Badlands News Brief
Our Boy Blue, the Apprentice and the Art of the Deal
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 with some Badlands flavoring to help wash it down.
Now, onto the news from the Weekend that Was …
How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden in Charge
During the 2020 presidential primary, Jill Biden campaigned so extensively across Iowa that she held events in more counties than her husband—a fact her press secretary at the time, Michael LaRosa, touted to a local reporter.
His superior in the Biden campaign quickly chided him. As the three rode in a minivan through the state’s cornfields, Anthony Bernal, then a deputy campaign manager and chief of staff to Jill Biden, pressed LaRosa to contact the reporter again and play down any comparison in campaign appearances between Joe Biden, then 77, and his wife, who is eight years his junior. Her energetic schedule only highlighted her husband’s more plodding pace, LaRosa recalls being told.
The message from Biden’s team was clear. “The more you talk her up, the more you make him look bad,” LaRosa said.
The small correction foreshadowed how Biden’s closest aides and advisers would manage the limitations of the oldest president in U.S. history during his four years in office.
To adapt the White House around the needs of a diminished leader, they told visitors to keep meetings focused. Interactions with senior Democratic lawmakers and some cabinet members—including powerful secretaries such as Defense’s Lloyd Austin and Treasury’s Janet Yellen—were infrequent or grew less frequent. Some legislative leaders had a hard time getting the president’s ear at key moments, including ahead of the U.S.’s disastrous pullout from Afghanistan.
Senior advisers were often put into roles that some administration officials and lawmakers thought Biden should occupy, with people such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, senior counselor Steve Ricchetti and National Economic Council head Lael Brainard and her predecessor frequently in the position of being go-betweens for the president.
Press aides who compiled packages of news clips for Biden were told by senior staff to exclude negative stories about the president. The president wasn’t talking to his own pollsters as surveys showed him trailing in the 2024 race. — WSJ
Our Take: Biden is still supposed to be president, right? Is it weird that his aides and cabinet members would admit their treasonous plot before he leaves office, or are they setting up the story for their own pardons?
Also, if the president is “diminished,” can he issue pardons?
“Diminished” is an understatement based on some of the details in this article. Consider that Biden:
…had aides acting as nurse maids, constantly repeating basic instructions, like event flows and stage direction.
…was known to speak from notecards, but also gave prepared questions to guests at donor events! Asking for money from people while refusing to allow them to ask their own questions is wild.
…deferred meetings with cabinet members to his senior staff, and only held nine full cabinet meetings during his residency, compared to Obama’s 18 and Trump’s 25.
…was not the clear decision maker, with policy decisions filtered through senior staff which frustrated cabinet members and drove ambiguity and confusion about the administration’s direction.
…perhaps the most egregious, administration officials, including SecDef, were unable to reach Biden during the Afghanistan withdrawal.
Also, check this out:
I never saw that clip before.
Of course, those of us not attempting to spin this story into plausible deniability or a pardon know that Biden was “diminished” back in the 2020 campaign. We asked questions about it then, and all these people lied to us, deplatformed and dehumanized us.
They lied to everyone.
While lying to us, they told us Donald Trump was the greatest threat to democracy, as a justification for weaponizing the government. Then they arrested parents at school board meetings and threw lawfare at anyone who questioned elections or wars or emergency powers or Biden’s cognitive abilities.
I’m going to ask this again, because I think it’s important:
If the president is “diminished,” can he issue pardons?
No deals. —
Trump taps ‘Apprentice’ producer, Mark Burnett, as special envoy to the United Kingdom
Mark Burnett, the power producer who helped reintroduce Donald Trump to a national television audience with “The Apprentice,” is being tapped by the president-elect as special envoy to the United Kingdom in his upcoming administration.
“With a distinguished career in television production and business, Mark brings a unique blend of diplomatic acumen and international recognition to this important role,” Trump announced Saturday.
Burnett, who was born in London, helped produce hits like “Survivor” and “The Voice,” but is perhaps best known for teaming up with Trump for “The Apprentice,” which first aired on NBC in 2004.
Trump had been well-known in real estate and pop culture circles for decades. But the show helped again make him a household name — though Trump severed ties with NBC in 2015, the same year he launched his first White House run.
The selection of Burnett continues Trump’s trend of filling out his incoming administration with people who have high-profile backgrounds in television or politics, or both — including his choice to be defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, a former co-host of “Fox & Friends Weekend,” and ex-television doctor and unsuccessful Senate candidate in Pennsylvania, Mehmet Oz. — AP News
Our Take: Welp, now we have President Trump literally appointing a television producer to his administration. And not just any television producer, but the man responsible for creating The Apprentice, the show that took "The Donald" brand to mass audiences and made Donald Trump more than just a household name, which many would say he already was when the show first premiered in 2004.
In 2018, the elitist scum at The New Yorker published an article entitled, How Mark Burnett Resurrected Donald Trump as an Icon of American Success, acknowledging the role that Burnett played in elevating President Trump from cultural icon to cultural phenomenon.
Of course, the envious sociopaths at The New Yorker had to gaslight the idea that Donald Trump was somehow a fading star when The Apprentice aired, using the byline, With “The Apprentice,” the TV producer mythologized Trump—then a floundering D-lister—as the ultimate titan, paving his way to the Presidency.
Yeah, sure thing, guys. That's probably why the show debuted at #1 in ratings and remained there for 13 seasons, until NBC ended the relationship with Trump when he announced his candidacy for president in 2015.
To provide a little more color on Mark Burnett's credentials, he produced a wide range of reality television programs—a genre that I have always personally abhorred and viewed as detrimental to society; however, I would acknowledge that certain formats like Shark Tank (which always felt like a callback to The Art of The Deal) and Sarah Palin's Alaska (a show hosted by Palin and intended to generate interest in the wilderness of Alaska) at least encourage curiosity and enterprise in people that is often lost in most modern entertainment choices. Both of these shows were produced by Burnett, though there were certainly others that were lacking in intellectual stimulation.
It is also worth noting that in 2013, Burnett and his wife produced a 10-episode miniseries called The Bible that was highly acclaimed by Christians and brought knowledge of Biblical stories to over 100 million viewers worldwide. (They produced a follow-up Bible show, due to its overwhelming success.) That's certainly more noble than the guys who produced Jersey Shore.
The show that Burnett produced that really catches my interest is The Celebrity Apprentice, because a number of the show's contestants—such as Dennis Rodman—went on to play roles in Trump's presidency and geopolitics.
As I announced last night on
’s show, The Narrative, I will be launching a show in January on Badlands Media where we will document these anecdotes, and explore how they weave into the reality we are witnessing unfold in front of us with a revolving cast of guest co-hosts; think of it as our own first revision of history. will be joining me to discuss The Apprentice/Celebrity Apprentice saga. (The News Brief audience will find the content and tone very familiar. More info to come in the very near future.)For those wondering, ‘why Mark Burnett?’ it is worth noting that he served in the British Army's Parachute Regiment, and had originally planned to go to Central America to work as a "weapons and tactics advisor" before getting in to television production.
Perhaps we will soon find out that those two career paths are far more similar than we would have ever guessed? —
Trump: Panama will lose control of canal if it continues to ‘rip off’ US
President-elect Trump took issue with fees charged to use the Panama Canal, a vital shipping route, on Saturday night, claiming that he will demand oversight of the waterway be given back to the U.S. when he returns to office if it’s not changed.
“The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous, especially knowing the extraordinary generosity that has been bestowed to Panama by the U.S,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.”
Panama charges tariffs for boats and ships to pass through its canal. Fees vary based on the size and purpose of vessels, and the charges range from as low as $0.50 to as high as $300,000.
“If the principles, both moral and legal, of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump continued. “To the Officials of Panama, please be guided accordingly!”
The U.S. uses the Panama Canal more than any other country. Control of the canal was transferred from the U.S. to the Central American country in 1999 as a result of a 1979 treaty under former President Carter, which Trump said was a foolish decision.
“When President Jimmy Carter foolishly gave it away, for One Dollar, during his term in Office, it was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” he stated. “It was likewise not given for Panama to charge the United States, its Navy, and corporations, doing business within our Country, exorbitant prices and rates of passage.” — The Hill
And …
‘A dumpster fire, wrapped up in a cluster’: Inside the chaos of Justin Trudeau’s Ottawa
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s week started with a crisis his opponents likened to a “gong show at the bottom of a dumpster fire, wrapped up in a cluster.”
Canada’s three-term prime minister managed to make it to Friday when he announced a Cabinet shakeup triggered in part by the bombshell exit of Chrystia Freeland, who quit Monday as head of finance and deputy prime minister.
Trudeau spent the week holed up in his office, except for appearances at a couple of high-profile holiday parties where he sounded defiant and upbeat.
“It is the absolute privilege of my life to serve as your prime minister,” he told a gathering of his top donors on Monday — just 30 minutes after an emergency caucus meeting where MPs urged him to step down.
His office canceled year-end interviews and his press team ignored most media questions while Trudeau contemplated his next moves.
“We have a lot of work to do and that’s what we’re focused on,” he said after blowing by journalists after a Cabinet meeting later Friday afternoon.
Parliament does not return until Jan. 27 — days after Donald Trump’s inauguration. In theory, Trudeau has time to consider his options, but realistically he’s running out of time.
He could stick around to fight the next election, which could come sooner rather than later in 2025. Once MPs are back in their seats, opposition leader Jagmeet Singh has vowed to bring down the minority government with a no-confidence vote. — Politico
Our Take: Trump's Art of the Deal is based on Sun Tzu's Art of War.
This isn't some grand revelation for anons, but it is worth remembering when it comes to his recent narrative deployments, specifically with regards to pending allies and enemies ahead of the second (public) term.
The reason I use the word ‘deployment’ where it concerns Trump's narratives is because they take on tactical & strategic significance when you understand that we're in the midst of a fifth-generation war for influence over the Collective Mind, which is key to winning the public mandate to reforge the United States into a grand Republic worthy of recognition.
Lately, Trump's deal-making has been on full display on both sides of the border, across the oceans and reaching several continents, and it's all happening before he's stepped back into office, demonstrating the power projection capabilities inherent in being a man who does the things he says he's going to.
Up north, Justin Castro is in the midst of a Trump-provoked death spiral, as Globalist America hawks circle his waning administration while the Canadian media apparatchiks search for their next faux dictator.
South, Claudia Sheinbaum is being forced to take the fight to the cartels on Trump's de facto orders, while Panama shudders at the thought of the US taking back one of the world's premier trade routes.
Retreat is defeat in the Mind War, and there are a LOT of backward steps being taken as the game board shifts ahead of the next round of play. —
PM vows escalated fight against Houthis; officials said urging direct attack on Iran
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Sunday that Israel would act against the Houthi rebels in Yemen with the same force it used against Iran’s other “terrorist arms,” appearing to indicate the start of a stepped-up campaign against the Islamic Republic’s proxy group, after a ballistic missile crashed into a Tel Aviv playground over the weekend.
At the same time, Israeli reports said that senior defense officials, including the head of the Mossad spy agency, believe the correct move is to attack Iran directly, rather than go for its proxy group in Yemen.
In a video statement issued after a meeting of his security cabinet in the northern Israel town of Safed, Netanyahu stressed that Israel was not alone in operating against the Houthis, pointing to repeated strikes carried out by American and British forces against Houthi targets over the past year.
“The US, and also other countries, like us, see the Houthis as a threat, not only to world shipping, but also to world order.”
“Just as we acted forcefully against the terrorist arms of Iran’s evil axis, so we will act against the Houthis…with force, determination and sophistication,” the premier said. — Times of Israel
And …
Iran plagued by energy crisis partially caused by strikes attributed to Israel
An energy crisis in Iran has left its leadership scrambling to find a solution after schools and government institutions across the country were forced to close their doors last week due to widespread power outages that Tehran, in its current state, is ill-equipped to deal with.
After a summer of blackouts, the energy crisis in the Islamic Republic has become exacerbated by harsh winter conditions, and severe cold, snow and air pollution have added to the woes of an energy sector unable to deal with seasonal surges due to years of underinvestment and sanctions.
The New York Times reported on Saturday, however, that one other factor has contributed to the dire state of the country’s energy supplies — a pair of attacks on major gas pipelines back in February, which were attributed to Israel by the Times.
The attacks disrupted the flow of gas to millions of people across Iran and caused widespread outages across five separate provinces.
Israel did not comment on the blasts at the time, and Iran’s oil minister Javad Owji also appeared hesitant to place blame. — Times of Israel
Our Take: So now Netanyahu vows to escalate his war with Yemen, and also alludes to direct strikes against Iran?
For those keeping score at home, the Israeli Defense Force is now conducting military operations with boots on the ground in at least three foreign nations (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine), and technically, it is four theaters of war, considering that Gaza and the West Bank are two physically separate regions of Palestine—divided by the State of Israel.
At some point, we should probably start calling this military the Israeli Offense Force.
That second article notes how Iran is now experiencing an energy crisis due to Israel striking two of its gas pipelines last February.
The attacks disrupted the flow of gas to millions of people across Iran and caused widespread outages across five separate provinces.
So millions of people in Iran have been without power for nearly a year due to the war in Gaza? And yet, all we hear about is the suffering of the people in Israel?
Aren't these the same people (the Iranian People) that Netanyahu has been trying to convince to overthrow their own government? While he bombs their energy infrastructure and deprives them of basic modern amenities?
How is this not a bigger story?
What about the people in Syria who are now reportedly living under Sharia Law? I thought that was something that the pro-Israel lobby opposed? Yet now we celebrate it being forced upon innocent Christians and Muslims in Syria?
The moral relativism of Neo-Conservatism seems to have returned to the Republican Party.
In parting, I'd like to share this brief history of the Neo-Conservative movement: (Please note that the modern Republican Party was founded by leftists.) —
Virginia to host world’s first fusion power plant
Virginia could soon make history as the home of the world’s first nuclear fusion power plant, state officials and private sector leaders announced Tuesday.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a fusion power company founded in 2018 in Cambridge, Mass., unveiled plans to build the groundbreaking facility on a 100-acre site at James River Industrial Park in Chesterfield County. The plant, expected to generate 400 megawatts of electricity — enough to power 150,000 homes — could be operational by the early 2030s.
“Commonwealth Fusion Systems plans on building the world’s first grid scale commercial fusion power plant in the world, full stop, and it’s going to be right here in the commonwealth of Virginia,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said at a presentation of the undertaking at Richmond’s Patrick Henry Building.
Unlike traditional nuclear power plants that rely on fission, fusion replicates the energy-producing process of the sun, offering a cleaner and more sustainable power source. The project, which would occupy about 25 acres of the site, signals Virginia’s growing role in shaping future energy solutions.
The announcement comes as Virginia’s energy needs are surging, driven by the rapid growth of data centers that power big tech operations. These facilities consume enormous amounts of electricity and water to process and cool computer systems. — Virginia Mercury
Our Take: Anybody who has attended, or virtual streamed, a GART event in the past year will see a lot of signal in this story, as this is a topic that we have discussed on stage many times. Burning Bright has also written, extensively, about the speculated emerging technologies that will usher in the next epoch, and how that transition may transpire.
This project site is located in my neck of the woods, and I am somewhat familiar with some of the politics surrounding the energy sector in the Mid-Atlantic region. There were/are several major natural gas pipelines—the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley Pipelines—that began planning during the Obama Administration, facing significant push back from the Uniparty because of they would source the natural gas from fracking operations in West Virginia.
Needless to say, these pipelines represented significant leaps forward in affordable energy production for people living in the Mid-Atlantic region, particularly those in Appalachia and North Carolina—regions that have been more recently devastated by flooding from hurricanes and subsequent malfeasance from nefarious actors in the federal government. For that reason, the Uniparty could not allow them to be built, and a number of NGO's—such as the Sierra Club—collaborated with Soros-funded state attorneys to file injunctions against the project and shut it down.
On December 22, 2017—the day after President Trump issued Executive Order 13818—the Army Corp of Engineers issued verification that the Mountain Valley Pipeline met all criteria, and formally reinstated that verification on July 3, 2018. (These verifications were later documented in court cases between the Pipeline's owners and the Sierra Club.) The MV Pipeline was delayed for years, and billions of dollars overbudget. It only completed construction this past June, and is only now beginning operations, but will not benefit most of the state of Virginia because it terminates near Roanoke.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline was the sister-project that was intended to bring natural gas all the way to Virginia Beach. This project, which was spearheaded by Dominion Energy—the company leasing the land for this newly announced fusion nuclear plant—faced similar attacks from George Soros and his goon army of communists, and was ultimately defeated in the summer of 2020 when it was officially cancelled.
The Trump administration's Energy Secretary, Dan Brouillette, lamented the fact that the obstructionist environmentalist lobby succeeded in utilizing lawfare to double the cost of the project to $8 billion, effectively killing it. In the same article, Dominion Energy announced that it would be selling all of its natural gas operations to Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet's company,) who made sure that the pipeline project was never revived. (One must wonder what role Warren Buffet played behind the scenes in obstructing the pipeline in the first place?)
Two years later, the same imps at the New York Times who were cheerleading the obstruction of the Pipeline issued a story expressing their incredulity that natural gas prices in Virginia had doubled, but also that electricity prices were skyrocketing, as companies like Dominion Energy were forced to shift their investment strategy from natural gas to building out their electric grid infrastructure—which is a more costly form of energy. (It is outrageous that these regime communists still have such a large corporate platform from which to secrete their idiocy.)
The TLDR is that regime pedophiles deeply embedded in the Executive Branch collaborated with regime communists in the NGO sphere to prevent the construction of energy infrastructure that would lower the cost of living for Americans on the east coast.
This nuclear fusion project—the first of its kind anywhere in the world—is a huge middle finger to oligarchs like George Soros who desire above all else to see human civilization stagnate into oblivion, so that his vile progeny can rule over the ashes.
So how is this nuclear fusion project different from other nuclear reactors in America?
What some may not realize is that traditional nuclear reactors—known as "light-water reactors"—actually utilize steam power to produce electricity. The "reactor" that generates enormous heat through nuclear fusion is either submerged in a large body of water to flash-boil it, or (more commonly) recirculates super-heated water through a pressurized pipes to flash-boil a larger body of water. In both systems, the resulting steam is channeled through pipes into a turbine that spins, and the kinetic energy of that spinning turbine is what produces the electricity that is distributed to the grid. (The clouds of "smoke" that are emitted from the iconic smoke stacks ubiquitously associated with nuclear reactors is actually just water vapor generated from this super-heating process. The "environmentalists" would never want you to know that.)
Fundamentally, the power generation process is effectively identical to the process found in a hydro-electric dam, the biggest difference being that a nuclear reactor has radiated water leftover that needs to be properly stored deep underground.
This new type of nuclear fusion reactor uses a completely different technology and process to produce electricity, fundamentally transforming energy production as we know it.
From the article:
Their technology relies on a donut-shaped device called a tokamak to confine and fuse molecules. “You won’t need a pipeline to bring the fuel in, or a smokestack for the exhaust,” said CFS co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Bob Mumgaard. Unlike fission, which splits heavy atoms like uranium to produce energy — and leaves behind radioactive waste — fusion creates energy by fusing light atoms, explained Alex Creely, CFS director of tokamak operations. “One of the big advantages of fusion is that it doesn’t produce any long lived waste material, and there’s no risk of some kind of meltdown event,” Creely said. “It’s a very safe energy source — something that you can live right next to and feel very comfortable with.”
As
has attested in his articles, the future is based and very bright, but in order to seize this destiny, we first must liberate ourselves from the Satanic pedophiles who seek to subjugate and lord over God's creation. For the sake of all future generations, we cannot fail or falter in this divine mission. Soundly defeating this cabal, and erasing all traces of it from existence, will be our contribution to the story of humanity; whatever comes next will be written by our children. —'Sonic 3' bests 'Mufasa: The Lion King' at the box office
In the holiday season battle of big-budget family movies, Paramount Pictures’ “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” sped past the Walt Disney Co.’s “Mufasa: The Lion King” to take the top spot at the box office ahead of the lucrative Christmas corridor in theaters.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” debuted with $62 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates. With strong reviews (86% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and a high score from audiences (an “A” on CinemaScore), “Sonic 3” is well positioned to be the top choice in cinemas during the busiest moviegoing period of the year.
It was telling of some wider trends that “Sonic 3” — made for $122 million — bested one of Disney’s top properties. Videogame adaptations, once among the most derided movie genres, have emerged as one of the most dependable box office forces in recent years. The two previous “Sonic” movies together grossed more $700 million worldwide and the third installment appears likely to do better than both of them. A fourth “Sonic” movie is already in development.
“Mufasa,” however, was humbled in its opening weekend, coming in notably shy of expectations with $35 million in domestic ticket sales. The photorealistic “Lion King” prequel even opened wider than “Sonic 3,” launching on 4,100 theaters and gobbling up most IMAX screens, compared with 3,761 locations for “Sonic 3.”
Yet “Sonic 3” nearly doubled the haul for “Mufasa,” which cost more than $200 million to make. Disney could look to $87.2 million in international sales to help make up the difference. The third “Sonic” will rollout in most overseas markets in the coming weeks. — ABC News
Our Take: Sometimes, pattern recognition takes you in some weird directions, but I promise that staring at box office charts about the latest actuals to come out of the Sonic the Hedgehog vs. Lion King face-off is chock full of surprising signal.
First, the premise ...
Sonic the Hedgehog has out-grossed Disney's latest Lion King cash grab by approximately 77% on opening weekend, which, given the two films are going after the same target demo (kids, families and some nostalgia baiting to Gen X and Millenials,) is devastating for the Disney empire.
Hell, even if Sonic ends up with a 20% multiple over Lion King to end its run, it's as seismic a statement for Sonic as it is a devastating one for Disney.
Why does this matter in the context of the Info War?
Well, aside from seeing Disney get some well-deserved egg on its face (Lion King has a $200 million budget, while Sonic's sits at $122 million,) the REAL signal comes in the form of Sonic's financiers. It was produced by Paramount Pictures, the studio recently acquired by Skydance ... which happens to be headed by David Ellison, the son of Larry Ellison, long-time Trump loyalist.
Paramount is the Hollywood studio that put out Top Gun: Maverick in 2022; that one was also produced by Ellison, and many see it as having signaled the death knell for woke Hollywood content.
Now, Paramount is beating the subversive, communist empire of groomers at ITS OWN GAME.
The Awakening is on in full, and it comes in many forms. —
Zoe Saldaña: Oscars Rejecting ‘Avatar’ Deflating;’ ‘Overlooked, Minimized, Completely Disregarded’
Actress Zoe Saldaña says the Oscars rejecting Avatar in its awards ceremony is “quite deflating,” adding that it makes her feel “overlooked and then minimized and completely disregarded.”
After being asked if she feels awards shows struggle to look past cobalt-blue skin or digitally engineered doe eyes when choosing nominations, such as performances in films like Avatar, Saldaña answered, “They do.”
“Old habits die hard, and when you have old establishments, it’s really hard to bring forward change,” Saldaña, who starred in the Avatar franchise as Neytiri, told the Independent.
“And I understand that, so I’m not bitter about it, but it is quite deflating when you give 120 percent of yourself into something,” the actress added.
Saldaña went on to say that “not winning is okay,” and “not being nominated is okay,” adding, “but when you’re overlooked and then minimized and completely disregarded…”
The Guardians of the Galaxy actress also responded to those who reportedly argued that her performance in Avatar was the achievement of the films’ technicians alone, saying, “I know the difference between that and what we did.”
Nonetheless, Saldaña said that she understands the resistance and insisted she doesn’t have any chips on her shoulder over it.
“At some point you have to ask yourself: why is it that I do what I do? Is it so others can give me approval? Or is it because I don’t want to do anything else?” the actress said. — Breitbart
Our Take: Last year, we talked about the Hollywood writer’s strike and how automation and artificial intelligence are reshaping the production of entertainment, and the impacts on talent.
In a sign that transformation continues, we find James Cameron telling Variety, “the Oscars are overdue to recognize Saldaña’s work as Neytiri in the Avatar films… ‘because in my film she’s playing a CG character, it kind of doesn’t count in some way, which makes no sense to me whatsoever.’”
Who is drawing the lines? How long until the Academy itself is a machine, humans are cut out entirely, and the machines just give the other machines the awards? Westworld rising.
For a more hopeful take, I give you
:“The fact she and Avatar were ignored is probably a good sign for where she stands within Hollywood.
If she were one of [them], she’d be nominated with no questions.
Adding on - Avatar 2 was pretty much about building, and protecting, the nuclear family.”
Times, one way or another, are a-changing. —
BONUS ITEMS
Questions mount in Germany over deadly Christmas market attack as suspect appears in court
Authorities in Germany face growing accusations they could have done more to prevent a deadly Christmas market attack as a judge ordered the suspect to be held in pre-trial detention following a late-night court appearance on Saturday.
Taleb Al Abdulmohsen is accused of ramming a car into a busy market in the city of Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring more than 200.
The motive for the attack is unclear but the suspect is a 50-year-old Saudi citizen who has lived in Germany for more than a decade and worked to help Saudis leave his home country. On social media, he has been a fervent critic of Islam and prosecutors suggested he may have become embittered with how Germany treats Saudi refugees.
Recent messages grew increasingly threatening. One says, “if Germany wants to kill us, we will slaughter them, die, or go to prison with pride.”
“The magistrate ordered pre-trial detention for five counts of murder, several counts of attempted murder and several counts of dangerous bodily harm,” a statement from police early Sunday said.
“The accused was taken to a correctional facility accordingly.” — CNN
House Republicans have an ‘audience of one’ dilemma with President-elect Trump
The drag-out fight over government spending has highlighted how House Republicans — for all the ideological divisions between their clashing in-house factions — are governed by the underlying effort to appease an audience of one: President-elect Trump.
Trump’s 11th-hour decision to jump into the funding fight — with a big push from billionaire Elon Musk — impelled Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to trash the deal he’d initially cut with Democrats, forced GOP leaders into a crisis-mode scramble for an alternative proposal, and brought the country to the teetering brink of a holiday-season government shutdown.
The exhausting three-day saga has inflamed the subsisting tensions within the restive GOP conference; threatened Johnson’s bid to keep the gavel; and raised new questions about how Trump’s return to the White House next month will affect the Republicans’ stewardship of the House next year, when they will control of the lower chamber with an even thinner cushion than the small majority they have right now.
Some Republicans said Trump’s intervention was inappropriate, particularly his insistence that any spending package be accompanied by a hike in the federal debt ceiling — a toxic idea on the right that infuriated House conservatives and made it only harder for Johnson to usher a bill to the finish line.
“President Trump has a lot of sway with Republicans, obviously, so the things that he says, I’m sure, have influence on individuals. But the House needs to operate as the House, and members of the House have to vote on what the House does, and the Republicans in the House need to do what is right and best,” said Rep. Bob Good (D-Va.), former head of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.
“I think trying to raise the debt limit was a mistake.”
Democrats were much more biting in their criticisms, saying Johnson, in heeding Trump’s calls to renege on the initial agreement, had caved to a figure who’s not yet the president and undermined the trust between the parties going forward. — The Hill
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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Besides his voice and the face of the REAL Biden that died, I believe it is undeniable that the FAKE Joe Biden PUPPET today is an imposter, and his Pardons are as FAKE as he is. Obama/Killary 3rd term jig is up!
Ashe, that video is a good example of the REAL Joe Biden during the 2020 election campaign, and it's interesting to note the differences between the real Biden and the fake Biden. The video makes it obvious: two attached earlobes instead of one, less pronounced cheekbones, forehead less broad, voice different, nose slightly more aquiline and downturned, narrower face. This video should be viral for not only his message but as as proof that the current Biden is fake. Where did you find this? I'd love to post it on X and other places. Bookmarking this. Thanks for this!