Badlands News Brief
Vance Takes the Stage as Biden Takes the Basement
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 with some Badlands flavoring to help wash it down.
This week’s items are brought to you by our friends at A Bit of Whimsy Boutique. Please support the America First sponsors who make this work possible.
Now, onto the news from Wednesday, July 17 …
Vance’s night but Trump’s party, Jan. 6 curtain call, Trump health still under wraps: RNC Takeaways
Republicans welcomed JD Vance as Donald Trump’s running mate on the same night devoted to blasting President Joe Biden’s leadership on the world stage.
Vance, the 39-year-old Ohio senator, offered his life story as a son of Appalachia to reaffirm Trump’s connections to Americans who feel alienated socially, economically and politically.
The mix of national security talk, relentless attacks on Biden and the unveiling of a potential “MAGA” movement heir encapsulated what Trump’s “America First” agenda means for the GOP and the U.S. role as a global superpower.
Here are some takeaways from Day 3 of the RNC:
JD Vance underscores a more populist, protectionist, isolationist GOP
Vance used his national introduction to blend his working-class Appalachian roots with Trump’s economic populism and nationalism. The young senator is a natural fit with the former and potentially future president. His nomination effectively coronates Vance as the heir apparent to Trump’s movement.
Vance blasted Wall Street and “multinational corporations.” He hailed Trump as a man who “will stand up for American companies” and “union and nonunion” workers. He talked of raising wages, battling China in the global marketplace and making other nations foot the military bill for international security and stability. — AP News
Our Take: Look, I’m not going to bullshit our readers; I did NOT see the Vance pick coming, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. We’ve floated everyone from a returned Mike Pence to Michael Flynn, with Robert C. O’Briens in between, and yet, the irony of getting this one wrong is the fact that I kept describing it in the lead-up as too much of a “Normie Build-a-Republican” candidate.
That said, what makes us Info Warriors isn’t our projections of the future, but rather, our ability to adjust and adapt to a changing informational landscape with the benefit of hindsight that informs new foresights.
In addition to my own digging on Vance following the pick, our own Just Humanwent on a lengthy and pretty epic rant about some of his best attributes on last night’s episode of the Devolution Power Hour.
What stood out most to me wasn’t the backing of Peter Thiel (who myself and many other Anons believe is at least tangentially involved in patriot plans,) but rather just how far back that backing goes.
In other words, there may be more to Vance’s ability to help force a paradigm shift in Silicon Valley than meets the eye, which is why, while we should continue to vet him exhaustively, this one may have been coming from a long way’s off, with everything in between acting as smoke and shielding on the informational battlefield. — Burning Bright
Joe Biden Suddenly Cancels Speech, Tests Positive for COVID
President Joe Biden suddenly canceled an appearance at an event in Las Vegas, Nevada, after testing positive for COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Biden was set to speak at the UnidosUS Annual Conference on Wednesday, drawing more than 1,500 Latino advocates in leaders in Nevada, a crucial swing state in the 2024 presidential race. The speech comes as Biden has been trying to rally his supporters around him as Democrats in Congress call for him to resign from the campaign.
The group's CEO Janet Murguía announced he would not be attending following a positive COVID-19 test.
"Thank you all so much for your patience and understanding. Regrettably, I was just on the phone with President Biden and he shared his deep disappointment at not being able to join us this afternoon. The president has been at many events as well all know and he just tested positive for COVID," she said.
Murguía's announcement was met with boos from the audience. She added that Biden didn't want to put "anybody at risk" and that Biden planned on speaking to the conference at a later date.
"He's just really sorry he couldn't be with us and obviously we share that disappointment, but we've seen how COVID has still impacted many in our community still," Murguía said. — Newsweek
And …
Secret Service Explanations For Security Failures Not Adding Up; DHS Inspector General Launches Investigation
In the wake of Saturday's attempted assassination of Donald Trump, the #1 question is how the Secret Service could have failed to secure a rooftop a little over 400ft away - which former Army sniper Rep. Cory Mills called a "sniper's paradise" that was so obvious he wondered aloud whether it was an "intentional" failure.
And in typical government fashion, their excuses aren't adding up.
Sloped roof?
According to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle - who has rejected calls to resign, there was no agent placed on the building because it had a "sloped roof."
"That building in particular has a sloped roof at its highest point, and so there’s a safety factor that would be considered there, that we wouldn’t want to put somebody up on a sloped roof," she said in a Tuesday interview with ABC News. "So, you know, the decision was made to secure the building from inside." — ZeroHedge
Our Take: On the surface, it seems like these two news items have almost nothing in common. And yet ... they're both describing the same story, which is the exceedingly obvious attempt by the powers that would be to remove the one thing that ostensibly separated America from the rest of the world once upon a time: CHOICE.
In recent weeks, I've been remarking on the fact that real life is not linear, even though the stories we tell about it with the benefit of hindsight follow convenient plot structures we fit in to make sense of the madness.
And yet, even to the normie layers of the Collective Mind, the pattern of escalation and acceleration on display in 2024 is seeing ALL major narratives converge into a singularity of awakening.
From the Trump Witch Hunt to the Biden Panic Pattern, the Shot Heard Around the World to the exhaustive attempts at a Change of Batter, the very linearity of the central narrative and its immediate and obvious direction is exposing it all.
Wakey, wakey indeed. — Burning Bright
Netanyahu works behind the scenes to win Trump back
Years of efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to mend relations with former President Trump may have shown some progress in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump.
The big picture: Netanyahu allies have met with Trump on at least four occasions over the past three years to try to repair ties, which deteriorated after Netanyahu congratulated Biden for his victory in the 2020 election.
One went so far as to bring a copy of Netanyahu's book to Mar-a-Lago and read passages praising Trump, according to a Netanyahu aide.
"But every time we thought we managed to put this behind us we discovered that it didn't work and that Trump was still angry," the aide told Axios
Why it matters: Netanyahu aides worry relations won't be as close if Trump wins in November as they were during his first term. — Axios
Our Take: I've been expecting this moment.
This is not a coincidence; Barak Ravid is the same Israeli journalist who interviewed Donald Trump on December 21, 2021, and it was in that interview that Trump revealed his true feelings about both Bibi Netanyahu and [Palestinian President] Mahmoud Abbas.
Trump also revealed that, while President, he had [quietly] backed former Israeli general Benny Gantz against Netanyahu in the April 2019 Israeli election. Gantz's party (Blue and White) tied with Netanyahu's party (Likud), both winning 35 seats, but because Likud had won the popular vote, they were given the first chance to form a government. Bibi was given a May 29 deadline by Israeli President Reuven Rivlin, and if he failed, Gantz would be given the chance to rally support among elected leaders to form a coalition government.
Here is Trump talking about supporting Gantz in his interview with Ravid in 2021:
Netanyahu did fail, though he was able to subvert Gantz by convincing enough members of the Knesset (Israeli congress) to dissolve the legislature on May 30, leading to new elections that would be scheduled for September 2019. In that election, the Blue and White Party succeeded in taking more seats than Likud, giving Gantz the chance to form his government and become Prime Minister. Gantz initially succeeded in rallying the necessary support, but subversive politics led to a far-left party rescinding their support at the last minute, provoking President Rivlin to grant Netanyahu the chance to form a government. Again, Netanyahu failed, and when Gantz failed for a second time to form a coalition, the Knesset was again dissolved and new elections were scheduled for March 2020.
(See how awful and frustrating the multi-party system can be?)
Gantz had pledged to explicitly exclude Netanyahu from his government, should his party win in March. However, by the time the election came around, the COVID pandemic was in full swing, and therefore, after Gantz was elected Speaker of the Knesset, he agreed to form an emergency coalition government with Netanyahu. Under the terms of the agreement, Netanyahu would remain Prime Minister, with Gantz serving as the Alternate Prime Minister—whatever that is.
There was a problem though.
Netanyahu had ambitious plans to annex large portions of the West Bank, and construct illegal Israeli settlements—stealing the land and homes from Palestinian people. President Trump explicitly opposed this, as did Gantz, and Trump even warned Netanyahu not to annex any more land in the West Bank just 15 days after he entered office in 2017. Netanyahu's response in that live press conference was to scoff at Trump, and Trump retorted with "well that doesn't sound very promising..."
Because Netanyahu and Trump have never liked one another.
Here is Trump explaining to Barak Ravid in December 2021 that he stopped Netanyahu from building those settlements in May 2020.
What's interesting is that Ravid later explained to his colleagues on air that Trump's blockage of these settlements is exactly what leveraged Netanyahu into agreeing to the Abraham Accords. But yet again, Netanyahu worked his political subversion and just 24 hours before the Abraham Accords were set to be signed, Israeli ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, called the Trump White House and told them that Netanyahu was not going to sign, using "new elections" as his excuse. (Just like how Netanyahu backed out of the Soleimani strike the day before it happened in January of that year... are you seeing the pattern yet, guys?)
Take a listen:
But we're talking about Donald John Trump, and you know he wasn't going to let this deal fall through. So he gave Netanyahu the business, and Netanyahu bent the knee... and then Trump had the 2020 election stolen from him, and the first person to call Joe Biden and congratulate him was... Bibi Netanyahu.
Are you seeing the picture yet, guys?
Does that sound like kayfabe to you? — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
Energy Department proposes AI strategy
The Department of Energy is formally proposing a new agency-wide effort to harness and advance artificial intelligence for the public's benefit.
Why it matters: The program, first mentioned in May, is aimed at helping the U.S. achieve top capabilities in AI for scientific, energy and natural security aims.
Zoom in: According to details first shared with Axios, DOE on Tuesday unveiled its roadmap for the Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology (FASST) initiative that would leverage the agencies' 17 national laboratories.
DOE aims to build energy-efficient AI supercomputers, which could help address the challenge of advancing this technology without causing energy consumption to skyrocket, which Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm has identified as a top concern.
The agency currently runs some of the world's fastest supercomputers, that are used for climate change and energy research for nuclear weapons modernization.
Between the lines: DOE envisions its role as helping its scientists and the broader scientific community create trustworthy AI models to yield breakthroughs in a variety of fields, including clean energy technologies. — Axios
Our Take: A new report from Axios has my jimmies rustling on three separate, and yet, highly connected fronts: Operation Warp Speed, The Switch theory and the Q drops.
On the surface, the announcement that the DOE is looking to invest in rapid-scale AI development over the coming years makes sense, but in reading between the lines, I think this is more a disclosure/timed release and indicative of some of the long-term patriot plans we discuss with frequency.
First of all, the program is called the Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence for Science, Security and Technology (FASST) initiative ... which has Warp Speed and 'The Switch' written all over it. (It also references 17 national laboratories, which is potentially a cute little Q comm.)
When you consider the fact that Trump has made a rapid public turn in favor of Bitcoin adoption and more importantly, mining adoption through the lens of national defense AND energy infrastructure, the plan comes into sharp focus. — Burning Bright
Netanyahu Minister: Far-right Minister Smotrich Must Be Fired for Opposing Hostage Deal
Likud minister Gila Gamliel called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday to "immediately" fire Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for threatening to leave the coalition if a hostage deal is reached with Hamas.
"There is no reason why this deal should not go through," the science minister said in an interview on Channel 13 News on Wednesday. "Smotrich's threats [to dissolve the coalition over the deal] – for that, he should have been fired immediately. The very threat should have caused him to go home."
Referring to Smotrich and his far-right coalition allies, primarily National Security Minister Ben-Gvir, the Likud minister said, "This unbearable discourse of theirs, which we also heard in the previous deal [in November], when he publicly claimed that he would oppose ... in the end when he saw the details he voted in favor. Enough. Such talk causes such injustice ... 'We will resign,' so resign! In any case, they are a burden on this government. It wouldn't hurt if they resigned," she said. — Times of Israel
And …
US envoy close to brokering ceasefire deal between Israel, Lebanon
US Special Envoy Amos Hochstein is close to brokering deal between Israel and Lebanon, although several key issues remain, according to a report in the Lebanese al-Diyar newspaper on Sunday.
Hochstein told French officials that Israel and Lebanese officials have almost completely agreed on a deal to end the hostilities, although the fighting has been between Israel and Hezbollah, not with the Lebanese armed forces.
Quoting Lebanese political sources, the outlet said the core disputes still unresolved remain pushing back Hezbollah and several areas in the border under Israeli control.
Agreed-upon points include Hezbollah not erecting observation towers along the border and the Lebanese army deploying more extensively in southern Lebanon.
Out of 13 territorial disagreements along the border in question, seven have been resolved. The Sheba Farms in the east and segments close to Rosh Hanikra in the west remain controversial. — i24 News
Our Take: It is a tale of two timelines, and it is critical to understand that Bibi Netanyahu has painted himself into a corner—and you should not sympathize with him.
Now that you understand the tête-à-tête that unfolded between Netanyahu and President Trump during Trump's first term in office, we now turn our attention to what I call "Multipolar Devolution," the Sovereign Alliance campaign being waged during Trump's second term in office—the one where Joe Biden appears to be in charge.
On Monday, I covered the New York Times article about Amos Hochstein—the lifelong Democrat, former Israeli citizen, and Biden diplomat who is working to prevent WW3, by preventing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Which has a greater chance of becoming US/NATO vs Russia than anything happening in Ukraine.) This is the guy who I now believe is subverting the Deep State from within.
Hochstein is now very close to a deal between the two, and the IDF brass has already demanded that the politicians in Tel Aviv sue for peace, as they know that a war with Hezbollah (and Russia/Iran) could very well be the end of the Israeli Defense Force.
The problem, as I have also covered in the Brief, is that Netanyahu has exhausted all of his moderate political allies—through that sequence of subversive nonsense, where he desperately tried to keep Benny Gantz from becoming Prime Minister, knowing that Gantz would finalize the two-state solution.
In his desperation, Bibi has been forced to ally with the most radical elements of Israeli politics to maintain the necessary support to prevent his coalition government from legally dissolving. He has made members of this "Messianic Movement" part of the inner circle of his cabinet. This movement seeks to expand the borders of Israel ("Greater Israel"), codify the government into a formal theocracy that promotes radical Jewish Supremacy (the "Smotrich Doctrine"), and summon the Jewish messiah through animal sacrifice and constructing the Third Temple on the site of the Al Asqa Mosque (The Temple Institute).
I realize how crazy this all sounds—and it is—but it is the absolute truth, and I have the documentation to prove it. These zealots proudly boast of these plans, so it isn't terribly hard to find them online. And what's important to know is that their leader (Meir Kahane) and his successor, Benzion Gopstein—who is their current leader—have both said that Christians are their ancient enemy, and condone the burning of churches.
Gopstein was also just sanctioned by the Biden State Department for "destabilizing" activities in the West Bank, which were surely part of their plans to build the illegal settlements that Trump was hellbent on stopping... but I'm sure that's nothing.
Not only was Kahane arrested by the Shin Bet for plotting to blow up the Al Asqa Mosque in Jerusalem in the 1980's—hoping to start a war with the Arabs—but his political party was also banned from the Knesset in 1994 for pushing a platform that explicitly proclaimed Jewish Supremacy over Christians, Muslims, and all others, as the foundation of their ideology.
In order to solidify the alliance between his Likud Party and the Otzma Yehudity ("Jewish Power") Party, Netanyahu had to support reversing that ban in 2022.
So now we have a showdown between Amos Hochstein and the Jewish Supremacists. The latter will not allow Netanyahu to accept any ceasefire deal, with either Hamas or Hezbollah, because their radical ideology demands that land as part of their religious beliefs.
My take on Hochstein:
The world stage is set for the return of perhaps the greatest figure in American history. Keep an eye on Hochstein, because I think the work he is doing now will be finished by President Donald J. Trump. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
BONUS ITEMS
Microsoft Cuts DEI Team: "No Longer Business Critical"
We've been stating for several months that the "diversity, equity, and inclusion" and "environmental, social, and governance" gravy trains on Wall Street have peaked and are coming to an abrupt end. Who would have thought the profit motive would be incompatible with mindless, unproductive virtue signaling and reverse racism?
The unraveling of DEI initiatives across corporate America is full steam ahead after Business Insider revealed Microsoft has laid off an internal team focused on DEI.
In an email viewed by BI, a Microsoft "team leader" told employees, "True systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020."
The email states that the team was eliminated due to "changing business needs" as of July 1. The number of affected employees remains unclear.
DEI was doomed to fail, and corporations have been quickly scrambling to abandon mindless and profitless woke programs. Data from AlphaSense shows 1Q "DEI" mentions have collapsed from their peak in 2021. — ZeroHedge
Tech leaders line up behind Trump
A significant chunk of the tech industry's money and power is lining up behind former President Trump.
Why it matters: Silicon Valley was once solidly Democratic, with just a handful of Republican outliers. Now its red camp is growing and throwing around its weight.
Driving the news: Venture capital billionaires Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz each will make donations to Trump's re-election effort, Axios has learned.
"Techno-optimists" Andreessen and Horowitz are following hot on the heels of Elon Musk's announcement that he would endorse Trump and form a PAC to aid his campaign.
Between the lines: Neither Andreessen nor Horowitz is believed to have previously donated to a presidential campaign.
Andreessen publicly supported Mitt Romney in 2012, but in 2016 said that he was struggling to decide between a candidate who "doesn't believe in science" (Trump) and one who "doesn't believe in economics" (Hillary Clinton).
The Information reported earlier on their planned donations.
The intrigue: Andreessen Horowitz, the VC firm the pair co-founded in 2009, said late last year that its partners would begin making donations to political candidates they saw as "advancing technology." — Axios
CNN Admits Trump On Course For Landslide Win
CNN’s John King highlighted Tuesday how Donald Trump is on course for a historic landslide victory in November, and could get as many as 330 electoral votes (only 270 are needed to win).
“If Donald Trump won, what we have here, dark red states, solid Republican. Light red states, leaning Republican. If he won just those right there, he would already have the path to 270. He would have 272 electoral votes,” King explained.
He continued, “Look what is different. We have Wisconsin as a toss-up. We have Pennsylvania as a toss-up. Two critical states for Joe Biden. Michigan right now, another critical state for Biden, leaning Republican. Georgia, a state Biden flipped, leaning Republican. Arizona, a toss-up state. That was a state Biden flipped. Nevada, a state he won, leaning Republican.”
“This is the dire strait for Joe Biden right now on the first night of the republican convention. Tomorrow is 16 weeks to Election Day. Sixteen weeks from tomorrow, we count the votes. It is tough to change a map like this in that amount of time,” King further urged.
King went on to explain how Trump is winning in so many States and districts and is competitive in areas that are traditionally Democratic.
“So, the warnings to the White House are Donald Trump could conceivably, if the current dynamics in the race hold, get 330 or more electoral votes. That’s what they believe,” King explained.
“It’s a very narrow path for Joe Biden. He … has essentially one, maybe two narrow paths to 270,” King highlighted, urging that “Donald Trump has so many. There are viable paths to get him as high as 330, which means you can take some states away, Jake, and he would still get to 270.” — Modernity News
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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Trump doesn't like Bibi and neither do I. Another excellent take from Ghost...
Cheatle is the Susan Rice of 2024. Both with their lame excuses are traitors to the American People.