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 before we get onto the Brief, we want to introduce you to a new Sponsor of the Badlands Substack: Kimchi One, a fermented product by our friends at Brightcore.

Click the banner below to check out their exclusive offer to Badlanders.

Now, onto the news from the Weekend that Was …

RFK Jr. suspends his presidential bid and backs Donald Trump before appearing with him at his rally

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, a late-stage shakeup of the race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.

Hours later, Kennedy joined Trump onstage at an Arizona rally, where the crowd burst into “Bobby!” cheers.

Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate.

Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.

“These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said at his event in Phoenix.

However, he made clear that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome. Kennedy took steps to withdraw his candidacy in at least two states late this week, Arizona and Pennsylvania, but election officials in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin said it would be too late for him to take his name off the ballot even if he wants to do so. — AP News

Our Take: Many of us have long expected this moment—seeing it as an inevitable development, given the circumstances of the hour.

I even wrote about it on the Badlands Substack over a year ago, in an article entitled "Horseshoe Theory."

That doesn't mean that witnessing the moment in real time was any less impactful or emotionally inspiring. I truly feel that we collectively witnessed a groundbreaking and historic moment on Friday that will only become more powerful in posterity. It wouldn't surprise me if my grandchildren look back in 50 years and say, "That was the moment that the MAGA movement transcended politics and transformed into the Great American Revolution."

Because this is so much more than a political movement. This is a human revolution. So many plotlines and narratives converged the moment that Bobby Kennedy Jr walked onto that stage and embraced President Trump as his brother.

This revolution is not about establishing a penultimate ideology. Some have tried to measure our success in the conversion rate of MAGA among the populace, and that is a fool's errand. The concept of converting the masses into a single ethos is the plan of the Enemy—the very evil that we oppose. There is nothing miraculous or divine about a homogenous population establishing the consensus to draw swords together for a common cause—especially if that homogeneity was created through coercion, manipulation, or fear.

There is nothing remarkable about putting a knife to a man's throat and gaining his allegiance. What is truly remarkable is when men from different walks of life—especially former enemies—can set aside their petty differences and draw swords together against a mutually recognized evil. When men can set aside these differences, and work together without coercion or conversion to destroy real evil, that is when God's divinity can be witnessed. For those are the greatest stories ever told—from both history and fiction. Only through great and exceptional courage can such coalitions be forged.

If you believe in God, believe in His creation. Believe in His divine plan. Believe in His infinite wisdom to seed good men across the cultural spectrum, both inside and outside of America.

Have faith in Humanity. —

Another Take: What's in a name?

RFK Jr's background, connections and positions on some previous AND current issues concern some MAGA voters. The thing is, you were never going to get all disaffected liberals or independents to swing toward Trump by cloning him and setting him up on the opposite side of the Info War.

Trump doesn't need these factions to win a fake election. He didn't need them in 2016, and he didn't need them in 2020. I also don't think he needs them in 2024.

That said, this isn't about winning rigged elections. It's about unifying the American people, and that has to be done by threading the needle through the most complex and effective PsyOp of all time ... one that's designed to undo generations of mass psychological damage by the Deep State.

Characters are cognitive cyphers in the context of the War of Stories.

Trump is THE symbol of anti-establishment on "the right."

Kennedy is that on "the left."

Pied Pipers come in many forms.

Convergence > Unification > Awakening. —

The DNC ‘Special Guest’ Rumor Turned out to Be a Con Job for Ratings

Social media was abuzz Thursday after rumors circulated that a "special guest" would appear on the final night of the Democratic National Convention.

It turns out it was all a con job, likely designed to maximize viewership for Kamala's big night.

Chances are, it worked. Speculation quickly centered on Taylor Swift, and fans were even tracking her plane to see if she would be in the area. Disgraced former CNN host Don Lemon tried to appear relevant by claiming that sources told him either George W. Bush, Beyoncé, or Taylor Swift would be the "special guest."

It really made no sense that George W. Bush would appear, and a DNC insider told Deadline that while Swift is beloved, her presence would overshadow Harris’s acceptance speech, which wouldn’t benefit the campaign. 

Suddenly, Beyoncé became the most likely "special guest" to make an appearance, and TMZ even "confirmed" it.

However, a representative for Beyoncé shot down the rumor later in the evening.

"Beyoncé was never scheduled to be there," the representative told The Hollywood Reporter. "The report of a performance is untrue."

So, who was the special guest? It was Kamala Harris. — PJ Media

Our Take: Rumors of Taylor Swift and/or Beyoncé giving a free concert at the DNC swirled on Thursday, and that big lie likely brought in many viewers that otherwise would never tune into a political speech.

The event, more broadly, was cringe and creepy.

The low budget set implied that the money went to paying people to be there. The ‘joy’ we kept hearing about came through clenched teeth and forced talking points. And, as I said on Friday’s Brief, every time the cameras panned the crowd, the attendees gave off ‘two minutes of hate’ vibes. But with ‘joy’… Ragey joy.

It was all super real.

We’ve gone from Kamala crashing concerts to appropriate the crowds, to Kamala spreading false rumors of concerts to boost her ratings.

There is nothing authentic about this woman or her manufactured popularity. —

India ready to help find peace, Modi tells Ukraine

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has paid a historic visit to Ukraine, telling President Volodymyr Zelensky he is prepared to play a personal role to bring peace.

The Indian leader was criticised by President Zelensky last month when he hugged Russia's President Vladimir Putin during a trip to Moscow on a day of deadly Russian strikes, including one on Kyiv's biggest children's hospital.

Mr Modi, 73, said he had told Mr Putin that problems could not be solved on the battlefield.

"Both sides will have to sit together and to look for ways to come out of this crisis," he said after meetings in Kyiv.

Mr Modi arrived in the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland, the first international leader to visit since Ukraine forces crossed into Russia's Kursk region in early August, seizing more than 1,250 sq km of territory, according to the military.

Six weeks ago, President Zelensky had spoken of his “huge disappointment” at watching Mr Modi warmly hug the Russian leader.

On Friday it was the Ukrainian leader's turn to be embraced by Mr Modi – although it appeared a more awkward greeting. Mr Zelensky appeared to frown, but equally it may have been the sun in his eyes. — BBC

Our Take: This is a fascinating development. I read this as the wise elder statesman coming in to have a "come to Jesus" moment with Zelensky.

Back on July 23, Zelensky made the bizarre public statement that he wanted to end the war with Russia as soon as possible, signaling that he had heard President Trump's then recent comments that he would end the war the moment was elected—before even being inaugurated.

It would seem Zelensky was likely scolded by his handlers for posturing for peace, as the NATO-backed Ukrainian forces subsequently invaded the Russian province of Kursk, following in the failed footsteps of the Third Reich from World War 2.

Ukraine is now engaged in a death blossom, a downward spiral that was exacerbated by the decision to invade Kursk, where they launched missile strikes against Russian civilians and a nuclear power plant. In response, President Putin announced that Russia was no longer interested in pursuing peace, and would instead seek to permanently destroy the Nazi regime in Kiev, once and for all.

Modi is firmly in Putin's camp. It was just announced yesterday that India has overtaken China as the number one purchaser of Russian oil. The Sovereign Alliance is strong, and growing stronger everyday.

So I suspect that Modi was sent to Kiev in an attempt to persuade Zelensky to turn on his masters. Modi is a beloved leader, both inside and outside of India, and would be a voice of calming wisdom to the young ears of Volodymyr Zelensky. If anybody was positioned to convince Zelensky to revolt against the psychopaths in NATO—who seem completely prepared to kill every last Ukrainian to keep the Russians from taking Kiev—it would be Modi.

(Modi is known as a legendary hugger. Dude just loves to hug it out.)

Sun Tzu says that the smartest generals leave their enemy a narrow passage of escape, so that the enemy doesn't feel obliged to hunker down and prepare to fight to the last man. If Modi can succeed in giving Zelensky an escape— protection from the satanists who rule the West—then maybe Zelensky has some valuable information to offer in exchange.

At the very least, I see this visit as the Sovereign Alliance flexing its diplomatic muscles, pursuing peace over war. And that is something that we should all welcome, as the Deep State obsesses over escalation and provocation for greater world conflict. —

Prepare For "An Era Of Shock Events"; WEF's Klaus Schwab Warns

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is a well-funded organization many consider terrorists that is permitted to wreak havoc on the global population with no repercussions.

Klaus Schwab and his “forum” have been proclaiming how they will change the lives of the masses for years but everyone turns a blind eye.

They told us we will eat bugs, they told us we will own nothing, they’ve been warning of their sinister plans for some time.

The WEF infiltrated government cabinets and altered the left side of politics in every single Western nation.

Earlier this week, the WEF recently released an ominous article, warning that we must prepare for “an era of shock events” in the near future. — Armstrong Media

Our Take: The beatings will continue until morale improves, according to the global corporate communists who are committed to the Great Reset to the New World Order.

They ‘predicted’ the pandemic as early as 2011. They told us of a world where AI, machine learning, automation, and robotics would create an employment crisis and require universal basic income. They’re now telling us of a global mental health crisis.

That means they’re planning a global mental health crisis. Reality collapse seems more inevitable than ever now, as commercial AI destabilizes plebeian minds such that military grade AI will fracture plebeian psyches.

It’s a battle of the mind for the soul, but these overt assertions from Schwab and Co imply that the regime is panic planning. Shoulder to the wheel.

Now is a good time to remind everyone of President John F. Kennedy’s inaugural address in 1961:

‘The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it—and the glow from that fire can truly light the world. And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.’

Fight. Fight. Fight. —

Backing Shin Bet chief, Gallant says Ben Gvir endangering Israel’s security

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assailed National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Friday, in the wake of a letter by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar on Thursday that accused Ben Gvir of helping cause “indescribable damage” to Israel by encouraging Jewish extremists in the West Bank and elsewhere.

“In the face of Minister Ben Gvir’s irresponsible actions that endanger Israel’s national security and create internal division in the nation, the head of the Shin Bet and his people are carrying out their duties and warning of the grave consequences of these acts,” Gallant wrote on X.

In Bar’s letter, sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Gallant, and several other government ministers, the Shin Bet chief warned that radical settlers did not fear consequences for their actions, emboldening them to “terror” against Palestinians.

Extremists have been encouraged by light-handed treatment of crimes and “a sense of secret backing” from police, Bar wrote. The Israel Police, under the far-right Ben Gvir, has repeatedly been accused of turning a blind eye to violence and intimidation by settler extremists.

Following Bar’s warning, Ben Gvir, of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, reportedly stormed out of that night’s cabinet meeting, after demanding the Shin Bet chief be fired. — Times of Israel

And …

Netanyahu leads Gantz as coalition gains ground in new poll

Amid uncertainty regarding a hostage deal and escalation in the North, the gap between the opposition and the coalition narrowed this week by two seats, to 58 for the opposition, excluding the Arab parties, compared to 52 seats for the current coalition bloc, according to a Maariv poll released on Friday.

The survey also reveals that the National Unity Party continues to lose ground, dropping another seat this week.

How would Israelis vote?

In response to the question: “If new Knesset elections were held today, who would you vote for?” the answers were:

Likud: 22 seats (22 in the previous poll), National Unity: 20 (21), Yesh Atid: 15 (14),Yisrael Beiteinu: 14 (15), Otzma Yehudit: 10 (9) Shas: 9 (9)The Democrats: 9 (9), United Torah Judaism: 7 (7), Hadash-Ta’al: 5 (6), Ra’am: 5 (4), Religious Zionism: 4 (4)

The National Right (1.9%) and Balad (1.8%) do not pass the electoral threshold. — Jerusalem Post

Our Take: Trump's Counterinsurgency ("Trump's Gambit") against Netanyahu continues. If you need any further proof that Trump is running a counterinsurgency against Bibi, check out this one minute video that he posted last night on X.

Look at the still image displayed at 0:30 timestamp, when the narrator says, "Kept the Middle East at peace..."

Do you recognize this clip? It's from the same meeting that I've been highlighting since the day before Netanyahu addressed Congress last month. The 2017 meeting when Trump first traveled to Israel—two days after the Sword Dance—and completely disrespected Bibi in front of the Israeli press.

To me, that still image says it all. The look of disgust on Trump's face as he stares down Bibi, as Bibi has his hand outstretched to Trump, is the tell, in my opinion.

And now, we can see Trump's Gambit playing out in real time.

It all began when Trump told Benny Gantz in 2017 in a private meeting that he thought Gantz was the leader most suited to make peace with Palestine. Here is Trump discussing that meeting with Israeli journalist Barak Ravid in December 2021.

So Gantz formed a new political party in late 2018, which he called the Israel Resilience Party. However, prior to this foray in politics, after he retired from the military, Gantz started a cybersecurity firm called The Fifth Dimension that never got past the start-up phase. He was partnered with Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg, who became the target of Robert Mueller's Russiagate investigation, leading to the company closing down in December 2018.

A month before, it was announced that NSO Group—the Israeli cybersecurity connected to Peter Thiel and Rod Rosenstein that created the infamous Pegasus software (hack any phone in the world)—was looking into acquiring The Fifth Dimension.

A headline from The Jerusalem Post:

Check out the opening line from the article:

"The cybersecurity company of presumed prime ministerial candidate Benny Gantz closed down on Friday, but sources connected to the company told The Jerusalem Post that the start-up’s failure had more to do with US President Donald Trump, Russian leader Vladimir Putin and porn star Stormy Daniels than Gantz."

And it turns out that Viktor Vekselberg's longtime partner, billionaire Len Blavatnik, testified against Netanyahu in the corruption case that has been building since Trump entered office.

Netanyahu is now saying that The Fifth Dimension's failure is evidence that Gantz is unfit to be Prime Minister, and has called for a corruption investigation against him. That investigating has been underway for years, and investigators closed the case against Gantz in April 2023, without filing any charges.

After Trump left office and held this interview with Barak Ravid in 2021, Gantz (in 2022) merged his Israeli Resilience Party with other factions to form the National Unity Party, which is an interesting name... given this past weekend's events. The party plans to challenge Netanyahu in the upcoming election, though that isn't scheduled until October 2026. What could change that is if Netanyahu's cabinet members resign.

Cabinet members such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

After Gantz turned on Netanyahu during the Trump administration, Bibi was forced to find new allies in the more extreme wings of Israeli politics. To consecrate his alliance with his new friends, in 2022 Netanyahu was forced to effectively reverse a 1994 law that prevented factions promoting Jewish Supremacy and terrorism against non-Jews from holding office in the Knesset (Israeli Congress).

By doing this, Bibi opened up the flood gates, allowing all kinds of nut jobs to enter Israeli politics—including Benzi Gopstein, who in 2015 called for the expulsion of all Christians from Israel, and called for Israeli Jews to attack Christians and burn down Israeli churches. He was arrested and convicted of "incitement to violence."

Now we have the Shin Bet chief and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant—who is notoriously backed by Joe Biden—calling out Ben-Gvir for promoting Jewish terrorism in the West Bank. Netanyahu is being exposed for his conniving ways, and his new bed-fellows are getting him into some serious trouble, which could potentially lead to World War 3, as President Trump has said many times.

The stage is being set for a dramatic return by President Trump to save the day. But I suspect Trump will be calling on the Israeli people to rise up and throw out the radical oligarchs, just as he has been calling on the American people to [peacefully] revolt against the Deep State. —

BONUS ITEMS

"Musk Should Be Nervous" - Deep State Lackey Admits Real Target Following Telegram Founder's Arrest

Russia is demanding answers following the arrest Pavel Durov, the billionaire co-founder and CEO of messaging app Telegram. He was detained by French authorities at the Bourget airport outside of Paris Saturday evening after arriving in his private jet.

The Russian embassy in Paris has demanded that the French government explain itself, and has so far said that French authorities are being uncooperative. The latest reports say Durov is expected to appear before a judge Sunday evening.

The embassy said of the 39-year-old Russian-born billionaire that "as soon as the news of Durov’s arrest broke, we immediately addressed the French authorities for clarification on the reasons for it and demanded that they ensure the protection of his rights and provide consular access to him."

He not only has Russian citizenship by virtue of his birth there, but also holds dual citizenship in France and the UAE.

Russian diplomats say there has been no reply from Paris: "The French side has so far been avoiding cooperation on this issue," a statement said. Russian lawmakers have gone so far as to say he is now a "political prisoner".

Russian member of parliament Maria Butina said on Sunday, "Pavel Durov is a political prisoner - a victim of a witch-hunt by the West.

[…]

Musk added a "FreePavel" hashtag when he shared a video of Durov praising Musk and his pro-free-speech outlook during an interview with Tucker Carlson earlier this year.

"It is vital to the support of free speech that you forward X posts to people you know, especially in censorship-heavy countries," Musk wrote on X on Sunday.

And in case you wondered, none other than deep state bagman Alexander Vindman makes it clear who the real target is... — ZeroHedge

Germany stabbing suspect charged as Isis claims triple murder

The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for a knife rampage that left three people dead and four seriously wounded in the western German city of Solingen late on Friday.

German prosecutors named the suspected as Issa Al H, a Syrian accused of being “a member of a terrorist organisation abroad”, with prosecutors saying he shared the “ideology of Islamic State”.

He has been charged with three counts of murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm in eight cases.

The authorities said he had been arrested before and had previously applied for asylum in Germany.

Police arrested the suspected attacker early on Sunday as the manhunt threatened to enter a second day. The 26-year-old man turned himself into the authorities and said he was responsible for the stabbings, officials said.

Herbert Reul, interior minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, said: “The person we have been searching for all day has been detained a short while ago.” — The Times

Supreme Court Allows Arizona to Enforce, for Now, Law Tightening New Voter Registrations

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed Arizona, at least for now, to toughen some voting requirements, saying that people registering to vote before the coming election must show proof of citizenship.

The decision, issued in a terse, unsigned order, handed a partial victory to Republicans who supported a 2022 Arizona law imposing new restrictions on voting. But the court declined to allow Arizona to put into effect another part of that law, which could have prohibited tens of thousands of voters who are already registered from participating in the presidential election or casting any ballots by mail, unless they provided proof of citizenship.

The decision did not include any legal reasoning, which is common in such emergency applications. But there were signs that the court was divided over the issue, and that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh may have split their votes between two factions.

The order did not mention either. But it said four justices had wanted to keep the state from enforcing both measures: Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson. It named three as wanting to let the state put both provisions into effect: Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch.

The mixed decision means Arizonans newly registering to vote for the coming election will have to provide copies of one of several documents, including a birth certificate or a passport, in order to prove their citizenship. — NYT

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

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

Badlands Media will always put out our content for free, but you can support us by becoming a paid subscriber to this newsletter. Help our collective of citizen journalists take back the narrative from the MSM. We are the news now.