The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Trump Calls Out Canadian Temper Tantrum, Hints at Larger Game Theory Play

“It is very good for Canadian Politicians like Prime Minister Carney to make President Donald J. Trump “the enemy,” until their Economy collapses, then it will prove to be very bad for Politics — Worse than anything that has ever happened to a Canadian Politician. Just watch!

President DONALD J. TRUMP”

:

There are more complex and dramatic storylines spinning in the ether, and I’m passing up an opportunity (for now) to once more call people who think the Iran War is real completely retarded on the back of Donald Trump referring to the latest strikes from the so-called Iranian Regime as “love taps.”

(Whoops, I did it again.)

I am doing this because I just can’t get enough of this US v. Canada storyline, not just because it’s memetic, but because I think there’s a lot more signal here than meets the eye, and I think Trump’s latest communication regarding the regional ‘spat’ that is MUCH more than a spat contains some subtle signal all its own.

Now, I’ve already gone into great detail on the history of Mark Carney, current clown prince of Commie Canada, and Scott Bessent’s history with Carney’s former Bank of England, while tying both into a fifth-generation warfare framing of Operation Economic Fury.

Today, let’s take a couple of steps back and look at the First Principles framework of the conflict Donald Trump is navigating, which is to say, the Narrative writ large.

Canada is not a country.

For once, I’m not saying that from the usual ‘Deep State/Prussian Empire’ framing. I’m not even saying it to be funny. (That comes naturally.)

I’m saying, by every reasonable definition, Canada is quite simply ... not a country.

The same way a teenager is not an adult, Canada is not a country.

So, what defines a country?

Certainly reasonable people can disagree, but I’ve got my own three-pronged framework that describes what a country IS.

1) A country must be able to enforce its own laws and protect its own borders.

2) A country must have a stable financial system not predicated on global finance.

3) A country must have a self-sustaining domestic economy and manufacturing base, which it uses international trade to supplement rather than replace.

Now, certainly almost EVERY nation in the world is failing on at least one of these counts.

Canada is 0 for 3.

They are incapable of policing their own borders or defending themselves against a significant military threat.

They have a more colorful and gay version of the fake fiat USD that’s a little more than half as valuable in international markets.

They SHOULD have one of the most robust manufacturing and agricultural bases in the world given their abundance of natural resources, and yet, due to government regulations and taxes, they are highly dependent on international trade to buoy a partially-socialized economy.

For the last several years, I have argued that, while I absolutely believe ‘the cure will spread worldwide,’ and that the awakening will, I have also maintained a belief that said awakening will be MUCH rougher in Canada, Australia and the EU than it is here, and that’s because the US actually has a base in all three pillars I highlighted above, and so has the ability to pivot, and to draw inward for a period of time, as we are doing now.

Canada enjoys no such capability ... unless the entire structure of their government and economy changes.

Trump knew he would take these slings and arrows. He also knew the Canadian people would attack him as the root cause of the problems that are soon to be visited on them.

Just as he knows that, with time and the benefit of hindsight, the true ire of the Canadian peoples (and of all peoples who fancy themselves sovereign while being anything but) will soon enough be cast on those who rigged the game against them, and who would lord over them.

In other words, Mark Carney is drawing the collective eye of an incensed populace toward the enemy to the south with desperate abandon for one reason above all else:

He knows that, once they tire of looking upon the Orange Man ... they might start looking at him.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Trump Meeting Brings Estranged Satmar Rebbes Together for First Time in Decades

A White House meeting between President Donald Trump and prominent haredi leaders produced an extraordinary reunion: Satmar Rebbes Aharon Teitelbaum and Zalman Leib Teitelbaum, estranged brothers who lead rival factions of the Hasidic dynasty, shook hands and spoke face-to-face for what was likely the first time in decades. Their succession dispute became formal after their father, Rabbi Moshe Teitelbaum, died in 2006, with each brother subsequently proclaimed Satmar Rebbe by his followers.

The gathering also marked the first Oval Office meeting of its kind with haredi leadership in more than 50 years. Leaders representing Satmar, Skver, Bobov, Vizhnitz and the Lakewood yeshiva community attended, with issues including Israel’s effort to draft haredi men into the IDF reportedly on the agenda. Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Jared Kushner were also reportedly present.

:

While this development appears encouraging, and signals a schism in the Jewish global community that is hopefully greater than just this one sect of Hasidic Jews and could lead to a revolt against Zionism and Greater Israel, we must be cautious before haphazardly trading bedfellows.

First, let us establish who these people are. From Wikipedia:

And some more from Wikipedia:

The two largest Satmar communities are found in Southern Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and in Kiryas Joel, New York.

From the Wikipedia on Kiryas Joel:

If the name of this town sounds familiar, it may be due to a 40-minute documentary that went viral earlier this year made by Tyler Oliviera.

Oliviera traveled to the town and filmed his experience, documenting what can only be described as a Talmudic Jewish ethno-state. The town enforced a Jewish form of Shariah Law, where the rabbis serve as both the lawmakers and judiciary. None of the men worked, instead living off of social welfare provided by the state of New York while spending their days reading the Talmud and debating interpretations of its contents.

Simply put, Kiryas Joel is a commune. The Hasidic Jews who live there are communist-socialists.

But that’s not all. There is an another infamous Satmar community that we have previously covered here on the Brief. That would be the Lev Tahor cult.

To be fair to the Satmar community, Lev Tahor was a collection of different Ultra Orthodox Jews who converted to the beliefs of this cult, with the Satmar making up only part of the group. And the Satmar did ultimately defect and return to Brooklyn where they were warmly accepted back by their community.

With that said, the Lev Tahor cult has been expelled from every country in which it has operated, including Israel, due to its habitual practice of pedophilia and child-trafficking. Even Israel has formally branded it as a dangerous cult and treated it with hostility.

The reason that we covered it on the News Brief is because in December 2024 the Guatemalan authorities conducted a raid on a Lev Tahor community where they rescued 160 children and 40 women from sex slavery. A year later, the Colombian army conducted their own raid, rescuing 17 children.

If you are confused by these pictures, you may recall when we covered these stories that the physical appearance of the men and women in Lev Tahor are nearly indistinguishable from Muslims living under Shariah Law, including forcing the women to wear burkas in public.

So while these developments of anti-Zionism advocacy by the Satmar are very encouraging, the community does appear to have some concerning ties to communism, pedophilia, and a Jewish version of Shariah Law that is practiced and enforced on US soil. Perhaps there are reasonable explanations for all of these connections, but we would naive to jump out of bed with the Zionists and jump into bed with the Satmars without first have a full adjudication of these concerns.

Credit-Score Shakeup Begins With Fannie and Freddie

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte directed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to immediately allow all lenders to use VantageScore 4.0 as an alternative to Classic FICO when delivering eligible mortgages. Pulte said 50 lenders participated in the initial rollout and accused FICO of exploiting its longstanding dominance, citing an 1,800% increase in the price of a credit score since 2020.

The change expands an overhaul that began in April, when Fannie and Freddie started accepting VantageScore 4.0 loans from approved lenders. FHFA says the new model incorporates additional information, including rental-payment history, while Classic FICO remains available and FICO 10T is slated for future adoption. The broader goal is to introduce competition into a mortgage credit-scoring system that for decades effectively relied on a single model.

: This is an example of structural change that directly impacts the American People’s access to opportunity.

Don’t get me wrong, I can make many arguments against these “trusted third parties” and their continued existence, and their access to decision rights – and I probably will tonight and next week – but, still, I see this as a positive development in the right direction.

Outside hope: Bill Pulte is known as a grim reaper to government agencies, so maybe he’s going to finish the job on those two. That should have been done back in 2008.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Russian Lawmaker: Ukraine Acting ‘Like a Nation of Rapists’ Over Forced Mobilization

Russian State Duma lawmaker Leonid Slutsky accused Ukrainian authorities of acting “like a nation of rapists,” pointing to reports and videos of military recruiters forcibly detaining men as part of Kiev’s mobilization campaign.

Slutsky argued that the increasingly coercive recruitment tactics reflect Ukraine’s manpower problems as the war continues. The characterization is Slutsky’s allegation, not an independent finding; Ukraine says mobilization is necessary to replenish its armed forces and has acknowledged and investigated abuses by some recruitment officials.

: Interesting choice of words.

For years now, we have discussed in the News Brief the historical relationship between Ukraine and Israel. The fact that Israel was founded by Ukrainian colonists is something that has never caught the attention (or lack thereof) of the MSM or Truth community zeitgeist.

We saw several years ago the glorification and iconization of IDF soldiers who had been caught on film gang-raping male Palestinian prisoners.

Instead of rebuking these rapists, we saw Israeli culture celebrate them. They did multiple media tours, appeared on Israeli television, and expressed no remorse for the severe brutality inherent in the reported acts they committed against the Palestinian prisoners.

It does not appear that any real lessons were learned among the IDF soldiers or talking heads in the Knesset and on television. In fact, more rapes were reported across the culture, including alleged pedophile rings by community leaders.

Simply put, Israel was being openly accused of being a nation of rapists. Not only because a slew of stories involving systemic rape were being reported, but also (and perhaps more importantly) there was a complete lack of concern or even revulsion by the majority of Israeli society. Even the Knesset held emergency meetings to determine whether IDF soldiers had the “right” to rape Palestinian prisoners. It was a heated exchange, with MP’s passionately defending the heinous acts.

Though the IDF did originally arrest the four soldiers involved in the gang rape, which was recorded on film, those charges were ultimately dropped this past March. We also saw Ultra-Orthodox protesters storm the military facility where the soldiers were being detained in an attempt to free them. Not only was the unruly mob being led by members of the Knesset, they were being led by Netanyahu’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.

There is no denying that rape is a part of Israeli culture, even if only in the more zealous segments of society. So the fact that Ukraine is now being described as a “nation of rapists” is simply incredible, when one considers the numerous ways in which the two cultures overlap.

Just as Feminism Comes Full Circle, Gloria Steinem Dies at 92

Gloria Steinem, one of the defining figures of second-wave feminism, died Wednesday at her home in New York City at 92. Her foundation said she died peacefully surrounded by loved ones. Steinem co-founded Ms. magazine and the National Women’s Political Caucus and spent more than five decades advocating for women’s rights and abortion access.

Steinem rose to national prominence during the women’s liberation movement of the late 1960s and 1970s and remained politically active into her later years. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama in 2013 and continued advocating for abortion rights after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

: On Wednesday, we were chatting among hosts about feminists’ attempts to help Lindesey Clancy skirt accountability for the gruesome murder of her children, that they’re arguing innocence based on female hormonal psychology, and I said, “feminism has come full circle.”

Yesterday, Gloria Steinem died.

So, yeah.

Also, according to , Steinem was CIA and even admitted to it in her later years.

I hope the ideology dies with her. Modern feminism is a death cult.

Have a great weekend!

BONUS ITEMS

Billionaire Leon Black Sues House Oversight Committee Over Epstein Probe Subpoena

Billionaire Leon Black sued the House Oversight Committee and Chairman James Comer on Thursday, challenging a congressional subpoena issued as part of the panel’s investigation into the government’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein’s case.

The lawsuit was filed before Black failed to appear for a scheduled deposition before the committee. The case marks Black’s latest dispute with the panel after he previously appeared for a closed-door interview but refused to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements.

Weekend Word Search: Characters in Today’s Brief’s and Takes

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CIA Memo: Gottlieb Told Agency in May 2020 US Immunity Was Already 20–25%

A newly unclassified CIA summary released by Sen. Rand Paul shows that on May 7, 2020, Pfizer board member and former FDA commissioner Scott Gottlieb told the CIA that national COVID seroprevalence was about 20–25%, far higher than what he was saying in public.

The meeting was led by CIA Chief Operating Officer Andy Makridis, with Gottlieb participating as a member of the CIA’s External Advisory Board. According to the agency’s own summary, Gottlieb “discounts the 2 major studies from Los Angeles and Santa Clara counties showing high seroprevalence” and estimated that national seroprevalence was about 20–25%, which he said was insufficient to achieve herd immunity given the virus’s estimated transmission rate.

The Stanford/Santa Clara study Gottlieb dismissed had put seroprevalence at 2.8% in April 2020. On April 17, Gottlieb tweeted the national rate was about 5% and called Santa Clara a hotspot. On Aug. 16, 2020, he told CBS Face the Nation the national rate was only 8%.

Paul released the document Aug. 29, 2026, after it had been classified more than six years. The CIA summary is part of a Fauci-related document dump.

: In the last couple episodes of “what did they know and when did they know it” (COVID Edition), we learned that Fauci and the health authorities knew that (1) the Wuhan lab was the likely origin, and (2) that the vaccine was known to increase miscarriage risk during pregnancy.

They lied about both. They still do.

Now we’re told that natural immunity was present for 20-25% of the population — in May of 2020.

Remember when they said that natural immunity couldn’t be relied upon and that vaccines were better?

“Thus, our data indicates that mRNA vaccination may generate more neutralizing RBD antibodies than natural immunity.”

Do you remember when we were told that doing your own research was dangerous, and that you need to just trust the experts and comply?

Turns out the FDA, the CIA, and Pfizer knew natural immunity was spreading rapidly.

They just lied about it.

At this point, these declassifications have exposed an arsenal of smoking guns.

Prosecute the Americans.

G20 (Including US) Blames China for Blocking Unity on Global Economic Imbalances

G20 finance ministers failed to produce a joint communiqué after China stood alone against language backed by the other 19 members, including the US, addressing persistent trade imbalances and export-dependent economic models. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said China — the country with the world’s largest current-account surplus — was the dissenter, arguing that a continuing flood of cheap exports from “non-market” economies is unsustainable.

China also objected to portions addressing critical minerals, sovereign-debt restructuring and greater scrutiny of global imbalances. With unanimity impossible, the US issued a chair’s statement reflecting the areas supported by the other members. Beijing has defended its economic model, saying it does not deliberately pursue trade surpluses and is working to expand domestic demand.

: I’m going to have to roll up my sleeves on this one, because on the surface, it would appear to clash with the Sovereign Alliance framing I’ve employed for years.

And no, I have not so much as flinched from my perch atop that Sovereign Alliance take tower.

So, how can it simultaneously be true that Scott Bessent and the US under Trump (along with all our so-called Allies in the G20) are simultaneously working with China to rebalance global trade while directly, loudly and publicly blaming China for failing to do exactly that?

Do you remember my Multipolar Margin Call theory?

In short, said theory posits that, just as the US and Russia under Trump and Putin respectively have been executing a global kinetic pincer on the Collectorate via a combination of the US Devolution Operation and Putin’s DeNazification operation in the Donbas, each of which has gone a long way toward exposing the utter folly and futility of the Globalist System when it comes to the emergent Power Paradigm the Sovereign Alliance is stitching back over reality ... so too is China assisting the US in closing another pincer, albeit this one relegated to global financial markets and trade agreements.

The core foundation of my theory rests on twin assumptions:

1) Donald Trump does NOT want the US to be beholden to foreign trading partners, and is seeking to break from the Globalist System entirely.

2) While China absolutely dominates in the realm of domestic production, it is completely vulnerable to the west from a currency perspective, and so, it ALSO sees a mutual decoupling with the US as agreeable.

In short ... Trump thinks the American dollar is strong, but the American manufacturing base is weak, while Xi thinks the opposite when it comes to China.

Both are right.

So, we already have China dumping US Treasuries over the last few years at an accelerated clip in an effort to weaken the dollar’s stranglehold on the global economy, and now, we have the US attempting to pull the rest of the western world away from its reliance on cheap Chinese exports in order to weaken the latter’s production model.

Both are good.

Therein lies the seeming contradiction that is not a contradiction.

I believe Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are guiding the world and markets toward the rapid mandate cultivation for a forced decoupling and rebalancing along multipolar grounds without destroying the global economy on the way there.

All the latest kerfuffle out of the G20 summit does (including Bessent’s blaming of China) is highlight the fact that global trade imbalances can’t be corrected by getting a bunch of rich assholes together in a room to artificially lever controls over foreign markets that are de facto impossible to control.

So, what’s the solution?

A Dirty Break and a drawing inward before projecting outward, with each nation increasingly forced to on-shore domestic production in the realm of energy, food and manufacturing so they might not be beholden to one another.

AFTER this process, the Multipolar Age can emerge based on the first truly global free market we’ve ever seen, with each nation trading with one another on the basis of mutual need.

As was always the intent.

In the meantime, understand that the US-China tit for tat over everything from currency to trade isn’t noise, but rather the core logic engine for the mutual decoupling both desire, and are in the midst of executing.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Gunfight Between Ukraine’s Spy Agencies Highlights Deteriorating Conditions in Ukraine

A shootout between Ukraine’s SBU security service and HUR military intelligence erupted in Kyiv, leaving three HUR-affiliated personnel wounded and bringing a long-running rivalry between the country’s most powerful intelligence agencies into public view. The confrontation reportedly grew out of an SBU operation involving Stepan Kaplunov, a deputy commander of the Russian Volunteer Corps, which operates under HUR.

The two agencies dispute who initiated the violence. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the incident “absolutely disgraceful,” ordered an investigation and demanded accountability. The clash comes amid broader tensions inside Ukraine’s security establishment following leadership changes at HUR and SBU.

: First, let’s establish the two sides fighting one another—the HUR and the SBU— in this street skirmish. These are AI-generated summaries of each

HUR (Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine), also known as Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU), is Ukraine’s primary military intelligence service, operating directly under the Ministry of Defense rather than the General Staff. Established in 1992 and built upon Soviet-era intelligence assets, HUR conducts strategic intelligence, special operations, and cyber warfare, utilizing its own Spetsnaz units for covert strikes and reconnaissance both within Ukraine and abroad.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is the country’s primary internal security agency, responsible for counterintelligence, counterterrorism, cybersecurity, and protecting state secrets. Established in 1991 as the successor to the Soviet KGB branch in Ukraine, it operates as a military formation directly subordinate to the President of Ukraine.

In short, the HUR is military intelligence operating within the Ukrainian military chain-of-command. The SBU is the successor to the now-defunct KGB, which was the Soviet version of the CIA. The HUR reports to the Minister of Defense, while the SBU reports directly to President Zelensky.

A neo-Nazi linked Kiev paramilitary unit called the Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK) that has been designated a terrorist organization by Moscow operates under the control of HUR. It is led by a notorious neo-Nazi named Denis “White Rex” Kapustin. As we covered on the Book of Trump, after the CIA and Mossad took control of the Ukrainian government in 2014 via the Maidan Coup, many paramilitary militias—which were well funded and trained thanks to the generosity of billionaires like Igor Kolomoisky— were folded into the Ukrainian military chain-of-command in order to bolster Ukraine’s military capabilities as it was fighting Russia for control of the Donbas region.

Ever since these paramilitary groups (many of which recruit Russian nationals to fight against the Russian military) were folded into the formal military in November 2014, the SBU has made accusations that the Kremlin is inserting operatives to infiltrate the groups, particularly the ones with strong neo-Nazi labeling. There have been multiple instances over the past 12 years where the SBU has detained, arrested or otherwise targeted paramilitary figures operating under the HUR that they believed may have had ties to the Kremlin.

This RDK group is led by a guy (Kasputin) who has been described as the “most notorious neo-Nazi in Europe.” It was one of Kasputin’s deputies, Stepan Kaplunov, a Russian national, who was detained at his home by the SBU, leading to the gunfight in the streets that left three dead.

The levels of corruption that we have seen associated with Ukraine are staggering. When you mix it with this kind of infighting, then a civil war becomes a real possibility. It is interesting to me that both Ukraine and Israel are now facing these similar conditions. Will we see the militaries of both countries collapse under the weight of their malfeasance?

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Majority of House Dems Refuse to Condemn Socialism Amid Party’s DSA Civil War

The House passed a nonbinding resolution condemning socialism on Monday, 220-192, with 192 Democrats voting against it, eight voting yes and two voting present. The resolution, introduced by Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., condemned “socialism in all its forms,” rejected socialist policies and also endorsed implementation of President Donald Trump’s SAVE America Act election legislation.

The vote comes as Democrats grapple with the growing electoral influence of Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidates and an increasingly public fight over the movement’s direction. DSA itself is experiencing internal divisions over strategy, leadership and a potential 2028 presidential campaign by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

The eight Democrats supporting the resolution were Reps. Kathy Castor, Vicente Gonzalez, Henry Cuellar, Darren Soto, Jared Golden, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Don Davis and Gabe Vasquez. Some Democratic moderates argued that Republicans deliberately complicated the anti-socialism resolution by attaching language supporting the SAVE America Act; several said they could have supported a standalone condemnation of socialism.

: There is nothing more useless than a congressional resolution.

It’s literally political theater.

It’s literally a strongly worded letter.

It literally should never be a priority.

And yet: “Half of us agree that socialism is bad. Please clap.”

Who thought this was a good idea? Who decided that the Congress that can’t pass gas, let alone meaningful legislation, should allocate resources, draft a resolution, negotiate and agree the substance among the factions, and whip the votes to get it over the line…as a priority after a long vacation?

A legitimate legislative body in the middle of a transformation program wouldn’t have time or resources for the theater of strongly worded letters.

But we don’t have one of those.

Witkoff Secretly Met With Powerful UAE Official as Trump Tightens the Screws on Iran

White House envoy Steve Witkoff held an unpublicized meeting last weekend in Sardinia with UAE national security adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan — brother of the UAE president and one of Abu Dhabi’s most powerful officials — to discuss the Trump administration’s escalating economic campaign against Iran. The White House declined to comment on the meeting.

The talks came as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent rolled out “Operation Economic Outcast,” aimed at severing Iran’s remaining financial and commercial lifelines. The UAE has since moved to halt commercial and financial dealings with Tehran after rejecting an Iranian request not to cooperate with US sanctions, according to Axios.

: This is an interesting development on the heels of last week’s story about Operation Economic Outcast, because we here in the Brief parsed that the real target of those sanctions were specific UAE banks.

Now we have Steve Witkoff meeting with Tahnoon bin Zayed (TBZ), brother of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MBZ). Tahnoon has played a major role in the development of the UAE over the past 10-15 years, particularly ever since his brother ascended from Emir of Abu Dhabi to President of the UAE in 2022. The following year, MBZ appointed Tahnoon to chair the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund, on top of the other titles he already held including National Security Advisor. The significance being the pattern that both the UAE and Saudi Arabia have demonstrated that they consider the economy to be a national security matter, which means that investments from the sovereign wealth fund are potential [5GW] weapons.

In response to Scott Bessent’s new operation, the UAE has suspended all trade to Iran and said it was investigating the Egyptian bank Banque Misr. Now Bessent is sending urgent messages around the world telling specific countries to shut down all branches of Melli and Saderat banks operating in their countries.

This is further evidence that money laundering networks are being targeted and brought down. One must wonder when we will see some western banks brought to heel over this same issue.

I wonder what big announcement we will hear coming out of the UAE in the immediate future?

BONUS ITEMS

DOJ Clarifies Conditions for States to Access TANF Funding

The Justice Department clarified that states receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding must comply with federal requirements governing eligibility and program administration, putting states on notice that access to the funds is conditioned on following federal law.

The move is part of the Trump administration’s broader push to ensure federal benefit programs are administered according to statutory eligibility requirements and that states receiving federal dollars comply with accompanying conditions.

Please share the Brief far and wide!

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Jump in the comments and let us know your thoughts.

And if you like the Substack, you should check out our shows — streaming now on Badlands Media!

The opinions expressed in the Badlands Brief are those of the tagged authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.

The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Whistleblower Claims New Trump-Ordered USPS Ballot System Could Fail as Admin Asks Appeals Court to Remove Another Block

A federal judge’s temporary block on a new U.S. Postal Service mail-ballot rule is now before an appeals court, as the Trump administration races to implement tighter handling of election mail before states begin sending ballots.

The rule, issued in late August to carry out a March executive order would require states to give USPS lists of mail-ballot recipients and put unique barcodes on envelopes; the Postal Service could refuse to transmit ballots that fail those standards or that are not tied to names on the lists.

U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a 14-day restraining order last week, finding the changes likely unlawful and too late for the Nov. 3 midterms.

After she declined to pause her own order on Aug. 31, the Justice Department asked the First Circuit to lift the block, arguing the rule is a modest regulation of the mail, not a federal takeover of elections, and that states such as North Carolina could start mailing as early as Sept. 4.

A USPS whistleblower disclosure released the same week alleges the agency rushed the barcode-matching system into existence in weeks rather than the nine months to a year such a project normally takes, and continued work despite court orders to stop.

The official warned of a “zero-percent failure” approach in which a single unmatched barcode could cause an entire batch—potentially thousands of ballots—to be rejected with no easy appeal.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal and House Oversight Democrats called the plan an unconstitutional interference with vote-by-mail and demanded that Postmaster General David Steiner abandon it and produce records.

Separately, ActBlue board member Kimberly Peeler-Allen invoked the Fifth Amendment in a closed-door deposition before a joint House Administration, Oversight, and Judiciary investigation into the Democratic fundraising platform’s handling of possible foreign donations and fraud controls.

She is the latest senior figure to do so after co-founder Matt DeBergalis and CEO Regina Wallace-Jones.

Republican investigators say ActBlue moved roughly $20 billion while failing to treat foreign and domestic fraud as a serious threat; ActBlue and Democrats have described the probe as a partisan effort that ignores comparable Republican platforms.

: This whistleblower report is funny because it reveals the level of panic in the regime.

In their opposition to election integrity, Democrats have recruited a “whistleblower” that reveals what we all know to be true about mail in ballots:

You can’t secure them.

It’s why no other nation on earth runs elections like we do. Because you can’t run elections like we do and have them be legitimate elections.

Transparency is an existential threat to the fake election system — voters, ballots, counts, donations, districts. In every domain, transparency is obstructed by those that run the system.

That’s why the “whistleblower” says states can’t make these changes to mail balloting.

It’s also probably why the fifth ActBlue representative exercised his fifth amendment rights before Congress this week.

Transparency leads to the realization that it was treason all along.

And that leads to accountability.

Accelerate.

Deep Dive on Venezuelan ‘Oil Baron’ Exposes Media Ignorance on Operation Absolute Resolve

Axios suggests that Venezuelan oil executive Alejandro Betancourt is the indispensable middleman behind the Trump administration’s new energy deal with Caracas.

U.S. officials told the outlet that without him, there would be no energy-security arrangement—and that Nicolás Maduro might still be in power. Betancourt’s North American Blue Energy Partners is partnering with the Pentagon’s Office of Strategic Capital on 17 fields holding an estimated 65 billion barrels.

The structure gives the United States a 35 percent stake and the right to buy 20 percent of output at cost (roughly $30 a barrel versus a $90 market price), while Venezuela keeps a share of production plus taxes. No U.S. cash is put in, while Betancourt’s firm gets long-term access with implied American military backing.

A White House fact sheet and Venezuelan interim president Delcy Rodríguez have since confirmed 100-year concessions and a pledged $100 billion in infrastructure investment.

Betancourt’s path to that role is tangled.

When U.S. forces seized Maduro in January, Betancourt—working through unofficial fixer Mauricio Claver-Carone—supposedly helped persuade a shaken Rodríguez to talk with Secretary of State Marco Rubio about taking the lead.

He has faced long-running money-laundering probes in the United States and Switzerland, but has never been charged.

: This is a yuge development, for a number of reasons.

First, this article directly references the Matthias Krull case, emphasizing that it was something that Maduro was tracking in real time.

I haven’t seen anyone discuss Matthias Krull or his significance to this entire story; though we have, in this News Brief.

The author of the Axios article, Mark Caputo (Steve Bannon’s White House correspondent, who regularly teams up with Barak Ravid on Trump stories) hyperlinks another article when he mentions the money laundering case.

Not only does this linked article confirm the Matthias Krull reference, it provides additional context from the prosecutor on the significance of Krull.

“The number of people that [Krull] has put us in touch with… is large.

Do you remember in the film The Dark Knight, when Batman has to travel to Hong Kong to kidnap that accountant?

The one who handled all the mob’s money and fled to avoid prosecution?

Matthias Krull is Lau.

To further drive this point home, I consulted with ChatGPT to identify the most famous RICO case in US history. (The one on which the fictitious Lau case in The Dark Knight film would have been based.)

So the prosecutor responsible for the most notorious RICO case of all time—which has since been allegorized in famous films—just happens to have been the lawyer for Betancourt, who is now credited as the keystone to what President Trump has billed as “the biggest oil deal in history?”

(I believe that President Trump personally contributed to the RICO prosecution of the Mafia and later of John Gotti, but that’s another story for another day.)

Do you believe in coincidences?

I will remind all of you that Matthias Krull was caught because Swiss authorities raided the Helsinge Group’s office in Geneva, found banking information implicating him, and passed that information on to the FBI.

The reason that Geneva office was raided was because of evidence included in a civil lawsuit filed by attorney David Boies against high-profile oil executives on behalf of Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA.

The lawsuit(s) were filed in Miami in the US Southern District of Florida, where Krull happened to live, but Boies also filed in Geneva on the hope that the authorities would act on the published evidence—which they did.

The best part is this tidbit:

Another reminder: Delcy Rodriguez served as a high ranking oil official in the Hugo Chavez administration. That means she was part of the team that helped build the Venezuelan economy that everyone always references when they talk about Venezuela’s glorious history. (None of those people seem to actually understand why Venezuela once had a booming economy and who was responsible for building it.)

In closing, there is a pattern to acknowledge with the story of Betancourt’s return to Venezuela: Maduro-linked officials, either willingly or leveraged into, assisting US authorities and then returning to Venezuela and serving in the Maduro administration.

We saw this happen with Alex Saab, who was famously prosecuted by the Biden administration (after helping the Trump admin), then pardoned and sent back to Venezuela, where he was appointed Minister of Industry.

Until someone can provide a better explanation for all the plot twists and contradictions concerning Venezuela, I will continue to believe that Maduro is a cooperating witness and his administration a willing partner in helping President Trump take down an international criminal syndicate that occupies DC, among other places.

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Europeans Cope and Seethe as US Welcomes Russia to G20 for First Time Since 2021

Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov made a surprise in-person appearance at the U.S.-hosted G20 finance ministers and central bankers meeting in Asheville, North Carolina, the first time a Russian finance chief has sat at the table since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

The Trump administration invited him; Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent welcomed Siluanov and held a bilateral meeting that, according to the Russian Finance Ministry, covered financial issues between the two countries and G20 engagement.

A source familiar with the talks said Bessent made clear there would be no economic relief or other deals for Moscow while the war continues.

Siluanov remains under U.S. sanctions.

European officials said they were blindsided and called the invitation a troubling signal of possible normalization.

German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said receiving the Russian minister sent “a troubling signal” and that he would not pose for a photo with him; Polish Finance Minister Andrzej Domanski said Europe does not trust Russia and that conversation with Moscow is extremely difficult.

After European pushback, Siluanov was excluded from the traditional G20 family photo.

: You guys know I just can't resist writing takes about the Gay Gangster-in-Chief when they're this plentiful.

And boy are they plentiful right now.

To wit, on the back of a blitz of sanctions against the so-called Iranian Regime (but which are actually sanctions against the entire international criminal banking cartel, and also Canada,) US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is fielding the most aggressive calls from the US Media Industrial Complex and our so-called Allies while Donald Trump continues to meme with abandon.

As he should.

Somehow, in the midst of all this, Bessent is managing to play host at this year's G20 summit, which is happening Stateside in Asheville, North Carolina.

That wouldn't be news on its own.

What IS news, however is the fact that Russia's Finance Minister Anton Siluanov (he's been in the post for 17 years, btw) was invited (and accepted said invite) to the G20 for the first time since the Ukraine Special Military slash DeNazification Operation kicked off in 2022.

The fact that it was the US who invited the Russian Federation, as Trump has long been suggesting is signal all its own, but as long-time readers know, my personal favorite bits of signal tend to be of the inverted variety.

As in, while the US welcoming Russia back into the G20 fold has Sovereign Alliance written all over it, the true signal emerging from Asheville is the counter-signal emanating from the European Collectorate, who seem even more twitchy than usual on the back of Bessent's Operation Economic Outcast ... for some reason.

But then, I'll let one of the collectivist cretins tell you in his own words:

"Receiving the Russian finance minister here sends a troubling signal," German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil said, as collected by ZeroHedge.

What's more, Klingbeil wasn't done there.

He wanted to do more than whine, you see ... so he decided to send a message.

"I made it clear to the Europeans this morning in the plenary session that I would not pose for a photo with the Russian finance minister," he told reporters.

I mean. I just don't know how either the US or Russia is going to recover from this sort of geopoliticking 5D Chess subterfuge, guys.

It's all pretty devastating.

But in all non-seriousness ... this is what the EU Collectorate has been reduced to ... essentially getting cucked on the world stage by the convergence of a Sovereign Alliance they know is all too real, and yet, which they must continue to pretend doesn't exist.

Sure, Bessent and Siluanov might have engaged in some light-hearted kayfabe in front of the cameras, with Bessent saying official deals with the Russian Federation remain a nonstarter until AFTER the Ukraine PsyOp is finished ... but for those with the eyes to see, the pincer couldn't be any more clear.

The only question that remains:

When does it close fully ... and what will be left of the Collectorate when it does?

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

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Establishment Concerned That MAHA Ideas and Vax Skepticism Will Outlast RFK Jr.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine skepticism is one of the Trump administration’s sharper political liabilities … according to Axios, who believes the broader suspicion of public-health institutions that he amplified is likely to outlast him inside the GOP and the Make America Healthy Again coalition.

Advisers and MAHA organizers argue the shift is already baked in: distrust of “the ghouls at these institutions,” as HHS adviser Calley Means put it, predates Kennedy and was reinforced by the COVID years.

The durable attitude, Republican pollster Chris Wilson said, is not that “vaccines are bad,” but that expertise should not be trusted automatically.

Kennedy’s actual policy footprint has been smaller than critics expected, leaving many of his pre-office goals unfinished.

Ideas that could return after the midterms include expanding injury claims against vaccine makers or the government.

Polling complicates the picture: KFF finds majorities across parties still generally support vaccines, and MAHA voters show stronger enthusiasm for food and pesticide changes than for overhauling immunization.

About half of MAHA supporters call reevaluating vaccine safety a top issue, yet many still back routine shots such as MMR.

Only 38 percent of voters approve of the administration’s vaccine handling, though 79 percent of Republicans do; confidence that the CDC acts independently sits at about 40 percent among both MAHA and non-MAHA respondents.

Movement figures say the health-freedom network existed before Kennedy and will remain after he is gone.

: Trust, once broken, is incredibly hard to earn back. Good parents teach this to kids, and reinforce it throughout their lives to make it stick.

Unfortunately for the Health Industries, their parents never taught them to preserve trust — and trust is long gone.

That’s not Kennedy’s fault; it’s the Health Industries’ fault.

Covid was an era that we will likely discuss for the rest of our lives. If we love our children and grandchildren and future generations, we will talk about it truthfully to ensure it never happens again.

You can’t talk about Covid truthfully without talking about the unscientific social engineering directed by the Health Industries and adopted by all the institutions. They destroyed lives with pseudoscience for profit.

That’s the truth. Just read Fauci’s emails.

The Health Industries burned the nation down to rule over its ashes, and they got caught in the middle of the effort and exposed as the monsters they are.

That’s why the public doesn’t trust the medical establishment.

Kennedy’s role is encapsulating that record, making sure people understand the facts amidst all the emotional noise.

Our role is making sure the healthy distrust of eugenicist psychopaths exists long after Kennedy’s departure.

Fire at Major Manufacturing Plant Could Impact US Electrical Infrastructure; Accident?

A large fire broke out Monday afternoon at Howard Industries in Laurel, Mississippi, one of the country’s major manufacturers of electrical distribution transformers.

Officials said an outdoor paint booth ignited and the blaze spread to nearby oil-filled transformers; a tanker carrying an explosive substance was also nearby.

Employees were evacuated. No injuries were reported. More than a dozen city and county departments responded; the fire was contained by early evening and extinguished around 8 p.m.

The cause remained undetermined, and Howard Industries did not immediately detail damage.

Days earlier, on Aug. 26, President Trump signed an executive order declaring a national emergency over foreign-supplied bulk-power equipment—the transformers, inverters, storage systems, breakers, and industrial-control gear that keep the high-voltage grid running.

The order, issued under IEEPA and the National Emergencies Act, warns that certain foreign actors can exploit digital backdoors or supply-chain leverage to sabotage or remotely access U.S. infrastructure, a risk the White House says has grown as data centers, AI, and defense manufacturing drive electricity demand.

It generally bars new acquisition or installation of covered foreign-produced equipment that poses undue sabotage or national-security risk and lets the Energy secretary impose conditions on gear already in place.

: So let me get this straight:

President Trump signs Executive Order 14420 declaring a national emergency to secure America’s bulk-power systems, banning the importation of foreign-made systems, and then just five days later, the largest producer of electrical transformers in the country has their largest plant go up in flames because a paint truck catches fire?

Which also happens to be one of the largest electrical transformer factories in the world?

I cannot begin to overstate the potential significance of this fire.

Back during the Biden administration, in spite of all the economic fallout of the COVID scam and the bleakness of the Biden economic policy platform, construction was still booming. I can personally attest to that.

However, there were major supply chain issues that were bringing projects to a grinding halt.

One example was commercial HVAC rooftop units (RTU’s,) whose lead-time in some cases pushed to over a year. Another example was electrical switchgears— centralized disconnect switches, fuses and circuit breakers used to protect electrical equipment—which also pushed out to nearly a year. (In some extreme cases, we actually commissioned steel fabricators to make the components, and hired electrical engineers to build our own switchgears from scratch.)

Another example of long lead-time items from the Biden years were electrical transformers.

When dealing with both switchgears and transformers, you are largely at the mercy of the utility company responsible for maintaining the grid into which you are tapping. You have to get on their schedule with their engineers, and when combined with the material shortages and excessive market demand, the recipe for disastrous delays is quite real.

What do these delays mean?

Well, it’s more than just a mere inconvenience.

Projects are finalized based on pricing that is relatively time-sensitive, particularly in a volatile market.

For example, right now the industry is experiencing a massive shortage of steel, which is driving up price and lead time.

We are seeing distributors put price escalators on steel every quarter, meaning every 3 months you wait to order the steel for your project you could be paying an additional 5%. If you are ordering a million dollars worth of steel studs, that’s an extra $50K.

We are also now getting warnings about shortages due to excessive demand.

What used to be a one week turnaround is now potentially an eight-week delay, and getting worse. (President Trump’s “Golden Share” deal he cut with Nippon Steel is going to save our country from economic calamity.)

So imagine your longtime steel vendor does you a solid, and promises to hold his pricing on materials for a specific project for the next 6 months, despite his own costs going up, but says that he will need to escalate each quarter next year, meaning 12 months from now, you’ll be paying an extra 15% for the same material package.

You sign the contract because you figure that you’ll order the bulk of the package before year’s end, and at worst, get dinged with a 5% increase on the last portion of the order.

Months later, as you prepare to mobilize, you learn that due to shortages with electrical equipment you can’t even get power to the site for construction crews, let alone the electrical equipment required for the building.

Suddenly, the project is delayed 6-12 months, and that million dollar steel package has gone up $150-$200K thanks to that 15%-20% escalation that you thought you would avoid. And this isn’t even factoring in the developer (think Donald Trump) who has taken out construction loans on which he has to make payments, or tenant lease agreements that are now delayed so he can’t collect rent, and because of those delays, the tenant may have to go find another location because their own pro forma is based on them opening on specific date—they have costs and liabilities of their own to consider.

The problem reverberates through the economy as each node in the supply chain is impacted

And who eats the costs of these increases? The subcontractor? The GC? The developer? The commercial tenants?

Pushing those costs on any one of them could cause insolvency, so everyone lawyers up and spends years litigating an outcome.

At some point, all of the subcontractors are going to come back and demand a new round of pricing because none of their suppliers can honor the original quote. So the entire project could see escalation across the board, which may make the whole endeavor financially unviable.

Even if the pro forma model still works, cash flow could still dry up, leading to insolvency.

Do you see now why you hear about people filing for bankruptcy during construction?

And all of it can be caused by the delay of something important like bulk-power electrical equipment.

Now, will we see problems like this arise from this factory fire?

Maybe. Maybe not.

I wanted to bring this story to your attention to help you understand how fragile our economy is due to the off-shoring of our manufacturing base, and why everything that President Trump has done to rectify that is so critical to saving our country.

And if we should determine that this fire— and others like it— are coordinated attacks by interested parties who are trying to rig the game in their favor, then we must as a society find the courage and strength to treat the offenders as enemy combatants and their actions as acts of terrorism.

A new government will not be enough to solve such a problem.

The solution requires a culture that prioritizes its own people and seeks to secure their future and protect them from outside predators with ruthless vigilance.

We as a people have lost that survival instinct.

Let us pray that God restores it in us before it is too late.

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Pentagon Quietly Puts Conservative Veteran Influencers on Staff, Keeps Jobs and Pay Secret

The Pentagon has placed conservative veteran influencers in government jobs but will not say what those jobs are or whether taxpayers are paying for them. Some of the positions are civilian roles that could shape policy.

Records show retired Air Force Col. Rob Maness, who has more than 135,000 followers on X, and retired Army Col. Kurt Schlichter, who has nearly 620,000, had official civilian “.civ” email addresses last week and are assigned to the office of Anthony Tata, the undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness.

Retired Army Col. Thomas Anderson, who writes as Cynical Publius and has more than 323,000 followers, showed up in the same kind of Pentagon roster earlier this year with a civilian email in Tata’s office. By late last week his name was no longer on that list. People familiar with the matter said the men were brought on as special government employees or “highly qualified experts.”

Special government employees are limited by law to 130 days of work in any 365-day stretch. It was not clear what they are paid, or if they are paid at all. None of the three mentioned the Pentagon jobs in the columns and posts they have written backing Hegseth.

Maness, Schlichter, and Anderson also visited the Army War College in May as part of Hegseth’s task force looking for “woke” ideology. Separately, influencer Jennica Pounds, who posts as DataRepublican, said she became a special government employee at the Pentagon in July after holding a credential in Hegseth’s new press corps.

: The news that “influencers” are really government operatives is hitting some folks harder than others.

I have a hard time believing Massie, as the OG Desimp, is surprised by the “discovery” of government influence operatives. That’s literally unbelievable. He works with them all the time.

A couple weeks ago, Data Republican’s mom — who is also an “influencer” as well as the mom of an influencer — whined on X that people are using “Fed” as a pejorative.

It’s a longer post, you can read it here.

The influencer’s mom’s influential post was in defense of the internet calling her daughter a “Fed” (after her daughter created an online drama with the State department and people realized that she was both working for the Pentagon AND online influencing).

“Don’t we want good people in government? How else can we drain the swamp?”

I don’t care how hard this influencer’s mom emotionally blackmails us, I’m not giving up “Fed.” I use the term Fed as a slur broadly — it applies to anyone running illegal psychological warfare campaigns on the American people, much as if they were trying to destabilize a foreign nation.

I want more limited government, with the branches in their constitutional boxes; but I agree that there should be “good people” in those limited seats within each box.

I just have a hard time defaulting to a “good people” designation for operators running illegal psychological warfare campaigns on the American people, much as if they were trying to destabilize a foreign nation.

No matter what their moms say.

Canada’s Trade-War Backlash Turns to Talk of Weaponizing the Great Lakes

As the US-Canada trade war escalates, some Canadians are floating a new retaliation strategy: use Canadian-controlled infrastructure on the Great Lakes–St. Lawrence shipping system to increase the economic cost for American commerce. Proposals include dramatically increasing tolls or imposing additional transit charges on US vessels passing through Canadian-controlled waterways, particularly the Welland Canal, which connects Lakes Ontario and Erie.

The proposals come after Prime Minister Mark Carney suspended trade negotiations with the Trump administration, saying last-minute US demands were “unfair” and threatened Canada’s economic independence and sovereignty. Ottawa subsequently announced dollar-for-dollar retaliatory tariffs after Washington imposed new 50% tariffs on billions of dollars of Canadian goods.

Canada does control strategically important portions of the shipping route and already collects tolls, but the US controls locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway as well, meaning an attempt to weaponize access could invite reciprocal US measures. Additionally, British Columbia Premier David Eby has proposed reconsidering Canada’s purchase of US-made F-35s and targeting American coal shipments through British Columbia.

: Sunday night on The Narrative, I ended up concluding a two-hour cascade about Trump’s war on the global cartel by tying Scott Bessent’s declaration of Operation Economic Outcast to the same-day trade war Trump launched on Canada.

I also reminded Badlanders that Mark Carney, the current clown prince of Canada was once the head of the Bank of England.

I then reminded Badlanders that, long before he was installed as US Treasury Secretary, Bessent made his name engineering one of the most ballsy and assymetric trades in the history of global finance, a trade that came to be known as Black Wednesday in the 1990s.

A trade he engineered against ... the Bank of England.

Now, you are certainly free to believe that Donald Trump’s announcement of Operation Economic Outcast on the same day he launched a trade war with Canada, delivered through the mouth of the man who defeated the Bank of England once and is now aiming a new set of de facto sanctions on one of its former heads is a coincidence.

But then, I’m not talking to you.

Ultimately, Canada is being threatened with a full ‘casting out’ of the US trade system, which is something they very literally cannot afford.

Donald Trump knows this.

Scott Bessent knows this.

Most importantly, Mark Carney knows this.

Among many other theories, the simplest answer I can give as to why Carney and Canada would continue down this fatalistic path is because they are relying on the Midterm elections delivering an optical repudiation of Trump’s mandate, which has largely been defined by his foreign policy on both economic and military fronts throughout the last two years.

As I said last week, this puts Carney on equal strategic footing to the US Uniparty.

I also think it is folly.

You see, Donald Trump doesn’t care about the Midterms because Trump has not been governing through a Congressional or Judicial body that seem to oppose him on nearly every front, despite the fact that, ostensibly, they’re both conservative, if not MAGA coded.

Instead, he’s been leading the nation as Commander-in-Chief, and as Chief Financial Officer ... believing a First Principles fusion of the two represents the best bet this country has of getting back to its foundational promise.

As such, Canada isn’t the most important geopolitical or geoeconomic front in the Shadow War, but it is going to serve as a needed Bicameral exposure Op on two fronts:

On the first, Canada, in catastrophically miscalculating what little leverage it believed it held against the world’s most dominant empire (that’s us, by the way,) they will serve as perhaps the final cautionary tale for any others who would seek to challenge Trump’s power paradigm.

Second, and more relevant to this particular writing, along the way there, Canada, in devolving into the SAME sort of Regime Tactics we are told the Iranians are currently attempting to lever against the US reveal themselves as just another tentacle of the very Globalist Regime Trump is in the process of first squeezing and later killing.

The Invisible Enemy has never been more visible.

And Trump is giving them all the time they need to make sure the whole world and all its peoples see them for what they are.

And the next time you find yourself stumping over the Midterms, try to remember that all of the worst people in the world are relying on that very construct to save themselves from Trump’s wrath, which is to say, from ours.

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Pezeshkian Gets Red-Carpet Welcome at SCO Summit Alongside Xi, Putin, Modi and Erdogan

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian received a high-profile welcome in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, Monday as he joined Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s 25th anniversary summit. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is an SCO dialogue partner rather than a full member, is also attending.

The gathering comes as the Trump administration intensifies efforts to economically isolate Tehran following the US-Israel war with Iran. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described an economic-pressure campaign aimed at bringing Iran back to negotiations, making Pezeshkian’s reception among some of Eurasia’s largest powers particularly significant.

Pezeshkian met Modi on the summit’s sidelines, discussing the Middle East conflict and trade, and told the Indian leader that Tehran continues to seek a negotiated resolution with Washington. He is also scheduled to meet Putin. China remains Iran’s most important oil customer, while Russia and Iran have deepened their economic and defense relationship.

The SCO now includes 10 full members — China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Belarus and four Central Asian states — representing more than 40% of the world’s population and roughly a quarter of global GDP. The summit is explicitly showcasing deeper Eurasian cooperation and a more multipolar international order, although significant divisions remain among its members.

: President Trump’s war against Iran is turning President Pezeshkian into an international icon of resistance.

Much like Israel’s protracted war in Gaza elevated Hamas’s profile, and even led to many sympathizing with them, the special military operation against Iran is elevating the profile of Iranian President Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. This is significant because these two have become the posterboys of Iran, and neither one is a mullah or an IRGC general.

This represents a new era for Iran, which is now being led by a civilian government that is not ideologically driven.

It would seem that this change happened some time ago, and this war has provided the perfect opportunity for the Iranian government to demonstrate its discipline and restraint. While there may very well be an evil twin element that is being wiped out in Iran, the one component of their government that has ostensibly been left intact is President Pezeshkian and Foreign MInister Araghchi.

Considering the critical role that Iran plays in geography of the SCO’s trade route, it’s no wonder that Pezeshkian is being treated as a VIP at this event. It will be interesting to see what comes out of these meetings. How will these nations collaborate in the name of sovereignty?

DOJ Surges Election-Fraud Investigations Across 19 States

The Justice Department is expanding election-related investigations across 19 states beginning Monday, with federal officials seeking voter-registration and election records as part of the Trump administration’s push to identify potential illegal voting and voter-roll problems.

The effort involves coordination with the Department of Homeland Security and includes scrutiny of citizenship and voter eligibility. Election officials and voting-rights groups are raising concerns about federal access to voter data and the administration’s expanding role in state-run elections.

The investigations come as the administration pursues a broader election-integrity agenda ahead of the 2026 midterms, including demands that states provide voter-roll data and efforts to identify noncitizens who may be registered or voting.

: The only reason you’d resist oversight of and transparency for election administration — the vehicle through which The People allegedly consent to dystopia — is if your work can’t withstand the scrutiny.

Public trust is a fragile thing, and overtly violating it for political gain is a huge risk. Especially in the age of the Trumpian boomerang.

The corruption is so exposed now that public trust is at all time lows. And, yet, the globalists in state leadership are still resisting and obstructing lawful oversight of elections.

It’s not really political calculus is it…

It’s a matter of survival.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Russian Forces Help Niger Thwart Third Airport Takeover Attempt

Nigerien forces, reportedly aided by Russia’s Africa Corps, suppressed a military mutiny aimed at seizing Niamey’s Diori Hamani International Airport — the third reported attempt to capture the facility this year.

Africa Corps has largely taken over Russia’s African operations previously associated with Wagner. Niger has strengthened military ties with Moscow following the withdrawal of US and French forces.

: This is pretty wild.

As a reminder, Niger is one of the three West African nations that is revolting against the UN system of regional governance, joining Mali and Burkina Faso in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). The AES has allied closely with Russia, with the Wagner Group (Africa Corps) providing training and security too all three nations.

Additional context: One month ago, the transitional leader of Niger, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, warned in an interview that French intelligence services were planning to attempt to capture Niger’s main airport (Diori Hamani International Airport) for the third time this year.

Fortunately, we have been tracking and reporting on these airport attacks in the News Brief.

I maintain my running theory that the goal of the Deep State is to capture an airstrip and establish an air-bridge, so that vehicles, heavy equipment, and mercenaries could be brought in to fortify a perimeter to create a beachhead for a larger invasion that would overthrow the AES-aligned transitional government and restore a regime puppet to power.

The fact that the Nigerien president/general could accurately prognosticate this attack indicates that the AES has significant intelligence capabilities, even if it is assistance from the Kremlin. This isn’t you father’s African junta. This is a new age of sovereign leaders who are legitimately working together to defeat an aspiring one-world government.

BONUS ITEMS

Grand Jury Subpoenas Comey Advisor Daniel Richman in New Classified-Leak Probe

A federal grand jury on Monday issued a subpoena to Daniel Richman, James Comey’s longtime friend and former adviser, Fox News reported first, citing multiple law enforcement sources. Prosecutors are running a new Justice Department investigation into Comey allegedly leaking classified information to The New York Times.

The same leak matter was probed in Trump’s first term and then shut down after Joe Biden took office. This case sits on top of a separate investigation into Comey’s alleged threats against Trump.

Richman is a law professor and former Comey attorney. He was a central figure in the first leak investigation in 2018. He later sued, saying prosecutors violated his Fourth Amendment rights by seizing material from his electronic devices in 2019 and 2020. A federal judge in Washington, D.C., ruled for him in that case in December 2025. The new subpoena means prosecutors are again pulling Richman into a grand jury over the Comey–Times classified-leak file.

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Trump Targets “Big Meat” Monopoly with Farmer First Move

President Donald Trump said Friday, August 28, that his administration would prepare legal documents aimed at allowing farmers and ranchers to process their own food, targeting concentration in the U.S. meatpacking industry. Trump said the initiative should move quickly but did not specify in his announcement what regulatory or legal mechanism the administration would use.

The proposal comes amid longstanding concentration in beef processing. Congressional materials have put the four largest firms’ share of U.S. beef processing at about 85%.

The Agriculture Department has separately begun a $500 million program aimed at supporting independent and regional beef processors. USDA’s Strengthening Processing for U.S. Ranchers program provides temporary payments to qualifying small and midsize slaughter facilities, while excluding the four largest beef-processing entities.

Trump’s announcement also follows an August 26 proclamation temporarily expanding the tariff-rate quota for lean beef trimmings by 300,000 metric tons. The additional imports are scheduled in three 100,000-metric-ton tranches beginning September 1.

The administration said the measures come as domestic beef supplies remain tight. The White House cited USDA forecasts showing U.S. beef production falling about 4% this year compared with 2025 and said the domestic cattle herd is at its lowest level in 75 years.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said additional measures would seek to reduce processing regulations and expand ranchers’ ability to sell meat across state lines. Those measures were described as forthcoming; the article did not establish that those regulatory changes had already taken effect.

: An otherwise-unsexy pair of moves regarding the American Meat Industry stands as one of Donald Trump's greatest bits of Game Theory in recent memory, and also serves as a template for how he's handling bigger issues worldwide.

If you'll recall, two weeks ago, Trump made waves (and we're told, not the good kind) when he announced temporary tariff relief for foreign beef imports in an apparent move to lower pricing pressures on US consumers.

The media, of course framed this as electioneering, since the easing window happens to coincide with the Midterm elections, and if that's all that was going on, or all that Trump was aiming to do, it might be hard to argue with them.

That said, Trump, as he often does followed up his jab with a steady cross a week later, announcing his intentions to open up meat processing to Mom & Pop farmers and ranchers across the nation in order to help break up the Big Four meat processing cartel.

(Funny how it's always a Big Four, huh?)

Again, the media framed this as reactionary, and yet, the strategy is in keeping with Trump's core governing philosophy: squeeze the Big Guys while easing up on the little guys.

First, from where I'm sitting, this Bicameral Beef Blitz (perhaps the title of a new show?!) hits the Big Four in the wallets, since they have attained their position by first undercutting Mom & Pops all over the country, and they have only done so by operating industrial scale systems at razor thin margins, something independent operations literally can't afford to do, since they don't have the sort of reciprocal agreements the Big Four live on.

Second, Trump's move to deregulate the meat processing industry changes nothing with regards to the operating costs of the Big Four, since they were already operating in an artificial version of the same environment, while it drastically increases the options of their smaller competitors, who don't have to negotiate with a de facto cartel in order to get their product to market, since they literally haven't been able to process their inputs into outputs in the first place.

So, in the short term, beef prices in the US are going to come down as we ride out a bumpy 2026, easing pressure on the American consumer while applying it inversely to the Big Four, all while affording Mom & Pop some light at the end of the tunnel along with the time necessary to spin up their operations (many for the first time ever) in order to deliver truly-decentralized, end-to-end (mmmmmmmm ... did someone say burnt ends?!) product to markets they used to have to ask for permission to participate in.

Now apply this template to energy. To media. To technology. To retail. To manufacturing.

And you've got something approaching the Bicameral Trump Trade Template.

And it's a trade the little guys are going to win ... for once, and for last.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Trump Announces Historic Deal with Venezuela for Oil

President Donald Trump said his administration reached an agreement with Venezuela involving access to 65 billion barrels of the country’s proven oil reserves, while Venezuela’s acting president said her country would retain ownership and sovereignty over the resources.

Trump announced the agreement Aug. 28 and said it was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodríguez. Rodríguez’s government said the agreement covers 17 oil fields with proven potential of 65 billion barrels and could bring $100 billion in investment and more than $209 billion in taxes to Venezuela.

A U.S. official familiar with the agreement, speaking to AP on condition of anonymity, said the United States would partner with an unnamed private operator in a new company holding 100-year development rights to the fields. The official said the United States would receive 55% of the company’s effective output through an ownership stake and rights to purchase oil at cost.

Rodríguez said in a televised address that Venezuela would retain ownership and sovereignty over its resources while using outside capital, technology and operational capacity. RT reported Aug. 30 that Rodríguez described the arrangement as a 25-year deal involving the 17 oil fields.

The U.S. official cited by AP said oil bought from the venture would be used to replenish the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve and for military purposes. Venezuela holds an estimated 303 billion barrels of crude reserves, about 17% of the world total, according to U.S. Energy Information Administration figures cited by AP.

Any substantial production increase is expected to take time. AP reported that repairing and expanding Venezuela’s deteriorated oil infrastructure would require years and billions of dollars in investment.

: Let’s start by checking in on our boy, Nicolas Maduro. (He’s posting on X from prison.)

“Venezuela will be reborn".”

It certainly seems that way.

They say that I’m not allowed to like this guy because allegedly he did a bunch of terrible things that nobody can quite specify, and when I ask them for details I’m told to stop being naive and that he’s a communist dictator and blah blah blah…

None of it makes any sense. Nobody can lay out a clean timeline that explains why Venezuela had a starving population in the 1980’s and 90’s, then after Hugo Chavez seized power (with Maduro as his Vice President) they suddenly became the dominant economy in Latin America. Then Chavez—who, after watching footage of him from his weekly reality TV show that he hosted while president, reminds me a lot of Donald Trump—gets cancer and dies and there’s a national mourning and it legitimately seems like people were fond of him. His dying wish during his last televised appearance (appearing next to Maduro, who is crying) is for the people to rally around Maduro and help him make Venezuela great. Chavez clarifies that he cannot mandate Maduro to be leader, the people must choose him. Fox News says that when Maduro came into power he implemented all of these communist programs, but that’s not true. He just maintained what Chavez already had in place, which had worked well up until 2014 when the globalists manipulated the price of oil in order to crash the economies of Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

All throughout Chavez and Maduro’s tenures—when we were being told that they were ruthless dictators—Maria Corona Machado is visiting the Bush White House and openly calling for Chavez (and later Maduro) to be overthrown and for a new government to be implemented. She is funded entirely by the State Department (USAID) and the National Endowment for Democracy. We even get a dramatic scene in 2012 when she stands up and confronts Chavez in legislature on television, and he handles it like a total boss and makes her look like an idiot.

Do ruthless dictators allow vocal dissidents to hold office and visit foreign leaders and during those visits call for the overthrow of said ruthless dictator?

And I haven’t even gotten into the juicy details of how Chavez dealt with the oil companies, which seemed rather fair, and that the Bush cartel immediately went to work trying to destroy Chavez’s reputation and image.

I’ve watched hours and hours of footage of both Chavez and Maduro, and I’ve seen them both speak truthfully on the subjects of Israel/Palestine, the CIA, the assassination of JFK, the central banking system, the oil industry, and countless other subjects—none of which I have ever heard an American politician address, save for Donald Trump. And for those who would say, “well it’s easy for a ruthless dictator to get up and say those things and not mean it,” then why haven’t any American politicians done this? The most we get out of them is a sternly worded letter demanding to know what happened to JFK, when we all know that he was killed by the CIA and Mossad working in coordination with the Mafia. So why don’t they just say that? Even as just their opinion?

The truth is that Maduro is kind of a goofball. He’s actually a yuge goofball. Have you seen him dance? Ruthless dictators don’t dance like that. Ruthless dictators don’t make fools of themselves in order to cheer up an audience. Why would they? They are ruthless dictators—they don’t need the support of the people.

Why is it that both Hugo Chavez and Maduro could walk through crowds of thousands of people without really any security and nobody would touch them? If they were so bad then why weren’t they ripped to shreds? Or stabbed?

Why is it that after Maduro was “arrested,” thousands of people showed up to rallies in support of him, demanding his release? Would they not have been relieved to be rid of the ruthless dictator?

For those curious, I did do a Book of Trump episode (two, actually) on Hugo Chavez, and I plan to eventually do one on Maduro. There you can see the footage I am referencing. It’s pretty stunning to witness after being told your entire life that these guys are evil. Evil guys don’t act silly on stage and sing John Lennon songs and take goofy pictures from prison and post them online with Biblical scripture and sweet messages to his grandchildren.

Simply put, Maduro does not look like he is suffering in those pictures. He looks like a man at peace who is genuinely excited for the future of his country. I find Maduro (and many other world leaders) infinitely more endearing and likable than pretty much everyone in American politics. Sorry not sorry. American politics sucks. Our political leadership sucks. The Republican Party sucks. It’s just all so fake and gross.

I love Donald Trump. When he finally does decide to hang ‘em up, I don’t think I will be able to support anyone else. Not in the way I have supported Trump. They don’t deserve my attention. They haven’t earned it. They are all still simping for special interests and refusing to speak actual truth. Frankly, I have better things to do with my time. Maybe that will change, but right now I don’t see anyone who is inspiring or courageous. (They all just stick to the old talking points and follow Trump’s lead when it comes to new ideas.) I’m not going to lower my standards and settle for mediocrity, and you shouldn’t either. We should demand better leaders, like Donald Trump.

Anyway, as for the deal with Venezuela, it’s a big deal, of course. The GOP has obviously been lying to us about this country for years and we shouldn’t forgive them for doing that. (I hope Maduro gets the last laugh over the NeoCon scum. I’m seriously pulling for that guy.)

Delcy Rodriguez gave a speech where she broke it all down. It’s in Spanish so I’ll just share the link, but the general gist is a 25-year deal that aims to raise production to 1.5 million barrels a day. This oil will come from 17 (kek) oil fields, with 8 new exploration blocks.

Letitia James’ Office Was Targeting Political Opponents New Emails Prove

A prosecutor in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office alleged in an agency-wide email that his supervisor directed him to pursue possible crimes involving President Donald Trump and Trump-linked organizations without what the prosecutor considered a credible basis, according to an email obtained by the Times Union. The allegations have not been independently established.

Assistant Attorney General Daniel Wiesenfeld alleged that Investor Protection Bureau Chief Shamiso Maswoswe directed him to target Trump, Truth Social and Hewlett Packard. An official attorney general’s office release independently identifies Wiesenfeld as an assistant attorney general in the Investor Protection Bureau and Maswoswe as the bureau chief.

Wiesenfeld’s Friday email disappeared from the inboxes of more than 2,000 employees. General Counsel Kumiki Gibson later sent an agency-wide message describing the situation as an internal matter and saying employees were not in danger, according to three people familiar with that communication who spoke to the Times Union.

Wiesenfeld also urged colleagues not to target James’ political opponents, arguing that prosecutors should investigate crimes and identify those responsible rather than begin with individuals and search for crimes. He accused the office of spending public money targeting political enemies.

James’ office placed Wiesenfeld on administrative leave with full pay. Spokesperson Alexis Richards described the dispute as a personnel matter and said the office is committed to enforcing New York law and protecting New Yorkers regardless of their political beliefs. The office strongly rejected assertions to the contrary.

: Back in 2023, taxpayers paid Shamiso Maswoswe $795,000 because she claimed gender and pregnancy discrimination.

From a 2023 Bloomberg article, “Shamiso Maswoswe, a Black woman of Zimbabwean descent, alleged she was wrongfully terminated when she returned to work after having a child because of her race, her breastfeeding in the office and her child caregiving activities which included taking her infant on work trips. She also alleged the department retaliated against her for complaining that she was being discriminated against—treated differently than her male, and childless, colleagues—and because she was a breastfeeding mother.”

Over the weekend, a prosecutor in Leticia James’ office alleged that he was told by his boss to weaponize the government against President Trump.

From the NY Post article, “Wiesenfeld alleged in his email on Friday that Bureau Chief Shamiso Maswoswe specifically directed him to target ‘Trump himself, Truth Social, Hewlett Packard (DOJ approved merger)… without having a credible reason for targeting the organizations and individuals’ … The feds recently approved a $14 billion merger between Hewlett-Packard and Juniper Networks.”

It’s all so corrupt. Justice can’t be politicized or it’s not justice. The President was right to focus on weaponization of government as a top priority.

Also, that discrimination settlement should be reevaluated. Anyone that would direct their subordinates to violate their oaths wouldn’t be above fabricating discrimination claims for a payout. And the 2023 regime wasn’t above using legal settlements to be pay prosecutors for future obstruction of justice.

I’m not saying that happened. I’m saying that it would surprise no one if that’s what happened.

So it’s worth another look.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Betting Teleprompter Bandit Surrenders Winnings

A former White House teleprompter operator has been ordered to surrender more than $107,000 in prediction-market profits and pay a $65,000 civil penalty after federal regulators found that he traded using nonpublic information obtained through his government job.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced the settlement with Gabriel Perez on August 28. The agency found that Perez traded presidential “mention market” contracts between December 2025 and February 2026 while working as a White House teleprompter operator. The contracts reflected whether particular words or phrases would appear in President Donald Trump’s speeches.

According to the CFTC, Perez had access to presidential speeches before they were delivered and misappropriated that information, in breach of his duty of trust and confidence, to make the trades. He generated $107,539.02 in profits, which the settlement requires him to surrender.

Perez also must pay a $65,000 civil monetary penalty and is subject to a three-year trading ban. The CFTC said the penalty was substantially reduced because of his cooperation with the investigation and credited KalshiEX with assisting the agency.

Just the News reported that Perez had previously been placed on unpaid leave from his White House position after reports emerged about the trading.

: To be certain, I think what Perez did is wrong. That being said, why isn’t it wrong when Congress does it?

Perez used advanced knowledge that he was entrusted with to personally profit in trades. It’s innovative insider trading, but it’s still just insider trading.

And Congress does it all the time.

When Congress does it, the executive branch allegedly investigates and then quietly closes the investigations.

I’m glad Perez was prosecuted for his violations of his trusted position.

But shouldn’t we have consistent standards?

Israel and Greece Sign $3.6 Billion Air Defense Agreement, Forming “Achilles Shield” Against Turkey and Iran

Greece and Israel are set to sign agreements Monday for a multibillion-dollar integrated air defense network known as “Achilles’ Shield,” following approval of the program by Greece’s top foreign affairs and defense council in July. Greece’s ANA-MPA news agency said the agreements would be signed in Tel Aviv and valued the program at just over €3 billion.

The system will combine Israeli-made air and missile defense technology, including Rafael Advanced Defense Systems’ SPYDER and David’s Sling systems and Israel Aerospace Industries’ Barak MX. The network is intended to provide Greece with layered defenses against aircraft, drones, rockets and missiles.

Greek Defense Minister Nikos Dendias said in July that Achilles’ Shield would be fully operational within 35 months and that Greek companies would produce at least 25% of the system. Deliveries are expected to take place in stages.

The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that the agreement is valued at about $3.6 billion. At that value, the newspaper reported, it would surpass Israel’s $3.5 billion Arrow 3 agreement with Germany signed in 2023 as Israel’s largest defense export deal.

The procurement is part of Greece’s broader military modernization program through 2036. Greece and Israel already cooperate on military training, exercises and defense technology.

: Well, it’s official. Greece and Israel are teaming up against Turkey and Iran (and Russia, by extension). I have to say, while I’ve been speculating about this happening for months, I really did think it was a longshot. It just seems very late in the game to make this pivot, but maybe there’s still plenty of game left to play.

I do think this is the beginning of a major rift in Europe that will tear the European Union and NATO apart. I think we will see Ukraine formally join this alliance, and then Greece be pressured to turn their attention north toward “troublesome” neighbors in the Balkans. Places like Serbia that have remained loyal to Russia and Putin over the past 30 years.

Romania and Moldova will likely be pressured into joining this new Judeo-Hellenic alliance, and the political dissidence inside of Romania may prove to be a problem for the globalist regime. If the political opposition is somehow able to gain control of the government, I wouldn’t be surprised to see military intervention (invasion) of Romania.

Then there’s Hungary. While new Prime Minister Peter Magyar has been carrying the globalist regime’s water on many issues, one place where he sharply breaks with his predecessor, Viktor Orban, and that would be on the subject of Israel. Orban was/is an ardent Zionist, and was always ready to prostrate himself before Netanyahu. Magyar has adopted a far more European progressive stance, distancing Hungary from the geopolitical pariah known as Israel—and we all know what happens to world leaders who don’t get along with Israel.

To his credit, Magyar is also moving forward with a major nuclear power plant project that Orban and Putin started nearly 15 years ago. (Construction is only now beginning.)

As for this Greece-Israel storyline, the next immediate thing to look for is Cyprus joining the team. I suspect that Netanyahu’s plan is to instigate a false flag attack in Cyprus and get Turkey all hot and bothered, and ready to strike Israel so that the Zionists can resume their natural posture in the fetal position, feigning eternal victimhood.

BONUS ITEMS

Badlands Blitz Episode 31

On the latest episode of the Badlands Blitz, Ashe and I discussed the AI bubble myth, what Donald Trump is actually trying to achieve from a technology standpoint ... and who's against him.

Also, what do Canadians have in common with Seagulls?

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The opinions expressed in the Badlands Brief are those of the tagged authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.

The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

Welcome to the 29th episode of The Blitz, which is intended to serve as a weekly recap and dissection of the work we do Monday through Friday in the Badlands Brief.

On this episode, Burning Bright and spend a good deal of time discussing the Bicameral real, but also fake AI bubble, why the Deep State is so concerned about Trump’s Golden Age transition on the back of said technology and the energy that powers it, and how the Age of Authenticity is actually going to arise FROM its opposite.

also draws a masterful comparison between Canadians and Seagulls.

As always, while all Badlands content will continue to be free, including The Blitz, the only way we’re able to pay ourselves for the time is due to those of you who choose to support it directly.

So, if you like the work this Substack team does on a daily basis and the step-up in said work for 2026, consider upgrading to a Paid Subscription to this newsletter (cancel at any time.)

Otherwise, stay Positive, stay Based and most importantly … stay Bright!

The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Globalists Call For AI Nonproliferation Treaty as Their Panic Pattern Pivots

The Atlantic is calling for the US and China to negotiate an AI nonproliferation treaty aimed at slowing the development of increasingly powerful AI systems. The proposal would cap advanced computing resources and use chip tracking, data-center inspections and eventually hardware monitoring to enforce limits.

The argument reflects growing concern that neither domestic regulation nor voluntary industry restraint can stop an AI arms race. The authors contend that unilateral US restrictions risk handing China an advantage, making coordinated US-China limits the only viable way to slow frontier AI development.

: Wow.

This one is about as chock full of signal as a panic piece can get, if you’ve been tracking my tracking of the fake, but also real AI war, and why it’s the biggest topic very few in the Truth Community are talking about, and that those who are don’t seem to understand.

First, a short summary of my current thinking on the 2026 AI Wars.

As long-time readers and viewers are aware, I am bullish on AI technology, on the acceleration of new Energy pathways and of their synergy making it possible not just to push humanity forward into the very Golden Age Donald Trump has been signaling for a decade, but to supercharge it.

I also believe the Globalist Hegemon knows this, which is why they’ve been spinning up fear pieces on the proliferation not just of AI models, but of AI infrastructure (read: energy infrastructure) almost as often as they’ve been launching headlines at Trump himself since the advent of his second (public) term.

I also believe we have a few snakes in the grass, including OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, so I’m not an all-out apologist for ALL AI action.

And yet, my belief that there ARE snakes in the grass regarding this transition is less about them and more about the curious case of government intervention they’re literally begging for in every western nation at once, while warning about the acceleration of so-called doomsday Chinese tech in the same field.

And yet, it’s this very Chinese AI acceleration (and the frequent open-sourcing of it) that I have argued is key to recognizing the Sovereign Alliance engaging on fronts in the Shadow War few even know exist, as it has been through China’s open-sourcing and AI acceleration that Trump has continued to secure the mandate and the narrative shielding not just to continue his AI push, but to do so WITHOUT government intervention, which is to say, retardation ... and I do mean that literally.

NOW, the machine says the quiet part out loud, and invokes the ‘nonproliferation’ term when it comes to the existential dread they’ve attempted to conjure around the AI boogeyman they’ve invented ... which recalls the last time they used said word first to craft a story of nightmarish human ego and folly, which then paved the way for nearly a century of government controls and bipartisan unification over the halting of new development within a particular industry and technology I began taking particular interest in back in 2024.

I am talking, of course about the nuclear industry, and about my long-running theory that the Manhattan Project wasn’t an attempt to create a kinetic weapon, but a mass psychological one meant to halt the American proliferation of the sort of low-cost, nearly limitless energy base required to lead us into the Golden Age many expected in the wake of the Eisenhower Administration, and that they ripped away from us on the back of JFK’s life.

What has followed is a near-century of energy stagnation and Forever Wars meant to keep the Hegelian doom loop of energy scarcity and strife going so that the machine might profit from said loop on every layer.

Now, they’re trying to do the same thing with AI ... even going so far as to invoke the same terminology they levied against what SHOULD have been an American Nuclear Age, but which was relegated into a misunderstood nightmare of Hegelian engineering.

I always say the enemy tells you what they fear the most.

They told you they feared an American Nuclear Age, which is why we need one.

Now, they’re telling you they fear a coming decade of said energy powering the sort of technological transition they’ve relegated to the realm of Sci-Fi Utopias.

Which is exactly what I believe is possible, and is coming.

(NOTE: And I kid you not, the MOMENT I finished drafting this take, Donald Trump posted the following on his Truth Social account.)

Loud and clear, boss.

Loud and clear.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

So-Called Civil Rights Groups Enraged Over Civil Rights Victory in MN

The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ordered a preliminary injunction protecting the Minnesota Voters Alliance from enforcement of a state law that could impose criminal and civil penalties for knowingly false statements about voter eligibility within 60 days of an election. MVA argues that Minnesota’s constitution does not permit felons still serving sentences under state supervision to vote, while state law restores voting rights once they leave incarceration.

Judge David Stras wrote that even if MVA’s interpretation is wrong, its advocacy concerns a matter of public concern protected by the First Amendment. The government “cannot endorse one view and criminalize the other,” the court held, adding that Minnesota could combat allegedly false information through counter-speech rather than prosecution.

The ACLU of Minnesota filed an amicus brief supporting state officials and arguing the law was narrowly tailored to prevent targeted election disinformation intended to interfere with voting. Protect Democracy United also criticized the ruling, while MVA’s attorneys hailed it as a victory for political speech. The underlying dispute over Minnesota’s felon-voting law remains separate; the Minnesota Supreme Court previously dismissed MVA’s challenge for lack of taxpayer standing.

: Oh boy.

Consider what the ACLU and their connected NGOs are opposing. The Minnesota government is attempting to criminalize speech, and the ACLU is on the government’s side.

Government narratives are being protected by the “American civil liberties union.” Clown world.

Full disclosure: Most of the people involved in undermining my personal First Amendment rights are card carrying ACLU members, so this story isn’t surprising to me.

They aren’t fighting the government. They’re advancing the regime’s political agenda. And the ACLU gets special consideration because their long-running brand is that they’re heroes for liberty. It’s in the name! They’ve been political hacks for a long time.

Also, their legal status relies on being nonpartisan. In this case, their position is to restrict the protected liberties of their political opponents. They are assuredly not nonpartisan. They’re unipartisan enemies of liberty.

As a global communist front organization, they should lose their tax status and any other protections and presumptions that rely upon their neutrality.

Then they should be prosecuted.

Ghalibaf and Bessent Trade Quips as Trump Administration Goes After Iran’s Partners

Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf mocked Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s “Economic D-Day,” accusing him of threatening sweeping sanctions before backing away from measures that could destabilize the global financial system. Bessent’s new “Operation Economic Outcast” seeks to cut Iran’s economic lifelines by targeting oil, shipping, technology, digital assets and financial networks.

The pressure increasingly extends to countries doing business with Tehran. The Trump administration is warning governments and companies that they could face secondary sanctions for maintaining Iranian financial ties, while China has rejected Washington’s demands and remains Iran’s most important economic partner. Trump said Thursday that the US is focused on economic pressure rather than talks with Tehran, while remaining ambiguous about possible action against China and Russia.

:"The sanctions, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent presented on Monday, target Iran’s digital assets and technology, gold, aviation and shipping sectors. Potential secondary sanctions would affect entities in the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, China, Singapore and Europe that transport Iranian oil."

The next logical in this progression would be to determine which specific companies are being affected by these sanctions. My suspicion is that they will have ownership with ties to Deep State figures. The locations listed in that excerpt suggest that it may be money-laundering between banks.

It sometimes feels like Scott Bessent is trolling. Sometimes he will say things that seem very blunt and straightforward, but also seem intentionally provocative. This post felt like an example of that.

It was interesting seeing so many in the replies saying, "You are describing America," because that is how I also felt when I first read it.

We then heard from Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. (reminder that his name translates to "rugmaker")

So, in review: We have the Iranians and the Trump admin engaging in narrative spats, and that friction has ostensibly led to sanctions. While that narrative friction unfolded, action is being taken elsewhere to sanction the banks and businesses that are collaborating with the evil twin in Iran, to whatever extent it still exists.

Are we about to see a bunch of banks and businesses get rolled up? If so, are these the entities that needed to be removed or altered in order to facilitate the necessary changes for that place to prosper?

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Media, Election Groups Sound Alarm as Trump “Pulls Every Lever” to Reshape US Elections

Axios reports that President Trump is pursuing a broad election agenda spanning voter rolls, mail ballots, citizenship verification, election monitoring and congressional redistricting, using executive orders, federal agencies, DOJ litigation and pressure on Congress and states. Voting-rights organizations quoted by Axios argue the cumulative effort is creating confusion and could discourage turnout, while the White House calls the initiatives “commonsense election integrity measures.”

The administration has directed DHS to develop state-by-state citizenship lists, while DOJ has sued states seeking unredacted voter-registration data. Trump is also pushing the SAVE America Act’s proof-of-citizenship requirement, has sought changes to the federal voter-registration form and has encouraged Republican-led states to pursue mid-decade redistricting. Meanwhile, DOJ is preparing roughly 1,000 election monitors.

In an ongoing battle, the Supreme Court lifted a block on the President’s executive order, and a federal judge subsequently removed the nationwide injunction against the administration’s Postal Service rules, finding that it wasn’t ripe because the rules weren’t final. Those rules require states to provide voter information and meet new ballot-mailing requirements, although their ultimate legality remains under litigation and, on Thursday, the same judge issued a new injunction, triggered by the USPS issuing a final rule.

: The battle over elections reminds me of the battle of the border wall in the first Trump administration.

With the border wall episode, it was first determined to be racist and unnecessary. Then the Congress couldn’t agree to get it done and fund it. Then in the years after, the narrative became “Trump failed to build the wall.”

President Trump literally did everything in his power to deliver the border wall. Unipartisan opposition stopped him.

In the same way, President Trump is doing everything in his power to give us real elections. Read that summary of the Axios article again. No one can say President Trump didn’t do everything in his power for real elections.

Unipartisan opposition stands in his way. Again.

And here’s the thing. Regardless of what happens in the fake election in November, the voter suppression narratives and lawfare campaigns are on deck. It’s already built in by virtue of “cleaning” the voter rolls. Preventing fake voters from casting fake ballots to be fake counted is going to result in fewer overall voters. Regime assets will decry the decrease in turnout as suppression regardless of what happens on November 3. They only hope the masses will believe them. Unfortunately, slow minds will adopt the refrain, and the cycle will begin again.

Unless…

I know this is a crazy idea, but they could prosecute the Americans involved in the fake elections. We can’t have real elections until there is honesty and accountability for how fake they’ve been.

But, if there is honesty and accountability for fake elections, then real elections are possible.

President Trump is doing everything in his power to deliver real elections, short of putting us in a state of martial law, guaranteeing civil unrest. Some people are calling for that. Those people shouldn’t be trusted. Those who would give away liberty so easily never valued it to begin with.

Hold the line.

And prosecute the Americans.

BONUS ITEMS

Trump Renames Lake Ontario to Lake America

President Trump signed an executive order Thursday renaming Lake Ontario “Lake America,” effective immediately. The order directs the Interior Department to update the Geographic Names Information System and federal records to reflect the new name.

Trump tied the move to the collapse of US-Canada trade talks and new 50% tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian goods. “Canada has been ripping us off for a long time on trade… The Canadian officials have treated us very badly.” Trump has repeatedly cited trade figures in the dispute, stating on Truth Social that “Over the last 10 years, the United States lost, on average, 60 Billion Dollars a year with Canada. No more!”

A White House aide noted the lake’s deepest parts and most of its volume lie in US territory.

US Reportedly on the Verge of Major Oil Deal With Venezuela

The Trump administration is reportedly close to a major agreement with Venezuela’s interim government that would give the US an ownership stake in more than a dozen productive Venezuelan oil fields containing about 90 billion barrels of proven reserves. Axios reports the deal could more than double US oil reserves, while American and other private companies would develop the fields and generate additional revenue for Venezuela.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio and acting Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez are leading negotiations, with Energy Secretary Chris Wright expected to visit Venezuela as talks continue. The fields reportedly include assets formerly controlled by Venezuelan insiders and Chinese interests.

The exact structure and timing remain under negotiation.

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Judge Officially Lifts Nationwide Block on Trump Election Order

A federal judge lifted the nationwide injunction blocking President Trump’s election executive order Wednesday, clearing the remaining court barrier to its implementation ahead of the midterms.

The move follows the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling that a separate challenge by 23 states was premature because courts should generally wait for agencies to issue final rules. The Court did not rule on whether Trump’s order is lawful.

The dismissal was without prejudice, meaning states can challenge the resulting agency rules — and Democrat-led states have already filed a new lawsuit targeting the Postal Service’s finalized mail-ballot requirements.

: Talwani also said these “voting rights groups” might have a stronger case than the states (the case we discussed in yesterday’s Brief). Per SCOTUS Wire on X, she seemed to lament having to make this decision:

“Talwani said the voting-rights groups may have stronger standing arguments than the states whose injunction SCOTUS stayed, but she concluded SCOTUS’s ripeness reasoning still applies and “compelled” her to lift the injunction.”

And:

“The rules may not remain unblocked for long. These plaintiffs have permission to amend their lawsuit to account for the now-final USPS rule and can seek a new injunction. Talwani expressly lifted the old injunction without prejudice to such a request.”

Is she helping them?

I’m not saying Talwani is helping one party over another; but when judges act in their own interests (political, identity, religious, Trump derangement, etc.) rather than in the interests of justice under the law in accordance with the constitution, then those judges should be removed from the bench.

The justice phase should prioritize those who pervert justice under the banner of pursuing it.

Iran Says Persian Media Outlets ‘Funded By CIA’ Are Viable Targets

Iran’s armed forces say several foreign-based Persian-language news organizations are now in the country’s “military target bank,” specifically naming BBC Persian, Iran International and Radio Farda.

Armed Forces spokesman Abolfazl Shekarchi accused the outlets of being directly connected to the CIA, Mossad and other foreign intelligence services, calling them “soldiers” of the US and Israel and saying Iran does not consider them legitimate media organizations. He did not specify where or how Iran might target them.

Iran has designated Iran International a terrorist organization since 2022. Radio Farda, meanwhile, is part of US government-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

: We have actually discussed this before, either in this Brief or on my show (probably both).

The Iranian officials quoted in the article say, "These hostile media outlets are the soldiers of Zionism and America and are included in our military target bank, directly connected to Mossad, CIA and enemy intelligence organizations."

Based.

There are a few different outlets listed here as targets. One that I have researched before is Iran International. It is a London-based news outlet whose leader is funded by USAID. They use satellite and radio waves to beam their signal directly into the homes of Iranian citizens, broadcasting anti-government propaganda in an attempt to sow dissent and ultimately spark revolution.

Wikileaks released emails that show that similar outlets have been set up in the past using the exact same techniques to undermine not only the Iranian government by the Syrian government under Assad, as well.

I do find it amusing that the Iranian military is now openly accusing these self-described propaganda outlets as assets of Mossad and the CIA.

Are we still certain that Trump didn't start this "war" in order to turn loose the Iranian military on globalist assets in the Middle East and around the world?

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

The Atlantic Delivers 1-2 Punch on the Jews Who Supported Hitler and the Modern Rise of the ‘Far Right’ in Germany

The Atlantic published back-to-back pieces examining Germany’s political right through both its Nazi past and the surging Alternative for Germany (AfD).

“The Jews Who Voted for Hitler” recounts the history of Max Naumann’s League of Nationalist German Jews, a small group — less than 2% of Germany’s Jewish population — that embraced German nationalism and ultimately supported Hitler despite the Nazis’ explicit antisemitism. Naumann urged Jews to back Hitler’s consolidation of power before his organization was dissolved by the Nazis and he was arrested by the Gestapo.

The second article, “The German Far Right Is Poised for a Breakthrough”, looks at today’s AfD, which is leading national polls with more than a quarter of German voters and polling above 40% ahead of Saxony-Anhalt’s Sept. 6 election. The Atlantic says an outright AfD majority there could produce Germany’s first far-right state government since the Nazi era, highlighting the party’s hard-line immigration policies and opposition to Germany’s postwar political consensus.

: Well DAYUM.

If you guys have been following my media meta commentary throughout the year, you’ll recall that The Atlantic has been my favorite outlet for some time ... albeit in an inverted sort of way.

As I have said many times, I don’t end my Info War analysis with reverse indicators, but I absolutely start there.

Thus, when I see back-to-back Op Eds in one of the prime signal-setters within the Establishment so-called Left, the first of which retroactively shames the so-called Jews who supported the so-called Nazis in a strangely-timed piece of historical fiction ... err, fact? ... before hitting the mediascape with a piece of abject fearmongering over the rapid (and seemingly unstoppable) rise of the AfD Party in Germany, it all sort of ... clicks.

And so, I dove into these twin pieces with some excitement, believing there might be some juicy counter-signal that can tell us why the Globalist Regime is so worried about the current sociopolitical trends in Germany more so than almost anywhere else, including the United States.

On the surface level, and in keeping with the framing they clearly intended, invoking the Holocaust in the first Op Ed lays the psychological groundwork in the form of historical context for the LAST time Germany swung to the so-called ‘Far Right.’

This framing is enough for most of the MSM’s readership, and honestly, it’s enough for most of the Normie Mindscape, who’ve been programmed to see Nationalism writ large across the battlespace as analogous to and essentially spawned from the Nazis a century ago, with Western Media having put in work over the last decade to paint Donald Trump’s MAGA platform as an echo of Hitler’s rise to power.

That said, these pieces don’t focus directly on Trump or the MAGA core, though they’re clearly invoking the comparison. Instead, they very earnestly present the Globalist vision for what MIGHT happen should Germany embrace its nationalist leanings once more in the modern century.

And while the not-so-subtle specter of a new Holocaust looms over the contextual proceedings, there were a couple bits of direct seeding in the second piece, the one on the rise of the AfD (Alternative for Germany) Party that I took special note of ...

1) ... The AfD also objects to the established parties’ anti-Russia policies and seeks to expand Russian-language instruction in schools and revive student exchanges with Russia.

and

2) ... In the scenario outlined by the Amadeu Antonio Foundation, an AfD-led government soon turns the state into a platform for international self-promotion, hosting conferences and opening offices in Washington and Moscow.

Read those two passages ... and then read them again.

They’re not afraid of a new Holocaust, my friends.

They’re afraid that, if Germany goes the way of the US and Russia, the European Experiment is over for good.

And if you don’t think that last line is a direct allusion to the Sovereign Alliance they’ve been itching to frame as the New Axis, something I’ve projected for well over a year ... you haven’t studied these propagandists closely enough.

The enemy ALWAYS tells you what he fears the most.

Believe him. And perhaps take heart in it, as fear is just about the most honest flavor of deployment to emanate from the Collectorate these days.

Deloitte Settles With Federal Government Over Discrimination Suit

Deloitte has agreed to pay the federal government $21.5 million to resolve Justice Department allegations that the consulting giant violated the False Claims Act by certifying compliance with anti-discrimination requirements in federal contracts while using race and sex in employment decisions. The settlement includes roughly $10 million in restitution.

Deloitte denies the allegations, and the agreement contains no admission of liability.

DOJ alleged that from 2017 onward, Deloitte used non-public demographic goals in hiring, promotions and project staffing; tracked business units’ progress toward racial and sex targets; and, for a period, allowed the compensation of roughly 150 senior leaders to be affected by whether their units met demographic goals. DOJ also alleged Deloitte identified promotion candidates by race and sex and operated career-development programs whose eligibility was restricted based on those characteristics.

The case originated as a False Claims Act whistleblower suit filed by the American Alliance for Equal Rights. The group will receive $4.3 million of the government’s recovery. DOJ characterized the settlement as part of its Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, which uses the False Claims Act against federal contractors accused of falsely certifying compliance with civil-rights requirements. Attorney General Todd Blanche said federal contractors cannot reward or penalize employees based on race or sex simply by labeling the practice DEI.

: What is Deloitte? Deloitte is a professional services firm. There are four big ones — PwC, KPMG, and E&Y are the other three.

These firms employ auditors and accountants and tax professionals and consultants to provide services world’s largest companies across all industries and sectors in all developed economies in the world. Publicly traded companies and private ones and government entities and high net worth individuals.

In other words, the whole system.

Public trust for the entire system depends on the work of professional services firms that most people don’t know exist.

Auditing means reviewing operations and financials and attesting to the truthfulness of what the companies claim — for the purposes of public trust in capital markets. This used to be the biggest share of the Big Four’s work, but AI consulting overtook audit a few years back. (That creates a perceived conflict of interest in my opinion, but that’s not important right now.)

I worked at a Big Four firm for over 16 years, and it’s important to realize that the DEI practices described in this article are not surprising. Not only do these firms operate with intersectional preferences, the consulting arms help those firms’ massive portfolio of clients to adopt and execute these practices as well.

Who are the clients? Reread my second paragraph. The client portfolio of the Big Four is the entire system.

So why are they pushing DEI? I could give a really long answer, but it’s simple as the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

That’s the change framework, and the professional services firms are enthusiastic change champions. (Note: We talk about this every Monday night at 9pET on Culture of Change.)

In yesterday’s Brief, I shared Larry Fink talking about forcing behavior change with his globalist pals. This is the change their forcing. A centrally planned global society. Global corporate communism.

Globalism is treason in the context of the US Constitution.

Final point: $21.5 million is pocket change for Deloitte. Their FY2025 global revenue was $70.5 billion. The year before it was $67.2 billion.

$21.5M is a slap on the wrist.

I doubt they’ll change their internal behavior at all.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Israel Subjecting Russian Historian to ‘Brutal Interrogation’ — Lawyer

Russian historian and archaeologist Alexey Kalyonov, who disappeared after arriving in Israel earlier this month, is being held in an Israeli prison and subjected to “brutal interrogations,” according to his lawyer, Dmitry Agranovsky.

Agranovsky told Russian media that Kalyonov is accused of “spying for Iran,” but said no formal charges have been filed and denied the allegations. Kalyonov reportedly traveled to Israel on August 4 and subsequently stopped communicating with his family.

The claims about his treatment come from his attorney and Russian reporting and have not been independently verified. Israeli authorities have not publicly detailed the case or confirmed the alleged interrogation methods.

: This is a follow-up to a previous story that we had covered, where this Russian historian had been allegedly kidnapped by Israeli authorities as soon as his plane landed in Tel Aviv.

So it turns out that this guy is an Israeli citizen who once served in the IDF. The reason he was most likely kidnapped and is now being tortured is because he is a very well researched dissident to the Israeli government.

Kirpichenok recently published a book that explains that Israeli society—which was originally founded by Labor Zionists (communists)—has shifted more toward the Talmudic influence of the religious community since the waning of the Labor Zionist movement over the last 30+ years. In order to build up its population, Israel has been forced to allow in Jews from around the world, and the original Ashkenazi from Eastern Europe who first colonized Palestine do not see all of these racial/ethnic groups within the Jewish community as equal. Kirpichenok says that there is a caste system in Israel that is very real and well known among the citizenry, which Jews from North Africa and Ethiopia are treated like outsiders, and even new-generation Russian Jews are treated as second-class citizens.

When you couple this political shift with the collapse in literacy and education—which are also due to the rise of the Ultra-Orthodox religious zealots, who do not value traditional education and thus do not teach their children English or often even mathematics—you begin to see the contours of what appears to be an existential crisis that Israel now faces.

As Kirpichenok explains in his book, the hyper-militarization of Israeli society has cultivated an aggressive attitude toward neighboring cultures. It has also used jingoism and the cohesive bonds inherent in military life to mask the deep and festering social issues surrounding this unspoken racial caste system. Thus, the Zionist State of Israel has become completely dependent on forever wars and mass conscription to force its society (a collection of cultures from around the world) to blend together and focus on survival, rather than deal with the underlying problems. Meaning that war is good for social cohesion and political hegemony so long as the wars continue and the threats presented by the various boogey men continue to haunt the nightmares of the Israeli citizenry.

Meaning regardless of who is Prime Minster—Netanyahu, Naftali Bennett, Yair Lapid, etc.—the political incentive is to continue fighting the wars and ostensibly expanding the empire.

Media and Scientific Community Lament the Fact That Americans Are Refusing to Vaccinate Their Kids in Increasing Numbers Ahead of School

Vaccination rates among US schoolchildren are continuing to decline as more parents seek exemptions from required childhood vaccines, according to federal data cited in media reports.

For the 2025-26 school year, coverage among kindergartners for several routine vaccines remained below the 95% level traditionally associated with preventing outbreaks of highly contagious diseases such as measles. At the same time, the share of children receiving exemptions has continued to rise.

Public-health officials and researchers warn that falling vaccination rates create larger pockets of susceptible children and increase the risk of outbreaks. The trend comes amid heightened public skepticism toward vaccines and continuing political battles over school vaccination requirements.

: This is the way.

The more parents learn about vaccines, their ingredients, their side effects, and the massive institutional racket that protects them, the more they decide that they don’t want to poison their kids.

Imagine that.

Accelerate.

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The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

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Media Intelligentsia Speculate as to Whether or Not Fake and Also Gay Ayatollah Currently Exists

An Atlantic article by Arash Azizi, examines persistent rumors that Iran’s supreme leader—appointed roughly six months earlier after his father Ali Khamenei’s death in a February strike—may be dead or brain-dead.

Mojtaba has remained completely invisible in public, with no photos, videos, or audio released. Even senior figures such as Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi have not seen him, and reports indicate no cabinet members have met him.

Multiple government sources told the Atlantic they believe he either died or became brain-dead from injuries sustained in the February attack on his family compound; similar accounts reached IranWire that word at the highest levels of the regime held he was in very poor condition and could die at any moment. A recent public appeal on a domestic messaging service urged Iranians to pray and sacrifice sheep for his health amid threats to his life.

Official and semi-official pushback has been firm.

Mojtaba’s office continued issuing decrees into early August (including religious rulings and military appointments) and confirmed a lengthy meeting with President Masoud Pezeshkian in late July. A relative and former official, Khoshvaght, insisted to the author that Mojtaba is alive and dismissed the rumors as “psychological war” by the United States and Israel intended to demoralize officials and the public; another former adviser similarly claimed he is “in full health.”

The office’s silence after August 9, however, has intensified speculation.

Regardless of Mojtaba’s actual status, the article argues the opacity creates real governance problems. The supreme leader’s constitutional authority is now obscured, contributing to factional tension while the National Security Council effectively manages day-to-day affairs. Critical choices—such as responses to external pressure, potential diplomacy, or confrontation—risk paralysis or infighting in the absence of a clearly visible leader.

: I’ve long speculated that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (the father) has been dead for years, and that Mojtaba (the son) is not even a real person—at least, not the version of Mojtaba that we have been told about: the gay Ayatollah.

Ever since Mojtaba has become Ayatollah, he has been completely MIA. (Not that he was much of a public figure before. In fact, I had never even heard his name as a potential successor.)

Neither President Pezeshkian, nor Foreign Minister Araghchi, nor even members of Khamenei’s extended family have seen or spoken with Mojtaba since he became Ayatollah. All of them readily admit to this.

The MSM is now finally acknowledging his prolonged absence.

How could the leader of a regime that is allegedly fighting an existential war against its greatest adversary not appear publicly in an attempt to at least boost morale?

I’m actually okay with the MSM believing that this guy is real and totally the Ayatollah.

I find it deeply amusing that they actually think that the theocratic leader of the Islamic Republic is a homosexual.

I don’t know why we don’t spend more time mocking them for believing this. It’s genuinely hilarious.

The Midterms! SCOTUS Overturns Lower Courts on Mail Ballots as Mike Lindell Goes to War Over MN Recount

The Supreme Court voted 6-3 along ideological lines to lift a lower-court injunction that had blocked key parts of an executive order restricting mail-in voting.

The order directs the Postal Service to limit delivery of ballots and calls for the creation of state-by-state citizenship lists to help determine eligibility, along with requirements such as unique barcodes on ballot envelopes.

A federal judge had previously found that the plan likely exceeded presidential authority and risked disenfranchising legitimate voters, prompting a challenge from more than 20 states that argued it interfered with their election administration and midterm preparations.

The majority held that the order itself caused no concrete harm to the states at the time of the suit, so the district court lacked jurisdiction to issue the broad block; the ruling left open whether specific implementing steps will ultimately prove lawful and did not resolve the underlying legal merits.

Separately, Mike Lindell, who lost the Minnesota Republican primary for governor by roughly 45,000 votes, prepared to fund an $825,000 discretionary hand recount, but ultimately refused to authorize payment after objecting to the state’s approved plan.

That plan called for recording votes only for Lindell and the winner by name while placing ballots for other candidates in a third column; Lindell argued this was not a true full recount and filed an emergency petition with the state Supreme Court seeking an injunction against the limited process.

Election officials maintained the approach follows longstanding state law, administrative rules, and prior recount practices, and it had been approved by the State Canvassing Board.

With no formal request or payment submitted by the midnight deadline, no recount is proceeding, though Lindell’s related litigation continues and the primary winner has been certified to advance to the general election.

: When the Supreme Court decision came down — a decision made on standing, not merit — The AutoJen was big mad:

“There are currently 71 days until the midterm election.”

Get ready for a full court press on this message in every state and on every front. It’s too close to the midterms! They ignore the fact that they had plenty of time to prepare to comply; they didn’t. Instead, they fought against election integrity to protect their narrative.

It’s not our fault they waited until the eve of the election to do their sworn duty, is it?

In contrast to this deployment, for some reason, during the past few election cycles, process changes in the middle of the election period have been normalized.

Consider another example from AutoJena — her BIOS password scandal spanned two active election periods in 2024. It didn’t matter then (because elections are fake) but disruption to election processes NOW matters very much (because elections are a narrative battlefield, and we’re winning).

Lindell gets it.

He’s fighting up in Minnesota to recount the full election, and the SecState is fighting to only count two candidates in a race of several.

That’s hilarious, because we know that third party candidates can be used as a control in tabulation to return the results to a set point on election night (based on the work done by Draza Smith and others in 2021).

A full recount is the only way to find the truth, but I reckon a partial recount is the only way to protect the narrative at this point.

Why else would they recount only part of the votes?

Fake voters, fake ballots, fake counts.

Separately, what do you guys like better: “AutoJena” or “The AutoJen”?

Soft disclosure: I’ll probably continue to use both.

(Editor’s Note: “The AutoJen” is clearly the superior form.)

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe Reportedly Lands in Moscow for ‘High-Level Meetings’

CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Moscow aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft that landed at Vnukovo Airport after a stop in Riga, Latvia. The flight originated near Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

The trip marked Ratcliffe’s first known visit to Russia in his current role and the first publicly observed U.S. Air Force C-17 flight into the country since a 2020 ventilator delivery.

A motorcade of vehicles with U.S. diplomatic plates was observed in the city, and sources confirmed he was there for high-level meetings.

Ratcliffe has previously maintained contact with Russian intelligence counterparts.

The CIA has played a role in recent U.S.-Russia detainee exchanges, including Ratcliffe’s personal involvement in the April 2025 release of dual national Ksenia Karelina and earlier swaps that freed other American detainees.

No specific purpose for the Moscow meetings was disclosed.

The visit took place against a backdrop of ongoing U.S.-Russia tensions, continued sanctions, and the protracted war in Ukraine.

: Well, color me SHOCKED that a core member of Donald Trump's regime is currently (supposedly) meeting with core members of the Vladimir Putin regime.

*gestures vaguely in Sovereign Alliance*

The only brief aside I'll devote to the theory I've written more about than any other is to remark on what should be an obvious general trend of core Trump Admin officials seemingly cozying up to both Russia and China despite a constant wash of headlines suggesting anything but, even in so-called Conservative media.

Remember, we were recently told FBI Director Kash Patel plans an October trip to Moscow himself, and this came directly on the heels of his agency's announcement that it was in the midst of forging what it called "unprecedented ties" with both Russia and China when it comes to international law enforcement.

I mean. Come on, guys. They can't make it much more obvious.

Today, however, and in light of this Ratcliffe headline, I thought it might be pertinent to focus on two curious and encouraging aspects of this development.

For starters, the fact that the CIA Director landing in Moscow was being reported on by every anonymous plane fag on X in real time must lead one to the very obvious conclusion that said open-source intelligence was open source for a reason.

MEANING ... if the Director of Trump's CIA is heading to a high-level meeting that he wishes to remain clandestine, the Director of the CIA knows how to make that happen.

So, sorry to crap on the X OSINT accounts, but when you're 'tracking' Trump Admin officials, it not only means they don't mind being found. It probably means they WANT to be, and adding to the fact that Ratcliffe and the CIA made no announcement about this meeting just adds intrigue to the whole affair for the normie layers fearing the convergence of US and Russian intelligence ... and for those of us who greatly anticipate it.

The best sort of Bicameral.

Second, consider WHO Trump is sending to speak with the Russian delegation in 2026.

It's not about the CIA and FBI.

It's about who currently leads both.

John Ratcliffe is widely believed (in this audience, at least) to be one of THE prime players in the Devolution/Continuity of Government operation our own popularized, and which is coming back around in some curious ways of late.

Kash Patel was ALSO very close to, if not directly involved in core operations of that mission.

Both are not only back on stage in the new admin, and have been for a year and a half, but now it seems both are being given new public marching orders ... and those orders are orbiting the final convergence of the Arc of the Peacemakers I first projected in 2022.

I have argued for years that the Devolution Operation was, if not a JOINT operation from the start, then at least one that was run in concert with and with the notice of our as-yet-undisclosed Sovereign Alliance allies.

If any of you somehow doubted this up until now, I'm not sure you've got much room left on that ledge.

Trump Signal Boosts New Bullish Arrangement With Middle Eastern Nations

Donald Trump has boosted commentary by Mario Nawfal highlighting incredible commercial opportunities for American companies following regime changes in Syria and Iraq as a counterpoint to concerns over prolonged conflicts currently raging elsewhere in the Middle East.

Major U.S. energy firms have advanced deals in Iraq, including stakes and field agreements covering billions of barrels of reserves and pipeline projects that could bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

An extensive roster of American companies across oil services, infrastructure, defense, technology, healthcare, finance, and consumer sectors is moving into both countries.

Most remaining sanctions and related restrictions are expected to be lifted by the end of August, enabling private-sector entry on a scale valued in the hundreds of billions of dollars overall.

The shift is attributed to a transactional approach favoring reconstruction partnerships with newly aligned governments.

: Yesterday morning—before President Trump made this post—I called in to Badlands Daily to give a long overdue Middle East update.

We discussed the Mecca Agreement, the Israeli aggression toward Turkey, and of course, the critical role that Iraq and Syria are playing in the revival of the region.

Together, Iraq and Syria comprise what was known as the Fertile Crescent—ancient Mesopotamia.

It was here where agriculture and animal husbandry were first developed, where the first system of law (Hammurabi’s Code) was implemented and where what is regarded as the first human civilization was cultivated.

Back then, the value of the geography was the fertile soil and the Tigris-Euphrates river system. Today, the geographic significance is the Zagros Oil Basin and the opportunity to connect the coastlines of the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean Sea via pipeline.

Up until recently, Iraq has been a relatively quiet player on the game board. But we must remember that Iraq offers the second-most easy access to the enormous oil belt running underneath the Persian Gulf.

(The easiest access can actually be found in the Dezful Embayment in southwest Iran, where the soil is so pervious and the oil fields so shallow that you could practically extract it with a drinking straw. It was here that the British first discovered the Zagros Oil Basin—which contains nearly half of the world’s oil and natural gas.)

What Iraq also offers is the Shatt al-Arab river delta. This is where the Tigris-Euphrates empties into the Persian Gulf.

Unlike the mountain-fortress coastline of Iran, the lowlands of Iraq are quite literally a paradise; will tell you that when he first landed there in March 2003 as a Marine, he thought he was back in Southern California.

Up until the 1970’s, the area hosted the world’s largest date palm forest, with an estimated 18 million date palm trees (one fifth of all palm trees on earth). What a shame that war, famine, and industrial mismanagement have whittled the forest down to just a few million trees, which are all in poor health.

Much like the beaches of North Korea, Donald Trump would likely say that this area has the potential to become a major tourist attraction.

However, in this moment in world history, the value that Shatt al-Arab presents is not its natural beauty; it is the opportunity to connect the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean with a pipeline, which would render the Strait of Hormuz irrelevant, at least as far as the oil trade in the western hemisphere is concerned.

While Iraq is offering the lifeblood of the Middle East’s revival, Syria will most likely serve as its battlefield.

The geographic significance of Syria is both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing is that it is the northern-most outpost of Arabia, where all of the ancient world’s cultures collide. For this reason, Damascus, Aleppo, and other Syrian cities became great trade centers.

Even under the crippling sanctions of the United States following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Syria still found relative prosperity in its markets thanks largely to its location.

Upon first coming into power, it was the vision of Bashar al-Assad to construct an enormous rail network that would connect Africa, Asia and Europe, with Aleppo at the heart serving as the central hub.

(If you haven’t noticed, Putin and Trump are fulfilling that vision.)

Syria’s curse is that it is the physical space where all the world’s ancient cultures collide.

When cultures meet, they will either trade and gradually assimilate, or they will fight and seek to subjugate.

While this region has been wildly mismanaged by Five Eyes and Mossad, the Turks and the Arabs are now cooperating in ways that they never have before, and that spells trouble in the eyes of the Israelis.

Israel will seek to conquer and annex Syria. Turkey will seek to defend Syria from being conquered. This puts Turkey and Israel on a collision course that likely cannot be stopped

And now Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United States have financial interests in Syria, so they will want to see it preserved under the same sovereign governance that has made these trade deals possible.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

NYT Acknowledges Big Tech’s Successful Transformational Change Program

Companies including Google and Microsoft have used their financial resources, scale, and influence to shape nearly every stage of the education technology supply chain in American public schools, according to the New York Times.

Corporate-sponsored workshops for teachers and students have become common, such as a Microsoft session in Manhattan where educators practiced using AI tools like Copilot to draft parent emails and customize lesson plans, accompanied by promotional materials from the company’s Minecraft Education division.

Similar trainings funded or led by Amazon, Apple, Meta, OpenAI, and Alphabet have proliferated over the past decade, often with limited independent scrutiny.

These sessions are presented as practical professional development, but also function as marketing that advances a favorable view of industry products and practices while downplaying potential risks.

Critics compare the dynamic to pharmaceutical companies funding seminars for doctors to promote brand-name drugs, noting that industry support typically prioritizes outcomes that benefit the sponsors.

Google has gained particular dominance through widespread Chromebook adoption, which accounted for a majority of mobile devices shipped to U.S. schools, helping embed its software ecosystem early in students’ education.

: The New York Times published an opinion piece on Big Tech’s influence in public schools, and they admitted the plot.

This is in the third paragraph:

“I was struck by how similar the sessions were to training I’d seen years earlier, while reporting on the health care industry: seminars for doctors, organized by pharmaceutical companies, that aimed to get physicians to prescribe the latest brand-name drugs.”

The author shouldn’t be struck by the similarities. The reason the author is struck by the similarities is that they believe these are different industries operating with different motivations and incentives. That’s foundational, and it’s in error.

The invisible enemy presents itself as capitalism, free market enterprises, where the industry is a bottoms up manifestation of its players.

But the incentives for global corporations are not local at all.

Remember this?

And it’s not just financial incentives. It’s a full spectrum of high velocity culture change tactics, applied to every industry and every sector in every geography in the world.

Just read their thought leadership.

What happens in a McKinsey thought leadership paper happens — on a long enough timeline. (They were going hard at pandemic preparedness in 2011.)

Health industries and education (and retail and manufacturing, and financial services, and professional services, and the rest of the global industries) along with their government partners and their NGO glue, are the globalists’ change network.

As I’ve discussed on Culture of Change since I started the show in 2023, the thought leadership of the strategy class becomes the service offerings of the consultant class sold as projects to the corporations resulting in societal change for us.

No one should be struck by the similarities of coordinated change rollouts across different industries. This is literally how the global central planners change the world.

Reminder: the outcome of the midterms will do nothing to change this.

That being said, the Trump administration swinging a wrecking ball against the invisible enemy’s shadow interests just might.

Greece Warns Turkey Against Violating Sovereign Rights, Promises Escalation

Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis issued a firm warning to Turkey amid rising tensions in the eastern Mediterranean, stating that Greece’s period of passive diplomatic responses has ended.

He declared that any violation of Greek sovereign rights would be met with a full range of available measures, and described Turkish-promoted maritime parks as illegal.

Gerapetritis emphasized that Greece remains committed to peace but will pursue it from a position of strength, without hesitation or complexes, and is prepared for any scenario including operational responses.

The minister cited Greece’s demonstrated capabilities in Cyprus and recent regional crises as evidence of this posture.

Cooperation with Israel forms part of a broader multi-layered foreign policy, with relations strengthening through expanded security ties and a recent joint air exercise over the Mediterranean viewed as a signal.

Officials indicated that military collaboration between the two countries is expected to grow more visible.

: Like clockwork, we now have the Greek Foreign Minister openly threatening Turkey with military escalation in the form of naval warfare, claiming that Greece’s sovereignty is being challenged.

I know I have been a little annoying continually bringing up this long shot possibility, but I only do it because it seems to make logical sense from a military standpoint for Netanyahu and the IDF.

Keep a close eye on Cyprus.

I’m already seeing reports of Israeli Settlers operating there trying to establish Israeli neighborhoods that could potentially be used as forward operating bases in a fight with Turkey—which controls the north half of the island.

The next move will likely be Turkey moving frigates to North Cyprus, to which Greece will respond with frigates of their own. There’s already an enormous buildup of Greek planes and other equipment.

It seems like Greece has an itchy trigger finger and is ready to boogie.

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The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

FinCEN Permanently Eliminates BOI Reporting Requirements For US Companies and Persons

The Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network has finalized its rollback of the Corporate Transparency Act’s beneficial ownership reporting regime for Americans.

Effective August 14, companies created in the United States no longer have to file BOI reports, US persons don’t have to provide ownership information even when involved with otherwise-reporting foreign companies, and Americans with FinCEN IDs no longer have to update or correct their information.

The final rule makes permanent exemptions FinCEN initially adopted in March 2025 and goes a step further: FinCEN says it will delete previously submitted information belonging to now-exempt US persons from its BOI database. Certain foreign companies registered to do business in the US remain subject to reporting requirements, but they generally report information about foreign—not American—beneficial owners.

: Did you know that in 2019 the House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation that would allow the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) to create a database of Americans’ banking records which would be accessible by foreign law enforcement?

The legislation, known as the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), did not make it through the Senate in 2019, but it was revamped by Republicans and successfully inserted into the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act where it was passed into law. You will recall that this passage was an override of President Trump’s veto of the NDAA.

The traitors in Congress claimed that the CTA fell within the Anti-Money-Laundering Act (AMLA) of 2020, which despite its name also needed to be inserted into the 2021 NDA in order to be passed into law.

The AMLA and the CTA were specifically about strengthening international cooperation among Financial Intelligence Units (FIU’s) like FinCEN (every country has one) all of which collaborate with on another via the Egmont Group whose HQ is located in Toronto (Canada).

(Hello, Mark Carney)

What the CTA did was establish the requirement for all companies and individuals to file a Beneficial Ownership Information (BOI) with the Treasury, and this information would be compiled into a database in which foreign governments and law enforcement could access it.

Now President Trump and Scott Bessent have reversed this BOI requirement for US companies and citizens, instead opting to leave the filing requirement in place for foreign entities.

It cannot be overstated how treasonous and underhanded this entire FinCEN saga has been. The American People who have suffering through this clown show deserve so much better.

It seems very clear now that both parties have colluded with special interests at different times in order to preserve their wealth and power.

For posterity, here is a short list of Republican congressmen that supported then 2019.

All of those names are—in my opinion—traitors. They intended to hand us over to foreign law enforcement so that we could be prosecuted by entities operating outside the framing of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

We should stop supporting these scumbags and start demanding retribution for their crimes against the world.

US Treasury Launches Major Sanctions Campaign Against Iran

The Treasury Department on Monday launched Operation Economic Outcast, a sanctions campaign focused on the Iranian regime and the foreign networks that enable it.

Treasury expanded secondary sanctions risk for individuals and companies that facilitate Iranian activity in five key sectors: digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping. Officials said anyone supporting these sectors now faces greater exposure to U.S. penalties.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control designated nearly 60 individuals, entities, and vessels across multiple countries, including the UAE, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Switzerland, and Europe. The targets are accused of helping Iran move oil, procure nuclear and missile technology, conduct cyber operations, and generate revenue for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Treasury, working with the State and War Departments, is pressing foreign governments to shut down identified Iran-related activity within set timelines. Non-compliance will trigger enforcement actions, including potential loss of access to the U.S. financial system.

Several general licenses that previously allowed limited transactions with Iran were also suspended.

: “We will tighten the noose.”

Suddenly, the whole Truth Community, the entire MAGA base and the entire world, for that matter are paying very close attention to the narrative deployments of Scott Bessent, a figure this audience knows I have taken a keen interest in dating back to 2024, before he was officially chosen as Donald Trump’s Treasury Secretary.

In one of my most popular long-forms of 2025, I laid out Bessent’s history with the Bank of England (meaning, against it) as the foundation of a core theory I’ve developed around his proposed role in the second Trump Administration, that being to act as something of a demolitions expert with regards to the Globalist System writ large across the battlespace.

And NOTHING I have seen (and certainly nothing Bessent has said) in the interim has disabused me of that notion.

Of course, in 2024 and 2025, I did NOT see the Iran War coming.

That said, this audience will also recall that I have been calling the Iran War ‘fake’ from the day it kicked off.

And yet, as I have also said, I have never claimed that said Fake War is not accomplishing something, or rather, is not being used to accomplish something seismic, which is all another way of saying, I have long believed that Operation Economic Fury is the REAL Operation Epic Fury, with the latter acting as simultaneous narrative cover for the former while also stretching the timeline required for the former to visit its effects onto the geopolitical and more importantly, geofinancial battlespace.

And that is happening now, very slowly and then all at once, as the Globalist Hegemon, from the EU Collectorate to our so-called Asian Allies to the tightening of the screws Trump is simultaneously applying to our friendly neighbors to the north trembles beneath the simultaneously geofinancial and geoeconomic shocks inherent in the perpetuation of the Iran War and its ensuing energy crisis alongside Trump’s Trade War cascade, which kicked off in 2025.

Do you think it’s a coincidence that Donald Trump is putting the economic screws to Canada and our so-called Allies while Scott Bessent holds pressers on an Economic D-Day regarding not just the Iranian Regime, but more importantly (and far more signal-soaked) those who have financed them, propped them up and perhaps, if we go far back enough installed them in the first place?

We are watching a great transition on the back of a great unwinding, and that great unwinding is taking the form of a forced decoupling.

Donald Trump has wielded kinetic and economic power backed by the full scale of the American people. Now, Scott Bessent is applying our collective financial power against the Collectorate.

Make no mistake, the pain in the Globalist West from an economic standpoint on the back of this twin pressure campaign will very quickly be translated from cultural to political as the frog boils, which is exactly the point.

At the end of it, whether we’re talking 2026, 2027, 2028 or all along the way, deals our so-called Allies openly scoffed at and derided in the corporate media will give way to a parade of collectivist beggars lining up at Trump’s feet and proffering to kiss the ring as the consequences of Operation Economic Fury come home to roost.

The enemy has lost the game. All that remains is when, and in which order they begin to admit it.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Netanyahu Hails Finding of Sunken Jewish Terrorist Arms Ship, Denounces Ben-Gurion and IDF For Attacking It in 1948

Israeli officials say they have located the wreck of the Altalena, the Irgun arms ship sunk off Tel Aviv during a deadly confrontation with Israel’s newly formed military in June 1948. The ship was carrying hundreds of immigrants along with rifles, machine guns and ammunition for the Irgun, the Zionist paramilitary organization led by future prime minister Menachem Begin. Sixteen Irgun members and three IDF soldiers were killed in the confrontation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu celebrated the discovery and condemned founding prime minister David Ben-Gurion’s decision to use force against the ship, saying there was “no justification for firing on our brothers.” The episode remains politically charged because Ben-Gurion viewed an independently armed Irgun as a threat to the new state’s monopoly on military force, while Begin and his supporters maintained they were bringing badly needed weapons for Israel’s war effort.

Netanyahu invoked the episode as a warning against civil war and pledged to try to raise the wreck from the Mediterranean.

: Now this is an interesting development.

The story of the Altalena is the story of the near-civil-war that almost destroyed Israel before it really began.

First, some background:

The first large-scale Jewish defense force to operate in British Mandate Palestine in the 1930’s was the Haganah. In addition to planning operations and training fighters, the Haganah and its partner groups would import weapons for the Jewish radicals to use.

However, there were disagreements among the leadership in who they should target and with who they should align.

Two young leaders, Menachem Begin and Ze’ev Jabotinsky, believed that the British government in Palestine was the true enemy, and that grotesque acts of violence were a modern and legitimate form of political action.

So the Irgun broke away from the Haganah, and made a name for itself as a hyper-violent and ruthless group, known for using grenades and car bombs to target bus depots and marketplaces, where they would kill hundreds of victims.

The Irgun is most notoriously remembered for the massacre at Deir Yassin, where hundreds of women and children were marched out of their homes, shot in the head, and tossed into a mass grace.

The Irgun were so extreme and so violent that they were designated a terrorist organization by the UN, the British government, and even the newly created Israeli government. They even fought the Haganah militia at times.

In 1948, after the UN created the State of Israel with the Palestine Partition Plan, the newly established government was eager to get its military up and running. The Haganah reached out to the other three main militia groups (there were four total, including Haganah) citing plans to create an Israeli Defense Force, and asked them all to join.

The Irgun agreed, but there was still plenty of diplomacy needed to resolve their disputes. The two groups still had issues, and would sometimes fight.

With the help of the Sicilian Mafia and the Zionist network, the Irgun was shipping in weapons to be used by its soldiers. The Altalena was one of these ships.

With the young IDF only a weeks old and at that point comprised only of the Haganah, the old rivalry between Menachem (who would later serve as PM) and then Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion.

Ben-Gurion demanded that the weapons aboard the Altalena be turned over to the IDF. When Begin refused, Ben-Gurion ordered Haganah General Yitzhak Rabin (who would also later serve as PM) to fire artillery rounds at the Altalena, sinking it.

The sinking of the Altalena led to a massive backlash that nearly started a civil war in Israel.

The fact that Netanyahu is applauding the widely recognized/designated terrorist organization, while denouncing the early IDF and the Founding Father of Israel (Ben-Gurion), is indicative of a similar dynamic we are now witnessing take place in present-day Israel. The country is at its own throat, and who knows how many factions of violent thugs are roaming the streets just looking for trouble.

What happens when Israel’s political infighting is left unchecked and civil war is being discussed by specific leaders? (many of who have grown disillusioned and indifferent)

It seems like perhaps the plan is to trick Ukraine and Israel into destroying themselves, lest they cause any more harm to their neighbors.

Establishment Laments That Fake Polls and Fake News Are Causing People to Question Polls and News in the Synthetic Age

Axios reports that political operatives are increasingly worried about fake polls, fabricated news stories and AI-generated content flooding the information environment, making it harder for voters to distinguish legitimate political intelligence from synthetic manipulation.

The concern extends beyond individual hoaxes: convincing fake polling can be manufactured cheaply, amplified by automated accounts and then circulate alongside legitimate surveys and reporting.

The article suggests the larger problem is collapsing trust. As synthetic content becomes harder to distinguish from authentic material, even legitimate polls and journalism become easier to dismiss as fabricated. The irony is that institutions already suffering from credibility problems now face a technological environment in which skepticism is increasingly rational — leaving established media and pollsters struggling to prove that the information they produce is real.

: Political operatives are concerned that their fake polls and news are being outperformed by democratized fake polls and news. This is delightful.

“The rise of prediction markets has added a financial incentive for political manipulation,” Axios reports. It’s true. Betting on political outcomes is basic. People bet on everything:

Here’s the thing: The fake polls are as real as the so-called real polls. The electorate is changing and the pollsters either (1) can’t effectively measure the shifts in public sentiment, and/or (2) don’t like the answers they’re getting so they massage them.

Consider this compilation of audio clips from David Flaherty, chief pollster at Magellan Strategies. That firm got their start in the tea party, and now he says they can’t measure the right. It’s just too hard to measure MAGA. Listen:

Do you hear the disdain in his voice when he says “populist”?

This interview was on the radio, and his answers were in the context of answering why his firm decided NOT to poll the 2026 Republican Primary in Colorado. (I think they didn’t because they knew they wouldn’t like the answers.)

In case anyone is wondering, I am opposed to empowering the government to suppress political speech, and I won’t jump on board this narrative that AI means we need the government to have that power for our safety.

Related: and I got into a similar debate on last night’s Culture of Change, which was Part 2 of our conversation about weapons of the enemy. (Check it out if you missed it.) We considered the constitutionality of banning NGOs, a position to which I am also opposed. Defund all of it, end tax exemptions, and dismantle their shadow incentive structures? Yes. Empower the government to ban their existence? Absolutely not.

I feel the same way about all things speech and expression, including AI-generated fake news and “social experiment polling”.

The First Amendment has always been a hill to die on.

Let’s not lose the hill during our Semiquincentennial!

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

US Removes Syria From Terrorism Sponsor List, Lifting Major Investment Obstacle

The Trump administration officially removed Syria from the US list of state sponsors of terrorism Monday, ending a designation imposed in 1979. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited “positive actions” and additional commitments by President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s government to distance Syria from international terrorism. The move took effect after Trump notified Congress on July 8 and the required 45-day review period expired.

The delisting removes restrictions on foreign assistance, defense and dual-use exports, and certain financial transactions, eliminating what Damascus called the last major obstacle to reconnecting with global markets. US banks can now establish relationships with Syrian banks so long as sanctioned parties are not involved, with Bank of America already discussing potential cooperation and Mastercard working to establish international card-payment infrastructure.

Targeted US sanctions on Assad associates, ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates, Iranian proxies and other designated actors remain in place.

: Well, it’s happening.

We’ve been talking about this for over a month, ever since the NATO Summit in Ankara, where President Trump was asked whether he would remove Syria from the state sponsor of terrorism list. As I have been repeating, this is a historic development being that Syria has been on the state sponsor of terrorism list since 1979.

By removing them from the list, President Trump has opened up Syria’s markets to foreign investment. Now Syria is free to prosper, which it seems keen on doing based on all the bilateral agreements Syria has been announcing lately.

One thing in particular I think we are going to see is a massive investment into Syria’s pipeline infrastructure, as well as civilian transportation infrastructure. But don’t be surprised if we also catch news of a nuclear reactor being built in Syria by the United States. I definitely think that is coming down the line.

Trump Announces 50% Tariffs on Canadian Autos, Parts and Steel Starting 2027

President Trump said Monday that beginning January 1, 2027, tariffs on all cars, trucks, automotive parts, and steel from Canada will rise to 50%.

In a Truth Social post, Trump accused Canada of long imposing “ridiculously high tariffs” on American farmers and farm products that created a $60 billion trade deficit. He said the situation is no longer sustainable.

Trump stated that companies that build in the United States will face zero tariffs. He added that Canada will no longer be treated “like a State”, saying the U.S. does not need Canada while Canada does 95% of its business with the United States.

The news comes after Trump last week announced he was pausing the 50% tariffs on Canada after the two sides reached a tentative deal, while also eyeing a possible Keystone XL revival.

Canada is expected to announce retaliatory tariffs on Tuesday.

: Finally, we’re bullying Canada again.

As I have long said, Canada is a globalist proxy state sitting on the US northern border, representing America’s greatest national security threat. Lesser priority but also important is the fact that, as the President savagely points out, they’re ripping us off.

Dismantling globalist proxy states and their relative narrative power is critical path to winning this strange war. In many ways, narrative power is their greatest weapon. But they also have actual weapons, and Canada’s globalism problem means that both sides of that arsenal are ostensibly sitting on our northern border.

A bonus of neutralizing the Canadian-Globalist threat is that they can no longer rip us off.

Two birds!

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The opinions expressed in the Badlands Brief are those of the tagged authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.

The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

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The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Kyle Kirkwood Dominates for Historic, Star-Spangled Victory in DC

Kyle Kirkwood won the inaugural Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., on Sunday, taking the first INDYCAR race staged around the National Mall.

Kirkwood drove the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda to a 3.0906-second victory over Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard. Kirkwood led 128 of 147 laps. Andretti teammates Will Power and Marcus Ericsson finished third and fourth, while Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson finished fifth.

Championship leader Alex Palou finished 20th after a drive-through penalty stemming from contact with another competitor’s wheel during a pit stop. He later crashed on Lap 123 after INDYCAR said his car suffered a broken toe link following earlier contact with a wall. The result cut Kirkwood’s championship deficit to Palou from 133 points to 91 with three races remaining.

President Donald Trump waved the green flag to start the race, and U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy waved the checkered flag at the finish, according to INDYCAR. The series reported two-day attendance of 215,000.

: We always like to start the week off on a light note, especially when President Trump hosts inaugural sporting events in DC.

The Freedom 250 Grand Prix was first announced by President Trump back on January 30th, when he signed an Executive Order authorizing the race. In March, the circuit and logo were unveiled.

Melania Trump introduced a custom-made Indy Car last week during a speech unveiling a new plan to help foster children.

The First Lady explained yesterday that her father was an avid car enthusiast and introduced her to racing when she was young.

Of course, President Trump waved the green flag to start the race.

As for the race, it was the first open-wheel car race in Washington, DC. While there was Grand Prix held in 2002, it featured sport cars rather than true open-wheel racers. This just goes to show President Trump’s commitment to bringing real sport back to the American mythos. Turning DC into a racetrack has probably been the best use of that godforsaken city in years.

The fact that an American driver won this race is a big deal, as open-wheeled racing is a mainstream sport in Europe and therefore European drivers have a cultural advantage when it comes to opportunity. Formula 1 is different from Indy Car in a number of ways, but both feature the same general body design that maximizes speed and is also far more dangerous than the traditional American racecar. So to see an American (Kyle Kirkwood) win it in the inaugural year is like watching that American MMA fighter (Justin Gaethje) defeat the Georgian-Spanish World Champion (Ilia Topuria) at the America 250 MMA fight on the Fourth of July. Just too perfect.

Supreme Court Allows Trump’s Ballroom to Continue… For Now

Chief Justice John Roberts on Friday temporarily allowed construction on President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project to continue while the Supreme Court considers the administration’s request to block a lower-court injunction.

Roberts’ August 21 order stayed the preliminary injunction issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia “pending further order” from the chief justice or the Supreme Court. The order did not resolve the underlying dispute over the legality of the project. (U.S. Supreme Court, Aug. 21, 2026)

The injunction had barred above-ground construction of the proposed ballroom while allowing work on below-ground national-security facilities and construction necessary to protect those facilities, the president and the White House complex.

The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for a stay on August 13. In its filing, the administration described the project as an integrated military complex that includes a secure ballroom and national-security facilities and argued that construction should continue for security reasons.

The administration said construction began October 20, 2025, and told the court that the structure extends five stories underground and incorporates bomb shelters, medical facilities and other hardened security features. It also said the project was 65% complete and that approximately $400 million in private donations were funding the ballroom portion.

The case was brought by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and is pending at the Supreme Court as National Park Service, et al. v. National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States, No. 26A203.

: The President is renovating the not-so-secret complex beneath the White House as part of the ballroom project, and the regime is trying to stop it. On Friday, the Supreme Court allowed the project to continue. and talked about it on DPH Saturday, Jon made a thread about it:

According to the many sworn statements in the filing, the ballroom is critical to US national security and continuity of government.

Because the ballroom is a matter of national security, the Supreme Court told the lower courts to pound sand on their obstruction and unnecessary delays.

You know what else is a matter of national security? Fake elections.

Last week I published, “DOJ brought the wrong case against the right target”, arguing that the DOJ should have brought the Colorado voter roll case from a national security standpoint.

Fake voters result in fake ballots that are fake counted to give us fake results. Fake elections are arguably (outside of continuity of government though the two are not mutually exclusive) the gravest matter of national security.

The DOJ brought the right argument with the ballroom and won.

Now do elections.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

US-Canada Deal Collapses at 11th Hour as Carney Goes All in Ahead of Midterms

New U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods took effect Saturday after trade negotiations between the United States and Canada failed to produce a final agreement, prompting Ottawa to announce plans for retaliatory tariffs.

President Donald Trump had signed three proclamations July 20 imposing additional 50% duties on specified Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products and motor vehicles under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The White House subsequently postponed their effective date until 12:01 a.m. EDT on August 22 while negotiations continued.

The U.S. Trade Representative said Canada declined to finalize terms agreed to earlier in the week, accusing Ottawa of introducing new demands and reversing previous commitments.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the U.S. measures amounted to a 50% tariff on roughly C$28 billion of Canadian goods. He announced that Canada would respond “dollar for dollar,” with counter-tariffs concentrated on products including steel, dairy, appliances, agricultural equipment, pulp and paper, and electronics. The Canadian government said the measures would take effect the Tuesday after Labour Day.

Trump escalated his criticism of Canada on Sunday, writing on Truth Social that the country wanted “the benefits of being a State, without being one” and accusing Canada of imposing large tariffs on American farmers. The Truth Social page itself was not accessible through the browser; the remarks were independently reproduced by news organizations Sunday.

: RUGGED!

We got rugged on the Canada deal!

But it’s only going to get funnier from here.

Last week, if you’ll recall, I wrote a take all about how Canada’s SEEMING capitulation to Donald Trump’s trade demands (meaning our trade demands) was the latest example of the successful application of Trump’s Power Paradigm, which, in keepng with his refreshed Pax Americana Doctrine is all about reminding the world (particularly the West) that, if you don’t have the sort of things that guarantee sovereignty, then you can’t really call yourself a sovereign.

What are those things?

Self-sufficiency when it comes to domestic production, something of value to trade for other things of value (that’s called reciprocal trade,) and the ability to defend the things you make and the things you trade, in addition to your so-called sovereign territory and lives.

Obviously, there are a lot of Western nations at present who BELIEVE they can do all of those things, when they can usually only do one or two of the three.

When it comes to the triple threats, there are only a few nations that check all the boxes, and obviously, the United States tops the list.

Which makes the position (both literal and figurative) of our noisy neighbor to the north somewhat dubious in the Age of Trump, which is to say, the Age of Sovereignty.

You see, Canada has actually been levying tariffs (of a sort) on the US for decades, with American Presidents railing on their import duties and de facto hard caps on US imports since the 1970s, particularly when it comes to dairy.

This is why it’s been so funny to see Trump borrowing that ‘reciprocal’ term from the Globalists and wielding it against them sans faux politeness; our trade has never been reciprocal with Canada in the modern age, and Mark Carney, the current Clown Prince up there knows it.

So, what’s Carney’s play here ... and what is Trump’s?

Well, it seems the former is taking a page out of the rest of the Collectorate’s playbook, as well as the American Deep State Dems and yes, even the so-called GOP ... each of whom and ALL of whom seem dead set on turning up the pressure on Trump from within in order to shake his core mandate ahead of the Midterm Elections, where any major loss of Congressional control by his so-called party would be spun by all of the above as a repudiation on said mandate.

This is a good thing, as it means ALL the never-Trump players on the board, whether they be self-described Democrats, self-described Republicans or self-described Canadians (whatever that is) are converging in the collective mind, and against one man and one movement, which happens to be the most dominant movement among sovereign-minded people not just in America, but around the world.

Make no mistake, Carney THINKS he can wait Trump out (which is to say, he thinks he can wait out the economic pain of his own people) through November.

So do the Democrats.

So do the Republicans.

So does everyone, it seems.

But Trump isn’t blinking, isn’t flinching and frankly (and as I’ve argued all year) doesn’t seem to give two shits about the Midterms.

So what happens after November?

And when does Canada bend the knee for real?

There is no King in the North.

Only a Pretender on a soon-to-be-frozen throne.

Saudi Arabia, Turkey, & Pakistan Invite Iran and Syria to Join Mecca Agreement

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan’s new collective-defense agreement could expand to additional regional countries, with Syria publicly considering membership and an Iranian official saying Tehran has also received an invitation.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif signed the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement on Aug. 7. The agreement says an armed attack against one of the three countries will be considered an attack against all of them.

Erdogan said the pact is based on collective deterrence and will expand security and defense cooperation and joint defense-industry projects. He said the agreement targets no country and is open to participation by other countries seeking peace, prosperity and stability in the region.

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani said during a visit to Islamabad that Damascus is studying whether to join the agreement but has not made a final decision. Pakistan’s state broadcaster reported Aug. 20 that Shaibani welcomed the signing of the pact during talks with Pakistani officials.

Iran also has reportedly been invited to consider membership. The Jerusalem Post reported Aug. 23, citing Al Mayadeen, that Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament’s Khaneh Mellat news agency, said Iran had received an invitation and that the proposal was under review. The reported invitation had not been officially confirmed by Iran’s Foreign Ministry or by Saudi Arabia, Turkey or Pakistan as of Aug. 23.

: What else is there to say? Do we really need any further evidence that a new security architecture has emerged in the Middle East, which will create stability and prosperity for the region? Was there ever any doubt such a system would necessitate the inclusion of Iran?

And why wouldn’t it? Because Israel said so? Iran has to be a part of it in order for it to work. Otherwise you will just end up having more conflict, eventually. And before some losers try to tell you that this is bad because the Muslims are gonna come and get us, remember that the three countries that created this pact are all loyal friends of President Trump and those same losers were saying last week that this alliance was going to be used against Iran.

At some point we have to realize that these losers have absolutely no idea what they are talking about, or are simply bold-faced liars who are hellbent on seeing the world fall into chaos and forever war.

PS - Had to do it. Sorry not sorry.

Trump Admin Recommends Stripping ABA of Law School Oversight Authority

U.S. Department of Education staff have recommended withdrawing federal recognition from the American Bar Association council that accredits U.S. law schools, a step that could end a federal role the organization has held for more than seven decades. The recommendation does not itself revoke the council’s recognition.

The Council of the ABA Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar has been federally recognized as an accrediting agency since 1952. The Education Department says its recognition covers programs leading to the first professional law degree, including programs offered through distance education, as well as freestanding law schools.

Federal recognition has financial-aid implications for some institutions. The department says freestanding law schools may use ABA council accreditation to establish eligibility to participate in federal Title IV student-aid programs.

The staff recommendation is one stage in the federal review process. NACIQI makes recommendations on recognition of accrediting agencies, while the assistant secretary for postsecondary education makes a recognition decision after considering the committee’s recommendation, the staff recommendation and other evidence in the record.

The action comes as the Trump administration pursues broader changes to higher-education accreditation. The Education Department on Aug. 19 proposed regulations it said would increase competition among accreditors, limit the influence of private trade associations and address accreditation policies involving immutable characteristics.

The ABA council continues to describe itself as the Education Department-recognized accreditor for J.D. programs while the federal recognition process proceeds.

: ““The association has had government approval to oversee law schools since 1952, but agency staff said its next renewal bid should be denied because of alleged conflicts of interest.” — Politico

The Trump Administration has been dismantling the shadow governance system since they got into office, and the ABA is a huge part of that work in the judicial domain.

The ABA is an unelected NGO with no meaningful oversight from any authority that is accountable to the people. But they’ve held decision rights over the “justice” system and its officers of the court. The ABA wields the power to destroy legal careers — just ask John Eastman, Jeffrey Clark, Rachel Alexander, and all the other lawyers that were targeted and destroyed by the bar for defending the Republic in the wake of November 3, 2020.

If this season has taught us anything about the ABA, it’s that they are extremely selective in the application of sanctions. Since the government previously outsourced their decision rights over “justice” to the ABA in 1952, there is an argument to be made that they’re operating as proxy for the government (and weaponizing it).

1952… The post war rules based order is when our government sold us out and gave away our decision rights. We need to reclaim them, and it seems we are.

The way to defeat the invisible enemy is to reclaim our decision rights from its proxies, like the ABA, and it looks like that is what the administration is doing, bit by bit.

Some institutions don’t need to be reformed.

They need to be abolished.

I hope that’s where this is going.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

AIPAC (and its Declining Reputation) Takes Center Stage in Michigan Senate Race

Allies of Republican Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers have asked AIPAC not to advertise on his behalf as he campaigns against Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed, Axios reported Saturday. The request has produced tensions between Rogers’ team and the pro-Israel organization, according to people familiar with their discussions.

Rogers spoke with AIPAC Chair Michael Tuchin in Los Angeles, and the organization shelved an already-produced advertisement targeting El-Sayed the following day, Axios reported. AIPAC and affiliated groups had spent more than $30 million seeking to defeat El-Sayed during the Democratic primary and were prepared to spend millions more supporting Rogers in the general election, according to people familiar with the conversations.

After El-Sayed won the Aug. 4 primary, AIPAC told Rogers’ allies it wanted to continue its advertising effort into the general election. Rogers’ allies instead urged the organization to participate without prominently attaching its name to the effort, Axios reported. Options discussed included directing AIPAC donors to a pro-Rogers super PAC or a joint fundraising organization established by Rogers’ campaign and national Republicans.

Rogers publicly told Axios that he welcomed support from the pro-Israel community. AIPAC spokesperson Deryn Sousa said the organization’s members were highly motivated to participate in the race and were considering ways to make their case against El-Sayed.

: Everything now in American politics revolves around Israel. This is something that I saw coming years ago.

The reason is simple: The Israel issue represents so many different facets of politics, aside from the obvious religious issue. It represents a foreign lobby controlling the US government, the NeoCon foreign policy platform, the forever war agenda, and the question of sovereignty and self-governance (for both the American and Palestinian people), just to name a few.

Supporting Israel is now becoming a toxic position for any candidate, Republican or Democrat, for different reasons but it also highlights the despicable fact that American politicians have all sold their souls to a foreign country and are now selling out the American People.

The reason supporting Israel is now such a losing proposition for any candidate is because the American People are sick and tired of seeing everyone else in the world prioritized over our own people by our government, and for whatever reason the GOP seems fully prepared to die on the “I stand with Israel” hill. (The reason is because they are completely owned by the Israel lobby.)

From the politicians’ standpoint, they will continue supporting Israel even to the detriment of their political career because as soon as that career in Congress is over, they migrate over to the private sector are start making real money, and those opportunities will likely be taken from them if they abandon their donors before leaving office. It really is that simple.

The American public needs to wake up to the sobering reality that the GOP hates you as much as the Democrats do, and are just as eager to sell you down the river if it means they get a golden parachute out of public life. President Trump is doing us all a favor by bear-hugging the problem and exposing it to the world. It is now becoming undeniable how pervasive this issue is and how destructive it will be if left unchecked.

Yes, elections are fake and gay until proven otherwise. However, one benefit of going through the motions on this election season is the forced humiliation of these candidates who have adopted positions that are becoming increasingly indefensible. (And most of these politicians are idiots who can’t think on their feet to save their life.)

You will never have your country back as long as these foreign lobbies (particularly the Israel lobby) is allowed to continue to operate with impunity in DC.

BONUS ITEMS

Badlands Blitz Episode 30

On the latest Badlands Blitz, and managed to tell a coherent story tying together Joe Kennedy, 1920s American Crime Syndicates, World War 2, the Russian Mafia, Kim Jong Un & Kanye West en route to proving that Donald Trump is Batman.

Again.

Please share the Brief far and wide!

Want to join the conversation?

Jump in the comments and let us know your thoughts.

And if you like the Substack, you should check out our shows — streaming now on Badlands Media!

The opinions expressed in the Badlands Brief are those of the tagged authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.

The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

Welcome to the 29th episode of The Blitz, which is intended to serve as a weekly recap and dissection of the work we do Monday through Friday in the Badlands Brief.

On this episode, Burning Bright and somehow manage to take a 65-minute tangent that starts with Joe Kennedy, continues on through the history of 1920s American crime, takes a pit stop at the European theater in World War 2 and ends up with Koreans in DC and Kanye West in Moscow.

And it all makes perfect sense.

As always, while all Badlands content will continue to be free, including The Blitz, the only way we’re able to pay ourselves for the time is due to those of you who choose to support it directly.

So, if you like the work this Substack team does on a daily basis and the step-up in said work for 2026, consider upgrading to a Paid Subscription to this newsletter (cancel at any time.)

Otherwise, stay Positive, stay Based and most importantly … stay Bright!

The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Trump to Appear on Supposed-Turncoat Michael Cohen’s Radio Show

President Donald Trump is reuniting publicly with his former personal attorney Michael Cohen, sitting for an interview that will air on Cohen’s 77 WABC radio program Thursday evening, with the remainder scheduled for Sunday. Cohen described it as their first public conversation in eight years, although he says the two have spoken privately during their recent reconciliation.

Cohen was once one of Trump’s closest fixers before turning against him following an FBI raid in 2018. He pleaded guilty to federal crimes including campaign-finance violations, tax evasion, bank fraud and lying to Congress, served prison time, and later became a key prosecution witness in Trump’s 2024 New York criminal trial.

The relationship has now taken another turn. Cohen has recently criticized aspects of the prosecutions against Trump, said he felt pressured in some of his previous testimony, and sought a presidential pardon. During the interview, Cohen called Trump “boss,” while Trump praised Cohen for recanting previous statements.

: The history of Michael Cohen and President Trump is fascinating, tracing back to the 1980's when Trump worked with the FBI to construct several casino's in Atlantic City to [presumably] run operations against the Ukrainian/Russian/Israeli mafia, which was operating out of Brighton Beach in NYC.

Cohen was a childhood friend to Felix Sater (born Felix Mikhailovich Sheferovsky) whose father, Mikhail Sheferovsky, was an underboss for the "bosses of bosses" Semion Mogilevich. Mogilevich is a Soviet Jew from Ukraine who fled to Israel at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Robert Maxwell facilitated a deal between Mogilevich and the Israeli government where Mogilevich would "invest" (launder) $100M into the failing Israeli economy, and in exchange he would receive full Israeli citizenship and diplomatic assistance in procuring the rest of the material.

Mogilevich was also involved in the Maidan Coup of 2014. One of his lieutenants, Oleksandr Turchynov, was appointed by the CIA to serve as interim president of Ukraine in the immediate aftermath of the coup.

In 1998, Felix Sater pled guilty to his role in a $40 million stock trading scheme run by the Russian Mafia. Sater became a cooperating informant It is my own speculation that he has been working on a number of these cases with the FBI.

It was Sater who facilitated that 2016 meeting with Cohen about brokering a deal to construct a Trump Tower in Moscow. This was just one of the many anecdotes used to frame President Trump as a Russian asset.

And then there's that whole Stormy Daniels thing. It is unclear where that currently stands, but my mind is open to all kinds of possible explanations, including that Cohen is a willing or unwilling cooperating witness against all sorts of bad people.

Perhaps Cohen was always working for the enemy while simultaneously working for Trump, presenting himself as a spy. Perhaps Trump discovered Cohen's true intent and turned him against hi masters. Or, perhaps Sater is just another scumbag in a long ling of scumbags in this broke and morally desolate world.

If you would like to hear more about Cohen and his connections to the mob, recently joined me on The Book of Trump to discuss the Atlantic City era in depth. You can listen to that here.

Whether Cohen is actually a secret white hat is largely irrelevant. He could be a leveraged asset, or he could be an earnest actor, but in either case he still serves the same core functions that I think we need to help finish shifting the public narrative in a direction that will expose many people in DC. And I think that sounds just swell.

In any event, this interview between Cohen and Trump should be quite telling as to the current nature of their relationship. I'm eager to hear what Cohen has to say about Ukraine, Israel, and NYC.

EU Bankers Hit the Panic Button as Trump’s Disentanglement Tangles Them Up

European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde warned Wednesday that the economic model underpinning Europe since World War II is eroding as global trade fractures, cheap energy disappears and the US-backed security order becomes less dependable. Europe is roughly twice as exposed to international trade as the US, while more than 2,500 new trade restrictions were imposed globally last year.

Lagarde said Europe has simultaneously lost access to cheap Russian energy and faces increasing competition from China. EU electricity prices for energy-intensive industries were more than twice US levels last year, while China now competes directly with the eurozone in nearly 40% of sectors where Europe has a comparative advantage, up from about 25% in the early 2000s.

Her prescription is greater European economic integration: removing barriers between EU national markets, creating a unified corporate framework and accelerating integration of European capital markets. Lagarde said Europe’s old growth model is “unlikely to return to the form we once knew,” arguing the bloc must increasingly generate growth internally rather than relying on the trade, energy and security arrangements that powered its postwar economy.

: There is schadenfreude, and then there is schadenfreude, my friends.

While all Central Bankers tend to look and sound the same to this audience (because they are the same,) I’ve got to give it to ECB President Christine Lagarde for operating as one of the best reverse indicators of the current cycle.

Every time the woman speaks, she tends to be speaking to an insider crowd of Davos Elites who have no conception of the prospect that they stand more exposed than ever; as such, she tends to just say ALL the quiet parts out loud.

This week, when speaking to another such gathering of so-called Elites, Lagarde took a break from freaking out about Bitcoin and sound money standards in order to tell her friends in the would-be controller class how Biblically porked their entire collectivist experiment is for one reason and one reason only:

The United States.

And yet, for once, they’re not freaking out because the United States is DOING something. They’re freaking out precisely because we’re NOT.

Which is part and parcel to Donald Trump’s Power Paradigm, which I’ve been writing about for years.

You see, power can be levered directly, and applied in order to act as a forcing function, but power can also be deprived.

When it comes to supposed enemies of the kinetic, clandestine and even political variety, Trump’s power approach tends to be direct and applied.

When it comes to our so-called Allies, he moves them by first moving himself, meaning us.

Put another way, in extricating the US from the Globalist System it propped up (that WE have propped up against our better judgment and conscious will) Trump is not only strengthening American Sovereignty by removing its vestigial structures, but he is leaving such structures out on the pavement in an absolute scorcher of a geopolitical summer he has helped to engineer in the interim.

The result?

The European Union, whose two levers of power projection (US Military Might and Institutional Sanctions) are no longer functioning, as the former has been withdrawn, by their own admission, leaving the latter entirely toothless ... by their own admission.

Now, Lagarde is leading a lagging charge from within the bloc, stating in no uncertain terms that, just as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has acknowledged a lack of kinetic power projection capabilities for the Collectorate on the back of Trump’s renewed Pax Americana doctrine, the same grouping has also lost all manner of non-kinetic, i.e., financial and economic power projection capabilities.

This is because the European Economy is almost entirely based on THREE others: China for much of its manufacturing, Russia for much of its energy and the US for ALL of its physical and financial security.

Now, the EU is caught between a rock and a hard place, entirely by design, and unfortunately for them, the only way out of this mess is by kickstarting the sort of European Renaissance ALL of their systems have been erected to prevent.

And so ... they will come begging.

They will come begging not just for the renewed promise of American Might to backstop their fragile experiment, but more so, for the American capital required to kickstart the very European super cycle that will render their control structures moot.

This means American capital and American ingenuity will literally backstop the next European Renaissance, which is only going to supercharge our own.

It should be fun to watch.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

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ActBlue Co-Founder Pleads the Fifth in House Deposition

ActBlue co-founder Matt DeBergalis pleaded the Fifth Amendment during a closed-door deposition Thursday before three House committees investigating the Democratic fundraising platform.

The session before the House Administration, Oversight, and Judiciary Committees lasted less than 30 minutes. Sources familiar with the matter confirmed DeBergalis refused to answer questions under the Fifth Amendment.

The joint probe is examining allegations that ActBlue’s fraud prevention standards were too weak and may have allowed foreign donations into U.S. campaigns. House Administration Chairman Bryan Steil, R-Wis., opened the investigation in 2023, pointing to the platform’s previous failure to require credit card CVV numbers for contributions. ActBlue has since added that requirement.

A committee report released in April 2025 stated that ActBlue executives and staff were aware foreign and domestic fraudulent actors were exploiting the platform but did not take the threat seriously. The platform’s current CEO also invoked the Fifth Amendment during congressional questioning.

: Yesterday, and I were debating Pete Hegseth campaigning and if there are implications under the Hatch Act, so that was top of mind when I opened this WinRed email claiming to be from Vice President JD Vance:

This is your friendly reminder that WinRed is implicated in money laundering in the same broad sense as Act Blue, specifically through smurfing. WinRed is also like Hotel California where you can check out any time but never leave. It’s almost like unsubscribing subscribes you even harder.

The approach in this email – a briefing with private access to intel that you should keep between you and the Vice President – is objectively unethical. It’s also just stupid.

Vance allowing his name to be used to insult voters and hoodwink them into donating money is a spot on example of the absolute state of the narrative.

I’m still hoping for investigations and prosecutions for all of the levers of fraud, and I won’t be satisfied with anything less than indictments.

At the very least, while we work towards that outcome, watching WinRed use the Vice President’s branding to remind the public why the uniparty establishment should be indicted is entertaining. As is watching ActBlue execs plead the Fifth before a congressional committee.

And that’s irritating.

The government should not be in the entertainment business.

“Thou Shalt Not Steal,” Huckabee Warns Israeli Settlers Against Stealing Palestinian Property

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee warned extremist Israeli settlers against seizing privately owned Palestinian property in the West Bank, invoking the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not steal.” Huckabee said taking someone’s home or land and frightening the family away violates both civil law and “God’s law.”

The warning follows a more than weeklong confrontation in Qusra, where settlers surrounded three Palestinian homes, including property belonging to Palestinian American Loui Abu Ridi. Israeli troops subsequently pushed settlers away from the homes, though they remained nearby. Huckabee previously called those responsible for the siege “Israeli terrorists” and described the activity as “inexcusable and repugnant.”

Huckabee, a longtime supporter of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, stressed that he considers violent settlers a minority and defended the broader settlement community. He said perpetrators in Qusra should face significant consequences under Israeli law and could potentially face US sanctions, including entry bans, although he said he was unaware of any sanctions currently under consideration. Israeli authorities had not announced any charges or arrests related to the Qusra siege as of Thursday.

: “I think the message is bigger than just even the Trump administration. It’s a message of basic civility and civilized behavior,” Huckabee said in Jerusalem. “You don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you.”

Citing the Ten Commandments, Huckabee said “Thou shalt not steal” and that people should neither take nor “covet” what belongs to others.

”If someone owns the land and they own their house, then having someone come and take it over and scare the family away from it, that’s a violation, not just of man’s law. That’s a violation of God’s law,” said Huckabee.

This is a situation that I have been discussing and describing for years. And for years, many said that I was succumbing to Hamas propaganda when describing the process in which an Israeli Settler (who is often a US citizen born on American soil) obtains property in the West Bank.

The process is rather simple: A group of Israeli Settlers, often backed by the IDF, approach a home in the West Bank that they fancy. (Entire neighborhoods are regularly designated as targets by government and non-government authorities.) The Settler speaks to the homeowner, telling them that they have until the end of the day to vacate the home, or else they will either be shot or arrested. If the Palestinian homeowner resists, they are branded a "terrorist" and then dealt with accordingly. Often these people are arrested and thrown in prison without any formal charges, where they languish for years. This has been going on since the Nakba of 1948, when Israel was first created by the UN.

Once enough homes have been stolen, and a new Settler neighborhood is established, they are inhabited by Hasidic or Ultra-Orthodox communities. The men in these communities do not work for a living. Instead, they study the Talmud and devote their lives to "serving God." They are supported financially by US taxpayers.

I'm glad to see that Mike Huckabee has finally grown a spine and is speaking out against this degeneracy, though I'm skeptical that he is actually doing it for the right reasons. The reality is that there is a cultural rot in Israel that has allowed the worst side of humanity to proliferate and indulge itself on those unable to defend themselves.

Everyone in DC is aware that this is happening. And yet, we continue to fund and support these cut-throats.

On our current trajectory, it seems that all of these details of how Israel runs the West Bank and Gaza will soon be common knowledge. Whether the American public has the appetite to stop it remains to be seen. We should not underestimate the intoxicating power of psychological warfare operations, and how they can be used to manipulate somebody.

If America is going to re-establish decency, then we must have the courage to walk away from this vapid degeneracy.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

FBI Confronts Eric Swalwell at Airport, Searches Home in Sexual Misconduct Probe

FBI agents confronted former Rep. Eric Swalwell at San Francisco International Airport last Saturday after he arrived on a flight from Washington, D.C. Agents served a search warrant and seized his cellphone and other electronics as part of a federal criminal investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct.

Agents also executed additional search warrants the following day at Swalwell’s residence in Washington, D.C., where they seized other potential evidence.

The investigation relates to multiple allegations of sexual misconduct against Swalwell. A former staffer alleged that he raped her twice when she was too intoxicated to consent, once in 2019 and again in 2024 at a New York hotel. Another woman alleged he drugged and raped her in 2018. Additional claims include unsolicited explicit photos and messages. At least four women have made public accusations.

The Department of Justice opened its investigation in April 2026. Parallel investigations are being conducted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

The airport confrontation and seizures occurred just days after the White House Transparency Task Force released declassified FBI interview summaries in which Swalwell admitted to having physical relations with suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine “Fang Fang” Fang on multiple occasions between 2012 and 2015.

: Are we still believing all women?

The #metoo crowd is awfully silent on the rape allegations against Eric Swalwell. A congressman is alleged to have raped members of his staff – one reported claimed she woke up and he was having sex with her – and there is a severe lack of public outrage.

To be clear, I don’t believe all women, and I think that women that make fake rape allegations should receive the maximum punishment for rape. It’s only fair. But the establishment storytellers believe all women and peddle outrage over every allegation…except this one. And the ones against Joe Biden.

If a party’s outrage about rape is dependent upon the politics of the rapist, then the outrage about rape – not a specific rape, but all rape – isn’t real for that party. It’s political storytelling. The establishment storytellers are hypocrites at their core, so it’s not even that newsworthy that they’re protecting an alleged rapist for political points, but it’s still important.

The bigger Swalwell story, in my opinion, is the one we started the week with – Fang Fang and the foreign influence and the value exchanges.

Swalwell’s political exit being caused by sexual allegations reminds me of Andrew Cuomo’s political exit. In that case, it was sexual harassment allegations that materialized to avoid accountability for the death of NY elderly which was, at best as alleged, criminally negligent. Sexual harassment was a preferable story. Remember, Cuomo made a political comeback.

Is Swalwell experiencing these rape allegations to help him avoid accountability for treason?

Which is worse? (Both can be true.)

BONUS ITEMS

DOE Awards $162 Million for Critical Mineral Recovery Projects

The Department of Energy announced Tuesday that it is awarding $162 million to nine projects aimed at recovering critical minerals from industrial feedstocks and existing infrastructure.

The funding supports efforts to extract materials such as scandium, copper, antimony, and rare-earth elements from sources that were previously discarded, including mining waste, old tailings, abandoned copper mines, and aluminum facilities. The goal is to strengthen the domestic supply chain and reduce reliance on foreign sources, particularly China. Selected companies include Anactisis, Still Bright, Nusano, SiTration, Thompson Creek Metals Company, Felix Gold, DISA Technologies, Alcoa Corporation, and Trigg Minerals.

One project, Felix Gold’s Treasure Creek near Fairbanks, Alaska, will use existing gold mine infrastructure to extract high-grade antimony, a material used in ammunition, sensors, and flame retardants. Another, SiTration, an MIT spinout, will recover copper and rare-earth materials from diluted mining waste streams at operating sites.

The awards are part of a larger DOE effort that could provide up to $275 million for similar projects. In July, the department already awarded $75 million to five projects focused on producing rare earths and other critical materials from coal and coal-based feedstocks.

Please share the Brief far and wide!

Want to join the conversation?

Jump in the comments and let us know your thoughts.

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The opinions expressed in the Badlands Brief are those of the tagged authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.

The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

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The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Ye-Putin Meeting “Possible”

Kanye West could meet Russian President Vladimir Putin when the rapper travels to Russia this fall, according to senior State Duma lawmaker Svetlana Zhurova. West, now known as Ye, is scheduled to perform at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11.

Zhurova, first deputy chair of the Duma’s International Affairs Committee, said that “hypothetically, such a possibility exists,” but stressed that any meeting would depend on Putin’s and West’s schedules as well as presidential security requirements. There is no confirmed meeting or invitation from the Kremlin.

The head of the Russian concert promoter organizing West’s shows separately told Russian media that meeting Putin has been a “long-standing dream” for the rapper and that West has expressed admiration for the Russian president for years. The concerts will be West’s first performances in Russia, although he visited Moscow in 2024.

: And here we are: the one meeting that we have been waiting for. The meeting that transcends both culture and politics. The meeting that has the potential to break the internet.

Kanye West visiting Vladimir Putin in Moscow is the stuff of legends. It’s one of those interviews that, if streamed, would be impossible to ignore.

The connections between both Kim Jong Un and Kanye West, and the significant impact that they could each have on the current zeitgeist, cannot be overstated or ignored. The fact that we are now getting both of them back together, working a direct residency for the first time, can feel a little odd. But eventually those sentiments fade, and we all settle in.

I want to know more about the backchannel between Trump and Bazwell. In due time, we will. For now, we must take note that all the other European countries turned their backs on Ye, and refused to allow him to perform. Instead, he went to Russia to put on a show, and these reports make it sound like that it is Putin who wants to meet Kanye, face-to-face.

Boy would I love to be a fly on the wall for that meeting.

Can we just take a moment to recognize that in the same news Brief we are getting President Trump teasing a meeting (at the White House?) with Kim Jong Un, while Kanye travels to Russia and potentially meets with Putin?

Is it happening? Because I think it is happening.

Trump Selects Heidi Overton to Lead Food and Drug Administration

President Trump announced Wednesday that he is nominating Dr. Heidi Overton to lead the Food and Drug Administration. Trump called Overton a “ROCKSTAR” in his administration who has worked directly with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. He said she takes on the hardest issues and delivers solutions that work best for the country.

Overton currently serves as deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She is a board-certified physician in public health and general preventive medicine, holds a Ph.D. in clinical investigation from Johns Hopkins, and previously served as a White House Fellow during Trump’s first term.

Trump said she will work with Kennedy and Oz to deliver faster cures, increased American innovation, major clinical trial reforms, lower drug prices, and more wins for the Make America Healthy Again agenda. The nomination requires Senate confirmation.

: Overton is expected to undertake an extensive remodel of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to include a dramatic relocation of the exterior windows.

That being said, never forget that the FDA has an allowable amount of maggots in canned goods, so temper your expectations.

Trump Postpones Tariffs on Canada, Signals Keystone Pipeline Restart

President Donald Trump postponed threatened 50% tariffs on roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian goods for three days, saying the US and Canada have a deal “subject to the finalization of documents.” The tariffs had been scheduled to take effect Wednesday and would have covered products including cement, hockey equipment and other Canadian exports.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also said the two sides had made progress, although negotiations remain underway. Reuters reports the emerging agreement could reduce existing US tariffs on Canadian-made vehicles from 25% to 15% and cut steel and aluminum tariffs from 50% to 25% under a quota arrangement.

Trump separately suggested the long-stalled Keystone XL pipeline could be revived as part of the thaw, saying it “may be awoken from the grave.” The proposed pipeline would carry as much as 830,000 barrels of Canadian crude per day from Alberta toward US refineries; its presidential permit was revoked by President Joe Biden in 2021. Trump has not yet announced specific terms for restarting the project.

: OH LAWD!

This one is a biggie for those partial to my ‘Power is Power’ refrain, and what I’ve been referring to since the advent of Trump’s second (public) term as “Donald Trump’s Power Paradigm.’

In short, the framework suggests that one of the key themes of the Age of Trump (and of the Sovereign Alliance writ large) is the return of great global power dynamics, which occur on the Macro and the Micro.

Basically, while I don’t think it’s great if we devolve from a moral culture into a ‘Might Makes Right’ culture, the fact remains that Soft Power dynamics have governed (read: managed) the slow decline of the West in the face of the engineered march of collectivism, with the only leaders willing to oppose such dynamics being relegated to the Dictatorial Class (as defined by Western Intelligence,) who have then leveraged Hard Power dynamics to wipe such leaders off the game board before the Age of the Sovereign Alliance was codified, and before Donald Trump was Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful, well, Hard Power apparatus in the world, that being the US Military.

And yet, there is another Hard Power apparatus Trump has at least some measure of control over, one that is arguably an even bigger stick in the age-old ‘carrot and stick’ dialectic, and one he has been wielding with abandon since re-entering public office:

The US Economy.

That’s right. A core theme of Trump 2.0 has been the unapologetic leveraging of the American Economy, which is to say the American People against ALL factions on the geo-economic game board, whether they fancy themselves our so-called rivals or our so-called allies.

Of course, Trump has levied tariffs against members of my theorized Sovereign Alliance just the same as he has done against our so-called Allies, and yet, the Allies seem to be the only ones completely unequipped to handle such dynamics, while China, Russia, India and others simply pivot or else agree to Trump’s terms after the first economic shot is fired.

Canada and its Clown Prince Mark Carney (himself a former Central Banker for both England AND Canada, which are the same country) have chosen to make themselves the proof positive that, by hook or by crook, Donald Trump will get what he wants out of potential trade partners because Donald Trump understands who holds the power, and who covets it.

Now, Carney’s humiliation ritual may only just be getting started in the central narrative, as he has been forced to capitulate (AGAIN!) in the face of Trump’s economic pressure, which is another way of saying, he fears the continued ire of his own Canadian population as they suffer under the financial pressure of being THE Western Globalist experiment, and thus, the only western nation (so far) to actively declare themselves to be in an official recession over the last two years, since Trump’s triumphant return ... a dynamic Trump is all too aware of, giving him ALL leverage in the so-called negotiations.

Trump teasing the revival of the Keystone XL pipeline the previous Canadian and US Regime jointly cancelled is added signal all its own, as it simultaneously acts as a boon to both the American and Canadian energy sectors, and ALSO as a means of diversifying American energy interests on the back of the Iran War, now that the mandate for said on-shoring process has never been higher or more bipartisan.

What curious timing.

Now, make no mistake, Mark Carney is no more our friend than Canada is our ally.

But the latter is coming as soon as Trump is done humiliating the former.

Trump’s 51st State rhetoric has been treated as a meme by Americans and as an insult by Canadians, by and large.

In truth, it makes all the sense in the world ... but only when the Canadians are actively begging for it rather than sneering at it.

It is a privilege, after all, and before it’s granted, the commies to the north need to continue taking their orange medicine.

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Trump Says He Will Meet With Kim Jong Un

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he expects to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong Un again, telling reporters at the White House, “I will be meeting with him at some point.” Trump did not provide a date or location for a potential summit.

Trump described his relationship with Kim as “very good” and argued his diplomacy during his first term prevented a larger confrontation with North Korea. The two leaders met three times between 2018 and 2019 — in Singapore, Hanoi and at the Korean Demilitarized Zone.

The comments come as tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula and Pyongyang continues developing its nuclear and missile programs. No formal negotiations or preparations for a new Trump-Kim summit have been announced.

: Is it finally happening? Are we finally going to get a Kim Jong Un White House visit? Because that would be incredible.

Perhaps by then Badlands will be granted a press pass. I have a few questions I’d like to ask the Supreme Leader. And nothing would be cooler than having a few Shock Top froth donkeys on the South Lawn of the White House with Kim Jong Un while ripping heaters and talking shop.

I only wish that Trump shared Putin’s enthusiasm in his ambition to build a giant muscle that handles loke all of the framing materials

Perhaps one day we will know the truth about really what happened on 9/20.

Tina Peters is in Washington, D.C. While California Officials Panic Over Her Reported New Role

California Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla are urging Secretary of State Shirley Weber to intervene if Shasta County moves forward with plans to hire former Mesa County Clerk Tina Peters. Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis has said he plans to bring Peters into the elections office next month, either replacing the current assistant registrar or working as a consultant ahead of the November midterms.

Curtis has said Peters would help ensure the FBI and Department of Homeland Security can “test the ballots.” Schiff and Padilla argue those agencies have no role in administering elections and warned the arrangement could lead to violations of California or federal election law. They asked Weber to provide “maximum oversight” to prevent Peters from improperly accessing ballots, voting systems or sensitive voter information.

The senators also tied the proposed hiring to Trump, alleging it may have more to do with his election agenda than Peters’ qualifications. Peters has not yet publicly accepted the Shasta County position; her attorney says she is considering the offer.

: When I met with Tina Peters in prison in May, I asked her if she was considering then-candidate for Colorado governor Scott Bottoms’ proposal to hire her into his potential administration. She outright rejected the idea of working in government again, but that was a Colorado-specific discussion.

Still, because of that discussion, I was surprised to read that she was considering taking a government job in California. I reached out to her team for comment and received no response.

As California democrats clutch their pearls about Peters invading their state, Peters is in our nation’s capital — apparently meeting with Trump administration officials about elections.

Peters posted this photo with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick as a quote post of this Lutnick post from Tuesday about 24,000 noncitizen ballots in 2020:

DOJ Civil Rights chief Harmeet Dhillon posted this photo with Peters and, yesterday, Dhillon did the press circuit on ramping up 2026 election federal monitors:

It’s funny that Peters is lobbying(?) in DC while California senators are freaking out about her infiltrating their state. Peters should drop in on Schiff and Padilla’s offices and challenge them to debate about elections.

It will have to be next time. Peters left D.C., posting a pic from a train with Minka, her Doberman, on the way out of town.

I hope she takes the job in California. I picture Gavin Newson attacking Jared Polis for unleashing Tina Peters on his state. Yes, please. That sounds like a great story arc to pursue.

Seriously, even though I think it’s beneath her, that her original instincts were correct and, of course, that elections are fake, it will be entertaining for all of us.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

“I’m Not That Informed on National Security,” Lindsey Graham’s Sister & the Geopolitical Humiliation Ritual

Interim South Carolina Sen. Darline Graham, appointed to replace her late brother Lindsey Graham, struggled with foreign-policy questions during Tuesday’s Republican runoff debate against Rep. Ralph Norman. Asked about China, Taiwan and the South China Sea, Graham acknowledged: “I’m not that informed on national security,” prompting boos and audible reactions from the audience.

Graham said she strongly supports the US military but largely pivoted away from the geopolitical question. Norman gave a more detailed response, discussing Taiwan’s strategic importance, Chinese aggression and the potential consequences of a conflict in the region.

Graham, a political newcomer backed by President Trump, was appointed to the Senate after her brother’s death in July and advanced to the August 25 Republican runoff against Norman. Before entering the Senate, she headed the South Carolina Commission for the Blind and had never held elected office.

:

I’ll take “overprivileged white women and their effect on society,” for $500, Alex.

But seriously, isn’t this rich?

Lindsey Graham was perhaps the greatest NeoCon warmonger of the Trump age. Even President Trump made fun of Graham for being so during Trump’s euology at Lindsey’s funeral.

Now we have Lindsey’s sister being appointed to the position, in a gross display of nepotism, and she can’t even read a map. She straight up confessed to having no working knowledge of geopolitics or even geography.

What sweet irony that Lindsey’s sister has no working knowledge of any of these foreign theaters. She straight up admitted that she has no formal training from” The quote isn’t even what should be included in this list.

Can she even identify these places on a map?

I hope this lady wins this election and then continues to act like a total dumbass, fumbling her way through meetings on subjects that she knows nothing about while admitting to being in way over her head.

Because that would be really funny and give the Senate the level of respect it currently deserves.

Vindman Loses Primary So Trump Nominates Him For Prison

Alexander Vindman’s bid for the US Senate ended Tuesday when Florida state Rep. Angie Nixon defeated him by more than 12 points in the Democratic primary. Nixon, a Democrat Socialist, pulled off the upset despite Vindman dramatically outraising her six-to-one. She will face Republican Sen. Ashley Moody in November.

President Donald Trump celebrated Vindman’s defeat Wednesday, calling him a “treasonous creep” and returning to their feud over Trump’s 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Vindman, then a National Security Council official, testified during Trump’s first impeachment inquiry about the call and the administration’s withholding of military assistance to Ukraine. Trump was subsequently impeached by the House and acquitted by the Senate.

Trump accused Vindman of lying about the call and declared that he “should be prosecuted for what he did.”

: In my opinion, based on the information available, Alex Vindman is a leaker (the call) and liar (Eric Ciaramella) and traitor (Ukraine). Trump says he will be prosecuted, and he’s innocent until proven guilty.

I look forward to his trial.

Assuming the record reflects the actuals, Vindman, like so many similarly branded, is not “Trump’s enemy.”

He’s America’s enemy.

Accelerate.

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US Envoy Tom Barrack Reports That Israel Has Attacked a Syrian Airbase; Israel Says It Was Targeting Turkish Forces

Israeli airstrikes struck the Abu al-Duhur airbase in northwestern Syria (near Aleppo/Idlib) early on August 18, 2026, with reports of eight strikes hitting the runway and storage or hangar facilities. Syrian state media and local sources confirmed no casualties.

Israel initially imposed a gag order but later claimed responsibility through the Prime Minister’s Office, stating that Syria was on the verge of violating a security status quo by allowing Turkish troops to deploy at the base despite repeated Israeli warnings.

The base, long out of service as an active airfield and controlled by Syria’s post-Assad government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, had recently seen runway reconstruction efforts.

Turkey and Syria condemned the strikes as violations of Syrian sovereignty and escalatory aggression. Turkish officials denied any military presence at the base and accused Israel of inventing pretexts to destabilize the region.

U.S. envoy Tom Barrack (ambassador to Turkey and special envoy for Syria) called the action an “unnecessary escalation” that does not advance regional stability, urging restraint and dialogue instead.

Behind the scenes, the Trump administration expressed frustration, noting that Israel had informed the White House in advance, but that Syria had not taken hostile steps and had sought de-escalation arrangements that Israel resisted.

: None of this is at all a surprise.

In fact, I was talking about this nearly a year and a half ago on Badlands Media.

Several Israeli public figures, both inside and outside the government, have signaled that a war with either Turkey or Syria (or both) was on the horizon, and it appears that this may be the opening salvo.

What's interesting is how much things have changed since I spoke about this scenario on The Daily Herold.

Back then, I was citing that an attack against Turkey could potentially trigger Article 5, which would bring the US, Canada and Europe into the fray on the side of the Turks. Now we also have the Mecca Agreement, which would bring in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, as well as a newly signed security agreement with Russia.

There's also Hezbollah, which has been fighting to preserve the Syrian state since 2011, and, of course, Iran.

That is a pretty impressive line-up.

It's practically the entire Sovereign Alliance, minus China.

Though I think China has enough vested interest in this conflict—it receives more than half of the oil for its economy from Iran—to get involved, assuming it isn't already.

We also have this timely comment from the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder.

If that name sounds familiar, he is the sole heir to the Estee Lauder [cosmetics] fortune, and also the father-in-law to the new Federal Reserve Chairman, Kevin Warsh.

For those who didn't watch the video, Lauder states that Israel is engaged in an information war against the world, and must "unleash the Mossad and Shin Bet."

For those who think it's crazy for Israel to try and take on the world, consider this: the software technology that is used by nearly every intelligence agency around the world to hack into cell phones and laptops to activate the microphone/camera and steal the data is called "Pegasus." It was developed by former Mossad agents, is owned by the Israeli government, and is licensed by them to those agencies. (They pull licenses all the time when governments become troublesome or noncompliant, as they did to Saudi Arabia a few years ago.)

You can bet that they have even more sophisticated technology that we don't even know about.

So the idea of Israel fighting an information war against the entire world is not only plausible, it's probably already been happening for several years.

... and now you understand why the Sovereign Alliance was absolutely necessary.

2026 Midterm Primaries Are Riddled With Scandal Across the Nation

According to Axios, the 2026 midterms are seeing a surge in political dirty tricks, including primary meddling, mysterious super PACs, alleged straw candidates, and last-minute maneuvering.

With fewer competitive House districts after redistricting and a closely contested Senate map, these tactics could meaningfully affect control of Congress.

Both parties are involved.

Democrats face accusations of Green Party spoiler candidates (such as in Pennsylvania’s 7th District) and last-minute Senate candidate dropouts in states like Nebraska, Idaho, and South Dakota aimed at boosting independents against Republicans.

Republicans, meanwhile, have been linked to “pop-up” super PACs that spent money boosting left-wing or flawed Democratic primary contenders in key districts, while also dealing with ballot confusion efforts like a second “Dan Sullivan” appearing on Alaska’s primary ballot.

High-profile incumbents from both sides—including Rep. Chuy García (D-Ill.) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.)—drew criticism for timing their retirements to clear the field for preferred successors.

Pro-Israel group AIPAC has also used obscure super PACs and conduits tied to Democratic caucuses to influence Democratic primaries.

: Axios is pointing the spotlight on a select, bipartisan sampling of “dirty tricks” during this midterm cycle as though it’s notable.

Democrats suing to remove candidates from the ballots; third-party spoiler candidates; party crossover voters; the battles of the PACs.

This is literally how it works all the time.

Whoever sells the best product with the best story wins.

The products are the politicians, and of the “dirty tricks” reported by Axios, this one is my favorite:

“The lawsuits allege Tupone was a registered Republican until this February and had help from Republicans getting on the ballot, with the Green Party saying he is ‘not endorsed or nominated by the Green Party.’ Tupone has insisted his candidacy is genuine, telling a local outlet he is ‘running for universal healthcare, ending the genocide in Gaza and standing up to the establishment parties.’”

That’s pretty funny. Republicans aren’t usually known for their humorous or novel political tactics, so bravo, Mr. Tupone.

The two people that dropped out right before the filing window closed are dirty tricksters, indeed. That should be prosecutable, but read my other take in today’s Brief for why it’s probably not.

The final two examples provided in the article are about PACs, and how some shadowy figures on the right and AIPAC on the left are both using deceptively-branded PACs to forward progressive candidates and social change measures.

They’re probably both AIPAC, of course, but the battle of the PACs looks way more fun than the gay battles of the fake parties.

Let’s do that instead.

#BadPAC

Appeals Court Upholds Ruling Disqualifying Nevada Acting AG Responsible for Releasing Alleged Pedophile From Netanyahu Cabinet

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday upheld a lower-court order disqualifying Sigal Chattah from serving as acting U.S. attorney for Nevada, ruling that the Justice Department’s efforts to keep her in the role beyond the statutory limit were unlawful.

The 36-page opinion, written by Judge Eric Miller (a Trump appointee) and joined by Judges Sidney Thomas and Stanley Blumenfeld, held that Chattah cannot continue overseeing criminal prosecutions for the defendants who challenged her appointment.

Chattah, the former Nevada Republican National Committee chair, was appointed interim U.S. attorney in April 2025. Federal law caps such appointments at 120 days without Senate confirmation. She resigned just before that deadline expired, after which then-Attorney General Pam Bondi used vacancy rules and other maneuvers to keep her in an acting capacity.

A federal judge in Arizona had earlier found those steps were “never intended by Congress” and barred her from supervising several cases.

The appeals court agreed, stating that the Federal Vacancies Reform Act’s automatic succession provisions do not apply to a first assistant who never served under a validly appointed official, and that the attorney general cannot create a de facto acting U.S. attorney simply by delegating all duties.

The Justice Department said it disagrees with the ruling and plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

The decision represents another setback for the administration’s attempts to install preferred U.S. attorneys without Senate confirmation, following a similar invalidation of Alina Habba’s appointment in New Jersey.

: There are several important distinctions to highlight when evaluating this story.

The first is that the appellate court that upheld this decision was a three-judge panel, two of which were Trump appointees. The ruling was unanimous.

The second is that Sigal Chattah was appointed by Pam Bondi.

The jury is still out on exactly what Pam Bondi is, though it seems that she was consistently a television personality and consistently towed the Zionist line.

Which brings me to my third distinction: The fact that Sigal Chattah was born in Israel.

I personally don't think that foreign nationals should be allowed to hold high office in America—especially if they hold dual citizenship. While we can't be certain that Chattah is still an Israeli citizen, there is also no reason to assume that she would have given it up, either.

I will say this: Chattah was unfairly blamed for the flight of accused pedophile Tom Artiom Alexandrovich—who has served in Netanyahu's government as the director of the Cyber Defense Division of the National Cyber Security Authority. The internet has come to the conclusion that, due to her dual citizenship, Chattah was responsible for releasing Alexandrovich on bail just hours after he was arrested.

The truth is that Alexandrovich wasn't charged in federal court, so Chattah had no jurisdiction over the case. It was the District Attorney of Clark County (Las Vegas), Steven Wolfson, who released Alexandrovich, stating that he wasn't a flight risk.

Upon leaving jail, Alexandrovich proceeded to immediately board a plane and abscond back to Israel. He failed to appear at his first court hearing, and appeared remotely at the second hearing to plead "not guilty."

There are many things to cover when it comes to the attorneys in this case, but let's finish up with Chattah.

While her claims that she had nothing to do with his release, and demanded he be returned to face justice, she did mislead the public as to what had occurred and what powers she had to get involved.

Here's the exact timeline:

August 6: Alexandrovich was arrested in a sting operation along with six others after the group tried to lure children to their Las Vegas hotel over the internet.

August 7: Alexandrovich is released on a $10,000 bail and shortly after flies home to Israel.

August 18: After a social media firestorm, Chattah's office issued a boiler plate statement that fails to even mention that Alexandrovich had fled the country. Hours later, Chattah posts on X to express her personal outrage that he was allowed out on bail and that his passport hadn't been seized. She clarified that the federal government has no jurisdiction over the case.

Ignoring the fact that she waited 12 days to make any public statements on the case, despite having full knowledge of it—the Feds were involved in the sting—she says that a judge allowed Alexandrovich to leave.

That is misleading.

Alexandrovich never saw a judge. Judge Barbara Schifalacqua later explicitly said he had posted standard bail before a judge reviewed the case, something that is apparently common practice in Clark County. It was the decision of the District Attorney, Steven Wolfson, to release Alexandrovich, stating that he wasn't a flight risk—despite fitting the perfect profile of a flight risk.

The fact remains that the Feds were at the center of this sting operation, meaning the AG's office would have had advanced knowledge of it.

Given the fact that one of the targets was an official from the Israeli government, and only in the country to attend a convention, seizing his passport could have been part of the arrest procedure. Advanced planning could have been done to ensure that he not be released on bail, and that a plan was in place to handle the diplomatic aspects of his detention with the Israeli government, as well as the public relations aspect of his high-profile arrest.

The fact that none of these considerations were taken demonstrates either gross negligence, gross incompetence, or conspiracy to aid and abet Alexandrovich's flight from the country. And there is evidence that Sigal Chattah was not only an ardent Zionist, but also a major fan of the Netanyahu regime.

Here are some posts from her personal X account, which she has since deactivated.

Furthermore, Chattah's assertion that the federal government had no jurisdiction or involvement was absolutely false.

She could have easily brought federal charges considering that Alexandrovich directly communicated with a federal agent posing as a child online. Sigal Chattah, Pam Bondi or Kash Patel could have initiated extradition requests from the Israeli government, and used their public platforms to advocate for the fugitive's return to the US.

Given the fact that Chattah's office had advanced knowledge of the sting, and that she was personally appointed [illegally] by Pam Bondi (an ardent Zionist,) one must wonder whether this was all an elaborate plot to harm the reputation of President Trump, who has become the target of a sophisticated propaganda campaign to convince the MAGA base that he is compromised and controlled by Israeli interests.

The Alexandrovich case has been one of the more damning talking points used by these operatives to persuade the American public to abandon their support for President Trump.

Now let's talk about the District Attorney, as well as Alexandrovich's defense attorney.

District Attorney Steven Wolfson has never identified publicly as Jewish. However, his daughter Rachel has. She starred in the recent Jackass: Forever film alongside Johnny Knoxville's crew, and in an article published about her role in the film by The Australian Jewish News outlet, her father is explicitly identified as the District Attorney of Clark County.

Oddly enough, her mother is Judge Jackie Glass, who famously sentenced OJ Simpson to prison in 2008 following his theft of sports memorabilia.

In another article written about her role in the film, Rachel explains that she attended Jewish school up until 8th grade, was raised by her parents in the Reform Judaism lens, and described her grandfather as "Orthodox." (Reford Judaism is most known for introducing the concept of tikkun olam (repairing the world) which is the justification used by the government of Israel to meddle in the affairs of foreign governments and alter foreign cultures as they see fit, in order to make the world a better place.)

Then there is defense attorney David Chesnoff, who contributed $10,000 to Wolfson's election campaign in 2017 while his law firm contributed another $10,000. Filings show that his law partner and family members also made contributions.

After Alexandrovich was released on bail by Wolfson, Chesnoff made yet another $10,000 donation to Wolfson's campaign in 2025.

Chesnoff's connections to Israel are far more obvious.

In January 2024, the American Friends of the Hebrew University (AFHU) gave Chesnoff its Las Vegas Scopus Award. AFHU says the event raised more than $1 million for Hebrew University of Jerusalem programs. The organization's account praised Chesnoff's “dedication to Israel,” said he had strengthened ties between Las Vegas and Hebrew University, and described his volunteering in Israel.

Chesnoff himself spoke publicly at the event about supporting Israel.

The number of people connected to this case who are either Jewish and/or have demonstrated strong loyalty to the Israeli government is quite stunning.

Considering that Alexandrovich was attempting to rape American children on US soil, these coincidences cannot and should not be dismissed as irrelevant.

In fact, they are very relevant, and fit within a larger pattern that seems to embrace rape as a cultural institution in Israel.

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Trump Declares Strait of Hormuz Open (Again,) Claims It as US Territory

: TACO Tuesday returns!

Or does it ...?

Remember, the "TACO" (Trump Always Chickens Out) acronym has been used by the so-called financial intelligencia to label Donald Trump's on again, off again negotiations and war-making with the so-called Iranian Regime some form of geopolitical cowardice that can not only be predicted with some degree of consistency, but which can be used to inform trades.

Of course, that pattern WAS apparent for the first three months of the so-called conflict around the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, however, cries of "TACO" have fallen silent, as the financial intelligencia (and no doubt, the global intelligencia) simply do not know how to read the ongoing crisis, nor Trump's handling of it, caught between the impression that Trump is the one managing said crisis and the responses to it, or simply reacting to events he kicked off and then promptly lost control of.

Of course, if you're in the Badlands, you likely believe Trump not only knows exactly what he's doing, but that he also has some degree of control over the situation, and its outcomes.

But then, Tuesday's Truth posts by the GOATUS, while nothing new point us back to the ever-present, all-pervading and much more discernible Narrative theater in the Info War than the unknowable Actual one, and once more, I am left with the impression that Trump is being far more direct than most are willing to consider.

Our own has for years used the 'get the hose again' refrain when it comes to our propensity to call elections fake right up until the moment we line up to participate in the next one.

Well, what if we apply the same thing to Trump's War?

If Trump started the so-called War, and if he keeps saying the so-called War is over, why then does the so-called War start again the next day, and sometimes even the next hour, and based almost entirely on media reports about said war?

If Trump is saying the Strait of Hormuz is effectively de-mined and free to pass, then why do vessels refuse to traverse it?

If Trump is saying energy prices in the US should already be stabilized, why are we still being gouged?

Either Trump is lying ... or the collectivist enemy is.

And leaning toward the latter has been a good bet for the sum total of the last decade spent attempting to free ourselves from a mass psychological entanglement most of us didn't know was in the offing to this degree until Trump exposed the spell in the first place.

And make no mistake, a spell is exactly what a narrative is, and I believe Trump is attempting to dispell it by repeatedly and confidently asserting that it has no power over those who stop believing in it.

All of which is to say, when Trump claims the war is won, that the war is over and perhaps that the war never really arrived, is it smarter to ignore him and continue to analyze its on-again, off-again nature ... or is it smarter to look a little bit more closely at the various factions, including those in the US Media Intelligencia and the US Energy Cartel who seem to stand to gain by continuing to claim the opposite?

Ukrainian MP Says Kidnappings of Military-Aged Men by Recruiters Is an Organized Crime Scheme

A Ukrainian lawmaker from President Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, Aleksandr Kachura, has accused the country’s Territorial Centers of Recruitment and Social Support (TCC) of operating like an organized criminal group. He claims draft officers routinely ambush military-age men on the streets, at workplaces, and near homes—often violently forcing them into vans in a practice known as “busification”—and cites extreme abuses including beatings that leave lasting injuries.

Kachura described a pervasive bribery system in which detainees typically pay $10,000–$15,000 to be released, while securing senior TCC posts can cost $50,000 at the district level or $150,000 regionally. He pointed to visible enrichment by officials, such as a local recruitment chief who upgraded from a bicycle to a Land Cruiser (with his wife driving a Porsche Cayenne), and called for abolishing the TCC in favor of voluntary recruitment of motivated soldiers.

RT places these claims against the backdrop of Ukraine’s prolonged mobilization crisis since 2022, which has barred men aged 18–60 from leaving the country, generated hundreds of thousands of draft-evasion warrants, and prompted lowered conscription ages and harsher penalties.

Ukrainian human-rights officials have also warned of systemic impunity, while Russian officials frame the forced recruitment as throwing untrained men into a “meat grinder.”

: One of the arguments against the theory that this Ukraine-Russia War is mostly narrative has been the proliferation of videos of military-aged men in Ukraine being abducted on the street by recruiters in vans.

The events have been widely documented, and have led to reports of Ukrainian men hiding out in their apartments for months at a time, and even reports of an underground railroad of sorts that helps men escape to Russia.

The Russian Foreign Ministry has corroborated many of these stories in public statements.

The demand for Ukrainian conscripts to this extent certainly seemed to support the narrative that the frontline is a ‘meat grinder,’ and that casualties now number in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions.

Perhaps that all is true. Perhaps the conflict is as massive in scale as the official central narrative insists.

But this new wrinkle—the financial incentive for recruiting officers to kidnap Ukrainian men and ransom them via extortion—would help explain the bizarre phenomenon unfolding on the streets of Ukrainian cities, assuming the premise is true that the narrative of the war is grossly exaggerated, or is perhaps entirely fiction.

This would further explain the incentive for the Ukrainian military to continue participating in the narrative of the drawn out war—on top of the more obvious graft of aid money being sent by foreign governments and laundered by Ukrainian officials. (Though it seems much of that money is being diverted to other places to fund groups like ISIS.)

For the sake of debate, if we do accept the premise that there is a major conflict unfolding in Eastern Europe—and I do believe there is enough confluence of history, culture, storylines and competing incentives to support that reality—then this report further illustrates the criminal culture that controls Kiev, and supports Vladimir Putin’s publicly stated ambition to purge it from Ukraine.

Pattern recognition is among the most important exercises we can conduct when evaluating the war of stories. And the pattern that has emerged is the moral decay that is prevalent in the political leadership of Ukraine, Israel and Washington DC.

One could even call it a moral collapse; one that has fallen off the deep end and into the abyss.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

NSA Deputy Blocked Election Threat Report Over Fear of ‘Deep State’ Label

In March 2020, NSA Deputy Director George Barnes blocked the release of a completed intelligence report on foreign targeting of U.S. elections—including activity related to 2016—because he feared it would brand the agency as part of the “deep state.”

A newly-declassified memo from one of the analysts records Barnes warning that, with an acting ODNI tasked to “clean house” and an administration already suspicious of the intelligence community, publishing the report would destroy NSA’s remaining credibility as a nonpartisan institution, damage workforce morale, and tar the agency alongside the ODNI, CIA, and parts of the FBI.

The report had been finished since December 2018 and covered foreign targeting that began in 2014, with some details judged “sensational.” Higher levels had sat on it for 16 months; by early 2020 the distribution list was approved and it awaited final sign-off from NSA Director Gen. Paul Nakasone, but Barnes objected to releasing it “as-is.” He proposed watering it down into a summary or folding material into a separate 2020 product on the Russian Internet Research Agency’s preferences, while the analyst pushed back that selective editing would look even more political and would still contextually identify members of Congress.

The memo later formed part of the material reviewed by IC Ombudsman Barry Zulauf for his 2021 report on politicization of election-interference intelligence.

: Welcome to the bad mood minute.

I got into a maddening debate with Claude AI yesterday about whether or not this conduct from NSA guy is lawful.

I’m sorry in advance.

“There is no federal crime of ‘suppressing true information from the public/decision-makers to influence outcomes,’ full stop. That’s deliberate: a criminal statute like that would be a direct collision with the First Amendment (the government controlling its own speech/non-speech, including non-disclosure, is treated completely differently than the government suppressing others’ speech) and would hand prosecutors discretion to criminalize essentially any unflattering editorial or classification judgment by any official, ever.”

Excuse me?

Government speech is treated completely differently?

When I pressed Claude on this point, he said:

“There’s no constitutional right to compel the government to say something it doesn’t want to say.”

Oh, I think we need to fix that. Read it again.

At this point, I’m fuming, so I ask about redress and reached the climax of the bad mood minute:

“Congress did build accountability mechanisms for exactly this scenario — but they’re non-criminal: the IC Whistleblower framework, the IG process, the Ombudsman review that in fact happened here, and congressional oversight/subpoena power. That’s not a consolation prize; it’s the actual designed remedy for ‘official withheld/delayed information for self-interested political reasons.’ The system routes this to oversight and accountability, not prosecution, on purpose.”

Congressional oversight, lol.

The statute makers have literally structured the statutes to prevent them (as a class) from ever being held accountable.

Even Claude admits it, and he’s a big ol’ statist:

“So my honest answer is: this is a real accountability failure as a matter of governance and public trust, and the mechanisms that exist to address it (Ombudsman review, IG referral, congressional oversight, public reporting like this) are functioning as designed by surfacing it years later. But ‘even theoretically’ — no, I can’t identify a federal criminal statute whose elements this fact pattern satisfies, because no such statute exists for this category of conduct.”

You know, before we had statutes, we had declarations.

“That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government.”

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Rule of Law? New Disclosures About Swalwell, Fang Fang, & Jack Smith

Newly declassified FBI files reportedly show investigators found evidence that suspected Chinese intelligence operative Christine “Fang Fang” Fang solicited illegal campaign contributions benefiting Rep. Eric Swalwell, including alleged straw donations.

The files reportedly show the FBI initially sought to recruit Fang as a source on Chinese influence operations before she left the US in 2015. Investigators believed Fang had violated several federal laws, but the case was ultimately closed for “national-security” reasons.

The revelations are drawing renewed scrutiny because Jack Smith, years before becoming special counsel investigating Trump, was serving in DOJ Public Integrity when the Swalwell-related investigation was underway, raising questions about what DOJ knew and why the case was ultimately dropped.

: We have new documents revealing Swalwell’s relationship with suspected Chinese spy, Fang Fang.

The first thing that jumps out to me is these documents were declassified by a “White House Memorandum Dated 3/23/2026.”

After searching, I could not find any such publicly available memorandum. What I did find was the existence of two previously unknown classified NSPMs, NSPM 9 & 10, that fall sometime between the dates of 10/15/25 and 06/05/26.

If these new documents did come from an NSPM, it means their release sits inside some larger classified policy about congressional vetting, foreign-influence disclosure, or “weaponization” oversight.

Very interesting.

[Also]

Swalwell was apparently bragging about how Fang Fang would show up at his apartment not wearing any underwear

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Voter Roll Battle Could Be Heading to SCOTUS

The Trump administration’s nationwide fight to obtain state voter rolls could be headed to the Supreme Court, Attorney General Todd Blanche said Sunday, calling a high-court showdown “absolutely” a possibility.

DOJ has sued dozens of states that refused to provide voter-registration data, arguing federal election laws authorize access needed to verify voter eligibility. Courts have repeatedly rejected the federal government’s demands, with DOJ now losing more than 20 cases.

The dispute centers on the federal government’s authority to obtain and scrutinize state-maintained voter records, setting up a potentially significant fight over federal versus state authority in election administration.

: I wrote a feature on my substack last week about how this voter roll fight appears to be the wrong case for the right target.

Discussing the dismissal of a similar case against Jena Griswold – who, by the way, we are now referring to as “autojen” – in the district of Colorado, I said, “The DOJ didn’t argue national security. They argued voter roll hygiene, an activity and authority directly under the purview of the states and, for [Judge] Brimmer, that was insufficient. Since the case is dismissed with prejudice, the DOJ can’t bring the voter roll hygiene case again. They should bring the national security one.”

With all of the national security disclosures about fake elections, most recently the revelations involving China, the federal government could bring a national security case to gain access to voter information at the state level.

The fact that they haven’t – yet – is interesting to me.

Maybe it means the obstruction is the story.

I also wrote in that piece, “There is no indication that Secretary Griswold is mitigating a Chinese data breach. She doesn’t even seem concerned about it, despite credible, documented evidence of a foreign threat to Colorado elections. Almost like it’s not a surprise. Instead, the secretary is concerned that federal authorities might check the work of her and her office.”

If that is true – and it seems to be, in my opinion, based on the information available – it’s stunning. That states would tacitly enable foreign adversaries and ignore potential threats for political reasons is arguably criminal.

It’s arguably treasonous.

President Trump Praises Mecca AGREEMENT as First Step, Suggests Backchannels With Iran

Trump praised the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan as an “important first step” toward regional countries taking greater responsibility for their own defense.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has reportedly explored a backchannel to Iran’s IRGC through Iraqi Kurdistan President Nechirvan Barzani. The IRGC denies current talks are underway.

Trump says Iran wants a deal and maintains his primary demand is preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, even as the US continues applying military pressure in the region.

: For those of you who’ve been following our work for any length of time, hearing terminology like ‘Sovereign Alliance’ is old hat to you.

As such, it can be rather jarring for Badlanders not so much to see what Donald Trump deploys into the central narrative regarding the rapidly-shifting geopolitical landscape and America’s role in it, but more so in the mindscape’s response to said deployments.

Last week, Ghost and I spoke in depth about the just-announced Strategic Joint Defense Agreement between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, something Ghost explicitly predicted on the Micro and something the Sovereign Alliance template and the Regions of Responsibility principle have pointed to directionally for years.

We also claimed Trump was in favor of this agreement, as it has matched all of the moves and countermoves he’s made in the Middle East going back to his first term, and contrary to the constant war and fear mongering out of the Establishment NeoCon cast that have been masquerading as Republicans for the better part of the decade.

That said, it’s not every time that Trump issues a public statement on foreign affairs that seemingly don’t include the United States.

Well, on Sunday night, he did just that, directly praising the Mecca Agreement between former rivals while calling it am “important FIRST STEP.”

A first step to what, though?

Well, probably toward the Multipolar World architecture that stands as the projected end goal of the Sovereign Alliance, something I’ve been writing about and commenting on for years, now, and something that even most in the MAGA world don’t just refuse to endorse, but fail to understand entirely, so lost in the sauce are they regarding Trump’s seeming rivalries with nations (like Russia, China and yes, a soon-to-be-publicly-reformed Iran) I have suggested will soon be counted among our greatest allies.

To wit, if you think Trump’s constant references to Iranian backchannels in the midst of his praising of joint defense agreements in the Middle East that DO NOT include Israel are unrelated, then you may just still have a foot in that NeoCon door, which is to say, the very Forever War paradigm we’ve been locked in for the better part of a century, ever since the close of World War 2 and the stories told about it inverted the Axis and Allies paradigm that is in the midst of being disentangled on the world stage.

The reason it was possible to see the Mecca Agreement coming is owing to the fact that, if the Sovereign Alliance is real, and if it is to be successful, the ONLY way it can be over a long enough timeline is if the world is almost-literally reshaped along Multipolar grounds, with the globalist proxies and the wars they’ve perpetuated being disarmed along the way.

The Mecca Agreement is a First Step.

It’s not the Last Step.

Backchannels with Iran have been active the whole time, and when the eventual Peace Deal with the so-called Iranian Regime is signed, it will pave the way to their inclusion into the very Multipolar framework only our so-called Allies seem to oppose.

Almost like that framework is already agreed to, with the rest as smoke, mirrors and a touch of fire and brimstone en route to its public codification and the collectivist capitulation to a vision they cannot stop, and can no longer delay.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Ohio Indicts Six More Medicaid Providers as Fraud Crackdown Expands

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson announced indictments against six Medicaid providers accused of stealing a combined $558,383 through fraudulent billing. The allegations include billing for services never provided, inflating claims, falsifying timesheets and submitting claims while patients were hospitalized or even after they had died.

The largest case involves Rasheedah Biles, owner of a Columbus behavioral-health program, who is accused of directing employees to inflate claims and bill for services that were never provided, allegedly costing Medicaid $404,810 between November 2023 and October 2025. The indictments follow other recent Ohio Medicaid cases, including a July indictment alleging a separate $9.3 million fraud scheme. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

: I think of these stories as “proof of doge.” That does not mean that I believe Vivek Ramaswamy and Elon Musk’s bromance was anything other than political theater. The public storytelling about doge was just that: storytelling.

But doge was real. It was a tech tooling implementation project; and, right now, we are seeing the prosecutorial fruit of that modernization effort.

All modern corporations have had the capability to track their employees down to the keystroke for a long time. Whether they use that capability is a matter of policy, but the capability was common before AI even entered the conversation. That’s important – because government capabilities on identifying waste, fraud, and abuses in public bureaucracy was severely lagging their private partners. (Note: This was most likely by design – plausible deniability for, again, corruption.)

The Executive Order establishing “D.O.G.E.” was a technology project intended to be embedded in every federal function. The entity of doge was seemingly short-lived; but what if it was a project to upgrade government tooling…to modernize “human capital” systems and management capabilities inside the black hole of government?

That was January 20, 2025, in the Presidential Action “Establishing And Implementing The President’s ‘Department Of Government Efficiency.’”

Day one, the Administration were putting the tools in place to rapidly identify and prosecute corruption. The give it, technologically, no where to hide.

These Ohio indictments are just the latest indictments.

Accelerate.

BONUS ITEMS

War Department Orders Audits of 30 Universities Over Foreign Ties

The Department of War has issued formal notifications to 30 U.S. universities ordering them to immediately review all their academic, financial, and research collaborations with foreign entities of concern.

The reviews target partnerships with groups flagged under Section 1286 of the FY19 National Defense Authorization Act, plus any organizations tied to rebranded Confucius Institutes. Schools must finish the audits, check whether sensitive research was exposed, and put mitigation plans in place by August 31.

Failure to comply risks losing eligibility for future federal research funding. Under Secretary of War for Research and Engineering Emil Michael said the department has “zero tolerance for academic partnerships that compromise our national security.”

Shasta County, CA Registrar Appoints Tina Peters as Assistant

Shasta County, California Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis is replacing Assistant Registrar Brent Turner with Tina Peters next month, as confirmed in a text message from Curtis to Action News Now.

Under county policy, the assistant registrar steps into the top job on an interim basis if the registrar leaves before the end of the term. The Board of Supervisors would then choose a temporary replacement.

Last week, Curtis was censured in a 3-1 Board of Supervisors vote after two investigations found he had engaged in managerial misconduct that included threats of physical violence toward staff, creating a hostile work environment, verbal abuse, and retaliation. Curtis flatly rejects every finding, calling all of it untrue and insisting the complaints came from disgruntled employees and supporters of his election opponent who were trying to sabotage him and take back control of the elections office.

Peters, the former Mesa County, Colorado clerk, was convicted on seven counts of election interference in August 2024. She received a nine-year prison sentence that Colorado’s governor later commuted.

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White House Releases “Wolves in White Coats” Report On Child Mutilation

The Department of Health and Human Services has released a report alleging potentially improper insurance billing connected to gender-related medical treatment of minors and identifying hospitals, health systems and other providers whose claims met criteria established by the report’s authors.

The 64-page report, “Wolves in White Coats,” includes a nationwide claims analysis examining billing for puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. One cohort identified organizations that billed for puberty blockers for patients ages 9-17 using a nonspecific endocrine-disorder diagnosis without listing gender dysphoria or precocious puberty on the same claim. Another identified claims involving patients ages 13-17 carrying a precocious-puberty diagnosis.

The report also identified records from 2023 through 2026 in which minors received a gender-dysphoria diagnosis and a same-day cross-sex hormone prescription at facilities in states where restrictions on such treatment were in force. HHS cautioned that further investigation would be necessary to determine whether wrongdoing occurred.

HHS said the underlying data have limitations. The dataset covers treatments billed through insurance but not cash payments or other transactions outside insurance, and some patient ages were estimated from birth year. The report also says an organization’s appearance in one claims cohort does not indicate the number of qualifying claims associated with it.

Reuters reported Aug. 13 that HHS referred health care providers identified in the review to the HHS Office of Inspector General and Justice Department for investigation. Vice President JD Vance also asked the Justice Department to investigate hospitals over the billing allegations. The findings and referrals do not by themselves establish that the named providers committed fraud.

: The Hippocratic Oath is considered synonymous with “primum non nocere”, or “first do no harm.” This maxim of ethical medical care actually came later, the principle goes back to the 5th century, and most Americans think the principle is still part of modern, ethical medicine.

It’s not, and it shows.

Unfortunately, the principles of medical ethics have been transformed by globalists, evolved with the Declaration of Geneva, which was first adopted by the newly established World Medical Association in 1948 — real banger of a year.

Geneva arguably inverts the medical ethics. “First, do no harm” became “The health and well-being of my patient will be my first consideration.” So if euthanasia is considered best for their well-being, then it’s ethical.

“Not to give a deadly drug to anyone who asks, nor suggest such advice” evolved to “I will maintain the utmost respect for human life.” Sometimes deadly drugs are respectful. See above point about euthanasia.

“Not to help a woman procure an abortion” and “To avoid sexual relationships with patients” were removed entirely.

By moving the line from hard-line prohibitions towards abstract guidelines principles, medical ethics became more malleable and manipulable, evolving with shifting cultural consensus — which is also manipulated (see pharma advertising on TV).

I think we’ve all resolved that oaths are meaningless in our society, but if you’re wondering was happened to the medical profession, the reorientation of healthcare professionals’ programming — away from Hippocrates and towards the profitability of narcissistic industrialism — is critical to understanding how ended up with a medical industry that celebrates child mutilation and sacrifice.

Gender affirming care is sexualization, sterilization, mutilation, and psychological torture. These monsters performed this evil on children and called it “healthcare.”

The health industries justify (read: celebrate) this great evil because they prioritize profit and progress — because stopped agreeing that it was virtuous to prohibit doing harm. The maxim might have been virtuous, but the harm is profitable.

The harm creates patients for life.

That’s the point.

Hamas Leaders Tell Jared Kushner They Will Demilitarize Gaza

Jared Kushner met Hamas leaders in Egypt on Sunday as U.S. officials sought to advance the next phase of a Gaza peace plan, with Hamas political leader Khalil al-Hayya among those participating in the rare direct talks.

Hamas leaders told Kushner they remained committed to disarming and demilitarizing Gaza, according to a source with direct knowledge of the meeting cited by Axios. Kushner pressed the group to demonstrate that commitment through tangible steps, including relinquishing governing authority and having no role in Gaza’s future government, the source said. Hamas’ public statement following the talks did not explicitly mention disarmament.

Hamas said it had agreed to a roadmap for the second phase of the U.S.-backed plan. The group said that phase would include a permanent ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, sustained humanitarian relief and the beginning of reconstruction. Hamas also accused Israel of failing to fulfill its obligations under the first phase.

Board of Peace representatives Nickolay Mladenov and Tony Blair joined Kushner at the meeting, along with senior advisers Aryeh Lightstone and Liran Tancman. Al-Hayya attended with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Rashad, Qatari diplomat Ali al-Thawadi and a senior Turkish official.

The Board of Peace wants Hamas to begin decommissioning its weapons and military infrastructure, according to Axios’ source. Proposed corresponding Israeli steps include allowing an international stabilization force to deploy in Gaza, beginning reconstruction in the Rafah area and discussing initial Israeli troop withdrawals.

Kushner was expected to meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu following the Egypt talks as U.S. officials sought progress on the roadmap. The Associated Press reported that Netanyahu had publicly rejected the roadmap.

: Jared Kushner coming through in the clutch, just as the Israeli government pulls off the mask and goes full-bore ethnic cleansing.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir publicly announced last week that he wants to see 30-40 Gazans killed every night, until the 2 million+ remaining inhabitants abandon the strip and leave for good. According to Ben-Gvir, the Gazans—even the noncombatants—”…are not worthy of life. They are not human beings. I’m doing them a favor by calling them people.”

If there was any doubt that Israel is a terrorist state, this about puts the debate to rest. Ben-Gvir says that there can be no peace deal and that all of Gaza belongs to Israel. Now we will see how Netanyahu handles his meeting with Jared Kushner today, and how Netanyahu handles the psychopaths in his Security Cabinet. I don’t expect there to be peace.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Massachusetts Governor Takes The Mask Off With New Extreme Abortion Law

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey signed legislation August 10 that changes the state’s rules governing abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, replacing specific statutory conditions with a standard based on a physician’s professional judgment. The measure, H.5595, became Chapter 188 of the Acts of 2026.

Under the previous statute, abortions after 24 weeks were permitted when a physician determined they were necessary to preserve a patient’s life or physical or mental health, or in cases involving specified severe fetal diagnoses. The new law removes that list and provides that an abortion may be performed by a physician based on the physician’s professional judgment. It also bars a medical review process from overriding the judgment of the treating physician and patient, or the patient’s health care proxy.

The House passed the measure 119-33 on July 22 before the Legislature completed action on the bill and sent it to Healey. The official House roll call recorded 119 votes in favor, 33 against and six members not voting.

Fox News Digital reported that nine House Democrats joined Republicans in opposing the legislation. Democratic Rep. Jeffrey Turco of Winthrop criticized the scope of the new law and said he believed it went beyond the views of the average Massachusetts voter. Democratic Rep. Chris Markey of Dartmouth said he believed the change created ethical concerns for physicians and exceeded what many of his constituents supported.

Legislative supporters said the measure was designed to allow Massachusetts patients experiencing serious complications later in pregnancy to receive care without traveling to another state. They said decisions about such care should remain between patients and their physicians.

: Once upon a time, I fancied myself a 'liberal.'

Of course, as has been the case with the term 'conservative,' it's clear with the benefit of hindsight that the meaning of that term has not only been subverted over the course of decades and generations, but weaponized entirely.

I came up in the Boston area during the Bush and Obama eras, having been too young to form anything resembling a political opinion (read: programming) during the Bush Sr. or Clinton Regimes in the 1990s.

Of course, it was easy to fall into the Red State-Blue State binary at that time, in the wake of the 9/11 attacks that served as the predicate for a Forever War in the Middle East Donald Trump only recently extricated us from.

That said, I never paid much attention to the abortion debate, though I will admit that, given the 'Blue Team' must be the good guys given everything I knew of the 'Red Team' during my formative years, whenever the 'Choice' debate came up, I simply let it go, and deferred to the 'Choice' argument.

After all, I didn't admit to being what some would call a chauvinist (and by that, I mean a grown adult man who believes both men and women have explicit, ideal roles in a moral, functioning society) until my awakening, which also prompted me to start reevaluating my previous non-stance on the abortion question by first reverse engineering the obvious intent of the industry built around it.

All of which is to say, even before I welcomed a son of my own into the world on the first day of 2025, I had moved from detached apathy on the question to utter disgust and rage at the fact that it even is one in the first place.

Massachusetts is my home. Boston and its neighborhoods is where I was raised.

There are good people here. Hard-working people. Funny people. Irish people.

But they are being led into the darkness by the embodiment of evil, which is now baring its teeth as the emergent Age of MAGA closes in around them.

As angering as these headlines are to see, I'm glad to see the mask come off and the teeth come out, and I'm eager to see how the emergent new Baby Boom that I'm witnessing around me anecdotally, and which has yet to be acknowledged in public metrics causes the MA Blue Faithful to gaze upon the Witch in the State House, and the true master she serves.

Trump Admin Used Kurds As Secret Backchannel With IRGC

The Trump administration established a secret communications channel with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in May through Nechirvan Barzani, president of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, Axios reported Sunday, citing three sources with direct knowledge of the effort. The reported channel was intended to determine whether the IRGC supported positions being presented by Iran’s formal negotiating team.

According to Axios, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard contacted Barzani around May 10 and asked him to reach IRGC commander Gen. Ahmad Vahidi. U.S. officials wanted to know whether Vahidi and the Guard backed negotiations being conducted by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, the outlet reported, citing sources familiar with the call.

Axios reported that an IRGC official arrived at Barzani’s office in Erbil on May 14 with an encrypted phone that enabled a direct conversation with Vahidi. According to a source with direct knowledge, Vahidi told Barzani that he and the IRGC supported the Iranian negotiators and preferred resolving the conflict through negotiations. Three sources, including a White House official, told Axios that Barzani then briefed Gabbard, who relayed the response to the White House.

The administration later asked Barzani to explore hosting secret talks between senior U.S. and Iranian officials in Erbil, Axios reported. Iranian officials did not rule out the proposal but raised concerns about their security while traveling to Iraqi Kurdistan, and the meeting did not occur.

The Times of Israel also reported on the backchannel Sunday but attributed the central account to Axios rather than separate sourcing. No public White House, U.S. intelligence or Kurdistan Regional Government statement located Monday independently confirmed the reported May contacts.

: This is an amazing story for a number of reasons.

First, it reinforces the notion that Tulsi Gabbard played a far more significant role than she is given credit, as she was the one who established this secret backchannel with the IRGC.

The man responsible for helping her reach the IRGC is what makes the story even more significant: Nechirvan Barzani, president of the Kurdistan region of Iraq, and grandson to the legendary Mustafa Barzani, perhaps the most famous individual in Kurdish history. Mustafa led insurgencies against the Ottomans, the British, the Arabs, and the Persians, fighting practically every empire and national government in the Kurdistan region in the early-to-mid 20th century.

The grandson, Nechirvan, has led the Kurds through a tumultuous time in Middle Eastern history, serving as the leader since the formation of the Kurdistan Presidency since 2005.

Barzani attended college in Tehran where he made contacts that have proven useful in his political career. It was these contacts that allowed him to help Tulsi Gabbard reach the IRGC.

Do you remember how Netanyahu and Mossad Media insisted that the Kurds were going to serve as the ground force in the war against Iran? Turns out, the Kurds are actually getting along with Iran pretty well these days, thanks to Barzani.

What Gabbard needed to know was whether the IRGC would actually back President Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Araghchi if they negotiated a deal with the US. She needed to know whether the IRGC preferred peace over war.

According to Barak Ravid’s sources in the White House—which have proven reliable—Tulsi reached out to General Ahmad Vahidi in May through Barzani to make this determination. Vahidi relayed to her that the IRGC did back Araghchi and did prefer a negotiation, raising many questions concerning the narratives that we have been told by Fox News and their Zionist ilk.

What’s most interesting is that exactly a week ago the gay Ayatollah purportedly named General Vahidi as the new leader of the IRGC.

I personally believe that the IRGC, as we know it, no longer exists, and these recent reports are more narrative than substance. Is this new IRGC the same IRGC of Soleimani? Or is this a new organization entirely?

There are too many coincidences happening right now for this not to mean something. Tulsi Gabbard was speaking to people in May—through backchannels—who are now in charge of the Iranian military. And I’m supposed to believe that these people are our enemy?

Trump-Deranged Legacy Media Shits On American High School Kids

The inaugural Patriot Games brought high school athletes from around the country to SPIRE Academy in Geneva, Ohio, for three days of athletic competition tied to the United States’ 250th-anniversary celebration.

Freedom 250, the organization behind the event, said athletes ages 14 to 17 representing states, territories and tribal nations competed from August 9 through August 11. Events included fitness tests, obstacle courses, kickball, dodgeball, tug of war and other team competitions. A $250,000 scholarship pool was divided between the male and female champions. (Freedom 250, 2026)

The competition streamed on the ESPN app before a one-hour primetime special aired on ABC on August 13. The Guardian reported that Kennadi Fuhrman and Rockwell Myers won the girls’ and boys’ competitions, respectively, receiving $125,000 each. President Donald Trump attended the August 11 final and presented the winners with their trophies and scholarship checks. (The Guardian, Aug. 14, 2026)

The selection and demographic makeup of the competitors drew scrutiny during and after the games. CNN host Audie Cornish said a CNN analysis found that many athletes featured on Freedom 250’s Instagram account attended private Christian schools and that the group appeared to be overwhelmingly white. Cornish also said athletes were not chosen through qualifying competitions and that some participants represented states where they did not live. (Fox News Digital, Aug. 13, 2026)

New York magazine separately reported that applicants were required to provide age and location information and submit a video explaining why they should be selected. The magazine reported that Freedom 250 told The Washington Post that applications were evaluated using a composite score combining athletic-performance information with applicants’ essays and videos. (New York/Intelligencer, Aug. 14, 2026)

White House spokesman Davis Ingle rejected criticism of the event, telling Fox News that athletes from across the country received an opportunity to compete nationally and earn scholarships. He described the inaugural competition as a success.

: There wasn’t a lot of buzz about the “Patriot Games”, a physical sporting exhibition where American high school students from all 50 states competed in “American Ninja Warrior” style competitions in celebration of America 250.

The media barely covered it at all — until it was over. Then it was too white, too weird, and too Trumpian.

American kids came together to celebrate America’s 250th birthday in a one of a kind sporting competition, and the globalist media came together to shit on the kids and disparage on the nation.

Combined with the July media ratings I shared in this Brief a couple weeks ago, you have to wonder why this media apparatus continues to exist. It’s certainly not popular demand.

The “authoritative” news voices oppose the will and mandate of the people so rabidly, that they thought it was a good idea to insult young American athletes —15, 16, 17 year olds — in unison across platforms.

The enemy of the people, indeed.

Congrats to all the young Americans that made the Patriot Games a part of American history!

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Trump Snubs Military Industrial Complex Over “Very Good” Relationship With Kim Jong Un; South Korean President Proposes Dialogue To Formally End War With North

President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to substantially reduce annual joint military exercises with South Korea, saying the drills were too costly and sent a hostile signal to North Korea. Trump said August 16 that it was too late to cancel the exercises and that he had instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to scale them back.

Trump cited what he described as his “very good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The Ulchi Freedom Shield exercises began August 17 as scheduled and were set to continue through August 27, with about 18,000 South Korean troops participating.

The directive came a day after South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called for renewed talks with North Korea. In an August 15 Liberation Day speech, Lee said the two Koreas should pursue peaceful coexistence and work toward replacing the armistice that halted the 1950-53 Korean War with a peace regime. He said talks could also address measures to curb North Korea’s nuclear capabilities.

: Based.

Very Based.

Russian media is framing this as a snub against South Korean President Lee, but I actually think that it is a snub against the Military Industrial Complex.

President Lee has demonstrated that he is an ally of President Trump. He agreed to a historic bilateral trade deal last year that became the precedent for the even more consequential deal that Trump later signed with Europe.

I will remind you that President Lee replaced President Yoon—the CIA stooge whose false flag plot was thwarted by Kim Jong Un’s brilliant poop balloon psyact that led to Yoon being charged with treason.

Kim Jong Un remains one of the world’s most interesting leaders, and his stock continues to rise as both Putin and Trump hype him up as one of the greats. President Trump stunned the world by meeting with Un in Singapore in 2018, and then a year later at the DMZ, and now Putin plans to build monuments to Un in recognition of the role that North Korea played in liberating the Kursk region of Russia from Ukrainian control.

I seriously can’t wait until we see Kim Jong Un at the White House. It’s going to happen and it’s going to be glorious.

BONUS ITEMS

Badlands Blitz Episode 29

The latest episode of the Badlands Blitz is now available.

This week, and discuss the long-awaited Justice Phase, why it's actually moving along much faster than many believe, and a new interpretation of the Military-Civilian Alliance.

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The opinions expressed in the Badlands Brief are those of the tagged authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.

The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

Subscribe now

Welcome to the 29th episode of The Blitz, which is intended to serve as a weekly recap and dissection of the work we do Monday through Friday in the Badlands Brief.

On this episode, Burning Bright and concentrate the entire hour on the Justice Phase, where we currently reside within it, why things had to be done this way and finally, what was really meant by the Military-Civilian Alliance.

As always, while all Badlands content will continue to be free, including The Blitz, the only way we’re able to pay ourselves for the time is due to those of you who choose to support it directly.

So, if you like the work this Substack team does on a daily basis and the step-up in said work for 2026, consider upgrading to a Paid Subscription to this newsletter (cancel at any time.)

Otherwise, stay Positive, stay Based and most importantly … stay Bright!

The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

Establishment Left Calls For Unity as Far Left Suffers Major Loss In Wisconsin

Wisconsin Democrats are confronting a widening internal divide after the party’s establishment wing defeated a progressive-backed candidate in a closely watched primary, dealing another setback to activists seeking to push the party further left. The result follows months of Democratic infighting nationally over ideology, electability and the growing influence of democratic-socialist candidates.

In the aftermath, establishment Democrats are calling for party unity ahead of November, arguing that internal ideological fights risk weakening Democrats against Republicans. The result adds to a broader debate inside the party over whether the energy generated by its activist left can translate into statewide victories — or whether Democrats need to move toward the center to remain competitive.

: I’m old enough to remember when myself and some of my fellow Badlanders took about a year and a half of endless grief from small, vocal segments of the so-called Truth Community for advancing the argument that, when American politicians attempt to waterboard the electorate with ‘unity’ messaging, they are de facto admitting their desire to perpetuate the Uniparty itself.

In fact, perhaps the revelation I didn’t know I would be subjected to throughout 2025 and 2026 when it comes to said Truth Community of which we are all a part was that so many in said community would be able to maintain the cognitive dissonance required to routinely reference the obvious presence of a Uniparty ... while bloviating endlessly on the need for MAGA to vote for the GOP.

Now, I am very well aware that Donald Trump also tells us to vote for the GOP, and I am very well aware that most in his base will do so, and it’s also entirely possible that is the best thing to do.

But to say that the Republican Party as currently constituted has our best interests at heart ignores the sum total of their entire existence as an apparatus layered over the mandate of the people as a barely-concealed balm that does nothing to mute their underlying rot.

In fact, as I have been arguing all year, if Donald Trump himself actually believed in the sanctity of the Republican Party, or rather the people who currently make it up, why has he been governing the nation for almost two years as if Congress (which is currently controlled by the GOP, FYI) is a direct impediment to the MAGA agenda and NOT an accelerant for it?

But I digress, as this take was originally going to be about the other side of the Controlled Opposition Dynamic.

This week’s headlines on a ‘Far Left’ communist losing the Wisconsin Governor’s race to an ‘Establishment Democrat’ are highly revealing for a few reasons:

For starters, it demonstrates in no uncertain terms that, in clearly drawing a line of demarcation between themselves and said ‘Far Left,’ the Establishment Democrats have actually actualized the plans of said ‘Far Left.’

Remember, as I have been writing about on my Substack for weeks, the self-defined end game of the DSA has been to engineer a ‘Dirty Break’ within the Left.

Well ... in celebrating the breaking off of the ‘Center Left’ from the ‘Far Left,’ said ‘Center Left’ hasn’t just helped to codify the Dirty Break they were ostensibly trying to avoid, but have actually spent more energy accelerating it than the very people they’re breaking from.

The ultimate, glorious irony to it all, however, and the inspiration for my GOP-tinged rant above lies in the fact that said Establishment Left is currently waterboarding their own radical base with the same ‘unity’ messaging the Uniparty Right (and again, much of the Truth Community) has been wielding against free thinkers and actual MAGA-minded Americans for the better part of Trump’s second public term.

In other words, whatever you think of the so-called ‘Far Left’ when compared to the so-called ‘Center Left,’ keep in mind that YOU have been called the so-called ‘Far Right’ by the so-called ‘Center Right’ that currently governs you.

How did that make you feel?

How do you think it makes the so-called ‘Far Left’ feel?

All of which is to say, when BOTH sides of the Uniparty call for Unity on a platform that seeks the subjugation of the American people and the furtherance of federal power over said people, you might want to back off the desire to forward the same rhetoric to your fellow Truthers.

Moscow Warns of Higher Food Prices as Russia, Ukraine Strike Grain Ports

Russia and Ukraine are escalating attacks on each other’s Black Sea export infrastructure, threatening grain supplies from two of the world’s largest agricultural exporters. Ukrainian strikes forced major grain terminals at Russia’s Novorossiysk port to halt operations, while Russia struck Ukraine’s port of Izmail on the Danube, damaging infrastructure and starting fires. Russia accused Kyiv of threatening global food supplies; Ukraine says Russian attacks have already devastated its own export capacity.

The disruption is already hitting markets: wheat futures jumped after the Novorossiysk attack, while Ukraine says its grain exports plunged 76% year-over-year during the first half of August. With food-supply concerns mounting, Ukraine has now reportedly proposed a mutual halt to attacks on civilian Black Sea targets, though Russia has not formally accepted the offer.

: The explosion in Ukrainian terrorism around the world is no coincidence.

In all likelihood, it is all being funded by US tax dollars, but that is completely in line with how terrorism has always been financed.

Why would the US State Department and Congress send money to Ukraine to fund terrorist activities that target food infrastructure when we are already facing a food-affordability crisis?

I suppose we could also ask, “why is water wet?” But to what end?

What is the “Deep State?” What are its public-facing institutions? What is the CIA? Which agency is responsible for USAID? Which agency distributes billions of dollars in grant money to NGO’s every year? Which agency is responsible for engaging in diplomacy on behalf of the US? (And therefore responsible for the current state of the world?) Who rigs elections around the world to install puppet leaders? Who launders classified information and misinformation through the media? Who has been conducting illegal psychological warfare operations against the American People?

The answer to all of these questions is: The State Department.

The State Department is beyond redemption. It represents one of the greatest evils on earth. It most certainly is the #1 financier of terrorism.

Put down the pom-poms and stop cheerleading for an organization that hates you and wants to see your civilization and culture eradicated. We didn’t send Donald Trump to Washington to make friends with the State Department. We sent him there to bring it to its knees, expose its crimes against humanity, and—God willing— abolish it from existence.

In its place, we will establish a new diplomatic mission that isn’t predicated on the effeminate practices of clandestine espionage, subterfuge, assassination, coercion, and passive-aggressive politics. We must restore masculinity to our foreign policy platform with direct-path thinking where we say what we mean and we mean what we say. No more placating the sensitivities of neurotic ne’er de wells or the proclivities of degenerate sociopaths.

We must project a maverick aura of sure-handed optimism and unapologetic ingenuity, wrapped up in the competitive confidence of an alpha-led society. That is true “Peace Through Strength.”

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Feds Confirm Ongoing Fraud Investigation Against Ilhan Omar

ICE is refusing to release records concerning its investigation into allegations that Rep. Ilhan Omar committed immigration fraud, telling Just the News that disclosure could interfere with ongoing “enforcement proceedings.” The records request sought information about allegations that Omar married Ahmed Nur Said Elmi to help him obtain immigration benefits — allegations Omar has repeatedly denied.

The exemption ICE invoked is significant: FOIA Exemption 7(A) applies to law-enforcement records whose disclosure could reasonably interfere with a pending or contemplated enforcement proceeding. The agency’s response follows earlier statements from border czar Tom Homan that DHS was pulling Omar’s records and from Vice President JD Vance that DOJ was reviewing the allegations. ICE’s response does not establish that Omar committed fraud, but it provides official confirmation that a related federal enforcement matter remains active or contemplated.

: This is exciting.

Ilhan Omar is, based on her own activity and rhetoric, an enemy of the United States of America. I define enemy in this context as those attempting to transform our nation out of the constitution and literally destroy the Republic.

I’m not sure it’s possible for Omar to not violate her oath because of her often-stated world view; it’s more likely that her oath is a means to an end and without personal meaning or reverence or consideration. (That alone should be enough to remove her from Congress.)

Omar is credibly alleged to have married her brother as part of an immigration fraud scheme and, for years, the authorities have all just ignored it.

The idea that authorities might be moving on the allegations is, as I said, exciting.

“You may lose your U.S. citizenship in specific cases, including if you…commit an act of treason against the United States and are a naturalized U.S. citizen who faces denaturalization due to committing certain crimes.” — USA.gov

I’ve long speculated that Omar could be stripped of her naturalized citizenship and deported if the allegations about her participation in immigration fraud prove to be true. Denaturalization typically occurs if the individual is found to have committed fraud or misrepresentation during the naturalization process, such as lying about their identity or criminal history.

Enabling immigration fraud as a naturalized citizen may not qualify one for denaturalization… But the circumstances might make a difference. That is, I don’t know if marrying your brother to defraud the people of the United States counts, but it should.

Marrying your brother to defraud the people of the United States while actively plotting to destroy the Republic certainly should.

It should be tested in court.

It should, but it probably won’t. Omar is a good little uniparty soldier, playing the role she’s been hired to play. She won’t be kicked out of the country. She won’t even be kicked out of Congress. (Also, her presence in Congress is inexplicable outside of fake elections. Don’t forget that the Congress removed George Santos.)

The idea that Americans must cater to self-described enemies is preposterous.

I can still hope that the ultimate role she’s been hired to play is to be the example for how enemies of America can be stripped of their naturalized citizenship and deported.

A Republic, if you can keep it.

Still, I’m not holding my breath.

US Furious With Israel For Allowing “Anarchy” in West Bank as Rampant Jewish Terrorism Consumes Palestine; IDF Not Stopping Settler Violence

The Trump administration is reportedly furious with Israel over its failure to curb escalating settler violence in the West Bank, with White House officials discussing this week why Israeli authorities are allowing what one report called “anarchy.” Particular concern surrounds Qusra, where settlers have blockaded Palestinian families inside their homes while Israeli forces have failed to remove them. US Ambassador Mike Huckabee has previously described perpetrators of such attacks as “terrorists.”

The violence has risen sharply. Shin Bet figures reported by Army Radio recorded 660 attacks by Jewish extremists against Palestinians in the first half of 2026, up roughly 60% from the previous six months, while Palestinian injuries rose from 82 to 140. The IDF itself acknowledges an overall increase and has deployed additional forces to the West Bank, while military officials have described violent illegal outposts as one of the army’s biggest challenges. Arrests and prosecutions remain rare.

The reported US anger has so far remained largely private: Trump has not publicly confronted Israel over the latest violence, and the White House and State Department declined to comment on the reports.

:

You know things are really bad when even Mike Huckabee is using terms like “Israeli terrorists.”

It seems that Israel is reaching a tipping point, driven largely by Israeli Settlers—most of whom are US-born dual citizens.

It turns out that the deeply isolated Chabad communities in the US are even more radicalized than their Ultra-Orthodox counterparts in Israel. When they move out of the US and to Israel, rather than buying or renting a home in Tel Aviv or Jerusalem, they hook up with a real estate firm that is organizing communities in the West Bank. An immigrant from the US can acquire a free home if they are willing to take it from a Palestinian family.

And while Mike Huckabee will claim that the IDF is intervening to prevent the Israeli citizens from taking things too far, the reality remains that remote Palestinian homes are being besieged and the roads leading to them locked down to prevent anybody from coming to help the Palestinians.

One family has reportedly been in their home for five straight days as the Settlers block the road to prevent supplies from flowing. The IDF has refused to step in and stop the Settlers, who seem organized and violent enough to take over security and law enforcement from the police.

But where is the moral clarity? Is there no self-reflection?

Where are the Christian Zionists? Why are they endorsing this banditry?

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Congress is a Treasonous Crime Scene

A new Substack report from Natalie Winters alleges that organizations identified by US government investigators as tied to Chinese Communist Party influence and intelligence operations spent years cultivating relationships with senior American military officials and Washington power brokers. Winters’ investigation focuses on organizations and individuals connected to China’s military-linked influence apparatus that gained extraordinary access to former generals, national security officials and policy circles in Washington.

The reporting also revisits China’s long-running campaign to obtain sensitive US military and nuclear technology, alongside allegations that Americans with access and influence participated in organizations facilitating unusually close relationships with Beijing. Previous congressional investigations have independently documented Chinese nuclear espionage against the United States, including the theft of nuclear weapons information.

The emerging picture is significant: organizations US authorities have identified as serving Chinese intelligence or influence objectives were able to operate inside elite American national-security networks for years, raising questions about how deeply Beijing penetrated the institutions responsible for protecting US military secrets.

: Natalie Winters is naming names of potentially compromised US officials. It’s about time someone does, and Natalie is a savage that demonstrably terrifies the regime. I love everything about it.

Shadow China appeared to be shadow recruiting US comrades and, based on Natalie’s reporting, they were successful.

“One of those partners is the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries. The U.S. government says CPAFFC is tasked with ‘co-opting subnational governments’ and has sought to ‘directly and malignly influence’ American officials to advance Beijing’s agenda.”

She goes on in her thread to outline how those officials did advance Shadow China’s global agenda.

Remember this from a few weeks ago?

“I’m basically running a shadow government across the FBI at this point.”

Probably wasn’t that difficult for Nikki Floris to run a treasonous shadow government with all those collaborators in Congress.

Disclosure must be followed by accountability.

BONUS ITEMS

CIA Had Low Confidence in Israeli-Relayed Iranian Threat Before Trump’s Secret Plane Switch in Turkey

US intelligence officials assessed an Israeli-relayed Iranian assassination threat against President Trump as low-confidence before the Secret Service staged an extraordinary security operation that saw him secretly switch planes while leaving Turkey last month.

Israel passed intelligence to the CIA about a possible plot involving Iranian proxies and shoulder-fired missiles near Ankara during the NATO summit. CIA analysts did not view the information as compelling and described it as “Israeli-derived, not US-generated, and viewed as low confidence.” They conveyed that skepticism to administration officials.

Despite the doubts, the Secret Service proceeded with the switch. Trump publicly boarded a legacy Air Force One before being moved via an airport catering truck to a smaller C-32A military aircraft that flew him out of Turkey. Officials noted the agency had already experienced three near-misses with the president and was not taking chances.

Please share the Brief far and wide!

Want to join the conversation?

Jump in the comments and let us know your thoughts.

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The opinions expressed in the Badlands Brief are those of the tagged authors and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or positions of Badlands Media.

The Brief is free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber.

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The Badlands Brief is your daily drop of Badlands’ takes on the narratives dominating the info war. Read on, and join the conversation in the comments section.

FBI Secretly Branded Barr, Pompeo and GOP Investigators as Russian Disinfo “Conduits” to Blunt Biden Ukraine Scandal

The FBI and US spy agencies received derogatory evidence about Joe Biden from 14 different informants but launched a secret 2020 election operation to tamp down the Ukrainian corruption scandal surrounding his family.

The effort formally designated Attorney General Bill Barr, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, key members of Congress, and journalists as Russian disinformation “conduits,” according to declassified intelligence documents released by the White House Government Transparency Task Force.

A recovered spreadsheet divided more than six dozen figures along political lines. Democrats including the Bidens, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama, and George Soros were listed as “targets” of Russian disinformation. Conservatives including Fox News, One America News, Michael Caputo, Rudy Giuliani, Barr, Pompeo, Sens. Chuck Grassley, Ron Johnson and Lindsey Graham, and Reps. Devin Nunes and Jim Jordan were labeled “conduits.” Many of those Americans were flagged as potential candidates for defensive briefings.

The designations came from a counterintelligence operation codenamed “Round River,” run by a group of analysts from the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force. The team unofficially formed around December 2019, initially focused on Rudy Giuliani, then expanded. It gathered any and all derogatory information on Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, Burisma, and the so-called “Ukraine narrative,” including evidence from Hunter Biden’s laptop, then red-flagged it as Russian disinformation. The task force concurred with the assessments. In many ways it was the mirror opposite of the Crossfire Hurricane Russia collusion probe.

Round River analysts had administrative access to files and later amended the records of three long-standing confidential human sources who had reported concerns about Biden family corruption dating back years.

Intelligence products were added to each source’s file claiming their reporting was Russian disinformation. Some of those sources were eventually terminated after providing negative intelligence about Ukraine and the Bidens.

The operation also closely aligned with the Biden campaign’s and legacy media’s efforts to label the Burisma allegations as “conspiracy theories.” Sens. Grassley and Johnson have long raised concerns that a 2020 defensive briefing may have been used to thwart their own probe.

A 2025 DNI summary of the “Delta Project” review concluded that the Round River team “did not corroborate any of the allegations of the ‘Ukraine narrative.’” FBI Director Kash Patel has terminated the Foreign Influence Task Force and is investigating whether it was used as a political tool to neutralize the corruption narrative rather than address real national security threats.

: “Would it be a scandal if Kash Patel, John Ratcliffe, and Jay Clayton uncovered a massive corruption scheme within the Trump family, but completely buried it so nobody found out? Because that is what the IC did for the Bidens. And that’s not even the worst thing they did.” –

We learned yesterday that the Justice Department quietly convened a special grand jury in Washington, a rarely used legal weapon reserved for “unusual cases: investigations of government officials, broad conspiracies, or organized criminal activity.”

Ali Tucker with Badlands Media, citing the Washington Post, says, “Unlike a regular grand jury, this special one can drop a public report naming people even if prosecutors decide they don’t have enough evidence to charge anyone. The bar is only a ‘preponderance of the evidence’ of wrongdoing. Anyone named gets a chance to testify and call their own witnesses.”

We’ve been hearing about a Grand Treasonous Conspiracy for over a year. In July 2025, Tulsi Gabbard coined that term for the Russia Gate disclosures. Those implicate Obama, and the declassifications since – about election fraud, COVID, weaponization, and more – implicate the same people, ostensibly for the same goal: They had to stop Trump.

Now there are grand juries in Florida and Washington DC confirmed, and the DC one is what you’d need if you were going to prosecute all the government crimes the administration keeps declassifying.

I’d say we’re in the Justice Phase, boys and girls.

For folks thinking a year is a long time, consider the scope and scale and the fact that our system of justice requires every “i” dotted and every “t” crossed to make the justice stick.

Things are moving rapidly.

I hope they accelerate, but they’re moving rapidly.

Firefighters Claim Israel Deliberately Setting Southern Lebanon Ablaze, as US Slams Katz For Saying IDF Not Leaving

Lebanese firefighters are accusing Israeli forces of deliberately setting fires across southern Lebanon, alleging drones have dropped incendiary material while white phosphorus shells, flares and other munitions have ignited forests, olive groves and farmland. One regional civil defense chief estimated fires have affected 30% to 40% of the land in some frontline areas since the June ceasefire.

The allegations come as the Trump administration publicly rebuked Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz after he declared Israel was “here to stay” in southern Lebanon. A US official said Katz’s comments contradicted commitments made to Washington, which has been pushing for an Israeli withdrawal under the ceasefire framework.

:

There’s been a lot of hyperbole about Israel as of late. It’s become very in vogue to say provocative things and post anti-Israel memes. People have built enormous followings and entire brands around those types of posts.

This audience knows as well as anybody that I was hyper-focused on Israel long before it was trendy to do so, and I would say that during that time I was very restrained in my critiques. I wasn’t trying to be provocative mostly because I was trying to reach people who disagreed with my general perspective on Israel. I genuinely felt that an earnest and reasonably objective (I don’t deny that there was some bias) analysis on Israel was necessary for our movement to better understand this extremely important subject, while fully acknowledging that my work is just a small piece in a much larger mosaic that builds the full picture.

I say all of this to prequalify my next statement, which is thoughtful and deliberate. I don’t say this to be provocative or cathartic. I don’t say it to be sensational.

Israel is a terrorist state. (Full stop)

Surely, this is a statement that has become commonplace in the current social media environment. But just a few short years ago, you would have had your life destroyed for merely suggesting it.

Israel is an inherently ruthless culture, as it deems that such ruthless behavior is necessary to preserve the Jewish state.

This doesn’t mean that all Israelis are ruthless, of course, or even support what the Israeli government is currently doing. But we have to acknowledge that Israel, itself, has touted the need for defensive infrastructure, to protect its people from the whims of charlatans and the bombs of adversaries.

From the perspective of the rest of the world: the entire Israeli adult population is culpable because the entire population is made up of veterans, many of who were conscripted into the Zionist’s army.

We have watched in amazement for years now as Israel has habitually crossed the line, and more often than not, Jesus of Nazareth was uniquely positioned to stop the proliferation of these degenerate ideas. Now we watch as the Israeli security cabinet under Netanyahu has become the second coming of the Sanhedrin.

This is why the other types of warfare (economic, etc.) are so important. Trump is using them all in concert to highlight and expose the modern Sanhedrin, which is absolutely drunk on bloodlust and driving itself mad with power.

Now we have the Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz (who is a Khahanist) openly confessing to committing these types of sins. Just last year, as Foreign Minister, Katz openly threatened Turkish President Erdogan at a UN meeting warning Erdogan that he may become “the next Saddam,” referring to Saddam’s high-profile demise.

Now Katz is openly defying President Trump, making it clear that Israel has no plans to surrender the land they have conquered.

The hubris and ego are simply out of control.

With the Trump administration slapping another tariff on Russia, it’s no wonder how and why the centive to own one or two drops off significantly.

While Israel will claim the right to defend itself from any potential enemy, and train its youngest to play tennis, I think most objective observers have soured on Israel’s antics, and recognize that the push for more war is completely backfiring.

Coffee vs Hot Cacao vs Green Tea

Which of these hot drinks was proven in a study to boost stem cells by 220% in 30 days? Billionaires drop 6 figures on stem cell therapy, but this hot drink costs 50 cents a day and boosts anti-aging stem cells improving heart health, blood pressure, and longevity. Go to trycacaobliss.com/badlands to learn more.

Trump Keeps the Perpetual Discombobulator Running While Iran Enters a ‘Survival Economy’

Iran is reportedly shifting into what officials describe as a “survival economy,” prioritizing essential imports, domestic production and measures to withstand sustained US economic pressure as Tehran rejects Washington’s current demands for a new agreement. The strategy reflects expectations inside Iran that sanctions and financial isolation could continue even as regional mediators push to restart negotiations.

The standoff comes amid conflicting signals from President Trump, whose combination of military pressure, sanctions and intermittent offers of diplomacy has left Tehran uncertain about Washington’s endgame. Oman and other intermediaries are reportedly seeking to restore a negotiating framework, but Iran continues to resist US terms while preparing its economy for a prolonged confrontation.

: The discombobulator strikes again!

But then ... isn’t the discombobulator largely defined by the unexpected happening, and on unpredictable timelines?

And if so, when Donald Trump continues to perpetuate a cycle of on-again, off-again war and peace with Iran that nobody can confirm or deny, but which everyone is desperate to, do we actually have discombobulation, or has Trump engineered an emergent paradigm wherein discombobulation is the new status quo, and if he has, has he effectively made the unexpected entirely expected, and what would have been expected entirely unexpected?

These are the questions we ponder, my friends, and if you feel discombobulated after reading them ... I think you’re feeling exactly how you should feel right now.

In all seriousness, though, how do I take the current run of communications coming out of Trump, the so-called Iranian Regime and perhaps most importantly, the Political, Economic and Financial media attempting to orient themselves within the chaos their confluence creates?

I have been saying since I wrote the Iran War series that I believe Trump’s timeline stretching with regards to the conflict--or the story of that conflict--is a core feature of whatever mission he is actually forwarding, without pretending to know how long he plans to keep the perpetuation, well, in perpetual motion.

It is becoming increasingly apparent to me that, contrary to what I and many others believed at the start of this conflict in February, Trump will in fact keep this one going straight through the November Midterms ... which, of course means Trump is likely going to announce a permanent peace deal an hour after you read this, proving me wrong on the micro.

And yet, ruminating on that possibility (Trump’s stretching of the Iran Crisis well beyond what MOST in virtually all layers of the Info War believed he would or COULD) suggests that my larger macro reading of the inherent design of the engineered crisis (one Trump created, don’t forget) remains viable, and that is that we are watching Narrative cover fire laid down that is helping to simultaneously force the Actuals along the Multipolar rails I’ve been projecting in earnest for years, while retroactively codifying the international public mandate for said multipolar vision, which I believe stands as the end goal of the Sovereign Alliance, and against the unipolar, globalist vision of the very globalists who are actually being squeezed by the Iran War’s continuance along all the rails we’re told the Iranian Regime is being squeezed.

So, before I write another 2,000 words in this take, I’ll leave you with this thought:

When you see dueling Narratives between Trump and the so-called Iranian Regime, with each side claiming publicly that the other cannot survive the perpetuation of the perpetual war for much longer, I want you to pull your focus away from them and cast it onto the rest of the global game board, and ask yourself why, if the Iran War is actually so bad for Trump, for the MAGA core and even for Iran ... why are all of the worst people in the world, from US politicians to foreign leaders and the global conglomerates most affected by the Squeeze of Hormuz, all of whom count Trump as enemy ... so bothered by the continuation of the very narrative that is supposedly undoing his national mandate and destroying his legacy?

Methinks they know the real game being played, and they know Trump isn’t playing it against Iran, but with them.

Tickets Now On Sale For GART 13 in Las Vegas!

Badlands Media hits the road four times a year for a 3-day patriot-packed event with our hosts and the Badlands community. Our 13th stop on the Great American Restoration Tour (GART) is September 17-20 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Come meet like-minded Americans, hear powerful content, and be part of something real.

Israel Silent as Moscow Seeks Answers Over Missing Historian

Russia says Israel has failed to provide information about the whereabouts of Russian-Israeli historian Alexey Makarkin, who Moscow says disappeared after being detained by Israeli authorities. Russian diplomats say repeated requests for clarification have gone unanswered, leaving officials unable to determine his location, legal status or the reason for his reported detention.

Moscow is pressing Israel for consular access and an explanation, while Israeli authorities have not publicly addressed Russia’s claims. The case adds another point of friction between the two countries as their relationship faces growing strains over Israel’s regional military operations and Russia’s ties with Iran and Syria.

: There are two things that need to be addressed from this story.

The first is that Israel is a fascist authoritarian state that will arrest people for reporting the truth about what their government and military are up to. In Israel, there is no separation of church and state, meaning the theocracy of Ultra-Orthodox Judaism has bled into the walls of the Sanhedrin and will increasingly reveal itself to the world.

Even college professors aren’t safe from the tyranny of the Zionists.

The second point is that the stage is being set for Trump and Putin to forge an alliance against Netanyahu and confront him in a true heavyweight matchup.

You can see in my other take that Trump is also currently having seriously disagreements about direction with the Israeli Security Cabinet. I wonder how long until Trump walks away from Israel entirely?

How will this all unfold? Time will tell. But don’t be surprised if we see Trump engage in more bombastic rhetoric and chaos narrative as this plotline reaches a fever pitch. The question is when will we see the Russians appeal to the Trump admin for assistance in dealing with Netanyahu’s regime?

Former SPLC CFO Arrested on Fraud Charges Tied to Secret Informant Payments

Former Southern Poverty Law Center chief financial officer Heidi Beirich has been arrested in California on fraud charges related to secret payments made to informants inside White supremacist groups.

Beirich, who previously ran the SPLC’s hate-group tracking project, is accused of overseeing payments of donor money to people inside those groups. Prosecutors say she shared a bank account with one of the sources that contained funds from the SPLC payments. She faces a superseding indictment charging wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to submit false statements to a federally insured bank, and conspiracy to conceal money laundering.

The case is part of the Justice Department’s broader action against the SPLC over alleged payments made without donor knowledge and routed through shell companies. Attorney General Todd Blanche said investigators believe Beirich was involved in opening bank accounts in fictitious company names and making payments for reasons that were not accurately described.

According to the indictment, one source, who infiltrated a White supremacy group and stole documents for the SPLC, was paid more than $1 million by the organization since 2007. Beirich allegedly had a romantic relationship with that person and lived with them at the time. Some of the payments she oversaw went to an Imperial Wizard in the KKK. The shared bank account held about $140,000 from those SPLC payments.

: This isn’t some staffer at the SPLC. Beirich was the CFO and is accused of specific money laundering-related and other financial crimes. and I talked about this on yesterday’s Badlands Daily, discussing how this SPLC thing is a portfolio of crime.

There are so many portfolios of crime to prosecute.

I have faith that we can do them all and, as I said earlier this week, the DOJ should throw the book at the SPLC, track every entity and NGO that they are in bed with, and make examples of all of them.

Truth and reconciliation.

Deterrence.

Make their grandchildren feel the impact of what they’ve done.

BONUS ITEMS

Judge Clears Additional Epstein Documents for Release Over Maxwell Objection

US District Judge Loretta Preska ruled Tuesday that a group of previously sealed documents related to government investigations of Jeffrey Epstein can be made public under the 2025 Epstein Files Transparency Act.

Preska granted the Justice Department’s request for disclosure and rejected arguments by Ghislaine Maxwell that the materials should remain under seal. Maxwell was convicted in 2021 of participating in Epstein’s sex crimes.

The judge held that the Transparency Act takes precedence over earlier protective orders in the case, grand jury secrecy rules, and Maxwell’s privacy claims. The documents originated in Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 civil lawsuit against Maxwell, which was settled in 2017, and were later obtained by the government through a grand jury subpoena from the law firm that represented Giuffre.

Preska found a compelling need for release, stating that keeping the records secret would leave the public with an incomplete picture of the activities. Victim-protecting redactions required by the Act still apply. It remains unclear what new information the additional material will contain.

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