Badlands News Brief

Hunter's Plea, Powell's Plight & Trump's Plan

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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.

Some 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 Wednesday, July 26 …

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How Hunter Biden's plea agreement fell apart in federal court, leading to not guilty plea

An expected deal for Hunter Biden, son of President Joe Biden, to plead guilty to two federal tax misdemeanors was torpedoed by a federal judge Wednesday over concerns about the "broad" immunity afforded by prosecutors in the deal, as well as its "unique" structure.

After an hours-long hearing that included multiple dramatic court recesses, Hunter Biden pleaded not guilty to the federal charges after Judge Maryellen Noreika deferred his attempts to plead guilty in a deal that she at times described as potentially "unconstitutional" and lacking "legal precedent."

In doing so, she ordered both defense attorneys, as well as federal prosecutors, to submit more paperwork justifying the legal legitimacy of both the plea deal, as well as a separate agreement for prosecutors to dismiss a weapons felony.

She also ordered the parties to clarify language that could grant Hunter Biden immunity for potential future prosecution related to his foreign investment and consulting work that has seen him rake in millions of dollars over the past decade.

In June, federal prosecutors charged the president's son with two misdemeanor crimes for willfully avoiding to pay tax on more than $1.5 million in income in 2017 and 2018.

In court Wednesday, prosecutors said Hunter Biden took in $2.4 million in income in 2017 and $2.1 million in 2018 through Ukrainian energy firm Burisma, a Chinese-development firm, as well as domestic business interests and legal services. — Delaware Online

Our Take: “Americans were outraged at the original news of Hunter Biden’s plea deal, rightfully decrying the unfair and unprecedented leniency with which the DOJ treated the first son. Turns out, her honor Judge Maryellen Noreika agrees with the people, deciding Wednesday that the plea deal was ‘too novel’ due to the ‘broad’ and ‘unique’ immunity granted to Hunter Biden.

According to the piece, Judge Noreika asked attorneys on both sides, several times, if there was any precedent or authority for the agreement, and each time they answered ‘no.’ She questioned the deal’s constitutionality, and ultimately declined to allow it to proceed until both parties submit additional information about its legality.

‘I cannot accept the plea agreement today,’ Judge Noreika said.

According to the media, Hunter’s Plea Deal:

(1) Is on Hold (AP, CNN, USA Today)

(2) Is Delayed (NY Times)

(3) Is in Doubt (Washington Post)

(4) Fell Apart (CBS, Bloomberg, Politico, Fox)

(5) Was Derailed (NBC)

(6) Was Torpedoed (NY Post)

(7) Collapsed (BBC)

Each of these descriptors is accurate, though the outlets reveal inherent biases in how they framed the story. Hunter Biden ended up pleading not guilty to the charges, and bailed on a planned, post-hearing press conference. It’s unclear when the deal will be revisited, though Biden’s attorneys stated they needed two weeks to address the judge’s specific questions.” —

Ashe in America

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Fed hikes interest rates to 22-year high after brief pause

The Federal Reserve pushed interest rates to a 22-year high Wednesday, one month after a brief respite in hikes during the central bank’s race to bring down historic inflation.

The Fed hiked its baseline interest rate range by 0.25 percent to a span of 5.25 to 5.5 percent. It is the Fed’s 11th interest rate hike since March 2022, a dizzying ascent from near-zero interest rates at the beginning of last year.

All 11 voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the panel of Fed officials charged with managing monetary policy, supported the rate hike.

Interest rates are among the sharpest tools in the Fed’s toolbox to hack away at high inflation, which is finally falling after squeezing consumers for the last two years.

Inflation peaked at 9.1 percent annually last June, a 40-year high that sparked fears of a recession on the horizon. Price growth has since fallen to 3 percent year over year as of last month, according to consumer price data released by the Department of Labor.

While this is a marked improvement from the same period last year, Fed officials are wary of pulling back on rate hikes before inflation is closer to the bank’s 2 percent annual target. — The Hill

Our Take: “Thanks to the Fed’s fiscally responsible and infinitely wise policies, interest rates have gone up yet again.

The rate hike will make the cost of money (loans and credit) higher than we’ve seen in quite some time.

Normally, it would mean catastrophic consequences for anyone, be they individual or business owners, in their effort to fund living expenses and cash in hand for business needs.

And this is true, but not for everyone.

The folks on the ‘inside’ enjoy what we might think of as a special accommodation. We know them as woke and broke entities, who, for some strange reason, don’t seem to care about making money as much as they care about destroying their relationships with their customers. Instead, they use their well-funded enterprises to propagandize, gobble up market share from small businesses, and otherwise destroy freedom and prosperity.

The globalists have used the cost of money and price increases (inflation) as a tool of financial warfare for a very long time. It hurts anyone who isn’t in on the grift.

Consider the run-up to the 1913 passage of the Federal Reserve Act, when JP Morgan and his cohorts spread rumors of a liquidity crisis that caused a bank run that created the very liquidity crisis he warned about.

Whoops. All butter fingers, that Morgan.

While massive portions of the bank and corporate world scrambled to sell assets at rock-bottom prices, JP Morgan and his allies bought up massive portions of the economy. Don’t worry though, they didn’t do anything uncomely. They did what any good globalist does: they used the crisis to consolidate financial power and control for themselves.

Today, the stakes are higher, but the game and MO are the same: make money scarce, force people and businesses to sell off assets, and buy up the cheap goods.

Don’t be fooled by the fact business on the inside seem to be hurting like the rest of us. Profits dropping is an easy price to pay in the short term, when in the long term you get on the inside track with the good old boys club.

The other benefit of this ability to control the cost of things and the availability of money is the ability to fund those businesses that further your agenda.

That’s what this is all about, I argue.

If we had a crystal ball to show which entities were receiving funding (special accommodations), we’d likely discover that nearly all of them are DEI or ESG all-stars, working hand-in-glove with the globalist oligarchs.

Gee, if only we had our own currency and financial system, where we could write each other loans and transact without having to use an unstable currency. If only WE THE PEOPLE rallied together to ensure the financial system served all fairly and would never be hijacked again.

‘Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.’ — Thomas Jefferson” —

Justin Deschamps

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RFK Jr. Maintains Highest Favorability Rating Among Presidential Candidates In New Poll

Days after a House hearing on censorship that saw Democrats attempt to prevent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from testifying, a new Harvard-Harris poll showed that he has a higher favorability rating than any other presidential candidate.

Mr. Kennedy has a net favorable rating of 47 percent and a net unfavorable mark of 26 percent according to the survey, which was released on July 23 and conducted from July 19 to July 20 among 2,068 registered voters (pdf).

Poll respondents said that former President Donald Trump has a favorability rating of 45 percent compared to a 49 percent unfavorability number. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has a 40 percent favorable rating and 37 percent unfavorable, and President Joe Biden has 39 percent favorable and 53 percent unfavorable rating, also lagging behind Mr. Kennedy.

Mr. Trump would win the Republican primary and defeat Mr. Biden in a general election, according to the survey, with a 45 percent to 40 percent margin.

The former president would top vice president Kamala Harris 47 percent to 38 percent, the poll showed.

The survey did not indicate what would happen in a head-to-head matchup between Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Trump. — The Epoch Times

Our Take: “Russell Brand ran a fantastic segment yesterday taking CNN/CIA operative Anderson Cooper to task for his 'takedown' of Cornel West, who opposes the NATO alliance and believes the west provoked war with Russia.

While we can argue over policy, Brand's ultimate conclusion re: current trends in American sociopolitics is apt:

We're transitioning from a Left-Right-Center paradigm to an Establishment-anti-Establishment one, and Brand and others are using RFK Jr. as one of the leading examples of this emergent trend, even as Ron DeSantis’ doomed campaign falls apart due to his continued exposure as … less than the genuine, anti-Establishment article.

Ultimately, whether the people reject the Establishment through Trump or another cultural vector, the end result is the same: from Donald Trump to RFK Jr., the System of Systems is in the crosshairs.” —

Burning Bright

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US judge tightens Sam Bankman-Fried's bail, will consider jailing him

A U.S. judge on Wednesday tightened Sam Bankman-Fried's bail conditions by restricting his ability to communicate publicly, and said he will consider jailing him before the trial over the collapse of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange.

At a hearing in Manhattan federal court, prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to detain Bankman-Fried now, saying he had "crossed a line" by sharing his former romantic partner Caroline Ellison's personal writings with a reporter, in what they said amounted to a second instance of witness tampering.

Kaplan imposed a "gag order" previously requested by prosecutors for the 31-year-old Bankman-Fried, and gave both sides until Aug. 3 to explain their views on whether jail is necessary for the former billionaire.

"I'm very mindful of the government's interest in this issue, which I take seriously," Kaplan said. "Mr. Bankman-Fried, you'd better take it seriously too."

Mark Cohen, a lawyer for Bankman-Fried, said his client was trying merely to protect his reputation by communicating with journalists, and that it "really would be almost impossible" to prepare for the Oct. 2 trial if Bankman-Fried were jailed.

Bankman-Fried has been largely confined to his parents' home in Palo Alto, California, since his extradition in December from the Bahamas, where he was arrested and where FTX was based. — Reuters

Our Take: “The decision to jail SBF now, after a second allegation of witness tampering, feels like a half-hearted virtue signal by the judge. But it’s a reminder that, for justice to be justice, she has to be blind.

SBF has received preferential treatment since the news of his fraud broke, and the ship has sailed on convincing the American people that he will get a legitimate trial. The people’s doubt here is supported by the elitist whining of SBF’s lawyers. Really, your honor, ‘It really would be almost impossible to prepare for trial if Bankman-Fried were jailed.’

Tell that to the J6ers.

Justice is not blind. She peeks and determines her course based on ideology and class.” —

Ashe in America

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Trump teams prepare for possible Thursday grand jury vote

Donald Trump’s legal and political teams are preparing for the possibility that the federal grand jury will vote on charges against the former president as early as Thursday, according to three sources familiar with the thinking of his inner circle.

Trump said July 18 on his social media platform that he was notified that he is a target in an investigation into the Jan. 6 riot and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Special counsel Jack Smith has been investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by a mob of pro-Trump supporters, as well as other matters, in Washington, D.C. — NBC News

Our Take: “As we discussed Sunday night on DEFECTED and again last night on the Devolution Power Hour, the fact that Trump’s THIRD indictment of 2023 is being met with more excitement than trepidation among the Truth Community who’ve been paying attention to the story beneath the public narrative is evidence enough that MUCH more is afoot than the Media Industrial Complex is portraying.

Whether or not Donald Trump ends up using the Jack Smith J6 trial in order to prove the 2020 election fraud he so boldly claimed, and that his supporters believe remains to be seen, but the fact remains, Trump is the one promoting his upcoming legal battles more than any other public figure, and since Trump is all about the show, there’s a reason he wants the eyes of the nation on the coming events …

War of Stories, indeed.” —

Burning Bright

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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.