“How Montana Took a Hard Right Turn Toward Christian Nationalism. To illustrate the state’s alleged swerve toward neo-fascist theocratic rule”
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That thing where your spouse who is cheating is suspicious that you are cheating because it’s what they are doing.
Some gym teacher just got arrested for praying and a bakery had to go to court to preserve their right to not worship Moloch. The fascism is obviously only going in the precise opposite direction. DC is 95% Democrat and 5% Bill Kristol. If you are worried about Lauren Boebert forcing you to read Proverbs it is because you are a moron who is possessed by Satan.
Christians are the enemy of the tolerant left. In Canada our media spends all their time demonizing the Catholic Church with respect to their role in the indigenous residential schools, while conveniently ignoring the positive role the church played in housing, educating and building the new country of Canada. Canadas first prime minister Sir John A MacDonald wanted the indigenous to be an equal part of the new society, and the left speak of him in the same terms as Hitler. The tolerant left are the most intolerant and dangerous threat to western society.
The Woke Left despises him. They are the true fascists. They have all the markings of left totalitarians. No to free speech, no to private gun ownership, yes to a large government by agency with no real way to fight back except thru unbelievable court costs and lawyer fees. Confiscation of private property without due process, harassment of individuals by the FBI for no other reason other than they can, usually with no follow up charges and usually for political reasons. Yep folks we are in a world of hurt.
How does the ever senile Joe Biden and his left wing minions explain this? We have always known the ever senile Joe isn't the brightest candle on the cake and he is a pathological liar.
Bill Maher was the Left’s darling when ranting against the Right and Trump, which he did / does plenty of.
By speaking out (loud & unapologetic!) against the WOKE Democrats, he’s being vilified as becoming “Right Wing” - much like Elon Musk!
If you don’t follow the Left’s narrative, and Heaven Forbid call out their ‘Fascists, racists behaviors’ then you are an enemy to be ridicule, ostracize and cancelled! (And Bari ONLY presented an article, in the NYT, which allowed a someone from the Right to be heard! Look what happened to her.)
JM, you might be interested in the 10 January podcast of Uncommon Knowledge, "Does God Exist? A Conversation with Tom Holland, Stephen Meyer, and Douglas Murrary." It had an interesting take on faith and intolerance of the Woke.
Reminds me of how the NYT and it's associated ideological propaganda outlets spent years undermining the federal government with misinformation and conspiracy theories, gave themselves awards for it, and when exposed immediately started a new propaganda campaign focused on "right wing misinformation and conspiracy theories."
Never forget that the Times embarked down the road to leftist lies with the Duranty dispatches that praised and lied about Stalin's murderous tyranny and continues to this day with the venomous, slanderous and entirely fictional 1619 Project. All done with the goal of advancing socialism and weakening its most potent enemy - the free nation we live in.
Thanks. I've despised the Times since I was a young boy resisting my teachers' admonitions that I had to cite that rag in papers I wrote. I was especially amused by their obligatory stories about some struggling minority woman in public housing nestled right next to an ad for a $5000 necklace from Bergdorf's. Just a nauseating mouthpiece for self-reverential, delusional limousine liberals.
I actually grew up with the NY Times and liked it for a long time. I came to a gradual understanding about what a leftist rag it was and then the final straw was their promotion of the "trans" agenda.
Sometimes they bury an actual fact in about the middle of a really long tedious article...
Agreed. I, too, loved The NY Times. However, last year I started to recognize that much of its content was aligned with Woke ideology, and was not balanced to include all the facts. It really disturbed me, and so after many years I ended my subscription. I don't need a newspaper to persuade me, I need the facts so I can make up my own mind.
It's much more recent than that. Starting in 2010, the Times effectively starting colluding with the Obama White House to create an entirely fake "narrative" about race in America, all to get Obama re-elected in 2012, because the middle- and working-class voters who voted for him in 2008 were starting to defect. That stream of "narrative" is the headwaters of the deluge we're drowning today, although the deep springs go back to the late 60s.
Then there's the fraudulent Russiagate. The only scandal was the fake scandal. I don't even like Trump, but the poor guy.
The NY Times is not big on conspiracy theories. I trust the Times for some of their coverage. It's what they DON'T cover that disturbs me, or hiding important stories on page 12. Also--- I know people who have worked at the Times and they have said that the news desk is getting more 'opinion-oriented'. Sliding in those words that suggest a bias.
Today's NYT headline that came across my aggregate regards "Erasing Black History" which is a left-wing conspiracy theory that is not actually happening anywhere.
I'm intelligent*, and I read The Times every day. If you want to know what Big Power is thinking, you need to read it, because Big Money, Big Government, and Big Power talk to each other through its pages. I also read the Wall Street Journal to get the view of traditional/corporate conservatism.
LOL! I read a lot of different sources, from mainstream to Substack to history, to stay aware of what the various cultural factions are saying to each other through leaks to their favored organs o' opinion and, sometimes, news. There is no single honest broker of news any more--not the Times, the Post, the Journal, not nobody--so I have to read more than one to get a sense of what's actually going on. It's a pain in the ass to separate fiction from fact.
Shane, how can you trust anything from the NYT, Wash Po or any other traditional mainstream press. They all jumped on the Hillary Clinton paid for Trump/Russia dossier and the Hunter Biden lie that his laptop was a Russian plant. Those were serious stories that could have changed the results of elections and they were both blatant lies.
Those clowns did no research. They jumped on these stories, snapped them up and passed them off as truth.
When was the last time you read a story out of the NYT that was critical of a Democrat in a power position? They ignored that Joe Biden is mentally incompetent or passed it off as "Oh, well, you know that's good ole Joe for you."
The NYT has written articles supporting the PC/Woke tyrants as have many in the mainstream press.
I am not naive. Since the beginning of our country the press has been this way but just because it has doesn't mean I like it.
BTW, I do not watch Fox News or any right wing news outlets. Except for the local weather, I do not watch any TV news outlets. But I consider myself as well informed. I am an eclectic reader, fiction, histories and biographies.
I am a conservative but I am certainly not a Republican. I consider both parties rotten to the core and like Mark Twain have a healthy dislike and distrust of all politicians.
The upshot of this rant is I consider the NYT a left wing rag sheet that gives free advertising to the Democrats by only printing stories and editorial favorable to the left and excoriating the right.
I don't find the NYT as repellent as you do, LP. That said, I keep a close eye out for fiction disguised as "journalism," and discount accordingly. Like it or not, NYT and WaPo are the only two newspapers in the country that allow corporate and governmental Power to send signals to other corporate and governmental Power, and so I find it useful to read. Have to balance it with WSJ, though, as well as many nonfiction sources I suck up like a vacuum cleaner. History in particularly teaches us that there's nothing new under the sun, only new names and excuses for screwing over the non-elites.
I read the Times (can’t believe I was paying them with “neo-Natzi “ Texas money (sarcasm),
UNTIL what happened to Bari.
I don’t agree with everything on her platform, but THIS is where I can hear both sides and be vocal without being cancelled!
I think a HUGE swath of ppl. are Left & Right of center, but not radical flame throwers! Bari has provided us a platform to come together and agree to disagree, civilly!
"I think a HUGE swath of ppl. are Left & Right of center, but not radical flame throwers!"
Perfect said, Honey. Most Americans are sensible. We want to enjoy our lives and contribute to the commons as much as work and other needs allow. But the bomb-throwers of right and left are "exciting," so they suck up all the media and political attention. What's "fun" for them is toxic for the rest of us.
I am a moderate and don't want inflammatory rhetoric from any new source. That's why I never watched Fox and turned off CNN years ago. Let's face it, they are a business and want to bring in revenues-- so they pander to their base.
You are right. Intelligent people don't read this rag, only the left does. By looking at what the only loon on the left posts here, you can see what I am saying.
I've read The NY Times since I was a teenager. There are many sections that do provide valuable insights or information. However, I just dropped my subscription because I was getting more annoyed by the editorials and op-eds. I like John McWhorter (most sensible and intelligent) but others were just saying the same ol' same ol'.
Unquestionably, you have posted a most excellent comment. So Kudos and thanks. Democrats complaining about neo or oldo fascism is the very definition of hypocrisy.
Religion offers a (in most cases) decent playbook on how to live your life not like an asshole--to be a good person. Most people however, like yourself I presume, believe they are better than those who decide not to partake from the punch bowl. Isn’t that kind of thinking and behavior, in and of itself, fascist?
Moral principles existed before the rise of religions. The genius of religion was to codify those pre-existing principles into easy-to-understand guides for How Not to Be a Dick. (A variant of your splendid of "live you life not like an asshole," kudos.) The Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, He's Not Heavy He's My Brother, all are religious shorthand to living a moral life.
Religious principles and guidelines are important and good. But the institutions that implemented them--primarily the Church in Western culture--were firebreathing zealots in using the cross as a sword to murder those who got in the way. Same with Judaism and Islam--they conquered, murdered, and seized land and power in the name of God. Fortunately, Christianity and Judaism have transformed themselves into institutions that do far more good than harm. Islam has yet to soften, but in time, I hope, will do so.
I drink from the moral principles punchbowl codified by Judaism, which I adopted in college after my Lutheran childhood. The best example of religions codifying pre-existing moral principles is the Golden Rule, which people assume is Christian but, like the Ten Commandments, originated among the Jewish people. The concept is best explained by a story about Hillel the Elder, the profoundly influential rabbi of 1st Century Jerusalem:
A Gentile came to Hillel and said, "I will convert to Judaism if you can teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot." Hillel nodded, lifted his own foot, and said: "That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; now go and learn."[
Proverbs is a pretty good book. Lots of Solomon-approved zingers -- stuff his advisors brought him, keeping what he liked and tossing out the rest. And he threw in some of his own pithy thoughts here and there. Of course, I might just be a Tool of Satan (R).
I have issues wrapping my head around this whole balloon story. China probably has countless satellites monitoring large parts of US, that can probably provide images of same quality as this alleged balloon and from safety of space, and no hassle to get discovered by some "random" observers in Montana.
Thus I find it very strange, that this balloon has occupied so much national media attention, especially in week where Project Veritas, has published alleged Pfizer executive who discussed experiments the company is running on the virus and the vaccine’s effect on women’s reproductive health.
It might just be coincidence, but if last decade or so thought me anything is to not believe in coincidences.
“I find it very strange, that this balloon has occupied so much national media attention”.
I don’t think it was the bag of gas floating across the country so much as concern that the dawdling gas bag hiding in the White House couldn’t figure out what to do about it
What I don't understand is why we expended a $400,000.00 missile to bring this thing down. Couldn't someone walk out on the wing of a jet and shoot it with a 45? You know puncture it and have it gently fall to Earth.
I have debated about telling you I was joking about the wing walking just to see who would castigate me for saying it. Most of the regulars would know that I was joking but there are others who would get their bowels in an uproar and say nasty things about me. And you all know how sensitive I am. It would devastate me.
On a related note, we should sever all ties with China, maybe keep a low level diplomatic station in Bejing but nothing more. Embargo any goods made in China and bring those jobs back to the US.
They make 80%to 85% of our drugs, like insulin, blood pressure meds. How crazy is that. Two thigs here:
1. We don't know what their quality control measures are or if they have any at all
2. What if China cuts off our medical drug supply. Do you know how many 100s of thousands or maybe millions of people will die because they depend on these drugs to survive?
If nothing else we should cut off economic and diplomatic ties, except for a small station in Bejing, on moral grounds. China is not only the most brutally oppressive state in the world, it is hell bent on world domination. I would love to hear the big socialist corporations like Nike, Apple and Disney howl if we broke ties. These companies rale against the US as being an oppressive country yet they love the brutal CCP.
Politicians are not known for having a backbone or doing the morally right thing but we need to find some who will.
Remember a few years back when Chinese manufactured pet food was poisoning dogs and cats? Apparently, most of, if not all, of our pet food is manufactured in China.
The scandal was so great that the Chinese took the guy who ran the pet food manufacturing out and shot him in the back of the head.
What's to say they don't stop shipping meds but start adding a subtle poison to them?
Fair point. I just checked the published specs for F-22 on Wikipedia, and it has a service ceiling of 65000 feet, plus a 20mm cannon. No idea why they couldn’t switch to guns here.
Thanks for the clarification I was thinking of Capt Kirk on the Twilight Zone episode where he saw the monster out his window on the wing or was it just a man, oh same thing.
I was wondering the same thing. Why couldn't it have been punctured and allowed to land so that we could have analyzed what it was actually doing vs. blowing it into tiny pieces.
👍🏻👍🏻Like I said LP I’m not wasting my bucks sitting it out till the end of my sub. Last few articles after the Ken Burns have been better and Walter always good though
That was exactly my question--which no one seems to be able to answer, or at least want to answer.
If people saw that it was a shiny balloon, it had to be low enough to look like a shiny balloon. I wonder how anyone knew that it was Chinese. Was/is there writing on it? How low would it have to be so you can read it? Probably a lot lower than 60k feet. Maybe lower than 30k?
This balloon was supposed to be about 90 feet in diameter - much bigger than a weather balloon. You could see that at altitude pretty easily if the sun was on it. My guess is they knew this was Chinese because they've been tracking it from the time it left China. Supposedly, it was maneuvered into loitering over some areas, which would mean it was under remote control, probably being commanded from a satellite and not hard to tell which one.
Edit a day later: my wife just showed me a new picture of it that is incredibly high resolution - clear Chinese ideograms painted on the side. Actually, I probably can't tell the difference between the various Asian ideograms, but I'm assuming others can.
The problem with that is it could provoke them to cut off all shipments of flat screen monitors,hard drives, phones and computers in general. Almost all of which are manufactured by them now. Just how long do you think our extended defense system will function when this stuff starts to fail and can't be repaired or replaced? We've let ourselves become dependent on them. They sold us the rope we will hang from if we step off that chair.
Western knowhow and capital can solve supply chain issues. In the interim the used equipment market will satisfy. Any manufacturer not adding a China-plus-One strategy to its supply base is risking its future. As far as disk drives Western Digital produces 100,000 per day in Thailand. Our extended defense system is probably bloated with largely under utilized IT equipment anyway. And if a shortage were to develop there is probably plenty of equipment in the Fed's Department of Education that could be redeployed for constructive purposes.
I think you are overly optimistic about the time frames involved. Maybe. But maybe not - or only under the kinds of conditions that set up Pfizer for life with the GOVT to get vaccines out at "warp speed". New overlords more than happy to oblige.
Yes, let the Chinese spy on the defenses of the entire country, no big deal...not a "major threat," no not at all...after all, we have great men of integrity like
Have you ever flown over Montana or the Dakotas in an airplane? The chances of it actually landing on someone three is about as great as the odds of it landing on a boat in the ocean.
He said in a press conference the other day, "They wouldn't let me..." about something - don't remember what. It was an obvious off the cuff comment that revealed a hell of a lot about how our current presidency is operating.
His first instinct was to wait until it reached Ukraine and then shoot it down. “We’ve got tons of shit over there to do the job.” he remarked to the JCOS in the strategy room, adding “There’s all kind of debris falling over there. What the hell is a little spy balloon gonna matter for Christ’s sake?” But much like the balloon his idea was shot down.
A fair point. The propaganda value of having the first black gender-queer lesbian trans-woman shoot a spy balloon out of the sky would have been immense within the twitter base.
According to Bloomberg, Timothy, there were three incursions of Chinese surveillance balloons during the Trump Administration (if, of course, you believe Bloomberg). Former officials and Trump (apparently) say they were never told these balloons were spy craft at the time. Now that alone could be as bad as the 'gasbag' who dawdled as the balloon floated on. The President not knowing what these things were? (Maybe it was better that way..)
If you believe former Trump Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Lee, neither he nor then President Trump were informed of any Chinese balloon incursions over the US mainland. If they did indeed occur, some might call their failure to do so a treasonous breach by our intelligence community. Something akin to General Mark Milley calling his Chinese “counterpart” to undermine Trump at the end of his presidency.
Since I don’t recall any news reports of Wyoming cattle ranchers spotting an unidentified orb floating over their cows, I’m inclined to believe it didn’t happen. What I do believe is that our gasbag in chief is using “anonymous” deep state sources and their obedient media lackeys to disseminate agitprop in a feeble attempt to deflect from his incompetence.
In another post I mention I believe the military is playing us. They could have shot the balloon down in Alaska, the Canadians could have done the same in their airspace (they are our NORAD partners) - but no one did. And why would that be? Could it be the balloon is valuable to us? Could it be that we think what the Chinese are using to spy on us is more important to us to understand than what the Chinese are listening to? So, just let them do it. After all, this happened during Trump and again now.
If it wasn't for the attendant publicity, I think everybody from the CIA on down would have been quite content monitoring Chinese equipment monitoring us..
"If it wasn't for the attendant publicity, I think everybody from the CIA on down would have been quite content monitoring Chinese equipment monitoring us.."
It is extremely suspicious and worrisome since, as a citizen of this country I expect the federal government, funded by my tax money, to bring down/force to land immediately any aircraft violating our sovereignty. The dubious explanations about why the balloon (or two?) was allowed to float freely over the country are unsettling and impotent.
I agree. I find it hard to believe that the Chinese needed a balloon to take photos. They gotta have spy satellites that are more than good enough unless what they were measuring was not related to photo data.
But, I would have shot it down well before they did simply for the threat it was to air safety.
He's not "alleged." Jordan Tristan Walker is, or was, the Director of Research and Development - Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning at Pfizer. Are you claiming otherwise?
Signals intelligence. We (US) equip thousands of aircraft to perform that function. Additionally testing playload capacities in a delivery system that can be difficult to detect and now they KNOW we won’t shoot it down for fear of <name current fear here >. There are no longer any intelligent courageous people in any area of our Government.
I would guess that the value in a balloon is the ability (a) to loiter (satellites are generally not geo-synchronous) and (b) gather communications (e.g., radio) intelligence that is more accessible at lower altitudes
In that case they would have sent it over a more populous area. But saying that shooting it down over Montana would have endangered people on the ground is nonsense--every time a satellite falls everyone is told not to worry about the debris
Using excuses like that just seemed insulting. But typical lack of transparency these days. With a well functioning defense system it would have been just another sidenote on page 6 : "interceptors were scrambled in Alaska to shoot down a suspicious surveillance balloon entering American airspace this afternoon. The remains are being examined." Yawn.
Exactly right, given that satellites can read newspapers from space, what is the real story behind this Chinese balloon? I'm not sure we're getting the truth here. What if this balloon were spraying the latest lab-made Covid virus over our country? Or some other bio weapon? Call me paranoid, but something here isn't passing the smell test.
If anything the balloon was collecting signals intelligence. Considering we fly aircraft along other nation's border to do the same thing, it makes sense. There have been several incidents where collisions happened or even aircraft that were shot down.
Um, yes? It makes no sense that China would send such a visible "spy" balloon when they can see what they need to from satellites. Right? I thought satellites could see everything. What am I missing?
Love this article, but probably for a different reason than most. I love it because of how it subtly acknowledges how I and many feel--Outnumbered, ignored yet disdained by the self-centered, self-serving, so-important “elites” of the coasts and their infamous newspapers that never got the memo that we see them for the naked ‘emperors’ they are. If I were ever to subscribe, it would be to use ‘em to wash my windows. Alas, a bucket of water and vinegar and a squeegee do a faster, better job and don’t mark up my trim.
The US has a national security problem originating at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. the current administration would seem to be diametrically opposed to it. Especially when the actions (or lack thereof) could just as easily have been taken by the administration in Beijing.
The balloon should have been shot down when it entered our airspace over the Aleutians, before it completed its spying mission for imagery and for mapping US electronic surveillance and electronic warfare signals. And let there be no doubt about adversaries using such incursions as a test of US resolve. Will we defend our interests when we will not even defend our territory? It seems more likely that our leadership will don aviator glasses and pretense.
The timing of the downing of the invasion device also made me wonder if our illustrious leader (illustrious in his own mind, anyway) sought permission from Beijing before acting. Or maybe he's just petrified that our adversaries (foreign and domestic) might be offended if we place America's interests first. Hard to tell, but I'd say judge actions, and pretty much ignore the words coming out of DC.
Walter, I wouldn't pay attention to anything the NY Times says—A propaganda rag Andrew Klavan calls "a former newspaper".
I think our military is playing all of us, Michael. Especially after finding out spy balloon pass overs apparently happened under the last Administration as well (if you believe sources..). We don't shoot it down over American airspace over Alaska. The Canadians, our NORAD partners, don't shoot it down when it is over theirs. Why not? They knew about it for days.
That tells me that, if this had not been made public, they would have been quite happy letting the damn thing float over us - a gift, as it were, to monitor them and learn their intelligence methods as they monitor us..
The Liberals hate and ridicule anyone and anything they don’t a. Understand and b. The courage to be. So naturally they would hate people who live in an absolutely beautiful state and have the desire to shun and ignore the Liberal freaks that cry they are superior. Great to be proud of who you are and know if times get hard, you will eat and NY and the Liberals will eat each other.
Why am I not surprised that Le Pew in Cana da’ would not say anything. Add in slower Joe and Kackles you have the three stooges. Now the Liberals start the “what’s the big deal “ show. Yet a phone call to Ukrainian officials by Trump is a world class crime.
Again the newspaper shot at Christian’s in reference to Montana. Would they say the same about Muslims or Jews? Hell no. Why? Liberals are inherently nothing but Cowards who have no self respect and need to degrade others to feel better about their pathetic selves.
In our airspace, blast the crap out of it. Or get higher and bomb it by dropping Liberals on it.
They can be very much the same. But this is not a conversation about MAGA from anyone but you. Do you see it everywhere? If so, have you considered what that implies?
100% of people hold “views that are socially progressive and promote social welfare”.
Democrats just want to try making progress via totalitarianism, because they are psychopathic morons, and this obviously won’t work.
When you are a dipshit megalomaniac you think the path to human flourishing is everyone doing what you want because the government is enforcing it.
This is how you know Democrats are fundamentally evil people. Because they think
“I’m such a good person because I want other people to be comfortable.”
When that is really the lowest possible bar for being a good person because everyone wants that. Only fringe sadistic psychopaths *don’t* want that. Imagine how rotted out your soul has to be to think
“I’m good cuz I want things to be good.”
That’s like giving yourself the Nobel Peace Prize because you didn’t push anyone in front of a bus.
And then, in addition to being fundamentally immoral, you know that Democrats are stupid because their plan to improve lives is totalitarianism.
I am pretty sure Kevin is much more attuned than your childish Trump bad, conservative bad, anything else that you disagree with most likely falls in the same sad story line. Maybe CNN or MSN is more along your limited thoughts. As for protecting the Constitution you are just joking I assume. The same folks calling for eliminating Amendments they don’t like? Or stacking the courts? Typical, if I say it, it must be true no matter the evidence to prove it is false.
What are progressives then? They certainly don't respect behavior or opinions that differ from their own. They don't protect individual rights, such as freedom of speech or religion. The only thing they like about free enterprise is getting free stuff from other people, like free college tuition. I can accept your definition of "liberalism", but liberals are strangely silent lately, muted by their progressive cousins.
Maybe liberalism once upon a time could claim those virtues too, but they were always and still are conservative values, and today one can only smack one’s head to hear anyone of the left claiming they hold those values today in the face of opposing actions starkly belying them. (NB: I did not mention political parties.)
I hear you. The values I speak of long predate the entities you name or events you refer to. Thankfully, no rewriting of word definitions by political parties, whose actions speak far louder than words, nor their propaganda can change those values.
Oh please. English is a "borrowing" language. It incorporates new words and revises meanings daily. Your lauded Webster's and Merriam's merely catalogue the changes of the recent past.
Joe Biden leveraged $1 billion in aid to persuade Ukraine to oust its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in March 2016. He bragged about it. Your partisanship is painfully glaring. They’re all corrupt.
I had to wipe the term "liberal" from my resume since, alas, every liberal I knew was herded into one large fantical anti-Trump herd. Because I would not follow the "herd", I was cast out into the darkness and now claim no party afflication. I prefer to operate without labels and think for myself. It is what is called 'Growing up" and leaving the name calling behind i.c.
"what can you expect from a Trump apologist" i do wonder about your supervisor's advice to "give good phone" - who but some ultra macho man would give such advice to an employee. I hope you succeeded but didn't try to impress any of your dates with your credentials.
The important thing to remember, RT, is how open-mined, thoughtful and loving MAGA is. It is a community that shuns echo-chambers and false narratives. They MUST be treated with the same respect that they afford others.
What is wrong with you? People - even stupid, ignorant people have the right to make fools of themselves. What you may not do America is use the government to "roast others." The Red Guards and Brownshirts were paramilitary arms of the government. Just like the FBI and CIA are trying to be.
Oh, I get to enjoy a second serving from Mr Kirn this week! Subscribe to Taibbi’s substack and you will get to hear him and Kirn do a podcast, America This Week, on Fridays. Hilarious, brilliant discussion. They went over the 26,000 word Columbia Journalism Review document that took down the media, detail by detail, for its Russiagate lies. And how a guy from Mother Jones tried to poo-poo it off.
On the balloon--just another opportunity to humiliate America, with idiot Joe standing around with his thumb up his a--. I can imagine the commies in Beijing holding their sides, laughing.
Agreed. And recently Taibbi and Kirn covered the story of the Times’ disingenuous corruption of the actual state of Montana in more detail. This article is just a sampler. Kirn is a gifted talker. He’s ironic, precise and surprising. It makes sense that he’s a novelist and screenwriter. I don’t work for Taibbi and I have no incentive other than the desire to share one of the most delicious aspects of my weekly Substack diet.
I love Taibbi and I'm glad he's covering the twitter files and Russiagate, but at this point, I can't even see the word Russiagate without rolling my eyes and tuning out.
Laughed my head off at the Taibi/Kirn offering this week. I encourage Walter to get started on a script for the movie All the President’s Mice. I’d love to see a collaboration on that between Matt and Walter, a cartoon version would be brilliant.
I am now in warm sunny Mexico, but being born and bred in the hills of the Berkshires, there are many times I still miss those dark cold mornings . Before I give in completely to nostalgia, I have to r emind myself that those were the days when I was very young.when dark and cold was not a big issue. Now that i have gone by my alloted four score and ten, I have had to succumb to the horrors of living in the constant sun and warmth.
Is there anything that the NYT likes that is not in lock step (goose step) with the views it peddles and pushes every day (and requires strict conformity). Maybe all those Times readers who use terms like Christian or White Nationalism on a daily basis shoukd stay away from those beautiful red states and their ski slopes and beaches they flock to every winter (and summer). Guys like Walter who have wised up (Walter was an early bird) have chosen and will increasingly be choosing to live in parts of America that are free and safe, and still care about a word like "honor," something that is in very short supply these days
On the contrary, my neighborhood in rural Montana has been flooded with big money from the West Coast and the first thing they did was cheat their way into power over the neighborhood association, change the bylaws to keep themselves in power, and hire lawyers with the association money to threaten anyone who called them out. They also broke all the rules they enforce on others, forced other people to share the payments for all the extra water their illegal lawns use, and failed every neighborhood project they were supposed to complete.
It's an ongoing fight and all their communications are done with fake smiles and nonsense about the good of the community. They're genuine sociopaths and they're taking power over Montana.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that people who virtue signal their desire for equity would support one set of rules for themselves and another for the locals.
Be further shocked that the environmentally sensitive Californians would move into a natural area, put up illegal fencing, fill their new property with non native illegal grass, and then suck up huge amounts of fresh water to keep their lawns looking perfect.
And then they forced the people who actually follow the association rules to pay for it.
Incidentally, the neighborhood is perfect hunting ground for hawks, eagles and owls, and the huge lawns take away that critical habitat.
They did it to Phoenix, too. New England lawns have no place in the Sonoran Desert, yet they are everywhere now (along with golf courses, citrus trees, swimming pools, and other wasteful uses of increasingly scarce water.
Anthony- And that is precisely what happened to California. They took it over in exactly the same crooked way and made it unloveable for rational, honest people. Sounds like they're leaving in droves so they don't have to take the consequences of their irrationalities. If they're all moving there, maybe that means I can move back to my beloved home state and try to pick up the pieces. Really sorry they're infesting your state.
1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: ...” It’s often shortened (as you have done) which leads to misunderstanding the point being made.
And the statement intentionally does not say that loving money is evil.
It just says that loving money is where evil comes from.
Liberation Marxists try to bastardize this verse by saying that wanting to keep your own money, when the government is working to seize it, is evil. And this is obviously false.
Communists know the Bible best because they are possessed by Satan.
The politics now associated with California originated with the immigration of New York movie makers to LA in the first part of the twentieth century. It's not native to there.
I would argue today's politics in California and in fact much of the country started or was fueled by Berkeley in the early 60s that led to Haight Ashbury a few tears later and then moved down the coast to Hollywood and Vine . From there our culture moved downward and outward to other large cities and college campuses throughout which in turn led to the indoctrination that is everywhere today. Just my opinion having lived through those times. The Reagan years stemed the tide for awhile but the tsunami really went mainstream during the George W Bush administration when the press went all in as it never had been before.
I think if you look at who all those Berkeley and SF activists and opinion leaders were you'll find the vast majority were imports. I cant think of any who werent. I grew up there then.
My theory has always been that a certain subset of crazies have this impulse to keep going west until they run into the ocean and can't go any further.
Somebody wants a war. Is it Xi or is it the defense industrial complex or both?
Fighting over trade is one thing, this crap with the South China Sea and Taiwan is another.
Why is it that the only period where we did not get into another war, even a proxy war, was when Trump was in office? We have been involved in one military adventure that costs billions, if not trillions of dollars going back to Bill Clinton and the ONLY time we did not find a new fight to get involved in was when Trump was in the White House.
Indeed, they appear to either (a) really want a hot war with Russia, or (b) believe their own "end of history" BS and can "manage" the escalatory spiral.
Oh, they did that in 2008 as well. They were all anti-war when Bush was POTUS, but as soon as Obama was POTUS, they were all in favor of bombing and droning.
As we edge closer to 2024 it looks like we won’t go unscathed regarding another full blown war with troops on the ground. Biden to weak and to corrupt to stop it
Hunanity to some, hilarity to others. I would prefer to see some humility practiced by those in charge, the ones we were assured would be bringing good judgment back to DC.
Face it, we have a senile, corrupt imbecile as president who let the Chi Com balloon traverse our entire nation before he shot it down. Was it stupidity, fecklessness or the bundles of Chi Com cash he took that were laundered through the accounts of his addicted, perverted son? Where's there's smoke.....
And if you think that Biden's only beholden to the gangsters in Beijing, please read the following statement below by Taylor Force's parents that demonstrates Biden's support for the real terrorists in the world. And, no, not the white "supremacist terrorists" of his fevered, lying dementia, but real murdering terrorists. Your "tax dollars at work." This abomination needs to be removed like the cancer he is.
Statement from Stuart and Robbi Force:
“My wife and I continue to be very upset about the murderous actions by Palestinian terrorists in Israel, with the most recent victims being the death of seven innocent people and five injured as they were leaving synagogue this past Friday night in Jerusalem, followed by the attempted murder of a father and son by a 13-year-old Palestinian terrorist the next morning. The Taylor Force Act, named after our son, was passed by Congress and signed by President Trump to stop this Pay to Slay. Yet the Biden Administration has resumed payments to the PA notwithstanding its Pay to Slay program. Until the maiming and murder of innocents stops, there will be no hope for peace. And, until the Biden Administration stops facilitating Palestinian terrorism, the PA has no reason to stop its reprehensible behavior. For the sake of the thousands horrifically impacted now and in the future, Robbi and I call upon President Biden to stop sending fungible taxpayer dollars to the PA that will end up funding terrorism,” said Stuart Force.
Yes I wish more people were paying attention. Biden's corrupt cabal is supporting actual terrorism while fantasizing and lying about extremism and terrorism in our own country.
It makes me sick, Biden says he supports Israel, that there is no daylight between the US and Israel, then does stupid shit like this (funding the PA), reengaging with Iran on JCPOA and sending Blinkin to meet with Abbas. So frustrating. And my Jewish Democrat friends just ignore it.
This is the kind of writing that illustrates why Walter stands out as a writer and the kind of prose that made him famous. The best piece (by far) that I have read about this curious balloon.
Thanks Walter. I’m from a small cowtown on the eastern Colodado plains. My Great, Great Grandfather homesteaded in Ft Collins. I grew up near Bent’s Old Fort. Much of our complicated history is misunderstood. I can relate to your words. I spent 24 years, nine months and 29 days in the US Army, almost half of that time overseas.
There are very bad people in this world waiting for an opportunity to take our great nation away from us.
Two elements of the balloon I’ve seen little coverage on is that a balloon that low, allowed free flight, can gather a variety of data not possible from satellites.
More importantly, it is an ideal platform for an EMP attack.
And here is a question I asked elsewhere: what if China hit us with an EMP from a balloon like this, then launched a nuclear strike, and Joe Biden refused to authorize a counter-strike? Mutual Assured Destruction requires a rational and honest President. What if he is not honest, and his rationality depends on a purchased loyalty to China?
That then becomes a single and exploitable point of failure, doesn’t it?
We are decadent and stupid. That is obvious. But the sheer scale of this stupidity and naivete continues to astonish me.
What if this is a micronuke—1 gram of fissionable material—designed to test the response of our power grid? Our defense are being probed openly and the balloon crossed our entire nation before it was shot down, presumably after completing its mission.
What if it WAS Chinese paper used to create fake ballots, and Chinese hackers accessing on-line Dominion servers? That continues to seem likely to me.
This publication may now be The Free Press but Walter Kirn expresses the common sense most Americans possess. No reasonable person believes Joe Biden, Lloyd Austin and Anthony Blinken telling us we needed to allow the Chinese to complete their spy mission before destroying their balloon. Most of us rightly believe this invading craft should have been shot down as soon as it came over the sparsely inhabited Aleutian Islands, long before it reached Montana. But we and our sons haven't made millions from deals with the Chinese, so I guess we don't have the right frame of mind.
More stupidity from RT. China is a nation that created, loosed and lied about Covid. They spy on and oppress their own citizens. They are the only nation to run ethnic concentration camps.
As between malign and benign motives, most normal people would lean to the former for these communist ghouls
Pretty clear that the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab and that it was spread either negligently or deliberately across the globe and that the Chi Coms lied about it and tried to cover it up. Why did they silence their brave docs who tried to warn the world? Innocent people do not act that way. So China's actions do arguably add up to a violation of the convention on bio weapons.
A bio weapon that targets the aged and infirm might be exactly what those who run a country of 1.5 billion people with an aging population would consider using. I think it’s a mistake to assume China would not release a bio weapon on their own population because they care about the people over whom they rule.
Must likely purpose in flying a balloon higher than aircraft can get at, provocatively, is to see exactly what capability we do have to take it out. Answer: not much.
“How Montana Took a Hard Right Turn Toward Christian Nationalism. To illustrate the state’s alleged swerve toward neo-fascist theocratic rule”
————————————————-
That thing where your spouse who is cheating is suspicious that you are cheating because it’s what they are doing.
Some gym teacher just got arrested for praying and a bakery had to go to court to preserve their right to not worship Moloch. The fascism is obviously only going in the precise opposite direction. DC is 95% Democrat and 5% Bill Kristol. If you are worried about Lauren Boebert forcing you to read Proverbs it is because you are a moron who is possessed by Satan.
Christians are the enemy of the tolerant left. In Canada our media spends all their time demonizing the Catholic Church with respect to their role in the indigenous residential schools, while conveniently ignoring the positive role the church played in housing, educating and building the new country of Canada. Canadas first prime minister Sir John A MacDonald wanted the indigenous to be an equal part of the new society, and the left speak of him in the same terms as Hitler. The tolerant left are the most intolerant and dangerous threat to western society.
Watch this and see how intolerant the left is:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11713225/Bill-Maher-compares-woke-movement-Red-Guard-revolutionaries-China-communist-Soviet-Union.html
How do the left wing loons respond to Maher?
They don't. I think the real lefties mostly abandoned him.
The Woke Left despises him. They are the true fascists. They have all the markings of left totalitarians. No to free speech, no to private gun ownership, yes to a large government by agency with no real way to fight back except thru unbelievable court costs and lawyer fees. Confiscation of private property without due process, harassment of individuals by the FBI for no other reason other than they can, usually with no follow up charges and usually for political reasons. Yep folks we are in a world of hurt.
A very descriptive post of current America.
Police have taken 68 billion from citizens via civil forfeiture (taking money without a conviction)
Trump loved it. Here's Trump saying he'll destroy the career of a state senator who opposed civil forfeiture without a conviction.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_Sja5NWAnQ
How does the ever senile Joe Biden and his left wing minions explain this? We have always known the ever senile Joe isn't the brightest candle on the cake and he is a pathological liar.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/biden-s-but-trump-deceptive-balloon-defense-deflates/ar-AA17ba2i?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=cdcab522491b4031b494fd0b0fbf9379
This admin and the Dems/Socs aren't trustworthy.
Quietly they applaud him but don't dare let on to their friends.
Bill Maher was the Left’s darling when ranting against the Right and Trump, which he did / does plenty of.
By speaking out (loud & unapologetic!) against the WOKE Democrats, he’s being vilified as becoming “Right Wing” - much like Elon Musk!
If you don’t follow the Left’s narrative, and Heaven Forbid call out their ‘Fascists, racists behaviors’ then you are an enemy to be ridicule, ostracize and cancelled! (And Bari ONLY presented an article, in the NYT, which allowed a someone from the Right to be heard! Look what happened to her.)
Well....nothing happened to her.
Lol. Yes, the "Great Leap Forward" and Twitter are very similar.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2010/09/the-taming-and-domestication-of-religious-faith-is-one-of-the-unceasing-chores-of-civilization.html
Thought provoking.
JM, you might be interested in the 10 January podcast of Uncommon Knowledge, "Does God Exist? A Conversation with Tom Holland, Stephen Meyer, and Douglas Murrary." It had an interesting take on faith and intolerance of the Woke.
Reminds me of how the NYT and it's associated ideological propaganda outlets spent years undermining the federal government with misinformation and conspiracy theories, gave themselves awards for it, and when exposed immediately started a new propaganda campaign focused on "right wing misinformation and conspiracy theories."
They know exactly what they're doing.
Never forget that the Times embarked down the road to leftist lies with the Duranty dispatches that praised and lied about Stalin's murderous tyranny and continues to this day with the venomous, slanderous and entirely fictional 1619 Project. All done with the goal of advancing socialism and weakening its most potent enemy - the free nation we live in.
A hugely important fact, your post needs to be highlighted in red, in 16 point typeface.
Thanks. I've despised the Times since I was a young boy resisting my teachers' admonitions that I had to cite that rag in papers I wrote. I was especially amused by their obligatory stories about some struggling minority woman in public housing nestled right next to an ad for a $5000 necklace from Bergdorf's. Just a nauseating mouthpiece for self-reverential, delusional limousine liberals.
I actually grew up with the NY Times and liked it for a long time. I came to a gradual understanding about what a leftist rag it was and then the final straw was their promotion of the "trans" agenda.
Sometimes they bury an actual fact in about the middle of a really long tedious article...
Agreed. I, too, loved The NY Times. However, last year I started to recognize that much of its content was aligned with Woke ideology, and was not balanced to include all the facts. It really disturbed me, and so after many years I ended my subscription. I don't need a newspaper to persuade me, I need the facts so I can make up my own mind.
Bruce! True clarity. Thank you.
It's much more recent than that. Starting in 2010, the Times effectively starting colluding with the Obama White House to create an entirely fake "narrative" about race in America, all to get Obama re-elected in 2012, because the middle- and working-class voters who voted for him in 2008 were starting to defect. That stream of "narrative" is the headwaters of the deluge we're drowning today, although the deep springs go back to the late 60s.
Then there's the fraudulent Russiagate. The only scandal was the fake scandal. I don't even like Trump, but the poor guy.
Agree!
Read The Gray Lady Winked. Covers nearly 100 years of NYT perfidy starting with the Duranty business.
Can you list 3 conspiracy theories the NYT promoted? (I'm not talking about mistakes where they printed retractions, but actual conspiracy theories)
Hmmm...
Russiagate
Insurrection
Misinformation leading to massive covid death tolls
Trump as a threat to democracy
All the ills of the world caused by Trump and, before him, W, and before him, his dad
Notion that the scientific community is foursquare behind the climate change hypothesis
Want more?
1. Russia got Trump elected
2. The American Revolution was fought to preserve slavery
3. The COVID infection in the USA was the result of Trump disbanding Obama's White House pandemic team
That's three, but I can go on.
We all can. I wonder why he asked….
I don't.
Wow, do you really believe these things?
I listed false theories the NYT pushed.
Guess I should have clarified that, because too many "conspiracy theories" turn out to be completely true.
Ahhh ok. I misunderstood.
I think he's saying that he considers them bogus, not real.
Don't forget the WMDs-in-Iraq Hoax...don't recall them apologizing for that in any meaningful way. As if apologizing would make it OK.
The NY Times is not big on conspiracy theories. I trust the Times for some of their coverage. It's what they DON'T cover that disturbs me, or hiding important stories on page 12. Also--- I know people who have worked at the Times and they have said that the news desk is getting more 'opinion-oriented'. Sliding in those words that suggest a bias.
Today's NYT headline that came across my aggregate regards "Erasing Black History" which is a left-wing conspiracy theory that is not actually happening anywhere.
I'm intelligent*, and I read The Times every day. If you want to know what Big Power is thinking, you need to read it, because Big Money, Big Government, and Big Power talk to each other through its pages. I also read the Wall Street Journal to get the view of traditional/corporate conservatism.
*Well. So I like to think, anyway.
This reminds me of my process where I read suicide notes in order to determine how involved Hillary Clinton was.
LOL! I read a lot of different sources, from mainstream to Substack to history, to stay aware of what the various cultural factions are saying to each other through leaks to their favored organs o' opinion and, sometimes, news. There is no single honest broker of news any more--not the Times, the Post, the Journal, not nobody--so I have to read more than one to get a sense of what's actually going on. It's a pain in the ass to separate fiction from fact.
Sad, but ha!
Shane, how can you trust anything from the NYT, Wash Po or any other traditional mainstream press. They all jumped on the Hillary Clinton paid for Trump/Russia dossier and the Hunter Biden lie that his laptop was a Russian plant. Those were serious stories that could have changed the results of elections and they were both blatant lies.
Those clowns did no research. They jumped on these stories, snapped them up and passed them off as truth.
When was the last time you read a story out of the NYT that was critical of a Democrat in a power position? They ignored that Joe Biden is mentally incompetent or passed it off as "Oh, well, you know that's good ole Joe for you."
The NYT has written articles supporting the PC/Woke tyrants as have many in the mainstream press.
I am not naive. Since the beginning of our country the press has been this way but just because it has doesn't mean I like it.
BTW, I do not watch Fox News or any right wing news outlets. Except for the local weather, I do not watch any TV news outlets. But I consider myself as well informed. I am an eclectic reader, fiction, histories and biographies.
I am a conservative but I am certainly not a Republican. I consider both parties rotten to the core and like Mark Twain have a healthy dislike and distrust of all politicians.
The upshot of this rant is I consider the NYT a left wing rag sheet that gives free advertising to the Democrats by only printing stories and editorial favorable to the left and excoriating the right.
I don't find the NYT as repellent as you do, LP. That said, I keep a close eye out for fiction disguised as "journalism," and discount accordingly. Like it or not, NYT and WaPo are the only two newspapers in the country that allow corporate and governmental Power to send signals to other corporate and governmental Power, and so I find it useful to read. Have to balance it with WSJ, though, as well as many nonfiction sources I suck up like a vacuum cleaner. History in particularly teaches us that there's nothing new under the sun, only new names and excuses for screwing over the non-elites.
Mark Twain said, "If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed. If you do read the newspaper you are misinformed."
No truer words were spoken.
Agreed. It's important to see what all sides are saying.
And, NYT checking in with Chuck Shummer BEFORE printing any article. Bari addressed this, if memory serves me correctly.
SCHUMER!
I read the Times (can’t believe I was paying them with “neo-Natzi “ Texas money (sarcasm),
UNTIL what happened to Bari.
I don’t agree with everything on her platform, but THIS is where I can hear both sides and be vocal without being cancelled!
I think a HUGE swath of ppl. are Left & Right of center, but not radical flame throwers! Bari has provided us a platform to come together and agree to disagree, civilly!
Thank you, again, Bari!
"I think a HUGE swath of ppl. are Left & Right of center, but not radical flame throwers!"
Perfect said, Honey. Most Americans are sensible. We want to enjoy our lives and contribute to the commons as much as work and other needs allow. But the bomb-throwers of right and left are "exciting," so they suck up all the media and political attention. What's "fun" for them is toxic for the rest of us.
I am a moderate and don't want inflammatory rhetoric from any new source. That's why I never watched Fox and turned off CNN years ago. Let's face it, they are a business and want to bring in revenues-- so they pander to their base.
Well said.
Honey, I too am an evil fascist Texan, graduated from Texas A&M.
"Evil wears a cowboy hat, and his name is Lonesome!" :-)
University of North Texas, SMU Law School.
Know thine enemy.
Beat me to it with that comment. I don’t subscribe to NYT, but I keep up with leftist ideology so I understand what we are up against.
You are right. Intelligent people don't read this rag, only the left does. By looking at what the only loon on the left posts here, you can see what I am saying.
You're right. I hadn't thought about Walter.
If you are in analytics you read / scan ab entire media spectrum, from far right to far left, your emotions aside.
That’s what my political science professor taught me back in Russia in 1990s..
The local US phDs didn’t mention that tho. 🥸
I hate it when they link to the NYT. cannot read without a subscription
You have to read it to understand what the enemies of the country are saying. To understand what direction they are spinning.
It’s why I watch the CBC National every day here in canada, to avoid the echo chamber
I've read The NY Times since I was a teenager. There are many sections that do provide valuable insights or information. However, I just dropped my subscription because I was getting more annoyed by the editorials and op-eds. I like John McWhorter (most sensible and intelligent) but others were just saying the same ol' same ol'.
Kevin Durant?
Unquestionably, you have posted a most excellent comment. So Kudos and thanks. Democrats complaining about neo or oldo fascism is the very definition of hypocrisy.
E&OE.
It’s Iron Law of Woke Projection.
James knows.
Religion offers a (in most cases) decent playbook on how to live your life not like an asshole--to be a good person. Most people however, like yourself I presume, believe they are better than those who decide not to partake from the punch bowl. Isn’t that kind of thinking and behavior, in and of itself, fascist?
Moral principles existed before the rise of religions. The genius of religion was to codify those pre-existing principles into easy-to-understand guides for How Not to Be a Dick. (A variant of your splendid of "live you life not like an asshole," kudos.) The Ten Commandments, the Golden Rule, He's Not Heavy He's My Brother, all are religious shorthand to living a moral life.
Religious principles and guidelines are important and good. But the institutions that implemented them--primarily the Church in Western culture--were firebreathing zealots in using the cross as a sword to murder those who got in the way. Same with Judaism and Islam--they conquered, murdered, and seized land and power in the name of God. Fortunately, Christianity and Judaism have transformed themselves into institutions that do far more good than harm. Islam has yet to soften, but in time, I hope, will do so.
I drink from the moral principles punchbowl codified by Judaism, which I adopted in college after my Lutheran childhood. The best example of religions codifying pre-existing moral principles is the Golden Rule, which people assume is Christian but, like the Ten Commandments, originated among the Jewish people. The concept is best explained by a story about Hillel the Elder, the profoundly influential rabbi of 1st Century Jerusalem:
A Gentile came to Hillel and said, "I will convert to Judaism if you can teach me the entire Torah while I stand on one foot." Hillel nodded, lifted his own foot, and said: "That which is hateful to you, do not do unto your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is commentary; now go and learn."[
Religion was only invented because Democrats kept saying things like
*artificially high voice
“Why can’t I wear women’s underwear and read books to children at the public library while I have an erection??”
It’s important to distinguish between thought and action. Every publication of the NYT is an action.
You are on to something here
Proverbs is a pretty good book. Lots of Solomon-approved zingers -- stuff his advisors brought him, keeping what he liked and tossing out the rest. And he threw in some of his own pithy thoughts here and there. Of course, I might just be a Tool of Satan (R).
I have issues wrapping my head around this whole balloon story. China probably has countless satellites monitoring large parts of US, that can probably provide images of same quality as this alleged balloon and from safety of space, and no hassle to get discovered by some "random" observers in Montana.
Thus I find it very strange, that this balloon has occupied so much national media attention, especially in week where Project Veritas, has published alleged Pfizer executive who discussed experiments the company is running on the virus and the vaccine’s effect on women’s reproductive health.
It might just be coincidence, but if last decade or so thought me anything is to not believe in coincidences.
“I find it very strange, that this balloon has occupied so much national media attention”.
I don’t think it was the bag of gas floating across the country so much as concern that the dawdling gas bag hiding in the White House couldn’t figure out what to do about it
Reading between the lines, it appears POTUS approved shooting it down on Wednesday but the military dragged its feet over safety concerns.
This is actually more alarming than an indecisive Biden.
What I don't understand is why we expended a $400,000.00 missile to bring this thing down. Couldn't someone walk out on the wing of a jet and shoot it with a 45? You know puncture it and have it gently fall to Earth.
I have debated about telling you I was joking about the wing walking just to see who would castigate me for saying it. Most of the regulars would know that I was joking but there are others who would get their bowels in an uproar and say nasty things about me. And you all know how sensitive I am. It would devastate me.
On a related note, we should sever all ties with China, maybe keep a low level diplomatic station in Bejing but nothing more. Embargo any goods made in China and bring those jobs back to the US.
They make 80%to 85% of our drugs, like insulin, blood pressure meds. How crazy is that. Two thigs here:
1. We don't know what their quality control measures are or if they have any at all
2. What if China cuts off our medical drug supply. Do you know how many 100s of thousands or maybe millions of people will die because they depend on these drugs to survive?
If nothing else we should cut off economic and diplomatic ties, except for a small station in Bejing, on moral grounds. China is not only the most brutally oppressive state in the world, it is hell bent on world domination. I would love to hear the big socialist corporations like Nike, Apple and Disney howl if we broke ties. These companies rale against the US as being an oppressive country yet they love the brutal CCP.
Politicians are not known for having a backbone or doing the morally right thing but we need to find some who will.
Fortunately I do not take prescribed meds so cannot address that, but the pet food is, IMO, poison.
Remember a few years back when Chinese manufactured pet food was poisoning dogs and cats? Apparently, most of, if not all, of our pet food is manufactured in China.
The scandal was so great that the Chinese took the guy who ran the pet food manufacturing out and shot him in the back of the head.
What's to say they don't stop shipping meds but start adding a subtle poison to them?
Fair point. I just checked the published specs for F-22 on Wikipedia, and it has a service ceiling of 65000 feet, plus a 20mm cannon. No idea why they couldn’t switch to guns here.
Thanks for the clarification I was thinking of Capt Kirk on the Twilight Zone episode where he saw the monster out his window on the wing or was it just a man, oh same thing.
I saw that episode.
I saw it when it first aired...lol
I thought that was a Twilight Zone episode.
It was but after that episode he was promoted to a star fleet captain in the documentary Star Trek.
I was wondering the same thing. Why couldn't it have been punctured and allowed to land so that we could have analyzed what it was actually doing vs. blowing it into tiny pieces.
🤣🤣🤣
BTW, Skinny, I'm glad you didn't leave.
👍🏻👍🏻Like I said LP I’m not wasting my bucks sitting it out till the end of my sub. Last few articles after the Ken Burns have been better and Walter always good though
What altitude was it at? Weather balloons go considerably higher than regular aircraft can fly. They may not have had a lot of choice in what to use.
Like those on the left, I don't let reality get in my way.
Depends on which news report you watched. Or maybe it went up and down. But as best I can glean 30,000 to 60,000 feet.
That was exactly my question--which no one seems to be able to answer, or at least want to answer.
If people saw that it was a shiny balloon, it had to be low enough to look like a shiny balloon. I wonder how anyone knew that it was Chinese. Was/is there writing on it? How low would it have to be so you can read it? Probably a lot lower than 60k feet. Maybe lower than 30k?
This balloon was supposed to be about 90 feet in diameter - much bigger than a weather balloon. You could see that at altitude pretty easily if the sun was on it. My guess is they knew this was Chinese because they've been tracking it from the time it left China. Supposedly, it was maneuvered into loitering over some areas, which would mean it was under remote control, probably being commanded from a satellite and not hard to tell which one.
Edit a day later: my wife just showed me a new picture of it that is incredibly high resolution - clear Chinese ideograms painted on the side. Actually, I probably can't tell the difference between the various Asian ideograms, but I'm assuming others can.
Not at 60000 feet lol.
My question is Why did it leave Alaska?
It was too cold?
The image of the drag admiral clutching his pearls popped into my mind when I read that.
And we're not supposed to laugh.....
Perhaps Gen. Mi Li could not get a clear line to get the ok from his Chinese counterpart.
Or maybe he was too engrossed in his CRT training to bother
I thought it was Mealy the mouse
China owns 1 trillion in US Treasuries. How about we zero out $100 million for their ballon stunt?
And then the remaining $900 billion as a down payment for the Covid damage.
A real government would do that. The Biden cabal is not a real government.
Biden won’t even acknowledge that Covid came out of China
Because that would be racist and cause a massive outbreak of hate crimes against asians of course.
The problem with that is it could provoke them to cut off all shipments of flat screen monitors,hard drives, phones and computers in general. Almost all of which are manufactured by them now. Just how long do you think our extended defense system will function when this stuff starts to fail and can't be repaired or replaced? We've let ourselves become dependent on them. They sold us the rope we will hang from if we step off that chair.
Western knowhow and capital can solve supply chain issues. In the interim the used equipment market will satisfy. Any manufacturer not adding a China-plus-One strategy to its supply base is risking its future. As far as disk drives Western Digital produces 100,000 per day in Thailand. Our extended defense system is probably bloated with largely under utilized IT equipment anyway. And if a shortage were to develop there is probably plenty of equipment in the Fed's Department of Education that could be redeployed for constructive purposes.
I think you are overly optimistic about the time frames involved. Maybe. But maybe not - or only under the kinds of conditions that set up Pfizer for life with the GOVT to get vaccines out at "warp speed". New overlords more than happy to oblige.
Let's slow down on shoot it down immediately! There is hardware attached to the balloon and it could have landed on someone\somewhere.
Of course, Montana is a big state but why play that lottery? Just in case, wait till it's over the ocean.
Also, the USA military has counter measures in place and maybe, they were willing to see what the balloon was monitoring. It was not a major threat.
That said - excellent article on just how clueless the NYT is on Montana.
Journalism to advance a narrative is an oxymoron.
If only there were such concerns about the Chinese fentanyl flooding the border. Or the China virus. There I said it.
Good points, Lynne, although my term of choice is "Chinese Communist Party Virus," or the Commie Virus for short...
Point taken.
Or it contained particles of another virus.
Yes, let the Chinese spy on the defenses of the entire country, no big deal...not a "major threat," no not at all...after all, we have great men of integrity like
Gen Mi-Li protecting us...
Have you ever flown over Montana or the Dakotas in an airplane? The chances of it actually landing on someone three is about as great as the odds of it landing on a boat in the ocean.
The air space was closed and the boat traffic was probably warned.
Lol. Ahh.. Thanks for clearing that up. :)
That "we didn't want to risk the life of anyone on the ground" story is almost certainly a lie.
A politician lying? I'm stunned.
Agreed-who’s running this show?
The inmates are running the show.
No way. If the President says shoot it down, then they shoot it down. If they didn't want to then he would have to ok not doing it.
He said in a press conference the other day, "They wouldn't let me..." about something - don't remember what. It was an obvious off the cuff comment that revealed a hell of a lot about how our current presidency is operating.
His first instinct was to wait until it reached Ukraine and then shoot it down. “We’ve got tons of shit over there to do the job.” he remarked to the JCOS in the strategy room, adding “There’s all kind of debris falling over there. What the hell is a little spy balloon gonna matter for Christ’s sake?” But much like the balloon his idea was shot down.
Going out on a limb here, but perhaps it took a while to find a pilot with the proper woke credentials to do the job?
A fair point. The propaganda value of having the first black gender-queer lesbian trans-woman shoot a spy balloon out of the sky would have been immense within the twitter base.
Yip it would have been immense. Probably the 8th wonder!
🤣🤣🤣
He does what he’s told.
He can't figure out what planet he's on.
That’s the truth
According to Bloomberg, Timothy, there were three incursions of Chinese surveillance balloons during the Trump Administration (if, of course, you believe Bloomberg). Former officials and Trump (apparently) say they were never told these balloons were spy craft at the time. Now that alone could be as bad as the 'gasbag' who dawdled as the balloon floated on. The President not knowing what these things were? (Maybe it was better that way..)
If you believe former Trump Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, Lee, neither he nor then President Trump were informed of any Chinese balloon incursions over the US mainland. If they did indeed occur, some might call their failure to do so a treasonous breach by our intelligence community. Something akin to General Mark Milley calling his Chinese “counterpart” to undermine Trump at the end of his presidency.
Since I don’t recall any news reports of Wyoming cattle ranchers spotting an unidentified orb floating over their cows, I’m inclined to believe it didn’t happen. What I do believe is that our gasbag in chief is using “anonymous” deep state sources and their obedient media lackeys to disseminate agitprop in a feeble attempt to deflect from his incompetence.
In another post I mention I believe the military is playing us. They could have shot the balloon down in Alaska, the Canadians could have done the same in their airspace (they are our NORAD partners) - but no one did. And why would that be? Could it be the balloon is valuable to us? Could it be that we think what the Chinese are using to spy on us is more important to us to understand than what the Chinese are listening to? So, just let them do it. After all, this happened during Trump and again now.
If it wasn't for the attendant publicity, I think everybody from the CIA on down would have been quite content monitoring Chinese equipment monitoring us..
"If it wasn't for the attendant publicity, I think everybody from the CIA on down would have been quite content monitoring Chinese equipment monitoring us.."
Yep.
My thoughts all along have been “kabuki theater”. From what are we being distracted?
With Democrats nowadays we have to worry more about them doing ‘Bukkake Theatre’ in public libraries and then claiming it is fascist to stop them.
It is extremely suspicious and worrisome since, as a citizen of this country I expect the federal government, funded by my tax money, to bring down/force to land immediately any aircraft violating our sovereignty. The dubious explanations about why the balloon (or two?) was allowed to float freely over the country are unsettling and impotent.
I agree. I find it hard to believe that the Chinese needed a balloon to take photos. They gotta have spy satellites that are more than good enough unless what they were measuring was not related to photo data.
But, I would have shot it down well before they did simply for the threat it was to air safety.
He's not "alleged." Jordan Tristan Walker is, or was, the Director of Research and Development - Strategic Operations and mRNA Scientific Planning at Pfizer. Are you claiming otherwise?
Yes, totally agree. A balloon for surveillance? Is this 1923 or 2023? This story doesn’t smell right.
Signals intelligence. We (US) equip thousands of aircraft to perform that function. Additionally testing playload capacities in a delivery system that can be difficult to detect and now they KNOW we won’t shoot it down for fear of <name current fear here >. There are no longer any intelligent courageous people in any area of our Government.
I would guess that the value in a balloon is the ability (a) to loiter (satellites are generally not geo-synchronous) and (b) gather communications (e.g., radio) intelligence that is more accessible at lower altitudes
Or deliver a payload.
In that case they would have sent it over a more populous area. But saying that shooting it down over Montana would have endangered people on the ground is nonsense--every time a satellite falls everyone is told not to worry about the debris
Using excuses like that just seemed insulting. But typical lack of transparency these days. With a well functioning defense system it would have been just another sidenote on page 6 : "interceptors were scrambled in Alaska to shoot down a suspicious surveillance balloon entering American airspace this afternoon. The remains are being examined." Yawn.
Yeah, clearly not the objective in this case, but maybe next time.
It depends if the payload is intended to impact crops and livestock or not.
Good point. Montana would be a nice place to quietly infect cattle.
All you need to do for that is send infected people off on commercial airplanes.
Something to ponder. My husband had similar doubts.
A distraction from what they don’t want you to see.
Alleged?
Brandon didn’t want Blinken to meet Xi Ji Ping.
Exactly right, given that satellites can read newspapers from space, what is the real story behind this Chinese balloon? I'm not sure we're getting the truth here. What if this balloon were spraying the latest lab-made Covid virus over our country? Or some other bio weapon? Call me paranoid, but something here isn't passing the smell test.
If anything the balloon was collecting signals intelligence. Considering we fly aircraft along other nation's border to do the same thing, it makes sense. There have been several incidents where collisions happened or even aircraft that were shot down.
"Satellites can read newspapers from space" is a given now? Says who?
Everyone
So they can't. Got it.
From what I read, the quality of images from the balloon would be far, far higher than those from a satellite.
How quickly we forget…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balloon_boy_hoax?wprov=sfti1
Thanks for info I do remember I didn’t know Jared Polis pardoned them
Um, yes? It makes no sense that China would send such a visible "spy" balloon when they can see what they need to from satellites. Right? I thought satellites could see everything. What am I missing?
Optics. There’s a practical limit to resolution, which today translates as distance from the subject, all else being equal.
You’ll get 10x better resolution at 10 nm (60,000 feet) compared to 100 nm.
Love this article, but probably for a different reason than most. I love it because of how it subtly acknowledges how I and many feel--Outnumbered, ignored yet disdained by the self-centered, self-serving, so-important “elites” of the coasts and their infamous newspapers that never got the memo that we see them for the naked ‘emperors’ they are. If I were ever to subscribe, it would be to use ‘em to wash my windows. Alas, a bucket of water and vinegar and a squeegee do a faster, better job and don’t mark up my trim.
Best to ignore the coastal elites and their propaganda.
Jealousy isn’t attractive.
Narcissists routinely confuse disdain with jealousy.
Excellent reply.
One of the better descriptions of Trump I've heard in a long time..
The US has a national security problem originating at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. the current administration would seem to be diametrically opposed to it. Especially when the actions (or lack thereof) could just as easily have been taken by the administration in Beijing.
The balloon should have been shot down when it entered our airspace over the Aleutians, before it completed its spying mission for imagery and for mapping US electronic surveillance and electronic warfare signals. And let there be no doubt about adversaries using such incursions as a test of US resolve. Will we defend our interests when we will not even defend our territory? It seems more likely that our leadership will don aviator glasses and pretense.
The timing of the downing of the invasion device also made me wonder if our illustrious leader (illustrious in his own mind, anyway) sought permission from Beijing before acting. Or maybe he's just petrified that our adversaries (foreign and domestic) might be offended if we place America's interests first. Hard to tell, but I'd say judge actions, and pretty much ignore the words coming out of DC.
Walter, I wouldn't pay attention to anything the NY Times says—A propaganda rag Andrew Klavan calls "a former newspaper".
Treason doth never prosper,
What's the reason,
If treason doth prosper
None dare call it treason.
But that means treason frequently does prosper and it’s just not being articulated out of fear….
😂😂
It certainly prospered the Big Guy. Couple of beach homes and a vintage 'vette for a grifter who never made more than a senator's salary.
“She can’t be pregnant we had sex in my Corvette!!”
Ashley?
😂😂
None Dare Call It Treason Paperback – June 1, 1964
I read it when it first came out.
Resonated with me.
I think our military is playing all of us, Michael. Especially after finding out spy balloon pass overs apparently happened under the last Administration as well (if you believe sources..). We don't shoot it down over American airspace over Alaska. The Canadians, our NORAD partners, don't shoot it down when it is over theirs. Why not? They knew about it for days.
That tells me that, if this had not been made public, they would have been quite happy letting the damn thing float over us - a gift, as it were, to monitor them and learn their intelligence methods as they monitor us..
The Liberals hate and ridicule anyone and anything they don’t a. Understand and b. The courage to be. So naturally they would hate people who live in an absolutely beautiful state and have the desire to shun and ignore the Liberal freaks that cry they are superior. Great to be proud of who you are and know if times get hard, you will eat and NY and the Liberals will eat each other.
Why am I not surprised that Le Pew in Cana da’ would not say anything. Add in slower Joe and Kackles you have the three stooges. Now the Liberals start the “what’s the big deal “ show. Yet a phone call to Ukrainian officials by Trump is a world class crime.
Again the newspaper shot at Christian’s in reference to Montana. Would they say the same about Muslims or Jews? Hell no. Why? Liberals are inherently nothing but Cowards who have no self respect and need to degrade others to feel better about their pathetic selves.
In our airspace, blast the crap out of it. Or get higher and bomb it by dropping Liberals on it.
Slow Joe and Cackles!
You have just insulted Pépé le Pew.
J’adore Pepe Le Pew!
"The Liberals hate and ridicule anyone and anything they don’t a. Understand and b. The courage to be."
- What I love best about MAGA is that they are the exact opposite of this.
They can be very much the same. But this is not a conversation about MAGA from anyone but you. Do you see it everywhere? If so, have you considered what that implies?
👎
😂😂
You got 32 likes for a thumbs down symbol? Maybe I should try that..
A liberal is someone who wants the central government to dictate every aspect of society from the top down.
We need to clarify operating definitions.
In declining order of ability to hold an intelligent conversation
Liberal/Democrat/Progressive/Leftist/SJW
Webster changed the definition of a term DURING a confirmation hearing to smear Amy Coney Barrett.
I can’t emphasize enough how they made the change literally during the hearing.
Yeah, Webster, right
https://www.outkick.com/merriam-webster-dictionary-redefines-female-to-satisfy-transgender-activists/
Man, Webster, did a complete Pg. 1 rewrite.
100% of people hold “views that are socially progressive and promote social welfare”.
Democrats just want to try making progress via totalitarianism, because they are psychopathic morons, and this obviously won’t work.
When you are a dipshit megalomaniac you think the path to human flourishing is everyone doing what you want because the government is enforcing it.
This is how you know Democrats are fundamentally evil people. Because they think
“I’m such a good person because I want other people to be comfortable.”
When that is really the lowest possible bar for being a good person because everyone wants that. Only fringe sadistic psychopaths *don’t* want that. Imagine how rotted out your soul has to be to think
“I’m good cuz I want things to be good.”
That’s like giving yourself the Nobel Peace Prize because you didn’t push anyone in front of a bus.
And then, in addition to being fundamentally immoral, you know that Democrats are stupid because their plan to improve lives is totalitarianism.
So they are evil AND stupid.
An apt description
"100% of people hold “views that are socially progressive and promote social welfare”."
Really? How did we get this?
Wait………are you one of the dumb ones? LMAO I was giving you too much credit.
I am pretty sure Kevin is much more attuned than your childish Trump bad, conservative bad, anything else that you disagree with most likely falls in the same sad story line. Maybe CNN or MSN is more along your limited thoughts. As for protecting the Constitution you are just joking I assume. The same folks calling for eliminating Amendments they don’t like? Or stacking the courts? Typical, if I say it, it must be true no matter the evidence to prove it is false.
Oh okay so you’re rubber and I’m glue? Good comeback.
Take the blinders off. It is there if you have the courage to see it.
Best example of MAGA, still to this day.
https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/424263-trump-supporter-complains-shutdown-is-not-hurting-the-people-he/
What are progressives then? They certainly don't respect behavior or opinions that differ from their own. They don't protect individual rights, such as freedom of speech or religion. The only thing they like about free enterprise is getting free stuff from other people, like free college tuition. I can accept your definition of "liberalism", but liberals are strangely silent lately, muted by their progressive cousins.
It has been a helluva lot longer than 15 minutes. More like a century at least. One thing I will give Progressives they have played the long game.
“Oh it’s only the fringe we are moderate centrists.”
Maybe liberalism once upon a time could claim those virtues too, but they were always and still are conservative values, and today one can only smack one’s head to hear anyone of the left claiming they hold those values today in the face of opposing actions starkly belying them. (NB: I did not mention political parties.)
I hear you. The values I speak of long predate the entities you name or events you refer to. Thankfully, no rewriting of word definitions by political parties, whose actions speak far louder than words, nor their propaganda can change those values.
Oh please. English is a "borrowing" language. It incorporates new words and revises meanings daily. Your lauded Webster's and Merriam's merely catalogue the changes of the recent past.
Joe Biden leveraged $1 billion in aid to persuade Ukraine to oust its top prosecutor, Viktor Shokin, in March 2016. He bragged about it. Your partisanship is painfully glaring. They’re all corrupt.
I had to wipe the term "liberal" from my resume since, alas, every liberal I knew was herded into one large fantical anti-Trump herd. Because I would not follow the "herd", I was cast out into the darkness and now claim no party afflication. I prefer to operate without labels and think for myself. It is what is called 'Growing up" and leaving the name calling behind i.c.
"what can you expect from a Trump apologist" i do wonder about your supervisor's advice to "give good phone" - who but some ultra macho man would give such advice to an employee. I hope you succeeded but didn't try to impress any of your dates with your credentials.
Kudos. If more people engaged in independent thought we could get this nation back on track.
Well, at least we know now that RT had a storied career in "phone sales." Explains a lot. About the robocalls we get and the comments he lobs in.
I double dog dare you to say that in English.
That's better.
You are a one note band, Trump, Trump, Trump. You are as bad and in the same boat as that idiot comprof.
Liberalism was founded on the principles of free speech. There are no liberals in the PC/Woke left.
The next time you post, try coming up with something new besides Trump. But I doubt you have the intellect to do so.
No. I have been discussing Covid today and the Chinese Spy Balloon, so you are a liar.
Trump, Trump, Trump!! I rest my case.
The important thing to remember, RT, is how open-mined, thoughtful and loving MAGA is. It is a community that shuns echo-chambers and false narratives. They MUST be treated with the same respect that they afford others.
👎👎
You forgot to add "....and shit," KD, cause that's what makes things funnier.
‘echo-chamber’ ‘nationalist’ ‘Christian’ ‘extremist’ ‘white’
- Ok. Are you just blurting out your safety words now?
Ah a budding bromance; giving new meaning to "the enemy of my enemy is my friend."
How touching. United in self-love and delusion.
Delusion about what exactly? That people roasting others on Twitter is not the same as the Chinese Red Guard?
What is wrong with you? People - even stupid, ignorant people have the right to make fools of themselves. What you may not do America is use the government to "roast others." The Red Guards and Brownshirts were paramilitary arms of the government. Just like the FBI and CIA are trying to be.
Good one.
I feel your pain, RT.
So saith a sheeple.
MAGA is all about love, respect and kindness. You have a problem with that?
Oh, I get to enjoy a second serving from Mr Kirn this week! Subscribe to Taibbi’s substack and you will get to hear him and Kirn do a podcast, America This Week, on Fridays. Hilarious, brilliant discussion. They went over the 26,000 word Columbia Journalism Review document that took down the media, detail by detail, for its Russiagate lies. And how a guy from Mother Jones tried to poo-poo it off.
On the balloon--just another opportunity to humiliate America, with idiot Joe standing around with his thumb up his a--. I can imagine the commies in Beijing holding their sides, laughing.
Taibbi is really doing some heavy lifting with his reporting.
Agreed. And recently Taibbi and Kirn covered the story of the Times’ disingenuous corruption of the actual state of Montana in more detail. This article is just a sampler. Kirn is a gifted talker. He’s ironic, precise and surprising. It makes sense that he’s a novelist and screenwriter. I don’t work for Taibbi and I have no incentive other than the desire to share one of the most delicious aspects of my weekly Substack diet.
Substack is the BEST!
Agree, I have listened to Taibbi & Kirn in the past and should listen more.
It’s a great podcast.
Most recent #24 is really funny. Walter imitates a mouse.
https://www.racket.news/p/atw-episode-24-all-the-presidents#details
Thank you 🤣😂🤣😂.
Yes, David Corn was clueless in that MJ article.
The CJR is serious, and the series is thoughtful --by Jeff Gerth, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist. Here are the 4 articles:
*Gerth Jeff. (2023). "INTRODUCTION: ‘I REALIZED EARLY ON I HAD TWO JOBS’" The Press Versus the President, part one. Columbia Journalism Review.
*Gerth Jeff. (2023). " THE ORIGINS OF FAKE NEWS" The Press Versus the President, part two. Columbia Journalism Review.
*Gerth Jeff. (2023).
A CONTESTED PULITZER. The Press Versus the President, part three.
*Columbia Journalism Review.
*Gerth Jeff. (2023).
HELSINKI AND THE $3,000 RUSSIAN DISINFORMATION CAMPAIGN The Press Versus the President, part four. Columbia Journalism Review.
https://www.cjr.org/
I love Taibbi and I'm glad he's covering the twitter files and Russiagate, but at this point, I can't even see the word Russiagate without rolling my eyes and tuning out.
Laughed my head off at the Taibi/Kirn offering this week. I encourage Walter to get started on a script for the movie All the President’s Mice. I’d love to see a collaboration on that between Matt and Walter, a cartoon version would be brilliant.
Is this the first time a spy balloon has flown over the U.S.?
Walter Kirn writes beautiful sentences. Such a pleasure to read on this dark, cold morning in Massachusetts.
I am now in warm sunny Mexico, but being born and bred in the hills of the Berkshires, there are many times I still miss those dark cold mornings . Before I give in completely to nostalgia, I have to r emind myself that those were the days when I was very young.when dark and cold was not a big issue. Now that i have gone by my alloted four score and ten, I have had to succumb to the horrors of living in the constant sun and warmth.
He speaks just as well.
Is there anything that the NYT likes that is not in lock step (goose step) with the views it peddles and pushes every day (and requires strict conformity). Maybe all those Times readers who use terms like Christian or White Nationalism on a daily basis shoukd stay away from those beautiful red states and their ski slopes and beaches they flock to every winter (and summer). Guys like Walter who have wised up (Walter was an early bird) have chosen and will increasingly be choosing to live in parts of America that are free and safe, and still care about a word like "honor," something that is in very short supply these days
On the contrary, my neighborhood in rural Montana has been flooded with big money from the West Coast and the first thing they did was cheat their way into power over the neighborhood association, change the bylaws to keep themselves in power, and hire lawyers with the association money to threaten anyone who called them out. They also broke all the rules they enforce on others, forced other people to share the payments for all the extra water their illegal lawns use, and failed every neighborhood project they were supposed to complete.
It's an ongoing fight and all their communications are done with fake smiles and nonsense about the good of the community. They're genuine sociopaths and they're taking power over Montana.
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that people who virtue signal their desire for equity would support one set of rules for themselves and another for the locals.
Be further shocked that the environmentally sensitive Californians would move into a natural area, put up illegal fencing, fill their new property with non native illegal grass, and then suck up huge amounts of fresh water to keep their lawns looking perfect.
And then they forced the people who actually follow the association rules to pay for it.
Incidentally, the neighborhood is perfect hunting ground for hawks, eagles and owls, and the huge lawns take away that critical habitat.
Ugh. Is there no place safe from their depredations?
They did it to Phoenix, too. New England lawns have no place in the Sonoran Desert, yet they are everywhere now (along with golf courses, citrus trees, swimming pools, and other wasteful uses of increasingly scarce water.
I’m not shocked or surprised you should have not let these sensitive Californians in tell them to GO BACK!
They said in one association meeting, "let's not talk about where people came from"
Anthony- And that is precisely what happened to California. They took it over in exactly the same crooked way and made it unloveable for rational, honest people. Sounds like they're leaving in droves so they don't have to take the consequences of their irrationalities. If they're all moving there, maybe that means I can move back to my beloved home state and try to pick up the pieces. Really sorry they're infesting your state.
It sounds to me like they are moving out of Cali because they can no longer water their lawns there.
So money IS the root of all evil.
1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil: ...” It’s often shortened (as you have done) which leads to misunderstanding the point being made.
Omg. You are so right. And I knew that!! Thanks for correction.
As Paul Lind famously said on Hollywood Squares, “ if money’s the root of all evil, that’s one evil I’m rooting for!”
And the statement intentionally does not say that loving money is evil.
It just says that loving money is where evil comes from.
Liberation Marxists try to bastardize this verse by saying that wanting to keep your own money, when the government is working to seize it, is evil. And this is obviously false.
Communists know the Bible best because they are possessed by Satan.
No. The scripture quote reads, “the LOVE of money...”
Areas of Texas too.
The same thing happened in Aspen in the 1970s.
Too bad California won't live by the Vegas rule: what happens in California stays in California
🤣🤣🤣
The politics now associated with California originated with the immigration of New York movie makers to LA in the first part of the twentieth century. It's not native to there.
I would argue today's politics in California and in fact much of the country started or was fueled by Berkeley in the early 60s that led to Haight Ashbury a few tears later and then moved down the coast to Hollywood and Vine . From there our culture moved downward and outward to other large cities and college campuses throughout which in turn led to the indoctrination that is everywhere today. Just my opinion having lived through those times. The Reagan years stemed the tide for awhile but the tsunami really went mainstream during the George W Bush administration when the press went all in as it never had been before.
I think if you look at who all those Berkeley and SF activists and opinion leaders were you'll find the vast majority were imports. I cant think of any who werent. I grew up there then.
My theory has always been that a certain subset of crazies have this impulse to keep going west until they run into the ocean and can't go any further.
Texas too especially around Austin.
Somebody wants a war. Is it Xi or is it the defense industrial complex or both?
Fighting over trade is one thing, this crap with the South China Sea and Taiwan is another.
Why is it that the only period where we did not get into another war, even a proxy war, was when Trump was in office? We have been involved in one military adventure that costs billions, if not trillions of dollars going back to Bill Clinton and the ONLY time we did not find a new fight to get involved in was when Trump was in the White House.
And so within four years, every Democrat I know flipped from anti-war to pro-war.
Indeed, they appear to either (a) really want a hot war with Russia, or (b) believe their own "end of history" BS and can "manage" the escalatory spiral.
I wish they were as smart as they think they are. Truly.
Oh, they did that in 2008 as well. They were all anti-war when Bush was POTUS, but as soon as Obama was POTUS, they were all in favor of bombing and droning.
As we edge closer to 2024 it looks like we won’t go unscathed regarding another full blown war with troops on the ground. Biden to weak and to corrupt to stop it
When they shot it down did anyone scream
“Oh the Hunanity!!”
See, because Hunan is a province……never mind.
Hunanity to some, hilarity to others. I would prefer to see some humility practiced by those in charge, the ones we were assured would be bringing good judgment back to DC.
Those people would not recognize good judge.ent if it bit them.
The child exclaimed to his grandmother
“But it’s so high, nan”
I’ll show myself out.
Face it, we have a senile, corrupt imbecile as president who let the Chi Com balloon traverse our entire nation before he shot it down. Was it stupidity, fecklessness or the bundles of Chi Com cash he took that were laundered through the accounts of his addicted, perverted son? Where's there's smoke.....
And if you think that Biden's only beholden to the gangsters in Beijing, please read the following statement below by Taylor Force's parents that demonstrates Biden's support for the real terrorists in the world. And, no, not the white "supremacist terrorists" of his fevered, lying dementia, but real murdering terrorists. Your "tax dollars at work." This abomination needs to be removed like the cancer he is.
Statement from Stuart and Robbi Force:
“My wife and I continue to be very upset about the murderous actions by Palestinian terrorists in Israel, with the most recent victims being the death of seven innocent people and five injured as they were leaving synagogue this past Friday night in Jerusalem, followed by the attempted murder of a father and son by a 13-year-old Palestinian terrorist the next morning. The Taylor Force Act, named after our son, was passed by Congress and signed by President Trump to stop this Pay to Slay. Yet the Biden Administration has resumed payments to the PA notwithstanding its Pay to Slay program. Until the maiming and murder of innocents stops, there will be no hope for peace. And, until the Biden Administration stops facilitating Palestinian terrorism, the PA has no reason to stop its reprehensible behavior. For the sake of the thousands horrifically impacted now and in the future, Robbi and I call upon President Biden to stop sending fungible taxpayer dollars to the PA that will end up funding terrorism,” said Stuart Force.
I think.your comment illustrates why ordinary American citizens are now labeled as the terrorists.
I agree.
Very divisive.
I fear worse than divisive. More like getting ready to cull the herd.
Hmmm 🤔
Great insights from Stuart & Robbi Force.
Yes I wish more people were paying attention. Biden's corrupt cabal is supporting actual terrorism while fantasizing and lying about extremism and terrorism in our own country.
It makes me sick, Biden says he supports Israel, that there is no daylight between the US and Israel, then does stupid shit like this (funding the PA), reengaging with Iran on JCPOA and sending Blinkin to meet with Abbas. So frustrating. And my Jewish Democrat friends just ignore it.
They are JINOs.
Yes 😡
This is the kind of writing that illustrates why Walter stands out as a writer and the kind of prose that made him famous. The best piece (by far) that I have read about this curious balloon.
Per the fifth dimension, its a beautiful balloon , way up in the air , where it can spy
Agreed- great piece!
Thanks Walter. I’m from a small cowtown on the eastern Colodado plains. My Great, Great Grandfather homesteaded in Ft Collins. I grew up near Bent’s Old Fort. Much of our complicated history is misunderstood. I can relate to your words. I spent 24 years, nine months and 29 days in the US Army, almost half of that time overseas.
There are very bad people in this world waiting for an opportunity to take our great nation away from us.
Today we see only the tip of the iceberg.
Thank you for your service and for speaking up.
Two elements of the balloon I’ve seen little coverage on is that a balloon that low, allowed free flight, can gather a variety of data not possible from satellites.
More importantly, it is an ideal platform for an EMP attack.
And here is a question I asked elsewhere: what if China hit us with an EMP from a balloon like this, then launched a nuclear strike, and Joe Biden refused to authorize a counter-strike? Mutual Assured Destruction requires a rational and honest President. What if he is not honest, and his rationality depends on a purchased loyalty to China?
That then becomes a single and exploitable point of failure, doesn’t it?
We are decadent and stupid. That is obvious. But the sheer scale of this stupidity and naivete continues to astonish me.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11712125/Explosion-sky-Billings-Montana-Chinese-balloon-spotted-U-S-airspace.html
What if this is a micronuke—1 gram of fissionable material—designed to test the response of our power grid? Our defense are being probed openly and the balloon crossed our entire nation before it was shot down, presumably after completing its mission.
What if it WAS Chinese paper used to create fake ballots, and Chinese hackers accessing on-line Dominion servers? That continues to seem likely to me.
This publication may now be The Free Press but Walter Kirn expresses the common sense most Americans possess. No reasonable person believes Joe Biden, Lloyd Austin and Anthony Blinken telling us we needed to allow the Chinese to complete their spy mission before destroying their balloon. Most of us rightly believe this invading craft should have been shot down as soon as it came over the sparsely inhabited Aleutian Islands, long before it reached Montana. But we and our sons haven't made millions from deals with the Chinese, so I guess we don't have the right frame of mind.
They shot it down off the coast of South Carolina because people with iPhones don’t live in the Atlantic Ocean.
You use a ballon instead of a low-orbit satellite because you can’t release spores from a satellite.
Good point. Deploying measures allegedly for Americans’ safety to disguise furtive acts.
I’m not saying there’s definitely spores and you need to delouse your golden retriever to get rid of the spores.
I’m just saying that deliverable payload is one of the main reasons you would use a balloon instead of a satellite.
I thought the main reason is that balloons don't show up on radar.
Those eight solar panels/antenna arrays and boom show up just fine.
Thanks for the info.
🤔
The only one with his head up his ass is someone who doubts the Chi Coms would release a bio weapon.
As the old joke goes, "we've already established what they are, we're now just dickering over the depths of their depravity."
More stupidity from RT. China is a nation that created, loosed and lied about Covid. They spy on and oppress their own citizens. They are the only nation to run ethnic concentration camps.
As between malign and benign motives, most normal people would lean to the former for these communist ghouls
Not more Bruce it’s continuous no break for the posters here
Yeah.....but what does all that have to do with their current satellite technology?
1. Why would they release a bioweapon in their own country?
2. Wasn't Covid overblown? Wasn't it just the flu? Only dangerous to elderly people and those with comorbidities?
Seems to have been a pretty weak bioweapon.
Pretty clear that the virus escaped from the Wuhan lab and that it was spread either negligently or deliberately across the globe and that the Chi Coms lied about it and tried to cover it up. Why did they silence their brave docs who tried to warn the world? Innocent people do not act that way. So China's actions do arguably add up to a violation of the convention on bio weapons.
A bio weapon that targets the aged and infirm might be exactly what those who run a country of 1.5 billion people with an aging population would consider using. I think it’s a mistake to assume China would not release a bio weapon on their own population because they care about the people over whom they rule.
Must likely purpose in flying a balloon higher than aircraft can get at, provocatively, is to see exactly what capability we do have to take it out. Answer: not much.