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.
Some 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 Thursday, May 25 …
Target Loses $9 Billion in Market Value After Boycott
Target has faced enormous criticism for its recent efforts to cater to the transgender community in recent weeks after the national retailer introduced a “Pride collection” across its stores, featuring merchandise, clothing, and books promoting transgender-friendly messages and leftist gender ideology. What made this particularly troubling was that the products were not just for adults but also for young children and babies. Target also ensured that these products were prominently displayed at the front of its stores, forcing everyone who entered to be exposed to its rainbow-colored propaganda.
In response to the mounting backlash, Target held an emergency meeting and instructed certain store locations, mainly in rural Southern areas, to relocate and reduce the size of their Pride sections to avoid a situation similar to the Bud Light controversy.
“I think given the current situation with Bud Light, the company is terrified of a Bud Light situation,” a Target insider said.
Well, it looks like they couldn’t contain the damage. Just a week ago, Target’s stock closed at $160.96 per share, resulting in a market capitalization of $74.3 billion. However, early trading on Thursday showed a 1% decrease, with shares trading at $141.76. As a result, the market value has fallen to $65.3 billion — a 12% drop and a staggering loss of $9 billion in market capitalization. — PJ Media
Our Take: “The first time conservatives discovered their market power was in July 2020 when Goya CEO Robert Unanue praised president Trump and the establishment lost their minds. Twitter posts pushing for a boycott were 75% higher than those urging consumers to buy more Goya products, yet net sales jumped 22% in the two weeks after the controversy, according to a study by market research firm Numerator.
Then there was Bud Light discarding their customers to embrace Dylan Mulvaney’s ongoing mockery of women, which led to a 23% decline in sales according to data analysis from Bump Williams Consulting in the aftermath of the controversy.
As conservatives slowly, but more boldly step into their ability to measurably move markets, we find ourselves at Target, standing in the middle of the children’s pride display.
For those in the back, I said the CHILDREN’S pride display. The dedicated section of the store promoted merchandise, clothing, and books to children with trans-propaganda and grooming messages, and the store partnered with a satanic artist on many of the products.
Moms reacted, exposed the products — such as breast-binding and penis-tucking swimsuits — on social media, and as of press time, Target has lost $9 billion in market value (and counting).
The power of making intentional choices with our dollars cannot be overstated. Whether it’s buying from value-aligned businesses like Goya or starving those businesses that reject our values, like Bud Light and Target, conservatives are powerful change makers when they stop infighting and align against the common foe.
If we want to make the change stick, however, the decision to reallocate our dollars cannot come only when we’re triggered by the news. We must build a parallel economy outside the globalist tentacles — and we are.
Check out marketplace.badlands.tv to learn more.” — Ashe in America
Iowa Poll: Trump Holds 3-to-1 Lead Over DeSantis
An abortive rally and an expanding field of challengers hasn’t hurt Donald Trump’s standing in Iowa, according to a new poll from Emerson College. In results released Thursday morning, 62% of Republican voters indicated they would choose Trump as the party’s nominee, giving the former president a 3-to-1 margin over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who clocked in at 20%. Mike Pence and Nikki Haley are tied for third with 5%.
DeSantis, who formally declared his run Wednesday during a Twitter livestream with Elon Musk, has long been considered the most significant challenger to Trump for the GOP nomination, but the gap between the two has been expanding. Although the governor made a pair of widely covered visits to Iowa earlier this month, any corresponding boost in the polls has yet to materialize. The Emerson survey places him about on par with the current RCP national average.
Nonetheless, the DeSantis campaign may have exposed a fault line within the GOP’s base. The new poll found that although Trump was preferred by Republican voters across the board, he was especially favored by those under the age of 35 (75%) and without a college degree (70%). DeSantis is much closer among Republicans with a postgraduate degree.
The poll found that either candidate would beat President Biden handily in Iowa if the election were held today. A rematch between Trump and Biden shows a 49%-38% Trump lead in the Hawkeye State, with 10% voting third party and 6% undecided. DeSantis leads Biden 45%-38%. — RealClear Wire
Our Take: “This was the conviction I wrote about in November of 2022, in which I asserted that Trump had appeared weak when he was stronger than ever, weathering the most direct and impassioned (and false) storm of dooming and MAGA fear-mongering we’ve yet endured en route to retaking the MAGA zeitgeist within a week.
Under this framework or reading, America First and MAGA Committees continue to get evidence on the record, are afforded the opportunity to be seen as the voice of the people in the Mind War, while the necessary scrutiny on our flawed election systems ramps up exponentially heading toward whatever happens with the DNC and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., not to mention Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump on the eve of 2024, and all while Kari Lake continues to battle in the background.
Comfy Cozy.” — Burning Bright
Driver of U-Haul that rammed White House gate is not a U.S. citizen, prosecutors say
The man accused of ramming a U-Haul truck into barriers near the White House earlier this week isn't a U.S. citizen, authorities said Wednesday.
Sai Varshith Kandula, a 19-year-old from suburban St. Louis, wore an orange jail-issued jumpsuit in his brief courtroom appearance — his first since the Monday incident — when prosecutors requested pre-trial detention.
A government prosecutor told the court that Kandula is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident.
But later on Wednesday, a Department of Justice official clarified the open-court remarks and said Kandula does hold a green card for lawful, permanent U.S. residency.
The suspect's national origin wasn't mentioned in court. — NBC News
Our Take: “Please tell me again about spinning a narrative?
Apparently a nineteen year old non-citizen, who somehow became enamored with Hitler and white supremacy, comes to launch an attack on the White House.
There are too many questions here:
One, how was he motivated, and who was the person(s) behind this debacle? In my humble opinion, this does not fit the status of a white nationalist with racist tendices.
Two, lest we also forget, there were no weapons, explosives, or any dangerous materials found in the cab or back of the U-haul; however, conveniently, there was a Nazi flag, which was strewn out on the street in front of the White House. Define a perfect photo op for the mainstream mocking bird media and the 4 am talking points.
Certainly the public has grown weary of these attempted narrative spins.
Also within the last 24 hours, like magic, the charges against the suspect Sai V. Kandula have been downgraded.
We have real problems in this country, while at worst, this was a case of extreme mental health left unidentified. Further the possibility of the young man being a victim of coercion is also a very strong and plausible factor.
Instead of spinning narratives, it's time the Brandon Administration focus on healing the divide in our country, rather than furthering and fueling the insanity. The priorities are askew, and America is in dire straights.” — Johnny Q
University program linking Christians, Republicans to Nazis granted DHS funds under 'anti-terror' initiative
The Biden administration is doling out taxpayer money through an anti-terrorism grant initiative to a university program that has explicitly lumped the Republican Party, as well as Christian and conservative groups, into the same category as Nazis, according to documents shared exclusively with Fox News Digital.
The Media Research Center, a conservative watchdog group, obtained documents through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests showing a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program meant to fight terrorism is funding a group whose work has explicitly targeted the American political right. The MRC outlined its findings in a report, arguing what the group found warrants criminal prosecution.
"This terrorism task force is engaged in an active effort to demonize and eliminate Christian, conservative, and Republican organizations using federal taxpayer dollars," said Brent Bozell, founder and president of the Media Research Center. "What we have uncovered calls for criminal prosecution. The American people need to know those who are abusing their positions in the federal government will be held accountable for their criminal behavior." — FOX News
Our Take: “Some people are taking this as a declaration of civil war by the Biden Administration, but I would add that this is likely all being done without Biden's knowledge; he doesn't exactly seem to be a big decision-maker.
Looking at similar situations in the not-too distant past where a government designated a portion of its population as ‘terrorists’ or any other heavy, dehumanizing label, it tends to be a pretext to incite and support action against the target group, action that in its most polarized form would include genocide. I'm not trying to say that's what will happen here, only that the current regime doesn't seem to care about the repercussions of such a designation, and I would go so far as to say that they might even welcome a worst-case scenario.
In light of this, I think it is more important now than ever to eliminate whatever distortion exists between you and your family, friends, neighbors, etc. It seems as though momentum is building toward engineered, open conflict between the various subgroups and target audiences of the US citizenry.
On that note, LTG Mike Flynn and SGT Boone Cutler put out a good book called ‘The Citizen's Guide To Fifth Generation Warfare - An Introduction To 5GW’. It puts everything in layman's terms and is an easy read.
I don't know how likely it is that anything like that will actually happen, but the more we can connect with those we disagree with, the better, because at the end of the day, we are all part of this country, and sometimes personal connection trumps propaganda. The way we deescalate a situation like this is to repair whatever we need to repair in our own relationships, make amends as much as we realistically can, and just like how the people's General Michael Flynn always says, ‘local action creates national impact’ in regards to politics, the same is true here regarding interpersonal relationships.” — Ryan DeLarme
Bombshell: GOP Letter Drops Explosive Info About Suspect in Pipe Bombs at RNC, DNC
Have you wondered what happened to the case of the suspect who allegedly planted pipe bombs at the DNC and the RNC on Jan. 5, 2021?
Everyone else even remotely connected to the day seems to have been hunted down and treated with all kinds of severity (unlike what you would have seen for any during the 2020 BLM/Antifa riots). But for some reason, this is the case that seems to have had no real action that seems to have gone no further in uncovering who this suspect was, despite even capturing the person on video.
I wrote about the matter in March, when FBI Director Wray insisted to Bret Baier that they were working very hard on the case, but refused to talk about informants or agents who they might have had involved on Jan. 6.
The House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) (the head of the Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance, and Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) wrote a letter to the FBI Director Christopher Wray and outlined that they’ve been trying to get a briefing from the FBI on the matter since Sept. 2, 2021, when Posey first requested a briefing. They also requested one formally on March 9, 2022, and asked for one at the beginning of this new Congress on January 17. Yet the FBI has failed to comply now for more than a year and a half.
They note that they’ve also gotten a whistleblower disclosure that raises questions about the “unusual” nature of the FBI’s investigation into the matter that they want to ask about. — Red State
Our Take: “The bombshell here is that the FBI knows who the January 5th pipe bomb suspect is, and they have withheld this information from the public. They tracked the alleged would-be bomber’s metro card, and every inch of DC is under surveillance. So why hasn’t the information been released?
The J5 pipe bombs are critically important to understanding what happened between rally goers and police on J6. Bomb threats against both major parties, on the eve of the electoral college certification, set law enforcement in a highly defensive posture that day. In other words, law enforcement engaged the J6 crowds with an expectation of terror.
Video released over the past two years shows that law enforcement were openly hostile to peaceful rallygoers on J6. It also shows that the escalation on the backside of the Capitol building was instigated by police when they attempted to fire toxic gas into the bleachers — but accidentally gassed their fellow officers.
The police gassed themselves and then retreated from the line. The rally goers — who were expectantly and, again, peacefully lined up awaiting news from inside the Capitol or the appearance of President Trump — were also gassed when the police misfired. In a literal fight/flight panicked effort to breathe, rallygoers advanced the line abandoned by police.
Why were police so defensive, so angry that day as to fire gas into an unsuspecting crowd and escalate a peaceful, but potentially precarious situation?
Because of the J5 pipe bombs. They were expecting terrorist attacks that day because, in their minds, there had already been two terrorist attacks the day before.
The bombshell whistleblower testimony reveals that the FBI knows the identity of the pipe bomber and is deliberately withholding the information. Just like they’re withholding the capitol footage.
As we continue to unwind and seek justice for the ‘insurrection’ lie, there is one truth of which we can be certain: The Feds would not withhold the pipe bomber’s identity if that identity supported their crumbling narrative.” — Ashe in America
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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.
It's GO Time! Worldwide Military Justice ... Full Exposure of Soulless Rats ... We the People Stand Tall in GOD's Light ... Target is perfect name for Pedo Woke Corp Monsters ... Take em down!!!
Such great concise coverage in one spot