Badlands News Brief
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 Monday, February 19 …
Rep. Tlaib calls on fellow Democrats to vote ‘uncommitted’ in protest against Biden in Michigan primary
Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, an outspoken critic of President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, is calling on residents to vote “uncommitted” in the Michigan primary.
“We feel completely neglected and just unseen by our government. If you want us to be louder, then come here and vote uncommitted,” Tlaib, the first Palestinian American woman to serve in Congress, said in a video posted Saturday on X by the group Listen to Michigan.
Biden is grappling with growing discontent within his own party over his handling of the conflict between Israel and Hamas, as cries of “Genocide Joe” and “ceasefire now” follow him around the campaign trail. Michigan is home to one of the nation’s largest populations of Arab Americans and Muslims, and there is concern among Democrats that alienating that key group could hurt the president in a battleground state that was crucial to his 2020 win and is expected to be close again in November.
Tlaib – a liberal firebrand who represents parts of Detroit and its suburbs – previously accused Biden of supporting a Palestinian “genocide” and warned Americans will remember how he responded to the war when he’s up for reelection.
“Mr. President, the American people are not with you on this one,” Tlaib said in a November video, adding, “We will remember in 2024.”
The Listen to Michigan campaign is made up of more than 30 Michigan officials who have pledged to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s presidential primary on February 27 to demand Biden support a ceasefire. — CNN
Our Take: “In yesterday’s Brief, we talked about Biden’s about-face on electric vehicles, and how that move is hurting his relationship with the progressives in his base.
Today, it’s Gaza.
Rep Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is now encouraging her coalition to ‘vote uncommitted’ during the state’s primary, one week from today. The gimmick is intended to show the power of the Palestinian contingent in Michigan, sending Biden a message that their support will be outcome determinative for the Great Lakes State in November.
This is another indicator of shifting popular support for scrotus, and the Democrats’ electoral chances rely upon their coalition of radical communists, open pedophiles, climate cultists, and foreign agents standing together with traditional democrats in November 2024.
Yesterday, we saw how traditional democrats, like union members, are defecting from Team Destroy America, and how Biden’s moves to woo them back are alienating the climate cultists. Today, Tlaib threatens to pull the foreign agents and radical communists. Biden has already tanked his support with the black community, so these developments are devastating (in the normal political sense).
Every day that the leftists stay with Joe Biden, as Jon and others have said, is a day that indicates they’re stuck with him. There are no good reasons for Biden to be the nominee given the current state of the nation, and the current state of his base.
Other than cinematic reasons, of course.” —
Hillary Clinton warns Trump will seek to withdraw U.S. from NATO if elected
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Saturday that former President Donald Trump will seek to withdraw the U.S. from NATO if he wins a second term in the White House.
In remarks during a lunchtime panel at the Munich Security Conference, Clinton urged delegates to take Trump “literally and seriously” as he seeks re-election.
“We have a long struggle ahead of us, and the obvious point to make about Donald Trump is take him literally and seriously,” she said.
“He means what he says,” she continued. “People did not take him literally and seriously in 2016. Now he is telling us what he intends to do, and people who try to wish it away, brush it away, are living in an alternative reality.”
Clinton, who unsuccessfully ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential election, also warned Saturday that the former president will seek to “pull us out of NATO.”
“He will do everything he can to become an absolute authoritarian leader if given the opportunity to do so. And he will pull us out of NATO even though the Congress passed a resolution saying that he couldn’t without congressional support, because he will just not fund our obligations,” she said. — NBC News
Our Take: “My favorite deployments in the Info War occur when the enemy's Narratives converge with our own in a way that makes it virtually impossible to separate the intended effect of each.
This week, we've got Hillary Clinton on the PsyOp campaign trail, pushing for more funding for the Ukrainian Proxy War while doing everything in her (considerably lagging) power to conflate Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin, while 'warning' that Trump will withdraw the US from NATO upon resuming the office he never should have left, while implying that he's going to let Russia do whatever it wants should the globalists lose their foothold on the 'rules-based order.'
The funny thing is, most reasonable people in the Truth Community would wholeheartedly agree with Clinton; the difference, however, is that, what she sees as dire warnings to the establishment order, we see as the 'promises kept' phase of Trump's original campaign.
You can learn a lot, watching things lie. Lately, the enemy is spilling truth.” —
Cognitive Tests For Presidential Candidates A 'Good Idea,' Reagan’s Daughter Says
Former President Ronald Reagan’s daughter Patti Davis thinks cognitive tests for presidential candidates would “probably be a good idea,” as voters across party lines have expressed concerns over the ages of public officials.
According to multiple polls, some voters are concerned about the ages of politicians. In a recent Ipsos poll, 59 percent of those surveyed said they thought both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump are “too old” to serve as president again. In a similar poll from last November, 77 percent of respondents said they thought President Biden was too old to remain in office.
In a Feb. 19 interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” Ms. Davis echoed these concerns, saying cognitive tests for presidential candidates might be a good idea.
“I mean, in just what we know about what age can do. It doesn’t always do that, but it would probably be a good idea,” she said.
“My father was 77 when he left office after two terms. It seems so young now, doesn’t it?” — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “This take lands on the delta of Q sharing Trump's tweet quoting Reagan: ‘When you can't make them see the light, make them feel the heat.’
In fact, in the Q post in the day before we were given a comparison between JFK, Reagan and Trump as outsiders threatening the control the Deep State had worked hard at establishing.
It is within this narrative that we are given the notion that, ever since Reagan, the US presidency has been controlled.
The interim between Reagan and Trump is what Patti Davis is referring to when she says that ‘our divisions really started because we’re all so scared... And fear morphs into anger. It just does. It’s not sustainable.’
This is actually pretty deep insight into the sustained operations that have been working on the collective psyche ever since the office of the president became properly weaponized.
As it is today, the media was a proper arm of this pseudo-government, keeping the public afraid of wars and threats from abroad at first. 9/11 was about inverting the fear that had been projected out into the world and turning it into a domestic phenomenon as a means of evolving the security state.
Once people are afraid for long enough, they become available to massive amounts of influence. These sustained forms of psychological terrorism became the fuel for the political division we see today. We would do well to remember how afraid our political opposition has been made to feel for generations, simply about different fears than us.
But this phenomenon works both ways. Trump's first presidential victory was terrifying for the Deep State. And their fear of him has been palpable ever since. All of their ammunition is spent on him, daily. While Trump charges for the office of the president, he is surrounded by an ever-awakening population who have used their anger to get informed about what is really occurring, and to challenge it.
This sustained campaign of fear targeting our enemies makes them easy to control as well. It's very clear that Trump's boomerang effect has shown itself to be a form of high-level narrative dominance. As Patti Davis pointed out, the cycle of fear and anger simply isn't sustainable. She's right. Our enemy's sustained levels of fear can only push them further into predictable, desperate moves.
The true agents of the Deep State made it clear long ago that they will never see the light. The great awakening is the heat, and they're definitely feeling it.” —
US Officials Concede No Active Surveillance On Long-Term Effects Of COVID-19 Vaccines
In a Feb. 15 hearing by the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, U.S. health officials side-stepped a question when asked whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is actively conducting extended safety surveillance on those who received early COVID-19 vaccines.
Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) asked Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, whether the FDA is conducting active surveillance and if there are any specific health markers they’re studying that may signal trends requiring further inquiry.
“Every time we go through and do the safety surveillance, we start back, and it goes back to 2020. In some cases where we’re looking for certain things, we might use a different window, but indeed, we have to look from the beginning of the period of surveillance. I can turn it over to Dr. Jernigan because he can speak for CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] in that regard,” Dr. Marks said.
“So with regard to myocarditis, we certainly have been monitoring the issue with various different data systems. I think the most recent data really demonstrates that you’re about eight times less likely to get myocarditis if you’re vaccinated compared to those that are unvaccinated,” Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDC responded.
[…]
“There is no system in place for long-term vaccine safety surveillance in this country,” Ms. Liz Willner, founder of OpenVAERS, told The Epoch Times. — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “Notice that she doesn’t say ‘covid vaccines’ or ‘mRNA vaccines.’
Because of OpenVAERS, we know with certainty that the people who labeled informed-thus-concerned parents as ‘anti-vaxxers’ and ‘science deniers’ do not track the long term impacts of their mandated poisons. This reminds me of when Iceland celebrated eradicating Down syndrome after murdering all the babies with Down syndrome. Trust the eugenics … I mean, science.
The under-oath testimony in this hearing is even more interesting in light of a recent Canadian study that shows no excess mortality with the timing of covid — but 17M total (160k American) excess dead people with the timing of the covid vaccines. Those are genocide numbers. The study is undergoing peer review.
If it’s proven that ‘the science’ lied under oath, will there be accountability? Probably not, but definitely not if we don’t demand it. Tag your legislators in this post and make those demands. It’s going to take every one of us.” —
War Expands With Massive Israeli Airstrikes 60km Deep Into Lebanon
The Israel-Hezbollah war is expanding, which was on display Monday as Israel for the first time struck near a large city which is deep inside Lebanon, far away from the border, in the region of Ghaziyeh.
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari has confirmed in a statement that military was behind large airstrikes that rocked a town just south of Sidon earlier in the day. Hagari said the strikes targeted Hezbollah weapons depots, and also served as a response to an explosive-laden that struck northern Israel previously on Monday.
Sidon is the third largest city in Lebanon, and the region that was attack lies at least 45-60 kilometers from the Israeli border. So far the tit-for-tat strikes which stretch back to early October, following the Hamas terror attack on southern Israel, have been confined to southern Lebanon. Fighting has by and large stayed to within kilometers of the border on either side.
"Israeli jets attacked near Sidon on Monday, Israeli media reported, citing the Hezbollah-affiliated Al-Akhbar newspaper," regional media also confirms. "The two strikes occurred in the region of Ghaziyeh some 60 km from Israel's northern border."
[…]
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz recently repeated a warning to the Lebanese government, saying that if Hezbollah isn't removed from near the border that Lebanon would "pay a heavy price". However, Lebanon's Army is widely seen as not having the capability to remove the powerful Shia paramilitary group backed by Iran, which would also most certainly set off another civil war. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “One of the strange realizations that settles over one who toils in the winding ways of the Info War long enough is that the most emotionally-charged Narrative Deployments—whether based in truth, falsity or some Hegelian mix of the two—tend to lose their psychological power projection capabilities the longer the string plays out, even when the supposed Actuals are escalating rather than deescalating.
We’ve seen this play out to near-completion with the Ukrainian Proxy War, as a growing portion of the public has graduated from Ukraine fatigue to active distrust of anything associated with it in a much more rapid about-face than the tenor of 5th-Gen Warfare we saw during the Bush and Obama Administrations.
Whatever the Actual situation on the ground, the Israel-Gaza Crisis is continuing to visit catastrophic Narrative consequences on the establishment attempting to make it the new ‘current thing’ we need to devote funding toward, on one side or the other (exactly which seems to change depending on the politician on the other side of the headline,) thereby revealing the men behind the War Machine curtain more with each passing day.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Medvedev threatens Berlin, London and Washington with nuclear retaliation if Russia is to return to 1991 borders
Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Federation's Security Council, has threatened the United States and Europe with nuclear war if Russia is returned to its recognised borders from 1991.
[…]
Quote: "And now for the main question: do these idiots truly believe that the Russian people will simply swallow such a consequential partitioning of their country? That we will all think:
‘Unfortunately, it happened. They won. Russia as we know it today no longer exists. It is unfortunate, of course, but we must continue to live in a country that is collapsing and dying, because a nuclear war is far worse for us than the death of our loved ones, children, Russia…’?
And that the state's leadership, led by the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, would be hesitant to make difficult decisions in this case?
Hear me out. It will be totally different. The collapse of Russia will have far worse consequences than the outcome of a conventional, even long-term war. Because attempting to return Russia to its 1991 borders will only lead to one outcome. To a global war with Western countries, utilising our entire strategic arsenal. In Kyiv, Berlin, London, and Washington. For all other beautiful historical sites, which have long been included in our nuclear triad's attack goals.
Will we have enough guts for this if a thousand-year-old country, our great homeland, is on the verge of extinction, and the sacrifices made by the Russian people over the centuries are in vain?
The answer is obvious." — Yahoo! News
WikiLeaks founder Assange starts final UK legal battle to avoid extradition to US on spy charges
Julian Assange’s lawyers will begin their final U.K. legal challenge on Tuesday to stop the WikiLeaks founder from being sent to the United States to face spying charges.
The 52-year-old has been fighting extradition for more than a decade, including seven years in self-exile in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London and the last five years in a high-security prison.
Assange’s attorneys will ask two High Court judges to grant a new appeal hearing, his last legal roll of the dice in Britain. If the judges rule against Assange, he can ask the European Court of Human Rights to block his extradition – though supporters worry he could be put on a plane to the U.S. before that happens.
Judges Victoria Sharp and Jeremy Johnson could deliver a verdict at the end of the two-day hearing on Wednesday, but they’re more likely to take several weeks to consider their decision.
“This hearing marks the beginning of the end of the extradition case, as any grounds rejected by these judges cannot be further appealed in the U.K. – bringing Assange dangerously close to extradition,” the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders said. — AP News
Donald Trump To Challenge Judge Engoron's Fraud Definition
Donald Trump is to challenge Judge Arthur Engoron's definition of fraud that led to a $355 million judgment in the former president's New York trial.
"The case raises serious legal and constitutional questions regarding 'fraud' claims/findings without any actual fraud," Chris Kise, Trump's principal lawyer in the case, told Newsweek.
Asked about the timing of the appeal, Kise said it "will depend on many factors so it's hard to say at the moment, but in any event, it will fall within the 30-day clock" that is allowed by the court.
Kise accused New York Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Engoron of trying to run Trump out of New York and said it was bad for the city. — Newsweek
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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Simon, your comments are so cogent to the moment. Since Jan 2020, I have made it my cause to tell anyone who will discuss the "craziness" with me that I believe just about my entire voting life (I am 67) were s-elections and that the so-called political division in our country is a mockingbird media mirage. Rules for Radicals Tactic #2 states never go outside the experience of your people.
To me " too old to run" is analogous to "it's time to have a woman president".
Thank you for your analysis and thanks to all the Badlanders!!
Simon’s take ties in perfectly with BB’s. The dethroned queen (in her own mind), HRC, using fear (Russia Russia Russia) to rally support for the Ukraine proxy war meets growing anger from Americans who are clearly seeing through the money-laundering schemes of every war.
Yes please, get us out of NATO!
There is far more energy in anger than in fear. For so long, fear has been the global cabal, NWO, Neo-Nazi, DeepState tool.
We are not just angry about wars being fought in our name, we are angry about MSM lies on everything from Ukraine to the climate cult manipulations. Trump represents Peace, Prosperity, Integrity❤️🇺🇸🕊🌎