Badlands News Brief
Nuland Neutered, Biden Blasted and Trump Triumphant
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.
Many items feature original (and subjective) commentary. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see our writers’ Substack accounts and check out their other work.
Now, onto the news from the Weekend that Was …
'We Got To Rein Her In': Behind The Scenes Of Nuland's Early Retirement
Former CIA analyst Ray McGovern in a new interview has speculated over the reasons behind Victoria Nuland stepping down from her high-ranking position as Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, the number three top official in the State Department.
Her retirement was announced by her boss Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday. But the question is why now when the administration is attempting to stay the course and present a strong continued stance on Ukraine, also as Biden is still seeking to get tens of billions in defense aid through Republicans in the House.
While there have been rumors that maybe she could be in poor or declining health, McGovern has told Russia's Sputnik that the notoriously hawkish Nuland was a liability at a moment NATO and Russia are inching closer to direct nuclear-armed confrontation.
"My best guess here is that the CIA and the Defense Department and the NSA got this message around saying, 'look, Victoria's got her own agenda here,’" said McGovern.
[…]
Nuland's temporary replacement for under secretary upon her retirement has been announced as career diplomat John Bass, a former ambassador to Afghanistan. He is currently in the position of the undersecretary of state for management. He oversaw Biden's botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, and so it is somewhat ironic that he'll also oversee Ukraine policy at this critical juncture where Kiev is clearly against the ropes. — ZeroHedge
And …
US proxies fear 'Afghanistan-style' withdrawal from Syria
The US military's Kurdish proxies occupying northeast Syria fear an "Afghanistan-like pullout" of US forces that would leave them at the mercy of their long-time enemy Turkiye, Middle East Eye (MEE) reported on 8 March.
Turkiye has escalated its airstrikes on areas in northeast Syria occupied by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in recent months; at the same time, Washington is in talks with the Iraqi government to potentially withdraw forces from Iraq.
The 900 US soldiers occupying northeast Syria with the SDF receive logistical support from US forces in Iraq. Any US withdrawal from Iraq may necessitate US withdrawal from Syria as well.
"The whole region is on fire and nobody will respond to Turkey's aggression against us when everyone is busy with Gaza. We have asked the US to rein in Turkey, but they have brushed us off," said Mahmoud Meslat, co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), the political wing of the SDF.
In recent months, Turkiye has bombed power stations, the region's electric grid, medical facilities, and oil fields, leaving millions without electricity or access to clean drinking water.
Kurdish fears of being abandoned by the US remain despite a visit last week to northeast Syria by US General Erik Kurilla. — The Cradle
Our Take: “In this week's edition of 'Shot-Chaser,' I believe the Collective Mind is being prepped for 'Botched Boogaloo 2.0,' during which we're going to see a 2024 repeat of the 2021 Kabul withdrawal play out in both Syria and Iraq.
To wit:
Victoria Nuland will ‘step down’ from her position as Under Secretary of State. Nuland is infamous as one of the most hawkish anti-Russia Deep State nodes in the west. She also played a key role in the Maidan Coup in 2014, and seeks further US entrenchment in both Syria and Iraq.
John Bass, Trump's former US Ambassador to Afghanistan (who oversaw Kabul,) is being prepped to take her place. He's been serving as Ambassador to Turkey in the interim.
While this may seem negative on the surface, I've long tracked with
’s thesis that the Kabul Withdrawal represented the consummation of the Doha Agreement between Trump and the Taliban, who went on to root out and destroy the remnants of Obama's ISIS.Devolution (h/t
) intensifies.” —Trump rips Biden for botching Laken Riley’s name, apologizing for calling alleged killer an ‘illegal’ after meeting her family
Donald Trump tore into President Biden for botching slain Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s name during the State of the Union address and then later apologizing for describing her alleged migrant killer as “illegal.”
Trump had just met with Riley’s family at a rally in Rome outside of Atlanta Saturday night when he took the stage and laid into the president over his border policies in his first campaign event after his major Super Tuesday primary victories.
Trump’s campaign handed out posters with Riley’s face with the phrases “Remember our angels” and “Say her name” on them, ABC News reported.
“He got Laken’s name wrong. Lincoln. Mixing her up with the football coach,” Trump said, referencing University of Southern California football coach Lincoln Michael Riley. — NY Post
Our Take: “So, he said ‘illegal’ during the SOTU, and his commie colleagues lost their minds. Then he doubled down, and said ‘Well, technically he’s not supposed to be here.’ The absolute horror of it all — Biden deviating from the script is panic-inducing for these criminals.
But then, it appears, he got handled (by whomever) and, now, he’s apologizing for saying ‘illegal’ as though he used a racial slur. ‘I should have said undocumented,’ the old fool says now.
But ‘undocumented’ is literal disinformation, since Jose Ibarra was well documented by police prior to murdering Laken Riley in cold blood. Biden and the communists have a messaging problem, and I believe they’ve wildly underestimated the level of American rage at their handling of the border crisis.
Let’s see what happens.” —
NXXT Golf Bans Transgenders From Female Competitions
Major professional women’s golf tour NXXT Golf made it clear on Friday that individuals who were born as males will not be allowed to take part in their competitions, even after gender transition, effectively banning the participation of a controversial transgender golfer.
“Effective immediately, competitors must be a biological female at birth to participate” to take part in the NXXT Women’s Pro Tour, NXXT Golf said in a March 8 post.
“This decision underscores the organization’s commitment to maintaining the integrity of women’s professional golf and ensuring fair competition.” NXXT Golf’s decision to only allow biological females to participate in the tour comes after transgender golfer Hailey Davidson snatched a win in the NXXT Women’s Classic event earlier in January.
The win raised the possibility that Mr. Davidson, who was born male and transitioned to female in 2021, could end up becoming the first biologically male golfer to qualify for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) tour. — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “I’m all for recognizing the biological reality of men and women. The war on objective reality needs to be stopped in instances like this.
On the other hand, I’m highly suspicious of narratives that rely on us getting into the weeds about what hormone treatments do and do not do. I don’t think any of that should be given an inch.
I know that creeps like trans billionaire Jennifer Pritzker are dumping obscene amounts of money into engineering the trans movement, among other black hats invested in transhumanist science.
Because of the direction I see them taking all of this, the science may get to a point where bodies can really be changed so drastically that it will get harder and harder to make biological arguments.
What should be vehemently defended, on top of biology, is the cultural, archetypal notion of male and female. If these concepts fall, then our ability to defend our way of life, as transhumanist science marches on to the tune of billions, will be lost.” —
China Readies $27 Billion Chip Fund to Counter Growing US Curbs
China is in the process of raising more than $27 billion for its largest chip fund to date, accelerating the development of cutting-edge technologies to counter a US campaign to thwart its rise.
The National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund is amassing a pool of capital from local governments and state enterprises for its third vehicle that should exceed the 200 billion yuan of its second fund, according to people familiar with the matter.
Known as the Big Fund, the state-backed firm is expanding its remit just as the US prepares to sharply escalate technology curbs designed to curtail Chinese chip and artificial intelligence progress.
The establishment of a much larger third fund — directly overseen by China’s powerful tech ministry — signals a resurgent effort to harness the world’s largest semiconductor market after years of mixed success with central stewardship. Huawei Technologies Co. and its partner Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. still had to rely on US-origin technology to build an advanced processor last year. — Bloomberg
Our Take: “'The Switch' theory posits that China Joe's continuing trade war with China is less a bug of the 'Great Reset,' and more a feature of the 'Good Reset.'
The Good Reset theory suggests that, while the War of Stories sees ratcheting tensions between sovereign nations, the Net Effects of said tensions are renewing the public mandate for the on-shoring of domestic production and nationalism.
This is happening Stateside, as Biden inexplicably continues or restarts Trump-era economic policies designed to boost domestic manufacturing, and it's also happening in Russia (due to western sanctions, ironically enough,) and in China (due to the US trade war, ironically enough.)
The most-traded commodity in the world right now isn't oil, gold or any rare earth minerals. It's not wheat. It's semiconductors.
The CHIPS act started a cascade that is resulting in the development of a multi-polar world, just like the BRICS nations drew it up.
The Sovereign Alliance is real.” —
MSNBC Declares America "Could Be A Dictatorship Next Year"
While previewing Joe Biden’s ‘jacked up’ State of The Union address Thursday, an MSNBC talking head declared that if Biden doesn’t win the election, the US “could be a dictatorship next year.”
The network brought on ‘presidential historian’ Michael Beschloss, who compared the unhinged screaming Biden to FDR warning Americans about the rise of fascism.
Anchor Andrea Mitchell asked Beschloss “take a big picture, zoom out for us on what’s at stake for [Biden] tonight,” adding “You point to FDR’s Four Freedoms speech in 1941, obviously war time, a bigger challenge, but let’s, you know, talk about the challenges tonight.”
Beschloss proclaimed “this is a real historical moment” adding, “We could be a dictatorship next year if Donald Trump is elected and carries through on his threats and carries through on his threats to suspend the Constitution. That’s what’s at stake.”
He continued, “This is a year when we Americans have to choose whether we’re going to live as a democracy, as a republic, or as an authoritarian system.’That’s what FDR was doing in 1941, Nazis, fascists, Imperial Japanese were rampaging around the world, and he said ‘you Americans have to choose ‘”
“This is a year when we Americans have to choose whether we’re going to live as a democracy, as a republic, or as an authoritarian system,” Beschloss declared. — Modernity News
Our Take: “Is it just me, or is MSNBC getting more hysterical the closer we get to the election. They’re also straight up projecting.
The Biden administration is the closest thing we’ve ever had to a dictatorship in my adult lifetime, and they unironically project their actuals onto President Trump as narrative. Locking up political opponents, expanding the surveillance state, and weaponizing the government are features of this 46th presidential administration and, with a straight face, the regime mouthpieces tell us all these things are coming should 45 become 47.
It’s surreal, and you have to wonder how people are still buying it.
But Trump Derangement Syndrome is mass psychosis for about a quarter of the population, and critical thinking was one of its first casualties. I believe it’s a small group of people, but they’re loud. And they’re mostly concentrated in the institutions of power. So expect it to continue, even to further escalate, as we close in on November.
Accelerate.” —
Crowd Roars As Trump Enters Packed UFC Arena
A huge crowd at a packed UFC arena in Miami roared with delight as Donald Trump made his way into the stadium before later chanting “fuck Joe Biden!”
A video clip shows Trump walking to ringside with CEO Dana White as the audience greets him like a rock star.
Many members of the crowd reached out to high five Trump as he was given a welcome that would rival any of the top performers.
Trump was also seen shaking hands with Dave Portnoy and Dan Bongino before he took his seat.
“Never seen anything like it,” commented Mike Cernovich. — Modernity News
Our Take: “I'm a long-time MMA fan, and it always warms my heart to see that 98% of its athletes are not only pro-Trump, but very publicly so.
Real recognizes real, and in the MMA world, it doesn't get more real than Dustin ‘The Diamond’ Poirier, who's not only one of the ultimate badasses of the fight game, but one of its best people.
As such, the sports media can't lambast him publicly for his Trump tribute.
Interestingly, in the early ESPN-UFC era, the UFC didn't acknowledge Trump on broadcasts. Lately, they can't get enough of him. They don't just show him walking out, but actively talk him up while doing so, and openly discuss the obvious crowd reactions to him.
Trump is an event unto himself, a cypher and a symbol of a way of being.
While it's more mainstream than ever, the UFC still represents the zenith of US counter-culture. The convergence between it and Trump in the Collective American Mind is impactful.
There's a lesson to be learned, here:
Don't fight the culture. Become it.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Judge Blocks Biden Administration From Illegally Diverting Border-Wall Funds
A federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration from unlawfully redirecting taxpayer funds away from the construction of a wall along the southern border.
Southern District of Texas District Court Judge Drew B. Tipton granted a preliminary injunction after Texas and Missouri sued to stop the scheme, which included diverting the money to other projects like environmental remediation.
“Whether the Executive Branch must adhere to federal laws is not, as a general matter, an area traditionally left to its discretion,” Judge Tipton wrote in his order. The executive branch includes the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Judge Tipton, an appointee of President Donald Trump, ruled in favor of the Republican-led states, saying in his ruling that Congress should decide how money is spent, per the U.S. Constitution, and that the Biden administration is not immune from following the law. — The Epoch Times
Lara Trump's RNC Takeover Sparks Fury From Some Republicans
A number of Republican activists have vowed to suspend their support for the party after Lara Trump, Donald Trump's daughter-in-law, was elected as co-chair of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
Lara Trump, who is married to Donald Trump's second son Eric Trump, was elected to her position at the RNC's spring training session in Houston, Texas. The event also saw Michael Whatley, another Trump-endorsed candidate, elected as RNC chair in another tightening of the former president's grip over the party.
Trump secured a string of Republican primary wins on 'Super Tuesday,' leading to Nikki Haley, his last serious remaining rival in the contest, dropping out.
Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee via the contact form on its official website at 4:30 a.m. ET on Saturday. This article will be updated if there is any comment.
Following her election as co-chair, Lara Trump said: "Everything I do at this committee will have one focus: re-electing Donald Trump, flipping the Senate, and expanding the House this November."
However, her victory sparked an angry reaction from a sub-set of the GOP activist base on social media. — Newsweek
Trump Meets With Hungarian Leader Viktor Orban, Discussions Focus On Border Security
Former President Donald Trump met with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Friday, with the former president praising Mr. Orban as a “fantastic leader,” while the Hungarian conservative said President Trump is someone who can “bring us peace.”
Over the past several years, President Trump and Mr. Orban have on numerous occasions directed words of praise towards one other, with the former president describing the Hungarian leader as a key figure in the worldwide conservative movement.
Mr. Orban traveled to Florida on Friday to visit President Trump at his Mar-a-Lago home, where he was given a tour of the residence and took part in an hour-long meeting with senior aides.
The Trump campaign said in a readout of the meeting that President Trump and Mr. Orban met “to discuss a wide range of issues affecting Hungary and the United States, including the paramount importance of strong and secure borders to protect the sovereignty of each nation.”
Mr. Orban is admired by many conservatives in the United States for his tough immigration policies and his ardent defense of national sovereignty. — The Epoch Times
Liz Cheney, January 6 Committee Suppressed Exonerating Evidence Of Trump’s Push For National Guard
Former Rep. Liz Cheney’s January 6 Committee suppressed evidence that President Donald Trump pushed for 10,000 National Guard troops to protect the nation’s capital, a previously hidden transcript obtained by The Federalist shows.
Cheney and her committee falsely claimed they had “no evidence” to support Trump officials’ claims the White House had communicated its desire for 10,000 National Guard troops. In fact, an early transcribed interview conducted by the committee included precisely that evidence from a key source. The interview, which Cheney attended and personally participated in, was suppressed from public release until now.
Deputy Chief of Staff Anthony Ornato’s first transcribed interview with the committee was conducted on January 28, 2022. In it, he told Cheney and her investigators that he overheard White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows push Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to request as many National Guard troops as she needed to protect the city.
He also testified President Trump had suggested 10,000 would be needed to keep the peace at the public rallies and protests scheduled for January 6, 2021. Ornato also described White House frustration with Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller’s slow deployment of assistance on the afternoon of January 6, 2021. — The Federalist
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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I am shocked that the Badlands Crew neglected to report about the amazing happenings at the Oscar's last night. I would like to detail the important points.
. . .
Thank you for reading.
It is amazing how far off the deep end MSNBC is going to misinform and frighten their viewers. And these are the clowns saying the internet needs full censorship by their team. They're BS-ing thier audience while blaming other citizens for not buying it.
Hey, MSNBC, it's not our fault that you suck. Rage yourself off the stage, please.