Badlands News Brief
Iranian Walk-backs, Trump Trials & Trans Truths
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 …
Iran says it gave warning before attacking Israel. US says that's not true
Turkish, Jordanian and Iraqi officials said on Sunday that Iran gave wide notice days before its drone and missile attack on Israel, but U.S. officials said Tehran did not warn Washington and that it was aiming to cause significant damage.
Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles on Saturday in a retaliatory strike after a suspected Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria.
Most of the drones and missiles were downed before reaching Israeli territory, though a young girl was critically injured and there were widespread concerns of further escalation.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Sunday that Iran gave neighbouring countries and Israel's ally the United States 72 hours' notice it would launch the strikes.
Turkey's Foreign Ministry said it had spoken to both Washington and Tehran before the attack, adding it had conveyed messages as an intermediary to be sure reactions were proportionate.
"Iran said the reaction would be a response to Israel’s attack on its embassy in Damascus and that it would not go beyond this. We were aware of the possibilities. The developments were not a surprise," said a Turkish diplomatic source.
One senior official in U.S. President Joe Biden's administration denied Amirabdollahian's statement, saying Washington did have contact with Iran through Swiss intermediaries but did not get notice 72 hours in advance. — Reuters
Our Take: “Jon pointed this out on Saturday night's show, but this attack by Iran had some similar parallels to Iran's attack on US bases way back on January 8, 2020, in retaliation to the assassination of General Soleimani by Donald Trump and the US military.
As Trump recently explained to Maria Bartiromo on February 5th of this year, Iran called him before attacking to warn him that they would be doing this, and to let him know that they had no intention of actually killing any US soldiers or escalating conflict with America. (The missiles ended up striking land just outside of the US bases, and causing negligible damage.)
Huh?
This likely sounds confusing to those who haven't been tracking events, or only look at these things through certain lenses (MSM), but if you look at it from the perspective that the CIA is embedded in all of these governments, and the goal of the purported Sovereign Alliance is likely to dismantle this network of bad actors, then this kind of coordination begins to click.
The East is not like the West. They still believe in traditional concepts like masculinity and honor. While this community certainly values those principals, most of the western world abandoned them long ago, and the CIA is the physical manifestation of that degradation. So ‘saving face’ is definitely a thing, for them.
The other critical thing to point out is that Iran follow article 51 of the UN Charter, which stipulates that member nations are allowed to defend themselves with reciprocal action, as long as they notify the Security Council in advance, and keep the response proportionate to the initial offense. Iran followed these ‘rules,’ and even announced that their kinetic actions against Israel were officially concluded. (Again, very odd, considering the history of Iran and its rhetoric against Israel and the West.)
The point is that Iran is coordinating with its Muslim partners, who are all ostensibly on the side of peace and Donald Trump. This was further highlighted by urgent phone calls made by the Iranian State Minister to the Saudi State Minister (Faisal bin Farhan), reportedly occurring within minutes of Anthony Blinken calling Faisal bin Farhan.
Seems like we are watching events that may be scripted; the question is, to what end? And to whose benefit/detriment? What seems undeniable is the key and central role that Saudi Arabia is playing to keeping this from becoming World War III.” —
Another Take: “Perhaps nothing has felt more like the actualization of an enemy death blossom than what's transpiring (or what we're told is transpiring) in the Middle East right now.
I don't say that because I think we're actually on the brink of WW3, but rather because we're narratively on the brink of WW3.
The reason Anons are going to stay more calm through the engineered chaos is, quite simply because we've been told to expect such chaos, and from the very Macro players on the game board who seem to be active in the War of Stories, including Israel and Iran.
Rather than attempting to parse the impenetrable and intentionally obfuscated web of international relations between proxy states and their alleged enemies, which tend to be seeded and funded by the same entities, it is the stories represented by these movable Macros that matter.
In the end, Trump is using the chaos to condemn the Regime, while the Regime seems at a loss for what to do.
One side is reacting. The other is observing.” —
Landmark Study Reveals 'Transgender' Kids Actually Have Other Mental Health Diagnoses
It’s been a red-letter week for destroying the gender narrative. And the trans juggernaut just hit another speed bump.
Fresh off the heels of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics announcing that it would not allow transgender-identified men to compete in women’s athletic events in any of its association’s 239 small private schools, a landmark study was released on Wednesday that defies the hysterical warning that if gender dysphoric adolescents don’t receive “gender-affirming care,” they will kill themselves.
The new study from British pediatrician Dr. Hilary Cass confirms what we’ve always known: Children presenting with sudden onset gender dysphoria are actually suffering from other mental health diagnoses—not true gender dysphoria. Her research debunks the gender ideologues’ frequent talking point: that the imposition of medical “gender-affirming care” on mentally ill children is not only necessary, but life-saving.
Cass’ research instead reveals that children who think they are transgender disproportionately have mental health issues stemming from a difficult family situation or domestic abuse. They are also more likely to be neurodiverse and have a co-morbid autism spectrum disorder. — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “The pendulum will swing back drastically on this season of gender affirming care, and history will judge the medical industry most profoundly for crimes against humanity — and, especially, against children.
It’s not a revelation that mutilation and sterilization are not viable healthcare solutions for complex mental illness; it’s also not a revelation that gender dysphoria is a complex mental illness, co-indicated with other complex mental illnesses. You simply need to speak with trans people — in my experience, they’re quite open about it.
Serotonin-based mental disorders — such as major depressive disorder, bipolar disorders, and other chemical imbalances — are common background details for trans people, activist or otherwise. Early childhood abuse and other nonconsensual sexual traumas, even into adulthood, are as well.
This is not new information — medical treatment for gender dysphoria has a long, storied, and often barbaric, history, and the medical profession has claimed to protect these vulnerable members of our society. First do no harm, and all that.
In this current season, however, the medical establishment is embracing eugenics and widespread medical experimentation, largely, it seems out of a profit motivation. Transgender patients are patients for life. Gender affirming care is a major revenue stream. Like I said, history will judge the medical industry most profoundly for their actions during this time.
While this season in eugenics is being propagated and sheltered by weaponized empathy, it’s important that we don’t abandon empathy altogether. Do everything you can to protect your humanity and the condition of your heart. Evil uses vulnerable people as props all the time. Remember the real enemy.” —
Trump Prepares For Monday's 'Fake Biden Trial' With 'Highly Conflicted' Manhattan Judge
Former President Trump will take his 2024 campaign to New York on Monday, where he'll be sitting in a Manhattan courtroom for what he decried as a "Fake Biden Trial" to face 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with the Stormy Daniels 'hush money' embroglio. The trial comes after an unsuccessful bid to adjourn the case due to overwhelming pretrial publicity, which Judge Juan Merchan denied, calling adjournment "not tenable."
Trump has taken to Truth Social in recent days, suggesting on Sunday that Merchan is "perhaps the most highly conflicted Judge in New York State history," who gave Trump's legal team insufficient time to analyze "hundreds of thousands of pages of documents that D.A. Alvin Bragg illegally hid, disguised, and held back from us."
As the WSJ notes, "The 34 felony counts in the indictment are all tied to records that prosecutors said Trump falsified as he reimbursed Cohen for the Daniels deal. They include 11 invoices, 12 general ledger entries and 11 checks." — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “‘The Fake Biden Trial.’
If it wasn't clear enough already, Donald Trump is a master of Narrative Warfare, especially when it comes to his style of public communication, which is one of many reasons he was likely chosen as the 'face' of the most complex military intel operation of all time.
If you're still interpreting his narrative deployments at face value, you're doing it wrong, and you're reacting to the War of Stories in a manner consistent with our enemies in the Deep State-controlled Media Industrial Complex, which includes our 'friends' in Con Inc.
From COVID and Operation Warp Speed to Proxy Presidents and Proxy Wars, [their] Witch Hunt that's really OUR Witch Hunt to the Mugshot heard around the world, he’s not trapped in the Info War with them … they’re trapped in the Info War with him.” —
Western demands for UN to discuss Iran attack are ‘hypocrisy’ – Moscow
The UN Security Council helped give rise to Saturday’s Iranian attack against Israel by hypocritically failing to take action over the illegal bombing that provoked the latest violence in the region, Russia’s ambassador to the global body has claimed.
“What happened on the night of April 14 did not happen in a vacuum,” Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told members of the UN Security Council on Sunday. “The steps undertaken by Iran became a reaction to the disgraceful inaction by this council.”
At issue was the April 1 missile strike that killed seven Iranian military officers, including two senior commanders, at Tehran’s consulate in Damascus. Western members of the Security Council stood in the way of rebuking Israel over the “egregious attack,” despite the fact that it was a violation of international law on the inviolability of diplomatic installations, the Russian envoy said.
“We called on UN Security Council colleagues to clearly and unequivocally condemn such reckless steps to make sure that they don’t get repeated,” Nebenzia noted. “We also warned that otherwise, the risk of a repeat of such acts and a general escalation in the region would grow manifold.” He added, “The outcome is now clear for everyone to see.” — RT
Our Take: “Wew, lad. Vassily Nebenzia just eviscerated the UN and the Western Hegemony.
I think it's important to take this opportunity to point out the inherent danger in viewing the current geopolitical landscape as a simple struggle between nation-states, as the corporate media and political ruling class want us to believe.
What I think we are really dealing with is a network of malevolent actors who have embedded themselves in governments, corporations, and other institutions of power across the world. I often refer to this network as ‘the CIA,’ but really it's the CIA+, as it's a network of their partners, counterparts, and ‘masters’-- the people who hold their leash.
Imagine you are tasked with running an operation to expose these embedded actors, and dismantle their network? How would you go about doing it?
In the interest of brevity, the short answer is--assuming you have the cooperation of your purported ‘rivals,’ i.e. The Sovereign Alliance-- is that you would utilize the enemy's framing (a struggle of nation-states) and script events that maximize contradiction and humiliation of corrupt organizations in order to stimulate interest and inquiry from an unwitting public, who will turn on these nefarious network once their existence becomes undeniable.
So I look for those contradictions.
Here we have Russia pointing out how Iran has complied with the rules of the UN, while Israel (and the US/West) have violated countless international laws and thumbed their nose at anybody saying as much-- including the UN. Yet, the UN looks the other way while Israel does things like indiscriminately bomb Syria-- a country with whom it is not at war-- while attempting to condemn Iran, who was merely responding to an attack on their soil (the embassy in Damascus).
The world is watching, and judging, and what is happening is two-fold:
The UN is proving itself to be a toothless organization that chooses favorites, but also incapable of enforcing its own laws-- meaning its laws effectively do not matter-- which will eventually result in nation-states defecting from UN authority.
Iran and Israel have flipped in the public perception of their conduct. Iran has become a patient nation that responsibly follows and observes international law, and exercises measured responses in the face of kinetic provocation. Israel has devolved into a hysterical militant who is ostensibly prepared to fight the world, even at the cost of its own demise, and while its citizens take to the street in its capital to protest the government's zealous warmongering.
It is difficult to argue with Russia's logic and reason.” —
And …
Russia tells Israel to condemn Ukraine
Russia does not feel obliged to condemn Iran’s missile and drone strikes on Israel on Saturday, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said. The diplomat explained that West Jerusalem has never denounced Ukraine’s attacks on Russian civilians.
According to Israeli estimates, Tehran’s latest show of force involved hundreds of rockets and missiles, as well as kamikaze UAVs. Iran announced that the strike was in response to the “Zionist regime’s numerous crimes, including the attack on the consular section of Iran’s Embassy in Damascus.”
A presumed Israeli airstrike hit Iran’s consulate in Damascus, Syria on April 1, killing seven officers of Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force, including two high-ranking generals.
Iranian state media has claimed that a number of Israeli military facilities were struck in Saturday’s attack. The Israeli military, in turn, has insisted that its air defenses shot down nearly all of the incoming projectiles.
In a post on her Telegram channel on Sunday, Zakharova addressed the Israeli Ambassador to Russia, Simona Halperin, who had earlier told RIA Novosti that her country expects “our Russian colleagues to condemn the unprecedented Iranian attack on Israeli territory.” — RT
Our Take: “So I just mentioned how I look for the contradictions in the information war, because I believe the contradictions are the signal of where the "action" by benevolent actors in this 5GW worldwide operation is occurring. (Or to where those benevolent actors are directing our attention.)
Here is a perfect example.
Israel's ambassador to Russia, Simona Halperin, tool to Telegram to call on Russia-- a key ally of Iran-- to condemn Iran's recent ‘attack.’
Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, responds by asking Isreal when it plans on condemning Ukraine for its recent attacks on Russian soil.
Zakharova went on to highlight that the Israeli government regularly issues statements in support of actions by Ukrainian President Zelensky, further demonstrating an odd dynamic between the two nations.
Why does there seem to be this weird connection between Israel and Ukraine? Why are ISIS mercenaries in Ukraine fighting Russia? Why are Azov Battalion Nazi's from Ukraine in Gaza aiding the IDF?
I expect that we will soon gain much-needed insight into these very strange contradictions. Until then, the Russian spice is giving Indian food a run for its money.” —
Line-Dancing Troupe Ejected From Contest After Audience "Triggered" By US Flag Outfits
A troupe of line dancing women were effectively booted out of a contest in Seattle after some members of the audience complained that they had been “triggered” by the stars and stripes outfits of the performers.
The Borderline Dance Team were scheduled to take part in the contest last Saturday, but were told before the event that their star-spangled suits seen in promotional material “were offensive to some of the convention goers.”
In a social media post, the team explained that they were informed that those who complained were “associated with the situation in Palestine and the Trans community” (what, both?) and that they feel “triggered and unsafe” because of the outfits. — Modernity News
Our Take: “Consistency of principle is not a feature of the activist left, but emotionally-driven outrage that boomerangs on their stated values certainly is. This rainbow commie dance association (RCDA) just stopped a group of dancers from making the flag gay. Is it wrong to call that a win?
In my understanding, the Pitch Perfect movies are iconic to the queer community. The popular trilogy about a spunky group of dancing acapella outcasts inspires audiences with a fun-loving tale of talent, teamwork, and taking it to the cis-male assigned at birth.
In the third installment, the Barden Bellas go on a USO tour and slay in hot little numbers styled as sequined US flags and sassy military fatigues. I missed the outrage when this movie dropped.
Back to the story, the event organizers, Rain Country Dance Association [RCDA], are an ‘LGBTQ+ nonprofit social dance organization driven by our members.’
Considering that value statement, it’s not surprising that they’re triggered by pro-Merica costumes. The event organizers are literally the activist left.
True to form, they are now claiming victimhood due to public backlash — a direct consequence of their very public and controversial choice — announcing on their website that, ‘since Monday afternoon we have been receiving an extreme amount of online hostility and harassment and have received a threat of violence deemed credible by Seattle police. We are in communication with the teams directly involved and will not be making any further public comments to media. We are prioritizing the safety and well-being of our community at this time.’
So the rainbow commie dance association makes a controversial choice to offend half the country. Then, predictably, there is public backlash to that choice, and that backlash makes them the real victims. Notably, those who complained about the costumes are self-described Palestine activists as well.
How very on brand.
At the end of the day, I’m not bothered that the American Flag was disallowed by people who advocate for the mutilation and sterilization of children and the societal erasure of women. It could even be framed as a win.” —
Biden’s top foreign policy official ‘cancelled Cameron meeting’
Joe Biden’s national security adviser cancelled a meeting with Lord Cameron, The Telegraph understands, after claims the Foreign Secretary had been snubbed by US politicians on his trip to Washington.
Jake Sullivan, Mr Biden’s most senior foreign policy official, replaced the planned meeting with a phone call after “diary clashes” related to a visit from the Japanese prime minister.
Lord Cameron flew to the US on Monday evening and met Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, and Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate.
The Government hoped the Foreign Secretary could convince wavering Republicans they should vote for a bill to fund the war in Ukraine, following months of holdup in Congress.
Lord Cameron said on Wednesday that while he was not in the US to “lecture” politicians, he had arrived with a “plea” to continue American support for Kyiv.
However, two of his planned meetings were cancelled after Mr Sullivan and Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, said they were too busy. — The Telegraph
A Comedic Take: “[Obviously notable that David Cameron met recently with the real leader of America: President Donald Trump.]
A few weeks ago, I called Jake Sullivan a fallopian tube, and I must redress my misdiagnosis-- as fallopian tubes are vital organs that serve an extremely useful purpose.
I suppose maybe Jake is a trans-fallopian tube-- a mere figment in the imagination of a mentally-ill eunuch, who believes himself to be something that he can never be. Jake certainly presents himself as a eunuch; while cowardice is not a guaranteed quality of a castrated man, it is a characteristic that has been culturally associated with the condition in every society around the world.
Cowards are the most dangerous men in any society. They are the men most likely to betray you, abandon you, subvert you, thieve you, and even hurt you-- if they can do so with foreknowledge of no repercussions.
It is for this reason that cowards should be met with nothing but contempt and hostility by their peers. Society treated them this way since the beginning of time, and it is only in the modern age that this trend has been reversed.
Cowards have no honor, and that is why decent men do not respect them. That is the reason, I suspect, that Jake Sullivan is not respected by his foreign counterparts. The fact that he calls his calendar a ‘diary’ is just too perfect.
(You are still a fallopian tube, Jake. Nobody respects you.)” —
Another Take: “As Ghost points out above, this is notable not just because Cameron met with President Trump recently—something that rustled the jimmies of the MSM establishment, and, apparently the Deep State Department—but also because it’s the second meeting with a world leader—or someone adjacent to world leaders—that Sullivan was unable to meet.
We’re told this time, it was totally Sullivan’s choice not to meet with Cameron, where last time, it was some sort of physical ailment/injury that prevented his meeting with Mohammed bin Salman … another meeting Trump seemed to take (rather, front-run) in his place.
From where I’m sitting, Trump beat Sullivan to the punch in the case of MBS. In the case of Cameron, this one has the whiff of info ops, and I think Sullivan refused to meet with him because he and the rest of the Deep State department are sick of getting caught up in Trump honeypots.
After all, once you’ve had a closed door meeting with Donald Trump, how can the enemy count on your loyalty and intentions?” —
BONUS ITEMS
House passes FISA reauthorization bill after previous GOP setback
The House on Friday voted to reauthorize a key U.S. spy program considered crucial to national security.
In a 273 to 147 vote, lawmakers renewed Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire on April 19, through 2026.
It won't head to the Senate right away.
Right after the House passed the FISA bill, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., objected to its passage. Luna requested a vote on the motion to reconsider the legislation. That means the FISA bill will not be able to head to the Senate yet until after the House votes to table the motion to reconsider the vote next week.
Section 702 allows the U.S. government to collect electronic communications of non-Americans located outside the country without a warrant. It came under scrutiny among some lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and civil liberties groups because it sometimes results in the collection of data on Americans who are in contact with those surveilled individuals.
An amendment was offered to add a warrant requirement to see data from Americans, but it narrowly failed in a 212 to 212 vote. — ABC News
Biden Loses Support Among Black Men, WSJ Poll Finds
President Biden faces a dual-natured challenge to shore up his support with Black Americans, one of the Democratic Party’s most loyal constituencies.
Perhaps the most urgent: More Black men said they plan to back Donald Trump this fall, according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll of seven swing states.
While most Black men said they intend to support Biden, some 30% of them in the poll said they were either definitely or probably going to vote for the former Republican president. There isn’t comparable WSJ swing-state polling from 2020, but Trump received votes from 12% of Black men nationwide that year, as recorded by AP VoteCast, a large poll of the electorate.
In the WSJ poll, 11% of Black women said they were either definitely or probably going to vote for Trump. In 2020, the AP poll found, 6% of Black women nationwide backed Trump. — Wall Street Journal
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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Finally! A study that confirms what I observed years ago. A connection between gender dysphoria and Autism Spectrum Disorder. I am guardian to twins on the spectrum. They are now 20. When one was in the 7th grade, she and her best friend thought they were gay. When she told me, I simply said “oh, ok. Thanks for telling me.” I learned that the best reaction was little to no reaction. The other girls parents flipped. Now, both girls were in a special school for behavior problems and they were the only two girls in the class. I told the other girl’s mother that the girls had never had friends before and didn’t know how to define their friendship. Yes, they loved each other. No, not like boyfriend/girlfriend. It didn’t last because the next year, mine discovered boys. Then her twin sister decided she was a boy and wanted me to get her a chest binder. Now she has had multiple open heart surgeries and cannot even tolerate a bra. So I made her a deal. I reminded her how she couldn’t tolerate wearing a bra but if she wore a bra for two weeks, I’d get her the chest binder. That went away in a couple of days. Kids in the spectrum just want to BELONG. LGBTQ were welcomed and protected at their high school. Kids on the spectrum were bullied and picked on. The choice seemed simple to them. My grandson, also on the spectrum, changed his name online to a more girly sounding name. His parents flipped. Now he’s almost 18 and that went away. They do, in fact, outgrow it.
LGBTQCIA+ 🤣