Badlands News Brief
Hunter Hunted as Metrics Turn Sharply on Establishment
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.
Many items feature original (and subjective) commentary. Feel free to follow the corresponding link to see our writers’ Substack accounts and check out their other work.
Now, onto the news from Wednesday, February 28 …
Hunter Biden tells Congress his father was not involved in his business dealings
Hunter Biden testified Wednesday before two GOP-led House committees leading the impeachment inquiry into President Biden, telling lawmakers in a closed-door deposition that his father was not involved in his various business deals.
In a prepared opening statement, the younger Biden contested the premise of the inquiry, saying he "did not involve my father in my business," while noting that his testimony "should put an end to this baseless and destructive political charade."
"For more than a year, your Committees have hunted me in your partisan political pursuit of my dad," he said in his prepared remarks. "You have trafficked in innuendo, distortion, and sensationalism — all the while ignoring the clear and convincing evidence staring you in the face. You do not have evidence to support the baseless and MAGA-motivated conspiracies about my father because there isn't any."
Republicans on the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees have long sought Hunter Biden's testimony, moving last month toward holding him in contempt of Congress before he agreed to testify voluntarily. They argued that Hunter Biden's testimony was a "critical component" of their impeachment inquiry, which has centered around allegations that the president profited off of his family members' foreign business dealings while he was vice president. — CBS
Our Take: “Hunter Biden testified behind closed doors before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, and Chairman James Comer said the next step is public hearings.
‘I think this was a great deposition for us. It proved several bits of our evidence that we've been conducting throughout this investigation,’ the Chairman said in a press briefing after the hearing, continuing, ‘But there were also some contradictory statements that I think need further review… So, this impeachment inquiry will now go to the next phase, which will be a public hearing.’
Matt Gaetz stopped to chat with reporters on a mid-hearing break, and he seemed more confident than ever that Joe Biden — the Brand — was the value being exchanged via the younger Biden’s business. ‘It is a mirage to believe that Hunter Biden was engaged in international business. This was a bribe masquerading as an international business transaction — nothing more, nothing less.’
Hunter Biden reruns were in marathon mode on social media, with legislator soundbites and screen grabs from Marco Polo’s Biden Laptop Report going viral again. Biden’s ‘son’s overseas business dealings’ should feature prominently in the upcoming full length blockbuster on Impeachment.
This lallapalooza of narrative deployments is particularly fun because Democrats have zero argument for ‘election interference’ — they’ve steamrolled every norm on allowable conduct since 2015. They definitely still will argue ‘election interference,’ don’t get me wrong, but the net effect of that hypocrisy is eroded credibility with the electorate.
There’s also the question of whether Joe Biden will be competent enough to stand trial for high crimes and misdemeanors in the Senate, especially since Hur effectively found he is not competent to stand trial for lesser crimes. On that front, while his son was being probed by Republicans on Capitol Hill, Scrotus underwent his annual physical.
According to the doctor’s report, ‘The President feels well, and this year's physical identified no new concerns. He continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.’ He also revealed that Biden was put on PAP sleep therapy for sleep apnea, and that he takes six medications for A-fib, cholesterol, reflux, and seasonal allergies. There was a large section about his gait and his feet, and a confirmation of sensory peripheral neuropathy in his feet.
That’s doctor speak for a stumbly wumbly diagnosis.
So presidential.
When asked how his physical had gone, the demented old fool said, ‘everything's squared away. There's nothing different from last year… everything's great.’
I wonder if he heard about the public hearings?” —
"We Don't Do That Here": Former NY Times Editor Blasts The "Gray Lady" For Bias And Activism
Former New York Times editor Adam Rubenstein has a lengthy essay at The Atlantic that pulls back the curtain on the newspaper and its alleged bias in its coverage. The essay follows similar pieces from former editors and writers that range from Bari Weiss to Rubenstein’s former colleague James Bennet. The essay describes a similar work environment where even his passing reference to liking Chik-Fil-A sandwiches led to a condemnation of shocked colleagues.
An opinion-section editor, Rubenstein was involved in the controversy over publishing Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R., Ark.) op-ed where he argued for the possible use of national guard to quell violent riots around the White House.
It was one of the lowest points in the history of modern American journalism. Cotton was calling for the use of the troops to restore order in Washington after days of rioting around the White House. While Congress would “call in the troops” six months later to quell the rioting at the Capitol on January 6th, New York Times reporters and columnists called the column historically inaccurate and politically inciteful. Reporters insisted that Cotton was even endangering them by suggesting the use of troops and insisted that the newspaper cannot feature people who advocate political violence. One year later, the New York Times published a column by an academic who had previously declared that there is nothing wrong with murdering conservatives and Republicans.
Rubenstein noted:
On January 6, 2021, few people at The New York Times remarked on the fact that liberals were cheering on the deployment of National Guardsmen to stop rioting at the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the very thing Tom Cotton had advocated.
Instead, he describes an environment in which the staff routinely rejected conservative viewpoints, subjected conservatives to added demands and editing, and faced staff opposition to working on such pieces. — Jonathan Turley
Our Take: “The transformation of the news media through Neo-Marxist brainwashing is an important influence to track. It represents the evolution of Operation Mockingbird into a much more dangerous form.
Its original form was based on inserting agents into news and media organizations, meaning they were conscious operators in a defined warfare operation. They also captured assets in the news who were friendly to their cause and were willing to engage in contract work.
What we're seeing now is the result of generations of communist ideological subversion solidifying in substantial portions of the workforce.
This means that they are weapons of the same deep state that ran operation Mockingbird, but now they are communist operators driven by ideology instead of orders. In addition to all the potential agents operating in the MSM, there is now a growing portion of journalists who are fundamentally and philosophically against objective reality.
Everyone who has ever argued that this is a war on objective reality has been deeply validated by what this article has compiled: decades of communist ideological subversion now manifest as a chorus of journalists all announcing that objectivity is dangerous.” —
Texts reveal shadowy role witness played in defense attorney’s push to disqualify Willis from Trump case
A key witness in the push to disqualify District Attorney Fani Willis from the Georgia election case against Donald Trump had a much deeper involvement in the effort than was previously known, according to hundreds of text messages obtained by CNN.
The 413 texts between Terrence Bradley and Ashleigh Merchant, an attorney for one of Trump’s co-defendants, reveal months of communications between the two, underscoring the extent to which Bradley assisted Merchant’s pursuit of evidence to back up claims Willis and her top prosecutor, Nathan Wade, engaged in an improper romantic relationship.
On Tuesday, Bradley reluctantly testified for more than two hours about the romantic relationship between Willis and Wade, Bradley’s former law partner and one-time client.
The text messages raise questions about Bradley’s credibility, and the degree to which Merchant appeared to rely on his claims that she was then unable to substantiate elsewhere. They also shed new light on his testimony and how it failed to meet the expectations of defense attorneys who had billed Bradley as the star witness in their bid to disqualify Willis. — CNN
Our Take: “On Wednesday, Phil Holloway broke Fani’s texts, and the takeaway is Bradley, Wade, and Willis — the Fulton County District Attorney — perjured themselves.
Bradley’s ‘absolutely’ is benign compared to some of these other messages. For example, according to Bradley, the affair began in 2020, ‘when she left the DA’s office and was a judge in South Fulton.’
Friday’s hearing is gonna be lit.” —
Major Shot Across Biden's Bow: 100,000+ Michigan Dems Vote "Uncommitted"
An initiative organized by dissident Democrats outraged over President Biden's handling of the Israel-Gaza war has sent a powerful shot across the bow of his presidential campaign, as more than 100,000 Democrats voted "uncommitted" in the Michigan primary.
That's more than 9 times former President Trump's 10,704-vote victory margin in his 2016 defeat of Hillary Clinton, in a critical swing state that will be worth 15 electoral votes in the November general election. Critically, that 100,000-voter coalition turned out for a primary election where the conclusion was foregone. There are likely many more who share their sentiments but didn't bother voting.
With more than 95% of votes counted, "uncommitted" accounted for a hefty 13.3% of the statewide total. Biden had 81.1%, while Marianne Williamson, who suspended her campaign three weeks ago, was edging the still-campaigning Rep. Dean Phillips 3.0% to 2.7%. Wayne County, home of Dearborn and its large Muslim population, saw 21% vote uncommitted with 75% of the count completed.
Michigan has one of the largest Muslim populations in America. Angered by Biden's lop-sided support for Israel and failure to restrain an Israel Defense Forces campaign that has caused tens of thousands of civilian casualties -- including a high proportion of children -- leaders have promoted a nationwide campaign to "Abandon Biden." An allied effort, under the moniker of "Listen to Michigan," was championed by Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “I think there's a LOT more signal coming out of the Michigan primary results than most of the Truth Community is discussing, as most headlines and commentary have been relegated to the memetic quality of Nikki Haley's continued political death spiral.
And this headline is a fantastic example of what's REALLY got the establishment spooked about the whole thing.
I often argue that, to win a Mind War, you don't need enemy psychological combatants to adopt your paradigm ... you only need them to abandon their own.
Michiganders are defecting from Biden ... and 'The Squad' is leading the charge.
The media continues to hedge their bets by trying to massage a narrative that Trump is somehow underperforming despite doing just the opposite.
This doesn't mean they won't try to steal the election again ... in fact, it guarantees they will, but I think some of these headlines DO suggest [they] know it will be catastrophic to do so again, as it's going to be even more obvious than last time.” —
Coinbase users see $0 balance after crypto-trading app suffers glitch
Bitcoin’s app suffered from glitches on Wednesday that led many users to see a balance of zero when opening their accounts.
Bitcoin, which had just spiked to its highest level since November 2021, lost about $2,800, or over 4%, in a matter of minutes shortly after noon eastern time as reports of the outage spread on social media platform X and elsewhere.
“We are aware that some users may see a zero balance across their Coinbase accounts and may experience errors in buying or selling,” Coinbase said in a statement to CNBC. “Our team is investigating this issue and will provide an update shortly. Your assets are safe.”
[…]
Bitcoin has been surging of late, topping $60,000 on Wednesday for the first time since 2021, reaching a collective market cap of nearly $1.2 trillion.
Coinbase posted an update on X later in the day, informing users that “we’re beginning to see improvements in customer trading” though because of increased traffic, “some customers may still see errors in login, sends, receives and with some payment methods.” — CNBC
Our Take: “Bitcoin was running on Wednesday, and when I went to check Coinbase, my total was $0. It came back relatively quickly, and when I saw that Coinbase was trending for the ‘glitch,’ it made me feel better. Usually if something weird happens in one of my wallets, I assume user error. Not this time!
The $2,800 BTC price dip is being blamed on the Coinbase glitch — that the zeroed accounts spooked some investors into selling their Bitcoin within minutes. BTC ‘lost about $2,800, or over 4%, in a matter of minutes shortly after noon eastern time as reports of the outage spread on social media platform X and elsewhere.’
The conspiracy theorist in me is triggered. The story is that people learned on social media that there was a Coinbase glitch, and their first and immediate — within minutes — reaction was to sell their BTC while it’s running up to 2021 heights? Is it just me, or is that unbelievable?
Bitcoin is north of $62k as I write this, and earlier Wednesday it passed $64k. As G-money says, everyone gets BTC at the price they deserve.
But to be on the safe side, maybe avoid Coinbase.” —
BONUS ITEMS
McConnell will step down as the Senate Republican leader in November after a record run in the job
Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving Senate leader in history who maintained his power in the face of dramatic convulsions in the Republican Party for almost two decades, will step down from that position in November.
McConnell, who turned 82 last week, announced his decision Wednesday in the well of the Senate, the chamber where he looked in awe from its back benches in 1985 when he arrived and where he grew increasingly comfortable in the front row seat afforded the party leaders.
“One of life’s most underappreciated talents is to know when it’s time to move on to life’s next chapter,” he said. “So I stand before you today ... to say that this will be my last term as Republican leader of the Senate.” — AP News
Immigration Surges To Top Of Most Important Problem List: Gallup
Significantly more Americans name immigration as the most important problem facing the U.S. (28%) than did a month ago (20%). Immigration has now passed the government as the most often cited problem, after the two issues tied for the top position the past two months. The government ranked first each month from January through November 2023.
In the latest poll, 20% of Americans name the government as the most important problem, followed by the economy (12%) and inflation (11%). Immigration is the only issue that has shown meaningful change in the past month.
The latest results are based on a Feb. 1-20 Gallup survey. Immigration has ranked ahead of all other issues as the most important problem before, having last done so five years ago when there was a surge of attempted border crossings by Central American migrants. Immigration also ranked as the No. 1 problem in July and November 2018 and July 2014.
Gallup started compiling mentions of immigration in 1981. The 28% currently naming immigration as the most important problem essentially ties the 27% reading from July 2019 as the highest in Gallup’s trend. — Gallup
Judge sets April trial date for ex-FBI informant charged with false intel about the Bidens
The former FBI informant who was charged with providing false information to agents about President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign is scheduled to face trial in April.
Alexander Smirnov, 43, will face a jury trial on April 23 before U.S. District Judge Otis Wright in Los Angeles, according to the court docket. At a hearing on Monday, the judge ordered that Smirnov be held until trial.
Federal prosecutors charged Smirnov earlier this month with making false statements and creating a false and fictitious record. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges. They alleged in the indictment that he provided "false derogatory information to the FBI" about the Bidens, including promoting during an interview with FBI agents in September 2023 "a new false narrative after he said he met with Russian officials."
In a filing last week, prosecutors wrote that some information that Smirnov had shared about the Bidens came from “officials associated with Russian intelligence.” They added that Smirnov “is actively peddling new lies that could impact U.S. elections after meeting with Russian intelligence officials in November.”
Some of the false claims Smirnov told the FBI involved that executives associated with Ukrainian energy company Burisma, where Hunter Biden had worked, had paid the Bidens $5 million each. Smirnov said that a Burisma official said it would take 10 years for investigators to locate "illicit payments" to President Biden, according to the indictment. — NBC 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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It doesn't matter what the NYT and WaPo report anymore. Hardly anyone reads them. Most people under 40 don't read anything that doesn't pop up on their phone. MSM has earned their reputation as being irrelevant. It is maybe sad, but not surprising, that MSM is taken over by commies.
I'm far more concerned that the K-12 education system has been taken over by commies. The kids are subjected to that BS for hours every day and cannot easily opt out. Higher ed is co-opted too, but by that time most are able to make their own decisions. Problem is after 13 years in our Prussian school system (where do you think the word 'kindergarten' originates? Ain't English, McGee...) they are indoctrinated. That is the far more important problem to solve.
The controlled opposition Republicans are going after Hunter Biden when they should be going after the Blackberrys. Bobulinsky showed one of these things during the presidential debates 4 years ago. Everyone in Congress knows about the DNC crime ring and the phones and the server used to coordinate the activities. Behind it all is the Clinton Foundation with their reputation for, ah, "disposing" of unwanted persons. Hunter Biden is just a distraction, Biden isn't going to be the nominee everyone knows it. It's Michelle and Hillary in '24! An all-female gender-correct team to complete the destruction of America.