Badlands News Brief
Psyops Abound as the Media Landscape Shifts Rapidly
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 pick news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community with some Badlands flavoring to help wash it down.
But before we get onto the Brief, we want to introduce you to a new Sponsor of the Badlands Substack: Ascent Nutrition, who are offering the Badlands audience 15% off their Pine Needle Extract using the promo code: “Badlands.”
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Now, onto the news from Wednesday, September 4 …
Popular Conservatives Allegedly Tricked Into $10M Russian Influence Campaign: DOJ
The DOJ has accused several conservative influencers of unwittingly working for a Kremlin-funded media outlet.
A federal indictment unsealed on Wednesday alleges that a Tennessee-based media company, later identified as Tenet Media, received nearly $10 million from employees of Russian state-backed media company, Russia Today (RT), as part of "a scheme to create and distribute content to U.S. audiences with hidden Russian government messaging."
The DOJ claims that RT and two of its employees - Kostiantyn “Kostya” Kalashnikov and Elena “Lena” Afanasyeva - worked to funnel money to Tenet Media as part of a series of "covert projects" aimed at shaping narratives within Western audiences.
The indictment specifically notes that the influencers - including Tim Pool, Benny Johnson, Dave Rubin and Lauren Southern - had no idea they were taking Russian money, and were deceived. They were told by Tenet founder Lauren Chen - who allegedly knew the true source of the funds - that the money was from a wealthy private investor named "Eduard Grigoriann." — ZeroHedge
And …
Biden administration announces major actions to tackle Russian efforts to influence 2024 election
The Biden administration announced a sweeping set of actions to tackle a major Russian government-backed effort to influence the 2024 US presidential election on Wednesday, including unveiling criminal charges against two Russian nationals, sanctions on 10 individuals and entities, and the seizure of 32 internet domains.
At Russian President Vladimir Putin’s direction, three Russian companies used fake profiles to promote false narratives on social media, US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said in a statement. Internal documents produced by one of those Russian companies show one of the goals of the propaganda effort was to boost the candidacy of Donald Trump or whoever emerged as the Republican nominee for president, according to an FBI affidavit.
Separately, two employees of RT, the Russian state media network, were indicted in a US court for allegedly being part of a scheme that funneled nearly $10 million to set up and direct a Tennessee-based front company to produce online content aimed at sowing divisions among Americans, according to the Justice Department. The scheme targeted millions of American news consumers with what Attorney General Merrick Garland described as “hidden Russian government messaging.”
Taken together, the actions represent the Biden administration’s most significant public response yet to alleged Russian influence operations targeting American voters. After the US accused Iran of trying to hack both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns last month, Wednesday’s actions are a reminder that US officials continue to see Russia as a prominent foreign influence threat to November’s election, sources familiar with the matter said. — CNN
Our Take: Last week, on Breaking History, CannCon and I talked about integrity, specifically "grifters."
Now, I wasn't referring to any of these guys—or any specific person—and I'm not now accusing them of being grifters. But in the clip, I defined a grifter as somebody who feigned being MAGA (or MAGA-adjacent) in order to build an audience, and then betrayed Trump and the movement at an opportunistic moment.
This screenshot is from the Zero Hedge article:
Now, is there a chance that this money situation has nothing to do with their statements? Of course. But it's important to keep these things in the back of your mind, as you continue to observe the information/media landscape moving forward. —
Another Take: The Russia rerun is actually pretty interesting on a few levels:
For starters, CNN is careful to make sure to mention, in the midst of deafening fear-mongering about "election interference," ACTUAL election rigging is impossible ... unless, of course, you're talking about world leaders the regime doesn't like, such as Nicolas Maduro.
"There is no evidence of successful efforts — foreign or domestic —to swing an American election by changing vote tallies."
This is why they keep using the term, "influence" when discussing Russia's alleged actions in the US. Because they're not actually claiming much of anything, other than the fact that Russia (and China, of course) are deploying narratives that the regime feels are having a measurable effect on the Collective American Mind.
In other words, this is the System gilding their lies in truth.
Is Russia a threat to "their Democracy" because THE TRUTH is a threat to their Democracy?
You only censor what you fear. Who do they really fear? —
Brian Stelter Will Return to CNN as Chief Media Analyst
Brian Stelter will return to his home network of CNN as a “Chief Media Analyst” two years after being let go amid its reconstruction phase.
Stelter announced on Tuesday that he will be returning to the network and will be helming the Reliable Sources newsletter.
“I’m returning to @CNN in a brand new role as Chief Media Analyst. I’ll be appearing on TV, developing digital content, and once again helming the Reliable Sources newsletter,” he wrote.
Later in the thread, Stelter described going through a change in his media perspective and vowed to be “different.”
“I’m coming back to CNN with a fresh perspective. See, I always scoffed at people who said ‘getting fired was the best thing that’s ever happened to me’ — until it happened to me. After 20+ years as a news junkie, I changed my media habits. I tuned out for a bit and I was incredibly lucky to have time as a stay-at-home dad,” he added. “In the hours when Sunny and Story were at school, I tried on a variety of other hats: Harvard fellow, BBC talking head, magazine writer. I wrote for 20+ outlets and learned about the ups and downs of freelancing and I experienced the news more like an everyday consumer. In doing so, I learned a whole lot about the attention economy and the information ecosystem. So this time around will be different, because I am different.” — Breitbart
Our Take: Brian Stelter claims to be a changed man after his hiatus from CNN. It’s going to be different now, he claims.
‘I tried on a variety of other hats: Harvard fellow, BBC talking head, magazine writer. I wrote for 20+ outlets and learned about the ups and downs of freelancing and I experienced the news more like an everyday consumer.’
In going out into the world to find himself, Stelter discovered that he was, in fact, CNN all along. Appropriate considering that CNN is consistently at the bottom of the prime time ratings for cable news.
That the executives at CNN thought it was a good idea to bring back Brian Stelter calls into question the strategic aims of the network. Did they lay off talent and go through a corporate restructuring only to rehire some of the worst and double down on their prior, failed strategy?
I’m sure the new and allegedly improved Brian Stelter will tell his audience. If anyone can still stomach CNN, let me know what he says. —
Tucker Carlson accused of airing ‘pro-Nazi propaganda’ on show – as Elon Musk promotes it as ‘worth watching’
On Monday, the right wing media personality hosted self-proclaimed historian Darryl Cooper on his podcast show – a man who has been accused of being a “Nazi apologist” for comments which appear sympathetic towards Adolf Hitler.
The two-hour conversation was condemned by many on social media, including Liz Cheney – whereas Elon Musk promoted the video to his 196.5 million X followers, calling it “very interesting” and “worth watching.”
The controversial tech billionaire appears to have since deleted his post.The Independent has contacted X for comment.
During the podcast show, former Fox News host Carlson, who hailed Cooper “the most important historian in the United States”, asked him how he would assess Churchill.
Cooper, explaining that he was being “a little hyperbolic”, said: “I thought Churchill was the villain of the Second World War.”
He continued: “He didn’t kill the most people, he didn’t commit the most atrocities… I think when you get into it and tell the story right, you see he was primarily responsible for that war becoming what it did.” — The Independent
Our Take: I didn't know who Darryl Cooper was before listening to this interview. Now that I've heard it in its entirety, I can firmly say that everything he is being accused of is complete and utter bullshit. A bold-faced lie.
Yesterday,
and I dedicated our entire Breaking History show to this Tucker Carlson interview, which was originally meant to only be a short segment. But this subject is pretty important. When you have people from President Trump's orbit, such as Sebastian Gorka—who I have long considered to be a bloodthirsty neocon—and "alternate media" figures, such as Babylon Bee owner Seth Dillon, all aligning with corporate media, ConInc, and the other usual suspects from the dregs of modern society, it becomes pretty obvious that this one subject—Hitler/WW2/Holocaust—is the third rail that we are simply not allowed to discuss.Darryl Cooper never once sympathized with Hitler during the interview. Perhaps he has expressed such sympathies in other forums, but like I said: I'm not familiar with his content. In the Tucker interview, he actually explicitly stated that just because he views Winston Churchill as the ultimate villain of World War Two, doesn't make the figures/forces that Churchill was fighting against "the protagonists."
I generally agree with Cooper's assessment of Churchill. He explicitly said that Churchill did not kill the most people, nor did he commit the most atrocities, but what made him the "villain," in Cooper's mind, was that Churchill seemed absolutely determined to escalate a small regional conflict into a Second World War.
Cooper accurately points out that Churchill invested enormous resources into a sophisticated psychological warfare operation against the American public, in order to win the support for US military intervention, so he could use it as a bludgeoning tool against the Third Reich. (Very similar to what Bibi Netanyahu is doing right now.) The reason for this was that the British military had been completely defeated by the Nazis, and barely managed to escape the beaches of Dunkirk before being completely annihilated—and that feat was only achieved due to the heroic efforts of British civilians, who used their private-owned vessels to ferry the soldiers home, because Churchill had once again mismanaged his resources and lacked the discipline to formulate the appropriate logistical plans necessary to mobilize and support the troops he had haphazardly deployed into France.
Cooper was also right when he said that, after losing his military presence on continental Europe—meaning he had no army to fight the Nazis—Churchill engaged in what was likely the largest-scale terrorist campaign of all time. While all of the military-aged German men were deployed to Poland and France, Churchill sent his bombers on non-stop runs to firebomb the cities not only in Germany, but also the Nazi-occupied Netherlands. In one terrible tragedy, the Royal Air Force mistakenly bombed a Dutch town, killing over 500 civilians. (They were suppose to bomb the adjacent forest, where Nazi V-2 rockets were being stored.)
In his decision to engage in total warfare against the European continent, Churchill was forsaking the doctrine of "Just War Theory," which was created by Saint Augustine in the 4th century, and argued that preserving and protecting civilian lives during warfare should be a top priority by all combatants at all times. This was the Christian doctrine on which all European nations operated for 1,600 years.
Instead, Churchill had his Marshal of the Royal Air Force, Arthur Harris, draw up a new doctrine that would become the guidance for the "strategic bombing" campaigns that lasted all six years of WW2.
According to Harris in 1941:
Harris later said in 1943:
That rhetoric is describing a campaign of terrorism, both psychological and physical violence. Mass trauma psychosis seems to be the preferred outcome.
Churchill had an axe to grind because of what happened at Gallipoli in the First World War. Being the First Lord of the Admiralty, it was Churchill's operation, and he had grown tired of the endless stalemate in the trenches on land— especially since Britain was a naval power.
The ultimate weapon of WWI was the battleship, and Gallipoli presented the perfect opportunity to utilize it against land forces. That's because Gallipoli is a very long, very narrow peninsula at the Dardanelles Strait—the maritime entrance to the Black Sea through Turkey.
The attack was a total failure. The Turkish artillery sank several British ships, and after about a year of fighting, both sides had each lost 250,000 men. (500,000 total.) The Brits and Australians boarded the ships and sailed away. Churchill was humiliated, and wanted redemption.
At the very least, we can acknowledge that Churchill wasn't exactly the hero that he is depicted to be, to what extent was he nefarious, we can continue to debate. But to suggest that this conversation should be shut down is the exact position of the radical left. In reality, it's just the Uniparty, and it is revealing itself. —
Ukraine removes energy grid chief as Russian attacks cripple electricity supplies
The supervisory board of Ukraine’s power grid operator, Ukrenergo, has removed the company’s CEO, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi.
The decision came days after Russia’s August 26 drone and missile attack, the most massive since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Forbes.UA reported. The airstrikes primarily targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, causing significant electricity supply disruptions across the country.
The energy crisis was subsequently addressed at a meeting of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief’s Staff, where President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instructed Kudrytskyi to submit his resignation.
The decision was prompted by incomplete protective structures around Ukrenergo power facilities, which allegedly failed to prevent blackouts following the Russian attacks.
Kudrytskyi’s resignation was supported by four out of six supervisory board members of Ukrenergo, who voted in favor of his dismissal. — Euromaidan Press
And …
Ukraine's Foreign Minister Steps Down Amid Biggest Cabinet 'Reboot' Of War
And now Ukraine's top diplomat is out, amid an ongoing major Zelensky shake-up of his cabinet - the biggest of the war. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of the country's most recognized faces after two-and-a-half years of war, has resigned Wednesday. This comes after the night prior six top officials, including several ministers, were also forced out. Some, however, are expected to take up other government positions.
David Arakhamia, who is head of the ruling Servant of the People group in parliament, wrote on Telegram: "As promised, a major reboot of the government can be expected this week." He identified that Wednesday would be "the day of lay-offs, and the day after . . . the day of appointments."
"Kuleba, 43, didn’t give a reason for stepping down. His resignation will be discussed by lawmakers at their next session, parliamentary Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said on his Facebook page," Associated Press writes.
Lawmakers said that Kuleba submitted to parliament a handwritten letter dated Sept.4 which asked the body to "accept my resignation from the post of the minister of foreign affairs of Ukraine."
Kuleba was instrumental in helping to line up record-setting defense aid and deliveries of foreign arms for Kiev, including lobbying Washington last year to receive Patriot missiles. He's also been seen as key in getting the West to greenlight missile strikes inside Russian territory and has of late been arguing that restrictions on long-range systems should be removed. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: Let's recap Zelenskyy's actual effects on the Nazi ... err "Ukrainian" war effort ...
He's continue to commit the Azov battalion to some of the worst blunders in modern war, repeatedly "falling" for obvious instances of Russian maneuver defense, resulting in the decimation of a large-scale MIL unit comprised mostly of ... well, Nazis.
He's arrested the man who originally funded his campaign, Igor Kolomoisky, who turned him from a paid Ukrainian actor to a ... paid Ukrainian actor pretending to be the president.
This was as part of a massive anti-corruption probe that also managed to ensnare THREE Ukrainian Supreme Court Justices, as well as the Chief Justice ... and has now expanded to include several of Ukraine's top (read: Azov) MIL commanders, and now one of its energy leaders.
All along the way, Zelenskyy has faced ratcheting pressure from the EU and from Azov-friendly "Ukrainians," such as Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko.
Remember, people: it takes two to make a perfect phone call. —
Germany grapples with far-right surge as AfD wins state election
The far-right AfD party alone won a third of the votes in two eastern German states on Sunday, as residents of Thuringia and Saxony begin to take stock of the results.
As the Alternative for Germany (AfD) celebrated its historical win, hundreds marched through the streets of Erfurt on Sunday night amid news that a far-right party has won a state election for the first time since Nazis ruled over Germany.
Some Erfurt residents were too sceptical of the media to speak on camera but told Euronews that their votes were a "last resort".
Their main motivation for voting was safety concerns made worse by a slate of knife crimes, they said, including a deadly attack in Solingen claimed by the so-called Islamic State group, which dominated the news ahead of the election.
"This election has shown that Germany has, in a way, become normal in the sense that right-wing populists, who are strong everywhere else in Europe, are also asserting themselves strongly in Germany," Dr Sven Leunig, a political scientist from the Thuringia-based University of Jena, told Euronews.
"And it's not just the AfD. The (leftist Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance) BSW also holds populist positions that are quite similar in many ways." — Euro News
And …
The Kids Are All Right: Anti-Mass Migration AfD Most Popular Party Among Young Voters in Germany
The anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany populist party was the most popular among young voters in Sunday’s regional elections, as analysis finds that establishment warnings of the rise of the so-called “far-right” are being dismissed by many self-described “centrist” youths.
The local elections held in two eastern German states over the weekend saw young voters flock to the right-wing populist AfD, helping drive the party to its first major election win in the state of Thuringia and a narrow second-place finish in neighbouring Saxony.
According to an analysis by the Elections Research Group, 36 per cent of voters between the ages of 18 and 29 backed the Alternative for Germany in Thuringia, by far the most for any party and 11 per cent more than the previous election in 2019, broadcaster NTV reports.
Comparatively, the centre-right neo-liberal Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Left party tied for second place in Thuringia at 13 per cent. — Breitbart
Our Take: As I sit on a layover in Munich, I figured I’d check in on German news. The AfD victory is ubiquitous, and this line is election goals:
‘…none of the established parties managed to secure an absolute majority or even a coalition majority…’
As we discussed yesterday, Trump is building a new ‘party,’ and a coalition with the neglected middle of the nation. A nationalist, populist, pre-WW2 view of America is on the US ballot in November.
It’s a big election year around the world, and as we’ve covered on the Brief for months, the people of the world are roundly rejecting globalism. That includes Germany, as evidenced by Sunday’s elections. It’s notable that most of the people referenced in this article did not want to be identified. But they’re still voting for their self interest. I expect the majority of Americans will follow suit.
AfD’s win also re-raises the question about whether or not the global corporate communists still have their grip on the people’s election.
The global regime is freaking out at the thought of losing their grip on power, so expect to hear a lot more about “the far right” in the weeks to come. On both sides of the pond. —
Mossad financier arrested by Turkish police in Istanbul
Turkish security officials announced on 3 September the arrest of Liridon Rexhepi, a Kosovan national identified by the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT) as the head of Mossad’s financial network in Turkiye.
Citing security sources, Turkish media revealed Rexhepi “was transferring money to Mossad’s field agents in Turkiye who filmed Mossad targets with drones, led psychological operations against Palestinian politicians, and gathered intelligence about the Syrian field.”
MIT reportedly discovered Rexhepi after “detecting irregularities in his financial accounts,” which showed “countless” transfers to Mossad field agents in the country via Western Union. During interrogation, the financier also admitted that funds from Kosovo were transferred to sources in Syria using cryptocurrencies.
Rexhepi was placed under MIT surveillance upon entering Turkiye on 25 August before being detained in Istanbul on 30 August in a joint operation with the Istanbul police. He was formally arrested on Tuesday.
Since the start of the year, Turkish authorities have detained and charged dozens of suspected Mossad agents, most of whom were Turkish nationals. Seven suspects were detained in January, six people were charged in March, and two others were arrested in April. — The Cradle
Our Take: There is a pattern forming.
As the article points out, back in January, dozens of Mossad agents were rounded up and arrested in Turkey.
Then in May, an Israeli organ-trafficking ring was busted in Turkey.
I suspect that this ring and these events are connected to organized crime in Ukraine, given the geography of the region.
For what it is worth, Trump is a fan of Erdogan.
Colonel Towner Watkins has appeared on Breaking History several times, and one of those episodes was dedicated entirely to Turkey. The Colonel said that Turkey serves as a major hub for both NATO and Operation Gladio. As I recall, she basically described Turkey as the headquarters. And now we have Erdogan going after intelligence agents and organized crime syndicates, both of which are tied to Israel and perhaps tied to Ukraine.
Wouldn't that make just a little too much sense?
This all connects to my take yesterday on the Mongolians, since one of the many groups chased out of Central Asia by the Golden Horde were the Turkmen, who spread as far as modern-day Ukraine, Central Europe, and Turkey, but most just settled in modern day Turkmenistan—directly north of Afghanistan.
One of these tribes were the Ottomans, who settled in the shadow of the Byzantine Empire, and ultimately overthrew it in 1453, after they had first invaded Europe over a century before.
As we discussed the other day, the Ottomans were defeated in WWI, and their empire was divided up by the British and French. Syria and Turkey coming together, as well as Arabia, is the healing process from this division. And you can begin to see how everything in this story is connected. —
BONUS ITEMS
Kathy Hochul, Andrew Cuomo Respond After Ex-Aide Charged Over China Links
New York Governor Kathy Hochul and former Governor Andrew Cuomo have responded after a former aide was charged on Tuesday with acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese government.
Linda Sun, 41, and her husband, Chris Hu, 40, were arrested on Tuesday morning. Both pleaded not guilty during an initial court appearance in Brooklyn on Tuesday afternoon.
Sun, who held numerous posts in New York state government, including deputy chief of staff for Hochul, used her positions to further Beijing's agenda in exchange for compensation and gifts worth millions of dollars, federal prosecutors said.
In an interview on WNYC, Hochul said she was outraged and shocked by Sun's alleged behavior. She said her office had fired Sun last year after discovering evidence of misconduct and had reported her actions to authorities immediately.
"I'm furious, and I'm outraged and absolutely shocked at how brazen her behavior was," Hochul said. "It was a betrayal of trust—the trust of government, the trust of the people. And I'll tell you this, the second we discovered some levels of misconduct, we fired her, we alerted the authorities, and hence we ended up with what happened here today." — Newsweek
Congress sets first hearing on CrowdStrike outage
A House Homeland Security subcommittee said Friday it will hold the first congressional hearing on the global CrowdStrike outage later this month.
Why it matters: The hearing will be a bellwether for how much trust CrowdStrike has lost both in Washington and among its own customers.
State of play: Adam Meyers, senior vice president of counter adversary operations at CrowdStrike, will testify before the House Homeland Security cybersecurity subcommittee Sept. 24.
"While we can be thankful that this wasn't a cyberattack, this incident demonstrates the urgency of promoting cyber hygiene and resiliency amid increased threats," Rep. Mark Green (R-Tenn.), chair of the committee, said in a statement.
CrowdStrike spokesperson Kevin Benacci said that the company is continuing to "actively and collaboratively work with relevant Congressional committees" and that other congressional work, such as briefings, "may be disclosed at members' discretion."
Catch up quick: Lawmakers originally called on CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz to testify following the outage, which affected roughly 8.5 million Windows devices. — Axios
Harris campaign, DNC, announce unprecedented down-ballot spending
Kamala Harris’ campaign and the Democratic National Committee said Tuesday they are sending nearly $25 million to support down-ballot Democrats — an earlier investment and far more money than the top of the ticket has sent in past election years.
The funding in part reflects the Harris operation’s ability to spread money around after record fundraising over the past six weeks. But it is also a recognition of the importance of this year’s down-ballot races — which overlap with many of the swaths of the country that could decide the presidential election, and whose outcomes will substantially affect how Harris, or former President Donald Trump, will be able to govern next year.
The newly announced funds come from both the Harris campaign and the DNC, with a total of $10 million each going to committees supporting Democratic candidates for House and Senate, along with $2.5 million to a national Democratic group supporting state legislative candidates and $1 million each for groups backing Democratic gubernatorial and attorney general candidates.
“The vice president believes that this race is about mobilizing the entire country, in races at every level, to fight for our freedoms and our economic opportunity,” Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. “That’s why the vice president has made the decision to invest a historic sum into electing Democrats up and down the ballot.” — Politico
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.
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.
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As always thank you so much, BB, Ashe and Ghost! This is an exciting and exhausting journey! I feel like we’re on the other side of the mountain slowly but surely treading down to reach our glorious destination after a long and treacherous journey!!!! God bless you all! Together we all will Make America Great Again and show the next generation how to keep it that way! Furthermore, we want all other nations to be Great Again so that we can live together in peace and harmony!❤️🇺🇸🙏
It's the Russians! Again. Meanwhile the CCP has infiltrated every level of our society with their Thousand Talents program, their United Front and Confucian ops. Hochul, Feinstein, Swallwell, and half the politicians in DC (including the Bidens of course) are all on the payroll, and don't forget the CCP police stations across our country. We found out how subservient our government is when the CCP balloon, which was tracked from the moment it left China, traveled entirely across the country before the CCP masters of the Bidens and their controlled military and intel community decided it was OK to shoot it down. "OK, vassals, we got all our data. We'll let you save a little face by shooting down our intel balloon, we don't need it any more." But of course it's all about Russia. As always, the truth is what you are NOT allowed to talk about.