BIDENS HAVE BEEN PAID TO SHUT UP: Why Is a Giant Chinese Spy Balloon Hovering AT 50,000 FEET Over Montana?~Just Shoot the Damn Thing Down Already
ABOVE: President Joe Biden is pictured on Thursday speaking at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The inset, left, shows a ceremony to admit new members of the Communist Party of China, while the inset, right, portrays an Israeli-made surveillance balloon in India. Biden on Thursday faced criticism from Republicans after he declined to shoot down a Chinese surveillance balloon over Montana, heeding the advice of his military leadership.
The Pentagon said at midday Friday that a Chinese spy balloon had moved eastward and was over the central United States, and that the U.S. rejected China's claims that it was not being used for surveillance.
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BY PAULA BOLYARD
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
The Pentagon admitted on Thursday that the U.S. military has been monitoring what’s being described as a Chinese “surveillance balloon” hovering in the skies over the United States for days.
“The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is over the continental United States right now,” Pentagon spokesperson Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told NBC News. “We continue to track and monitor it closely.” Officials have confirmed that the balloon belongs to China.
“Once the balloon was detected, the U.S. government acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information,” Ryder said.
“The official said there was a window while the balloon was over Montana Wednesday when they could have taken it down. NORAD sent aircraft — including F-22 Raptors from Nellis Air Force Base and airborne early warning aircraft known as AWACs — but the official would not say whether one of the options was to shoot the balloon out of the sky with a U.S. aircraft,” NBC reported. “The U.S. military flights prompted a ground stop at the airport in Billings, with air traffic controllers citing a ‘special military mission.'”
According to the Montana Free Press, “The Air Force at Malmstrom [Air Force Base] maintains 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos across its 13,800-square-mile complex in central Montana.”
Biden refused to answer questions shouted at him by reporters Thursday afternoon.
Officials say the balloon flew over the Aleutian Islands and through Canada before settling over the Billings, Mont., area. The balloon is still hovering somewhere over the United States, according to a senior defense official who declined to say where it is now.
Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement that the balloon is “currently traveling at an altitude well above commercial air traffic and does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground.”
There’s been no mention by officials of the threat of a dirty bomb or an EMP, although there’s been plenty of speculation about that on Twitter.
At least one Twitter user, however, claims that it would be impossible for a balloon to launch an EMP attack:
On Wednesday, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened a meeting of senior military and defense leaders, including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, NORTHCOM/NORAD Commander Gen. Glen VanHerck, and other combatant commanders.
Austin was traveling in the Philippines at the time.
The leaders reviewed the threat profile of the Chinese stratospheric balloon and possible response options, and ultimately decided not to recommend taking it out kinetically, because of the risk to safety and security of people on the ground from the possible debris field. Pentagon leaders presented the options to President Joe Biden on Wednesday.
A senior administration official confirmed that Biden had been briefed and received a “strong recommendation” that the balloon not be shot down.
Startlingly, this is not the first time a Chinese spy satellite has breached U.S. airspace, but it’s unusual for one to hover over one specific area for an extended period of time.
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“Instances of this activity have been observed over the past several years, including prior to this administration,” a senior administration official told NBC. “We acted immediately to protect against the collection of sensitive information.”
YourBigSky, an ABC and Fox portal, is sharing pictures reportedly showing the spy balloon, although these have not been confirmed by the Pentagon.
These are reportedly videos of the balloon, which has been described as being the size of three large buses on social media:
“Currently we assess that this balloon has limited additive value from an intelligence collection perspective over and above what the PRC can do through other means,” the official said. “Nevertheless we are taking all necessary steps to protect against foreign intelligence collection of sensitive information.”
I’m no foreign policy expert, but I’m not gonna lie: If I were in charge, here’s what that Chi-com spy balloon would look like right now:
In the meantime, if anyone needs me…
Sadly, we don’t have a Ronald Reagan running the country right now. We have the husk of an aging, debilitated lifelong politician in the White House. If you’re like me, you have zero confidence that Biden will be able to stand up to the forces of evil aligned against the United States, which is a terrifying thought. And what better time for our enemies to attack? Please know that PJ Media will continue to report on the incompetent, corrupt Biden administration. If you’d like to join us in the fight to keep America safe from the Chi-coms and our other enemies around the world (including those coming through our open southern border), please become a VIP member today. For around 50 cents a week, you can play a vital role in helping us fight back. Use the promo code SAVEAMERICA for a 40% discount on an annual membership.
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For God's Sake. Just Shoot the Damn Thing Down Already
BY RICK MORAN
Republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, & research purposes.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has given the Biden administration’s response to President Xi Jinping and China for their brazenly illegal act of sending a balloon over U.S. territory to spy on the United States.
How do we know it’s a spy balloon? We don’t have to know. We can, should, and must assume that’s what it’s doing.
Blinken, along with his advisors Wynken and Nod, has come up with a brilliant riposte to this Chinese transgression. The United States will deny China the pleasure and honor of hosting the U.S. secretary of state this week as planned.
It’s the well-practiced “comfy chair” response to China. Unfortunately, it’s not likely to impress President Xi. In fact, Xi couldn’t care less if Blinken comes to Beijing or not. He must be watching the diplomatic byplay with amusement.
Blinken and one of his deputies spoke with the Chinese Embassy on Wednesday night, and on Friday morning, he 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.
Oh, dear! Did ya hear that Xi-man? It’s “unacceptable” to fly your aircraft over U.S. territory.
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.”
The explanation from the Chinese Foreign Ministry came after Pentagon officials said on Thursday that they had detected a balloon, “most certainly launched by the People’s Republic of China,” over Montana, which is home to about 150 intercontinental ballistic missile silos.
Just an accident, Mr. President. Really. How were we supposed to know that the bulk of the U.S. ground-based nuclear deterrence force was based in Montana? A completely honest and natural mistake?
The U.S. response should be short and quick. No need to waste a sophisticated missile on the interloping balloon. A couple of rounds from an F-35 Gatling gun would do the trick.
Does anyone not named Biden think that if the roles were reversed — if the U.S. had “accidentally” sent a balloon that flew over China — that Xi would not order the damn thing shot down the minute it crossed Chinese air space?
China isn’t going to start World War III if we treat the balloon as a hostile aircraft and shoot it down. Even if it’s harmless, as the Pentagon believes, it’s here and it’s flouting our air space.
Pentagon Press Secretary U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder and a senior U.S. defense official provided details about the ballon. “First, our best assessment at the moment is that whatever the surveillance payload is on this balloon, it does not create significant value added over and above what the PRC is likely able to collect through things like satellites in Low Earth Orbit,” the official added. “But out of an abundance of caution, we have taken additional mitigation steps. I’m not going to go into what those are.
The experts at The Drive’s The War Zone disagree that there’s no added benefit to floating a balloon above U.S. military installations: “The idea that a terrestrial aerial platform in close proximity and floating for long periods above major military installations and other sensitive locales is not significantly more of a threat than what can be collected by satellites in orbit is a debatable claim.”
This was no “accident,” as a senior defense official told The War Zone.
“Clearly they’re trying to fly over sensitive sites,” the senior defense official said. They added that the balloon’s current anticipated flight path takes it over a number of locations of potential interest, but would not specify what those were. It was noted during the press conference that Montana is home to Malmstrom Air Force Base with well over 100 silos holding nuclear-tipped Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles belonging to the 341st Missile Wing.
Given this information, Joe Biden is doing nothing laudatory, nor is he showing “restraint” by not turning this balloon into a flaming ball of gas. He’s showing incredible weakness. It’s a balloon, damn it. Blow it out of the sky and tell Mr. Xi that any more “accidental” balloons that drift over American airspace will be dealt with in a similar fashion.
Just shoot the damn thing down already.