The News Cycle is almost impossible to track these days. At least, to do so fully.

That’s where we come in.

In the Badlands News Brief, the Badlands Media team hand pick news items of interest from the previous days to give you an overview of the biggest goings-on relevant to the Truth Community with some Badlands flavoring to help wash it down.

But FIRST! A reminder from the Great American Restoration Tour!

Last Call for GART: Deadwood

This week, we’ll be joining our fellow Badlanders in Deadwood, South Dakota for the FIFTH stop along the Great American Restoration Tour.

These events have presented a great opportunity to meet and network with fellow patriots, and create an awakening pressure cooker where a natural sifting toward sovereignty, nationalism and community-building takes place.

If you've never been to a GART event physically, you can purchase a virtual ticket to stream the entirety of the event, which includes panels on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Virtual purchases include long-term DVR access to panel replays following the weekend, so if you can’t watch live, don’t worry about missing out.

This ticket also gives you access to an exclusive GART Telegram Chat, where you can hang out with hundreds of your fellow Badlanders and Badlands hosts, see behind-the-scenes photos and videos, and engage in virtual shenanigans galore.

This time, we're going to be discussing everything from coming Full Circle on the Q Drops to Futurism and Freedom Cities.

See you there, in-person or virtually!

Now, onto the news from Thursday, August 15 …

Pro-Palestine group takes credit for hacking Donald Trump-Elon Musk interview on X as 2024 gears up to be the most hackable election ever

Pro-Palestinian hackers, working anonymously under the name RipperSec, claimed credit for a cyber-attack on Elon Musk's live interview with Donald Trump this week.

And a major cybersecurity firm said the hack included a 'highly targeted operation, specifically aimed at Donald Trump's personal Twitter [X] account' alongside its assault on the pair's livestream, sowing chaos for their X 'Spaces' interview Monday.

Though one London-based expert told DailyMail.com he would take the firm's claims 'with a pinch of salt for now' — the murky nature of these technical difficulties during the interview has raised the specter of US election's increasing digital vulnerability.

Since June, for example, the FBI has pursued a quiet investigation into alleged Iranian hacking of both Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns. — The Daily Mail

Our Take: The expert analysis that pro-Palestinian hackers out of Iran targeted Trump and Musk’s X discussion comes from China. Another expert in London said, based on the source, to take it ‘with a pinch of salt.’

Apparently the FBI ‘has pursued a quiet investigation into alleged Iranian hacking of both Republican and Democratic presidential campaigns’ since June.

Also, the DOJ rolled up a couple of Iranians last week for allegedly giving material support to terrorists.

The Trump assassination attempt was blamed on Iranian ‘amateurs.’

And everyone should remember when, less than a year ago, the Biden State Department admitted that they had been infiltrated by Iranian spies.

So, obviously, Iran is the new Russia, the new villain, according to the Biden-led US government.

This same piece raises election alarm bells.

‘Compounding concerns over those attacks, 20 cybersecurity experts delivered a stern warning to Congress this March calling for a phase-out of voting machines that they said are not reliable against the danger of hacking or mis-programming.'

Where were these cyber experts for the past three years? Are there 51 one then and were they formerly intelligence officials?

In my opinion, the heightened hysteria about Iran is not an organic response to anything that Iran is doing. It’s a distraction to prevent Americans from paying attention to what the Biden government is doing.

Hey, remember that completely unrelated story about Biden unfreezing $6B in Iranian assets earlier this year? —

Google says it observed Iran trying to hack the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns

Google said in a research report Wednesday that it detected efforts by Iranian hackers to target both the Trump and the Biden-Harris campaigns in May and June, part of a larger email phishing operation that still persists.

Google’s announcement adds credence to the Trump campaign’s claim Saturday that it had been hacked as part of an Iranian campaign to interfere with the election.

In its report, Google’s Threat Analysis Group, which tracks government-backed cyberattacks, said it had disrupted a “small but steady” phishing operation from a hacking unit tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In May and June, “targets included the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen individuals affiliated with President Biden and with former President Trump, including current and former officials in the U.S. government and individuals associated with the respective campaigns,” Google said in its report. The company blocked “numerous” attempts to log in to the targets’ personal email addresses, it said.

Google said the hacking operation accessed the Gmail account of at least one high-profile political consultant in July. The company said it went on to secure the account and referred the matter to law enforcement. The company didn’t disclose the identity of the consultant or whether the consultant was involved with either campaign. — NBC News

Our Take: While I absolutely believe that the Iranian regime wants to topple Netanyahu, we have also witnessed a political calculus out of them that I don’t think many people have expected.

We have every reason to believe that the Iranians are working closely with Putin’s team to coordinate all their moves— evidenced by the recent announcement that Iran would be sending Putin hundreds of ballistic missiles to use against NATO/CIA in Ukraine.

What makes this development interesting is that it starts to align the narrative with something that Burning Bright and Kyle were discussing last Sunday on Defected. What if the MSM gets caught red-handed using intel that has hacked by a foreign government, such as Iran? What could that potentially trigger? What would that mean for the corporate media, at large?

Perhaps we are witnessing an enormous sting operation, and the “Iranian hack” was the honeypot? —

Report reveals Zelenskyy’s initial approval of Nord Stream pipeline attack, then attempted halt

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy initially approved a plan to sabotage the Nord Stream pipeline, but later tried to halt the operation, according to a new report. The September 2022 explosion in the Baltic Sea destroyed a major Russian natural gas export route, creating significant disruptions in energy markets.

The perpetrators of the attack remained unknown for months, with Danish and Swedish investigations ending inconclusively and the UN admitting it had no additional details. However, The Wall Street Journal provided new insights on Wednesday, detailing the events leading up to the attack.

According to the report, a team of six Ukrainian-backed divers chartered a 50-foot boat from Germany to the Baltic Sea, where they planted explosives on the pipeline. The Journal cited four Ukrainian defense officials with knowledge of the plot, though their identities were not disclosed. These details also align with information from a German police investigation.

The scheme reportedly originated from a boozy night of celebration among Ukrainian businessmen and senior military officers, who were impressed by recent successes. Funded by the businessmen with approximately $300,000, the plan received initial backing from then-army chief Valeriy Zaluzhniy. President Zelenskyy initially approved the operation, but the CIA's intervention in June prompted Zelenskyy to attempt to halt the plan. — Badlands News

Our Take: This is a Narrative Deployment, and aside from attempting to shift blame away from the CIA, as

Regarding the former, all Narrative Deployments emanating from the Media Industrial Complex are either Active or Reactive. With Nord Stream, the active deployment was the original sabotage and subsequent propaganda operation aimed at fomenting tensions between the EU and Russia with an aim toward cultivating mandate for kinetic conflict. That failed.

With the Seymour Hersh counter, the establishment was put on the back foot. Now, all NS2 deployments are either defensive or preemptive in nature, in keeping with Overton's Goalpost.

As for the Shark Fin Template, the very fact that NS2 is back in the Story Cycle can only result in increased exposure of the System that ordered it in the first place.

Panic Patterns abound. —

How Close to Election Day Can Voting Laws Change? That’s Up to the Supreme Court

The U.S. Supreme Court is considering the extent to which judges can alter voting rules close to an election, a decision that could impact ongoing legal disputes nationwide just weeks before the presidential election.

In Arizona, a key battleground state for Donald Trump, the Republican National Committee (RNC) has asked the Court to reinstate a state law requiring proof of citizenship for voter registration. This law was previously blocked by an appeals court. The case challenges a nearly 20-year-old precedent that cautions against last-minute federal court actions that could lead to “voter confusion.”

A Supreme Court decision could provide guidance on how lower courts should apply the “Purcell principle,” established in a 2006 ruling that discourages changes to election laws close to an election. The RNC has requested a ruling by August 22, and the Court has set a deadline for responses by Friday.

The justices have not provided a detailed framework for applying Purcell, leaving it up to judges to decide when it is too late to implement changes before an election. This lack of clarity has led to accusations of partisan bias in judicial decisions. — Badlands News

Our Take: Longstanding precedent is that you cannot change elections process or requirements when an election is imminent. It makes sense — allowing changes to elections so close risks confusing the electorate and is likely to be decried as election interference.

This was pronounced in 2020, where changes for COVID were largely smacked down, citing the imminence of the election. I wrote about this in April.

The bigger problem is not imminency challenge, but weaponizing of the timeline more broadly. In that April piece, I quoted Robert Barnes on the frustrating reality of election lawsuits, and his assertion applies to this current case as well:

“Not Ripe in Spring, No Standing by Summer, Laches by Fall, and Moot by Winter.” 

It’s not changes when an election is imminent that are most concerning. It’s that it’s damn near impossible to bring election cases at any time at all. —

Visiting Moscow, Abbas tells Putin he’s ‘one of the dearest friends’ of Palestinians

Russian President Vladimir Putin told visiting Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday that Moscow was pained by the plight of his people and backed their aspiration to create a fully fledged state.

Putin said Moscow was paying attention to events in the Middle East despite the demands of its own war in Ukraine. He did not refer directly to Ukraine’s week-old incursion into western Russia, an operation that has caught Russia’s military off guard and forced more than 130,000 people to flee their homes.

“Everyone is well aware that Russia today, unfortunately, must defend its interests and defend its people with arms in hand. But what is happening in the Middle East, what is happening in Palestine, of course, does not go unnoticed on our part,” Putin said, according to a Kremlin transcript.

“And of course, we are watching with great pain and anxiety the humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded in Palestine,” he added.

Our Take:

Fascinating praise that President Abbas is heaping onto President Putin. It reminds me, verbatim, of the praise he heaped onto President Trump during their historic press conference on May 3rd, 2017. (17 days before the Sword Dance, but probably just a coincidence.)

That praise and optimism from Abbas for Trump continued. Let’s compare today’s headline with Putin to a headline with Trump from September 13, 2017— four months after their historic press conference.

Now let’s compare what both Trump and Putin said about Abbas and helping the Palestinian Authority achieve freedom from military occupation.

What’s also interesting is how both Putin and Trump have also soured on the Netanyahu regime, identifying their cabal as the problem. (Trump has been very clear that he will help the Israeli people, if they support him.) In fact, look at the contrast between Trump’s comments on Netanyahu vs his comments on Abbas, during the same interview in December 2021. (Recorded by the Israeli press exclusively for the Israeli people.)

And then the real mic drop: during this same interview, Trump said that he thinks Netanyahu never wanted peace with Palestine.

I think Trump and Putin (along with Saudi Crown Prince MBS) are going to unite over this issue, and come together to restore peace and stability to the world. I cannot look at any of these developments, which occurred many years apart, are a coincidence.

Especially this little coincidence:

This is the Sovereign Alliance, coming up together to end the globalist war machine, once and for all. —

BONUS ITEMS

Vance And Walz Agree To Oct. 1 Debate

A much-anticipated debate between Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz appears to be on as both vice presidential candidates have agreed to CBS’s proposal for an Oct. 1 face-off.

The network issued a statement Wednesday indicating that it had invited both vice-presidential candidates to take part in a debate in New York City, presenting both campaigns with four dates as options: Sept. 17, Sept. 24, Oct. 1, and Oct. 8.

Walz, who remains the presumptive Democratic Party nominee until the Democratic National Convention later this month, accepted the invitation in a message on X, writing: “See you on October 1, JD.”

Vance, who initially told Fox News that he would most likely agree but that his team needed time to review the rules and conditions of the debate, agreed to the Oct. 1 debate and upped the ante by agreeing to another debate proposed by CNN.

“The American people deserve as many debates as possible, which is why President Trump has challenged Kamala to three of them already. Not only do I accept the CBS debate on October 1st, I accept the CNN debate on September 18th as well. I look forward to seeing you at both!” Vance wrote in a post on X.

At the time of reporting, it was unclear whether Walz had agreed to the Sept. 18 debate proposed by CNN. — The Epoch Times

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. tried to meet with Kamala Harris to discuss Cabinet job

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought a meeting last week with Democratic nominee Kamala Harris to discuss the possibility of serving in her administration, perhaps as a Cabinet secretary, if he throws his support behind her campaign and she wins, according to Kennedy campaign officials.

Harris and her advisers have not responded with an offer to meet or shown interest in the proposal, say people familiar with the conversations.

The Kennedy outreach, made through intermediaries, follows a meeting in Milwaukee last month between Kennedy and Republican nominee Donald Trump to discuss a similar policy role and endorsement that resulted in no agreement. In those discussions, Kennedy spoke about advising Trump in a second term on health and medical issues.

The independent candidate and namesake of the most famous American political dynasty is exploring multiple options for the future of his presidential effort, which has seen a decline in national polling since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race. His campaign has produced polling, which it has tried to share with Democrats, that it claims shows both Harris and Trump would get a boost in their public support across 31 states if either candidate announced publicly that Kennedy would have a Cabinet role in their administration. — WAPO

Trump campaign brings Corey Lewandowski back on board

Donald Trump’s campaign is expanding its ranks as he seeks to regain his footing in the presidential campaign, bringing on a handful of top allies — including former Trump 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

Lewandowski, who has remained an informal Trump adviser since his first campaign, is being brought on to advise the campaign’s senior leadership team, according to a person familiar with the move and granted anonymity to speak freely. He joins several other former Trump aides who will play similar roles.

The staffing additions come as Trump has fallen behind Vice President Kamala Harris in fundraising and some swing state polling. Some Republicans have grown concerned about Trump’s standing in the race, saying he has struggled to find a consistent line of attack against Harris.

Those close to the campaign say the new hires are not a shakeup, but rather a buttressing of the campaign’s leadership roster in the crucial last few months leading up to the election. — Politico

We hope you enjoyed this brief look back at the major news items you might have missed in this ever-escalating and ever-accelerating news cycle as the Information War continues to rage on around us.

As always, if you have any thoughts on these news items or the MANY others swirling in the digital ether, drop into the comments below to share them with your fellow Badlanders.

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