;)
Friday
Feb032023
February 4, 2023
Afternoon Update:
Marie: Oh, Lordy, I might be the Oracle of Concord. This morning I wrote in a comment, "The military may be waiting to take China's balloon down after it reaches the Atlantic and in a manner they hope will allow them to retrieve it." And now I hear President Biden on the teevee saying that on Wednesday he ordered the Pentagon to shoot down the Chinese balloon as soon as it was safe to do so. MSNBC is reporting that the U.S. military shot down the balloon over U.S. airspace in the Atlantic and is now attempting to collect the debris. I'll get up a real story when one is available. Ah, here we go: ~~~
~~~ Peter Alexander of NBC News: "The U.S. downed the Chinese surveillance balloon off the Carolina coast on Saturday and will attempt to recover its debris, according to a U.S. official. Asked by a reporter if the U.S. will shoot down the balloon as he deplaned Air Force Once, President Joe Biden said earlier Saturday, 'We're gonna take care of it.' Residents in North Carolina and South Carolina reported seeing the spy balloon Saturday, and the Federal Aviation Administration paused departures and arrivals at three local airports due to 'a national security effort.'" MB: Eat your hearts out, Republicans. Oh, wait, you don't have hearts. ~~~
~~~ The New York Times is liveblogging developments. Helene Cooper: "Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said that President Biden had told the Pentagon on Wednesday that the balloon could be brought down as soon as 'the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives under the balloon's path.'" Zolan Kanno-Youngs: "President Biden told reporters on Saturday that the Pentagon did not want to injure anyone on the ground when shooting down the balloon. 'They decided that the best time to do that was when it got over water within our 12-mile limit,' he said. 'They successfully took it down and I want to compliment our aviators that did it.'"... Charlie Savage: "Republicans praised the military for shooting down the Chinese balloon while still criticizing President Biden for waiting so long to do it."... Helene Cooper: "A senior military official told reporters at the Pentagon that one of two F-22 fighter jets from Langley Air Force Base downed the balloon with a single missile at 2:39 p.m. about six miles off the South Carolina coast.... U.S. Navy and Coast Guard personnel will conduct a recovery effort to retrieve the debris of the Chinese spy balloon, which landed in 47 feet of water off the South Carolina coast, a senior Defense Department official said. He characterised the spot the balloon sank into the sea as 'relatively shallow water,' which, he said, would make its recovery easier." ~~~
Katie Glueck of the New York Times: "Upending decades of political tradition, the Democratic National Committee on Saturday approved a sweeping overhaul of the Democratic primary process, a critical step in President Biden's effort to transform the way the party picks its presidential nominees.... Amid forceful calls for a calendar that better reflects the racial diversity of the Democratic Party and the country -- and after Iowa's 2020 meltdown led to a major delay in results -- Democrats voted to endorse a proposal that starts the 2024 Democratic presidential primary circuit on Feb. 3 in South Carolina, the state that resuscitated Mr. Biden's once-flailing candidacy. New Hampshire and Nevada are scheduled to follow on Feb. 6, Georgia on Feb. 13 and then Michigan on Feb. 27.... Resistance to the proposal has been especially fierce in New Hampshire, where officials have vowed to hold the first primary anyway, whatever the consequences. New Hampshire, a small state where voters are accustomed to cornering candidates in diners and intimate town hall settings, has long held the first primary as a matter of state law."
~~~~~~~~~~
Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday seized on what he called 'strikingly good news' about the economy, hailing the addition of a half-million jobs and capping a week of presidential swagger about the direction of the country.... Mr. Biden traveled around the country this week, pointing to the real-world impact of legislation he championed to spend billions of dollars on the nation's crumbling infrastructure and unabashedly taking credit for what he is betting will be a lasting turnaround as the Covid-19 pandemic wanes. In Philadelphia, Mr. Biden boasted about the new bridges that will be built and rusty lead pipes that will be replaced because of his efforts. And he praised the country's businesses for creating 12 million jobs since he took office." The reporters go on to outline some downsides of the President's rosy outlook. ~~~
~~ On Friday, President Biden spoke about the January jobs report:
Edward Wong & Chris Buckley of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Friday postponed a trip to Beijing after a Chinese high-altitude balloon, described as a 'intelligence-gathering' airship by the Pentagon and a stray civilian device by China, was detected floating over the United States this week. The postponement was confirmed by State Department officials, citing the balloon.... On Friday morning Mr. Blinken told China's top foreign policy official, Wang Yi, that the balloon's course was a violation of sovereignty and 'unacceptable,' according to a State Department official. There is no new date for Mr. Blinken's trip to Beijing, the official added. Beijing had sought to defuse tensions with Washington on Friday over the balloon, expressing its regret over the incident, and saying the balloon was for civilian research and had 'deviated far from its planned course.'" (Also linked yesterday.) A CBS News story is here. ~~~
~~~ Alexander Ward of Politico: "News outlets in Costa Rica reported Thursday that a similar-looking aircraft hovered above the country's western coast.... In a statement first given to Politico on Friday night, the Pentagon confirmed that the spherical flying object was another Chinese spy balloon. 'We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,' chief Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said. It remains unclear why China sent such vehicles above the United States and Costa Rica at the same time, especially since Beijing has space-based satellites that can surveil the same territory with more reliability." (Oh, it's not so unclear to James Comer, chair of the House Oversight Committee; see linked story below.)
Libby Cathey of ABC News: "... a growing number of Republicans called on the administration to take more action.... Montana GOP Rep. Ryan Zinke, who served as interior secretary under ... Donald Trump, called for the balloon to be shot down, with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., saying Trump would have done so already. But government officials have said they are concerned doing so would pose a risk to civilians below.... Arkansas GOP Sen. Tom Cotton tweeted for Biden to 'stop coddling and appeasing the Chinese communists.'... House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, meanwhile, has called for the congressional 'Gang of Eight' top members to be briefed. Such a meeting would bring together the top House and Senate leaders and the heads of the intelligence committees in each chamber.... Staff to the so-called 'Gang of Eight' received a classified briefing on the balloon by the administration Thursday afternoon, according to multiple congressional officials."
"The Chinese Foreign Ministry said earlier Friday that the balloon is civilian in nature and used for scientific research, 'mainly meteorological.' 'The airship is from China,' the foreign ministry said. 'Affected by the Westerlies and with limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course. The Chinese side regrets the unintended entry of the airship into US airspace due to force majeure." ~~~
~~~ Akhilleus often informs us about brilliant policy proposals by the country's best political intellectuals. Once again last night, he alerted us to an easy solution to a national security threat: ~~~
~~~ David Moye of the Huffington Post: Donald Trump Jr. "advised Montana citizens to take matters into their own hands and shoot down the balloon themselves: 'If Joe Biden and his administration are too weak to do the obvious and shoot down an enemy surveillance balloon perhaps we just let the good people of Montana do their thing ... I imagine they have the capability and the resolve to do it all themselves.'" Some naysayers, like Helen Kennedy [and Akhilleus!] we a tad skeptical of the feasibility of Junior's plan: "It's 11 miles up, you blithering simpleton," Kennedy tweeted. Filip Van Overbeke excused Junior's possible miscalculation: "Which is almost as high as Junior on a regular weekday." AND, Akhilleus pointed out, "... if they could hit it, the object is large enough and loaded with enough gear to kill someone on the ground, but we all know no Trump cares about threats to human life as long as they get to scream about shooting something, or someone." Plus Alex Wagner pointed out on MSNBC that when Junior shared his idea, the balloon was over Missouri, not Montana. So longshot indeed. MB: Isn't it discouraging that some people are so quick to shoot down an idea so innovative that no one else even thought of it? ~~~
~~~ MEANWHILE. Jared Gans of the Hill: "Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee..., told Fox News's Harris Faulkner in an interview on Friday that ... the federal government 'obviously' does not know what is in the balloon.... 'Is it bioweapons in that balloon? Did that balloon take off from Wuhan?' Comer said, referring to the Chinese city where the COVID-19 virus was first discovered. 'We don't know anything about that balloon.'" MB: Yes, that balloon probably is wafting Covid viruses all over the U.S.A. -- like a swinging church thurible incensing a high mass. ~~~
~~~ It appears the real biological danger may be coming from the very U.S. government facilities the balloon is surveilling: ~~~
~~~ Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "... a growing number of 'missileers' -- service members tasked with manning the nation's nuclear missile launch control centers -- have shared that they were diagnosed with cancer, and many have lymphoma. An unofficial, crowdsourced document created by a Space Force officer and obtained by The Washington Post totaled 30 cancer cases tied to people who worked at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana over 50 years. Fourteen had lymphoma, and four ... died, according to numbers tallied up last month. Most were men in their 30s and 40s, well below the median age of 67 for a non-Hodgkin's lymphoma diagnosis. An Air Force lieutenant colonel who commanded [Mark] Holmes argued in a Jan. 11 letter that Holmes's cancer was caused by the thousands of hours he spent in the subterranean missile bunkers at Malmstrom. The letter, written to help Holmes's wife prove his death was service-related so she could obtain survivor's benefits, pointed to radon exposure and a slew of other chemicals in the 1960s-era silos as potential causes of the cancer."
Matt Viser & others of the Washington Post profile Kathy Chung, a long-time Biden aide who in early 2017 oversaw the packing of then-Vice President Biden's papers destined for his office at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, D.C. Chung has worked in political and government jobs since the early 1990s. Among those she worked with was Hunter Biden when they both had jobs at the Commerce Department in the 1990s, and he helped her get a job in 2012 with then-Vice President Biden. After Biden's lawyers found classified documents in his Penn Biden Center office last year, Chung "told agents that her job was not to review or curate the material, only to oversee the work of quickly packing it up.... She said she had no reason to believe any confidential presidential records remained within the office, as others had the job before her of preparing Biden's files to transfer to the National Archives, according to a person familiar with her account."
Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "Republicans on Friday issued their first subpoenas of the Biden administration since taking control of the House, demanding documents for an investigation into whether the government mistreated parents who were scrutinized after school officials endured threats and harassment over mask mandates and teaching about racism. Just two days after the Judiciary Committee was organized for the new Congress, Representative Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio and the panel's chairman, sent subpoenas to Merrick B. Garland, the attorney general, F.B.I. Director Christopher Wray and Miguel A. Cardona, the secretary of education, accusing them of withholding information about whether the government overreached in scrutinizing parents." MB: Sure, because it's so wrong to pick on loudmouthed bullies who harass school officials. ~~~
~~~ CNN's report is here.
Graham Kates of CBS News: "... Rep. George Santos, a Republican from New York..., may owe more than $3,400 in unpaid citations [for parking and traffic citations], according to records from New York City and Florida." Santos' (alleged!) moving violations include running red lights nine times and speeding in a school zone (at least four times) and speeding. MB: Say, maybe he was hurrying to get to the Spider-Man stage. ~~~
~~~ Song and Dance. Martin Pengelly of the Guardian: George Santos "told potential donors he was a producer on the notoriously ill-fated Spider-Man musical. Bloomberg News said: "The lead producer, Michael Cohl, denied Santos's involvement, saying through an assistant that [Santos] wasn't a producer on the musical. Santos's name also never appeared in the playbills for the show.... Bloomberg noted that during the time the musical was on Broadway, Santos went from living in Brazil to working at a call centre in Queens and founding a charity to raise money for sick animals that is now being investigated after a military veteran accused Santos of absconding with money raised for his dog."
The Party of Mass Murder. Amy Wang & John Wagner of the Washington Post: "By his own acknowledgment, Rep. Andrew S. Clyde (R-Ga.) has been handing out lapel pins shaped like assault rifles to fellow GOP lawmakers -- an exercise that comes in the wake of a spate of mass shootings and during a week intended to honor survivors of gun violence. Late Thursday, Clyde, who owns a gun store, tweeted a video about his efforts. 'I hear that this little pin that I've been giving out on the House floor has been triggering some of my Democratic colleagues,' he said in the video. 'Well, I give it out to remind people of the Second Amendment of the Constitution and how important it is in preserving our liberties.'... Perhaps more than other GOP lawmakers, Clyde has downplayed the severity of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, saying that parts of it were comparable to a 'normal tourist visit.'... Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) pointed out that GOP lawmakers were wearing the lapel pins during National Gun Violence Survivors Week." ~~~
~~~ Akhilleus pointed out in yesterday's thread that the new statement pins are far more authentic than the phony must-wear flag pins GOP lawmakers sport: "The assault rifle pins denote very real commitment to spreading gun violence across the entire country."
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said late Thursday that he 'totally' disagrees with the assessment of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that the Capitol Police officer who shot Ashli Babbitt during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol 'did his job.' 'I totally disagree with the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy,' Trump wrote on ... his social media platform. 'ASHLI BABBITT WAS MURDERED!!!'... In his post, Trump characterized the officer as a 'Thug' and a 'MISFIT.'... McCarthy weighed in on the issue earlier Thursday when asked by a reporter if he agreed with a recent characterization by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) that Babbitt was 'murdered' by a Capitol Police officer while she was trying to breach the doors near the House chamber on Jan. 6." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Of course Trump claims the Capitol Police officer murdered Babbitt. Trump has to place the blame for Babbitt's death on somebody else so her heirs won't sue him for causing her death by fooling her with his lies.
William Rashbaum, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump grew his business, fortune and fame 'through a pattern of criminal activity,' according to a new book by a veteran prosecutor, who reveals that the Manhattan district attorney's office once considered charging the former president with racketeering, a law often used against the Mafia. The prosecutor, Mark F. Pomerantz, resigned in protest early last year after the newly elected district attorney, Alvin L. Bragg, decided not to seek an indictment of Mr. Trump at that time.... For months..., Mr. Pomerantz had mapped out a wide-ranging possible case against the former president under the state racketeering law, according to the soon-to-be published book, 'People vs. Donald Trump.'" Mr. Pomerantz compared Mr. Trump to mob boss John Gotti. "A lawyer for Mr. Trump [Joe Tacopina] recently sent Mr. Pomerantz a letter threatening that, 'If you publish such a book and continue making defamatory statements against my clients, my office will aggressively pursue all legal remedies.'" ~~~
~~~ Shayna Jacobs of the Washington Post: "An association of New York state prosecutors said Friday that a former member of the Manhattan district attorney's office who investigated Donald Trump violated ethical standards by writing a book about the case during an ongoing criminal investigation. Former investigator Mark Pomerantz, whose book ... is scheduled for release Tuesday, violated professional standards important to justice matters, according to the statement by J. Anthony Jordan, the president of the District Attorneys Association of the State of New York.... The office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has previously said Pomerantz may have broken a law barring prosecutors from disclosing grand jury material by writing the book. Bragg's office has an open grand jury presentation in the Trump case focusing on alleged hush money given to adult film actress Stormy Daniels during Trump's 2016 campaign...."
2016 Presidential Election. Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump's 2016 campaign will pay $450,000 as part of a settlement of a long court fight over its use of nondisclosure agreements, according to documents filed on Friday in a New York federal court. The proposed settlement with Jessica Denson, a former campaign aide whom the campaign tried to silence as she claimed she was the target of abusive treatment and sexual discrimination by another campaign member, effectively invalidates the nondisclosure agreements that hundreds of officials from Mr. Trump's first presidential run signed."
Michael Rothfeld, et al., of the New York Times: "When Charles McGonigal, a former counterintelligence chief with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, was accused of using his position to benefit an associate's business in Eastern Europe, it represented a startling turn for a high-ranking official who had been entrusted with access to some of the most sensitive secrets held by the American intelligence community. But it also set off a scramble within the bureau to assess the potential damage and determine whether any counterintelligence or law enforcement operations were compromised..., with the F.B.I.'s director, Christopher A. Wray, treating the case as a top priority." The article outlines some of McGonigal's (alleged!) skullduggery. (Also linked yesterday.)
Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A Jan. 6 defendant's boast in an interview this week that he had no regrets about his role in the Capitol riot -- just days after he acknowledged his guilt in a federal courtroom -- may upend the man's efforts to resolve the criminal case against him. U.S. District Court Judge Amit Mehta issued an order Friday instructing defendant Thomas Adams Jr. and prosecutors to explain why the guilty findings the judge entered on Tuesday, following a brief 'stipulated' bench trial should not be overturned in light of Adams' comments to a reporter the following day. 'I wouldn't change anything I did,' Adams told the State Journal-Register Wednesday outside his home in Springfield, Ill. 'I didn't do anything. I still to this day, even though I had to admit guilt [in the stipulation], don't feel like I did what the charge is.' In a brief order Friday morning, Mehta gave both sides one week to provide reasons 'why the court should not vacate Defendan's convictions of guilt in light of his post-stipulated trial statements.'..." ~~~
~~~ Alanna Richer & Michael Kunzelman of the AP: "Appearing before a federal judge after pleading guilty to a felony charge in the deadly Capitol riot, former West Virginia lawmaker Derrick Evans expressed remorse for letting down his family and his community, saying he made a 'crucial mistake.' Less than a year later, Evans is portraying himself as a victim of a politically motivated prosecution as he runs to serve in the same building he stormed on Jan. 6, 2021. Evans is now calling the Justice Department's Jan. 6 prosecutions a 'miscarriage of justice' and describes himself on twitter as a 'J6 Patriot.'... Evans joins a series of Jan. 6 defendants who -- when up against possible prison time in court -- have expressed regret for joining the pro-Trump mob that rattled the foundations of American democracy only to strike a different tone or downplay the riot after receiving their punishment.... Some defendants have drawn ire from judges or the Justice Department for their inconsistent comments." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Let's see: they were fans of the liar-in-chief and they decided it would be a good idea to violently carry out a coup against the U.S. government based on his biggest lie ever. Are we all surprised that these people would perjure themselves to escape punishment or get a lighter sentence?
Kalley Huang & Peter Eavis of the New York Times: "A jury decided Friday that Elon Musk was not liable for losses suffered by investors after he posted messages on Twitter saying he had secured the funding to take Tesla private in 2018. Investors had sued Mr. Musk, Tesla and the company's board, arguing that his statements about his embryonic plan to take the electric car company private had devastating financial consequences for them. But in a federal civil trial in San Francisco over the last three weeks, lawyers for Tesla and Mr. Musk, the automaker's chief executive, have argued that he was such a successful businessman that he could have easily obtained financing to take Tesla private."
Beyond the Beltway
New Jersey. "A Little Black Woman Scares Me." Maya King of the New York Times: "... Bobbi Wilson, 9, took it upon herself to spend hours of her summer aiming to obliterate the invasive spotted lanternflies that were ravaging her northern New Jersey community.... She went out to the streets of her neighborhood in Caldwell, N.J., armed with a container with a mix of dish soap and water -- a recipe to disarm the bugs that she found on TikTok, and enhanced by adding apple cider vinegar.... [A few months into her project,] a neighbor complained about a 'little Black woman, walking and spraying stuff on the sidewalks and trees.... I don't know what the hell she's doing. Scares me though.'... The police questioned Bobbi and her mother in an episode that reflects the larger dialogue on racial profiling and the treatment of Black children.... [The upshot:] Yale University ... held a ceremony on Jan. 20 that recognized Bobbi's efforts to eradicate the lanternflies. Her insects will be added to the Peabody Museum's collection.... Princeton, the American Museum of Natural History and a host of other universities and state and local officials have recognized Bobbi for her lanternfly solution." (Also linked yesterday.)
Tennessee. Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of the New York Times: "The two emergency medical technicians who first arrived to treat Tyre Nichols after he was severely beaten by Memphis police officers did not provide any care for 19 minutes after getting to the scene, a regulatory agency concluded on Friday as it voted to suspend their licenses. Members of the Tennessee Emergency Medical Services Board voted unanimously to suspend the licenses of the E.M.T.s, Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge, who could be seen on video largely standing around as Mr. Nichols, 29, writhed in pain on the ground. On Friday evening, the Memphis Police Department also announced that it had fired a sixth officer, in addition to the five who had already been fired and charged with second-degree murder in Mr. Nichols's death. The sixth officer, Preston Hemphill, had fired his Taser at Mr. Nichols as he ran away from the police. After other officers caught up to Mr. Nichols, he was captured on his body camera video saying, 'I hope they stomp his ass.'"
Way Beyond
Ukraine, et al.
The Washington Post's live briefing on developments Saturday in Russia's war on Ukraine are here: "Russia and Ukraine announced the release of nearly 180 troops in a prisoner swap on Saturday, the latest in a series of exchanges that have become a rare intersection of interests for the two countries. The Pentagon has revealed plans to send longer-range rocket artillery to Ukraine that will double the reach of its current munitions. Ukraine is set to receive the ground-launched, small diameter bombs (GLSDB) as part of the latest U.S. aid package, which is worth more than $2 billion.... The small diameter bombs promised by the U.S. have an approximate range of 95 miles.... Portugal said it plans to send Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, joining other European countries who have pledged to send the German-made tanks to the battlefield.... The United States will transfer seized assets of Russian oligarchs worth $5.4 million to Ukraine for rebuilding efforts, Andriy Kostin, Ukraine's prosecutor general, said Friday at a televised meeting.... Pete Reed, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and medical volunteer, was killed in an explosion in Bakhmut, according to his wife and Global Outreach Doctors, where he served as country director for Ukraine." ~~~
~~~ The Guardian's live updates for Saturday are here.
Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "European Union leaders met in Kyiv on Friday with President Volodymyr Zelensky and delivered a symbolic embrace of Ukraine as it fights for survival against Russia, but they withheld a prize Mr. Zelensky dearly wants, accelerated membership in the bloc.... E.U. leaders walked a careful line at a Friday news conference with Mr. Zelensky, validating Kyiv's aspiration to join and reiterating their commitment to supporting Ukraine, but gently applying the brakes on talk of fast-track membership."
U.K. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "An intruder wielding a crossbow who scaled a fence at Windsor Castle and threatened to kill Queen Elizabeth II on Christmas Day in 2021 pleaded guilty on Friday to treason, the first person to be convicted of such a charge in Britain in more than four decades.... In the Christmas Day incident, the intruder, Jaswant Singh Chail, 21, of Southampton, was confronted by the police at a gate that led to the queen's private quarters in the castle. Asked what he was doing there, he twice responded, 'I am here to kill the queen.'... The Metropolitan Police said that two officers spotted Mr. Chail, clad in black and wearing a metal mask, on the castle grounds at 8:10 on Christmas morning. One of the officers drew a Taser as they approached him. The officers discovered that Mr. Chail was carrying a crossbow, loaded with a bolt with the safety catch off." (Also linked yesterday.)
Marie: Yesterday's Comments, and the tail end of Thursday's Comments, were an object lesson in what really decent and caring people Reality Chex contributors are. It's an honor to serve you.
News Ledes
New York Times: "A new record for the coldest wind chill ever recorded, minus 108 degrees Fahrenheit, was set at the summit of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the region's highest peak, on Friday. The previous record was minus 103 degrees. The temperature atop the mountain reached as low as minus 47 degrees in the early hours of Saturday, which tied the previous record from 1934."
New York Times: "People across the northeastern United States confronted the coldest temperatures seen in decades on Saturday, as an Arctic air mass passed over the region, accompanied by powerful winds that drove wind chills to dangerous levels. Frigid conditions demolished records set more than a century ago in Boston and Providence, where lows hit minus 10 and minus 9 degrees Fahrenheit early Saturday, the National Weather Service reported. Temperatures plunged to 4 degrees in New York City, minus 6 in Hartford, Conn., and minus 15 in Concord, N.H., with the wind making it feel much colder everywhere." This is part of a liveblog.
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Reader Comments (11)
Hold on to your hats, kids!
That guy who called the cops because a 9 year old black girl skeered him to death?
Republican politician.
I know! Crazy, right? Not only that, this little girl and Racist Man are neighbors. She knew him and so did her mother. Of course he couldn’t possibly be expected to know that she wasn’t a BLM terrorist spraying biological warfare stuff on his trees, right? I mean, they all look alike.
The kid’s mom came running out when the cop came down the street. Black kids encountering white cops who are told by white people that the kid is doing something scary don’t always walk away afterward. Mom was right to come on the run, even though this cop seemed like a good guy.
I’d say the kid could maybe read up on all that when she gets a little older, but by then DeSantolini and his white supremacist pals in Congress will have had black history books completely banned in all states.
Doubling down on the stupid…
Junior, fresh off his wonderful idea of shooting down a balloon 11 miles up over Missouri, from Montana, cannot be deterred by gales of derisive laughter (cuz that’s what happens when you’re in your cocoon snorting mountains of blow).
His new idea, certainly the absolute truth and not the febrile fantasy of a raging, sweaty coke head so stop saying that, is that Hunter Biden sent that balloon. Man, you gotta listen to this, through the spittle, the sweat, and the shaking, erratic movements and heavily medicated air quotes, this idiot goes from Hunter Biden to Wall Street, to how the Chinese never check out anything they’re told, to the balloon and how terrible Joe Biden is, to if he and daddy had done this, blah, blah, blah… holy shit. This guy is barely functional.
And just think, out there in Right Wing World, they talk about this imbecile as possible presidential material some day.
But never fear…tomorrow, TuKKKer will jump on this idea and we’ll have a “some people are saying that Hunter Biden sent the Chinese balloon!” which will then be repeated, prayer-like, by The NY Times…”Breaking news! Hunter Biden could be behind the Chinese balloon!”
From Junior’s freshly enemized ass to the front page. No problem!
https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1621626450574032896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1621626450574032896%7Ctwgr%5E2bc01e09fcc61b2d95d1f867c1b034919cebc01d%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-4027462272891715361.ampproject.net%2F2301181928000%2Fframe.html
Or you can see that idiot having his latest Biden breakdown here:
https://www.politicususa.com/2023/02/03/donald-trump-jr-blames-hunter-biden-for-the-chinese-spy-balloon.html/amp
Just wow.
Rumor has it that not only is Junior off his chomp according to Akhilleus' run-down of fun facts, this son of a loony tune tyrant suggestion for bringing down the balloon smacks of what the Shadow once described as "blow that clouds men's minds." Junior says why not get a really, really Big lasso and capture the sucker and bring it back down to earth––-if cowboys can catch horses like that, why can't we do that with balloons? We pause, contemplate, then wonder at the wonder of it all.
@Akhilleus: I listened to Junior's little rant embedded on the Politics USA page, and I don't see where he " thinks that Hunter Biden and his laptop are the reason why a Chinese spy balloon is drifting over the United States." Rather, when Junior hears "China," he just thinks "Hunter," so he makes the loosest of connections; he doesn't really say Hunter is responsible. Balloon-China-Hunter, all bunched together in the incoherent, Trumpity manner. Jason Easley, who runs Politics USA, often plays fast and loose with the facts in much the way Junior does (albeit in complete sentences) so I seldom link his "reports."
What I get a kick out of is how Junior elevates himself to someone worthy of "'incestant' bombardment" forever-and-a-day from the global press, while the Bidens get away with all kinds of nefarious doings. He's having a very hard time not being the center of attention, but I expect that's a lifelong affliction. "Everybody's picking on me" is more a boast than a real complaint. As far as I know, it is Hunter Biden, not Donald Trump, Jr., whom the feds are investigating, so in the contest for attention, Hunter is "winning," and not in a good way. And maybe a guy famous for being high on coke should not be complaining about "those incredible crackheads on Wall Street."
And Junior's advice to "shoot the thing down," then "find out what's going on" is perhaps not too prudent. It appears Notorious Joe found out what's going on, then decided not to shoot the thing down, at least for now. The military may be waiting to take China's balloon down after it reaches the Atlantic and in a manner they hope will allow them to retrieve it.
But it's always uplifting to get Junior's perspective on world affairs.
Marie,
Technically, you’re correct. Number one son never directly says “Hunter did it”, but in right-wing speak he doesn’t have to. Innuendo might be a lost art for Democrats, but the traitors learned long ago how to insinuate crap without actually saying exactly what they mean, in case deniability, lawsuits, libel, etc. Fatty Daddy does this all the time. Joe Bob and Martha (what was the name of that right-wing “couple” who did those ads attacking Clinton’s “scary” health plan back in the 90s?) sitting glued to Fox or Newsmax understand implicitly what sweaty cokeheads like Junior mean when they string together “Hunter Biden”, “China”, “Balloon”!
“Honey! Did you hear that? Hunter Biden is in on it with those Commie Chinee people, sending that weather balloon to spy on us!”
I simply exercised the lessons I learned from my “You too can talk Traitorese!” kit. Only $29.99 for the first six lessons, as advertised late night on Fox.
https://www.youtube.com/live/nsQaM31885A?feature=share
2nd Chinese balloon now over North Carolina. I could understand
how, maybe, one so called weather balloon could get out of control
but now another one, and also one was reported over Central America.
Jr. is usually so high, maybe he could just grab one on his way down.
Have we heard from Hershall Walker yet? We all mocked at him when he said China was coming for our good air, but now who's getting the last laugh.
Thanks to all for your kind support to MB who makes this special place possible. While we've never met it seems as we've known each other for years.
Marie Burns for Sec of Defense! Or at least National Security Advisor.
Okay, maybe she’ll be made Biden Administration Cassandra.
Note that President Biden stated that “…the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to American lives…” regarding the downing of the Chinese “weather balloon”.
Also note that that coked up weasel, Junior, and the rest of the traitor whiners never mentioned risks to American lives. All they care about are risks to the limits of their testosterone fueled braggadocio.
There’s a huge difference between a true leader and those who (*snort*) play one on a podcast in their basement (*snort*).