Badlands News Brief
Chinese Interference and Narrative Seeding
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 31 …
Xi promised Biden China wouldn’t interfere in 2024 election
(We felt this bonus item from Tuesday warranted another look.)*
Chinese leader Xi Jinping told US President Joe Biden that China would not interfere in the 2024 US presidential election when the two men met in November — an assurance reiterated by the Chinese foreign minister to Biden’s national security adviser this past weekend, two people familiar with the conversations told CNN.
The previously unreported exchange between Xi and Biden took place during a high-stakes, hourslong meeting in California that was aimed at easing historically high military and economic tensions between the two superpowers.
It was Biden who raised the issue, according to one of the sources, who described the exchange as brief. In a meeting this past weekend in Bangkok with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan again brought up the topic. Wang offered Sullivan the same assurance Xi had given Biden months prior — that Beijing would not meddle in the American election this fall, the source said.
The potential for China to interfere in or influence US elections has repeatedly come up at senior-level meetings between the two nations in recent months, the source who was briefed on the matter said. — CNN
Our Take: “It's interesting, having followed the 2016 attacks on Trump using the false narrative that Russia hacked the DNC in an attempt to damage Hillary Clinton's campaign, and to reflect on how far things have come.
Reading this CNN article and watching them cite themselves as evidence of this Russian interference all these years later, despite ample evidence that the DNC hack was an inside job, reminded me of the scope and scale of their house of cards and the way in which it gets progressively more unstable over time. I laughed out loud seeing them still rely on that particular Russia DNC lie.
There is a meta-narrative that these establishment media operations still have to call upon, because they have built each lie one upon another. One of the most unstable aspects of this rickety meta-narrative is Biden's competency, a major focus of this article as it attempts to create the illusion of Biden spending the past year ‘stabilizing China-US relations.’
Given that Biden struggles to communicate basic sentences, one of his most recent gaffs involving him thanking someone named ‘Earth Rider,’ he is obviously not engaging in complex geopolitical diplomacy.
But this particular propaganda piece is meant to do more than simply maintain the absurd illusion of Biden's lucidity. Surrounding this, CNN carefully weaves a vague network of ideas about interference in the 2024 election.
With mention of Iranian, Cuban and ongoing Russian influence, on top of the mixed messaging about Chinese operations, we are meant to be left feeling very unsure about how 2024 is going to play out. Add to this a scary and additionally vague reference to AI and the stage is set:
When election time comes, the panoply of interference schemes, almost certainly being run through Deep State think tanks right now, may produce irregularities that will be chalked up to these loose mentions of interference now circulating in the MSM.
’Those irregularities weren't us cheating, it was a new AI influence operation from Cuba/Iran/Russia!’
Alternatively, if Trump pulls through with a big win we could see a repeat of the Russia-DNC narrative, with a new spin.
’Trump was put into power by AI and Iran!’
Much like this article links back to CNN's 2016 coverage of the ‘Russian DNC hack’ to continue to build upon the make-shift meta-narrative that has failed them so spectacularly, I couldn't help but read this and think forward to CNN's coverage during the upcoming election and ask: What will they be linking back to this in a desperate attempt to muddy the waters come election time?” —
FBI shuts down China’s ‘Volt Typhoon’ hackers targeting U.S. infrastructure
The FBI shut down a major China-backed hacking group that attacked hundreds of routers and had been working to compromise U.S. cyber infrastructure, FBI Director Christopher Wray announced Wednesday at a House committee hearing.
The group, code-named “Volt Typhoon,” hacked into hundreds of office and home office routers to allow the Chinese government to access their data, Wray told the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. He said the routers were outdated, which made them “easy targets.”
The hackers had been targeting U.S. water treatment plants, the power grid, oil and natural gas pipelines, and transportation systems, he added.
“Today, and literally every day, they’re actively attacking our economic security, engaging in wholesale theft of our innovation, and our personal and corporate data,” he said.
Microsoft in May helped surface the threat of the Volt Typhoon hackers, warning they had been active since 2021 and were targeting U.S. cyber infrastructure. The company urged impacted customers to change their security details. — CNBC
Our Take: “According to Christopher Wray, ‘Today, and literally every day, they’re actively attacking our economic security, engaging in wholesale theft of our innovation, and our personal and corporate data.’
He’s talking about the Chinese and admitting extensive vulnerabilities in US critical infrastructure. The digital revolution has increased vulnerability.
According to business insurance provider embroker, ‘Cybercrime, which includes everything from theft or embezzlement to data hacking and destruction, is up 600%… Nearly every industry has had to embrace new solutions and it forced companies to adapt, quickly.’
The more centralized our infrastructure, the greater the complexity. The complexity, by the way, was sold as a solution to cybercrime. Technology companies sold businesses on cloud transformation (centralization/complexity) partly by framing the problem as one of security exposure.
‘Google, AWS, and Microsoft can afford the best security talent that money can buy. Businesses really shouldn’t go it alone! You need to let us house your IT infrastructure because we are better positioned to protect it!’
Now, ten years later, cyber attacks (including those against centralized infrastructure) are up 600%. A big part of the reason for this increase is that security responsibilities in modern technology environments are shared. The business/client secures their apps and data, and the technology provider secures the platform. Misunderstanding the shared security responsibilities — and, in so doing, making mistakes that can expose the entire technical ecosystem to attack — is a root cause and/or contributing factor to damn near every major breach/hack/failure ever reported.
Worse, the threats are rapidly evolving — much faster than the companies can ‘adapt, quickly.’
With that context, it’s important to avoid misinformation and ensure everyone knows that — according to the government — these cybersecurity attacks cannot impact elections. Only industry sectors that are not elections are endangered by this threat landscape, even though it’s all the same hardware and software components. The government pinky promises, so you know it’s legit.
Elections are super duper safe from cyber attacks. We know this because lawyer (with undergrad in environmental science) Chris Krebs, former head of CISA, said so. Also, Xi promised Joe that the CCP won’t interfere in the 2024 election, so it will totally be the safest and most securest election in the history of elections.
Seriously, though, listen to Wray about the threats.
Decentralize.
Especially Elections.” —
Man arrested after video post showed severed head of his father, police say, amid political rant that stayed online for hours
A man accused of decapitating his father – and posting a video online with his severed head amid a politically charged rant – was arrested hours later with a gun at a National Guard base, according to officials and court documents.
The video circulated for hours on YouTube – garnering more than 5,000 views – before it was taken down. Justin Mohn, 32, is being held without bond, charged with murder, abuse of a corpse and other charges, Pennsylvania court documents show.
During the online tirade, Mohn describes his father as a federal worker and rails against the Biden administration and the border crisis while declaring himself the new acting US president under martial law. The video was removed over its graphic violence, YouTube said.
The horrifying case comes amid a fraught national political environment and as social media executives – getting grilled Wednesday by Congress – have been under fire for allowing graphic and sometimes violent videos to be posted and remain on their sites.
“The bigger picture is extremely concerning, I think, as we go into what will be an incredibly heated political season,” CNN Law Enforcement Analyst and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said. — CNN
Our Take: “People sometimes get a little salty that some of us spend so much time targeting Doomers, Black-pillers and glowy elements within the Truth Community, accusing us of peddling hopium or of refusing to understand the sour state of the country.
Far from it.
As the Justin Mohn headlines demonstrate, all the Establishment desires is for the public mandate from the Normie Layers of the Collective Mind (or, at the very least, their apathy) in order to wage the sort of administrative war on peaceful, patriotic Americans they've long desired, and that the constitution has long prevented, by accusing them of being extremists in league with psychos like Justin.
Frankly, it matters far less what the truth (or Actuals) of the matter is with the latest in a long line of MK Ultra-like proxies, and it matters far more that the Collective Mind be shown how clearly and obviously the Narrative machine converges and spins up to push the latest divisive, Hegelian rhetoric against people that had nothing to do with it.
Obvious False Flags like this are signs of desperation.” —
Fani Willis Axed Employee Who Blew Whistle on Misuse of Federal Funds
Fani Willis may have fired the employee who warned her about mishandling federal funds. But she didn't deny her allegations.
Less than a year into her tenure as Fulton County district attorney, in 2021, Willis met with Amanda Timpson, an employee in the district attorney's office responsible for giving nonviolent juvenile offenders "alternatives to the juvenile court system." During their conversation, a recording of which was reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon, Timpson claimed to Willis that she had been demoted after attempting to stop a top Willis campaign aide from misusing federal grant money meant for a youth gang prevention initiative.
According to Timpson, the aide, Michael Cuffee, planned to use part of a $488,000 federal grant—earmarked for the creation of a Center of Youth Empowerment and Gang Prevention—to pay for "swag," computers, and travel.
"He wanted to do things with grants that were impossible, and I kept telling him, like, 'We can't do that,'" Timpson told Willis in a Nov. 19, 2021, meeting. "He told everybody … 'We're going to get MacBooks, we're going to get swag, we're going to use it for travel.' I said, 'You cannot do that, it's a very, very specific grant.'"
"I respect that is your assessment," Willis responded. "And I'm not saying that your assessment is wrong."
Later in the conversation, Willis apologized to Timpson, and said Cuffee had "failed" her administration.
Less than two months later, Willis abruptly terminated Timpson and had her escorted out of her office by seven armed investigators, according to Timpson. When Timpson filed a whistleblower complaint the following year that alleged wrongful termination, Willis's office issued a statement describing Timpson as a "holdover from the prior administration" who was terminated because of her "failure to meet the standards of the new administration." — The Washington Free Beacon
Our Take: “Fani’s got 99 problems, the least of which is her failing case against President Trump.
‘Willis's office issued a statement describing Timpson as a ‘holdover from the prior administration’ who was terminated because of her ‘failure to meet the standards of the new administration.’
The standards of the new administration, given the substance of continuous disclosures in recent weeks, appear to be bending and breaking the law. That is, because Timpson was unwilling to engage in corruption, she was fired.
This is on brand for Ms. Willis. It’s also a stunning abuse of power.
Fani needs to take a load off. Perhaps she will after she is impeached. Corruption must be rooted out, and the corrupt must be held accountable. Accelerate.” —
House panel approves impeachment articles against DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas
A Republican-led House panel approved articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas early Wednesday for having “willfully and systematically” flouted federal immigration laws and breached the public trust.
The House Homeland Security Committee voted 18-15 along party lines for the two articles of impeachment, affirming that Mayorkas failed to detain migrants crossing the border before deciding whether to grant asylum.
The articles also state that the secretary ignored records requests from the committee and misled Congress about having “operational control” of the US border and maintaining that it is “secure.”
The marathon hearing, which dragged on for more than 15 hours, saw several procedural attempts by Democrats to tank the impeachment effort, with Republicans insisting that their year-long investigation had uncovered sufficient evidence that Mayorkas violated his oath of office. — The NY Post
Our Take: “As we discussed on last week's Power Hour, the Actuals of the specific Eagle Pass border controversy fly in the face of the sensational Narratives that have spilled out of it ... but that's not to say it's a bad thing.
Far from it.
In fact, when you zoom out and consider the sheer cascade of border crisis Narratives that have come to a head in the early weeks of 2024, the idea of patriot control in a fifth-gen warfare sense are further bolstered.
Unless, of course, you think it's a total coincidence that the first highly controversial campaign promise Donald Trump made is coming back around with full Collective Mind inversion as his 2024 campaign exits the starting blocks eight years later ...
Or that Biden's DHS Secretary facing impeachment a week later and the Texas appeal before the Fifth Circuit regarding federal authorities' powers at said border being set a week from now is just how the coincidence calendar decided to unfurl ...
The War of Stories has turned on [them.]” —
Man Who Destroyed Satanic Shrine In Iowa Capitol Charged With 'Hate Crime'
Michael Cassidy, a Christian veteran who decapitated a Satanic shrine on display in the Iowa State Capitol building, has been charged with a ‘hate crime’.
Yes, really.
If you object to literal Satanic displays in public buildings you are now hateful.
Back in December, Cassidy, beheaded the caped figure placed in the building by The Satanic Temple, and threw the goat skull that was serving as its head in a bin.
Cassidy was quoted as stating that he took the action to “awaken Christians to the anti-Christian acts promoted by our government.”
Instead of simply charging him with misdemeanor damage to property or vandalism, the Des Moines Register reports that Polk County prosecutors charged the veteran with felony third-degree criminal mischief, arguing that the act was “in violation of individual rights” under Iowa’s hate crime statue.
A statement from the Polk County Attorney’s Office claimed that “Evidence shows the defendant made statements to law enforcement and the public indicating he destroyed the property because of the victim’s religion.” — Modernity News
Our Take: “From Cornell Law, ‘The First Amendment guarantees freedoms concerning religion, expression, assembly, and the right to petition. It forbids Congress from both promoting one religion over others and also restricting an individual’s religious practices.’
(1) The Baphomet display, while grotesque, is religious expression, and is thus protected by the First Amendment. It was private property, despite being housed on public property (a government building). Cassidy’s destruction of private property is vandalism, but, because it’s an attack on religious expression, it constitutes a hate crime.
OR
(2) As a follower of Jesus and a child of the Most High God, Cassidy has a duty to stand against evil. Baphomet is the embodiment of evil, and the display’s erection in a government building implies the consent of the people — a coming into agreement with — the spirit of baphomet. Therefore, Cassidy’s destruction of the Baphomet display was a required religious expression. As a result, persecuting Cassidy for his religious expression is a government violation of the First Amendment and a government-sponsored hate crime.
Also, government violations of constitutional rights are much more serious than private party violations. See: The Bill of Rights.
I can argue both sides of this thing all day. And that’s the reason that we must get religious displays out of government buildings. The charges against Cassidy must be dropped, and the government needs to get out of the business of regulating religion.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Iran on high alert as Biden mulls response to killing of US servicemen
Iran has told the US via intermediaries that if it strikes Iranian soil directly, Tehran will itself hit back at American assets in the Middle East, drawing the two sides into a direct conflict.
The warning comes as Iran waits on high alert to see how Joe Biden responds to the death of three US servicemen deemed by Washington to have been killed by a Tehran-backed militia based in Syria.
US bases in Syria and Iraq have suffered more than 160 attacks of varying seriousness since Hamas’s 7 October assault on Israel.
Amid fears of a US reprisal, the Iranian rial fell to its lowest point in 40 years against the dollar, even as Tehran reiterated that the strike was the work of independent “resistance groups” – Iran’s standard response to US accusations that itproliferates military turmoil across the region by arming and training the groups. Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the US and the EU.
The value of Iran’s national currency has fallen by 15% since 7 October. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called for tighter controls on liquidity at a meeting with business leaders, reflecting his concern that inflation was crushing living standards, and creating a difficult atmosphere in advance of nationwide parliamentary elections in November. Inflation is running at 40%. — The Guardian
South Africa says five countries confirm they are joining BRICS
Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have confirmed they are joining the BRICS bloc after being invited last year, South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Wednesday.
The five countries were extended invitations along with Argentina at a summit in August in Johannesburg to join the bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa. Members say the move would help reshuffle a world order they view as outdated.
Argentina has since declined the invitation to join. — Reuters
Zuckerberg apologizes to families of kids harmed online as Senate grills tech CEOs
A group of the nation's top social media executives faced intense questioning from a united Senate committee on Wednesday about the mental health risks their enormously popular platforms pose for young people -- as well as accusations that their companies have failed to protect kids from exploitation and abuse.
Throughout four hours of grilling before the Senate Judiciary Committee, CEOs for some of the world's most widely used digital platforms acknowledged shortfalls and highlighted efforts they've taken to improve them, while pushing back on other criticism.
The senators hammered the CEOs for lobbying efforts that they said have gotten in the way of federal legislation and frequently received loud applause from families of children who died after being ensnared in some of the darkest sides of these sites.
And in a remarkable moment, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood up to address those families with a direct apology for what they've endured.
But the hearing ultimately left a huge question unanswered: Even given the bipartisan consensus seen among the senators, will Congress try to impose new regulations on these platforms -- and if so, to what end? — ABC 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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Thanks for the latest set of Takes.
I cannot help but laugh at the cartoonish revelations about Fani. You could not have found a more compromised buffoon that more perfectly displays the many evils of the typical DS Rat Bastard. Even her name is perfect:-))
We the People are the news now... carry on.
God Wins!
God Bless!!!
Ashe, you’re right—best defense for hero in Iowa who wielded a weapon against Baphomet statue: Satan made me do it.