Roundup
(1) The Biden administration does an Emily Litella on “Trump ignored Chinese balloons too.” The change:
The Washington Free Beacon‘s Chuck Ross revealed that the Pentagon wouldn’t name the official who provided misleading information about three supposed Chinese spy balloons during President Donald Trump’s administration.
The senior official said on Saturday:
PRC [People’s Republic of China] government surveillance balloons transited the continental United States briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time. We spoke directly with Chinese officials through multiple channels, but rather than address their intrusion into our airspace, the PRC put out an explanation that lacked any credibility.
The media and Democrats ate it up. During his administration, Trump and his former officials, including John Bolton, denied knowledge of Chinese spy balloons.
Officials in the Pentagon changed their story on Sunday, but honestly, they made it worse. They told the media the balloons were discovered after Trump left office.
(2) Speaking of the Chinese balloon, it was about the size of a 20-story building.
(3) The Grammys happened, and as usual in recent years I know very few of the contenders. And yet, in the interests of keeping my finger on the pulse of the decline of Western civilization, I’m featuring the fashions this year – the men’s fashions, for a change. An interesting mix with a few relatively classic looks, many sparkles, and just about everything in-between. One guy seems to have a Bobby Kennedy campaign button on his jacket.
(4) Speaking of cultural decline, I haven’t written much about the sad degeneration of the Disney brand, but Ace has been following it for ages. The latest is that the company is fighting a proxy takeover.
(5) Seems like Kamala Harris may be toast:
Of all the similar reports that have come out since Harris first assumed the role in 2021, Monday’s New York Times article is the bleakest. The authors of the piece — who say they spoke to “dozens of Democrats in the White House, on Capitol Hill and around the nation” — walked away from their reporting with this conclusion: Many believe Harris has not risen to the challenge of establishing herself as the future leader of the party.
That hardly qualifies as “news.” Then again, the fact that the Times is saying it might be the news.
One of the many complaints from leftist activists and from the mendacious MSM about the so-called malevolence of QAnon is that it exaggerates the cultural depravity and the fashionable decadence of the current epoch, although no rational person can deny the heinous effects of indoctrination in radical gender ideology starting in K-12, nor the increasing normalization, in Hollywood and amongst the elite class, of certain forms of erotic attraction hitherto deemed unacceptable ( nor should one forget the so-called “art” collected by the Podesta brothers), but the spectacle at the recent awards show (Sam Smith being every bit as repulsive as Lil Nas X) was exceptionally distasteful (and well-criticized by C Owens). As for Disney and its recent anti-white propaganda (also covered by Candace), the collapse of the company would be welcome news indeed.
Small problem: Kamala Harris PERFECTLY exemplifies the Democratic Party.
(But then, so does Decent Joe….)
Regarding #1, it would appear that no one on the Left cares if any of those clowns has any credibility anyway.
They can say what they want, lie all they want, confabulate all they want.
(And they do.)
The only thing that matters is that the Democrats are in power and stay in power.
Hence, from their exalted POV, everything is permitted to perpetuate the unmitigated disaster that they are intentionally foisting on the country.
The unmitigated disaster which IS their policy.
The unmitigated disaster which, in their wisdom (and compassion), is absolutely necessary for the good of the country, for the good of the globe (and of course for the good of their power-hungry ambition of total power…even if this will remain unsaid…)
The volume of the balloon itself will be about 14 times bigger at 60,000 ft. than at sea level, as dictated by the change in pressure. They also claim that the payload is about 2,000 lb. which sounds very much heavier than I would have expected.
It was also claimed that the balloon could maneuver somehow. I’m guessing that this means that it could change altitude so as to engage with airflows moving in different directions. So there was possibly a gas compressor on board? And enough power to run it.
I’m hoping an Icahn-style corporate raider is ready to pounce on Disney when the price is right. Clear out Iger and his camarilla and appoint people who will flush out the pedos and sjws at lower levels. A guy can dream.
“Mickey’s Son and Daughter”, Bonzo-Dog-DooDah: https://youtu.be/HSlpBCfu-us
As reported in Aviation Week and Space Technology Digest (aka Aviation Leak) the non balloon part is estimated to have weighed thousands of pounds.
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/missile-defense-weapons/officials-share-more-details-chinese-balloon-debris-sought
Time will tell (maybe)
Ok…I despise pop music and the self-cogratulatory awards nonsense…but I clicked. Mick Fleetwood. Old man still rockin it. The rest…barf.
Kamala is not just toast; she is burnt toast.
What does “toast” actually mean?
Kamala is still one heartbeat away from the POTUS brass ring for the rest of this term. She may be convinced to not run as standard bearer in 2024…but until then she has to be factored in to any calculations. And…if the Ds gave in to Clyburn on her, who’s to say what is next in the DEI sweepstakes?
Ok, these guys kind of pulled it off: Pusha T, Jesse Wilson, maybe J Ivy, definitely Eddy Kenzo. That is all
Lots of quotes from DoD and White House in the Aviation Week article so beware of spin. General Ineptitude said “We found there were balloons too, or three, in the OMB skies, looking back now to cover our asses.”
Having Biden use his age as a semi-reasonable excuse to bow out and not run for re-election is at least vaguely plausible. What exactly is the path toward getting rid of Kamala? She’s the Vice President and, in her mind undoubtedly, she’s the frontrunner for 2028. How can you entice/pressure her into essentially ending her political career?
Mike
Those smallish triangular thingies Thai restaurants serve alongside an order of pork satay, that’s what.
“And…if the Ds gave in to Clyburn on her”
Putting South Carolina first in the nominating process is going to be catastrophic for the Democratic Party.
Mike
Someone on Fox News just said that Clyburn has joined the Democrats piling on Kamala, Mbunge. Maybe Kamala is more toast than we could imagine. Well, we can hope.
Gavin Newsom will be the 2024 Democrat Party Presidential nominee.
So our military and intelligence services actually thought that a thing the size of a twenty-story building, with a payload as long as three school buses, could pass over the continental US and no one would notice it.
Then they tried to convince us that similar items had come during Trump’s term, and failing that, they tried to convince us that such things HAD come but they didn’t notice them until after Trump left office.
Re: Disney proxy takeover to restore profitability
The Critical Drinker covers the attempt to put Nelson Peltz on the Disney board in his usual thorough-going, humorous, cynical manner.
–The Critical Drinker, “Disney – An Empire In Collapse”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AY2cUBW-72o
I see Ace includes the link at the bottom of his post.
Did anyone who saw her campaign for president seriously believe she was someone who could lead the party? Maybe that shows how far identity politics will take a person.
Balloons (continued)…
…with information as to perhaps why the US Military did not want to tell Trump about what they saw—that is, IF they saw it, as they say they did see…didn’t see it (who can tell? who can be believed? ANSWER: NOTHING and NO ONE can be believed…but think of it as just another CRISIS!…).
“Balloon With 3 Hypersonic Missiles Tested By China In 2018”—
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/balloon-3-hypersonic-missiles-tested-china-2018
Gosh, wouldn’t want to disturb Trump, now, would we, with such upsetting news…’Heavens forfend, Your Most Exalted Excellency, Master Xi…you can count on “Us”! ‘…?
(After all, one never knows how the Orange-Haired Idiot would react…so best he never find out…because “WE BELIEVE IN BEING RESPONSIBLE!!)
And indeed, it does seem that the ONLY reason why there’s anything to this story is that this latest balloon (and the other that wafter through Latin America) WAS SEEN BY TOO MANY PEOPLE to ignore…forcing “Biden” to acknowledge it BUT(!) to willfully IGNORE the significance and meaning of it (i.e., Cover-Up Plan “B”, I guess…IOW, “let’s keep on ignoring it…or pooh-poohing it…or claiming that it ALSO happened on Trump’s watch! And how it did!!!”) and let TIME, and forgetfulness, to its thing”…).
Interesting that everything Biden does, Trump also get accused of!
Classified documents, CHECK!
Chinese spy balloons, CHECK!
Destroying the country, CHECK!
Gosh, it would seem that “POTUS” is a paranoid projectionist!!…
(So what’s next? Trump has been feeling up young women…for decades??…Alas, Tara Reade is STILL unavailable for comment… More’s the pity….)
“…someone who could lead the party?”
As though Decent Joe “lead[s] the party”…”
(But you’re right in a way: Even though Biden IS brutally awful—behaviorally and cognitively—he’s not as obviously brutally awful, in both areas but especially behaviorally, as she is.)
File under: To paraphrase, “It’s the Politburo, stupid…”
Re: Kamala Harris:
“Many believe Harris has not risen to the challenge of establishing herself as the future leader of the party.”
Many believe?
You mean that some STILL believe in her qualifications and leadership skills??
Are you F’n kidding me?
If the dems had only a human corpse to run for president, they would. They would all unite – which they excel at – to support the corpse.
This is all one needs to know about what they think about our constitutional republic.
More sickening is that about half the voters would vote for the corpse. After all, joke bidet was 85% of the way to corpse-hood (he still retained some features of a live person) when he got elected and he got about 50% of the vote.
“(2) Speaking of the Chinese balloon, it was about the size of a 20-story building.”
My wife has a rant about how we are soooo against the metric system that we measure in football fields, buses, famous building heights, apple orchard sizes, etc.
Now that she mentions it, it is hard not to notice the weird comparisons we use.
“Did anyone who saw her campaign for president seriously believe she was someone who could lead the party?“
She was District Attorney for San Francisco, Attorney General of California, and a U.S. Senator. Those are not unimportant or unchallenging jobs. What does it say about elite society as a whole that someone so fundamentally incompetent was able to flourish for so long?
Mike
@MBunge: “What does it say about elite society as a whole that someone so fundamentally incompetent was able to flourish for so long?”
That most, if not all, elected positions are simply proxies for votes on a grocery cart of issues. There is no leadership. There is no vision. The staffers, backers and regulators drive the agendas, not the elected representatives. They are figureheads.
She was District Attorney for San Francisco, Attorney General of California, and a U.S. Senator. Those are not unimportant or unchallenging jobs.
Senator doesn’t have to be a challenging job. The minimum requirement on the D side is to vote as the Party dictates.
The Biden/ Harris thing is an interesting puzzle. If Biden persists in running, it will suggest the cost of dumping Kamala is too high. The Democrats accuse black Republicans of being “tokens.” Has there been a more obvious token than Harris ? They risk a big backlash from their black voters, at least the ones paying attention, Clyburn seems to be running the Democrat party right now. Maybe he could see a way to ease her out but why would she agree? Maybe they are certain they can run the 2020 caper again, or the new improved version previewed in Arizona by Hobbs/Soros. Have all the voting machines in Republican districts fail at the same time.
After all, Biden is not running the country. We don’t know who it is but the same politburo could do it for Harris.
Mike K,
I think the whole classified document thing really ads to the puzzle. Biden is POTUS, and can declass any and all of those documents. He can store them in his garage if he wants. The whole story tip toes around the actual powers of POTUS in regards to executive branch documents.
It doesn’t make sense to me that Biden lawyers found documents and then gave them to DOJ. Something else is going on. It looks to me like an effort to put Joe out to pasture by the deep state.
I’ll also ad that I’m concerned the power of POTUS is being diluted by the deep state. While at the moment that doesn’t seem alarming due to who is POTUS, the long term implications are bad.
Democrats like to talk about “our democracy”, but their actions push rule by an unelected “elite” of government employees.