in" on it. Meaning they all just got played.
Compounding that theory is the comment President Trump made about the "17 Patriots" he is sending to NATO for them to deploy in Ukraine, referring to Patriot missile defense systems. The Ukrainian military is now expressing frustration because President Trump was unclear in the press conference whether he meant he was sending 17 Patriot launchers, or 17 full Patriot batteries, one battery comprising six to eight individual launchers. Meaning that Trump could be sending them 17 launchers, or 136 launchers — the significance being that the Ukrainian generals need to plan where these launchers should be deployed, how they will be staffed (each battery requires 50-100 soldiers to man), and how they will be supplied with the individual projectiles.
These are key logistics to map out that are necessary when fighting a war, and when the press asked President Trump for clarity, he responded by saying that the Patriots were already in the mail being shipped to Germany, offering no clarity on the number of actual launchers being sent. Meaning the Ukrainians are stuck in a holding pattern, and may have to potentially deploy 1,700 soldiers to man 17 whole batteries. (Not to mention, the supply lines needed to keep them firing.)
President Trump is the Chaos Conductor, and is wielding this superpower with great effect. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking the voter registration lists of several states — representing data on millions of Americans — and other election information ahead of the 2026 midterms, raising fears about how the Trump administration plans to use the information.
The DOJ is also demanding Colorado turn over all records related to the 2024 election, a massive trove of documents that could include ballots and even voting equipment. The Colorado inquiry, the most sweeping publicly known request, underscores the extent of the administration’s attention on state election activities.
At least nine states have received requests for information over the past three months, according to letters from the DOJ obtained by Stateline. Some states also received emails from a DOJ official last week asking for meetings to discuss information-sharing agreements.
The department’s focus on elections comes after President Donald Trump directed U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi in March to seek information about suspected election crimes from state election officials and empowered her to potentially withhold grants and other funds from uncooperative states. – Stateline
The Czech Republic will not participate in a new initiative proposed this week by US President Donald Trump to supply American weapons to Ukraine, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on Tuesday. […]
”The Czech Republic is focusing on other projects and ways to help Ukraine,” Fiala told the news outlet Publico. “Therefore, at this moment we are not considering joining this project.” …Moscow has likened the effort to the US preparing a deadly meal for Ukraine and forcing others to pay for it. – RT
Italy’s budget doesn’t allow it to participate in US President Donald Trump’s plan to supply American arms to Ukraine, the Italian newspaper La Stampa reports, citing anonymous sources. On Monday, Trump authorized new weapons deliveries to Ukraine, given that European NATO members provide funding, calling it a “very big deal.”
La Stampa said in an article on Wednesday that the strategy of German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who has already agreed to purchase several Patriot surface-to-air missile systems for Ukraine, “will not be pursued by Italy.” – RT
The US plan to funnel Patriot anti-aircraft systems to Ukraine through European NATO members may create “strong profit prospects” for the American military-industrial complex but does nothing to pave the way to ending the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, the German Die Linke (The Left) party’s parliamentary leader, Ulrich Thoden, has said. […]
Thoden criticized the plan, suggesting that the US should supply Kiev with the systems on its own rather than force European NATO members to either pay for them or further deplete their own dwindling arsenals. – RT
Our Take: Wait, so the European countries that comprise NATO, many of which have been whining about the threat that Putin presents to the continent, demanding that the West mobilize to fight him in Ukraine, are not interested in actually funding that fight? They expect the US taxpayer to fund it for them? (Note: This criticism doesn't apply to #OurGirl Meloni of Italy, who has been against the war and advocating for peace.)
This is proof of the theory that Trump's announcement on Monday during his meeting with Mark Rutte was a ploy designed to bankrupt NATO.
Somebody needs to tell these bums that if they want their war, they are going to need to pay for it. If they aren't careful, they may find themselves in a more direct conflict with Putin, without the actual means to fight it. They should make peace now, while they still can. Or don't, and let President Trump push them, face-first, into the table saw otherwise known as the Russian War Machine. – GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
Federal judge James Boasberg advised Chief Justice John Roberts and some two dozen other judges that his D.C. colleagues were “concern[ed] that the Administration would disregard rulings of federal courts leading to a constitutional crisis,” according to a memorandum obtained exclusively by The Federalist. That Judge Boasberg and his fellow D.C. District Court judges would discuss how a named Defendant in numerous pending lawsuits might respond to an adverse ruling is shocking.
Equally outrageous is those judges’ clear disregard for the presumption of regularity — a presumption that requires a court to presume public officials properly discharged their official duties. […]
Donald Trump, however, is not merely the president: He is a Defendant in scores of lawsuits, including multiple cases in the D.C. District Court. As such, this conversation did not concern generic concerns of the judiciary, but specific discussions about a litigant currently before the same judges who expressed concern to the Chief Judge of the D.C. District Court that the Trump Administration would disregard the court’s orders. — The Federalist
Our Take: This is an excellent piece by Margot Cleveland over at The Federalist, and I encourage everyone to read it. Jeb Boasberg and friends need to be handled.
By handled, I mean the Congress needs to reform the district courts and depose judges that show disdain for the Constitution. They should start with Jeb.
Cleveland’s piece goes on to detail how Boasberg’s own conduct has repeatedly undermined his alleged concerns about the rule of law. He’s literally known as a lawless judge.
Bad look for justice and the rule of law when your judges are openly biased about specific defendants and lament those biases to the Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court.
The Shas party decides to exit the government following a meeting of its ruling Council of Torah Sages in Jerusalem, leaving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with a government. The party will, however, remain a part of Netanyahu’s coalition for now and is not pushing for elections. The party’s ministers are expected to resign their positions tomorrow morning.
Shas announced yesterday that “following the serious and unacceptable harm to the status of Torah scholars” brought about by the current government, its ruling Council of Torah Sages would meet for “a crucial discussion regarding [the party’s] continued path in the government.”
Shas party newspaper HaDerech blamed the crisis on what it called “Likud and Edelstein’s blatant violation of agreements on the law regulating the status of yeshiva students.” – The Times of Israel
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa says that protecting the Druze citizens and their rights is “our priority,” after Israel vowed to destroy Syrian government forces attacking Druze in southern Syria.
In his first televised statement after the powerful Israeli airstrikes on Damascus on Wednesday, Sharaa addresses Druze citizens saying “we reject any attempt to drag you into hands of an external party.”
“We are not among those who fear the war. We have spent our lives facing challenges and defending our people, but we have put the interests of the Syrians before chaos and destruction,” he says in remarks addressed at Israel.
He adds that the Syrian people are not afraid of war and are ready to fight if their dignity is threatened. – The Times of Israel
Our Take: In our final segment of Tuesday's edition of Badlands Daily, we covered the story of the United Torah Judaism party leaving Netanyahu's government on Monday night, and warned about the Shas party meeting/vote yesterday to follow suit.
Many people are misreporting this story, claiming that Shas has left the coalition. That is not true.
Shas ultimately decided to limit their protest of Netanyahu to resigning from all cabinet positions, but remaining as part of the coalition, meaning that Netanyahu's government will remain in power — for now.
As I mentioned during the Daily segment, Netanyahu had his back up against the wall — just like he did last month, when he decided to bomb Iran — and had to pull a rabbit out of his hat to remain Prime Minister. It looks like that rabbit, this time, was bombing Syria.
Does anybody else notice a pattern emerging?
In order to cling to power, and keep the various factions supporting him, Netanyahu must continue to serve up war on a platter. Unfortunately for Israel, these wars are bleeding it dry — not only financially, but also politically and literally. Reports are that Israeli citizens are emigrating from Israel like never before, due to the deteriorating economic and security conditions.
Do you see why Trump wants to keep Netanyahu in power? Not only does it accelerate a warfare agenda that was always inevitable, but it keeps that agenda predictable, which means it can controlled — "managed." All while Israel isolates itself, geopolitically, and the American public wakes up to the reality of State Capture in America. – GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
The soil on the Moon could support life, scientists say. That is thanks to a breakthrough new technology that could allow humans to survive on the Moon.
It could help support a broad hope, held by a range of countries, that future missions to the lunar surface could see humans stay there before heading further into the solar system.
That might only be possible if we are able to make the necessary fuel, water and other resources on the Moon itself, since flying them to the lunar surface could be impossible. It would cost $83,000 to ship a gallon of water to the Moon, for instance – and each astronaut would need four of those each day.
Using samples brought back from a Chinese mission to the Moon, however, scientists were able to find a new method that would allow the astronauts to get the water they need from the lunar soil. Previous attempts to do so have used large amounts of energy and didn’t break down CO2, but the new system overcomes those problems. [...]
“We never fully imagined the ‘magic’ that the lunar soil possessed,” said Lu Wang of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. “The biggest surprise for us was the tangible success of this integrated approach. – The Independent
Our Take: You can’t get water from a stone, but apparently you can get it from moon soil. Is the moon made of ice? I always thought it was cheese…
Future generations of earthlings will ask how the moon people survive without water, and they will be told that the moon soil produces water. “Why doesn’t our soil produce water?” they will ask, and then they will be called conspiracy theorists and mocked as moon deniers.
That’s probably enough to make them pay their taxes to the moon pedophiles who, in turn, will be paying taxes to the ones on Mars. And all of it will be exactly as real as it is right now. – Ashe in America
Social media platform X on Thursday reinstated Douglass Mackey's meme account following the overturning of his conviction in an election case. As of press time, the @Ricky_Vaughn99 account was active and no longer subject to platform restrictions. The account has not posted since 2016, when the platform was still Twitter. The account was at the center of Mackey's case as it was the account through which he posted a meme jokingly encouraging supporters of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to cast their votes by text.
Mackey was convicted of interfering in the election in 2023, though the court stayed his sentence, pending his appeal. The Second Circuit on Wednesday overturned his conviction, arguing "that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he knowingly agreed to join the charged conspiracy. We agree. Accordingly, we REVERSE Mackey’s conviction and REMAND the case to the district court with instructions to enter a judgment of acquittal." – Just the News
Scientists have watched a solar system being born for the first ever time. Using a powerful telescope, researchers saw the first pieces of material that will go onto form planets.
A solar system has never been seen this early in its formation before. Researchers hope that the breakthrough discovery will allow for a new understanding of how such systems form – including our own.
The findings are like “a picture of the baby Solar System”, said Merel van ‘t Hoff, a professor at Purdue University, USA, and a co-author on the new study. “We're seeing a system that looks like what our Solar System looked like when it was just beginning to form.”
The new system is being born around HOPS-315, a baby star located around 1300 light-years away. Researchers believe that it looks like our Sun would have done in its youth. – The Independent
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Jon speaks wisdom...once again: "We aren't being honest with ourselves by thinking we know the full truth to any of these stories..."
Discernment, pattern recognition and critical thinking are extra-ordinary talents that can be developed. Understanding one's limitations (i.e. the lack of prescience) is central to that development. In a word: humility!
It is legitimate to have theories, to speculate, and to ruminate. It is also okay to admit being misled or misguided by one's own biases.
Thanks BNB team for your honest opinions and faithful insights!
Jon speaks wisdom...once again: "We aren't being honest with ourselves by thinking we know the full truth to any of these stories..."
Discernment, pattern recognition and critical thinking are extra-ordinary talents that can be developed. Understanding one's limitations (i.e. the lack of prescience) is central to that development. In a word: humility!
It is legitimate to have theories, to speculate, and to ruminate. It is also okay to admit being misled or misguided by one's own biases.
Thanks BNB team for your honest opinions and faithful insights!
All these Takes continue to complete a beautiful mossaic of Justice Cometh.
Trump 2.0 took the gloves off day 1 and has never looked back. Every move brings us closer, it is a Gloriously Orchestrated Symphony.
Prayers do work, and will continue.
God Wins!
God Bless!!