Just sayin’
Tiger Beat on the Potomac (Thanks Charlie!) morning email thingie breathlessly reports that China is spying on… Montana?
TRIAL BALLOON — We have our first taste of how different conducting foreign policy will be for President JOE BIDEN now that Republicans control the House.
The Pentagon revealed Thursday afternoon that it has detected and is tracking a large Chinese spy balloon floating in the stratosphere above Montana, where it was surveilling a nuclear missile base. The balloon, which entered U.S. airspace on Tuesday, is well above the altitude at which commercial aircraft fly, and Pentagon Press Secretary Brig. Gen. PAT RYDER insisted that it “does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”
And that would normally be the end of it, right?
Defense Secretary LLOYD AUSTIN, who was traveling in the Philippines, convened top military officials. But they decided that the balloon does not pose a risk to any Americans on the ground, that it does not pose a risk to any civilian aircraft, and that it does not “pose a significantly enhanced threat on the intelligence side.”
And that would normally be the end of it, right?
On Wednesday, they strongly urged Biden “not to take kinetic action due to the risk to safety and security of people on the ground from the possible debris field.”
“We had been looking at whether there was an option yesterday over some sparsely populated areas in Montana,” a senior Defense official said. “But we just couldn’t buy down the risk enough to feel comfortable recommending shooting it down yesterday.”
And, for the third time, that would be the end of it? Not a chance when we’re dealing with Republicans who have hundred-million Ameros fighter jets that they could scramble to fight with …a balloon:
We return to normal programming:
House Speaker KEVIN McCARTHY did not go that far. “China’s brazen disregard for U.S. sovereignty is a destabilizing action that must be addressed, and President Biden cannot be silent,” he tweeted. “I am requesting a Gang of Eight briefing.”
And I demand pancakes. It is till early here.
As for the balloon, it’s still up there. “It will be over the U.S. for ‘potentially a few more days,’” a U.S. official told the WSJ. “A second official said it is moving southeast.” And Canada’s defense ministry announced late last night that they were tracking a possible second balloon.
Mock Paper Scissors 
It is the Republican hot air that is keeping it up there.
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I’m not sure it is a spy balloon. It could easily be a weather balloon that caught a strong draft (daft?). The decision not to blow out of the sky and risk injury or death on the ground, even in a sparsely populated place like Montana is probably a wise decision. Not that three names or Zinke would care…
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That is the Chinese position. China has apologized (or at least said it “regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace”).
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come on, Jake, it’s Montana. What could they learn?
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Also shooting it down give GGGYYYNNNAAA free rein to shoot down any US air assets they think are spying on them.
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Yeah, that’s true.
But I honestly don’t get the panic. Those missile silos are public knowledge, the National Park Service even has a webpage for them.
Rgds,
TG
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Republicans have a pee stain several feet wide in all their pants…
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because they’re all freaking out in Conspiracy Theories: “it’s an EMP device!!” “It’s a Bio weapon!!” “They’ve cloned Hunter Biden’s Disk and are gonna drop it all over the US!!”
Also that link above has the single creepiest photo ever:
“Look kids! We can start Worldwide Nuclear Armageddon from here! Now don’t touch that red button, Timmy!”
https://www.nps.gov/articles/images/mimi2617.jpg?maxwidth=650&autorotate=false&quality=78&format=webp
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O EFF YOU Autocorrect!!!
“They’ve cloned Hunter Biden’s Dick and are gonna drop it all over the US!!”
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I read what you meant so not sure what that says about me, but no thanks to either.
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LOL!! GMTA (in the gutter!)
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shouldn’t we just deploy the Macy’s Parade Balloon-Wrangling corps?
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I did wonder why the only two options seem to be “leave it alone” or “blow it to smithereens.” I would think there would be a way to bring it down intact (or ask China to do so). Maybe it is a weather balloon and we don’t want to bring it down. Of course, China says the balloon is “used mainly for meteorological research purposes.” Um, why is that “mainly” in there? Maybe they were spying, although the US says the balloon would give them no information that they couldn’t get from their satellites, so it’s hard to see why they would use a balloon.
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Trolling the Twitter Caucus?
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This is a job for SPAAAAAAAAAACE FOOOOOOOORCE!
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I don’t know why but that always makes me think of this:
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Maybe they don’t want to shoot it down because a slow moving spy balloon that we are well aware of gives us opportunities to set up some wonderfully misleading scenarios for it to take pictures of.
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I thought of that; I’d have to borrow something from MAD Magazine, but it’d still be fun.
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All of that cardboard ordinance that’s been sitting around since the cold war.
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I’ll call bullsh*t. No less populous state in the lower 48 except Wyoming. And if the balloon’s not near Billings or any of the other hamlets they call”cities”, the 5.5 souls per square mile drops to near zero.
They can claim it’s a spy balloon without being challenged, and let the evidence float away.
We now have to get cranking on the balloon gap as well as the mineshaft gap.
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Oh, dear gawd.
Don’t tell any of them about the Chinese satellites.
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Does no one listen to Zappa anymore? Obv, they are scouting for prime locations to grow up some dental floss….
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I am disappointed. I thought at least one of you miscreants would have linked to this classic:
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EmTG says:
“Biden should shoot down the Chinese spy balloon immediately.
President Trump would have never tolerated this.”
Yeah, right. “President” Trump would have chastised the Chinese for their spy balloon and demanded that the pay up for a front-row seat at MAL to do their spying.
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“…Canada’s defense ministry announced late last night that they were tracking a possible second balloon.”
So the first balloon appears to be a trial balloon.
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