१३ फेब्रुवारी, २०२३

The really serious threat: Republican questioning President Joe Biden’s leadership.

I'm reading "A trio of new intrusions leaves America’s leaders grasping for explanations" by Stephen Collinson (CNN). 

The flurry of attacks on the unknown crafts came a week after the highly public tracking and ultimate downing of a Chinese balloon suspected of carrying out surveillance. Now, the thin details trickling out of the Pentagon and Capitol Hill about are making an already highly unusual international episode even more bizarre and confusing. No one – not the White House, the Pentagon or the government of Canada, whose airspace has also been infringed – seems able to say exactly what is going on with these latest downed crafts. This raises questions for top military brass and US spy agencies as well as for the potential safety of civilian aviation. And it creates an information vacuum that Republicans are again using to question President Joe Biden’s leadership.

९२ टिप्पण्या:

Dave Begley म्हणाले...

Joe Biden has never been the leader. It was Ron Klain. Now, Susan Rice.

Let's get Susan Rice on TV to explain this.

Levi Starks म्हणाले...

You’d have to be insane not to question his “leadership”

Enigma म्हणाले...

To flesh out the backstory: The Pentagon was overwhelmed by lazy, self-promoting, career-minded Yes Men since the time of Eisenhower's "Military-Industrial Complex" critique many decades ago. The Yes Men told their supervisors "Everything went great on my watch. Mission accomplished." This happened certainly with the Vietnam War, when the military fell apart in the 1970s, when George W. Bush stood on the aircraft carrier in front of a "mission accomplished" banner, and when the Yes Men didn't report balloon intrusions to Trump.

If you want to understand the media's bowing down to the establishment, look to the middle managers at the Pentagon as their role models. Lots of them are career failures who were promoted out of the way or worked their way up through backroom deals with defense contractors--see the Navy's Fat Leonard case. There are at least 1,000 James Comeys and 10,000 Peter Strzoks working for the Department of Defense today. In power. With control. They should have said something long ago, but "Everything went great on my watch. Mission accomplished. Where's my promotion?"

n.n म्हणाले...

Bipartisan braying, perhaps. Impeach him, once, twice, three times in progress. Then let us bray with a united affront.

minnesota farm guy म्हणाले...

It would be nice to get a clear statement from someone about what is going on. I don't think the balloons and what not are end-of-the-world issues so a little information I am sure can do no harm. I doubt Republicans are the only ones wondering what's so important about all this that we can't be told.

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

Well, for starts, let's see some photographs of the things being shot down. As I wrote yesterday, one must conclude they are shooting down high altitude balloons if these things are floating around with no visible means of propulsion. As I pointed out, also yesterday, you can buy such balloons on Amazon and it is perfectly possible to fly these commerically available balloons very, very long distances by weighting them properly to prevent them from going above 60,000 feet and thus bursting from mechanical stress on the material.

traditionalguy म्हणाले...

The installed President leads nothing because his power is totally dedicated to the malicious destruction of the USA. Sad but true. Only China knows how great a President that is.

YoungHegelian म्हणाले...

And it creates an information vacuum that Republicans are again using to question President Joe Biden’s leadership.

It looks to me that all the agencies not ponying up the requested information are under the command of the Executive Branch. And who exactly is the boss of the Executive Branch right at this moment?

Don't those silly Congressional Republicans realize that, when the Executive Branch is run by a Democrat, they owe it unquestioned constitutional fealty? Just ask CNN.

Quayle म्हणाले...

Aren't journalists funny these days? They write in such an authoritative tone making serious-sounding pronouncements as to what questions are raised to whom, and when and where an information vacuum exists. And it's all just nonsense - cow manure - coming off their keyboards, made up in their own minds while they solitarily sit in their apartment, cubicle, or the local Starbucks.

Achilles म्हणाले...

"President Joe Biden’s leadership."

We all know he is not leading anything.

We all know this is an illegitimate regime full of traitors and corrupt shitheads who are using him as a puppet.

The media is just a tool of the regime pushing this garbage.

We also know they are not talking about all Republicans. They are just talking about hte 5 or 6 republicans that represent the citizens of the United States rather than the WEF.

Michael म्हणाले...

One possibility: After the first balloon fiasco, Biden ordered the Air Force to shoot down something, anything, over North America - even if you have to put it up there yourself first. Or, maybe a migrating albatross or two got blown off course. Joking, I hope.

But seriously, what could possibly appear "octagonal" and fly at that altitude? A balloon on a rigid frame, maybe, but to what end?

Dave Begley म्हणाले...

The Dems will push Biden out. And soon.

The nominee will be Mayor Pete or the Governor of California. Maybe they will actually campaign.

Dude1394 म्हणाले...

Shooting down things that you do not know what it is, is the height of incompetence and stupidity. We spend billions if not trillions on these systems but we cannot seem to capture one?

How ******* incompetent have we become. How about putting a few billets into the ballon instead of using a million dollar missile to blow it to hell.

Man, our “leadership” is ridiculously incompetent.

rcocean म्हणाले...

You need to use a "Republicans Pounce" tag.

Amexpat म्हणाले...

I'm not a Biden fan, but it's not his fault if the military is not sure what's happening. I'm sure the US military is doing their best to figure this out and some private dressing downs or public showboat reprimands by a POTUS isn't going to speed things up.

The Pentagon claims that similar balloons have passed through US airspace under both Biden and Trump. If that's true, then is it smart to publicly acknowledge to adversaries that they've found a way to breach US airspace unnoticed, or is it better to work quickly and quietly to remedy the situation?

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

Framing the narrative is an integral part of reinforcing its structure for the dishonest DNC-Media Machine. They'll never tire of new ways to write "Republicans pounce" in lieu of "Democrats have a serious problem."

But public sentiment hates an information vacuum, which they failed to omit from their screed, highlighting the fact that even CNN's audience is so pissed at being lied to they have noticed the lack of credible statements from the White House and Defense Dept. Hell, KJP can't even pronounce "Canada" or articulate what NORAD is. Of course I'm just pouncing on affirmative action here, there's no actual reason to think she has or is a problem!

Chuck म्हणाले...

Well of course Congressional Republicans -- many of them, at least -- will use anything to "question President Joe Biden's leadership." Not because they know something that is important and negative about Biden. (If they knew something significant, no matter how classified, they would spew it if they could use it to hurt Biden.)

But here we have Senator Mitt Romney:

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) on Thursday defended President Biden’s reaction to the flight of a Chinese surveillance balloon across the United States and said he agreed with the president’s decision to shoot it down off the coast of South Carolina.

Romney said he was satisfied with answers he received from senior administration officials, including Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, at an all-senators classified briefing on the incident.


“My questions were satisfactorily answered and I believe the administration, the president, our military and our intelligence agencies acted skillfully and with care. At the same time, their capabilities are extraordinarily impressive,” Romney told reporters after the briefing.

Romney said the administration could have done some things differently but noted it’s always easy to second-guess decisions in hindsight.


God, we need more Republicans like that.

Aaron Rupar, on his amazing and outstanding Twitter feed, has detailed the GOP depravity on this subject.

Ron Johnson went on Fox with Maria Bartiromo and suggested that Biden allowed the Chinese balloon to fly over the continental U.S. because he is financially compromised.

Mike Turner (Intel Committee Chairman) went on CNN with Jake Tapper and claimed that the Biden Administration was too slow to take care of the "first" balloon, but now was too "trigger happy."

(Turner did that after Jim Himes, the Intel Ranking Member went on in another interview and actually praised Turner as a straight shooter with whom he was looking forward to working cooperatively.)

Mike McCaul went on CBS with Margaret Brennan and claimed, "The Chinese balloon did a lot of damage." Brennan asked, "Is that what US intelligence told you? They've been saying they mitigated the impact." McCaul couldn't say differently, but claimed, "[M]y assessment..."

And on and on. And that's leadership. I'm not even bothering with the freaks. Gaetz; Greene; Gosar; Biggs; Boebert; etc.,etc.

Just an old country lawyer म्हणाले...

Republicans "question." How dare they?

alanc709 म्हणाले...

Maybe if liberals were logical and open-minded, it wouldn't be up to just Republicans to question Biden's actions. Name something sensible that Biden has done. I dare you.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

The really serious threat: Republican questioning President Joe Biden’s leadership.

I really appreciate the straightforward style of Althouse's headline here.

Geoff Matthews म्हणाले...

It's different when Republicans do it.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

Seen on Twitter:

"Remember how they used to tell us that UFO's were weather balloons. Now they're telling us weather balloons are UFO's."

TaeJohnDo म्हणाले...

Republicans Pounce!

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

https://www.weather.gov/bmx/kidscorner_weatherballoons

"Twice a day, every day of the year, weather balloons are released simultaneously from almost 900 locations worldwide! This includes 92 released by the National Weather Service in the US and its territories.

The balloons, which start out measuring about 6 ft. wide before release, expand as they rise to about 20 ft. in diameter! An instrument called a radiosonde is attached to the balloon to measure pressure, temperature and relative humidity as it ascends up into the atmosphere.
A transmitter on the radiosonde sends the data back to tracking equipment on the ground every one to two seconds. By tracking the position of the radiosonde, we can also calculate wind speed and wind direction. The radiosonde is powered by a small battery.

A parachute, attached to the end of the balloon, allows the radiosonde to fall slowly to the ground at speeds less than 22 mph after the balloon bursts. Each radiosonde contains a mailing bag and instructions on what to do if you find one. About 20% of the 75,000 radiosondes sent up each year in the US are found and returned. These instruments are fixed and reused, saving the government money."

Mark Nielsen म्हणाले...

Pounce!

Beasts of England म्हणाले...

Republicans pounce!!

Iman म्हणाले...

Your average, sane person on the street would question EVERYTHING about Joe Biden.

gilbar म्हणाले...

here's The Facts (as I see them)
* The Chinese OWN Jo Biden
* The Chinese OWN the entire democrat party
* The Chinese OWN Most of the republican party
* The Chinese OWN the United States Military Leadership
* The Chinese have been sending over these balloons for years and years
* The Chinese have been sending over More and More (and More (and More)) of these balloons
* The US government was HOPING that NO ONE would notice
* People DID notice
* NOW, the US Government is going crazy trying to ACT like they are (at best) minimally competent
* People are noticing, that "our" government is NOT Even minimally competent

Meanwhile, what's happening to The Ukraine? We've sent ALL THAT Money, and ALL THOSE weapons..
Who's winning there, now? Hmmm?
Ukraine Faces Painful Choice as Russia Tightens Chokehold on Bakhmut
Russia’s Wagner Deepens Influence in Africa, Helping Putin Project Power
Even as it plays a central role in Ukraine, the paramilitary group is quietly expanding its alliances in Africa, bolstering support for Russia there

Leland म्हणाले...

Besides some spokesperson telling us what they've been told to tell us; how do we know anything was shot down? These are the same people that tried to convince us doing nothing for the obvious thing shot down was fine because these things were frequent and have been entering the country since the Trump Administration. That trial balloon narrative was shot down, because no evidence existed that these balloons were common or that they ever entered our border during Trump's time in office. Now, we are told they are common and we are shooting them down every other day, but still no evidence other than a story given to us. And the story is fairly wild, with nonsense about "no means of propulsion" and odd shapes yet shot down over water where nobody can find it.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

What do the aliens want?

All a space alien wants is to come upon a car on a lonely road at night after a long trip from a distant galaxy and to probe every orifice of the terrified occupants, implant mysterious devices and erase their memories. That's literally all it takes to make an alien happy. They are simple. Give them this and you will have given them nearly everything they need.

tim maguire म्हणाले...

it creates an information vacuum that Republicans are again using to question

Republicans pounce!

That's all that's going on here. Standard media covering for the Democrats.

mezzrow म्हणाले...

It answers the question of whom they see as the true enemy.

Where is the source of the greatest threat?
You know the answer now. Believe them them when they tell you the answer.

Scott M म्हणाले...

WHAT? No pouncing? No seizing?

The Tangerine Tornado म्हणाले...

No one – not the White House, the Pentagon or the government of Canada, whose airspace has also been infringed – seems able to say exactly what is going on with these latest downed crafts.

This is wrong. They will not say what is going on. There is zero chance they don't know a ton more than they are saying. Acting like it's a mystery is, as they said in the Superbowl commercial last night - ACTING.

I'm sure they have HD Video of these objects. I'm sure they know the size, shape, and airspeed they were traveling. They will know if the object could turn and if it gave off EMI or Thermal signatures. The reporter who wrote the above doesn't know these things because the Government doesn't want anyone to know, at least for now. Remains to be seen how secretive they will remain.

My guess originally was that these things have been happening all along and we didn't detect them because we weren't looking for objects of this type/size/speed/composition etc. We're still looking for the same things we looked for in the 1980's.

John henry म्हणाले...

I wonder if they are really happening?

I wonder if they are not manufactured to blot out Seymour hersh's reporting on Biden (allegedly) blowing up the nordstream pipeline.

That is an act of war and way too serious to let into the wild (

Assuming hersh is right that the us did it. Maybe maybe not

John Henry



rehajm म्हणाले...

I still think this ballon crap is the new flag burning. There’s some bipartisan shit sausage making they don’t want us talking about and we’re all complying…

Jaq म्हणाले...

"Defensive ends are using the quarterback's lack of a cool head against him!"

"Batters are using the pitcher's lack of a convincing change-up against him."

"Other runners are using the Olympic-hopeful sprinter's lack of speed against him."

rehajm म्हणाले...

Dave Begley said...
Joe Biden has never been the leader. It was Ron Klain. Now, Susan Rice.

Let's get Susan Rice on TV to explain this.


In a way they have because they changed the meaning of Joe Biden to mean Susan Rice et al. Think of it like the royal we

Jaq म्हणाले...

Let's talk about UFOs instead of the high likelihood that the US committed an act of war against Germany. It's very effective.

Jaq म्हणाले...

Let's also not talk about what is going on in Ohio right now. Maybe once this toxic cloud reaches NYC and Boston, it will be worthy of presidential attention.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/ohios-apocalyptic-chemical-disaster-rages

Rabel म्हणाले...

I can't come up with any good reason for the lack of photographs of the last three "objects" they have shot down.

And I'm pretty sure that a two hundred million dollar fifth generation stealth fighter has a camera on it.

Could it be that the last three shootdowns were just Biden feeling his oats and, as is his pattern, showing how tough he is? They've made it clear that he gave the orders. And is the military a bit embarrassed by this overreaction and their obligation to support the CINC?

The NORAD commander's briefings were bizarre.

Biden has said often that the government can defeat an insurrection because it has "F-15's" and here he is using F-22 in a combat role over US airspace. Is he just showing us what he can do?

Beats me.

Darkisland म्हणाले...

U.S. citizens should depart Russia immediately via one of the limited commercial options still available. U.S. Citizens wishing to depart Russia have several options listed below. The situation on Russian borders is constantly evolving, and this page will be updated regularly to reflect these changes. Much snipped

https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/informationforuscitizeninrussia.html

H/T Gateway Pundit but read the whole advisory

That is from a travel advisory issued today by the state department of the US.

Are we on the brink of war with Russia? IF we blew up their pipeline, that was certainly an act of war.

What in the bloody Hell is Joe Biden getting us into?

John Henry

Creola Soul म्हणाले...

FFS, we’re shooting down balloons with expensive air to air missiles! Maverick, switch to guns! Sheeesh.

Creola Soul म्हणाले...

The longer this bullshit goes on, without the government saying one word about what’s going on, is fuel for the conspiracy theorist!

Gahrie म्हणाले...

But here we have Senator Mitt Romney:

You should know that citing Mr. "Roll over and show your belly to the Left" really doesn't help your argument with conservatives.

Michael K म्हणाले...

More bullshit from Chuck:



Romney said the administration could have done some things differently but noted it’s always easy to second-guess decisions in hindsight.

God, we need more Republicans like that.

Aaron Rupar, on his amazing and outstanding Twitter feed, has detailed the GOP depravity on this subject.

Ron Johnson went on Fox with Maria Bartiromo and suggested that Biden allowed the Chinese balloon to fly over the continental U.S. because he is financially compromised.


And he isn't ? Are you making this up or are you a bot? Romney is your ideal Republican! Maybe you could help me recover the $1500 I wasted on that fool.

as for Rupar, have you seen this?

Biography Urban Dictionary announced a new verb, "Rupar," in the dictionary, which meant "To purposely mislead.

Sebastian म्हणाले...

"an information vacuum that Republicans are again using to question President Joe Biden’s leadership"

Yes, as others have noted, it's the old Republicans pounce approach.

What's telling about it is not so much the absurd and transparent attempt to deflect, but the sheer prog obliviousness to the cliche itself and to righty ridicule. They live in a hardened bubble.

Beasts of England म्हणाले...

’ Aaron Rupar, on his amazing and outstanding Twitter feed…’

Amazing, indeed. lol

BIII Zhang म्हणाले...

I would remind everyone that the sitting head of the FBI is NOT investigating these downed spy machines.

He has been busy giving speeches to the oligarchs in Davos.

n.n म्हणाले...

It's a matter of State's privacy, and, the People, and "our [unPlanned] Posterity", lack standing.

Kevin म्हणाले...

No one – not the White House, the Pentagon or the government of Canada, whose airspace has also been infringed – seems able to say exactly what is going on with these latest downed crafts.

The Know Nothing Party is reborn.

Darkisland म्हणाले...

Anyone else remember Edmund Scientific? It is now Edmund Optics and the part that sold science toys and gadgets is ScientificDirect.com I used to get the coolest catalogs from them 40 years ago.

I'd not thought of them for ages but the recent balloon kerfuffle reminded me of a hot air balloon I bought from Edmund. It wasn't much, 16 strips of precut red and white tissue paper with a piece of coathanger wire to form the base. (But it only cost a buck or 2, so good value)

This would have been in 1980 or so and my kids would have been kindergarten age or so. We spent an hour or two messily gluing the strips together and then the the bottom opening to a hoop made from the wire.

We wound up with a teardrop balloon about 16' tall and perhaps 3' diameter at the widest. Red and white stripes. I had a piece of metal stovepipe, we lit some crumpled newspaper, inflated the balloon with hot air and let 'er rip.

It got to 4-500 feet and floated over our town for perhaps 10 minutes before coming down and getting eaten by a tree. We were all in the car chasing it.

It did cause some consternation, even being commented on by the local radio station in the vein of "What the Hell was that?"

It would probably get me put in jail as a terrorist today.

I have heard, but have never tried, that one can make a hot air balloon from a large light duty trash bag, put a candle in it and it will fly indefinitely until the candle burns out.

Of course there is YouTube video how to do it because Hell, yeah! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmWz_F_dPoc

More spectacular https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3qf4OiNHfY

Jaq म्हणाले...

So basically, there are filters on our radar to keep from getting false alarms, and certain types of craft can simply waltz into US airspace without triggering warnings. China should have kept this one under their hats until they were ready to strike with an EMP. Or the Norks, for that matter.

Good thing for us that this happened, I guess.

Gusty Winds म्हणाले...

This at the moment seems rather harmless. These days you don't know if something is actually concerning or if it is just a distraction. And if it is a distraction...that is most concerning.

Bigger question is what is going on in Ohio with the train derailment and massive amounts of toxic polyvinyl chloride released into the air. Pictures and videos on Twitter are unbelievable. And it's the only platform where it's mentioned. Media is silent.

And of course liberals still can't stop fawning over Mayor Pete, even though he has done a trash job as transportation secretary.

We are not being governed by good people. We are sailing on a ship of fools.

Mike of Snoqualmie म्हणाले...

"Republicans Pounce!"

"Look! It's Hailey's comet!" Never mind China-Joe's mental health or his corruption. Hailey's comet has returned early!

boatbuilder म्हणाले...

Amexpat:

The Pentagon claims that similar balloons have passed through US airspace under both Biden and Trump. If that's true, then is it smart to publicly acknowledge to adversaries that they've found a way to breach US airspace unnoticed, or is it better to work quickly and quietly to remedy the situation? “

There are lots of ways they could put that out there without jeopardizing actual security concerns. But they haven’t done that. They’ve had press flacks put out BS.

Why?

Jay Quenel म्हणाले...

Will they ever admit that in the pr panic the operators were ordered to turn the discrimination knobs down to zero so the radars are now showing everything from bird flocks to little Suzy's Mylar birthday balloon?

Fritz म्हणाले...

Bob Boyd said...
https://www.weather.gov/bmx/kidscorner_weatherballoons

"Twice a day, every day of the year, weather balloons are released simultaneously from almost 900 locations worldwide! This includes 92 released by the National Weather Service in the US and its territories.

The balloons, which start out measuring about 6 ft. wide before release, expand as they rise to about 20 ft. in diameter! An instrument called a radiosonde is attached to the balloon to measure pressure, temperature and relative humidity as it ascends up into the atmosphere.
A transmitter on the radiosonde sends the data back to tracking equipment on the ground every one to two seconds. By tracking the position of the radiosonde, we can also calculate wind speed and wind direction. The radiosonde is powered by a small battery.

A parachute, attached to the end of the balloon, allows the radiosonde to fall slowly to the ground at speeds less than 22 mph after the balloon bursts. Each radiosonde contains a mailing bag and instructions on what to do if you find one. About 20% of the 75,000 radiosondes sent up each year in the US are found and returned. These instruments are fixed and reused, saving the government money."


I have found a couple of these washed up on the shore of Chesapeake Bay and mailed them back.

Bob Boyd म्हणाले...

I have found a couple of these washed up on the shore of Chesapeake Bay and mailed them back.

Cool. I'd love to find one.

I found a badly decomposed angel carcass once, though. It was in a cow pasture way out in the country.
Two huge white wings were still intact, the feathers very white and clean. They were attached to the remains of a ribcage. There were few other bones and all had been mostly stripped of flesh by scavengers and bugs. The halo was gone.

JaimeRoberto म्हणाले...

’ Aaron Rupar, on his amazing and outstanding Twitter feed…’

Oh come on now, Chuck. You can't possibly be for real.

Curious George म्हणाले...

"God, we need more Republicans like that."

You were coming as you typed that, right?

Amadeus 48 म्हणाले...

CNN--they never fail to deliver the Demmie party line. Of course this is a "Republicans pounce" story.

Stalin would admire their steadfastness.

mongo म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Darkisland म्हणाले...

Gadzooks, Tim, I had not thought of that.

Destruction of the Nordstrom pipeline was an act of war against Russia. You are right that it would be an act of war against Germany as well. Not much different than a "blockade" which under international law is legally considered an "act of war"

These fuckers are going to get us into yet a third European war. Like the other 2, we have no business being involved. We became independent 250 years ago for a reason and these assholes just wont pay attention.

John Henry

Darkisland म्हणाले...

1979, SNL, Bill Murray, Steve Martin

They had something to say about all these UFOs..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DU_Gd623HJo

Don't look, Ann. It will garner your disapproval. Steve is wearing shorts.

John Henry

Rit म्हणाले...

Darkisland said...
Anyone else remember Edmund Scientific?


Oh wow, the memories! As kids growing up in the early 70's we used to ride our bikes to the store and spend hours there. The submarine periscope in the middle of the store was always fun to play with. Getting there involved crossing several busy highways. If our parents had ever found out we were doing so I'd probably still have problems sitting down from the ass-whupping they'd have given me.

Drago म्हणाले...

JaimeRoberto: "Oh come on now, Chuck. You can't possibly be for real."

Well, yes and no.

Yes, LLR Chuck exists.

No, LLR Chuck was never as he attempted to portray himself: as the MOST principled Super Duper True Conservative that ever existed.

It was always a sham, a farce, a ploy LLR Chuck utilized in order to "smear" and lie about republicans and "drive a wedge between Althouse and her readers" and to paint it all as legitimate criticism coming from the right.

As you can clearly see now, that false persona tactic, employed by so many leftists on so many blogs, is now fully exposed and no longer tenable. Thus, LLR Chuck now throws caution to the wind as he lets his Far Left Freak Flag fly.

I will congratulate myself for discerning this well worn tactic by LLR Chuck all the way back in 2015.

Interestingly, it was in that time frame that we now know several far left billionaires began creating banks of fake conservatives whose job it was to push democratical narratives and attempt to sow dissension amongst actual conservatives on popular blogsites.

Feel free to draw obvious and inescapable conclusions.

wildswan म्हणाले...

If we had to fight a war it would include hovering drones that fight like this:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625137346030059521
and
And the Chinese now know where to make drones hover in the US and bomb vital military areas - they now have complete maps = while an incompetent DIE military person promoted for DIE reasons leaves the military to really die. Think Pete Buttigieg in the transportation crisis. Kamala on the border. John Fetterman (ableism) being a perfectly adequate Senator from the Democratic party power-needs point of view. Think the spy balloon traversing the US while Joe Biden (sgeism) ate ice cream. Yeah, our leadership - drones, also but the wrong kind.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

Edmund Scientific is a well remembered catalog.

My weather balloon story......

First let me set the context. My Mom-n-Dad ran a family pharmacy for over 20 years. He sold sulphur, charcoal, copper sulfate, and salt Peter (potassium nitrate). Growing up, the house was full of promotional mortar, and pestles.

I was probably 12 years old, and was experimenting with chemistry. Dry ice was fun, but boring. A couple of "Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!" pronouncements over a bubbling vessel, and the novelty wore off.

We tried re-inventing gun powder, and contact explosives. An "Explosives Cookbook" was a purchased for a quarter ($0.25) from the back of a "Fantastic Four" comic book. We spent several weeks trying for find a bigger bang in our gunpowder mix. Mostly, we just burned the hair off of our forearms. There was more than one singed eyebrow.

We soon graduated to sodium hydroxide, aluminum, and water. We were enthralled by the lye eating the aluminum, and we could hold a match over the reaction to light the escaping hydrogen.

Someone mentioned, "Can we capture the escaping hydrogen in a party balloon??".

An old 32 oz. 7-UP glass bottle was requisitioned. Over time, we learned the optimal measures for mixing the water, lye, and aluminum. We placed the mix in the bottle, and capped the bottle with a balloon. The balloon inflated, and was released into the atmosphere. We all felt great about our success.

Still in search of a bigger bang, I immediately suggested tying a kerosene soaked string to the balloon.

Light the string, release the balloon, and watch it explode in the sky!! This was WAY-MORE-FUN than dry ice.

The prevailing wind in Seattle comes out of south-west. This allowed the balloons to drift over the my childhood residence, and explode in the school yard next door. The burning debris would fall into the school yard.

I remember a warm August night, and a little fireworks in the starry night seemed like a good idea. A fresh batch of lye, aluminum, and water was prepared, and the balloon on the 7-UP bottle began to inflate. The balloon was tied off, a kerosene soaked string was attached, and the balloon was released.

What we had failed to notice was the change in the wind direction. The wind on hot August nights comes out of the north!! As the balloon elevated over the driveway, it began to drift to the south.

My attention began to focus to the south, and I could hear someone cleaning up after dinner. They were opening, and closing garbage cans in the backyard two doors to the south.

The hydrogen balloon exploded, and the debris began to descend.

We waited. Maybe, the burning debris would be overlooked. Maybe, it will fly-over, and land in the street beyond.

We waited.......until the homeowner garbed in a pink housecoat walked into the middle of the street trying to make sense of what had just happened, then we ran!!

Rumor has it the burning debris landed at her feet.

Owen म्हणाले...

The plural of “craft” is “craft.” The moron who wrote the article needs to go back to J Skool.

Rusty म्हणाले...

JaimeRoberto said...
"’ Aaron Rupar, on his amazing and outstanding Twitter feed…’

Oh come on now, Chuck. You can't possibly be for real."
His stated goal is to drive commenters from this blog and destroy it. Ignor him. He's just an attention whore.

TreeJoe म्हणाले...

Shouldn't press be the ones questioning Biden's leadership in an "information vacuum" over a period of a week that started with shooting down a Chinese balloon and ended with shooting down 3 more objects that we don't even claim to know what they are?

The fact they are pointing out Republicans doing it is a serious indicator of a failed press.

effinayright म्हणाले...

Anyone notice how alien abduction reports stopped about twenty years ago?

Could it be that the aliens sent a message to future abductees that if they blabbed, they would wind up like Harvard UFO zealot John Mack, killed in 2004 when hit by a bus reportedly driven by a...drunken space alien?

(that's how it was explained to me, anyway...)

Jaq म्हणाले...

I think the pipeline story is so dangerous that nobody will admit to its probable truth. It's like that lever in the castle in a horror movie that *nobody better pull* because the whole castle will collapse. My bet though, is that it eventually gets pulled, just like in the movies. Parties on the left and the right are asking questions in Germany. Of course, the "Green Party" is so pro-war that they don't care a fig that the largest methane spill in history was intentionally caused by a supposed ally. Isn't methane a bigger GHG than CO2, by a *lot*?

Jaq म्हणाले...

"His stated goal is to drive commenters from this blog and destroy it."

He's more like "Newman" on the Seinfeld show, whose dastardly plans and intrigues against Jerry only serve to make the show more entertaining.

Static Ping म्हणाले...

Chuck, Aaron Rupar is shorthand for a hack journalist and for good reason. He is a well-established liar. If you think his Twitter feed is outstanding, I am assuming you are overtly admitting to not be what you say you are.

Duly noted.

Butkus51 म्हणाले...

1-2-3 all together now.

Republicans pounce.

Rusty म्हणाले...

T in V
Except chuck has just the opposite effect.

Darkisland म्हणाले...

There is an LBJ story about how he called an opponent a pig fucker. But he is not a pig fucker his aide told him.

It doesn't matter, replied the big man, Let's make him deny it.

So now we have Karine Jean-Pierre: “There is No Indication of Aliens or Extraterrestrial Activity with These Recent Takedowns”

Which takes us to British Pol Leslie Titmuss: "Never believe a rumor until it is officially denied."

So now I am thinking it really is aliens, and not the kind sneaking over our borders, either.

JOhn Henry

Bushman of the Kohlrabi म्हणाले...

Joe Biden isn’t capable of leading the Daily Double Bingo Fiesta at the neighborhood old folks home, much less the US government. Even CNN knows this. That’s why they feel the need to protect him.

gilbar म्हणाले...

I've felt, for several years now.. That The Only Way "Chuck" makes sense, is:
He HAS to be a (what do call it? a Moby?) a fake fake.
Chuck's NOT a liberal pretending to be a conservative.
He's a conservative pretending to be a liberal pretending to be a conservative.
His "arguments" are SO PATHETIC, that NO ONE could Possibly think they'd be effective
(think Titania McGrath, but not funny.. at ALL)

He Can't REALLY be such a drunken alcoholic loser, with the IQ of a gnat..
it HAS TO BE his idea of a parody. Fess UP Chuck? You're Intentionally Acting Stupid.. Aren't YOU?

n.n म्हणाले...

So now I am thinking it really is aliens, and not the kind sneaking over our borders, either.

The kind who are obsessed with back... black holes... whores h/t NAACP... and performance of human rites for social, redistributive, clinical, political, criminal, and fair weather progress.

Chuck म्हणाले...

Before now, I had made one single comment on this page. My comment went directly to the subject of Althouse's blog post. I hyperlinked the portion I was quoting, to make for better and easier reading.

Not only did I not make any personal attacks on any other commenters, I didn't even mention any other commenters.

Behold, all of the noxious, distracting, pointless, cluttering personal attacks on me.

Now, I see that for the umpteenth time, you have altered your commenting "rules" at the bottom of this page.

You have a real moderation problem, Althouse. A serious problem, with what must be a tiny fraction of your readership. You have a moderation problem, and it isn't me.

Nota bene: Never, did I "state...[any] goal... to drive commenters from this blog and destroy it." Your commenters say stuff like that even as I challenge them to quote me. They can't. I never wrote such a thing. I've never professed such a goal. And I am really tired of denouncing that lie.

Again; you have a moderation problem and it isn't me.

fairmarketvalue म्हणाले...

Chuck the victim. No a good look for a high-powered Michigan lawyer and Principled Conservative.

Drago म्हणाले...

Looks like LLR and Whitmer Fanboy Chuck is once again deep into another pitcher of gin and tonics and has forgotten he was supposed to be in Full Eddie Haskell Mode.

And as we all know from unfortunate experience, once Chuck lapses like this he assumes a bizarre and creepy "familiarity" and faux Blog Master condescending tone with Althouse which is entirely inappropriate and greasily weird.

Very stalkerish.

Very stalkerish indeed.

Drago म्हणाले...

Banned Commenter LLR Chuck: "You have a moderation problem, and it isn't me."

Once again, Banned Commenter LLR Chuck has thoughts to share on how to properly moderate a blog.

I would think Rule #1 for Blog Moderation consideration might be Banned Commenters Remain Banned Until Such Time As They Are Formally UnBanned.

Any thoughts on the utility and desirability of such a Rule, Banned Commenter LLR Chuck?

gpm म्हणाले...

>>Never, did I "state...[any] goal... to drive commenters from this blog and destroy it."

You may not like or agree with the paraphrase, and I may not have the words exactly right, but you did explicitly state years ago that you had a goal to "drive a wedge" between Althouse and her commenters. I saw it with my own eyes and was astounded by your assholery. If you deny that statement, you're a lying piece of shit, as all as a dumb asshole.

There was something else nasty in that same comment that I don't quite remember, something about not caring about being fair or honest in your comments and just wanting to disparage Trump. Also that those two goals were your only reasons for commenting here.

The post has been quoted verbatim any number of times since then. Quite likely that somebody can produce the exact quotes without my wasting my time to dig them up. And, if I did or somebody else does, what would your response be?

--gpm

--gpm
..

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

I love the sound of Chuck's whining in the morning. What a twat you are, Chuck.

Drago म्हणाले...

fairmarketvalue: "Chuck the victim. No a good look for a high-powered Michigan lawyer and Principled Conservative."

Interestingly, playing the victim is very much the default position for those on the political left........hmmmm.

Feel free to draw inescapable conclusions.

Rusty म्हणाले...

I would much rather talk about Bidens capacity to lead than a commenter with obvious mental problems.
Of all the reasons for calling for the impeachment of Joe Biden I think the basic one is that he is simply 'not there'. He is a puppet for people we did not elect and who do not have the best interests of the nation as their top priority. We're sleep walking our way into a shooting war because 81 million(sic) people could not stomach peace and prosperity.

Marchesa Vincenzo Giustiniani म्हणाले...

Cuck is a whiny parasite. He is unhappy about the blog, the hostess, the commenters, the moderation...and yet he WILL NOT FUCKING LEAVE AND START HIS OWN, because he's a drunk nobody. No one would bother clicking over to something he produced, he knows it, and he is DYING OF JEALOUSY because he apparently can't live without attention. Prof Althouse has accomplished something. This fake "conservative" with the shit-tier law degree hasn't.

Yinzer म्हणाले...

File under 'things no one EVER said before Chuck did'; 'we need more Republican senators like Mitt Romney'.