Badlands News Brief
Lake and Abbott Take a Stand as Haley Falls
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 Wednesday, January 24 …
Arizona GOP chairman resigns after leaked audio of him offering Lake cash to stay out of Senate race
Arizona GOP Chairman Jeff DeWit resigned Wednesday following the posting of a leaked audio tape in which he seemed to offer 2024 GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake money to exit the race.
"This morning, I was determined to fight for my position," DeWit said in a statement, one day after the audio was released. "However, a few hours ago, I received an ultimatum from Lake's team: resign today or face the release of a new, more damaging recording."
The recording was made in March 2023. The state GOP has been divided over Lake continuing to publicly say – and her continuously filing lawsuits – contending she lost the 2022 governor's race as a result of election irregularities.
DeWit also said Wednesday: "I am truly unsure of its contents, but considering our numerous past open conversations as friends, I have decided not to take the risk. I am resigning as Lake requested, in the hope that she will honor her commitment to cease her attacks, allowing me to return to the business sector—a field I find much more logical and prefer over politics." — Just the News
Our Take: “We are told by the mockingbird media over and over again not to theorize about conspiracies. This is, allegedly, an extremely dangerous use of the human mind.
Recent revelations from Kari Lake have proven, yet again, that there are indeed powerful people conspiring to remove the will of the people using money and power. A phone call released by Lake of GOP chair Jeff DeWit names “powerful people … from back east” who are desperate to take Lake out of politics entirely.
For the those literally conspiring in the shadows, Lake is reason enough to step into the light with a sad attempt at bribery. Her history of political independence according to her own values and principles, combined with her powerful support for Trump, make her a force in exposing the NWO Uniparty.
Given the fake narrative Jeff DeWit is propping up about threats from Lake’s campaign, and his announcement that he is going to simply slide away, untouched by any mechanisms of political or legal justice, it’s worth taking a moment to theorize about this particular conspiracy theory.
Why is he so unfazed about being exposed? Is his position in the business world something that was secured for him as payment, given the very real possibility that he would get caught attempting to bribe Lake? To what extent do the levers being pulled by the ‘powerful people back east’ here represent a common operation in American politics, one that normally stays in the shadows?
Whether or not these particular questions will get answers, the long term result of stories like this is an even bigger win than the desperation of the ruling class in the full light of day.
Decades of tantrums from the Uniparty media scolding us for the thought crime of theorizing about conspiracies now act as one huge retrospective red pill, normalizing the idea of an actual deep state and inviting the public into the war against the NWO.” — Simon Esler
Texas Defies 'Lawless' Biden, Invokes Right To Self-Defense From 'Invasion' With More Razor Wire
Texas Governor Greg Abbott just drew a hard line in the sand, putting the Biden administration on notice that he's declared the migrant crisis an "invasion" and invoked Texas's constitutional authority to defend and protect itself.
According to Abbott, "That authority is the supreme law of the land and supersedes any federal statutes to the contrary. The Texas National Guard, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and other Texas personnel are acting on that authority, as well as state law, to secure the Texas border."
The situation in Texas has come to a boiling point at Eagle Pass, where the Texas National Guard have taken control of a local park which illegal immigrants use as a landing zone after crossing the Rio Grande. The state has placed razor wire along miles of the river to block entry to the US - which the Supreme Court just allowed the Biden administration to remove while a legal battle plays out in a lower court. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “As we discussed at length last night on the Devolution Power Hour, the Texas border situation is an interesting one when it comes to separating the Info War between Actuals and Narratives.
From an Actual perspective, as Just Human pointed out, there isn’t actually a whole lot of border being argued over in this back-and-forth between Texas and the Federal Government; in fact, the stretch represents a fairly inconsequential plot of land that was simply a matter of convenience for border patrol to use via easement.
That said, from a Narrative perspective, as Jon Herold pointed out, this is setting up a prime States vs. Federal government legal battle over the first flashpoint sociopolitical issue Donald Trump staked his name and reputation to way back in 2016 when he declared that he would build the wall.
Oh, and did I mention that Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas is set to undergo impeachment proceedings next week, with this legal battle following on February 7?
Such timing.” — Burning Bright
Voters take Donald Trump ballot challenge to Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
A bipartisan group of voters challenging Donald Trump’s ballot eligibility put the question before the Supreme Judicial Court Tuesday in a last ditch effort to keep the former president’s name from appearing before Massachusetts voters in March.
After losing out before a state panel last week, Boston Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan asked Massachusetts’ highest court to declare Trump ineligible to appear on the presidential primary ballot and order Secretary of State William Galvin “to take all actions necessary to effectuate Trump’s removal.”
Liss-Riordan said Trump violated his oath to uphold the Constitution when he “engaged in a systematic effort to deny the results” of the 2020 presidential election, which culminated with “his fomenting of a violent assault” on the U.S. Capitol.
Obtaining a “timely, conclusive” answer from the court to Trump’s ballot eligibility is of “paramount importance,” Liss-Riordan argued in court documents.
“Trump’s appearance on the primary ballot for an office for which he is constitutionally ineligible will violate Massachusetts law, undermine the integrity of the electoral process and the U.S. Constitution, and potentially engender political chaos,” she wrote. — The Boston Herald
Our Take: “As the February 8 US Supreme Court hearing on Colorado’s 14A case to remove President Trump from the ballot approaches, Massachusetts’ FOMO got the better of the Bay State. They’re going the Colorado route, asking their Supreme Court to order the Secretary to remove 45.
The timing is impeccable, as President Trump just filed his SCOTUS brief in the case, and it’s solid.
‘The Court should reverse the Colorado decision because President Trump is not even subject to section 3, as the President is not an “officer of the United States” under the Constitution. And even if President Trump were subject to section 3 he did not “engage in” anything that qualifies as “insurrection.”’
The 59-page brief makes five distinct arguments:
(1) ‘The Court should reverse because President Trump is not subject to section 3. The president is not an “officer of the United States” as that term is used in the Constitution.’
(2) ‘The Court should also reverse because President Trump did not “engage in insurrection.”’
(3) ‘The Court should… allow the judiciary to enforce section 3 only through congressional implementing legislation such as 18 U.S.C. § 2383.’
(4) ‘The Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling violates the holding of U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton… (1995), which prohibits states from prescribing their own qualifications for the presidency or modifying the Constitution’s eligibility criteria in any manner.’
(5) ‘The Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling violates the Electors Clause, which requires states to appoint their presidential electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” U.S. Const. art. I, § 1, ¶ 2.’
The brief focuses exclusively on President Trump’s behavior on January 6, and stops short of making broader assertions about whether J6 was an insurrection at all. But there is a definitive request to put this nonsense to bed:
‘A ruling that reverses the Colorado Supreme Court while remaining agnostic on President Trump’s eligibility under section 3 will only delay the ballot-disqualification fight, and there is no shortage of legislators determined to use section 3 as a cudgel to bar President Trump from the general-election ballot or from taking office if this Court leaves any wiggle room for them to do so.’
Massachusetts just proved this correct, and their case is wholly dependent on Colorado prevailing — which is both unconstitutional and unlikely. These super smart lawyers must know this. If so, then it’s almost as if the purpose of these lawsuits are election interference. February 8 can’t come quickly enough.” — Ashe in America
Democrats Vote For Haley In Desperate Attempt To Derail Trump
Several videos out of New Hampshire show that Democrat voters desperately tried to game the Republican primary to derail Trump’s now inevitable capturing of the Republican nomination.
Remarkably, Democrats were able to vote in a Republican primary, and they did in large numbers for Nikki Haley.
CNN noted that while 70 percent of Trump’s voters were registered Republicans, 70 percent of Haley’s voters were registered undeclared voters. She only garnered 27 percent of registered Republican voters, that being the crowd who still pines for the days of Dick Cheney.
So who are this mysterious 70 percent of unregistered voters suddenly backing Haley?
They’re Democrats. — Modernity News
Our Take: “One of the Macro concepts I believe is slowly being programmed into the American Collective Mind is that of Proxy Candidates and Proxies in general.
On the world stage, these include puppet presidents from Zelenskyy to Biden himself, but more recently and immediately, the GOP debates and primaries have made it strikingly apparent to all but the most dimwitted of voters that political parties and candidates are little more than shells for the systematized interests that back them.
With regards to the DeSimp and Vivekian shill parades, it was always less important to focus on the candidates and more important to focus on the players backing them, both financially and, perhaps more importantly, narratively, a contingent that includes most of the blue check Con Inc. brigade we call out with regularity.
When it comes to Nikki Haley, by hook or by crook, she's being used to expose the fact that the Uniparty is very real, and is unified against Trump, which means it's unified against us.” — Burning Bright
Raffensperger, Georgia State Senate Clash Over Election Board Oversight
A proposed bill to remove Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger from his role on the State Election Board passed the Georgia's Senate Ethics Committee on Tuesday despite protestations from Raffensperger's lawyer.
Raffensperger's lawyer Charlene McGowan argued that there is no precedent to remove the secretary of state from the board or establish oversight over him.
"Giving a board of unelected bureaucrats unchecked power over the state’s executive branch is a dangerous policy proposal," McGowan wrote in a letter to the bill's sponsor.
The bill would also permit the State Election Board to investigate Raffensperger, who has gained national attention over his defense of the integrity of the 2020 election in Georgia.
The legislation's supporters deny that the proposal is unconstitutional.
"We’re trying to provide reasonable oversight of a process that affects every citizen of Georgia," said Republican State Sen. Max Burns, who sponsored the bill, during a hearing. — The Messenger
Our Take: “What are the checks against a tyrannical Secretary of State?
The Georgia legislature is attempting to solidify such oversight powers into law, and Secretary Raffensberger is not happy about it.
It’s times like these that I wish Colorado had an actual legislature — CO Secretary of State Jena Griswold is tyranny’s trendsetter in 2024, and the need for SOS oversight is dire. But Georgia voters should consider the circumstances and gains in this legislation against the constitutional impact, proceed with caution, and keep the overall goal of election restoration in mind.
Brad Raffensberger is objectively corrupt and potentially could face criminal charges over his administration of Georgia elections. The firehose of evidence that is being revealed in the Peach State, in multiple trials running in parallel, is making the truth of the election matter inevitable.
Raffensberger’s response to this legislation gives us greater insight into the man.
The GA Secretary’s attorney commented, publicly, that, ‘Giving a board of unelected bureaucrats unchecked power over the state’s executive branch is a dangerous policy proposal.’
The ‘unelected bureaucrats’ that McGowan is referring to are the State Election Board, but her letter is to the Bill Sponsor, and the decision that has her so triggered is the legislation passing the Georgia Senate Ethics Committee.
In her panic, speaking on behalf of the Secretary, McGowan is saying that the State Election Board — the entity meant to bestow trust and confidence in Georgia’s elections — is a meaningless group of unelected bureaucrats. In his attempts to defend himself, Raffensberger just undermined public trust in elections and said the quiet part out loud.
Raffensberger must be removed from office in such a way that he can be prosecuted according to the new Trump standards #NoOneIsAboveTheLaw. Any new election legislation should prioritize decentralization, in both oversight and administration. Centralization creates complexity, and complexity breeds and hides corruption. Brad Raffensberger is the textbook example.
Is the answer to Raffensberger’s alleged crimes to redefine the role of SOS? Is it to create new governmental powers? Is it to rebalance the powers of both oversight and administration of elections to the counties, the people?
It may be all three, but it’s definitely the latter. Someone tell Fani to remind Brad that no one is above the law.” — Ashe in America
There is no direct threat from Russia to NATO countries, but we are vigilant – NATO Secretary General
On 23 January, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that he saw no direct or imminent threat from Russia to any NATO member state, though the Alliance has increased its vigilance to prevent an attack.
Source: European Pravda with reference to Stoltenberg’s statement on 23 January during the signing of agreements on the purchase of about 220,000 rounds of artillery ammunition
Quote: "...we don't see any direct or imminent threat against any NATO Ally. And therefore, we, of course, monitor closely what Russia does, we have increased our vigilance, our presence in the eastern part of the Alliance, but the whole idea of that is to prevent an attack on a NATO Ally."
Details: Stoltenberg recalled that in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, NATO members increased defence production, not only to provide additional military assistance to Kyiv, but also to strengthen their own defence capabilities.
The NATO Secretary General added that another task of the Alliance in the current war is to prevent escalation "by deploying more combat troops to the eastern part of the Alliance, by further increasing our defence investments, and also by exercising more". — Yahoo News
And …
In U-Turn, Orban Backs Sweden's NATO Bid After 'Overplaying Hand' With Exasperated Allies
"I reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the NATO-membership of Sweden," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban says he assured NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in a phone call Wednesday. Stoltenberg responded with his own announcement of the "good" phone call, confirming that Orban clearly supported Sweden's NATO membership. "I look forward to the ratification as soon as parliament reconvenes," Stoltenberg said on X. It's being hailed as a major and significant U-turn as Orban says he'll now urge parliament to back Sweden's NATO bid.
The day prior, following nearly two years of delays, Turkey's parliament finally agreed to ratify Sweden's NATO membership bid, clearing the biggest remaining hurdle to expanding the Western military alliance following the Ukraine war. But Orban also did something unexpected which has yet again exasperated allies.
On Tuesday he issued a last-minute invitation for Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to come to Hungary for talks on the NATO accession process, which is widely being viewed as an attempt at saving face and hanging on to what dwindled leverage he has left. One senior European diplomat has summarized the surprise and anger among allies in describing "Orbán offered ‘negotiation’ while Hungary never raised objections during the accession talks is outrageous."
Another European diplomat was cite in The Guardian as saying "The recent moves sent shock waves throughout the alliance, and a great dose of disappointment is there. After all, they had all the time in the world to consult with Sweden before." — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “I tend to pay closer attention to the enemy matrix of info dissemination than to patriots, if only because I think you can learn a lot, watching things lie.
Also, as frustrating as some find the conscious engagement with enemy obfuscation techniques, I find them to be illuminating, and often encouraging, especially when you see the growing frequency of contradictions.
This week alone, in the NATO realm, the EU war hawks can't get on the same page on two major storylines:
First, Sweden's likely ascension to NATO is being celebrated by half the bloc, while the other half continues to wheel and deal on the margins, with each pissing the other off as the collective fractures and fragments, failing to put on the mask of a unified front against the growing BRICS power base.
Second, while war hawks out of the UK are ratcheting up anti-Russia, anti-Putin doom mongering, NATO's security chief is doing just the opposite, prepping the EU mind for capitulation and proxy defeat.
Death Spiral.” — Burning Bright
Boeing, not Spirit, mis-installed piece that blew off Alaska MAX 9 jet, industry source says
The fuselage panel that blew off an Alaska Airlines jet earlier this month was removed for repair then reinstalled improperly by Boeing mechanics on the Renton final assembly line, a person familiar with the details of the work told The Seattle Times.
If verified by the National Transportation Safety Board investigation, this would leave Boeing primarily at fault for the accident, rather than its supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which originally installed the panel into the 737 MAX 9 fuselage in Wichita, Kan.
That panel, a door plug used to seal a hole in the fuselage sometimes used to accommodate an emergency exit, blew out of Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 as it climbed out of Portland on Jan. 5. The hair-raising incident drew fresh and sharp criticism of Boeing’s quality control systems and safety culture, which has been under the microscope since two fatal 737 MAX crashes five years ago.
Last week, a different person — an anonymous whistleblower who appears to have access to Boeing’s manufacturing records of the work done assembling the specific Alaska Airlines jet that suffered the blowout — on an aviation website separately provided many additional details about how the door plug came to be removed and then mis-installed. — The Seattle Times
Our Take: “One of the quotes from this anonymous self-described Boeing insider that jumped out at me most was:
’It is also very, very stupid and speaks volumes about the quality culture at certain portions of the business.’
Understanding the role of culture in this war is a never ending path, particularly because culture can become either an egregor of unconscious group think or of conscious co-creation. Our cultural co-creations take on a life of their own far beyond our contributions as individual participants.
While we watch the culture of DEI implode, we want to become conscious contributors to the cultural vacuum that beckons us.
When we allow culture to be baked into our schools and our workplace environment, without a conscious sense of purpose and service towards the greater good, we risk contributing to that which we are against.
We want to remember that one of the original reasons a culture of American exceptionalism and patriotism was fostered in the schooling system using the Prussian model of education, was to create obedient soldiers and unthinking bureaucrats to feed a war machine being controlled from the shadows.
The ‘quality culture’ this whistleblower is referring to, and its decline within Boeing definitely beckons us to return to a culture of exceptionalism.
The question is: Can this culture be consciously created within corporations imploding in the wake of DEI, or will this become the work of the growing parallel economy even within mammoth commercial enterprises, such as the airline industry?” — Simon Esler
BONUS ITEMS
World health leaders warn of pandemic 20 times worse than COVID
At the recent World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization issued a warning to world leaders, saying the world could face a pandemic 20 times worse than COVID-19 in the future.
Scientists call it Disease X, a term that recognizes the next global pandemic could come as the result of an unknown pathogen rather than the spread of a currently recognized disease.
Scientists with the WHO held a session last week calling on world leaders to work together to develop strategies to prevent or manage a Disease X pandemic in the future.
Disease X is not real. It is the name given to a hypothetical pathogen that is being used to help plan for future health crises. Global healthcare experts on Wednesday spoke on a WEF panel called “Preparing for Disease X.” The name was coined by the World Health Organization in 2018.
One of the issues raised was developing better communication strategies to reduce misinformation and conspiracy theories, even as some took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to call the session itself a conspiracy against freedom. — The Hill
Billionaire Reid Hoffman pauses Nikki Haley funding after her New Hampshire loss to Trump, source says
Billionaire Reid Hoffman does not plan to give any more money to Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign after her loss in the New Hampshire Republican primary, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Hoffman is one of Haley’s first wealthy donors to start heading for the exit after she said Tuesday that she will remain in the GOP’s nomination contests against former President Donald Trump despite failing to beat him in New Hampshire or in the Iowa caucuses.
The person who told CNBC that Hoffman didn’t have immediate plans to help Haley again declined to be named in order to speak freely about the matter. — CNBC
"Seven-Figure Hole": Democratic Socialists Of America In Financial Crisis, Can't Afford To Hire "Capable Comrades"
A Marxist caucus of the country’s largest socialist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), accused top leaders of having mismanaged funds, leaving the organization in a dire “financial crisis” and facing layoffs.
The left-wing group, which counts Squad members Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) among its ranks, is facing a “big deficit” and “a lot of talk about what to cut,” according to a trio of members of Bread & Roses, a national caucus of Marxist organizers within the DSA.
The socialist organization, which played a major role in pushing the Green New Deal into the highest reaches of the Democratic Party, is in a “seven-figure” hole that is probably “too big to fundraise our way out of,” the three socialist activists lamented in a Jan. 18 post on The Call, a publication of the Bread & Roses caucus. — The Epoch Times
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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Ok, WHO, I take your "warning of what COULD happen" at face value. The co-vid scamdemic plandemic data is in. It was a drill, a probe, a diagnostic test to see how well the propaganda machine works. Without the evil hand of evil men, covid would have been treated and cured by the true healers who DID in fact heal and cure. There was 0 need for all the bullsh*t "strategies", inoculations, THE EVIL denial of any treatment, THE DIABOLICAL fear porn coming from all directions, etc. Known, safe, effective CHEAP drugs would have kept this nasty flu-like germ in its place, that place being eradicated by the God-given immune system. Some compromised immune systems may not have been up to the task, and, sadly, some people may have succumbed, as they have every flu-season. The true healers pointed us (We The People who paid attention in science class-I refer to the science classes of MY generation, where we observed under microscopes, studied all the organelles in cells) to the therapeutics, the truth, and to healing. Some of us were paying attention. So, in my estimation, the covid plandemic was "pert near" a big ZERO threat to humanity. So, doing the math, and using your pulled-out-of-your-asses factor (20)...20×0 EQUALS ZERO. AND THAT IS HOW MUCH ATTENTION I PLAN TO GIVE YOUR IMBECILIC THREAT/PREDICTIONS going forward. DO. NOT. COMPLY.
The Uniparty at so many state levels is so disgusting. We all know the swamp in DC is WIDE & DEEP but the state and local levels are just as bad. I am from Michigan originally and my oldest brother has become very politically active trying to support Trump. The RNC leadership has been SOOO corrupt that they make Jimmy Hoffa look like a saint. The mafia has nothing on these RNC scumbags.
All the rot, all the way down to the local level, needs to be exposed and cleaned out. Party politics is broken and I believe the whole system needs to be reinvented.
Great work, as always.
God Wins!
God Bless!!!