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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 picks news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community.
Items feature original commentary from members of our growing team of citizen journalists. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see their other work.
Now, onto the news from Thursday, September 28 …
Republicans open Biden impeachment inquiry with focus on son's business dealings
Republicans leading an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden detailed foreign payments to members of his family in their first hearing on Thursday, but did not provide evidence that the Democratic president had personally benefited.
The initial impeachment hearing by the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Committee served as a review of evidence that Republicans have gathered so far about foreign business ventures by Biden's troubled son Hunter Biden, 53, which they say shows that Biden's family members were selling access.
"The American people demand accountability for this culture of corruption," House Oversight Committee chair James Comer said. He said Biden has lied about family members' business dealings and had not walled them off from his official duties.
Democrats and several independent witnesses said there was no proof that Biden had received any of those payments, or otherwise engaged in improper behavior while he served as vice president between 2009 and 2017. The White House has denied wrongdoing and dismissed the probe as politically motivated.
"If Republicans had a smoking gun or even a dripping water pistol they would be presenting it today. But they've got nothing," said Jamie Raskin, the panel's top Democrat.
Biden is campaigning for reelection in what will be a likely rematch with Republican Donald Trump, who is preparing for four upcoming criminal trials on a range of charges, from trying to overthrow his 2020 election defeat to mishandling classified documents are leaving office. — Reuters
Our Take: “The first House Impeachment Inquiry hearing was a surreal experience. Republican members of Congress meticulously laid out direct evidence of Joe Biden’s knowledge of and participation in multiple influence peddling schemes from Russia to China to Ukraine. In response, the Democrats screamed, ‘No evidence! Debunked!’ and then cried about Trump.
It was quite the contrast from one five minute segment to the next.
All of the Republican witnesses agreed that the inquiry should continue based on the evidence, and Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer confirmed Thursday evening that investigators are moving forward with subpoenas for Jim and Hunter Biden’s bank records.
As painful as it is, the hearings — and the social media campaigns in between them — are important to spreading awareness among those in our spheres of influence. Let’s all do our part. Liberty or bust!” —
Another Take: “Under the War of Stories framing, the Info War can be fun to watch when you know we're winning.
What we're seeing kick off today with the Biden Impeachment inquiry is the rare combination of Overton's Goalpost AND Narrative Whiplash.
Not only is the Democrat side of the aisle about to commit seppuku in front of the nation by breathlessly defending an indefensible candidate ahead of the 2024 election cycle, but they're going to do so while the Cultural Arm of their Media Industrial Complex starts to spin up alternative candidates to hedge their bets.
Many of us have speculated that Biden isn't so much [their] candidate as the potato they were left with, either through overt patriot control or covert, Game Theory baiting on the part of Donald Trump.
In either event, [they] considered him damaged goods BEFORE impeachment; ironically, when he's still the Fake President at the end of this drama, the Deep State may be the ones most disappointed as they're caught holding the Biden Bag.” —
Republicans Squabble Through Messy 2nd Debate in California
Ron DeSantis needed a big night to revive his stalled presidential campaign and come within shouting distance of former President Donald Trump. It was a heavy lift, and probably too much to ask.
Florida’s governor certainly had his moments during the second Republican debate of the 2024 presidential season, sounding more poised and natural than he has been on the campaign trail or in the first debate last month. But DeSantis and the other six hopefuls were compromised by the format, fussy debate moderators, and their own propensity to bicker and interrupt one another.
Although the setting was the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library & Museum, the “11th commandment” popularized by Reagan (“Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican”) was in short supply here Wednesday night. Part of the problem was the palpable desperation on the part of a field that hasn’t dented Trump’s huge lead in the polls, either nationally or in the early primary states.
This intense desire to break out of the pack – to emerge as the clear alternative to Trump – led to frequent cross-talk that made it difficult for the television audience to hear, and to constant interrupting and pointed insults by the seven candidates, some of which were directed at the man who wasn’t here. — RealClearWire
Our Take: “Not sure what was more cringe worthy—Chris Christie’s ‘Donald Duck’ comment, Vivek saying the panel were all ‘good people’, or just the fact that any of them thought this debate did anything but make the GOP look like the party full of do-nothings that it really is.
In yet another classic example, President Trump proves that not participating was the only way to win this debate. While these figureheads were pontificating about topics no one really cares about, President Trump was giving a speech for the ages discussing the things really on Americans’ minds right now: Inflation, Immigration, and the Ineptitude of Resident Biden.
The GOP can doddle around all they want in an attempt to remain relevant, but all this debate accomplished for them was to further show the world that the old guard is in its death rattle and America First is here to stay.” —
Biden Regime Sues Tesla For Racial Harassment and Retaliation Against Black Employees
The Biden Regime once again targeted Elon Musk and sued Tesla alleging retaliation and discrimination against black employees.
The federal lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.
“The EEOC investigated Tesla after EEOC Chair Charlotte A. Burrows filed a commissioner’s charge alleging that Tesla violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by subjecting Black employees to an unlawful hostile work environment and retaliating against employees for opposing harassment. Title VII prohibits racial harassment and requires employers who receive harassment complaints to take prompt and appropriate action to investigate and stop it.” The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a statement on Thursday. — The Gateway Pundit
Our Take: “Elon Musk is in the crosshairs, ever since he dared to go against the establishment’s dictates and ambitions.
In what will likely become a standard approach in the future, Tesla is being sued for alleged Title VII violations for, ‘subjecting Black employees to an unlawful hostile work environment and retaliating against employees for opposing harassment.’ The standard approach I’m anticipating is levying sanctions on people who are guilty of nothing more than not conforming to state-sponsored and globalist-foisted social mores.
The Tesla situation sounds bad.
But what actually happened?
No details have emerged to my knowledge. But considering that simply not having enough black friends or not liking the black-favored race swapping that happens in the film industry could get you labeled a racist these days, call me a skeptic for thinking that this might all be a nothing burger.
You don’t even have to do anything remotely racist in any way shape or form to get a racist descriptor added to your name.
It’s idiotic and hurts real instances of racism. If it stopped there it might not be as bad as it will likely get.
I suspect that in 20 years, if this course continues, a host of sanctions will be levied against dissidents in the name of ‘stopping racism.’
Did you eat more than your fair share of beef last month? You must be a racist.
Did you forget to praise the establishment in your social media posts? You must be a racist.
Did you express doubt as to the efficacy of medical interventions? You must be a racist.
Think about what’s happening to Russell Brand. He is being deplatformed for merely being accused of wrongdoing.
This isn’t going to go away; it’s going to do what it always does when it comes to globalist machinations—it’s going to get a lot worse, unless, that is, we do something about it.
The good news is that the Russell Brand situation is so laughably ridiculous and unjust, simply asking people what they think, after you’ve sufficiently presented the key facts, causes most people to side with truth and justice.
If there’s nothing to the Tesla case, which I suspect there isn’t, we’ll have a similar opportunity.
One last point is that these neo-verboten tactics, wherein the mainstream media and government cite some infraction that they say is justification for harming you, demonstrate how desperate these clowns really are. Something to be encouraged about.” —
Congress on track for shutdown as GOP divisions on display after late night votes
Divisions among House Republicans were on display Thursday as tensions erupted during a closed-door meeting and later the chamber convened with late night votes as a government shutdown nears.
With just a little over two days before the federal government shuts down, there is no clear path to avoid a shutdown. The Senate is working to advance a bipartisan proposal for a short-term funding extension, but House Republicans have thrown cold water on it as many House conservatives balk at the prospect of a stopgap bill.
The House passed several spending bills late Thursday night, but the measures would not stop a shutdown and have no hope of passing in the Senate. The votes were part of an effort by House GOP leadership to try to show conservatives that they are working in good faith to advance full-year funding bills.
At the end of the night, however, a bill to fund the Department of Agriculture failed to pass on the floor with 27 Republicans voting against it, highlighting once again the difficulty the House GOP has had coalescing around spending bills.
Tensions had been mounting throughout the day as House Republicans met behind closed-doors earlier, the latest sign of infighting as the House GOP conference has failed to coalesce around a plan to avert a lapse in government funding. — CNN
Our Take: “Don't threaten Americans with a good time.
We've also got some dark comedy wending its way into the Info War on account of the Narrative Convergence between the Government Shutdown Storyline and the rash of Economic catastrophes piling up under said Government's watch.
To wit, while the nation is in the midst of the most impactful labor strikes in decades, a surging inflation AND interest rate (cue crickets from Keynesian economists,) the same 'Government' that has presided over all of it is now seen by the Collective Mind as panicking for the right to keep doing their jobs.
Operation Warp Speed theories aside, the Collective Mind doesn't engage with 5GW framing; what they see is a POTATO being threatened with impeachment and a corrupt Uniparty being threatened with a shutdown.
In other words, the prospect that this might represent a 'Win-Win' scenario is becoming bipartisan.
Sounds like JUST the sort of scenario a deal-maker would find advantageous.” —
Republican Group Running Anti-Trump Ads Finds Little Is Working
A well-funded group of anti-Trump conservatives has sent its donors a remarkably candid memo that reveals how resilient former President Donald J. Trump has been against millions of dollars of negative ads the group deployed against him in two early-voting states.
The political action committee, called Win It Back, has close ties to the influential fiscally conservative group Club for Growth. It has already spent more than $4 million trying to lower Mr. Trump’s support among Republican voters in Iowa and nearly $2 million more trying to damage him in South Carolina.
But in the memo — dated Thursday and obtained by The New York Times — the head of Win It Back PAC, David McIntosh, acknowledges to donors that after extensive testing of more than 40 anti-Trump television ads, “all attempts to undermine his conservative credentials on specific issues were ineffective.”
The memo will provide little reassurance to the rest of the field of Mr. Trump’s Republican rivals that there is any elusive message out there that can work to deflate his support. — The New York Times
Our Take: “I wonder what this effort cost? They admit to $6M in this piece, so the real number must be embarrassing.
Imagine — just imagine — if the GOP actually listened to Republican voters, aligned around our chosen candidate, and used party resources to fight for a free and fair election in 2024. Instead, they are spending millions of dollars to try and convince Trump supporters to jump ship.
This is why Republicans lose.
The establishment controls the power, but America First controls the hearts and minds of the people. This conflict is resulting in wasted resources — donor resources. They’ve taken those donor dollars, formed them into an effigy of Trump, and set them on fire.
Worse, the elitists are destroying the (little) remaining brand equity of the GOP nationally. Good. Take back the party locally, and listen to the people.
America First or Communism. That’s the choice in 2024.” —
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.
The Badlands Media team will continue to combine our cognitive powers in order to slow things down and find the signal amidst the noise as this series expands.
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.
"That's so Racist!" I think this should be our new phrase for anything that is just, well, you know... GREAT! Friend's new car? "That's so racist!" Good grade on a test? "That's so racist!" See a new style you like? "That's so racist!" Biden impeached? "That's so racist!" I'm sure you get my drift... a way to mock and minimize their ridiculous attacks. The black community turning to Trump? That's so racist!
If you look into the crime records, you will find despite whites being the majority race in America, blacks are the highest criminal population in state prisons and jails. Recidivism is higher, but not by much. And they tend to be a segment of society who reject more to having other races in their churches, it's not called the most segregated hour for nothing. While other churches welcome all races. They claim they are Christian, but have the highest abortion rates, and Syphilis rates in America.
The majority call Walter E. Williams, Dr. Ben Carson, and Clarence Thomas, Uncle Tom's. But embrace the worst of their race as heroes.