Badlands News Brief
Economic Strife Prompts a Squeeze on the 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 Monday, May 13 …
"An Absolute Disaster": Media Freaks As Trump Dominates Battleground States
A new set of polls reveals that Donald Trump is leading President Biden in five out of six critical battleground states, as young and nonwhite voters grow increasingly dissatisfied with the current president.
The surveys, from the New York Times, Siena College and the Philadelphia Inquirer found that Trump is smoking Biden in Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and Pennsylvania, while Biden is barely clinging to Wisconsin. The top grievances among disaffected voters are cost of living, immigration, and the war in Gaza, in what the NY Times characterizes as "widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the country and serious doubts about Mr. Biden’s ability to deliver major improvements to American life."
Nearly 70 percent of voters say that the country’s political and economic systems need major changes — or even to be torn down entirely.
Only a sliver of Mr. Biden’s supporters — just 13 percent — believe that the president would bring major changes in his second term, while even many of those who dislike Mr. Trump grudgingly acknowledge that he would shake up an unsatisfying status quo.
... The economy and the cost of living, however, remain the most important issues for one-quarter of voters — and a significant drag on Mr. Biden’s prospects. More than half of voters still believe that the economy is “poor,” down merely a single percentage point since November despite cooling inflation, an end to rate hikes and significant stock market gains. -NY Times
And the media is freaking out: — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “With the obvious out of the way from the outset—namely, that the Biden Administration is seen as so catastrophic by the Collective American Mind, it’s hemorrhaging incumbent support at a record-breaking pace—I thought the ALMOST unspoken fear by the CNN talking heads in this segment warranted a signal boost.
There have been many articles written and statistics cited throughout the year as to the ongoing shift of the black and hispanic communities toward Trump and away from Biden, but what’s particularly fascinating to see presented here—and what’s particularly terrifying to the media enablers watching it unfold—is the fact that the very Rust Belt minority counties Biden campaigned on in 2020 (when his handlers allowed him to,) are the ones even they admit are sharply turning in favor of Trump this time around.
We truly might be getting to the point where we see the Biden Admin and its media handlers pivoting toward widespread narrative attacks on American minorities and working class while boosting wealthy, highly-educated (in Marxist universities) whites as the true ‘working class’ of the country.
As for the MAGA and America First faithful? We’ll welcome all comers with the following vibes …” —
UN Cuts Estimate of Children Killed in Gaza by 50%; Blames ‘Fog of War’ for Errors
The United Nations has cut its estimate of Palestinian children killed in Gaza by half, calling into question the figures frequently used by international news outlets and governments to criticize Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
The Jerusalem Post reported on Saturday:
On May 6, the UN published data showing that 34,735 people had reportedly been killed in Gaza, including over 9,500 women and over 14,500 children.
On May 8, the UN published data showing 34,844 people had reportedly been killed, including 4,959 women and 7,797 children.
… This comes after months of accusations from leading statisticians that the numbers produced by the Gazan authorities cannot possibly be accurate.
David Adesnik, the Senior Fellow and Director of Research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, responded: “This change may signal that the UN has finally recognized the lack of evidence behind Hamas’s original claims that more than 14,000 children and 9,000 women have been killed in Gaza. If so, the UN should state clearly that it has lost confidence in sources whose credibility it has affirmed for months. While this change may only reflect the conclusion of one UN office out of the many operating in Gaza, it is a clear step forward.”
The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) asked UN officials about the change. The UN blamed the “fog of war.” — Breitbart
Our Take: “My firm stance on the latest conflict between Israel and Palestine has not changed since October 7. That is, all war is deception and all warmongers engage in propaganda.
The latest admission from the WHO that they inflated the number of dead babies and other innocents in Gaza by more than 50% is exactly that. They can blame ‘fog of war,’ but the logical conclusion of that narrative stance is that we should not believe anything the UN says going forward. They certainly don’t want that. Do they?
When the ‘babies in ovens’ lie went around the world, the truth community (rightly) condemned the lie as Israeli propaganda. My expectation is that the 50% inflation of dead babies in Gaza is going to be largely ignored by the community.
That’s because the operation is effective.
From where I sit, October 7 proved that the People’s ability to combat emotional propaganda has a long way to go. I still see way too many willing to believe whatever the ‘Free Palestine’ movement says because it confirms their biases against Israel. Whether or not those biases are founded is irrelevant: You’re still having an emotional reaction to propaganda that confirms your feels.
In other words, critical thinking means, perhaps most importantly, that you’re critical of information that supports your worldview and makes you believe you’re on the ‘right side.’
Fun fact: There is no right side of a banker war.
Maybe that’s why ‘Israel is saved for last.’ Maybe it’s the final level of defecting from our modern mental prison. Awakening, accelerate.” —
Biden Calls Illegals Crossing The Border "Hispanic Voters"
In a telling slip of the tongue earlier this week, Joe Biden referred to the unprecedented rise in illegal immigrants entering the US as an “influx” of “Hispanic voters.”
During an interview with a Spanish radio show, Biden was talking about the border crisis, and stated “It’s even a bigger influx now in terms of Hispanic voters, or Hispanic – Hispanic citizens, who want to become citizens.”
Biden also ludicrously compared mass illegal immigration at the border to Irish people coming to America in the 1840s.
He said it’s “a little bit like back in the 1840s and the great exodus of Ireland, because of the famine and the way Irish Catholics were treated. They said no, no, we don’t need any more of those folks. There was a large influx.” — Modernity News
Our Take: “Historic Voter Fraud 101, ladies and gentlemen.
It might not seem like the grand fraud of counting mail-in ballots three times over like we saw in 2020, but it is voter fraud nonetheless.
This voter fraud goes largely unrecognized because the core basis behind what an election is as a matter of law, trust, and the incredible tools God gave to man, are largely not understood. This will change in due course, however.
Let me explain:
Biden, like any establishment Democrat aka uniparty member, is doing what the uniparty does best—mobilizing the intentionally disenfranchised and economically downtrodden to cast votes in favor of the uniparty’s agenda at that moment.
The Irish immigrants of the 19th century, right as the industrial revolution was shifting into high gear, came to the US to seek a better life. The then-democratic party was there welcoming them with open arms. These immigrants came in and voted along the party lines that helped them immigrate, the Democratic party. These same immigrants, turned voters, would vote in alignment with the democratic party for another 100 years, until they became an entrenched part of American culture. This entrenchment occurred around the time of JFK.
The same thing is happening right now with a new wave of disenfranchised economically downtrodden immigrants. To work, the population has to have scant financial resources, low education, both factors compel compliance toward which ever party gave them a leg up when they immigrated to the target country. The US is that target country right now.
The point is that by controlling banking, finance, industry, and the legislative process in various countries meant for immigration, globalist schemers can drive immigration to the target country and once done, create a loyal voting class that will vote as they are encouraged to for a significant period of time.
I'll have more to reveal about this in my upcoming article.” —
Another Take: “On Tuesday, May 7,
and I discussed Gangs of New York, and how the government aided and abetted the influx of millions of immigrants into the nation (mostly through New York) in order to get them to vote in state and federal elections in the midst of the Civil War.We presented this as a direct analogue to the current US southern border crisis, and the conflation with 'Dreamers' as illegal voters.
A few days later, Joe Biden referred to said immigrants as ‘hispanic voters.’
But here's the kicker ... he went on to directly compare them to the very immigration crisis we covered in the episode, saying it's ‘a little bit like back in the 1840s and the great exodus of Ireland, because of the famine and the way Irish Catholics were treated. They said no, no, we don’t need any more of those folks. There was a large influx.’
So ... are patriot Ghosts in the Media Machine watching Badlands Story Hour?
We'll leave that for you to decide.
(But yes.)” —
PA says it can only pay 50% of civil sector salaries this month as tax funds withheld
The Palestinian Authority said Sunday it will only be able to pay a part of public sector salaries this week as the Finance Ministry is continuing to withhold tax revenues that it collects for Ramallah, keeping up a squeeze on payrolls that has lasted for months.
Channel 12 reported over the weekend that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had been holding back NIS 170 million shekels ($46 million) in tax revenue for nine days, in protest of PA efforts “fighting against the State of Israel.” It was an apparent reference to reports that Ramallah has been pushing for the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for top Israeli officials for alleged breaches of international law in Gaza during the war against Hamas.
The PA said it would pay Palestinian public sector employees 50 percent of their March salaries on Tuesday after Israel withheld a transfer due for the month of April.
It said the arrears would be paid once the financial situation allowed.
The Finance Ministry confirmed it had been decided not to transfer tax revenues this month but declined to provide details. — Times of Israel
Our Take: “This article has led me down a rabbit hole that I never intended to enter—the system of taxation in Palestine—yet here I am.
Back in 1994, as part of the Oslo Accords, the state of Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization signed the Gaza-Jericho Agreement, as well as the Protocol on Economic Relations—more commonly called the Paris Protocol. These agreements created the Palestinian Authority (PA), granting it very limited powers of governance. When it came to taxation in Palestine, Israel would remain in complete control.
(Keep in mind that this system was designed to be temporary and only last 5 years—when the Two-State Solution was scheduled to be fully implemented by the Oslo Accords. The system remains in place today.)
Under the tax clearance system, Israel collects taxes on behalf of the PA. It is the largest source of income for the PA, accounting for about 70-75% of the PA's total revenue. In 2014-2015, the reported number was $160 million a month in collected tax revenue.
There are three types of tax that Israel collects on behalf of Palestine. They include tariffs, ‘value added tax’ (VAT), and income tax which also includes ‘insurance fees’ that are automatically deducted from Palestinian paychecks.
All trade that Palestine engages in with foreign countries is conducted through Israeli ports, under Israeli supervision. Per the Paris Protocols, Israel has unilateral authority to establish new tariffs and raise rates.
The Protocols also established a ‘value added tax’ (VAT) on goods and services in both Israel and Palestine. While Israel only collects the VAT tax on goods and services sold in Israel, it possesses unilateral authority to adjust these rates, and the PA is required to match it whenever an adjustment is made.
When it comes to income tax, a particularly draconian provision in Section 194 of the Israeli Income Tax Ordinance grants tax collectors ‘broad leeway and discretion,’ allowing officers to assess what a taxpayer may owe, with almost no recourse to challenge these figures. And while Israeli citizens are almost never jailed for failing to pay, Palestinians are routinely exploited and sent to debtors prison.
In 1989, an affluent Christian-Palestinian town outside of Bethlehem called Beit Sahour organized a non-violent boycott of Israeli goods, in response to IDF military repression that was occurring in the region. The Christians coined the slogan, ‘No taxation under Occupation,’ invoking the principles of the American Founding Fathers and their existential arguments against the secular tyranny of Great Britain.
In response, the IDF imposed a 42-day curfew on the town, blocking food imports, cutting telephone lines, impounding private vehicles, and seizing over $1.5 million worth of cash and private property from the town's 300 wealthiest families (including family refrigerators, which were sold at auction to Israeli citizens). The town's 40 top leaders were all arrested and given multi-year prison sentences. All the town's schools were closed, medical services ceased, and food supply chains shut down.
The movement was crushed within nine months thanks to the IDF's siege.
I realize that there isn't a lot of love lost for Muslims among portions of the America First movement (sadly, we still suffer from our NeoCon indoctrination), but what about Christians in Bethlehem who champion the ethos of the American Founding Fathers? Are we disturbed when those poor souls suffer under the tyranny of the global hegemony? (And this was 35 years ago; it's only gotten worse.)
Do we understand that our tax dollars finance all of this tyranny? We have become the Great Britain of 1776.
We all share the same common enemy. One day soon, that truth will be self-evident.” —
Putin removes Shoigu as Russian defense minister
President Vladimir Putin has proposed that Sergey Shoigu be replaced as Russian defense minister by acting First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov, the Federation Council said on Sunday evening.
Shoigu has been appointed secretary of the Russian Security Council.
Senators are scheduled to engage in consultations regarding the nominees put forth by the president during committee sessions on May 13 and during a Federation Council meeting on May 14, as announced by the upper house of the Russian parliament.
No further alterations have been made to the roster of candidates Putin has submitted for cabinet positions. His nominations include Vladimir Kolokoltsev for the position of interior minister, Alexander Kurenkov for minister of emergency situations, Sergey Lavrov for foreign minister, and Konstantin Chuichenko for justice minister.
Denis Manturov, who served as deputy prime minister and head of the Ministry of Industry and Trade during Putin’s last term in office, has been nominated for the position of first deputy prime minister. — RT
Our Take: “Another week, another flavor of 'Muh Russia' mongering coming out of the MSM.
In the latest maneuver from Vladimir Putin we're told will definitely, totally destabilize one of the most stable nations in the world, the Russian President has signaled his intentions to swap out long-time friend and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
What's more, he's going to be replaced by acting First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov.
What's MORE ... Belousov has virtually no experience in the defense realm, but is rather an economist who's worked for a long time in the Russian banking sector.
I find this pretty fascinating from an asymmetric warfare perspective.
First of all, Russia is in firm control of whatever kinetic situation is going on in the Donbas/Ukraine.
Second, Putin is not so subtly signaling that he considers the Russian economy to be a matter of national defense.
Putin is gearing up to prepare Russia for the next leg of asymmetric warfare.
How will the Banks see this move?” —
IMF staff, Argentina agree loan review to help unlock $800 million
Staff of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Argentine authorities have reached an agreement on the eighth review of the country's $44 billion extended fund facility arrangement, as reforms under President Javier Milei have improved macroeconomic stability, the IMF said on Monday.
The IMF said the decision, which will unlock a disbursement of close to $800 million if it gets the final sign-off from the fund's board of directors, followed better-than-expected first-quarter performance in Argentina.
Milei took office in December vowing to tackle triple-digit inflation, contracting economic activity and reserves in the red. He rolled out a sweeping fiscal reform, tightening government spending sharply.
The changes have helped Argentina rebuild depleted foreign currency reserves, post fiscal surpluses at the start of the year and stabilize the peso currency. Markets have rallied and inflation is coming down on a monthly basis since a December peak.
The economy, however, is stalling, with falling consumption and manufacturing, a challenge to Milei. Poverty is also rising. — Reuters
Our Take: “I did not have the IMF endorsing economic populism on my 2024 bingo card, but here we are.
‘Milei's plan has resulted in faster-than-anticipated progress in restoring macroeconomic stability and bringing the (IMF) program firmly back on track,’ the body said.
Simmering under the surface of this announcement is an IMF flex, a subtle attempt to reassert their dominance while their decades-long narrative crumbles before their lizard eyes. That is, I don’t think this arc has quite yet reached its logical conclusion — economic populism is an existential threat to the IMF. Let’s see what happens.” —
'It's Not Over Til I Say It's Over' - GameStop's 'Roaring Kitty' Returns, Sends Shares Skyrocketing
"My god it's him, he's really back. To give a hedgefund bitch a heart attack. To make a million apes insomniac. It's the guy... who's not a cat ;-)," wrote one user on Reddit's GameStop message board on Sunday evening following an X post from 'Roaring Kitty.'
Roaring Kitty, also known as Keith Gill, led an army of 'meme-traders' against hedge funds shorting GameStop (Melvin Capital) in 2021. He returned to X last night, posting a meme that suggested he's back after going silent on X since June 2021.
The X post has gone viral. It has been viewed more than 8.5 million times, with 14k retweets and 51k likes.
GME is now up 110% on the day, back to its highest since August 2022...
Earlier, we cited a note from Goldman Sachs flow of funds guru, Scott Rubner, who told clients, "I am starting to see some real FOMO start to develop based on incomings last week. Roaring Kitty is back, the message boards are going crazy this am. It is time for a thread." — ZeroHedge
Our Take: “‘GameStop as a cover story’ and/or narrative seeding should be front-of-mind.
Rerun and refresher course on naked short selling before Nunes/$DJT narrative progresses.” —
Another Take: “Gonna go ahead and give an ole' toot of the horn on this.
A few weeks ago on DEFECTED, I had forwarded the theory that the GME squeeze was itself seeding for the DJT squeeze to follow.
Now, as Chris points out, we've got the GME Squeeze popping back up into the Central Narrative in accordance with the Shark Fin Template ...
Let's see what happens.” —
BONUS ITEMS
Gov. Gavin Newsom proposes painful cuts to close California’s growing budget deficit
California’s budget deficit is at least $45 billion, a shortfall so large it prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday to propose painful spending cuts impacting immigrants, kindergarteners and low-income parents seeking child care in a state often lauded for having the world’s fifth-largest economy.
Officially, Newsom said the state’s deficit is $27.6 billion. But really, it’s closer to $45 billion when including previous spending reductions that Newsom and the state Legislature agreed to in March. Including reductions in public education spending, which Newsom has not included, the deficit would be even billions of dollars more, according to recent analysis by the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
The size of the deficit is important as it will shape the national perspectives of Newsom, who is a top surrogate for President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign and who is widely believed to harbor presidential aspirations of his own. Newsom has spent much of his time in office basking in the glow of historic budget surpluses that allowed him to greatly expand state spending. But back-to-back budget deficits — with more on the horizon — are testing California’s commitment to those increases. — AP News
Musk Wins Latest Censorship Battle In Australia As High Court Rules Against eSafety Commissioner
Can Australia’s eSafety Commissioner block content globally on demand? Not today, ruled the Australian Federal Court, in a win for Elon Musk’s social media platform X.
In a decision this morning, Justice Geoffrey Kennett refused to extend a temporary injunction obtained by eSafety last month, which forced X to remove footage of the Wakeley church stabbing, an alleged religiously motivated terror attack.
Under the Online Safety Act (2021), the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, has the authority to order removal of such ‘class 1 material’ within Australia under threat of hefty fines.
eSafety argued that X had not gone far enough to block the content from Australians, as a geo-block can be circumvented by a VPN. X argued that eSafety was effectively seeking a global ban on content, straying outside of the Australian online harm regulator’s jurisdiction.
eSafety applied to the Federal Court to extend its temporary injunction against X, with a hearing taking place on Friday 10 May. The temporary injunction was due to expire at 5pm on Friday, but was extended to 5pm today, presumably to allow time for Justice Kennett to deliver a decision on the matter.
This morning, Justice Kennett determined that, “The orders of the court will be that the application to extend … is refused,” meaning that at the time of publishing, the injunction is no longer effective. A written decision with the Judge’s reasoning is yet to be published.
In a statement on the Federal Court decision, eSafety said that the matter will return to Court for a case management hearing on Wednesday, 15 May. — Dystopian Down Under Blog
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.
Badlands Media will always put out our content for free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Help our collective of citizen journalists take back the narrative from the MSM. We are the news now.
Everything escalating from foreign affairs, lawfare, illegal immigrant ‘Hispanic voters,’ blue states turning red, another election year ‘plandemic’ as well as UN lies, censorship, states demoting valid citizens for illegals, small shakeup in Russia, shaky IMF, etc…. BTW: No sympathy for baby face Newsom.
Ashe: ‘There is no right side in a banker war.’
Ghost: ‘We have become the Great Britain of 1776.
We all share the same common enemy.’
Justin: ‘The point is that by controlling banking, finance, industry, and the legislative process in various countries meant for immigration, globalist schemers can drive immigration to the target country and once done, create a loyal voting class that will vote as they are encouraged to for a significant period of time.’
Chris: ‘Rerun and refresher course on naked short selling…’
Burning Bright: ‘Let's see what happens.’
2024 continues on the awakening journey….God bless the Truthers whose part in both critical and greatly appreciated!🙏
re Trump dominates battleground states: Are the pollsters also polling illegals or only citizens? My guess is the latter.
There are over 10 million illegals in this country already. All they have to do is check a box to register to vote when they "enter" this country and they are issued an SSN. The Dems are already mobilizing to use these fake voters, and the Dems and their NGOs know exactly where all of them are. Even if only a small fraction of these votes are recorded (whether by cheating or by actual votes) their presence is more than enough to rig the election, UNLESS the vast majority of disaffected voters participate in November. Hopefully that will happen because there are probably tens of millions of votes out there for Trump that weren't there in 2020, more than enough to negate the illegal ones.