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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 the Weekend that Was …
DeSantis Devastated, Now Tied With Ramaswamy For 2nd In GOP Primary
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) is now tied for 2nd place in the Republican presidential field with conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, after an Emerson College poll showed the two tied at 10% each.
Former President Donald Trump leads the pack at 56%, according to the same poll.
DeSantis, meanwhile, dropped from 21% in June, while Ramaswamy rose from just 2% to tie DeSantis over the same period.
The poll's release coincides with a leaked memo from a DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, which urged the Florida governor to "take a sledgehammer" to Ramaswamy - who's been quickly closing in on Ron.
"Another boring, establishment attack from Super PAC-creation ‘Robot Ron’ who is literally taking lame, pre-programmed attack lines against me for next week’s debate. ‘Hammer Ramaswamy,' Ramaswamy wrote on X in response. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “Vivek Ramaswamy has a lot of the same energy that Trump brings to the table.
He is a self-made man of principle, who is good with words and articulation of complex concepts in ways the average person can understand.
Vivek has had some good PR moments in the past week, like this response to the LGBTQ+ question.
This exchange, along with his numerous interviews and guest appearances, solidifies in many people’s minds that he is a genuine, real person.
Liars and fraudsters, or those who don’t possess true conceptual competence, tend to avoid off-the-cuff questions. But, unlikely the Deep State stooges we normally see, Vivek has never—to my knowledge—turned down the opportunity to opine, doing so with honesty.
For this reason, and within this current political climate, authenticity—realness—is the most valuable trait a candidate can possess. What’s also valuable is trustworthiness.
Most of the time, these two qualities are absent. But with Trump, Vivek, and RFK Jr. we have three candidates that can deliver authentic and trustworthy performances. This, I would argue, will completely overshadow the false freaks that normally grace the political stage.
Desantis, on the other hand, is tainted.
He betrayed Trump in that he said he wouldn’t run, then he did anyway.
Even though DeSantis is fairly authentic and certainly more trustworthy than your average establishment politician, he’s betrayed the trust of Floridians and has done some shady things during his campaign, like using AI-generated images of Trump with Fauci.
All this and more suggest, in my mind, that the long era of image over substance in the domain of politics is coming to an end.
No longer will slick smiles and a pocket full of false promises be enough to sway voters—at least, that’s my hope.
If this trend continues, it will mean that the false candidates of the Cabal, which are legion, will have little to no sway over the minds of the masses. And this also means that whatever cheating is in store will be so over the top that it will likely be extremely obvious.
Whether WE THE PEOPLE accept the offer and do the work necessary to capitalize on this opportunity remains to be seen.” —
Another Take: “Vivek seems to be the next Con Inc. lily pad now that the DeSantis campaign has run out of juice before it really left the starting blocks.
All the usual suspects (the ones who never lost their blue checks and told you all to mask up, vax up and shut up,) are jumping aboard, softly 'defending' Donald Trump while prepping the Ramaswampy shift.
It's all become quite transparent, which is about the consistency of Con Inc.'s dwindling support base.
Of course, I have respect for Justin’s take above, and the Net Effects might map onto it quite cleanly; from where I’m sitting, DeSantis AND Ramaswamy are helping us separate the MAGA wheat from the chaff.” —
"The End Is Nearing" - Seymour Hersh Slams The White House's "Wishful Approach" To Ukraine War
It’s been weeks since we looked into the adventures of the Biden administration’s foreign policy cluster, led by Tony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and Victoria Nuland. How has the trio of war hawks spent the summer?
Sullivan, the national security adviser, recently brought an American delegation to the second international peace summit earlier this month at Jeddah in Saudi Arabia. The summit was led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MBS, who in June announced a merger between his state-backed golf tour and the PGA. Four years earlier MBS was accused of ordering the assassination and dismemberment of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, for perceived disloyalty to the state.
As unlikely as it sounds, there was such a peace summit and its stars did include MBS, Sullivan, and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. What was missing was a representative of Russia, which was not invited to the summit. It included just a handful of heads of state from the fewer than fifty nations that sent delegates. The conference lasted two days, and attracted what could only be described as little international attention.
[…]
So the White House’s wishful approach to the war, when it comes to realistic talk to the American people, will continue apace. But the end is nearing, even if the assessments supplied by Biden to the public are out of a comic strip. — Seymour Hersh
Our Take: “In the last week, we've had a top NATO defense official float the idea of Ukraine coming back to the negotiating table NATO itself forced them to abandon in March 2022.
We've had MSM outlets admit the famed 'counter-offensive' has been a dismal failure, and that Putin has achieved virtually all of his goals in Ukraine.
Now, Mind-Movers like Hersh are piling on.
Reframe this as "the end" of a Chapter, but not the story.
There's MUCH more story to tell before the Peacemakers take center stage.
In the end, what Hersh is hitting at here, stemming from his widely-reported revelations about the Nord Stream 2 and Crimean Bridge bombings earlier this year, can be summed up as the following:
Russia told you there were Nazis in Ukraine.
Russia told you the West was run by a sycophantic pack of Satanic Pedophiles.
Russia told you the dollar was a weapon of subjugation and international terror.
Russia told you the way into the future was the multi-polar world order.
Russia told you the only way to global peace was through the strength of cooperative sovereignty, mirroring the stances of John F. Kennedy and Donald Trump.
As it turns out, Russia has a good track record of late ...” —
Three More Hunter Biden Attorneys Quit, Bringing Total To Five
Three of Hunter Biden’s defense attorneys moved to withdraw from his ongoing case Friday after his two tax misdemeanors were dismissed without prejudice by a Delaware judge at the request of Department of Justice (DOJ) prosecutors.
Latham & Watkins LLP attorneys Brian C. McManus, Timothy H. McCarten and Matthew S. Salerno filed a motion to withdraw as counsel the day after Delaware U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika granted the DOJ’s request to dismiss the tax charges in Delaware. This allowed for the possibility of charging Biden in Washington, D.C. or the Central District of California.
“Brian C. McManus, counsel for the Defendant, Robert Hunter Biden, and respectfully requests this Honorable Court to withdraw all appearances for the law firm of Latham & Watkins LLP as counsel for the Defendant in the above-captioned matter,” the motion reads.
“Mr. Biden has been advised of, and consents to, our withdrawal. He also agrees this withdrawal will cause no material adverse effect or prejudice to him and remains completely satisfied with Messrs. Lowell’s and Jones’s continued representation of him,” the document continues. — The Daily Caller
Our Take: “On its face, the news makes sense. Of course you wouldn’t want to be associated with Hunter Biden. Controversial clients can be a great career builder, but it’s a fine line. And talk about a terrible client! Add to the terrible client that there are looming treason charges, and it’s probably too much for most attorneys.
Now consider that Hunter’s plea deal fell apart earlier this year, making big news that penetrated the narrative bubble. That provided the opportunity for what Chris Paul refers to as ‘re-runs’ of the Biden Crime Family’s greatest hits, and we’ve seen many reruns of the 459 crimes that were first documented by Marco Polo in October of last year. Joe’s aliases? Yeah, we knew about that almost a year ago. But let’s whip out the report and share the raw details with all our newly-awakened friends.
Hunter will have lawyers. Plenty of very expensive lawyers. Those jumping ship are probably wiser than the rest.” —
Alina Habba to Newsmax: Trump Charges in State Court 'By Design'
As a deliberate ploy, the state of Georgia is bringing charges against former President Donald Trump that should be in federal court, Alina Habba, Trump lawyer and general counsel for the Save America PAC, told Newsmax on Wednesday.
"Anything having to do with ... election issues at this level with a president should 100% be in federal court," Habba told Newsmax's "Wake Up America," adding that this was all done "by design."
Habba said Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis "did it on purpose so that if he [Trump] is president, he can't pardon himself if he's convicted. ... We will probably be asking for a removal to another venue and to move it to federal court."
Habba said prosecutors in all of the Trump indictment cases should not be in touch with each other, and that they should be independent, especially a special counsel such as Jack Smith.
Habba also was asked if she's concerned that some of the other 18 people who were indicted along with Trump in the Georgia case would flip on him.
"No, because flipping implicates that there is a problem that the president should be worried about, and somebody's going to say something that will damage him, and so the answer to that question is very simply no," Habba said. — Newsmax
Our Take: “Go Bicameral.
Aside from the cases themselves, there are battles above and below the lawfare deployments against and by Trump and team that seem to be pushing the enemy into a series of Chinese finger traps.
Earlier this week, we saw Mark Meadows make a similar move, attempting to move his own indictment to Federal Court.
When you add the drops into the equation, whose "design" are we talking about?
All roads lead to the Supreme Court. Wonder if Trump knows any of those judges in detail.” —
'Rich Men North of Richmond' Artist Turns Down $8 Million From Stunned Music Execs, Says "Nothing Special About Me"
Nine days ago, Oliver Anthony's gritty coal country ballad "Rich Men North Of Richmond" was published on YouTube. The song has become the blue-collar political anthem for millions of Americans ahead of the 2024 presidential election cycle.
On Thursday, Anthony revealed his real name is Christopher Anthony Lunsford. He said the viral response to the song blew him away and only anticipated it would get hundreds of thousands of views, not millions. As of Friday, the song ranks number one on iTunes.
Lunsford is a former factory worker and lives in the forgotten part of the US, Appalachia, an area plagued with an opioid crisis and abandoned factories. The song tells the story of working-class folk who struggle daily while being ignored and mocked by political elites just north of Richmond.
Lunsford detailed in a lengthy Facebook post that he turned down a $8 million deal from stunned music industry executives. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “Christopher Anthony Lunsford, or Oliver Anthony, represents the voice of a generation. He seems almost too good to be true, turning down $8M offers and remaining true to himself. I’d wager most people could be bought for much less.
But the rejection of the money is a footnote compared to the messages in this interview. We are in a mental health crisis. We all feel it. It’s a natural consequence of the reality collapse we’ve been subjected to by the simulation. Everyone knows something isn’t right.
I think it’s important to emphasize that, by ‘blue collar anthem,’ they are referring to two-thirds of the population. The establishment has lost the public trust and consent.
Mr. Lunsford’s example is in stark contrast to TMFINR star Tiffany Gomes, who is rumored to be writing a book and keeps posting images of herself that appear AI generated. That is, by his actions, Oliver Anthony appears to be Real.” —
"Trump Was Right": Jake Tapper Admits Biden Lied About Hunter 'Making Fortune In Ukraine, China, Moscow'
(CLICK THE IMAGE TO WATCH ON ‘X’)
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.
I agree with BBs take over Justin's take. I see Ramaswarmy as a right wing Obama and liken him to Dr. Oz as a wolf in sheep's clothing. He has possibly been trained to say all the right things and if not, he is an idealist who lacks the experience we need at this time in history to fully drain the swamp.
BB: "...while prepping the Ramaswampy shift." Not sure if that was an intentional misspelling of his name but it definitely fits, as he seems to be another swamp creature. Someone commented on Rumble that Vivek has people watching the Patriot's videos to see what is being discussed so he can get his fake talking points. That made me stop and go hmmm 🤔.