Whether it’s illegals or balloons, Joe Biden fails to protect the US By Monica Showalter

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/02/whether_its_illegals_or_balloons_joe_biden_fails_to_protect_the_us.html

Joe Biden has been hit by crisis after crisis as a result of his own bad decisions, and oddly enough, they are starting to look alike.

Take the latest China balloon incursion, where some kind of spying device has been sent over military installations throughout the U.S. interior, with Biden doing nothing about it.

That’s a sovereignty violation that ought to be drawing a major response to an arrogant, expanding wannabe superpower desperate to flex its military muscles, yet Joe’s response, that shooting the invading device down might create debris or hit a populated area (America is loaded with unpopulated ones the balloon is traversing) is simply pathetic. 

Is it all that different from his open borders policies, where millions of unvetted foreign migrants are flooding into this country without authorization, bringing crime, drugs, and costs, yet there too nothing is done about it? Joe offers an absurd excuse for that decision, as well claiming that all migrants who can utter the magic word ‘asylum’ are entitled to a free ride inside the U.S. for years or more, amounting to an all-expenses paid trip for thousands.

What we see here is a failure to protect, the prime duty of any leader of a nation, and an indifference to duty. Years ago, over at the United Nations, Samantha Powers and her ilk, writing about Rwanda, even came up with the concept of “duty to protect” on humanitarian grounds, claiming that all nations have an obligation to prevent genocide. Duty and protection has an odd parallel to the archetypical concept of manhood, as it’s a manly virtue to protect one’s own and immediate community, a masculine virtue that, to look at his fatherhood output, Joe’s never had. 

Now that the nation is being invaded from its south and now from above, Joe’s excusemaking for doing nothing rather resembles that of a slovenly absentee father who lets his kids grow up with no guidance, like stones in the field, with the predictable outcome of Hunter Biden.

Democrats Get Even More Racist Derek Hunter

https://townhall.com/columnists/derekhunter/2023/02/05/democrats-get-even-more-racist-n2619169?utm_medium=widget&utm_source=slider

You can tell what Democrats don’t want to talk about by what they blame on racism or some other irrelevant factor. When they don’t like a story, or can’t spin it to their advantage, they cry some kind of “ism” or “phobia,” and the granddaddy of all of it is racism. When the agenda isn’t helped by reality, Democrats simply declare a new reality. Matthew Shepard was a gay guy killed by someone who was reportedly a former lover over money and a drug deal gone bad, but he was somehow turned into a martyr for gay rights because his murder was so horrific it attracted national attention and the truth wasn’t useful to the left so it was declared homophobic. When reality isn’t helpful, insistently deny it and push forward. It’s how Democrats work.

The death of Tyre Nichols is another such event. Five black cops beat a black man who ultimately dies…and it’s about white supremacy somehow. The Governor of Florida bans racism and victimhood being drilled into the heads of students in the state and he’s one of the worst monsters history has ever produced. It’s all lies, but the truth does not serve Democrats. 

When Ron DeSantis banned the AP African American Studies class you would’ve thought he was standing in the schoolhouse door. But he’s not a Democrat. 

The View, always on the leading edge of stupid and one of the most destructive forces in all of American culture, talked about this because DeSantis is all Democrats seem to talk about these days. Whoopi Goldberg, who you’d think would have learned something throughout her life (if only by accident), demonstrated a level of ignorance you almost have to fight to achieve. 

“I don’t understand why he (DeSantis) believes that — he wants people to see the history of Western Civilization and history and philosophy of Western Civilization,” Goldberg said. “Because he wants it seen through that lens. Why is your lens better than my lens?

China Is Not Happy That We Shot Down Their Spy Balloon Matt Vespa

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2023/02/05/china-is-not-happy-that-we-shot-down-their-spy-balloon-n2619170

This Chinese spy balloon fiasco could have been avoided—at least, that’s the feeling, and you don’t need a security clearance to have that assumption. We have the capability to track these devices; we’ve been on pins and needles regarding missile launches since the Cold War. We never saw this balloon coming. It’s a balloon—one that measured three bus lengths and drifted at high altitudes, but a balloon, nonetheless. China regretted this spy balloon which hovered over areas where we house nuclear missiles. Montana is where passengers on a commercial airliner reportedly spotted this Beijing bag of tricks launched from Central China. 

China’s reaction to the US was as expected: don’t overreact because this balloon drifted off course. For once, Joe Biden made the right call by wanting to shoot it down—the Pentagon advised against it. This spy balloon drifted with impunity across American skies for days before being shot down yesterday. And Beijing was none too pleased (via NBC News): 

The U.S. downed the Chinese surveillance balloon off the Carolina coast on Saturday, a U.S. official said, setting off a tense exchange between both nations. 

An F-22 raptor with a single missile shot the balloon down at 2:39 p.m., according to a senior defense official. It was between 60,000 to 65,000 feet in the air when it was downed. 

U.S. Military Shoots Down Chinese Spy Balloon By Rick Moran

https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/02/04/faa-issues-ground-stop-n2619167

The United States has shot down the Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic, the Associated Press reports.

The United States on Saturday downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the Carolina coast after it traversed sensitive military sites across North America and became the latest flashpoint in tensions between Washington and Beijing.

An operation was underway in U.S. territorial waters in the Atlantic Ocean to recover debris from the balloon, which had been flying at about 60,000 feet and was estimated to be about the size of three school buses.

President Joe Biden had told reporters earlier Saturday that “we’re going to take care of it,” when asked about the balloon. The Federal Aviation Administration and Coast Guard worked to clear the airspace and water below the balloon as it reached the ocean.

Hot Air: No Global Warming for Eight Years By Catherine Salgado

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/02/04/hot-air-no-global-warming-for-eight-years-n1667955

Recently published data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows that there has not been global warming for the past eight years. And NASA satellite data reportedly confirms that evidence, showing no global warming for eight years and five months, according to JunkScience’s Steve Milloy. But leftists are quick to warn people against drawing the obvious conclusion that the world isn’t about to become a burning ball of fire.

Recently published evidence also showed that there was actually a near-record low of major hurricanes in 2022, indicating that weather isn’t getting progressively and exponentially worse globally, despite the climate frenzy of the media and governments. And the Northeast is currently experiencing record cold in a harsh winter, with Mt. Washington, N.H., yesterday dropping to -45.5 degrees Fahrenheit and -107 degree wind chill.

Axios, which normally loves to scare-monger about global warming, reported today, “Arctic outbreak shatters records in Northeast.” I’m going to go out on a limb — or a glacier — and say that the Northeastern U.S. is definitely not about to suffer devastating effects from “global warming.”

White House KNEW About the Chinese Spy Balloon and Covered It up — but Then… By Robert Spencer

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/robert-spencer/2023/02/04/bombshell-white-house-knew-about-the-chinese-spy-balloon-and-covered-it-up-but-then-n1667854

How cowardly and compromised is the Biden regime? We have fresh evidence of just how bad it is, courtesy of the Chinese spy balloon. The world found out about the now-infamous balloon on Thursday, when a Montana resident named Chase Doak spotted it and posted a video. But that was not the first that Old Joe Biden’s handlers heard of the balloon. Now it has come to light that they knew about it all along but kept the knowledge secret so as to avoid a confrontation with the Chinese Communist Party and keep Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s now-canceled trip to Beijing on track. Patriots can thank Chase Doak for the small show of spine from the Biden State Department that the cancellation represented.

“Not gonna lie,” Doak tweeted with his video. “First, I thought this was a #ufo. Then, I thought it was @elonmusk in a Wizard of Oz cosplay scenario. But it was just a run-of-the mill Chinese spy balloon!” But Bloomberg revealed in a bombshell report Friday that “as it turns out, US authorities were well aware of the unidentified object that had entered American airspace on Jan. 28, that had then left and re-entered over North Idaho on Tuesday.” But Blinken was slated to huddle with the ChiComs in Beijing, and Old Joe and his henchmen didn’t want to let something as trivial as what J. Michael Waller of the Center for Security Policy terms “China’s military espionage incursion into the US” get in the way of a friendly tête-à-tête in the Forbidden City.

In fact, Biden had already been informed about the spy balloon long before Chase Doak spotted it, and his handlers were holding nervous discussions about whether or not to shoot it down. Yet Blinken thundered Friday that China’s decision to launch the spy balloon was an “irresponsible act” that represented a “clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law.” He added that China’s “decision to take this action on the eve of my planned visit is detrimental to the substantive discussions that we were prepared to have.”

‘Responsibility’ In The Debt-Ceiling Negotiations? Fuhgeddabadit. Bob Maistros

https://issuesinsights.com/2023/02/03/responsibility-in-the-debt-ceiling-negotiations-fuhgeddabadit/

AP: “Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in an Associated Press interview Saturday” that “demands by House Republicans for spending cuts in return for backing an increase are ‘a very irresponsible thing to do.’” — Huffington Post

“The greatest threat to America, it doesn’t matter if you sit before a four-star general, they’ll tell you the debt is the greatest threat to this nation. And for the president to say he won’t even negotiate is irresponsible.” — House Speaker Kevin McCarthy at his weekly news conference

‘Irresponsible?” Seriously? This from an Establishment politician first elected to Congress 16 years ago, during which time federal outlays have more than doubled and national debt has tripled under congresses and administrations of both parties?

And from a liberal Democratic economics near-lifer long known as an inflation dove, who as Fed chair ran an accommodative policy to cover for Obamite profligacy?

Who, as Treasury chief, in just two years has driven into the ground an economy that was roaring back after COVID lockdowns, while insisting inflation was “transitory” and abortions necessary to economic growth?

Not to mention presumably brainstorming and helping shepherd through the Biden economic troupe’s $1.9 trillion American “Rescue” spendapalooza, its $1.2 trillion infrastructure hog trough, its $200 billion semiconductor industry boondoggle, its $1.7 trillion Green New Deal-not-so-lite “Inflation Reduction” hornswoggle, and the $1.9 trillion everything-including-the-kitchen-sink (but not gas stove) omnibus(t)?

Pardon this commentator while he is engulfed in an Earth-shaking belly laugh.

Pompeo: Biden’s Weakness on Spy Balloon Assures Chinese Aggression Steps the Biden administration should take in response to China’s reconnaissance balloon Mike Pompeo

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/full-of-hot-air-how-bidens-weakness-assures-chinese-aggression/

President Joe Biden’s weakness with China is once again on display. Earlier this week, U.S. officials tracked a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the American mainland. A Chinese Communist Party spokesperson claimed this was nothing more than a “weather research” balloon that had simply blown off course. Sure, the CCP’s harmless weather balloon just happened to pass over multiple sensitive military sites vital to America’s national security—nobody should believe that nonsense, especially not the Biden administration.

Even if it were true, the CCP’s policy of civil-military fusion—which requires all available research and technology, from China’s private sector or otherwise, to be shared with the Chinese military—makes such an excuse an impossibility. Thus, this appears to be an intentional act of espionage, and it signals that the CCP is feeling ever more emboldened with Biden in charge. If the Biden administration does not act to change this paradigm quickly, the threat of conflict will only continue to grow. Weakness breeds aggression. America must demonstrate clear strength and resolve.

This is far from the first time the CCP has engaged in acts of espionage against the American people. China is, and has been for years, aggressively engaged in acts of espionage and propaganda against the American people at all levels of American society. The threat from the CCP is very real here at home, in places like Des Moines, Tallahassee, and Pittsburgh. Its malign activity doesn’t stay in Beijing or Wuhan; it is already inside our gates.

The CCP has targeted officials in our federal government, like congressman Eric Swalwell and Senator Dianne Feinstein, as well as our universities, local governments, media, think tanks, and more. The CCP underwrote a program of “Confucius Institutes” at American universities, ostensibly to foster cultural connections on our campuses, but in reality, to spy on students and professors and steal intellectual property. China’s economy was built on the backs of Americans not only by taking American jobs but also, crucially, by an unparalleled campaign of corporate espionage that has robbed Americans of billions of dollars’ worth of intellectual property. Even seemingly innocuous apps like TikTok have been revealed to be little more than tools for collecting the private information of Americans and spreading CCP propaganda.

Biggest Gift to Iran’s Mullahs, China and Russia: Biden Administration’s Weak Leadership by Majid Rafizadeh

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19371/biden-gift-iran-china-russia

Thanks to the Biden administration’s weak and vacillating leadership, Iran, Russia and China have been emboldened to levels never before seen.

[T]he Biden administration has not been taking any action to deter, disincentivize or punish those who breach the sanctions. Ever since the Biden administration assumed office, in fact, Iran’s oil exports have been on the rise… of which more than 800,000 barrels a day are being exported to China.

Thanks to the Biden administration’s abject posture towards China; its dithering over help to Ukraine; its ruining the US economy by shutting down America’s energy independence then rushing to buy oil from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela rather than Canada; the unconscionable abandonment of Afghanistan and our allies there; the Biden family’s appearance of influence-peddling, and, by closing down the China Initiative, the administration’s failure to stop Communist China’s runaway espionage, Russia, Iran and China are simply not taking the US seriously.

So long as the Biden administration does not demonstrate real leadership, Iran, Russia and China will continue to seize all opportunities to become more empowered and emboldened. The Biden administration’s legacy so far appears to be leaving the world a far more dangerous place.

Thanks to the Biden administration’s weak and vacillating leadership, Iran, Russia and China have been emboldened to levels never before seen.

First, the US sanctions against Russia are completely being smoothly violated by Iran’s mullahs and China. Despite the Biden administration’s sanctions, Iran’s oil exports have reached a new peak last month.

George Soros: The Man Who Wants ‘Cities to Fall Apart’? by Lawrence Kadish

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/19373/goerge-soros

According to published reports, George Soros is teaching college courses these days to thousands of students.

To be clear, he is not actually on campuses in front of the class. Rather, exhaustive investigations by journalists reveal how his reach, influence, and above all, money, is resetting curriculum to reflect his political ideology wherever and whenever he can.

Investigative author Matt Palumbo wrote in the New York Post last month:

“In 2020 alone, Soros’ Open Society Foundations budgeted more than $63 million, or just over 5% of its budget, toward influencing higher education here and abroad….

“More than 19 colleges had individually received at least $1 million from Soros, including Harvard University, Columbia University, Indiana University, and Georgetown University, among others.”

One institution in particular, Palumbo reveals, has significantly benefited from Soros’ campaign of campus influence, Bard College.

“Bard College had received nearly $80 million total from Soros when he announced in 2020 that he’d be awarding it an additional $100 million over the next decade.”

For what purpose?

It would appear that Soros is seeking to leverage his enormous wealth to create a new political cadre from an emerging generation that will pursue his goals today, and long after he is gone. It is what these goals are that is being questioned (for instance here , here and here).

Soros was a student of Karl Popper (author of The Open Society and Its Enemies) in London. Later, to promote freedom and defeat totalitarianism, Soros donated millions to such causes as Lech Walesa’s Solidarity Movement, which led Poland out of the grip of the Soviet Empire, and to financing democracy movements in Yugoslavia working to oust Slobodan Milosevic.