Badlands News Brief
Pardon Me ... No, But Seriously. PLEASE Pardon Me.
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.
Before we get into the meat of today’s Brief, we want to take a moment to thank our sponsor, and to let our Badlands readers know about a fantastic deal they’re offering.
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Now, onto the news from Wednesday, December 4 …
Biden White House Is Discussing Preemptive Pardons for Those in Trump’s Crosshairs
President Joe Biden’s senior aides are conducting a vigorous internal debate over whether to issue preemptive pardons to a range of current and former public officials who could be targeted with President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House, according to senior Democrats familiar with the discussions.
Biden’s aides are deeply concerned about a range of current and former officials who could find themselves facing inquiries and even indictments, a sense of alarm which has only accelerated since Trump last weekend announced the appointment of Kash Patel to lead the FBI. Patel has publicly vowed to pursue Trump’s critics.
The White House officials, however, are carefully weighing the extraordinary step of handing out blanket pardons to those who’ve committed no crimes, both because it could suggest impropriety, only fueling Trump’s criticisms, and because those offered preemptive pardons may reject them.
The deliberations touch on pardoning those currently in office, elected and appointed, as well as former officials who’ve angered Trump and his loyalists.
Those who could face exposure include such members of Congress’ Jan. 6 Committee as Sen.-elect Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming. Trump has previously said Cheney “should go to Jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee!” Also mentioned by Biden’s aides for a pardon is Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases who became a lightning rod for criticism from the right during the Covid-19 pandemic. — Politico
Our Take: Pardon me, but it's clear #OurBoyBlue isn't done yet!
The absolute mad lad is burning the system down on his way out the door.
The Game Theory on display when it comes to the 'pardon panic' is incredible, and runs along multiple tracks.
For starters, the nomination of Kash Patel for FBI Director was as much Narrative as it was Actual. While SOME of Trump's picks for cabinet positions have left all sides of the Mind War scratching their heads, Kash was the one both sides converged on in advance as the ultimate promise (to us) and threat (to them.)
Pardoning Hunter is one of the juiciest political scandals in American history ... and now, by pre-emptively offering pardons to names like Cheney and Fauci, Biden is seeding the justice phase in the public mind, while codifying 8 years of 'conspiracy' narrative.
What's more, they have to ACCEPT the pardons, implying de facto admission of guilt in advance of even being accused directly of crimes by the incoming DOJ.
Your move, swampies. —
North Korea has every reason to be wary of South – Moscow
North Korea’s concerns over its security are understandable given the political instability in the South, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
In a surprise televised address on Tuesday, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol imposed emergency martial law, claiming that the opposition, which he accused of being sympathetic towards the North, had been preparing a “rebellion.” Within hours, 190 members of parliament, who managed to access the National Assembly despite military cordons, voted unanimously to lift the decree.
Soon afterwards, the head of state reversed his decision.
On Wednesday, Zakharova said: “In my opinion, many have understood why the DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea)… is so concerned over its security.”
“It’s because they see that in a couple of hours [South Korea] can morph from a professed democracy into absolute chaos, with tanks on the streets, a storming of parliament, popular confrontation and some brute-force tactics,” the official claimed.
According to the Russian diplomat, with such an “unpredictable” neighbor, North Korea’s special focus on its security is entirely justified. — RT
Our Take: Houston, we have achieved narrative inversion.
South Korea is now North Korea: A place of political instability, tyranny, military coups, and it is now obvious to the public that it is nothing more than a puppet-state of western intelligence agencies.
Kind of like how Israel is now the government of religious zealots who openly call for brutalizing and starving the innocent populations of their enemies, professing a "might makes right" mantra as they engage in kinetic conquest against their neighbors. (Everything they have always accused Iran of being.)
This isn't madness. This is TrumpaMania. (Expect more.)
PS - On a more serious note, pray for our boy, Un. They will likely try to kill him as they become more desperate to maintain their power projection, and foment chaos to destabilize the world. —
SCOTUS conservative majority appears ready to endorse Tennessee law banning gender-affirming care for minors
The Supreme Court appeared likely to back a divisive Tennessee law that bans gender-affirming care for minors after more than two hours of oral arguments on Wednesday in which the court delved into a culture war battle that has become even more politically fraught since the election.
[…]
Here are some key takeaways from Wednesday’s historic arguments:
Roberts, Kavanaugh wary of courts second-guessing legislatures: On multiple occasions, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh, two of the court’s most important votes, suggested that the issue of gender-affirming medical treatments for minors should be left to legislatures to decide and that the courts shouldn’t play a role. Roberts’ skepticism toward courts getting involved was a particularly worrying sign for the challengers to the Tennessee ban, as Roberts had previously sided with federal transgender employees in a major 2020 case finding those employees are covered under the workplace discrimination protections of the Civil Rights Act.
Alito and other conservatives focus on “detransitioners”: Several of the court’s conservatives appeared heavily focused on so-called detransitioners – individuals who regret receiving gender-affirming treatments earlier in their lives – as they expressed skepticism toward arguments that transgender Americans should receive heightened protection under the law. Justice Samuel Alito, in particular, was interested in the question of whether transgender status is “immutable.” Historically, the court has considered immutability to be a key aspect of the characteristics of a group deserving of more protection.
Kavanaugh worried about girls’ sports: Kavanaugh repeatedly raised concerns about the impact the court’s decision may have on girls’ sports – an issue that has already worked its way up to the Supreme Court in several cases. “If you prevail here,” Kavanaugh pressed US Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, “what would that mean for women’s and girls’ sports in particular?” It was notable that Kavanaugh was raising that question. The Trump nominee has discussed his efforts coaching basketball for his daughters’ teams, one of which even came to his confirmation hearing in 2018.
Gorsuch, a key vote in transgender case, remains silent: One of the most notable twists in the hours of speaking was a conservative justice who decided to say nothing at all: Neil Gorsuch. Gorsuch is considered a key vote in the case because he wrote the majority opinion in an unexpected decision four years ago in Bostock v. Clayton County that protected transgender employees from discrimination in the workplace. He was cheered by surprised LGBTQ+ advocates on the left and roundly criticized by conservatives – including several of his colleagues on the bench. — CNN
Our Take: Two interesting takeaways from Wednesday’s SCOTUS oral arguments on gender affirming care stand out to me:
First, Justice Gorsuch was silent. The rainbow movement was reportedly looking for Gorsuch to signal his position during these arguments.
The second stand out moment is Justice Alito’s focus on immutability. Alito pressed the parties on whether transgender status is an immutable characteristic — a legal chess move that could shake up the transgender debate and reinforce guardrails on the ever-changing landscape of “protected status.”
Civil rights protections have evolved through the law over the decades based largely on immutability; that is, these laws build on the idea that one’s unchangeable characteristics cannot lead to the deprivation of their rights. On the basis of race, sex, etc.
Alito asks a simple but powerful question in the trans debate: If self identification is fluid and can be changed, then how is self identification immutable? If self identification is not immutable, then it follows that self identification does not result in protected status. They have the same ol’ rights as everybody else, and they have full access to these rights just like everybody else.
The real world result is that transgender individuals lose their imaginary “special rights” that afford them the power to infringe upon the protected rights of others. Like girls in sports or women’s award ceremonies and historical records.
Checkmate.
The petitioners may come to regret bringing this question before the High Court; this has the potential to result in a victory for equality, a blow to equity, and a potentially powerful moment of change. It could transform the power dynamics within the transgender debate in much the same way that Loper Bright transformed Chevron and the power dynamics of the administrative state, and how Dobbs transformed Roe and the power dynamics of the abortion industries.
Transformational change is happening all around us. We’re not even at Day One. —
Russia Accuses Ukraine Of Supporting AQ-Linked Fighters In Syria, & There Is Some Evidence
While the issue of potential Ukrainian government support to Syria's Al Qaeda spin-off Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has remained subject of intense speculation and rumor, Moscow has made the allegation official.
Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia issued a statement accusing Ukraine of stoking the armed insurgency which seeks to take over Syrian territory and threaten Assad. "Ukrainian military instructors from the GUR are present… training HTS fighters for combat operations," Nebenzia said at the UN on Tuesday.
He went on to assert that HTS has "not only not concealed the fact that they are supported by Ukraine, but they are also openly flaunting this." Reports and images of Ukrainian equipment and drones in the hands of the jihadists during the capture of Aleppo have persisted for days.
Nebenzia also turned his criticisms against UN officials for being "unable to summon the courage to call a spade a spade and to condemn these terrorist attacks" against Syria.
A surprise report on December 1st in the staunchly pro-Ukraine Kyiv Post suggested this is all part of Ukrainian intelligence efforts to hit out at Russian targets outside the immediate theatre of the Ukraine war. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: All the devils are here, in the Biblical desert of Syria. It should be clear now that this will be the site of the final battle in the War of Sovereignty.
To be clear, this is NATO operating out of Turkey to overthrow Assad, in order to expel Russia from the Middle East and damage Putin's power projection. According to Colonel Towner-Watkins, who joined me and Matt on Breaking History yesterday, that ISIS-K attack at the Crocus City Hall in Moscow last April was also NATO operating out of Turkey.
Check out this Max Blumenthal tweet from the article:
Mouaz Moustafa? There's a name that will bring the narrative full circle. That's because Moustafa is not only a CNN correspondent, but also served as the late Senator John McCain's field guide when he traveled to Syria back in 2013 to meet with ISIS to help coordinate support for their fight.
If you think I'm speculating, watch this segment by George Stephanopoulos and ABC News from 2013:
In this image below, that's Moustafa on the right. The man lurking and scowling in the background (circled in red) is none other than Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS leader who was killed during a 2019 raid led by the heroic dog, Conan, under direct orders from President Trump, who addressed the nation with the news of the great victory.
During McCain's trip back in 2013, a CNN crew filmed his historic meeting with ISIS, citing Moustafa by name. (Again, al-Baghdadi is circled in red. Moustafa is seated to McCain's left.)
After al-Baghdadi died like a dog in that cave in 2019, CNN responded by having Moustafa on to lament the death of the "austere scholar" (h/t Washington Post) and to call President Assad a puppet of Putin. (Literally the same thing they were saying about President Trump.)
What's funny is that, in hindsight, you realize that the MSM was always being rather straightforward with us about their support for ISIS. Notice how they fawned over No Name (McCain) despite being his political rival, purportedly. The MSM was showing us the Uniparty dynamics all along, we were just too indoctrinated to notice.
American society is controlled by ruthless gangsters who also happen to be malicious traitors, and are in partnership with the world's most notorious terrorist organization of the past decade, to the extent that they proudly broadcast their support for this thugs on the airwaves.
What a timeline lads. Can't wait to see what happens next. —
Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to lead FBI, has been targeted in an Iranian hack, sources say
Kash Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the FBI, was recently informed by the bureau that he had been targeted as part of an Iranian hack, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
Hackers are believed to have accessed at least some of Patel’s communications, according to one of the sources.
Trump transition spokesman Alex Pfeiffer declined to comment specifically on the hack in a statement to CNN.
“Kash Patel was a key part of the first Trump administration’s efforts against the terrorist Iranian regime and will implement President Trump’s policies to protect America from adversaries as the FBI Director,” Pfeiffer said in the statement.
Members of Trump’s inner circle have been targeted by foreign hackers in recent months. Last month, the FBI informed Todd Blanche, one of Trump’s lead attorneys and now his pick to be deputy attorney general, that his cellphone was tapped by Chinese hackers, three sources familiar with the matter previously told CNN. The Chinese government has denied US allegations that it is behind that hack.
Blanche was the second Trump attorney believed to be targeted by foreign hackers. CNN reported in August that attorney Lindsey Halligan was targeted as part of a separate Iranian hacking effort.
Donald Trump Jr. has also said he was notified by the FBI that he was “one of the top targets” of Iran. — CNN
Our Take: This is a story template, and it's leading somewhere big.
Earlier this year, we were told Iranian hackers had targeted the Trump campaign, potentially making off with internal research done on other supposed MAGA figures, including eventual VP pick JD Vance.
But the reason it stuck out to me at the time was the fact that Trump's team knew of the hack for some time before it was widely reported. When it WAS reported, Politico and the Media Industrial Complex adopted a somewhat defensive tone, claiming they had been sent the information, but had decided not to publish it.
The Kamala campaign followed suit, claiming they had also been the targets of a similar hacking effort.
At the time, I speculated that Trump team was letting the establishment and opposition know that THEY knew who was truly behind the hacking attempts.
Think of the connections between known US intel figures and Iran.
Think of the position Iran has occupied in the American mind for decades.
Who is "Iran" really? —
Trump’s plans to remake America in 1 week
If President-elect Donald Trump lives up to his promises, he is going to have a prolific first week in office come January.
Trump has pledged action on dozens of policy fronts on Day One or Week One in the White House as part of an aggressive agenda to reverse immigration flows, juice American energy production, reorient global commerce and purge his political enemies. Some of his promises are improbable — such as ending the war in Ukraine in his first 24 hours — but he can achieve many of his aims through executive actions, which aides are already scrambling to prepare.
POLITICO compiled a list of the biggest promises Trump made on the campaign trail or since winning the election to provide a snapshot of what his first week in office might look like … — Politico
Our Take: Politico was going for scary, but ended up at unintentionally based.
It’s, of course, still cringe.
Child mutilation and the destruction of girls sports are listed as “Healthcare” and “Education.” Censorship is “Technology.” Decreasing the size of the federal workforce is under “Labor.”
That last one makes me giggle.
They continue, “Trump has pledged…
“to reverse immigration flows”
What a creative way to describe breaking up caravans and conducting mass deportations. Politico’s choice of words indicates a recognition of popular sentiment. They can’t sell the invasion as they once could.
“juice American energy production”
Trump is going to inject steroids into American energy production? Let’s go!
“reorient global commerce”
Putting the interests of Americans first as President and investing in American manufacturing and other industries? Preventing other countries from ripping off struggling Americans? Yes, please.
“purge his political enemies.”
Trump’s political enemies are a corrupted, weaponized government that uses force under color of law to achieve self-interested, political ends. They did great harm and have many victims, but their systemic power ensures they are never held to account.
The “political enemies” that will be the subject of due process and equal justice by a Trump DOJ are all our enemies. Enemies of the people. Corruption is always wrong. It’s not okay because they were corrupt against Trump and his 74M+ supporters. That’s just terminal Trump derangement talking. The corrupt must be held to account.
Politico concedes in this piece that many of Trumps policy priorities can be actually and immediately accomplished on January 20, 2025.
Trump Executive Orders that were repealed by Biden can be reissued. Biden Executive Orders that are destroying our country can be immediately ended. Trump can do super cool stuff we haven’t even thought up yet, guys.
Add that Diplomacy and the respect that Trump commands on the world stage are already reshaping foreign policy, and you can begin to consider a coming golden age.
Politico knows it.
Week One is gonna be lit. —
Trump inherits a Middle East in flux
The greater Middle East is erupting, and in just six weeks — tick tock, tick tock — it's Donald Trump's problem.
Why it matters: For all the attention paid to technological face-offs with China and measurements of military might in the Indo-Pacific, it will be the pressures of the Middle East that dominate the early days of Trump's Pentagon.
That puts a premium on drone and counter-drone tech, which evolved in the post-9/11 world, as well as air defenses.
In turn, the teeth of American forces posted in China's backyard could be dulled, as Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo cautioned days ago.
Between the lines: Some of Trump's picks for key government posts are global war on terrorism veterans. Their experience and potential disillusionment will color, not determine, the administration's approach.
Task and Purpose explained it expertly this week.
"The worldview of these veterans has largely been shaped by more than two decades of war," Jeff Schogol wrote. "[Pete] Hegseth, [Tulsi] Gabbard, and [JD] Vance in particular have shown a deep distrust for the foreign interventionalist ideology that underpinned the start" of the war on terror.
Our thought bubble: Squaring much-debated MAGA isolationism with the dangers of the Middle East, including continued assaults on U.S. warships, is difficult.
[…]
Trump himself threatened to get involved in the region, saying Monday there "will be ALL HELL TO PAY" if hostages taken by Hamas are not freed come his inauguration.
Exactly how, when or where isn't clear, but he has hit back before.
"If you are a bad guy and you are not afraid of Trump then you are also a dumb guy," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told Axios' Barak Ravid. "Bad and dumb guys don't last long."
This is also a preview of the next four years. Policy by posting. Threats via threads. — Axios
Our Take: Lindsay Graham thinks that President Trump is going to wage war in the Middle East. He sounds giddy just thinking about it.
Unfortunately for Lady Lindsay, the only war President Trump is about to wage will be on the corrupt political elite in DC. The parasite that has wrapped its appendage around the throat of America must be destroyed. Anything less than a complete and total victory over this vermin will mean that our children will be left to deal with them at some point in the future. I consider that potential scenario to be entirely unacceptable. This ends now, with us. Every last criminal traitor must be pursued to the ends of the earth. —
BONUS ITEMS
New York police search for person suspected of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO in ‘brazen’ attack
The CEO of UnitedHealthcare, one of the US’s largest health insurers, was shot dead on Wednesday in midtown Manhattan, police confirmed in a press conference.
Brian Thompson, the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare. Photograph: United Health Group
Brian Thompson, 50, was shot outside the Hilton hotel at 1335 Avenue of the Americas just after 6.45am after arriving early for the company’s annual investor conference. A man wearing a mask approached him and fired at him repeatedly, police said.
Police said they believe Thompson was targeted in the attack. This was a “brazen, targeted attack”, New York’s police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, said, adding that this “does not appear to be a random act of violence”.
“I want to be clear at this time, every indication is that this was a premeditated, pre-planned targeted attack,” she added.
The New York police department chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, said Thompson was found by police on the sidewalk in front of the Hilton with gunshot wounds to his back and his leg. He was rushed to Mount Sinai hospital in critical condition, and was pronounced dead at 7.12am.
The gunman arrived at the location on foot about five minutes before Thompson’s arrival, police said. From surveillance video, police said Thompson was seen at 6.44am walking alone towards the Hilton.
Police said video showed the gunman appearing to ignore other pedestrians. Officials said he approached Thompson from behind and shot him in the back before moving toward the victim and continuing to shoot. — The Guardian
Tucker Carlson Returns To Russia; Warns "We Are Closer To Nuclear War Than Ever"
Tucker Carlson has returned to Moscow to interview Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as the outgoing Biden administration pushes the US ever closer to a hot war with Russia.
“In the week since we left Russia, Moscow, where we are now in February, after interviewing Vladimir Putin, we’ve watched from the United States as the Biden administration has driven the US ever closer to a nuclear conflict with Russia, the country that possesses the world’s largest nuclear arsenal,” Carlson announced.
He continued, “It has accelerated ever since, and it’s reached its apogee so far in the weeks after Trump’s election. He’s now the President-elect. In that time, just a few weeks ago, the Biden Administration, American military personnel launched missiles into mainland Russia and killed at least a dozen Russian soldiers.”
“So we are, unbeknownst to most Americans, in a hot war with Russia, an undeclared war, a war you did not vote for and that most Americans don’t want, but that is ongoing,” Carlson urged.
“And because of that war because of the fact that the US military is killing Russians in Russia right now, we are closer to nuclear war than at any time in history, far closer than we were during the Cuban Missile crisis,” Carlson warned, adding “That would mean the elimination of Russia, the United States, and most of the rest of the world.” — Modernity News
Failing ABC Faces Crashing Ratings in Smelly, Freezing Building with No Wi-Fi.
ABC’s Good Morning America faces declining ratings and deteriorating conditions at its former headquarters as the network transitions to a new location in downtown Manhattan. The flagship morning show has been losing ground to NBC’s Today, sparking concern among Disney and ABC executives.
Sources describe the Upper West Side building, which has housed ABC since the 1980s, as “falling apart.” Over the weekend, the building’s antenna was ripped off, with no plans for replacement. Staffers still working on-site endure freezing temperatures and complain about the lack of Wi-Fi and the building’s poor maintenance. “The heat is off!” one insider quipped, while another reported, “It smells like crap.”
The deteriorating conditions come as the building awaits demolition. ABC sold the property in 2018 for nearly $1 billion but has remained a tenant while transitioning to its new Hudson Square facility. According to insiders, the building’s current owners have little incentive to maintain it, with plans afoot to replace the complex with high-rise developments.
Staff have dealt with infestations of mice and fleas, broken elevators, and escalators, forcing some to avoid certain areas. “The building is going to get condemned,” one employee said. — The National Pulse
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.
Badlands Media will always put out our content for free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Help our collective of citizen journalists take back the narrative from the MSM. We are the news now.
Two of my personal favorite quotes:
1) "Transformational change is happening all around us. We’re not even at Day One. — Ashe in America"
2) "This ends now, with us. Every last criminal traitor must be pursued to the ends of the earth. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry"
Thanks for todays Takes!
God Wins!
God Bless!!!
AiA: "The petitioners may come to regret bringing this question before the High Court; this has the potential to result in a victory for equality, a blow to equity, and a potentially powerful moment of change. It could transform the power dynamics within the transgender debate in much the same way that Loper Bright transformed Chevron and the power dynamics of the administrative state, and how Dobbs transformed Roe and the power dynamics of the abortion industries.
Transformational change is happening all around us. We’re not even at Day One." AMEN!
So "No Name" is back in the conversation (if he ever was out of it). Self-fulfilling prophecies can be very dangerous, especially for zealots!
Rush told us (those old enough to remember) that "words mean things" way back in the day. But of course - so did British novelist George Orwell, even earlier. That we have (those old enough to take responsibility) been too indoctrinated to notice should cause us to engage in serious critical thinking going forward!
GBPH: "Anything less than a complete and total victory over this vermin will mean that our children will be left to deal with them at some point in the future. I consider that potential scenario to be entirely unacceptable. This ends now, with us. Every last criminal traitor must be pursued to the ends of the earth." Amen and Amen!