Badlands News Brief
International Dealmaking & Collectible Pennies
The news cycle is impossible to fully track these days. That’s where we come in.
The Badlands News Brief is a uniquely curated selection of the stories dominating the info war — with context and commentary from Badlands hosts.
We’d like to thank our sponsor for this week, Assisted Leaving: Political Satire with a Good Cause. A purchase of the $9.95 certificate goes towards sending a young person to a conservative convention such as GART.
Now, the news from Monday, February 10th ...
White House Launches “MAGA Minute”
Our Take: The White House is evolving their communications, and it’s a smart play. Social media has rapidly changed the way people consume information, and this is White House comms in a TikTok form.
Now, I could opine on how this reinforces the low attention spans, and how we need to encourage people to engage in long form content to promote critical thinking. That’s true, but the realities of the American attention span are what they are; the White House is grabbing mindshare by meeting people where they are. Smart.
From her comments, it appears the Press Secretary will be delivering the MAGA Minute weekly, summarizing the accomplishments as they come. It’s a gift, really, because the accomplishments are coming so fast it’s hard to keep up.
–
China-Russia Ties: Xi to Visit Moscow to Mark Soviet WWII Victory Over Germany
Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend Moscow’s Victory Day in May to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, according to Russian media outlet Tass.
Xi has reportedly accepted Russia’s invitation to attend the annual celebration of the Soviet Union’s victory over Nazi Germany in 1945, according to the report, which cited Igor Morgulov, Russia’s ambassador to China.
Last month Russian President Vladimir Putin told Xi that the two countries “should jointly celebrate” the occasion as China and Russia had worked more closely together in the face of Western pressure. – South China Morning Post
Our Take: "What if China, Russia and Others are coordinating w/ POTUS to eliminate the NWO?"
This is my favorite statement posing as a question in the Q Drops, and it inspired my earliest writings in the Info War.
Righteous Russia explored this question from one side, as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin continue to effect a masterful pincer move on the Globalist Deep State, but the War for Peace takes more than two to tango.
And so, Doomed Dynasty is my take on China's pivotal role in the emergent (and increasingly apparent) Sovereign Alliance. What can an exploration of the Empire of Enigma and its polarizing leader tell us about the past, present and future of the multipolar world, then?
Quite a bit, as it turns out. [read more] –
Trump Says No Right of Return for Palestinians Under Gaza Plan
US President Donald Trump has said the two million Palestinians who would be resettled in neighbouring countries under his plan to take over and rebuild the Gaza Strip would have no right of return.
"No, they wouldn't, because they're going to have much better housing," he told Fox News. "I'm talking about building a permanent place for them."
A clip of the interview was released a day after Trump said he was "committed to buying and owning Gaza", despite global condemnation of the plan he unveiled last week. The Palestinian Authority and the armed group Hamas, whose 16-month war with Israel has caused widespread devastation in Gaza, reiterated that Palestinian land was "not for sale".
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump's proposal as "revolutionary and creative.” The UN has warned that any forced displacement of civilians from occupied territory is strictly prohibited under international law and "tantamount to ethnic cleansing.” – BBC
Our Take: There are many reasons why I don't think that this Gaza situation will play out the way it is currently being presented by President Trump – I believe he has an ulterior motive for doing this.
However, with that said, if it does play out that way, not only will it destroy all good will between the East and the West (particularly between the US and the Muslim world), but it will destabilize a number of countries far beyond Palestine.
The neighboring Arab nations will rise up against their governments for allowing it to transpire, not to mention whichever nations receive the Gaza refugees – as of now, Ireland is being floated by the Israeli Defense Minister, among others.
The international cooperation that we have seen develop in pursuit of a Multipolar World Order will likely collapse, as nations lay blame at one another for allowing it to happen. The only thing that may keep them unified is a collective animus for the US and Israel, and perhaps a desire to seek retribution/justice for engaging in what can only be described as "ethnic cleansing."
Simply put, prior to October 7, the Israel/Palestine conflict was not a national security imperative for the United States, but if we pursue this plan, it will become a national security nightmare for us. We would be better off walking away now and allowing them to resume killing one another. (Less people would probably die.)
These are just a few reasons why I think Trump is bluffing to some extent, for reasons that I suspect we will soon understand. If he isn't, then he is sacrificing his own ability to negotiate in good faith with just about every world leader of importance — and doing so at the very beginning of his second term.
–
Scoop: FBI Finds Secret JFK Assassination Records After Trump Order
The FBI just discovered about 2,400 records tied to President Kennedy's assassination that were never provided to a board tasked with reviewing and disclosing the documents, Axios has learned. The still-secret records are contained in 14,000 pages of documents the FBI found in a review triggered by President Trump's Jan. 23 executive order demanding the release of all JFK assassination records.
Why it matters: The discovery — 61 years after Kennedy was killed in Dallas — follows decades of government reluctance to release all documents related to the assassination, which fueled a mountain of conspiracy theories. The existence of the new documents was disclosed Friday to the White House, when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence submitted its plan to disclose the assassination records under Trump's order.
Zoom in: The contents of the newly found records are closely held secrets. The three sources who relayed their existence to Axios said they hadn't seen the documents. – Axios
Our Take: As the topic that got me started down the rabbit hole way back when, the JFK Files being declassified is near and dear to my heart. It is something I and countless others have waited on for a large portion of our lives.
The American Public learning the truth of his assassination is the string to pull that begins to unravel the entire corrupt, deep state ball of yarn. As such, I have tempered expectations of the release itself. A “cautious optimism” if you will.
Why have I been a bit reserved about the files being released?
Well, aside from Kash Patel and Ezra Watnick both telling us not to expect much that we didn’t already know, it is one of the worst kept secrets in history that the CIA withheld files from the Warren Commission and public, that there were files which were never handed over for review or investigation.
Many — me included — assumed these lost files would have been long since destroyed.
Well, apparently they weren’t destroyed. All of a sudden, as the rot is being ripped away from DC, the FBI has located 2,400 never before reviewed or released files pertaining to the assassination of our 35th President.
“The still-secret records are contained in 14,000 pages of documents the FBI found in a review triggered by President Trump’s Jan. 23 Executive Order demanding the release of all JFK assassination records.”
“The existence of the new documents was disclosed Friday to the White House, when the Office of the Director of National Intelligence submitted its plan to disclose the assassination records under Trump's order.”
“This is huge. It shows the FBI is taking this seriously," said Jefferson Morley an expert on the assassination and vice president of the nonpartisan Mary Ferrell Foundation the nation's largest source of online records of Kennedy's killing. He sued the U.S Government for more records.”
It appears as if Kash and Ezra both were throwing a little bit of a head-fake in, saying that some files were never turned over and may have been lost.
Will these files contain the bombshells and truth so many of us have been waiting on? Only time will tell, but I’d have to say my optimism over these files being released and the truth being seen has risen significantly. —
Chiefs’ Deandre Hopkins Pushes for Ref Controversy After ‘touchy Calls’ in Super Bowl 2025
The third team that was under scrutiny in Super Bowl 2025 was the officiating crew. After a postseason in which the perception grew that the NFL wanted the officials to call games to favor the Chiefs, it did not become a big issue in Sunday’s game. The refs made some questionable calls, but they went both ways and the lopsided score made them inconsequential in the 40-22 Eagles win. [...]
Chiefs wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins pointed out some calls went against the Chiefs on Sunday. “I saw a lot of things in the media about the refs, but what are you all going to say now about the refs and us?” Hopkins said. “There was a lot of touchy calls. Are you going to report that? Are you going to talk about the refs now?” – New York Post
Our Take: Wow.
The NFL is running the same op in support of its own legitimacy as the Regime did with the 2024 election. Donald Trump has an overwhelming public mandate that is clear, obvious, and undeniable to virtually everyone. It’s got nothing to do with the number of fake votes in a fake election.
Knowing this, from the Regime’s perspective, the best choice is to accept the Trump victory, frame it in beneficial ways, push Uniparty candidates everywhere else, and ride out four years of Trump while maintaining permanent control over fake elections. I talked about this for a year before it happened, and it has happened. People can’t wait to “vote” harder in more fake elections.
Elections are as fake, rigged, and stolen as they were in 2020, but who cares now? As long as Trump solves the whole “men in women’s sports” thing so we don’t have to, right? Trump “winning” a fake election no one anywhere would ever believe he lost without exposing the truth of our fake elections is an op to promote the Regime’s legitimacy.
Running national media stories about people who think the refs have rigged the NFL for KC for weeks before the Super Bowl and then having KC lose and running stories like this is an op to promote the NFL’s legitimacy.
We’re demanding we get the hose again, forever. –
USAID Failed Because Foreign Aid Doesn't Work
Elon Musk, head of the new “Department of Government Efficiency,” didn’t mince words when he announced last week that the Trump administration was closing the U.S. Agency for International Development. He said his team was “feeding USAID into the wood chipper” and that it was “time for it to die.”
The crudeness might not have been necessary, but the proposal itself was warranted. Foreign aid has too many (often conflicting) goals, including promoting democracy, stability and geopolitical ties. It is long past time for the U.S. government to scrutinize the entire foreign assistance program and recognize that one of the central goals – promoting economic growth – has been a failure.
That’s why it’s a good idea to close down USAID, drop economic development as a goal of U.S. foreign policy and assign the State Department to manage vital emergency and humanitarian aid. It does, however, need to be done lawfully and in accordance with the Constitution. – U.S. News & World Report
Our Take:
“Institutional Thinking.” A perfect description.
And after the exposé of USAID, and other govt funding for media and think tanks, it all makes sense to even the uneducated MSNBC viewer.
Burn it all down. Clean it up. Rebuild much more streamlined.
–
‘It’s Almost Science Fiction’: Scientists Say the Shape of Earth’s Inner Core is Changing
Scientists who just months ago confirmed that Earth’s inner core recently reversed its spin have a new revelation about our planet’s deepest secrets — they identified changes to the inner core’s shape.
Earth’s innermost layer is a hot, solid ball of metal surrounded by a liquid metal outer core. For decades, planetary scientists suspected that the solid inner core deformed over time as it spun. Now, researchers have found the first evidence of changes taking place over the past 20 years in the shape of the inner core. Signs of the core’s deformation appeared in waves from earthquakes that were strong enough to reach Earth’s center.
The research team used that same earthquake data for a 2024 study to resolve a longstanding debate over the inner core’s rotation. They found that the inner core once spun faster than Earth itself. But beginning around 2010, the solid inner core’s spin slowed. It’s now revolving backward, relative to the rest of the planet. – CNN
Our Take: Many will accuse me of including this story in the Badlands News Brief just so that
will react to it on The Brief (Mon through Fri at 9aET). While that may accurately describe my primary motivation, I do think this an interesting story.The inner earth’s core started revolving backward “relative to the rest of the planet” (in 2010), and it’s a different shape than they previously thought (now). They can’t explain it but – and this is really important – literally nothing changes in our physical world as a result of these discoveries.
The inner core of the earth can just start going the opposite way of the rest of the planet, and nothing changes on the surface? I know I’m just a lowly science denier, but is this another science thing that’s explained through “relativity”?
Oh! Is it climate change? –
Trump Gives Full Pardon to Former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich
President Donald Trump has issued a full pardon to former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. The ex-governor served eight years behind bars for an array of corruption charges, including trying to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat following the former president’s 2008 election victory. In 2020, Trump commuted Blagojevich’s 14-year sentence.
Following his impeachment and removal from office, Blagojevich appeared on Trump’s Celebrity Apprentice NBC show in 2010, before the beginning of the corruption trial against him. When Trump “fired” him as a contestant, he took the opportunity to praise Blagojevich.
The former governor and Democrat, who was in office between 2003 and 2009, backed Trump in the 2024 election and attended the Republican National Convention. Blagojevich also supported Trump after he was indicted in the New York hush-money case, comparing his own legal problems to Trump’s.
“I love Trump more today than ever!” he wrote on social media at the time. “When you’ve lived through it yourself, you recognize when they do it to someone else,” he added. Trump signed the pardon on Monday afternoon.”
– The Independent
Our Take: Rod Blagojevich was a contestant on The Celebrity Apprentice in 2010.
President Trump commuted his 14-year sentence in 2020, pulling Blagojevich out of prison after serving eight years. This pardon brings that commutation full circle. Blagojevich recently went on Joe Rogan's podcast and explained how Obama and others raked him over the coals because he refused to go along with their schemes.
Now the rumor is that Trump will appoint Blagojevich to be the ambassador to Serbia.
If you missed it, a few weeks ago I was joined by
on The Book of Trump to discuss The Apprentice, and explore the theory that the show was a recruiting operation for Trump's future career in politics. More and more, that theory seems feasible. –Elon Musk Claims FEMA Sent $59M Last Week to Luxury NYC Hotels For Illegal Migrants — But City Hall Says there’s More to the Story
Elon Musk threatened to claw back $59 million he said the Federal Emergency Management Agency sent “last week to luxury hotels in New York City to house illegal migrants” – a claim that City Hall officials rebutted Monday.
The world’s richest man said in an early morning post on X that the funds were “just discovered” by his Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE– even as President Trump called for a complete overhaul of FEMA that could even see it shuttered… “Sending this money violated the law and is in gross insubordination to the President’s executive order,” Musk wrote. […]
City Hall officials told The Post that no one has reached out to action on Musk’s demand. – New York Post
Our Take: The push-back to the money FEMA gave NYC to house Migrants is "We've spent 7 Billion and FEMA only gave us 237 Million so its not much"
Are they kidding? FEMA is for disaster relief, not disaster funding. That 237 Million should be used for one thing. To deport them. –
Overhaul U.S. Steel’s Leadership Now that Nippon Deal is Officially Dead, Says Ancora
The battle over the future of U.S. Steel escalated on Monday as activist investor Ancora Holdings Group LLC called for a major leadership shake-up following the collapse of the company’s proposed $14.9 billion sale to Japan’s Nippon Steel Corp.
In a Feb. 10 letter sent to the U.S. Steel Board of Directors, Ancora executives Fredrick DiSanto and James Chadwick reiterated that the deal is dead, citing President Donald Trump’s recent comments as confirmation that regulatory approval would not be forthcoming.
“President Trump’s remarks on Friday should confirm — once and for all — that the sale has no chance of being resurrected,” wrote the Ancora leaders, referring to an announcement made during a Feb. 7 press conference held by Trump after his briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba in Washington, D.C.
Ancora, a significant stakeholder in U.S. Steel, praised Trump’s stance on protecting American manufacturing and accused U.S. Steel CEO David Burritt of leading the company “off a cliff” in pursuit of a massive $72 million transaction-related payout. – Financial Regulation News
Our Take: So now the truth comes out.
US Steel CEO David Burritt was pursuing a sale of the company to Tokyo-based Nippon Steel, and the deal stipulated a $72 million transaction-related payout to Burritt?
US Steel ostensibly represents the US steel industry. It was founded as a holding company in 1903 by JP Morgan, who used it as a vehicle to buy up every steel business in the United States — most of which were located in Trenton, New Jersey, and then moved most of them to Pittsburgh.
That’s how Pittsburgh became known as The Steel City.
So, here we are 122 years later. The heirs of the company are every bit the vultures as its founders, seeking to further exploit the American steel worker by selling off the final pieces of our steel industry to a foreign corporation.
Selling out America for a pay day. David Burritt would probably make a great politician.
It is notable that Joe Biden blocked the sale last month, giving President Trump time to get into office and negotiate this alternative deal. A foreign investment in America’s manufacturing core is much more promising than a buyout.
–
Trump Imposes 25% Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum
President Donald Trump on Monday imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports into the United States with no exceptions or exemptions.
Although the United States gets most of its steel from Canada, Brazil and Mexico, the tariffs are largely — albeit indirectly — aimed at China.
“This is a big deal — making America rich again,” Trump said in announcing the tariffs, according to a pool report. — CNN
Our Take: This is one of those stories that stirs the autism deep in my jimmies.
This article mentions China’s role in aluminum, referring to the China Hongqiao Group, the world’s largest aluminum company by production. It earned that distinction in 2015, up until that point it belonged to a Russian company called Rusal — which is now the second largest.
Rusal was founded by Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because Deripaska played a starring role in the Russiagate scandal, allegedly negotiating a $10 million contract in 2017 with Paul Manafort to promote Russian interests in the Trump administration.
Deripaska is considered the victor of what was known as the “aluminum wars” of the 1990’s, which was effectively a turf war between former Soviet elites to gain control over state assets in the aftermath of the collapse of the USSR.
Rusal was founded in 2000, in a merger between Sibirsky Aluminum and [Israeli oligarch] Roman Abramovich’s Millhouse Capitol.
Deripaska is close friends with Nathaniel Rothschild, who is a major investor in the commodity trading company Glencore — a company this newsletter has covered many times. In 2007, Rusal was merged with another aluminum company, SUAL Group, as well as Glencore International AG to form UC Rusal. Deripaska was named chairman.
This was the same year that Glencore got into bed with another Israeli oligarch with an adversarial connection to the Trump administration, Dan Gertler.
So how does Rusal fit into this web of conspiracy?
In June 2018, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin announced that Rusal, as well as Deripaska’s other company, En+ Group, was being targeted by the US government for evading sanctions imposed on Russian companies. Mnuchin accused Deripaska of instigating the violence in eastern Ukraine, and implied accusations of money laundering and bribery. This resulted in Rusal’s top executives resigning, including Deripaska, who was later targeted with sanctions by Vladimir Putin, after he criticized the decision to invade Ukraine in 2022.
It certainly feels like the drag net is tightening. Are the oligarchs who control the world’s resources being taken down? —
***
Speaking of Mnuchin…
This week on Badlands Story Hour,
and I are going to discuss The Accountant (2016,) which tells the story of an autist who either becomes embroiled in ... or perhaps foments a conspiracy in the US Treasury.Oh, and it was produced by Steve Mnuchin.
Elon Musk is Trying to Buy OpenAI
Elon Musk has offered to buy the operating assets of OpenAI for $97.4 billion, Axios has learned from multiple sources, in a move that could turn the burgeoning AI industry on its head.
Why it matters: Musk is putting pressure on OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who's trying to restructure the company by separating its nonprofit board control from its for-profit business. It's not clear if Altman and the nonprofit board have yet agreed to a transition price, let alone how that might compare to the Musk offer. Altman responded to the news by posting on X: "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want."
Behind the scenes: Musk may just be trolling OpenAI, as part of his ongoing litigation against the organization. – Axios
Our Take: Oh wow! DeepSeek was the catalyst? The leading defense contractor is going to be the new face of the technology that the government owned the whole time. AGAIN?!
GET. OUT.
What are they gonna tell us next, that Trump owns TikTok or something?
–
Mace Takes to House Floor With Charges of Rape and Sexual Predation
Representative Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican who in recent weeks has floated a run for governor, on Monday night accused her former fiancé and three other men of having drugged and raped her and other women, and of filming and taking lewd photographs of women and underage girls without their consent.
In a stunningly graphic speech on the House floor that had little precedent, Ms. Mace said the men, whom she named and displayed photographs of on a placard where lawmakers more typically display charts and graphs on policy issues, were involved in the “premeditated, calculated exploitation of innocent women and girls in my district.” […]
On the floor of the House, Ms. Mace was protected by the speech and debate clause, even as she accused the men of repeatedly assaulting incapacitated women and filming it. — The New York Times
Our Take: I watched the whole video. It’s an hour, and it is deeply disturbing. The “ring” she describes, the treatment by officials and law enforcement, the level of documentation she claims to have… South Carolina inquiries must be incoming.
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson — whom Mace accuses of killing the investigation, protecting rapists, and threatening to investigate and arrest her (Mace) — claims she never brought this to him, calling Mace’s allegations “categorically false.” Making things in the House a bit more awkward, Wilson’s adoptive father is Mace’s colleague congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC).
As the NY Times said, Mace’s speech has little precedent, and it comes with little legal risk for the Congresswoman. She enjoys the same protections as Adam Schiff when speaking on the floor. I encourage everyone to watch Mace’s speech. It’s time for the darkness to come into the light. —
BONUS ITEMS
Trump Orders an End to the Penny
President Trump has called for the discontinuation of producing new pennies by the U.S. Treasury. The decision was unveiled through a post on social media, where Trump highlighted the financial inefficiency associated with penny production as the primary motivation for his proposal.
The cost implications he referred to revolve around the expense of manufacturing a single penny, which currently exceeds two cents. These production costs have been a point of concern, evidenced by last year’s U.S. Mint report, which indicated that the process of making and distributing each penny amounts to more than three and a half cents. – National Pulse
FBI Must Disclose More Info About Trump Classified Docs Case, Judge Rules
The dismissal of criminal charges against Donald Trump for concealing classified records at Mar-a-Lago eliminated a significant barrier to making records about the probe public, a federal judge ruled Monday. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said Trump’s election as president — which forced the end of the criminal case — combined with the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity mean Trump is effectively insulated from any criminal responsibility for his conduct.
That means the FBI’s previous reasons for refusing to gather and disclose records related to the probe no longer apply, Howell wrote in a ruling in a Freedom of Information Act case brought by journalist Jason Leopold. She noted that while the dismissal of charges against Trump may have reduced his criminal exposure, it “ironically” made him more susceptible to public scrutiny for his conduct. — Politico
Musk Says He Is Not Planning To Buy TikTok
Elon Musk has stated that he is not planning to buy the TikTok app or has any plans with what he would do with it if he were to own it. On Saturday, the WELT group released a video from the WELT Economic Summit, which was held January 28th, in which Musk made the remarks regarding the application.
“I haven’t made a bid for TikTok, nor do I have any plans regarding what I would do if I owned it,” Musk said. Musk previously stated that he usually does not buy companies, with Twitter, now X, being the exception to “protect freedom of speech.” The Biden administration previously ordered Tiktok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform, which has around 170 million U.S.-based users, due to “national security” reasons.
– One America News Network
Eric Adams Gets Lifeline from Donald Trump's DOJ
A senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice has directed federal prosecutors to dismiss charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat known for his close ties to President Donald Trump. In a two-page memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan office that brought the case, stated that the decision to drop the charges was made without evaluating the strength of the prosecution and was not intended to undermine the attorneys who filed the case.
However, Bove noted that the timing of the charges and "more recent actions" by former U.S. Attorney Damian Williams had compromised the integrity of the proceedings. He cited concerns over increased prejudicial pretrial publicity, which he warned could influence potential witnesses and the jury pool. The move follows months of speculation that Trump's Justice Department might intervene to end the criminal case against Adams, who was accused of accepting bribes in the form of free or discounted travel and illegal campaign contributions. – Newsweek
Thank you for reading today’s Badlands News Brief. As always, please share the brief far and wide, and drop your comments below to discuss with your fellow Badlanders. The opinions expressed in the Badlands News Brief are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.
The Badlands News Brief is a free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Help our collective of citizen journalists take back the narrative. We are the news now.
If there's one thing we've learned about DJT, it's that when we don't understand what he's doing, it's us, not him. The Gaza-Lago concept will prove to be a prime example. Trust the plan.
I agree with Ghost. Trump is bluffing, maybe not exactly the right word. When T says he wants to 'own Gaza' and move all the Palestinians out and rebuild... that sounds exactly like what Bibi wants to do, and it should elicit the same appalling reaction that T got. T said all that with a purpose.