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.
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After three months of soul-searching about how to revive their party, some Democrats this week believe they have finally found a rallying point following Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
Billionaire Elon Musk’s campaign to dismantle the federal bureaucracy piece by piece at Trump’s behest, starting with the U.S. Agency for International Development, lit a fire under many Democratic lawmakers — several of whom rallied Monday outside USAID headquarters.
But relaunching the resistance to defend one of the least popular corners of the federal budget could be a monster miscalculation — and some prominent Democrats told me they have serious strategic reservations about how their party is fighting back. – Politico
Our Take: Even the MSM sees how retarded it is for the Dems to defend USAID.
“...people think the government is wasting money... but the Dems are taking the opposite position: ‘Nothing to look at here.’ ‘No money is wasted.’"
According to USAspending.gov, an official source for U.S. government expenditure data—and the resource used by Becker in his post—Politico received $8.2 million in total payments from government departments and agencies between fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2025. However, only $44,000 of this total came from USAID.
Neither Politico nor Johnson returned a request for comment from The Dispatch Fact Check. Becker could not be immediately reached.
Correction, February 5, 2025: The headline of this piece has been updated to more accurately describe the contents of the fact check. While Politico LLC did receive funds from USAID and other government agencies, the money was not for grants but payment for subscriptions to its publications. – The Dispatch
Politico, a leading left-leaning political journalism outlet, has encountered a significant financial hiccup as it failed to pay its employees for the most recent pay period, leading to widespread confusion and concern among its staff.
This payroll disruption comes in the wake of revelations that Politico has been receiving substantial funding from the U.S. government, raising questions about the financial interdependence of media and state.
Employees of Politico received several communications from the company indicating that there was a “technical error” responsible for the delay in salary disbursement.
Despite these assurances, the exact cause of the payroll issue remains unclear, with no direct connections established to the recent pause in USAID funding or broader government spending freezes. – Shore News Network
Our Take: I had to post the Dispatch’s fact check about Politico directly following Jon’s take on the Politico article because it’s hilarious. They’re claiming that it was, in fact, $8.1M in government funding but only $44,000 of that came from USAID. Also, the government funding is mostly subscriptions. Take that disinformation grifters! Debunked!
From the second article, we learn that the FDA paid Politico half a million dollars in subscriptions.
So, they confirm that the federal government paid Politico $8.1M?
Thanks. I have so many more questions now.
My favorite part of the “Fact Check!” is that they had to issue a correction and change their headline because their fact check got fact checked.
Delicious. They rushed to publish before getting their talking points aligned.
Story Deserves Another Take: So, we all understand the Politico scandal will lead to a Normie reckoning with the Smith-Mundt Modernization Act of 2013, right?
Why?
The only thing more scandalous than State-run propaganda is the fact that this has all been quite legal.
It's not the players. It's the game.
[…]
Remember when Trump said the enemy was waging “illegal psychological warfare operations on the American people?”
Now, connect that with the USAID funding for the US Media Industrial Complex.
Elon Musk quoted Mike Benz on X, posting, “It’s More Than Just USAID, but … yes.”
The post from Benz reads, “I've been telling you guys forever that you've been living your whole in a carefully constructed USAID Truman Show, where none of the institutions you meet – from the media, to public health, to universities, to NGOs, to terrorists – are the institutions you think you are.” – Elon Musk on X
Our Take: This was a conspiracy theory just a few weeks ago, but now it's just obviously true.
People will agree that this is obviously true and still claim that the events that happen within this entirely constructed False Reality are still fully real, as explained by the False Reality.
They will get angry if you tell them that the events, as told, are also fake, despite how obvious it is. –
Colombian President Gustavo Petro has claimed that cocaine is no worse than whiskey, arguing that the drug’s illegality stems from its Latin American origin rather than its effects. Petro made the remarks amid tensions with US President Donald Trump’s administration over deportation policies and recent threats to impose trade tariffs.
Colombia has long been associated with cocaine production, with significant portions of the global supply originating from the country. The drug is made from the leaves of the coca plant, native to Latin America.
“Cocaine is illegal not because it’s worse than whiskey, but because it’s produced in Latin America,” Petro said during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday. The president apparently used whiskey for the comparison because the US is a leading producer and exporter. – RT
Our Take: Normally, I wouldn't give a story like this one the time of day. But given the recent spat between Trump and Colombia, over the repatriation of illegal immigrants, this seemed not only notable, but downright hilarious.
This may go down as one of the greatest cliches in the history of the world. And the picture that RT used was perfect.
You best start believing in Trump-a-Mania, brother. You're living in it. –
Democratic lawmakers are staging protests outside federal agencies, holding resistance-themed news conferences back home and taking to social media as they try to combat President Donald Trump’s moves to remake the government with executive power.
Relegated to the minority in Congress and left with few legislative tools to check Trump, Democrats are seeking to rally voters against his push to freeze federal loans and grants, dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development and other agencies and allow his government efficiency czar, billionaire Elon Musk, to access Americans’ federal data.
On Monday, congressional Democrats staged a protest outside USAID. On Tuesday, they appeared outside the Treasury Department. On Wednesday, they spoke to a crowd near the Capitol and another outside the Labor Department.
It all comes as Democrats seek to find their voice. – NBC News
Demonstrators gathered in cities across the U.S. on Wednesday to protest the Trump administration’s early actions, decrying everything… at state capitols in California, Minnesota, Michigan, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana and beyond…
“I’m appalled by democracy’s changes in the last, well, specifically two weeks — but it started a long time ago,” Margaret Wilmeth said at a protest outside the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio. “So I’m just trying to put a presence into resistance.”
The protests were a result of a movement that has organized online under the hashtags #buildtheresistance and #50501, which stands for 50 protests, 50 states, one day. Websites and accounts across social media issued calls for action, with messages such as “reject fascism” and “defend our democracy.” – AP News
Our Take: One last Color Revolution on American soil, for old time’s sake. –
Another Take: One underreported reaction to the congressional democrats’ protest of losing foreign aid is the online Western North Carolina response:
The simple (and, I think, likely) answer is that the Congress doesn’t get paid to help Western North Carolina unless the money goes through a federal agency like FEMA or HUD, and those guys ran out of money or aren’t in season.
But producing transgender operas in Colombia, and other ridiculous things like the “war” in “Ukraine,” are always in season.
It’s why they wave foreign flags on the floor of the People’s House. It’s why they’re storming the castle(s) and throwing ridiculous tantrums now. The positive reinforcement of kickbacks – as the regular course of business in the legislative branch for generations – has conditioned the political elite in Washington. And not just in Washington.
Circling back to the top of the take, the reason North Carolina didn’t get help is that the government agencies were dividing it up. Sorry, planning. Apparently they’re going to take their time.
“I don’t think that money’s really going to flow until the summer, because they have to put together a plan that says ‘here’s how we’re going to spend it,’ and they’ve got to send that back to HUD [US Dept. of Housing and Urban Development]. HUD has to approve that plan, and then it comes back.” Cardinal & Pine, January 31, 2025.
Summer?!
So, considering the example from Congress, where was the protest and outrage over Hurricane relief?
In December, both chambers of the state legislature passed hurricane relief, then the governor vetoed it, then both chambers overrode the veto. That doesn’t happen, ever, in my state. Respect, that’s good TV.
Their outrage was about other stuff, too. Like elections:
“The 131-page bill will transfer $252 million to the state’s Hurricane Helene relief fund while enacting major changes to the state government — most notably, placing the State Board of Elections under the control of the state’s new Republican State Auditor Dave Boliek and curtailing powers of the Attorney General’s office.
They tried to veto hurricane relief. Why? Because the bill moved the State Board of Elections under the State Auditor. They’re even pulling out allegations of voter suppression!
The administration of US President Donald Trump sees the UN-based international system and the so-called “rules-based order” as undesirable, and will likely test the limits of both, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said.
The US and its allies have never followed the UN Charter’s principles of equality of states, believing the Yalta-Potsdam agreements to be against their interests, Lavrov wrote in an op-ed published in the Russia in Global Affairs magazine on Tuesday.
The agreements were signed by the leaders of the victorious World War II allies in 1945 – the Soviet Union, the US, and the UK – and shaped the post-war world.
“The West evidently subscribed to these principles with ulterior motives, and then grossly violated them in Yugoslavia, Iraq, Libya, and Ukraine,” Lavrov said. Still, the UN Charter should not be abandoned, lest the world lose its common guiding values, he added. – RT
Our Take: Spoiler Alert, Putin and Trump have been working together this entire time. That is something the reprobates in the MSM actually got right – just for the wrong reasons.
They share the same list of enemies, and those enemies are some of the most wicked and depraved individuals who have ever lived. Sergei Lavrov is saying the quiet part out loud, promoting the benevolence of Donald Trump, as he feigns being Trump's geopolitical adversary.
Worth noting that the actual definition of "kayfabe" (in the world of professional wrestling) is the moment when a character turns from heel to hero, or vise-versa.
I expect that moment is coming for Lavrov, Putin, and Russia in the collective mind of the West. –
MicroStrategy® Incorporated (Nasdaq: MSTR) today announced it is now doing business as Strategy™. Strategy is the world’s first and largest Bitcoin Treasury Company, the largest independent, publicly traded business intelligence company, and a Nasdaq 100 stock. This brand simplification is a natural evolution of the company, reflecting its focus and broad appeal. The new logo includes a stylized “B”, signifying the company’s Bitcoin strategy, and its unique position as a Bitcoin Treasury Company. The brand’s primary color is now orange, representing energy, intelligence, and Bitcoin. – Strategy, Press Release
Our Take: Some of us believe Michael Saylor's MicroStrategy has been deployed to kick off a transition that forces the vampiric fiat currency class to fund their own destruction.
U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the White House next week, a White House official said, hours after a U.S. military plane departed to return deported migrants to the country.
Trump spoke with Modi on Jan. 27, when he discussed immigration and stressed the importance of India buying more American-made security equipment and fair bilateral trading ties. [...]
The United States is India's largest trading partner and two-way trade between the two countries surpassed $118 billion in 2023/24, with India posting a trade surplus of $32 billion. – Reuters
Our Take: With all the excitement going on with this cast of characters, one could almost forget about the Hugger-in-Chief, Narendra Modi.
Interesting timing, too, with the Canada stuff happening – remember that bizarre spat Modi was having with Justin Trudeau, where both sides withdrew their diplomats over allegations of Indian assassins in Canada? Then you had the whole H-1B1 visa episode with Vivek and Elon, and the call to import more Indians.
I don't sweat it. I'm just looking forward to seeing Modi bearhug every person in his proximity, and maybe give a few respectful bows for dramatic effect.
Maybe Trump will unleash Modi on Israel, and let him hug it out with all those ornery Zionists in Tel Aviv? –
Scott Turner, who was tapped to promote investment in distressed neighborhoods during President Trump's first term, has been confirmed as secretary of Housing and Urban Development. The Senate vote Wednesday was 55-44.
Turner spent nine years as a professional football player before being elected twice as a Texas State Representative. He's also been chief visionary officer at the multifamily housing developer JPI.
During his confirmation hearing, Turner said HUD is "failing at its most basic mission," noting record-high homelessness and a shortage of affordable housing that leaves people struggling every day. – NPR
Our Take: Today in Senate Confirmations, Kash Patel faces a Judiciary Committee vote to advance his nomination for FBI Director to the floor. The Finance Committee is holding a hearing on Jamison Greer, Trump’s nominee for US Trade Representative. – NPR
Now awaiting their turn on the Senate floor are:
Robert F. Kennedy (HHS)
Brook Rollins (Agriculture)
Tulsi Gabbard (Intelligence)
Dan Driscoll (US Army)
Howard Lutnik (Commerce)
Kelly Loeffler (SBA)
Two new confirmation-related meetings were added to the Senate calendar Wednesday, including hearings to examine the nomination of Lori Chavez-DeRemer for Secretary of Labor in the HELP Committee, and “hearings to examine pending nominations” in the Judiciary Committee.
Which ones? It’s a surprise I guess. Both meetings take place next Wednesday, February 12 around 10am.
Yesterday, the Senate invoked cloture on OMB Director Russell Vought. Per the Senate Periodicals account tracking floor activity on X, “Under the regular order and absent an agreement, the confirmation vote will occur at approx. 7:00 pm on Thursday, February 6, 2025. The Senate is expected to stay in session for the entire 30 hours of post-cloture debate.” Seems Senate all nighters are rare, but they do happen.
Howard Lutnick (Commerce) and Kelly Loeffler (SBA) advanced out of their committees with favorable recommendations. Here is who is confirmed as of end of day Wednesday:
Secretary of State: Marco Rubio
CIA Director: John Ratcliffe
Secretary of Defense: Pete Hegseth
DHS Secretary: Kristi Noem
Treasury Secretary: Scott Bessent
Transportation Secretary: Sean Duffy
EPA Administrator: Lee Zeldin
Secretary of the Interior: Doug Burgum
Secretary of Energy: Chris Wright
Secretary of Veteran Affairs: Doug Collins
Attorney General: Pam Bondi
Secretary of HUD: Eric Scott Turner
The confirmations of President Trump’s nominees are proceeding slower than Obama’s. All but two of the 44th president’s nominees were confirmed by this point in 2009, and nominees were confirmed in mere weeks in his second term.
In contrast, at this point in 2021, Biden had only four nominees confirmed. –
Attorney General Pam Bondi will issue several major directives on her first day leading the Justice Department, including orders to combat the weaponization of the legal system; make prosecutors seek the death penalty when appropriate; and work with the Department of Homeland Security to "completely eliminate" cartels and transnational criminal organizations, Fox News Digital has learned. […]
Bondi issued a directive regarding "zealous advocacy." Bondi said DOJ attorneys’ responsibilities include "aggressively enforcing criminal laws passed by Congress, but also vigorously defending presidential policies and actions on behalf of the United States against legal challenges."
"The discretion afforded Justice Department attorneys with respect to those responsibilities does not include latitude to substitute their personal political views or judgments for those that prevailed in the election," the memo states.
Bondi is set to establish the "Weaponization Working Group," which will review the activities of all law enforcement agencies over the past four years to identify instances of "politicized justice." – Fox News
A US bankruptcy judge on Wednesday blocked a settlement between families who have sued Alex Jones over his false claims about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting… The decision complicates a proposed sale of Jones’ Infowars platform, and could spur divisions between families who sued Jones and won nearly $1.3 billion in Connecticut court cases and those who won $50 million in Texas courts. [...]
US Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected the settlement at a hearing in Houston, saying the families were asking him to also divide up the assets of Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, despite the fact that the company had been dismissed from bankruptcy last year.
“I can’t do that,” Lopez said. “That case is closed.” – New York Post
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Reading the news every day about confirmation hearings reminds me that we have too many damn agencies. Our bloated, corrupt government is finally facing a "wreckoning." And how. And now. Thanks, Donald. Thanks, Elon.
This has been the dream and now as BB states it is happening: "Exposure > Disclosure > Justice.– Burning Bright"
I believe GBPH: "You best start believing in Trump-a-Mania, brother. You're living in it.
– GhostofBasedPatrickHenry"
They won't go away quietly as noted by CP: "One last Color Revolution on American soil, for old time’s sake. – Chris Paul" but in Trump 2.0 they will all go away!
Great Takes, things are moving so fast it is hard to keep up. I believe we have moved past the Drip, Drip, Drip phase and are now into the Flood :-)
Reading the news every day about confirmation hearings reminds me that we have too many damn agencies. Our bloated, corrupt government is finally facing a "wreckoning." And how. And now. Thanks, Donald. Thanks, Elon.
This has been the dream and now as BB states it is happening: "Exposure > Disclosure > Justice.– Burning Bright"
I believe GBPH: "You best start believing in Trump-a-Mania, brother. You're living in it.
– GhostofBasedPatrickHenry"
They won't go away quietly as noted by CP: "One last Color Revolution on American soil, for old time’s sake. – Chris Paul" but in Trump 2.0 they will all go away!
Great Takes, things are moving so fast it is hard to keep up. I believe we have moved past the Drip, Drip, Drip phase and are now into the Flood :-)
God Wins!
God Bless!!!