Badlands News Brief
Trump 2.0, FBI Enablers & Collegiate Idiots
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, April 24 …
Trump 2.0: How US allies are preparing for a second term
Germany is waging a charm offensive inside the Republican Party. Japan is lining up its own Trump whisperer. Mexican government officials are talking to Camp Trump. And Australia is busy making laws to help Trump-proof its U.S. defense ties.
Everywhere, U.S. allies are taking steps to defend or advance their interests in the event former President Donald Trump returns to power in November elections, an even chance based on recent opinion polls in swing states.
They want to avoid the cold slap that Trump's "America First" policies dealt them last time around, which included trade wars, a shakeup of security alliances, an immigration crackdown and the withdrawal from a global climate accord.
Reuters spoke to diplomats and government officials in five continents about preparations for Trump 2.0. It uncovered Mexican deliberations over a new, Trump-savvy foreign minister, an Australian envoy's role in rushing to protect a submarine deal, and a German official's talks with Republican state governors.
Some foreign leaders have contacted Trump directly despite the risk of irking his election rival, Democratic President Joe Biden. Saudi's crown prince recently phoned Trump, a source with knowledge of the conversation said; while Hungary's prime minister and Poland's president met him in person in recent weeks. — Reuters
Our Take: “The rest of the world is starting to catch on. Even the morons in the corporate press.
Yes, it is highly unusual that the Saudi Crown Prince is calling the Republican candidate for POTUS while the Middle East is on the cusp of regional war.
Yes, it is weird that world leaders are showing Trump and his team more respect than the Biden regime.
Everybody knows Trump is the guy, even if we have to wait a few months for his glorious return.
And how about Germany trying to collude with state-level Republicans to subvert Trump's will? Don't make us come across that ocean and slap that sauerkraut out of your mouth. Mess around, and it'll be a 20% tariff.
NATO will be abolished, and its proverbial rat-lines flooded. The Unipolar world order (foreign aid and forever wars) will be dismantled, and a Multipolar world will emerge—as Kyle calls it: regions of responsibility.
The Sovereign Alliance is real. The people we have been told are our allies have actually been working to subvert our ability to govern ourselves. We have better prospects out in the international community, with more aligned interests.” —
Alvin Bragg Has His Trump Trial, All He Needs Now Is A Crime
For many of us in the legal community, the case of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg against former president Donald Trump borders on the legally obscene: an openly political prosecution based on a theory that even some liberal pundits have dismissed. Yet, this week the prosecution seemed like they were actually making a case for obscenity.
No, it was not the gratuitous introduction of an uncharged alleged tryst with a former Playboy bunny or planned details on the relationship with a former porn star. It was the criminal theory itself that seemed crafted around the standard for obscenity famously described by Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart in the case of Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964): “I shall not today attempt further to define [it] … But I know it when I see it.”
After months of confusion of what crime they were alleging in the indictment, the prosecution offered a new theory that is so ambiguous and undefined that it would have made Justice Stewart blush.
New York prosecutor Joshua Steinglass told the jury that one of the crimes that Trump allegedly committed in listing the payments to Stormy Daniels as a “legal expense” was New York Law 17-152. This law states “Any two or more persons who conspire to promote or prevent the election of any person to a public office by unlawful means and which conspiracy is acted upon by one or more of the parties thereto, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
So they are arguing that Trump committed a crime by conspiring to unlawfully promote his own candidacy. He did this by paying to quash a potentially embarrassing story and then reimbursing his lawyer with other legal expenses. — Jonathan Turley
Our Take: “Framing the Trump Trial(s) as a War of Attrition works when viewed through the lens of Game Theory.
Such framing suggests that prosecutors that have been put up to the ongoing Witch Hunt may look for the opportunity to find off-ramps from bringing said prosecutions to their implied end points that could result in either Trump's codified/proven innocence, or in Supreme Court challenges they'd probably rather not see.
When we flip this around, we begin to see that Trump and company have the lawfare department in a bit of a Kobayashi Maru (an impossible task,) caught between continuing their bogus inquiries (and thus, setting all sorts of legal precedent they'd rather not contend with,) or being seen dropping the charade in full view of an awakening populace.
This 'baiting' strategy is one patriots have employed all over the game board, from the Witch Hunt to the 2024 election.
Whether they convict or acquit, steal or submit, the world is watching.
Do you think they feel in charge?” —
Biden Admin To Pay $139 Million To Victims For FBI Failures In Sex Abuse Investigation
The Biden administration has agreed to pay over $138 million to victims of convicted sex abuser Larry Nassar while acknowledging the FBI’s failures to properly investigate warnings that the sports physician was exploiting his position to molest young girls under the guise of treatment.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in an April 23 statement that it had settled 139 civil claims arising from allegations of sexual abuse committed by Mr. Nassar, who was earlier found guilty of having abused hundreds of victims under the pretext of performing medical treatments.
The settlements—which total $138.7 million—resolve administrative claims made against the DOJ alleging that the FBI failed to carry out an adequate investigation into Mr. Nassar’s actions.
A DOJ watchdog found in July 2021 that parts of the FBI’s response to allegations against Mr. Nassar, as well as the agency’s investigation into his actions, were inadequate.
The “FBI failed to conduct an adequate investigation of Nassar’s conduct,” Acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement. — The Epoch Times
Our Take: “In a serious country, the FBI would be forced to take a retrospective approach to this massive failure, in which nearly $1B in claims have been awarded. But we’re in clown world, so an apology, a pat on the head, and business as usual is what you get.
Wray apologizes for systemic failures and acknowledges the Bureau’s widespread mismanagement that led to so many young gymnasts being abused, but there’s no indication of systemic reforms. How many other monsters did the FBI enable? How many are they still enabling?
The Biden Administration is likely hoping that throwing rapidly devaluing fiat dollars at the problem will make it go away, but exposure precedes accountability, and more is certainly coming. Nothing can stop it.” —
"Situation Is Unraveling": Pro-Palestinian Protests Erupt Across America's Woke Colleges
Colleges and universities across the country are struggling this week to keep pro-Palestinian protesters off school grounds. Students, and or perhaps a mix of professional protesters funded by radical leftist groups and dirty Gulf money, are storming campuses and setting up encampments. This is likely a coordinated effort nationwide as other pro-Palestinian demonstrators have been busy shutting down critical infrastructure across the country, such as airport terminals, bridges, and other chokepoints that could disrupt the economy.
Moments ago, pro-Palestinian protesters invaded Harvard University and "set up an encampment in Harvard Yard," X user Collin Rugg reports. He posted footage of the protesters storming the campus.
"The move comes just days after Harvard restricted access to the Yard to only Harvard ID holders," Rugg said.
He added the protesters are demanding the school "divest from Israel's war in Gaza."
On Monday night, police arrested protesters at New York University, ending a multiday standoff. — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “I recently attended a screening of The Coddling of the American Mind. It was put on by the Toronto chapter of the Heterodox Academy (A network of academics, post secondary professors, other faculty members and students fighting to counteract what they see as a lack of viewpoint diversity on campuses across North America).
The film follows separate stories of different college students who were infected by the woke mind virus and subsequently recovered, after picking up the pieces. Some of the stories were heartbreaking.
It was a moving example of how deeply damaging this web of Marxist ideologies is, backed by excellent research and compelling animations.
But beyond the film, something even more compelling gave me insight into this massive explosion of post secondary pro-Palestine ‘protests/civil unrest/terrorism’: It was the actual university professors in attendance at the screening.
They all described, in incredible detail, watching the youth at their schools slowly descend into this madness. As a most poignant example, every single professor in attendance described a sudden spike in students showing up with ‘Accommodation Letters’ demanding that this student be given more time than everyone else to finish this assignment.
All these professors were describing the implementation into these kids minds of what the filmmakers called The Three Great Untruths:
1. What doesn’t kill you makes you weaker
2. Always trust your feelings
3. Life is a battle between good people and evil people.
The experience changed my thinking on what this mob mentality arising from leftists university students means.
Yes, it’s tragic that our youth are being targeted by sophisticated fifth-generation PSYOPS.
But, the flip side of this is that high minded intellectuals are beginning to wake up to the actual war. They are beginning to see that this is more than politics and activism. They are seeing that these kids are outright programmed.
I even had one of the profs email me directly to explain that he feels ‘something bigger is going on.’
The point is, the boomerang is always bigger. The whole reason Heterodox Academy exists is because academics across North America are putting some skin in the game and fighting for free thought.
We should expect such academically-minded organizations to receive an influx of new members as the reality of a generation of students being under genuine mind control shatters old paradigms.” —
Aussie Senator Says Elon Musk Should "Be In Jail And The Key Be Thrown Away"
An Australian Senator has called for X owner Elon Musk to be jailed for life for refusing to adhere to the Australian government’s demands to remove a video of the brutal attack on a Christian Bishop in Sydney last week by an apparent Muslim extremist.
[…]
In comments to Sky News, Independent Australian Senator Jacqui Lambie charged that Musk is “creating hatred” by ignoring requests to remove “harmful content.”
“I think he’s a social media knob with no social conscience, he has absolutely no social conscience,” she said.
“Someone like that should be in jail and the key be thrown away. That bloke should not have a right to be out there on his own ideology platform and creating hatred, showing all this stuff out there to our kids and doing all the rest,” Lambie added.
The Senator for Tasmania also declared she would be boycotting X, proclaiming “I’ll be switching off X today, I’ll be doing that before I get to the airport this afternoon, and I suggest that the other 226, there’s 227 members of Parliament, do the same thing. Show him that you mean business.” — Modernity News
Our Take: “This isn’t about X or Elon Musk or hate speech or disinformation. It’s about control over the narrative.
This Australian Senator is calling for speech bans because people don’t believe her government’s central narrative any longer. It’s that simple. Trust in the government is dangerously close to becoming mandatory, not just in Australia, but everywhere. Those cheering to criminalize speech, particularly speech critical of the government, should not be so bold. But they are so bold. That’s interesting.
Are the people of Australia so domesticated that their leaders can openly call to remove their rights without consequence? I don’t know, but the people of America certainly are. The awakening is not yet outpacing the spread of tyranny, which indicates an uncertain near-term future.
In the end, liberty wins — I’m certain of it. But I’m equally certain the middle is gonna be bumpy, for Australia, America and the rest. How bumpy depends on us. Awakening accelerate.” —
U.S. bans noncompete agreements for nearly all jobs
The Federal Trade Commission narrowly voted Tuesday to ban nearly all noncompetes, employment agreements that typically prevent workers from joining competing businesses or launching ones of their own.
The FTC received more than 26,000 public comments in the months leading up to the vote. Chair Lina Khan referenced on Tuesday some of the stories she had heard from workers.
"We heard from employees who, because of noncompetes, were stuck in abusive workplaces," she said. "One person noted when an employer merged with an organization whose religious principles conflicted with their own, a noncompete kept the worker locked in place and unable to freely switch to a job that didn't conflict with their religious practices."
These accounts, she said, "pointed to the basic reality of how robbing people of their economic liberty also robs them of all sorts of other freedoms." — NPR
And …
Airlines will now be required to give automatic cash refunds for canceled and delayed flights
The Biden administration issued final rules Wednesday to require airlines to automatically issue cash refunds for things like delayed flights and to better disclose fees for baggage or canceling a reservation.
The Transportation Department said airlines will be required to provide automatic cash refunds within a few days for canceled flights and “significant” delays.
Under current regulations, airlines decide how long a delay must last before triggering refunds. The administration is removing that wiggle room by defining a significant delay as lasting at least three hours for domestic flights and six hours for international ones.
Airlines still will be allowed to offer another flight or a travel credit instead, but consumers can reject the offer. — AP News
Our Take: “In back-to-back days, we've seen the Biden Admin scoring some rare wins in the public mind, specifically with regards to an FTC ruling against employee non-compete clauses and the DOT targeting airlines for their archaic refund policies.
On paper, both of these things are largely good, in that they signal push-back on industries that have gone too far when it comes to stripping customers and employees of power projection capabilities ... but I think there's something more nefarious afoot.
When it comes to non-compete clauses, I largely agree with the FTC's stance that they should be rendered unenforceable, and I hate airlines as much as the next person.
That said, I think the Trojan Horse inherent in both announcements is the tacit endorsement of the administrative authority of government agencies over private enterprise and the free market.
If we had a truly free market divorced from administrative oversight ... these issues would correct themselves.” —
Kanye West plans to launch Yeezy PORN studio with Stormy Daniels' ex in latest shock move... five years after revealing 'addiction' to lewd material
Kanye West is planning to launch a Yeezy Porn studio in his latest shock movie -five years after saying he had an 'addiction' to lewd material.
The 46-year-old previously expressed regret that he watched pornography so often, even claiming adult entertainment had 'destroyed my family.'
More recently, however, he is thought to have been behind his wife Bianca Censori's jaw-dropping outfits that leave her intimate parts exposed to view.
Now a representative for Kanye has informed TMZ that the rap star hopes to add an adult entertainment branch to his Yeezy empire, possibly this summer.
He is said to be communicating with adult film producer Mike Moz, who used to be married to Stormy Daniels, in hopes that Mike will run his studio. — The Daily Mail
Our Take: “Let me start by saying that if Kanye actually follows through, and publishes pornography, then he must be back on one of those lithium cycles that he accused Harvey Pasternak of putting him through, and needs help.
Kanye has certainly done some bizarre stuff.
Anybody familiar with my thinking on Kanye knows that I think he has a special relationship with Donald Trump. I've done an X thread on how I believe Trump saved Kanye from Harvey Pasternak when Harvey had Kanye institutionalized after Kanye interrupted his own concert in November 2016 to call out Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, pledging his support for Trump.
In 2018, there were reports of Kanye exploring an entry into the porn industry. He designed the wardrobe for the Pornhub awards. At that same time, he was meeting publicly with Trump, publicly professing his reconnection to Jesus, and working on a gospel album (‘Jesus is King’) that would go #1 and lead to a worldwide gospel tour and genuine public campaign by him to make Christianity ‘cool’ for young people.
Kanye put out a tweet, ‘The use of porn destroyed my family but Jesus will heal everything,’ followed by, ‘Remove any and all forms of pornography from Twitter and every platform[.] Pornography is the product of pedophilia[.] When grown men look at porn they are watching someone's daughter relive trauma for money[.]’
People forget that the whole ‘antisemite’ campaign agaisnt Kanye started when he and Candace Owens wore t-shirts reading ‘White Lives Matter’ at the Paris Fashion Show in October 2022. In the time leading up to that, Kanye also publicly wore Balenciaga apparel, and was quick to tell anybody recording him that it was Balenciaga. Right as the Balenciaga-pedophile-photoshoot-scandal was unfolding.
Remember that black mask he wore during that goofy appearance on the Alex Jones show, when he humiliated Alex (‘net-and-Yahoo’) and left him speechless? (Yup. The gimp suit was Balenciaga.)
If you go listen to his song, ‘Violent Crimes’ from his 2018 album, the song is about protecting his own daughters from a dangerous world that he knows wants to exploit them, because Kanye confesses that he used to be one of those people. The chorus of the song explicitly thanks ‘the heroes of the night’ that protect innocent people from violent hedonists.
On several occasions, Kanye has vocally expressed dread that his own mother-in-law (Kim Kardashian's mother) will one day exploit his daughters for money and clout. As a father of daughters, myself, I can't imagine living everyday with that future certainty—because I think he is right. What would any father do to protect his own daughter from an industry hellbent on preying on her?
And now, on the same day that Trump goes to trial for hush-money paid to Stormy Daniels, Kanye announces that he is breaking into the porn industry with Stormy Daniels' ex-husband?
Okay.
Kanye has the unique ability to maybe do something about it, and he has proven himself to be a fantastic bull in a china shop, in the best possible way.
Here's to the bull. Let's pray that it is guided by God.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Truth Social CEO calls on House to investigate potential 'unlawful manipulation of DJT stock'
Devin Nunes, CEO of the Trump Media & Technology Group, is asking House committee leaders to investigate the potential "unlawful manipulation of DJT stock."
In a letter to the committees, Nunes pointed out that DJT [the initials for Donald J. Trump] has appeared every day since April 2 on Nasdaq’s "Reg SHO threshold list," which he said is "indicative of unlawful trading activity."
The concern follows Trump Media & Technology Group, whose flagship product is social networking site Truth Social, began being traded late last month on the Nasdaq stock market.
"This is particularly troubling given that 'naked' short selling often entails sophisticated market participants profiting at the expense of retail investors," Nunes wrote in the letter released on Tuesday. "Reports indicate that, as of April 3, 2024, DJT was the single most expensive stock to short in U.S. markets by a significant margin, meaning that brokers have a significant financial incentive to lend non-existent shares." — Just the News
Russian court orders seizure of JPMorgan Chase funds in VTB lawsuit
A Russian court has ordered the seizure of funds in JPMorgan Chase (JPM.N), opens new tab bank accounts in Russia, court filings showed on Wednesday, in a lawsuit filed by state-owned bank VTB (VTBR.MM), opens new tab as it seeks to regain funds blocked abroad.
JP Morgan Chase last week sued VTB in New York to halt its efforts to recover $439.5 million from an account that was blocked after Russia despatched its army to Ukraine in 2022 and VTB was hit with sanctions.
JPMorgan Chase declined to comment on the Russian court's interim measures. VTB did not immediately comment on Wednesday. It has previously declined to comment on its legal disputes with JPMorgan Chase.
The Arbitration Court of St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region's ruling was dated April 22.
The court said it had ordered the seizure of all funds in JP Morgan bank accounts in Russia, including correspondent accounts and those opened in the name of a subsidiary. The court said it had not seized securities and property held by JP Morgan funds, or the jpmorgan.ru domain.
In a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan earlier this month, JPMorgan described VTB's attempt to recover the money in Russia as a "blatant breach" of its agreement to have disputes addressed in New York. — Reuters
Jack Dorsey’s payments company, Block, is building its own bitcoin mining system
Jack Dorsey says that his payments company, Block (formerly Square), is expanding its bitcoin mining ambitions from designing chips to developing a full bitcoin mining system.
In a post on Tuesday, the global tech firm announced that it had finished the development of its own standalone three-nanometer bitcoin mining chip and was now in the process of working through the design with a “leading global semiconductor foundry.”
Block also unveiled plans to broaden out the scope of its mining project to include system design.
“We’ve spent a significant amount of time talking to a wide variety of bitcoin miners to identify the challenges faced by mining operators,” Block writes. “Building on these insights and pursuant to our goal of supporting mining decentralization, we plan to offer both a standalone mining chip as well as a full mining system of our own design.” — CNBC
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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"𝙄𝙛 𝙬𝙚 𝙝𝙖𝙙 𝙖 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙡𝙮 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙩 𝙙𝙞𝙫𝙤𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙙 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙖𝙙𝙢𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙨𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙨𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 ... 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙨𝙚 𝙞𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚𝙨 𝙬𝙤𝙪𝙡𝙙 𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙧𝙚𝙘𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙫𝙚𝙨.” -- BOOM! Stalin famously picked up a chicken in front of journalists and began plucking its feathers, causing it great pain. He then released the chicken and began dropping kernels of corn and the chicken followed him for those few morsels rather than fleeing its tormentor. We're the chicken, and tiny (probably temporary) relaxations of the oppressive rules are those bits of corn. Will Americans bravely flee the tormentor, or debase themselves for bits of corn? Stalin demonstrated what tyrants expect. The Founders had higher expectations.
I have been heartsick over Kanye and the direction his life is going. Thanks for the update.
A friend and I had a conversation about him breaking free from his handlers a few years ago.
https://healthyfamilies.substack.com/p/kanye-is-breaking-free