Badlands News Brief
The Uniparty Celebrates as Warmongers Grow Desperate
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 …
Ukraine Aid Passes US House in Bipartisan Vote Ending Impasse
The US House passed $61 billion in fresh aid for Ukraine on Saturday, ending a six-month political impasse during which Kyiv’s stockpiles dwindled in its war against Russia.
Speaker Mike Johnson worked with Democrats and overcame fierce objections from within his own party, ultimately pushing the legislation to passage on a 311 to 112 bipartisan vote.
The Senate is expected to pass the package, which was negotiated with the White House, next week.
The vote marks a victory for Republican defense hawks against the more isolationist wing of the party led by Donald Trump.
“We cannot be afraid of our shadows. We must be strong. We have to do what’s right,” House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said.
Democrats and some Republicans waved Ukrainian flags during the vote, a rare moment of bipartisanship in a bitterly and narrowly divided House.
“Traditional House Republicans led by Speaker Mike Johnson have risen to the occasion,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said. “We have a responsibility to push back against authoritarianism.” — Bloomberg
Our Take: “This is the image most that have bothered to pay attention to the latest Congressional clown show have seared into their minds after the political events of the last few days & weeks.
And that's a good thing.
While you might be hard-pressed to find many Normies who are even aware of who the Speaker of the House is, that is decidedly not the case within the Normie Layers of MAGA. And yes, there are MAGA Normies.
While Donald Trump took a sledgehammer to the Democratic establishment in his first term, his second, silent term, which some mistakenly refer to as the Biden Admin, has been about exposing the Uniparty.
By hook or by crook, Mike Johnson and Kevin McCarthy before him have done a stellar job exposing the controlled opposition dynamic.
Along the way, they're also conflating the Globalist Proxy States of Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with their broader interests.
This is a Mind War. As such, success should be measured solely by which direction the Collective Mind is moving in.” — Burning Bright
Israeli Security Chief Slams ‘Lame’ Attack on Iran
Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has mocked an Israeli attack on Iran as “lame,” after Tehran thwarted a small IDF drone strike early on Friday. The incursion was the latest in a cycle of violence between the two Middle Eastern powers after Tel Aviv destroyed Iran’s consulate in Damascus and Tehran responded with strikes of its own. Ben Gvir had urged Israel to “go berserk” in retaliation.
Ben Gvir, who leads the ultranationalist Jewish Power party, made a one-word post on X following the Israeli attack. Written in Hebrew, the Telegraph explained that the post used a “slang word that literally translates as ‘scarecrow’ but also means ‘lame.’” Reuters translated the word to “feeble.”
The post highlighted a public rift within the government in Tel Aviv. Ben Gvir is considered on the extreme end of Israel’s political spectrum and is popular among the right-wing settler movement. He lives in a West Bank settlement and has called for the resettlement of Gaza by Israelis.
Yair Lapid, the Israeli opposition leader, attacked Ben Gvir over the post. “Never before has a minister in the security cabinet done such heavy damage to the country’s security, its image and its international status,” he said. “In an unforgivable one-word tweet, Ben Gvir managed to mock and shame Israel from Tehran to Washington. Any other prime minister would have thrown him out of the cabinet this morning.” — AntiWar.com
Our Take: “Uh oh. Trouble in paradise.
After Iran's limited drone/missile strike last week, we had some of these ministers from Netanyahu's cabinet flexing the bravado of Israel, as the attack was entirely thwarted and a little underwhelming in comparison with Iran's long-time rhetoric. We also had others being melodramatic, claiming that Iran's limited airstrike was some devastating event that nobody saw coming due to a terrible miscalculation, despite the fact that 1,200 Israeli's were purportedly killed in a large-scale attack just 7 months ago, and yet nobody was killed in this recent one.
Now we have Israel delivering an equally odd limited airstrike against Iran, and ministers within the ranks are mocking the others for being so delicate in their war strategy.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Muslims are playing chess and Netanyahu is playing checkers. That doesn't mean there aren't bad actors on the Muslim side who have been recruited to foment escalation (if so, I personally believe they were recruited by elements within Israel to subvert the peace negotiations), but what seems to be clear is that the Muslims outside of Gaza are content to sit back and allow their perceived enemy in Tel Aviv to destroy himself in a fit of rage.
(Worth noting that Ben-Gvir was the guy who in 1995 was filmed holding a Mercedes Benz hood ornament that he claimed he personally took off of then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's car, warning that they could access his property in some sort of veiled threat. Rabin was assassinated by a radicalized Jewish terrorist two weeks later. Rabin was rebuked by Ben-Gvir for signing the Oslo Accords with Palestine, a sentiment recently shared by Bibi Netanyahu.)
It seems that both Iran and the Arabs were expected to be heavy-handed and militant in response to the flagrant provocations put before them … Yet, they have all remained steadfast in preventing escalation, which has only provoked more frustration from Israel, leading to infighting among the Israeli leadership. Like a reverse-provocation.
Looks like Iran really is slow-boiling the frog. The frog being a slimy swamp creature at the head of the Israeli government.” — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
"Eye For An Eye, A Tooth For A Tooth": Only Hamas Wants Bigger War As Iran, Israel Signal Strikes 'Done'
An earlier Bloomberg report disclosed that Israel had informed the White House on Thursday that a military strike on Iran was being planned in "the next 24-48 hours."
Bloomberg is now reporting Friday morning that "an Iranian military official signaled Tehran doesn’t feel compelled to react to the blasts which US officials say were caused by Israeli strikes, with semi-official Mehr agency quoting Army Commander-in-Chief Abdolrahim Mousavi saying Tehran has already reacted to Israeli threats."
Iran's President Ebrahim Rais made a planned speech on Friday and did not mention the overnight attack on Iranian soil, only the last Saturday offensive operations against Israel: "Operation True Promise led to authority, unity and cohesion in the country," Raisi said.
[…]
"Today, all political groups and factions believe that this response was necessary and a big honour for the country," the Iranian president added, saying nothing further about the Israeli attack just hours prior.
There's only one group at this point that appears to be disappointed that it's over:
HAMAS OFFICIAL SAYS ISRAELI AGGRESSION ON IRAN IS AN ESCALATION AGAINST THE REGION
HAMAS OFFICIAL CALLS FOR EXPANDING ENGAGEMENT AGAINST ISRAEL OVER WAR OF GENOCIDE IN GAZA AND ESCALATION IN THE REGION.
Hamas leadership likely thought this is the start of the 'big war' in Gaza's defense - which still possibly may come - but at this point of "cooler heads" prevailing is no longer looking likely. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “And now we have Hamas throwing their own little temper tantrum, because the war games between Iran and Israel don't appear to be anything more than that: war games.
On the same day that we are also getting reports that certain elements within the Israeli cabinet (Ben-Gvir) are throwing tantrums of their own, for the exact same reason.
It's almost like Ben-Gvir and his Israeli allies share the exact same vision for existential war as Hamas. One could hardly be blamed for thinking it strange that two ostensible enemies on opposite sides of a conflict share a common vision of kinetic escalation, yet are unable to achieve it.
It's almost like, despite their best efforts to foment a regional war—which would likely turn into a worldwide war—something or someone is subverting those efforts, and preventing them from crossing that threshold beyond the point of no return.
But I thought the media said that Iran controlled Hamas? Then why is Hamas upset and frustrated with Iran? So Hamas wants war, but Iran does not? And only some within the Israeli cabinet want a wider war?
Is it possible that those warmongers on both sides are somehow working together, or perhaps working for the same people/interests?
Somebody with the best interests of humanity in mind seem to be rug-pulling their efforts to start WW3, while exposing them for being the malevolent actors that they are.” — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
‘Quiet On Set’: Bill Maher Calls Nickelodeon ‘Neverland Ranch With Craft Services’ While Also Calling Out Disney | Video
On this week’s “Real Time” on HBO, Bill Maher addressed the recent “Quiet on Set” documentary, which explored exploitation of children in Nickelodeon programming. Maher then used that to launch into a wider discussion expressing skepticism of modern progressive gender politics, including how much kids are exposed to nontraditional gender identities.
In a featured “New Rule” segment titled “Kid ‘n Prey” (a nod to hip-hop duo Kid ‘N Play, known for the “House Party” movies), Maher opened up, “And finally, New Rule: as one of the few people in the public eye who’s gone through life and never had kids, someone has to tell me, why am I always having to defend them? I don’t even like kids. But I also think it’s every adult’s job to protect them.”
He asked the crowd if they’d been watching Max/Investigation Discovery documentary “Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.”
“O-M-G,” Maher began. “Nickelodeon — it wasn’t a studio, it was Neverland Ranch with craft services.”
“It is just scene after scene, clip after clip of the child stars of their day being subjected to obviously inappropriate, highly sexualized degradation,” Maher continued, adding, “and quite a few pickles going through glory holes.” — The Wrap
Our Take: “You're watching the systematic destruction of the Old Guard, and it's largely being implemented by their own hand, by hook, by crook ... or by both.
Maher is Hollywood establishment.
If you dive down any of the rabbit holes he just recently began massaging into the smooth-brained ideologues who consooom the newspeak masquerading as cultural commentary him and his ilk have at the very least turned a blind eye to in recent years, you'll come away with a small inkling of why Anons and Truthers reserve such disdain for this class of protectors desperately attempting to rebrand themselves as exposers.
All that said ... Maher's public about-face has been carefully crafted, timed, and planned. The question is, who has it been planned by?
Is this the case of rats fleeing a sinking ship ahead of the most consequential election cycle in American history (since the last one,) or proxy puppets dancing to the tune of different composers?
There are many aspects to 'The Plan.' Some are directed and coordinated, while others (perhaps most) tend to cascade due to the gravity and momentum of the cultural turn Donald Trump kicked off in 2016, and that the America First movement continues to advance.
Whether or not you think this 'turn' within the Entertainment Industrial Complex back toward the side of rationality, common sense and decency is organic or entirely artificial, it comes to the same:
[They] are losing. They know they're losing ... And they're trying to get ahead of the MANY exposures to come.
We're going to bring the whole diseased, corrupt temple down on their heads.
Very slowly ... and then all at once.” — Burning Bright
US set to sanction an entire IDF battalion with a history of alleged human rights abuses on the West Bank, report says
The US is poised to sanction a controversial battalion in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) for reported human rights abuses, Axios reported.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to announce sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda battalion for alleged human rights violations in the occupied West Bank.
It would be the first time the US has imposed sanctions on an Israeli military unit. The battalion is composed of over 900 soldiers.
The news of the possible sanctioning of the IDF unit came as the House of Representatives on Saturday passed a bill that includes more than $14 billion in military aid to Israel as well as $9 billion in humanitarian assistance, much of which will go to Gaza.
The unprecedented sanctions will prohibit the battalion and its members from receiving US military assistance or training. — Business Insider
Our Take: “Uhhhh.... hello, Hebrew Azov Battalion.
We've all seen the videos that have been floating around X over the past seven months. And there have been reports coming out of the West Bank for the past 20 years alluding to these human rights abuses. The fact that the US government under Joe Biden is the one issuing the sanctions against the Netzah Yehuda Battalion is further evidence of certain Heroldian theories that Donald Trump had to step away and let things play out while Biden and his Deep State buddies appear to be running things.
Oh, and that little itching notion we've scratched that there are deeper connections between Ukraine and Israel, beyond potential intelligence community shenanigans and US foreign aid money laundering. Now we have sanctions being issued against a specially-designated battalion that mirror sanctions issued against the Azov Battalion in Ukraine during the Trump Administration.
But that's probably all just a coincidence.” — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
BONUS ITEMS
Rep. Jim Banks Introduces Legislation To Defund NPR
Republican Indiana Rep. Jim Banks introduced legislation Friday to defund National Public Radio (NPR).
The Daily Caller first obtained a copy of the legislation, which is titled the Defund NPR Act. The bill would cut off any federal funds to NPR.
An NPR editor, Uri Berliner, published a piece alleging the outlet has deep political bias and that the Washington D.C. bureau employs 87 registered Democrats and zero registered Republicans.
Berliner resigned after NPR suspended him for publishing the piece.
NPR’s new CEO, Katherine Maher, has also made headlines as old tweets and clips of her show political bias. Maher, who was hired in March, previously expressed support for President Joe Biden’s campaign in 2020 and called former President Donald Trump a “racist” in 2018. She has also described the First Amendment as “the number one challenge” to combatting “misinformation.” — The Daily Caller
Man dies after setting himself on fire near Trump trial courthouse in NYC
A man who set himself on fire outside the New York City courthouse where former President Donald Trump's hush money trial is underway has died, police said.
Witnesses said that they saw the man — who the New York Police Department identified as 37-year-old Max Azzarello — pour liquid over his head and set himself on fire at 1:39 p.m. local time on Friday.
In a briefing immediately after the incident, the NYPD said Azzarello, a Florida resident who had arrived in New York City earlier in the week, walked into Collect Pond Park, opened a book bag, and scattered papers and pamphlets on the ground before setting himself ablaze. Police described the materials as "like a conspiracy-theory type of pamphlet."
Azzarello then fell on a police barrier. Civilians and court officers used coats and extinguishers to try to put out the fire, the NYPD said, and the New York City Fire Department responded, finally extinguishing the fire. — CBS News
Trump campaign, RNC pledge to deploy 100,000 attorneys and volunteers to monitor the vote
Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the Republican National Committee announced a massive “election integrity” operation on Friday, promising to deploy 100,000 volunteers and attorneys to battleground states to “protect the vote and ensure a big win” in November.
In a press release, officials said they wanted the volunteers and lawyers to monitor logic and accuracy testing, early voting, ballot tabulation, mail ballot processing and Election Day voting, as well as post-election canvasses, audits, and recounts. The release suggests they may intend to recruit poll workers, too.
“Having the right people to count the ballots is just as important as turning out voters on Election Day,” Trump said in the release..
"The RNC is hiring hundreds of election integrity staff across the map — more than ever before because our Party will be recruiting thousands of more observers to protect the vote in 2024. These campaign officials in states are tasked with recruiting, training, and when possible, shifting poll watchers and poll workers day in and day out," added RNC co-chair Lara Trump. — NBC 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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I appreciate this take GhostofBasedPatrickHenry. I've theorized that Israel is behind Hamas at some level, a reflection of some of the treacherous and subversive dynamics during WW2, but it wasn't possible for me to prove this.
The Hamas attack on Israel screamed "inside job" as it naturally enables the next steps of the Greater Israel project. We shall see but I'm feeling more and more certain that we truly are living through one of the most amazing times in written history.
"All that said ... Maher's public about-face has been carefully crafted, timed, and planned. The question is, who has it been planned by?" -- I'd point all the way back to his outing by Q ... and I'd say he's afraid of Trump and Pedo-retribution. Maybe he has other monkeys on his back as well, but after we all got a glimpse of his blood red shoes ... well, as they say, "a picture tells ........."