Badlands News Brief
Trump's Trap, Musk's Decree & Obama's Secrets
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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 the Weekend that Was …
"Not A Comfortable Feeling": Trump Details 'Terrible Experience' Of Being Booked Into Fulton County Jail
Former President Donald Trump has detailed his "terrible experience" of being booked into the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, on Aug. 24 after surrendering himself to authorities following his indictment on racketeering and conspiracy charges.
President Trump, 77, handed himself over to authorities in Georgia at around 7:36 p.m. local time and was released on a $200,000 bond roughly 20 minutes later.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who brought the indictment against President Trump and 18 of his associates, had given those charged until noon on Aug. 25 to hand themselves over or risk arrest.
During his time being processed at the jail, President Trump had his fingerprints and mugshot taken—something he insists he had never ever heard of before stepping foot in the jail.
It was a "terrible experience" according to the Republican 2024 White House candidate.
"I went through an experience that I never thought I’d have to go through, but then I’ve gone through the same experience three other times. In my whole life, I didn’t know anything about indictments. And now I’ve been indicted, like, four times," he told Newsmax.
"Everything is just like one thing after the next. What they want to do is they want to try and wear you out which they would never do," he continued, adding that he had "never heard the words mug shot" prior to Thursday because "they didn't teach me that at the Wharton School of Finance." — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “It's been about 48 hours since the Trump Muggy became the most memetic image in American history. Let's take stock of how it has already moved the Collective Mind:
Turned Donald Trump into an Outlaw President in a nation quite literally built on the tenets of rebellion, independence, civil disobedience and trail-blazing. - Confirmed the Weaponization of the Justice System against anyone who stands against 'The System.'
Confirmed that the Establishment isn't after Donald Trump because they think he broke OUR laws, but because he broke THEIRS, and because he's the only thing that stands between us and them.
Got Election Fraud back into the public conversation in a major way just as the Scariant COVID-23 Scamdemic is being spun up in an obvious attempt to steal the 2024 Election in the same manner.
Seized the Collective Mind by becoming the most bipartisan memetic image in American history, with Trump supporters using it as an emblem and a rallying cry, Anons using it as the culmination of years of projections, theorizing and white-pill delivery, Liberals using it to mock, but accidentally making it MORE viral, and Uniparty Establishment Shills pissing themselves with existential dread when gazing upon it.
Ingratiated Trump to a Black American community that already liked him significantly more than the Establishment Uniparty (Democrats or Republicans) was willing to admit by confirming the fact that said Establishment Uniparty hates HIM almost as much as it hates THEM.
(We don't need everyone to love Trump. We only need them to see him as an enemy of their enemy. Mission accomplished.)
Set the stage for the Trial of the Century while lending credence to the Disclosure Defense strategy.
Remember ... Donald Trump v The Establishment isn't overshadowing or distracting FROM his 2024 Presidential Campaign.
It IS his Campaign.
And it just got supercharged.” —
Musk vows to sue Soros-funded NGOs
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has pledged to take legal action against non-governmental organizations funded by liberal tycoon George Soros over their alleged attempts to suppress free speech.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, the American billionaire reacted to an article by journalist Ben Scallan, who claimed that NGOs backed by the Open Society Foundations, a grant-making network founded by Soros, are pushing a “censorship agenda” in Ireland and Scotland that includes police searches of homes and personal electronic devices.
In his piece, Scallan pushed back against claims by Irish leaders that hate-based crimes in the country have been on the rise. He argued that local police and authorities have encouraged citizens to report this type of misconduct, leading to an uptick in the statistics, but not the actual number of crimes, claiming those policies also triggered a cultural shift in the perception of what can be considered hateful. According to the journalist, this gives the country’s authorities an excuse to push for stricter laws that restrict free speech.
“Exactly. X will be filing legal action to stop this. Can’t wait for discovery to start!” Musk wrote, referring to the alleged NGOs’ activities to support this type of agenda.
Musk – who once called himself a “free speech absolutist” – had already directed a barb at Soros in May, when he compared the Hungarian-born billionaire to supervillain mutant Magneto from Marvel Comics’ X-Men series, who like Soros, was a Holocaust survivor. — RT
Our Take: “I have to say, this is very exciting, as we finally see the NGOs coming into the spotlight. From the piece:
‘George Soros-funded NGOs have been falsely claiming that ‘hate incidents’ are on the rise in order to push restrictions of free expression.’
Manipulating statistics in order to shape public sentiment is one of the regime’s favorite tactics. Remember covid case and death numbers came via motorcycle accidents and the alleged eradication of the flu — which allowed them to successfully reshape our society. Soros funded NGOs are suing grassroots election activists all over the nation by falsely claiming the groups are racists engaging in voter suppression — which allows Soros funded Attorneys General and Secretaries of State to claim that there are unprecedented attacks on ‘our democracy’ via racism and voter suppression. FBI whistleblowers provided evidence that J6 cases were being moved all over the nation and treated as separate incidents — which allowed the Biden DOJ to use one single event to claim that domestic terrorism is on an alarming rise all around the country.
Not all of these examples explicitly involve NGOs … oh wait, yes they do. Event 201 tells us that the global response to Covid-19, from critical response to tracking to reporting to media coverage, was the invention of NGOs and corporate partners. The lawfare against grassroots elections teams around the country are the inception of leftist NGOs, with their government and corporate partners in the shadows. And nongovernmental entities are responsible for aiding the Biden DOJ and their January 6 narrative through endeavors such as ‘sedition watch.’
Governments use NGOs and corporations to get around their limitations — such as the protections in the Bill of Rights that explicitly prohibit government from engaging in certain activities against its citizenry. Elon’s promised lawsuit puts this practice in the spotlight for censorship, but has to potential to establish a precedent for us to go after the corrupt and tangled web in these other areas as well. As I said, I find this very exciting. I hope it actually happens.” —
Kremlin Rejects "Absolute Lie" That Putin Ordered Killing Of Wagner's Prigozhin
Russian investigators say they are currently conducting DNA testing on the recovered bodies from the Wednesday plane crash northwest of Moscow believed to have killed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin and his top commanders.
In yesterday's condolence speech, President Putin referred to the Wagner chief in the past tense, remembering him as a "talented" businessman who made "mistakes"—which was widely seen as high level confirmation he went down in the plane.
State media sources have revealed new details of the status of the investigation at the crash site, with RT underscoring that DNA tests will take time, and that "the probe was entrusted to Ivan Sibula, a senior investigator who previously led inquiries into high-profile air incidents in Russia."
As for the US reaction, President Joe Biden had been quick to point the finger directly at Putin, saying while on vacation Wednesday he was "not surprised" as "There’s not much that happens in Russia that Putin’s not behind." Biden had been briefed soon after reports of the crash emerged, but said, "I don’t know enough to know the answer. I’ve been working out for the last hour and a half."
A Thursday Pentagon briefing gave an official US assessment, with Pentagon spokesman Gen. Pat Ryder saying an intentional explosion brought down Prigozhin's plane. Ryder called initial US reports of a surface-to-air missile "inaccurate" amid other reports saying it was a bomb detonated midair. The Pentagon assessed that Prigozhin was likely on board and was killed in the crash, but didn't attempt to posit a precise cause.
[…]
Importantly, the Kremlin has on Friday rejected Biden's allegation that Putin was behind it, with presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling attempts to incriminate Russian government leaders absolute lies.
"There is a lot of speculation around the plane crash and the tragic death of the passengers, including Yevgeny Prigozhin," Peskov told reporters during a briefing. "Of course, in the West, this speculation is being presented from a certain angle. All of this is an absolute lie," he added. — ZeroHedge
Putin Signs Decree Forcing Paramilitary Fighters to Swear Oath
Russian paramilitary fighters will have to swear an oath to the Russian flag, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin on Friday, two days after the presumed death of mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin.
The measure is aimed at "forming the spiritual and moral foundations for the defense of the Russian Federation" and applies to members of volunteer formations — a term often used to describe mercenary groups.
It also applies to groups "contributing to the execution of tasks given to the armed forces" and territorial defense units, according to the decree published on the Kremlin's website.
Fighters must pledge "their loyalty to the Russian Federation... strictly follow their commanders and superiors' orders, and conscientiously fulfill their obligations." — The Moscow Times
Our Take: “The dueling Narratives of Prigozhin's end:
In the West, the Establishment is advancing the storyline that Putin and the Russian Chain of Command ordered the killing, promoting Russian discord and chaos.
In Russia, the line is fairly straight -- that Prigozhin was assassinated in an act of terrorism.
Putin is reportedly forcing Wagner fighters to swear an oath to Russia in the aftermath.
Whether Prigozhin is alive or dead, this all has the look of a continuance of June's Russian loyalty test.
Additional notables
Lukashenko has announced he will allow Wagner troops to remain in Belarus, which conveniently shores up Belarusian strength continuing on from the bloodless and strategic 'March on Moscow.'
Pentagon spox Gen. Pat Ryder has announced that Wagner's presence on the ground in Ukraine is ‘no longer a significant factor.’
Add this to the fact that the West has turned on the Ukraine counter-offensive.
Has Russia 'won' the war? Is Wagner being retired, vetted and reallocated?” —
Police Records Show Secret Service Reported Obama’s Personal Chef Tafari Campbell was Missing, Body was Found Using Sonar
Judicial Watch announced today that it received 18 pages of records through the Massachusetts Public Records Law from the Edgarton, MA, Police Department that show the Secret Service reported Obama’s Personal Chef Tafari Campbell missing and that the body was found using sonar.
The records also report that clothing was found separate from the body and that he was not wearing a life vest. Several other important details were redacted regarding the July 23, 2023, drowning on Martha’s Vinyard.
The records, released yesterday, include a July 23 CAD (computer aided dispatch) — Judicial Watch
Our Take: “Every time we get answers in the mysterious death of Obama’s Personal Chef Tafari Campbell, we end up with more questions.
‘For example, first line in the chronology of this police incident report states that there have 42 past police incidents recorded at the Obama estate on Martha’s Vineyard. That seems like a lot considering the personal protection at that residence is the United States Secret Service. What are all those incidents about?
Back to Campbell, we now know that it was a Secret Service agent that dialed 911 at 7:56pm on July 23, and that Campbell was wearing all black when he went missing. Was he wearing a wetsuit? Even in July, the water in New England is brisk.
Why do we care what Campbell was wearing? Because his clothes were found hours before he was found. According to the incident report, his clothing and paddle board were recovered by Secret Service at 8:02pm after they deployed a zodiac boat with rescue swimmers. The US Coast Guard was engaged by 8:36pm, just 10 mins after the 911 call was placed.
At 1:21am on July 24, they suspended the search, which resumed later that morning at 7:22am. Campbell’s body was reported as recovered in the chronology at 10:01am on July 24. The deceased Mr. Campbell was reportedly located using sonar.
So many questions, but I think the most important is why Judicial Watch had to fight to get these records released. The first section of the 18 pages they received are the communications of law enforcement attempting noncompliance. Of course we will get all the ongoing investigation’ and/or ‘family wants privacy’ excuses, but in my estimation, that doesn’t cover mysterious deaths on the property of a former president, while Secret Service roams the grounds. And, again, what we’re those other 42 incidents?
Here is where the disclosure ends: ‘The investigation will now be handled by Massachusetts State Police and The Cape and Islands District Attorney’s Office.’ So the rich people police are going to finalize the cover up. Naturally.
Campbell’s family deserves answers, and the American people deserve for their government to stop lying to them. I’m not holding my breath for either, but I am noting how the standard of privacy for one former president varies from another.
Can you imagine if this incident was about Trump’s personal chef?” —
Study: Paper Straws Pushed By Climate Cultists May Contain Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’
The study, published in the peer-reviewed journal Food Additives and Contaminants ,suggests paper straws may contain “forever chemicals” harmful to both humans and the environment.
Belgian researchers tested 39 straw brands from restaurants and retailers for synthetic chemicals known as poly and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The study found that the majority of straws contained those chemicals, but they were most common in those made from paper and bamboo.
The chemicals are referred to as “forever chemicals” as they can remain for thousands of years in the environment. The chemicals have been associated with health issues including thyroid disease, increased cholesterol, liver damage and kidney and testicular cancer and can harm the environment as well.
Researcher Dr Thimo Groffen, an environmental scientist at the University of Antwerp involved in this study shared, “Straws made from plant-based materials, such as paper and bamboo, are often advertised as being more sustainable and eco-friendly than those made from plastic.”
“However, the presence of PFAS in these straws means that’s not necessarily true.”
“Small amounts of PFAS, while not harmful in themselves, can add to the chemical load already present in the body,” continued Groffen. — The Gateway Pundit
Our Take: “There is a distinct pattern taking shape as a result of the new WOKE operating system that's attempting to install itself in humanity.
Stunning and brave social engineers take less than ideal relics of the past (microplastic-shedding straws in this case) and they replace them with something that sound nice and planet-conscious on paper (biodegradable paper straws) but where things get a little fishy is when the public learns that, although these straws do biodegrade much faster than their plastic counterparts, they contain harmful forever chemicals that your body will never be able to filter out (that is, without the help of Humic and Fulvic Acid by Ascent Nutrition -promo code BADLANDS).
So the MO is to take an age-old idea that has fallen out of favor, whether for an actual discernible reason or simply because sufficient negative propaganda has been disseminated about said idea, and then replace the old with something new that satisfies those woke leanings. Without the granular details, this actually sounds like a fine idea. Where they went wrong is with the harmful forever chemicals that will undoubtedly help fuel a medical-industrial complex.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Judge Rejects RFK Jr's Request For Order Blocking Google From Censoring Him
A federal judge has rejected a request from presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for an order that would block Google from censoring him.
Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, have removed multiple videos of Mr. Kennedy in recent months because they allegedly contained medical misinformation.
The removals violate Mr. Kennedy's First Amendment rights because they were spurred by government policy, Mr. Kennedy's lawyers said in a motion for a temporary restraining order.
Evidence from another case has shown that government officials regularly collaborated with Big Tech companies such as Google to censor users, and YouTube's policy is that information contradicting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance will be censored.
Google "is using a policy that it developed in connection with (and in response to demands from) the incumbent government to silence one of the government’s most prominent critics," Mr. Kennedy's motion stated.
The order would have blocked Google from using its misinformation policies to remove videos of Mr. Kennedy from YouTube until a trial is held.
Google said in response that it is separate from the government and that it has been exercising its own discretion in removing videos.
"The First Amendment protects Google’s judgment that it will not help spread dangerous anti-vaxx propaganda," Google lawyers said. — The Epoch Times
"Yes, They Were Being Bribed": Fired Ukraine Prosecutor Corroborates Biden Corruption
Victor Shokin, the fired Ukrainian prosecutor investigating Biden family corruption (that Donald Trump was impeached for asking about) has spoken out for the first time since 2019 - and says the Bidens did it.
To review - Shokin had an active and ongoing investigation into Ukrainian energy company Burisma and its owner, Mykola Zlochevsky, according to a 2020 US Senate Committee report.
Zlochevsky, who hired Hunter Biden to sit on his board, granted his own company (Burisma) permits to drill for oil and gas in Ukraine while he was Minister of Ecology and Natural Resources. Shokin stated in a 2019 deposition that there were five criminal cases against Zlochevesky, including money laundering, corruption, illegal funds transfers, and profiteering through shell corporations while he was a sitting minister.
Now, Shokin tells Fox News that be believes the Bidens were taking bribes.
"I do not want to deal in unproven facts. But my firm personal conviction is that yes, this was the case. They were being bribed," Shokin told the outlet. "The fact that Joe Biden gave away $1 billion in U.S. money in exchange for my dismissal - my firing - isn't that alone a case of corruption?" he asks in another clip. — ZeroHedge
'Election Variant': Citizens Push Back Against Mask Mandates
Americans are raising their voices against mask mandates reintroduced by some institutions amid reports of rising COVID-19 cases—with some people calling recent infections an “election variant.”
On Aug. 20, Morris Brown College announced in an Instagram post that the institution has reinstated its COVID-19 mask mandate “effective immediately” due to reports of infections among students in the Atlanta University Center. All students and employees are mandated to wear face masks for a 14-day period, with students required to observe physical distancing.
Hollywood studio Lionsgate has sent a memo asking employees to wear masks after some of its workers were infected with COVID-19.
“Employees must wear a medical grade face covering (surgical mask, KN95 or N95) when indoors except when alone in an office with the door closed, actively eating, actively drinking at their desk or workstation, or if they are the only individual present in a large open workspace,” Sommer McElroy, of Lionsgate, wrote in the memo.
Primary care provider Kaiser Permanente is now requiring staff, patients, and visitors at its Santa Rosa facilities to wear face masks.
Last week, Upstate Medical’s two hospitals in New York reimposed mandatory masking following reports of an uptick in COVID-19 infections.
Many people have begun pushing back against mandates and questioned the timing of the rise in COVID infections—with 2024 elections nearing.
“And just like that, the election variant emerges,” author George Papadopoulos said in an Aug. 23 post on X. — The Epoch Times
We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.
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.
RE: RFK - Google, through its attorneys, maintains that they will "not help spread dangerous anti-vaxx propaganda".
So there you have it, a quasi-governmental agency is determining what is and is not a fact, and what YOU may not think about or believe.
Justifying censorship.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will conduct a massive nationwide test that will sound off an emergency alarm on every U.S. cellphone, TV, and radio.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/08/fema-alert-system-will-sound-alarm-every-cellphone/
Does this news remember anyone a specific Q Drop regarding the EBS (now Emergency Alert System) ??