Badlands News Brief
RICOLA ... Interagency Working Groups ... and MORE Mom Jokes
The news cycle is impossible to fully track these days. That’s where we come in. The Badlands News Brief is a uniquely curated selection of the stories dominating the info war — with context and commentary from Badlands hosts.
Now, onto the news from Tuesday, October 21st…
Jordan calls on DOJ to prosecute ex-CIA Director Brennan
House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan is asking the Justice Department to prosecute former CIA director John Brennan for allegedly lying to Congress more than two years ago.
It’s the latest move in the GOP’s campaign to leverage the justice system against President Donald Trump’s political adversaries.
In a letter Tuesday to Attorney General Pam Bondi, the Ohio Republican claimed Brennan, who led the CIA during a probe of Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, “knowingly made false statements during his transcribed interview” with the panel back in May 2023.
Jordan’s allegations center around Brennan’s comments at that time regarding the so-called Steele dossier — a series of largely discredited memos created by a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, that accused Trump and his allies of orchestrating a sweeping election conspiracy with the Kremlin.
Steele delivered his dossier to the FBI in 2016, and a summary of its allegations was appended to an intelligence community assessment — ordered by outgoing President Barack Obama after Trump was first elected — about Russia’s involvement in that year’s presidential campaign.
“Brennan’s assertion that the CIA was not ‘involved at all’ with the Steele dossier cannot be reconciled with the facts,” Jordan wrote in the new letter to Bondi. “Brennan’s testimony … was a brazen attempt to knowingly and willfully testify falsely and fictitiously to material facts.”
Trump has long harbored hostility toward Brennan for his role in probing Russia’s ties to the 2016 campaign — and the fact that, once Brennan left office, the ex-CIA director continued to be an outspoken critic of the president. — Politico
Our Take: Clapper, Comey, and now Brennan. Co-conspirators in Russia Gate, yes, but also in “service” on 9/11 and core advisors to the administrations that sold out the Republic for over a decade.
For this investigation, here is the moment that Brennan lied to Congress:
The lies to hurt Trump are egregious. But will these guys get prosecuted for the lies they told to hurt Americans and foreign nations alike? There are so many...
Remember the whole “unauthorized drone strikes in Libya“ thing?
I wonder where the investigations will lead. I personally hope they determine whether Brennan ever told Congress the truth. — Ashe in America
Another (Very Long) Take: John Brennan has been slapped with a criminal referral over his lies about the Steele Dossier’s imfluence on the infamous 2017 ICA.
So why is this referral is as exciting to some as it is underwhelming to others?
Because they’ve been measuring the Shadow War either on Actuals OR Narratives, while ignoring the convergence between the two.
From where I’m sitting, this isn’t just another spook getting dragged into the light—it’s the latest shatterpoint in a bicameral that’s been unfolding since Trump first declared war on the Deep State.
Comey. Brennan. Clapper. Clinton .... Obama.
Trump didn’t just name his enemies; he seeded them into the collective psyche like narrative landmines, waiting for the right moment (and order) to detonate.
A decade ago, at the advent of his public counterinsurgency, he called out the cyphers by name. And now, with a justice queue forming in 2025, we’re witnessing the beginnings of the grand unwind of the grandest RICO ever conceived—and it’s not just a legal takedown, but one that’s hurtling along the very Narrative rails Trump laid way back in 2016.
You see, the disclosure campaign isn’t running parallel to the justice campaign; the two are one and the same, as Actuals and Narratives, once divergent in a temporal sense come back together.
It’s a point I make often because it’s a point that needs making:
The criminal plot was laid out as a narrative plot from the jump, because Russiagate wasn’t just a hoax; it was a weaponized narrative incarnate.
Russiagate the Story WAS Russiagate the Crime. The Narrative WAS the Actual, and the Actual WAS the Narrative.
And now, that same plot doubles back as the narrative template for its undoing.
We’ve got the top-level CIA and FBI officials from the Spygate and Russiagate scandals—Brennans, Comeys, Strzoks and Pages—all caught in the web on an Actual level, which Trump already telegraphed on the Narrative front.
Tie in the Clinton Campaign’s fingerprints all over the Steele dossier, the Obama Administration’s direct hand in ordering up the very ICA that kneecapped Trump’s legitimacy before he even took office and obviously, this is much bigger than former spooks being hooked—it’s the reversal of the 16-year plan.
And the real genius at play?
Trump let the villains cast themselves as heroes the first time around.
These shadows once framed themselves as noble guardians battling tyranny—Trump as Manchurian candidate, Putin as puppetmaster—and in doing so, they codified their own participation in the very coup they’re now exposed for orchestrating.
From Obama and Clinton to Brennan and the Media Complex, they literally embedded their crimes in plain sight, and helped the mass psychological cement in setting for years.
As for Trump?
He played the long game, allowing them to weave their own prison out of narrative threads, while the evidence of their Actual transgressions sat in waiting.
If time is a flat circle, theirs is coming back around to swallow them whole. — Burning Bright
Wide-ranging group of US officials pursues Trump’s fight against ‘Deep State’
A group of dozens of officials from across the federal government, including U.S. intelligence officers, has been helping to steer President Donald Trump‘s drive for retribution against his perceived enemies, according to government records and a source familiar with the effort.
The Interagency Weaponization Working Group, which has been meeting since at least May, has drawn officials from the White House, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Justice and Defense Departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and the Federal Communications Commission, among other agencies, two of the documents show.
Trump issued an executive order, opens new tab on his inauguration day in January instructing the attorney general to work with other federal agencies “to identify and take appropriate action to correct past misconduct by the federal government related to the weaponization of law enforcement and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard earlier this year announced groups within their agencies to “root out” those who they say misused government power against Trump.
Shortly after Reuters asked the agencies for comment on Monday, Fox News reported the existence of the group, citing Gabbard as saying she “stood up this working group.” Key details in the Reuters story are previously unreported.
Several U.S. officials confirmed the existence of the Interagency Weaponization Working Group to Reuters in response to the questions and said the group’s purpose was to carry out Trump’s executive order.
“None of this reporting is new,” said a White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity. — Reuters
Our Take: There is certainly a lot of weaponization of government to investigate, but the crazy thing about this story is that there isn’t really any news. Every outlet is reporting that the working group exists, but we know it exists. That isn’t new.
It seems like the media is just reminding everyone that there is an interagency working group, without a newsworthy triggering event... unless the triggering event for this news blitz is that John Brennan was referred to the DOJ — and that has all the media freaking out and telling everyone that Tulsi’s IWWG is making a list and checking it twice.
“Reuters could not determine the extent to which the interagency group has put its plans into action. The news agency also could not establish Trump’s involvement in the group.”
Is there any other way to read this MSM outburst than PANIC?
I don’t think so. — Ashe in America
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Saudi crown prince to visit White House next month as Trump pushes for Israel normalization deal
US President Donald Trump will host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House on November 18, an Arab diplomat tells The Times of Israel.
The de facto Saudi ruler will use the meeting to secure US security guarantees from Washington, while Trump aims to use the sit-down to advance an Israel-Saudi normalization agreement, the diplomat says.
Riyadh has long insisted that it will only normalize ties with Israel if Jerusalem agrees to establish a time-bound, irreversible pathway to a future Palestinian state — something Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently opposes. — Times of Israel
Our Take: Well, this oughta be appointment television.
There is widespread speculation that Crown Prince MBS and President Trump are about to sign an “Article Five” style security deal, much like the one the US recently signed with Qatar, alluding to the caveat in the NATO treaty that compels all member-states to declare war on any nation that attacks a NATO member.
The purpose of this deal would be to protect Saudi Arabia from the unhinged behavior of the Zionist State.
From Saudi Arabia’s standpoint, there is no rush to negotiate with Israel on a normalization deal. Netanyahu’s conduct has turned the Jewish nation into a geopolitical pariah. Nobody outside of DC is worried about Israel being formally recognized by Saudi Arabia and the handful of other remaining Middle Eastern nations that have yet to do so.
Frankly, most of the world seems prepared to cut diplomatic ties with Israel altogether, and I suspect the only reason they haven’t is because they don’t wish to suffer the wrath of the Diaspora and the Mossad.
MBS has all of the leverage here—not that he is an adversary to President Trump—and I suspect that we will see some major announcements come out this meeting that have very little to do with Israel. For example, I could see a a nuclear agreement that includes the US constructing multiple reactors on Saudi soil, as well as the finalization of the $142 Billion military equipment deal that was announced back in May, but has been met with trepidation and rebuke by the Zionists in Congress.
These are all things, of course, that the Zionists find totally unacceptable. Saudi Arabia can never have a nuclear energy program, nor can it have a world class military. But it’s a new world, and the Zionists are no longer making the rules. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
Trump nominee says MLK Jr. holiday belongs in ‘hell’ and that he has ‘Nazi streak,’ according to texts
Paul Ingrassia, President Donald Trump’s embattled nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel, told a group of fellow Republicans in a text chain the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday should be “tossed into the seventh circle of hell” and said he has “a Nazi streak,” according to a text chat viewed by POLITICO.
Ingrassia, who has a Senate confirmation hearing scheduled Thursday, made the remarks in a chain with a half-dozen Republican operatives and influencers, according to the chat.
“MLK Jr. was the 1960s George Floyd and his ‘holiday’ should be ended and tossed into the seventh circle of hell where it belongs,” Ingrassia wrote in January 2024, according to the chat.
“Jesus Christ,” one participant responded. — Politico
And …
Thune hopes White House withdraws Ingrassia nomination
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he hopes the White House withdraws Paul Ingrassia’s Office of Special Counsel nomination, after POLITICO reported on texts that showed him making racist remarks to fellow Republicans.
“He’s not gonna pass,” the South Dakota Republican told reporters. Ingrassia is scheduled to testify on his nomination Thursday before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
At least three other Republicans are signaling they will oppose Ingrassia’s confirmation: Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and James Lankford of Oklahoma.
“I’m not supporting him,” Scott said. “I can’t imagine how anybody can be antisemitic in this country. It’s wrong.”
“I have tons of questions for him,” Lankford said, adding he “can’t imagine supporting that.”
Ingrassia can lose only three Republicans before Vice President JD Vance is called in to break a tie for confirmation, assuming all Democrats vote in opposition.
Scott, Johnson and Lankford are all members of the Senate Homeland committee and will have a chance to question Ingrassia Thursday — if Ingrassia’s confirmation hearing goes on as planned. — Politico
Our Take: I wonder how long the Uniparty has been sitting on Paul Ingrassia’s text messages.
The fact that the Uniparty strategized and timed the deployment to coordinate with a confirmation hearing in the first place is irrefutable proof of political motivations under the guise of moral motivations. They did the same a couple weeks ago with a bogus-sounding sexual harassment claim.
Once again, the people crying about “racism” or “sexism” prove not to actually care about racism or sexism. This is why they allow the proliferation of racist content by non-whites across mainstream media/social media.
There will always be a market for self-victimization and the only way to defeat it is to stop participating in it and destroy its demand. — Chris Paul
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Mike Tyson meets DR Congo’s president
American boxing legend Mike Tyson met Congolese President Felix Tshisekedi on Sunday in Kinshasa at the close of events commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’, the iconic Muhammad Ali–George Foreman fight.
Tyson described the encounter as a “beautiful experience” and said he and Tshisekedi had discussed life and several potential projects. He also stated that he will “return to the country in the coming days.” Tyson publicly acknowledged his Congolese heritage, according to the press service of the DR Congo’s president.
Tyson arrived in Kinshasa on Saturday and met with young boxers as part of the anniversary celebrations.
During a press conference at the newly renamed Ali-Foreman Stadium, formerly known as Stade Tata Raphael, the boxer shared an emotional reflection on the significance of the venue. “I would love to be in the same room that Ali and Foreman were in. Yeah, I would like to do it, that’d be amazing,” Tyson said.
The ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ took place on October 30, 1974, in Kinshasa and is considered one of the most iconic boxing matches in history. Ali stunned the world by knocking out Foreman in the eighth round. — RT
Our Take: Anytime there is a notable story about the DR Congo, I normally cover it, but now we have a TrumpaMania story about the DR Congo, and it is reminiscent of the Dennis Rodman/Kim Jong Un plotline.
Mike Tyson had his “fall from grace” in 1992, when he was convicted of raping a woman and served three years in prison. Three days after the conviction, Donald Trump famously came to Tyson’s defense.
The Tyson conviction remains controversial, primarily because three eye-witnesses from the night in question who independently contradicted the claims made by the victim were called to the stand by the defense but prevented from testifying by the judge. Tyson’s attorneys made this point, among others, during their appeal, but the appeal was denied and the conviction upheld.
Now Tyson is in the DR Congo promoting the anniversary of the legendary Ali-Foreman fight.
I need to confirm who set this meeting up, but do you know who has represented Mike Tyson in the past? (As well as Muhammad Ali?)
Darren Prince, the same agent responsible for putting Dennis Rodman on The Celebrity Apprentice and then immediately sending him to North Korea to meet Kim Jong Un, which led to the historic peace summit between Un and President Trump. (Prince also negotiated the Trump and Melania NFT launches.)
Anybody who has watched The Book of Trump lately understands the significance of this Darren Prince connection. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
Has Xi Jinping Lost Control of China’s Military — And China Itself?
Tellingly, the most senior of the nine officers axed on the 17th was General He Weidong, the second-ranked vice chairman of the Commission and Xi Jinping’s No. 1 loyalist in the PLA. The general had gained prominence as Xi’s top enforcer in the military.
Gen. He was not the only officer who backed Xi and has now been taken out of the military’s leadership ranks. Moreover, it is difficult to identify any Xi adversary who was purged in the last 18 months.
It is unlikely, at a time Xi Jinping appears to be fighting for political survival, that he would remove his most important supporter in the military. It is far more probable that Xi has lost control of the People’s Liberation Army, especially because the removals strengthen Gen. Zhang, Xi’s adversary.
China, by Thursday, could have a new leader. Or a new round of purges. — The Gatestone Institute
And …
China Fires Top Trade Negotiator Branded ‘Unhinged’ by Trump’s Treasury Secretary.
One of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top trade negotiators has been abruptly dismissed by China’s President Xi Jinping after his conduct in ongoing trade talks was pulbicly criticized by U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent. Li Chenggang was removed from his positions as China’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN) in Geneva by Xi, according to CCP-controlled state media. The moved comes after Bessent last week said was Li “unhinged” and “very disrespectful” during negotiations held in Washington, D.C. this past August.
Speaking at an economic forum last week, Bessent referred to an “unhinged” Chinese trade official present at the August trade talks, before identifying Li by name. The U.S. Treasury Secetary went on to reveal that Li “threat[ened] China would unleash chaos on the global system if the U.S. went ahead with our docking fees for Chinese ships,” noting he believed Li’s behavior was an intentional political stunt planned by Beijing. At an earlier event, Bessent recalled the same incident, stating: “He showed up uninvited in Washington and said, ‘China will cause global chaos if the port shipping fees go through.’”
The dismissal of Li comes amid a sharp escalation in the ongoing U.S.-China trade war after the CCP announed it is implementing unprecedented export controls on rare earth mineral exports—essential materials for advanced technology manufacturing. In response to the move, U.S. President Donald J. Trump announced the U.S. will impose a 100 percent tariff on all Chinese imports unless China abandons the restrictions. Notably, other U.S. officials present at the impromptu August trade talks describe Li as having delivered a one-sided political lecture to his American counterparts.
Li’s exit comes ahead of a meeting between U.S. and Chinese trade representatives this coming weekend in Malaysia. The talks are seen as seen as an important preliminary step before Trump and Xi meet in South Korea later this month.
Xi’s decision to oust Li from the trade negotiations could signal a significant deescalation by China as it looks to boost exports in the face of unchecked deflation in the country’s economy. Thus far Xi’s government has been unable to stimulate domestic consumer demand, meaning Chinese manufacturers continue to be overly reliant on exports to generate profit. — The National Pulse
Our (Pretty Short, Actually) Take: Lots of NOISE coming out of the western media regarding CHYNA.
Specifically, regarding Xi Jinping and his hold on leadership.
MAGA quick on the trigger with this one.
Trump has told you he knows Xi very well.
Trump has told you they’re going to meet.
Who’s trying to stop it?
…
Furthermore, remember that video we included on the economic decoupling plan that I’ve been theorizing for three+ years in yesterday’s Brief?
It relies on de-escalation … which is precisely what the western Globalist Hegemon AND the intra-China Deep State (aka. the Tigers and Flies Xi has been warring with for 12 years) can ill afford.
Now do you understand why we’re being told about a power struggle within China?
Now … would you like to re-evaluate which side you’re on in said struggle? — Burning Bright
‘Your mom bought it’: Pentagon responds with quip over Hegseth’s ‘Russian tie’
A senior Pentagon spokesperson has responded with a “your mom” joke when asked about US War Secretary Pete Hegseth’s choice of tie for a recent meeting with Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky.
Hegseth opted for a white, blue, and red striped tie during Zelensky’s visit to the White House on Friday.
While the colors are also found in US national symbolism, media outlets noted that the arrangement of the stripes on Hegseth’s garment mirrored that of the Russian flag. Other members of the US administration, including President Donald Trump, wore solid-colored ties for the meeting.
In response to a HuffPost inquiry on whether the war secretary was aware of the reaction from Russia and if he had worn the tie before, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell delivered a sharp retort on Monday, stating, “Your mom bought it for him – and it’s a patriotic American tie, moron.”
Russian presidential aide Kirill Dmitriev had fueled the controversy by posting a photo comparing the tie worn by Hegseth to the Russian flag. In an effort to dispel the speculation, US Vice President J.D. Vance weighed in on the same social media platform, suggesting, “Or maybe he was wearing the colors of America.”
Multiple media outlets noted that with Parnell’s remark, the Pentagon had joined a flash mob initiated by President Trump’s press secretary, Caroline Levitt.
Earlier, Levitt snapped at a HuffPost reporter who had inquired about the upcoming meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. The reporter asked Levitt who had selected the Hungarian capital as the venue for the talks, to which Levitt answered, “Your mom did.” — RT
Our Take: It’s spreading.
Nobody respects the MSM anymore, after they spent years trying to destroy President Trump, but also the United States of America. This is how you treat people that are undeserving of respect.
We need more “your mom” jokes.
Every time an MSM reporter opens their filthy mouth and asks a stupid and loaded question, the response should be, “your mom.”
They deserve ridicule and rebuke. Not because they oppose President Trump and the American People, but because they have engaged in subversive treason and tried to destroy our civilization. — GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
BONUS ITEMS
Trump Winning Shutdown Fight As Public Opinion Shifts In His Favor
During the 2018-2019 government shutdown (the longest federal shutdown in US history lasting 35 days), Donald Trump’s first term administration was ill prepared for the tactics used by the establishment media, Democrats and even saboteurs within his own cabinet. The narrative spin was highly effective in painting Trump as the villain, subverting his efforts to achieve lasting security at the southern border.
The 2018 shutdown hinged largely on the fight between Republicans and Democrats over funding for a border wall that would ensure far lower illegal immigration numbers well after Trump left office. The construction cost of $5.7 billion seems like a pittance compared to the projected cost of $350 billion to deport alien migrants over four years.
Currently, the US is enjoying the lowest immigration numbers in over 60 years as border encounters plummet, but this is largely contingent on Trump’s presence in the White House and cuts to subsides for illegals. His original wall proposal remains a necessary measure to help prevent future mass migrations.
The President lost enough popular support during the 2018 event that it threatened to drag down his overall chances of reelection. At that time, the American public was more inclined to care about the plight of federal workers who faced financial uncertainty. Ultimately, Trump had to abandon his border wall project. Today, circumstances have changed dramatically.
Even CNN admits that this time is different, with polling numbers shifting far more in Trump’s favor during the current shutdown fight. Trump has learned to anticipate Democrat disinformation methods (their denials about healthcare subsidies for illegals have been effectively exposed), and with far fewer insiders in a position to undermine his policies, the administration is less likely to fold and give Dems what they want. — ZeroHedge
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"THEY DESERVE RIDICULE and REBUKE. Not because they oppose President Trump and the American People, but BECAUSE THEY have ENGAGED IN subversive TREASON and tried to destroy our civilization." GhostofBasedPatrickHenry
AND TRIBUNALS......
Unfortunately Bondi doesn’t seem too interested in holding anyone accountable