Badlands News Brief

The Trump Train Rolls on ... Fake MAGA Most Affected

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.

Some items feature original (and subjective) commentary. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see our writers’ corresponding Substack accounts and check out their other work.

Now, onto the news from Tuesday, January 23 …

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Donald Trump wins again, as former president quickly beats Nikki Haley in New Hampshire GOP primary

Former President Donald Trump did it again.

Eight days after he crushed the competition in Iowa's low-turnout Republican presidential caucuses, Trump quickly defeated Nikki Haley - his final remaining major rival for the GOP nomination - in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary.

Fox News projected Trump would win the primary just a few minutes after the final polls closed in New Hampshire.

"I’m very honored by the result," Trump told Fox News Digital's Brooke Singman in a statement. 

Haley said in a speech to supporters in Concord, New Hampshire after the race was called that "I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight. He earned it and I want to acknowledge that." — FOX News

Our Take: “The GOP establishment allows Democrats to vote in the New Hampshire primary, historically, so that the establishment can reverse the much-harder-to-rig results of the Iowa caucuses.

Then they just tell the country that wacky Evangelicals voted for a crazy person in Iowa, steal the New Hampshire primary for a RINO, and then claim momentum when they start stealing the big ones in South Carolina, etc...

Elections are rigged every cycle, everywhere. You are seeing the system on display.” — Chris Paul

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Another Take: “In keeping with Chris’s framing above, Net Effects framing allows us to see Trump as a cypher through which patterns are being exposed to the Normie hivemind, and while it's very likely that the rug pulls will continue until such a time as the Collective Mind demands wholesale changes to our election systems and all systems ...

Trump IS doing a masterful job of putting his popularity on full display, sucking up the full might of the electorate by using the concessions of intra-GOP rivals as stepping stones to the increased appearance of mandate to lead, all while Biden continues to crash and burn in the War of Stories, with his establishment defenders alongside him.

With the momentum Trump has already built up in JANUARY (absurd) of the 2024 election cycle, it really appears as though he's putting on his best and boldest bluff in an attempt to get the System to drop the last vestiges of its legitimacy mask in order to subvert the democratic process in even more clownish fashion this time out.

Full Speed. Full Exposure.” — Burning Bright

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Court rules Liberals' use of Emergencies Act was unjustified, unreasonable

The Liberal government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act in response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy protests was unreasonable, unjustified and violated the Charter, the Federal Court has ruled.

In a lengthy ruling published Tuesday, Federal Court Justice Richard Mosley found that though the Freedom Convoy protests in early 2022 were causing harm to Canada’s economy, trade and commerce, they did not rise to the level of a threat to national security as defined by the law.

Mosley sided with civil liberties groups who argued the Liberal government went beyond its powers, violated the Charter and was not justified in its historic invocation of the Emergencies Act in February 2022.

“I have concluded that the decision to issue the Proclamation (of the Emergencies Act) does not bear the hallmarks of reasonableness – justification, transparency and intelligibility – and was not justified,” Mosley wrote.

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said the government did not agree with Mosley’s decision and promised to appeal it. — National Post

Our Take: “The Canadian trucker convoy organizers were quickly declared enemies of the state. They had their assets frozen, their characters assassinated, and their livelihoods destroyed for peacefully protesting government policies and redressing their grievances.

And a Canadian judge has ruled that it was unjust.

In the words of Thomas Paine, ‘Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered.’

Americans need to fight back against the tyrannical overreaches of government in every domain — especially the courts. Every victory for liberty is worth celebrating. Even if it’s Canadian.” — Ashe in America

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Audio recording reveals the moment that senior Republican figure tried to bribe Kari Lake not to run for Senate

An audio recording obtained by DailyMail.com reveals the extraordinary moment when what appears to be Arizona's top Republican official tried to bribe populist firebrand Kari Lake not to run in the state's Senate race.

Jeff DeWit, 51, chair of the Arizona Republican Party, can be heard asking Lake, a close ally of Donald Trump, to name her price to stay out of politics for two years.

'There are very powerful people who want to keep you out,' he tells her in a conversation recorded at the start of March last year. 

DeWit tells Lake, 54, one of the most public faces of the former president's MAGA movement and a woman frequently spoken of as a 2024 vice-presidential pick, that he thinks Trump will lose and it is time to make way for someone else. — The Daily Mail

Our Take: “The stranger the War of Stories gets, the more over the target, comfy and cozy most in this community feel.

It’s not just that so-called conspiracy theorists are batting nearly 1.000 since the advent of the Trump era—a trend that has only accelerated in recent years—but more so that many of said theories about the systematized, organized crime aspects of the Deep State (also known as the government) are being exposed to the Normie Layers of the Collective Mind on a near-hourly basis these days.

I suppose the only somewhat surprising thing to me is just how cartoonish the exposures continue to be.

I guess we’ve given the Deep State cabal a bit too much credit over the years for being the masterminds of the most powerful and subversive criminal organization in world history.

Either patriots are in much more firm control of the Narrative than some believe, or we’ve been dealing with much lesser custodians of the work of far greater masters.

Or maybe it’s a bit of both.” — Burning Bright

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Fani Willis claims her alleged lover's ex-wife 'conspired' with Trump co-defendant to 'oppress' her

Embattled Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has accused the estranged wife of the special prosecutor she hired, with whom she is accused of having an affair, of “interfering” in her prosecution of President Trump and “conspiring” with one of his co-defendants.

In a court filing, Willis claimed that Nathan Wade's estranged wife Joycelyn Wade "conspired" with Mike Roman in an attempt to get charges against him dismissed, UPI news reports. The two were married for 26 years.
 
On Thursday, a Georgia judge gave Willis until Feb. 2 to formally respond to allegations that she had an affair with Nathan Wade, the lawyer she hired as a special prosecutor overseeing the case of alleged election fraud against former President Donald Trump and 14 alleged co-conspirators.

Roman, who worked for Trump’s campaign in 2020, was the defendant who, in a court filing, made the allegations of the affair against the district attorney and requested Willis be disqualified from the case and the charges against him dismissed.

In response, Willis is now arguing that Wade’s ex-wife and Roman are conspiring to undermine the district attorney in advance of the Trump trial. — The Post Millennial

Our Take: “Willis relies on timing for this allegation, claiming that it has to be conspiracy, because the timing hurts her case against President Trump, and that helps Michael Roman.

This is a flimsy argument, as Wade’s divorce case is running in parallel with Willis’ RICO case; the evidence of corruption is in the divorce case, and the timing of disclosure in the divorce case is being driven by the court.

Does Fani have evidence that Roman knew about her affair before Wade’s divorce made all the sordid and corrupt details public? I doubt it. Willis’ claims feel like a Hail Mary, especially considering that two judges and the GA Senate are now looking at those details.

Fani doesn’t appear to be getting special treatment as a public official, even though she is prosecuting Trump. I’d have thought that was a free pass on any criminal behavior; maybe it is. Let’s see what happens.” — Ashe in America

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The Pentagon has no more money for Ukraine

The United States is out of money for Ukraine, unable to send the ammunition and missiles that the government in Kyiv needs to fend off Russia's invasion.

With the aid caught up in domestic politics, the Biden administration on Tuesday came empty-handed for the first time as host of the monthly meeting of about 50 nations that coordinate support for Ukraine. The group was established by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in April 2022.

While waiting for Congress to approve more money for Ukraine’s fight, Washington will look to allies to keep bridging the gap.

“I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more lifesaving ground-based air defense systems and interceptors,” Austin said in opening remarks broadcast from his home, where he is recuperating after prostate cancer surgery.

The opening statement by video was the first public appearance from Austin, 70, who appeared slightly gaunt. He was hospitalized for two weeks after complications from the surgery. — ABC News

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Davos Admits Possibility Of Ukraine Defeat - Claims Putin Will Target EU Next

In a move that would have been unthinkable a year ago, the WEF has formed a discussion panel at their annual Davos conference titled “What If Ukraine Loses?”  The panel represents, at the very least, an admission by the globalists that Ukraine could be defeated by Russia despite the deluge of money, armaments and intel assets that Ukraine has been given access to by western governments.

Since 2022, the narrative has shifted from talk of complete victory over Russia including the retaking of the Donbas and even Crimea, to merely holding the current front and keeping a steady supply of ammo and recruits.  

The realities on the ground cannot be denied.  The long vaunted “counter-offensive” that was supposed to crush Russian forces was a complete failure.  No significant ground was gained and no significant victories have been won.  It was a considerable propaganda error to hype up the counter-offensive the way Ukraine did, because when it turned out to be a dud all their other claims quickly came under suspicion. — ZeroHedge

Our Take: “I pay more attention to Actuals than Narratives because Actuals are virtually impossible for us to confirm after attempting to parse the various info vectors we have at our disposal; leaving aside the core foundation of whether or not the underlying reports are accurate, we also have to parse intent.

That said, when Narratives and Actuals converge, we get some of the most impactful deployments in the Info War.

This week, we've got the Pentagon (under Biden) declaring that funding for Ukraine is nearly at an end at the same time a panel titled 'What if Ukraine Loses?' kicks off at the World Economic Forum in Davos, in which the Globalist puppet masters themselves are openly debating what was just one year ago absolutely unthinkable for them or their sycophants.

This is a massive white pill in two distinct ways:

1. It suggests that the Actual source of power projection for the Deep State has been severely curtailed.

2. It suggests they are surprised by this.

Winning intensifies.” — Burning Bright

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Trump Loses Gag Order Fight Before Entire Judicial Panel in Jack Smith’s Election Case

A federal appeals court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump's requests for it to reconsider its decision mostly upholding the partial gag order against the former president in the Washington, D.C. election subversion case.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the former president's petitions in a pair of one-page orders seeking either a rehearing before the same original three-judge panel or an "en banc" review before the entire slate of judges that sit on the court.

Petitions for en banc consideration are often a final step before federal appellants seek review by the U.S. Supreme Court. A Trump spokesman on Tuesday did not immediately respond to a request for comment. — The Messenger

And …

Donald Trump's Battle To Unseal Documents Gets Boost

Donald Trump's efforts to unseal documents in his classified documents case have received a boost after a coalition of news organizations pushed for greater transparency in the case.

Trump is facing dozens of felony charges accusing him of unlawfully retaining classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after leaving the White House in 2021 and repeatedly obstructing government efforts to retrieve them.

[…]

The former president's legal team on January 16 filed a motion asking U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon to compel special counsel Jack Smith's team to turn over a trove of documents related to the classified documents case.

Smith's team filed an opposition to Trump's motion two days later, saying the government "supports full transparency of the record consistent with witness safety, national security, and the Court's protective order." The filing listed six exhibits that the government wants to remain sealed, and 22 exhibits that can be released to Trump's team once certain "noted redactions" are made. The filing also listed other exhibits that Smith's team does not object to turning over and others that Trump's team has already received in discovery.

In a filing on Monday, Trump's lawyers accused Smith of failing to demonstrate why some documents needed to be sealed or redacted. Smith's office "made no effort to substantiate its vague claims concerning 'witness safety' and 'national security' as they relate to the requested redactions," the filing read.

[…]

Also on Monday, attorneys representing a coalition of local and national news media organizations filed a motion asking the court to ensure the proposed redactions and withholdings are necessary.

The filing, which Newsweek reviewed, said that the coalition "agrees that these records are presumptively public and that the Government must carry a heavy burden to justify sealing them in whole or in part." — Newsweek

Our Take: “I trend along with Just Human for his Bicameral readings of the DOJ, in that, if there is any sort of plan in the offing, the Trump Witch Hunt is a part of it.

This doesn't necessarily mean that patriots are in full control of all the Actuals to spin out of said Witch Hunt, but when you pay attention to the twin signals in the noise, namely, that Trump is innocent of his alleged crimes, and that the Supreme Court stands as the ultimate backstop to this ongoing miscarriage of justice, you get less reactionary to deployments like these.

What's more, said Narrative Deployments are a massive net win for Trump's standing in the Collective Mind. After all, his main campaign platform in 2023-24 has been the weaponization of the DOJ and the System of Systems at large against him (and by extension, the movement he represents,) and a three-judge panel comprised of two Obama appointees and one Biden appointee solidifying a gag order while he's on the campaign trail only cements said platform.” — Burning Bright

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BONUS ITEMS

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Hunter Biden's business associates to appear for closed-door testimonies with lawmakers this week

Hunter Biden’s business associates are gearing up to testify behind closed doors at the House Oversight and Judiciary committees later this week as part of the House impeachment inquiry against his father, President Biden.

First up is Mervyn Yan, who was subpoenaed by the House Oversight Committee last year for financial records related to his business dealings with Hunter Biden.

Yan worked with Hunter Biden through Chinese energy company CEFC and Hudson West III.

Yan is set to appear before both committees on Thursday for closed-door transcribed interviews.

Next is Rob Walker, who was also subpoenaed last year. He is expected to appear for his closed-door transcribed interviews before both committees on Friday.

Financial records subpoenaed by the committee revealed that members of the Biden family, including Hallie Biden and Sara Biden, received more than $1 million in payments from accounts related to Walker and his Chinese business ventures with Hunter. — FOX News

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CIA Sent Dozens Of Conflict Of Interest Referrals To Biden Admin Ethics Office, Records Show

The CIA appears to have reported dozens of employees to the Department of Justice (DOJ) over potential conflicts of interest during the Biden administration, records reviewed by the Daily Caller show.

Between January of 2021 and May of 2023, the CIA filled out 32 form 202 conflict of interest referral notifications to the Biden administration’s Office of Government Ethics (OGE), according to records obtained by the Daily Caller.

Agencies are supposed to submit form 202s to the OGE to report alleged ethics violations referred to the DOJ, the OGE website states.

The OGE records were provided to the Daily Caller by the conservative Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project. Heritage received information about the form 202 submissions through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) public records request.

OGE informed the Heritage Oversight Project that multiple forms may be submitted for a single referral meaning the total number of form 202s may not be the same as the total number of referrals to the DOJ. — The Daily Caller

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Jan. 6 Committee Deleted Over 100 Encrypted Files Days Before GOP Took Majority

Nothing says 'legitimate investigation' like deleting deposition videos, withholding exculpatory footage, and now - deleting encrypted files. Which is exactly what the assholes below did, just days before Republicans retook the majority in the House.

According to Fox News Digital, the former House Select Committee on Jan. 6 deleted more than 100 encrypted files from its probe just days before they handed over the chamber to Republicans.

Now, the Republican-led House Oversight Subcommittee investigating the Jan. 6 committee and security failures on that day, reveals that evidence was destroyed.

Sources close to Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-GA) who's leading the new investigation told Fox News that per House rules, the former select committee, chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MI), was required to turn over all documents from its investigation. Thompson reportedly said he'd turn over four terabytes of archived data.

This turned into less than three terabytes of data, prompting Loudermilk's committee to hire a digital forensics team to scrape hard drives to determine what's missing, the NY Post reports.

The team determined that 117 files were both encrypted and deleted on Jan. 1, 2023, just days before Thompson's team was required to transmit the data to the new committee. The forensics team was able to recover all 117 deleted files, and Loudermilk wants answers. — ZeroHedge

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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.

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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