It is reasonable to concur where Conscience does not forbid a Compliance; for Conformity is at least a Civil Virtue. But we should only press it in Necessaries, the rest may prove a Snare and Temptation to break Society. But above all, it is a Weakness in Religion and Government, where it is carried to Things of an Indifferent Nature, since besides that it makes Way for Scruples, Liberty is always the Price of it....William Penn
BOMBSHELL: White House KNEW About the Chinese Spy Balloon and Covered It up — but Then… BY ROBERT SPENCER 10:45 AM ON FEBRUARY 04, 2023
BOMBSHELL: White House KNEW About the Chinese Spy Balloon and Covered It up — but Then… AP Photo/Alex Brandon How cowardly and compromised is the Biden regime? We have fresh evidence of just how bad it is, courtesy of the Chinese spy balloon. The world found out about the now-infamous balloon on Thursday, when a Montana resident named Chase Doak spotted it and posted a video. But that was not the first that Old Joe Biden’s handlers heard of the balloon. Now it has come to light that they knew about it all along but kept the knowledge secret so as to avoid a confrontation with the Chinese Communist Party and keep Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s now-canceled trip to Beijing on track. Patriots can thank Chase Doak for the small show of spine from the Biden State Department that the cancellation represented.
“Not gonna lie,” Doak tweeted with his video. “First, I thought this was a #ufo. Then, I thought it was @elonmusk in a Wizard of Oz cosplay scenario. But it was just a run-of-the mill Chinese spy balloon!” But Bloomberg revealed in a bombshell report Friday that “as it turns out, US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28, that had then left and re-entered over North Idaho on Tuesday.” But Blinken was slated to huddle with the ChiComs in Beijing, and Old Joe and his henchmen didn’t want to let something as trivial as what J. Michael Waller of the Center for Security Policy terms “China’s military espionage incursion into the US” get in the way of a friendly tête-à-tête in the Forbidden City.
In fact, Biden had already been informed about the spy balloon long before Chase Doak spotted it, and his handlers were holding nervous discussions about whether or not to shoot it down. Yet Blinken thundered Friday that China’s decision to launch the spy balloon was an “irresponsible act” that represented a “clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law.” He added that China’s “decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”
As it turns out, this was all an act, a bit of shameless and dishonest posturing from what must be the most dishonest administration the American people have ever had to endure. When he struck this pose of moral indignation over China’s “decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit,” Blinken actually had planned just days before to go ahead with his visit even though he knew all about the Chinese spy balloon.
Blinken also knew that the thing was likely hovering over Montana because Malmstrom Air Force Base, where a large number of the U.S.’s Minuteman intercontinental ballistic missiles are located, is there. Nonetheless, Biden’s handlers didn’t dare to do anything that might be perceived as taking a hard line on China, and Blinken’s trip was going to go on as if all were well. That is until Chase Doak entered the picture.
Bloomberg notes that “as the balloon continued to hover over the Big Sky state on Wednesday, Biden huddled with his national security team to receive a detailed briefing on the balloon. The president argued for shooting the object down, but was urged against doing so by his most senior military advisors.” The hyper-woke pair of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark A. Milley argued against doing anything about the balloon, arguing that American citizens might be put at risk by any such action as if they weren’t already being put at risk by their government’s open demonstration of cowardice and weakness. But Old Joe agreed that the wokesters had a point and decided to let the balloon go on its merry way and let Blinken head to Beijing. “For now,” Bloomberg adds laconically, “the White House opted not to inform the American public. Events, however, soon forced Biden’s hand.”
In December, before Chase Doak and the world spotted the Chinese spy balloon, Peter Schweizer of the Government Accountability Institute told Mark Levin about Hunter Biden’s strange dealings with China. Schweizer noted that in 2009, Hunter Biden set up a firm in Washington near the office of the vice president, and “two years after that, he signs a multibillion-dollar private equity deal bankrolled by the Bank of China. The executives that made that happen actually met with Vice President Biden about a year earlier. Of course, that deal was consummated when Hunter Biden flew with his father on Air Force One to China. His father had official visits. Hunter was meeting with his business partners. So Joe Biden and Hunter Biden and this corruption joined at the hip. What we have to factor in this is ultimately, in my mind, not a story about corruption but compromise. It is about national security, and it is about spying.”
It is reasonable to concur where Conscience does not forbid a Compliance; for Conformity is at least a Civil Virtue. But we should only press it in Necessaries, the rest may prove a Snare and Temptation to break Society. But above all, it is a Weakness in Religion and Government, where it is carried to Things of an Indifferent Nature, since besides that it makes Way for Scruples, Liberty is always the Price of it....William Penn
Election Wizard 🇺🇸@ElectionWiz · 2h CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY: China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and protest against the US shooting down its civil research balloon. The US is overreacting and is seriously violating international practice.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
Former President Donald Trump denied claims that Chinese balloons entered U.S. airspace on at least three occasions under his watch, stressing it "NEVER" happened.
While decrying the current balloon scandal as a "disgrace," Trump criticized his successor and postulated that Biden's allies peddled information to the media to deflect criticism over the president's handling of situation with China.
MTG SAYS TRUMP WOULD NOT HAVE LET CHINESE SPY BALLOON ENTER US, OFFICIALS SAY OTHERWISE
"The Chinese Balloon situation is a disgrace, just like the Afghanistan horror show, and everything else surrounding the grossly incompetent Biden Administration," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "They are putting out that a Balloon was put up by China during the Trump Administration, in order to take the 'heat' off the slow moving Biden fools. China had too much respect for 'TRUMP' for this to have happened, and it NEVER did. JUST FAKE DISINFORMATION!"
Military leaders have confirmed that a high-altitude suspected surveillance balloon from China entered U.S. airspace on Jan. 28 and drifted through U.S. and Canada for about a week until it was shot down off the Carolina coast on Saturday. Senior Pentagon officials allege that there were at least three occurrences under Trump and another prior one under Biden, the Associated Press reported.
What remains unknown is the extent of the four other alleged intrusions. The latest balloon floated across the continental United States, including portions of Middle America. It is unclear whether the prior alleged instances were minor infractions or breaches on the scale of the latest one.
A handful of former Trump administration officials have also denied knowledge of a similar instance of a Chinese balloon hovering through the continental U.S., including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, and Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. -- excerpt, rest at link above --
I would think someone would have noticed had this really occurred.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
One Chinese Spy Balloon Goes By "To worry, worry, super-scurry." Pedro L. Gonzalez 2 hr ago
I don’t recall when the Teutonic hit first graced my ears, but I’ve always liked “99 Luftballons” by Nena, which juxtaposes catchy synth against lyrics loaded with a rather carefree attitude toward the prospect of annihilation. Though the German and English lyrics tell slightly different stories, the song is essentially about a misunderstanding among countries that results in a nuclear holocaust. But Gabriele Susanne Kerner’s voice is so dreamy that the end of the world feels like the last dance at prom: a bit of a downer, perhaps, but you’re mostly just looking for someone to dance with.
Nena was, to some degree, prophetic. The song was released at the end of January 1983. In September 1983, the Soviet Union’s missile defense systems erroneously detected the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile, with several more missiles in tow, coming in hot from America. The world was likely spared a retaliatory attack against the U.S. and its allies by Russia that would have triggered an all-out nuclear war thanks to one man, Stanislav Petrov, an officer of the Soviet Air Defense Forces. In violation of his orders, Petrov did not immediately send the report of an imminent strike up the chain of command but instead waited for corroborating evidence. It never came, and here we are. Though most people have no idea who Petrov is today, the restraint and discernment of that Russian saved the world.
That brings us to the Chinese spy balloon. On Saturday, the U.S. shot it down after it floated from Idaho to the Carolinas over five days. Though it wasn’t the first time a Chinese balloon entered U.S. airspace, it was unique in its duration and visibility. Congressman Matt Rosendale was right to demand a briefing from the Department of Defense.
I initially had no desire to comment on the recently obliterated balloon. But I changed my mind when neoconservatives and some MAGA Republicans converged on the issue, which is never a good place to be.-- excerpt, rest at link above --
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
The Milley boys at the Pentagon have come up with a new public relations "save" for Joe Biden and his pathetic indecisiveness about a China spy balloon brazenly traversing the continental United States until it was shot down over the Atlantic yesterday.
According to the Pentagon's website, defense.gov:
The balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. Still its intrusion into American airspace over several days was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
Predictably, the left has seized on that last line and had a field day:
Get ready to hold your nose reading these next two:
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
As you'll see, the more you think about it, the more stunned you get at the sheer absurdity of the whole thing.
A small 🧵 First, the US story.
China sent a “spy balloon” over highly strategic US sites. It chose to spy on these sites with a big visible balloon (reported as being “as big as multiple school buses”), that anyone can see with the naked eye from the ground, to “demonstrate it had the... ...capability”, despite having a plethora of other more discreet ways to spy like satellites or stealth drones.
Unclear that anyone doubted China had mastered the technology of *check notes* hot air balloons and why it therefore needed to demonstrate this capability… China chose to do so on the eve of Secretary of States Blinken’s visit to China, where he was invited, and hours after signaling Blinken would also be meeting with Xi during his visit 🔽, a high-level meeting not granted to any US Secretary of States in years. Image The story therefore being that China chose to disrupt a meeting with its own president and to sabotage its own efforts at détente in the US-China conflict… The Pentagon said it had been “tracking the balloon for quite some time” and that it wasn’t the first time such an incident occurred, but this time - for unclear reasons - it chose to do a public announcement…
As a result, Blinken announced he was postponing his China trip 🤔 Now the story from the Chinese side.
To them this is a fluke accident, the balloon being “a civilian airship used for research, mainly meteorological, purposes” that “deviated far from its planned course” because of strong “Westerlies” (wind that flows west to east) and... Image ...“limited self-steering capability”, the main characteristic of a balloon being of course that it can only go up or down… A piece in WaPo seems to confirm this, quoting “experts in national security and aerospace [who] said the craft appears to share characteristics with high-altitude balloons used by developed countries around the world for weather forecasting” 🔽
(src: washingtonpost.com/world/2023/02/… ) Image The Pentagon itself said that “the payload wouldn’t offer much in the way of surveillance that China couldn’t collect through spy satellites” and that “the balloon posed no serious physical or intelligence threat”. I.e. the Pentagon themselves say it would make zero sense for China to use a balloon like this for intelligence purposes when it has satellites.
Kind of begs the question why they decided to make a big deal out of it in the first place… I'll let you decide for yourself which story makes more sense…
The sheer ridiculousness of this Nth “red scare” episode is absolutely obvious to anyone with an iota of common sense. Except, sadly, common sense seems to be in critically short supply nowadays… Also, as often, the real story is probably why this story became a story in the first place.
And the important context here is of course Blinken’s visit to China, which could - one can always dream - have been a step towards some form of de-escalation in China-US rapports. It was quite easily foreseeable that a story like this one on the eve of the trip would have made it politically very difficult for Blinken to go.
So a plausible hypothesis is that this whole episode is an attempt by internal US forces to prevent any US-China détente. One alternative hypothesis, much less likely, is that it’s internal Chinese forces trying to do the same thing by sending this big balloon.
Unlikely because:
a) China has time on its side so it gains from reduced tensions with the US and there isn’t any obvious “faction” in... ... China who believe the contrary
b) it’d be immensely risky for anyone in China to do something like this as it’d undoubtedly be seen as an act of high treason with grave consequences for themselves
c) again, balloons like this particular one basically can’t be steered so... ... to plan sending a balloon like this from China to a place over US land isn’t even doable in the first place. The last hypothesis, which I guess is also somewhat likely, is that this is a series of unfortunate events without any malice on either side.
1) Balloon deviates from course and gets in US airspace, 2) people see it and Pentagon feels it has to communicate about it... ... 3) the media, wearing their usual “China bad” hat, decide to go all-in on the scare-mongering, 4) political opposition and China hawks jump on the bandwagon, 5) administration feels it has no other choice than to cancel the trip and doesn’t have the political courage to... ... say “this is just a balloon that drifted off course”.
Well I guess in this scenario there is in fact malice on the media’s part and that of politicians and wider members of the blob but it’s “organic malice”, so to speak, jumping at a golden opportunity to scare-monger. Conclusion: however you see it, this story is absolutely shameful and a sad reflection of the insane times we live in, when rather than take the time to carefully consider facts, apply reason and common sense, we instead choose as a society to incite fear and hostility.
• • •
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
The comments on that thread are better than the original thread.
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
It is reasonable to concur where Conscience does not forbid a Compliance; for Conformity is at least a Civil Virtue. But we should only press it in Necessaries, the rest may prove a Snare and Temptation to break Society. But above all, it is a Weakness in Religion and Government, where it is carried to Things of an Indifferent Nature, since besides that it makes Way for Scruples, Liberty is always the Price of it....William Penn
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - A senior U.S. general responsible for bringing down a Chinese spy balloon said on Monday the military had not detected previous spy balloons before the one that appeared on Jan. 28 over the United States and called it an "awareness gap."
The Pentagon said over the weekend that Chinese spy balloons had briefly flown over the United States at least three times during President Donald Trump's administration and one previously under President Joe Biden.
Air Force General Glen VanHerck, head of U.S. North American Aerospace Defense Command and Northern Command, said the latest balloon was 200 feet (60 meters) tall and the payload under it weighed a couple thousand pounds.
He did not provide details on previous balloons, including where over the United States they flew.
"I will tell you that we did not detect those threats, and that's a domain awareness gap," VanHerck said. Latest Updates
VanHerck added that U.S. intelligence determined the previous flights after the fact based on "additional means of collection" of intelligence without offering further details on whether that might be cyber espionage, telephone intercepts or human sources.
Senior U.S. officials have offered to brief individuals from the previous administration on the details of previous balloons overflights when Trump was president.
Republican Representative Michael Waltz, who serves on the House of Representatives intelligence committee, said on Sunday that the Pentagon had told him that several Chinese balloon incidents had happened over the past few years, including over Florida.-- excerpt, rest at link above --
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
So, if I'm reading this right, the US Military failed to detect prior Chinese spy balloons "200 feet (60 meters) tall and the payload under...a couple thousand pounds", some perhaps during the Trump administration, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley, accused Trump of failing to address an issue that the military, under Milley, failed to recognize!
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
AND!! The same Milley who told Biden that he wouldn't shoot down the balloon - the one that was detected by regular Americans and after it had already passed through Alaska and parts of Canada? That balloon?]
"I wish it need not have happened in my time," said Frodo.
"So do I," said Gandalf, "and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
It is reasonable to concur where Conscience does not forbid a Compliance; for Conformity is at least a Civil Virtue. But we should only press it in Necessaries, the rest may prove a Snare and Temptation to break Society. But above all, it is a Weakness in Religion and Government, where it is carried to Things of an Indifferent Nature, since besides that it makes Way for Scruples, Liberty is always the Price of it....William Penn
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