Badlands News Brief
Smith Slips, China Encroaches & Trump Preps
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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.
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 Monday, August 7 …
DOJ Slapped By Judge In Trump Documents Case
The judge overseeing former President Trump's classified documents case, Florida District Judge Aileen Cannon, rebuked federal prosecutors on Monday while striking down two of their filings.
DOJ special counsel Jack Smith has been directed by the court to unseal two filings and to provide a comprehensive legal rationale for a Washington, D.C. grand jury's involvement in the investigation. Specifically, Cannon, a Trump appointee, has ordered Smith to explain "the legal propriety" of using a DC Grand Jury in a Florida matter.
"The Special Counsel states in conclusory terms that the supplement should be sealed from public view ‘to comport with grand jury secrecy,’ but the motion for leave and the supplement plainly fail to satisfy the burden of establishing a sufficient legal or factual basis to warrant sealing the motion and supplement," the order reads.
"Among other topics as raised in the Motion, the response shall address the legal propriety of using an out-of-district grand jury proceeding to continue to investigate and/or to seek post-indictment hearings on matters pertinent to the instant indicted matter in this district," the order adds.
Canon was responding to the special counsel's motion for a "Garcia" hearing, where Smith's team addressed a potential conflict of interest posed by Stanley Woodward representing defendant Walt Nauta and individuals who could be called to testify in the classified documents case, the Daily Caller reports. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “Our own
mentioned on Sunday night that Jack Smith's attempts to prevent Trump from producing discovery due to the public nature of his comments regarding the case was not likely to succeed, and today, the media cycle sees Smith 'slapped' by the judge for process violations.Leaving the Actual lawfare on both sides to the side for now, the trial is already underway in the public mind, because the battle is underway.
The story is being amplified, which Trump wants.
All a part of the show.” —
US military responded to Chinese and Russian vessels near Alaska
A Russian and Chinese naval patrol consisting of several vessels operated off the coast of Alaska last week, defense officials and lawmakers said over the weekend – a show of force that prompted a US military response but did not pose a threat to the US or Canada, a US Northern Command spokesperson told CNN.
NORTHCOM and the North American Aerospace Defense Command deployed planes and ships to monitor the Russian and Chinese patrol, which stayed in international waters, the spokesperson said.
Alaska’s Republican Sens. Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski said in a statement Saturday that a total of 11 Russian and Chinese vessels had been operating near the Aleutian Islands, and were met in response by four US Navy destroyers. Murkowski said that she and Sullivan had been in “close contact with leadership from Alaska Command for several days now and received detailed classified briefings about the foreign vessels that are transiting U.S. waters in the Aleutians.”
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu told CNN in a statement that “according to the annual cooperation plan between the Chinese and Russian militaries, naval vessels of the two countries have recently conducted joint maritime patrols in relevant waters in the western and northern Pacific Ocean. This action is not targeted at any third party and has nothing to do with the current international and regional situation.”
Sullivan said that Chinese and Russian vessels came similarly close to Alaska last summer and were encountered by a US Coast Guard ship on a routine patrol at the time – a “tepid” response, the senator added, that led him to press senior military leaders to be ready with a more robust response in the future. — CNN
Our Take: “Russia and China are conducting joint maritime patrols off the coast of Alaska, but they promise it’s just routine and not related to any geopolitical tensions. This is at least the third such patrol in about 18 months, with the exact same messaging — ‘it’s just a routine patrol, no big deal’ — being used when this last happened in September of 2022.
What I find most interesting about this story is that the US response, as reported by CNN, comes from the two Alaskan senators, not from the Executive Branch, the so-called Commander in Chief, or the National Security establishment.
CNN also quotes a research fellow out of Australia, but more than 12 hours after the incident was reported, there is still no official statement from the White House. I’d call that weird, except this response echoes the executive’s silence during the spy balloon incident earlier this year.
Apparently, silence is this administration’s policy toward Chinese encroachments on the US mainland. Still, where are the cries of Russia!? Seems like a missed opportunity.” —
Will Trump's federal trials be televised?
Forget O.J.
The United States of America v. Donald J. Trump would almost certainly be the most-watched criminal trials in American history — if they were actually televised.
Trump has been charged by the Justice Department in two federal cases: one stemming from his handling of classified documents after he left the White House, the other over his efforts to hold on to power following his loss in the 2020 election, including his actions leading to the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Trump pleaded not guilty to all charges, and both cases are likely headed to trial.
Cameras are prohibited in federal court. But many, including House Democrats, constitutional law experts and even one of the former president’s own lawyers, want that to change.
“I would love to see that,” John Lauro — an attorney representing Trump in the Jan. 6 case — said on “Fox News Sunday” when asked if he would support a televised trial. “I’m shocked, actually, that all the networks haven’t lined up and filed pleadings already objecting to this.” — Yahoo News, sourcing CNN
Our Take: “We've been told the Revolution would not be televised.
But, I'm pretty sure it will be.
Anons have been seeded with the concept of televised trials since 2017. Of course, at the time, most of us were salivating at the thought of Deep State scions on legal parade.
It looks like Donald Trump is going to be used as a cognitive keystone in so many more ways than we originally thought. He's not just setting legal precedent, but mass psychological precedent as well.
Trial of the Century, indeed.” —
Ridiculous: Police Investigating Shop Owner Who Took Down Armed Thief With A Stick
Just when it appeared that a law abiding business owner had scored a victory against a scumbag shoplifter for once by subduing him with an almighty thrashing, the police have stepped in to criminally investigate the shopkeeper for assault.
Yes really.
KCRA.com reports that the clerk at a 7-Eleven in Stockton, Northern California, who was captured on video taking down a man threatening to pull a gun and filling up a barrel full of products is now the one under investigation by the cops.
The would be thief had visited the store three times on the evening in question, each time threatening the shop keepers and stealing from them.
On the third attempt he got what was coming to him. — Summit News
Our Take: “For those angry about the decriminalization of crime, ‘stick guy’ may not be the hero we expected or wanted, but he’s most certainly the hero we need.
The video of a shop owner taking down a criminal with a stick went viral last week, with public support overwhelmingly favoring the shop owner. According to reporting, the thief had stolen from the store twice that day before the viral incident, and he had threatened the shop owners with a gun before their epic takedown.
But in California, where the incident took place, shop owners are not allowed to stop criminals from shoplifting, and now the shop owner is under investigation because, of course he is. Theft has been decriminalized, so shop owners have to eat the losses according to the law.
Can we call it a law when it protects the criminal and harms the victim?
If there is any hope for the People to respect the rule of law, then stick guy better be absolved of any wrongdoing and the shoplifter needs to be prosecuted. I’m not holding my breath, but I stand with stick guy.” —
Democrats worry young people souring on party
Democrats are calling for their 2024 candidates to reengage with young voters amid signs that the critical voting bloc may be distancing from the party.
Recent polling has found the number of young people who identify as Democrats is on a slight decline, while President Biden has seen wavering support from the demographic that played a pivotal role in his victory over former President Trump in 2020.
Adding to the concerns is a recent analysis from John Della Volpe, the polling director at the Harvard Kennedy Institute of Politics, who pointed to possible struggles the party faces with voters between 18 and 29.
“Nearly every sign that made me confident in historic levels of youth participation in 2018, 2020, and 2022 — is now flashing red,” Della Volpe wrote in his analysis of 2024, adding “the ground is more fertile for voting when youth believe voting makes a tangible difference.”
Cheyenne Hunt, a 25-year-old Democrat and Tik Tok influencer who’s running to be the first female Gen Z member of Congress, cautioned that Democrats shouldn’t take her peers for granted.
“There’s less of a sense of loyalty to a particular party, I think, and more of a sense of really taking a look at the system and feeling left behind and forgotten — and young people engage with passionate candidates who are going to jump in there and do the dirty work to advocate for our best interests,” Hunt told The Hill. — The Hill
Our Take: “From where each of us are standing as individuals, and—accepting our disagreements—from where we’re standing as a decentralized collective, it can seem tedious and even disheartening to understand and observe that we’re in the midst of a simultaneous Exposure and Disclosure campaign through the lens of Narrative Warfare, all bringing us slowly, inexorably along the pathway to Justice.
That said, sometimes the Media Industrial Complex signals its own impending Establishment doom, the fatigue of the American public regarding the System of Systems, and the vitality and inevitability of the America First, sovereign movement.
We will take back our country. Very slowly … and then all at once.” —
BONUS ITEMS
3,000+ U.S. Sailors, Marines Reach Red Sea as Biden’s Middle East Build-Up Continues
Upwards of 3,000 U.S. sailors and Marines sailed into the Red Sea on Monday after transiting the Suez Canal in a pre-announced deployment, the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet said in a statement.
The reinforcements were carried aboard the USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall warships, providing “greater flexibility and maritime capability” to the Fifth Fleet, the statement seen by AFP added.
Their arrival followed a U.S. announcement last month it would deploy a destroyer, F-35 and F-16 warplanes, along with the Amphibious Readiness Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit, to the Middle East to deter Iran from seizing ships in the Gulf.
The U.S. military says Iran has either seized or attempted to take control of nearly 20 internationally flagged ships in the region over the past two years and the Biden White House wants to see more forces in the region to stand ready to engage Iran if required, as Breitbart News reported. — Breitbart
Biden's new student debt relief policy blocked by appeals court
A federal appeals court granted an injunction to block President Joe Biden's new rules that intend to make it easier for student borrowers to have their debts relieved if they were misled or defrauded by a university.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit granted an injunction request by Career Colleges & Schools of Texas, a group that leads more than 70 for-profit higher education institutions in Texas, while the ruling is under appeal.
The two-page order did not explain the reasoning for the decision but noted that the case would be heard this fall.
“It is ordered that appellant’s opposed emergency motion for injunction pending appeal of the borrower-defense and closed-school provisions of a 'rule' governing student loan discharges is GRANTED,” according to the brief decision.
The group's lawsuit stems from an April filing against the Education Department. The Biden administration rules went into effect in July and aims to expand the number of circumstances that justify loan relief. — The Washington Examiner
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.
The best line is: "We will take back our country. Very slowly … and then all at once.” I know too many people who believe the bad guys have already been taken to GITMO. I can't convince them this is a phony story to keep them relaxed. It is happening now and they are not partaking of all that is happening. Nothing frustrates me more. Thank you Badlands for all that you teach us.
Stick guy should have repeatedly yelled "Stop resisting!" thereby invoking sovereign immunity.