More “Balloonacy”

Earlier this week, we reported that General Glen VanHerck, the commander of NORAD, admitted that he had been tracking the Chinese communist spy balloon as it approached the coast of Alaska. (This was no run-of-the-mill “weather” balloon.)

But the Biden Administration took no action then because Gen. VanHerck claimed the balloon “was not demonstrating hostile action or hostile intent.” Well, that doesn’t seem to be entirely true. 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told CBS News that we “buttoned down” our nuclear bases and limited “movement and communications” in order to ensure that “we didn’t expose any capability unnecessarily.”

Really? That’s significant action to take for something that has no “hostile intent.” 

And that begs the question: If Austin shut down movement and communications at major military bases over this balloon and we shot it down off the coast of South Carolina, why wasn’t it shot down off the coast of Alaska?

It makes absolutely no sense to allow the spy balloon to travel across the entire country only to shoot it down after it had most likely completed its mission.

One possible explanation for this inexplicable behavior comes to mind: Joe Biden didn’t want to risk offending his Beijing benefactors. 

The Biden Administration was hoping to avoid an international incident before the president’s State of the Union address and they wanted Secretary of State Blinken’s planned visit to China to take place as scheduled. 

So, Biden allowed the communist Chinese spy balloon to violate U.S. airspace and travel across the country, hoping no one would notice. But his plans were foiled by sharp-eyed Montana residents.

This is what “America Last” looks like. Our national security took a back seat to Joe Biden’s political and personal considerations.

Once again, our so-called “leaders” are not up to the task. They’re more concerned with pronouns and pregnant men than protecting our country!

Confronting Communist China

The House Armed Services Committee and the House Financial Services Committee held hearings this week on the threats posed to America by communist China. While conservatives were looking for ways to address and overcome these threats, liberals appeared to be worried about something else – white supremacy.

In his opening remarks, Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, dramatically downplayed the risks of war with communist China, which is odd given that China is preparing for war. 

But Smith also felt it necessary to remind members of the committee that “In the last several years, there has been a massive increase in anti-Asian hate and bigotry in this country.” 

Meanwhile, in the House Financial Services Committee, ranking Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), declared:

“Anti-Asian American violence has skyrocketed in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic. . . We have a responsibility to avoid language that stokes hatred and viewers’ xenophobia and violence against the Asian American communities.”

Did you catch that? In a hearing about communist China’s threats to America, Waters is worried about you, the viewer, watching at home!

Of course, I agree that there is no need to stoke hatred and xenophobia. But the only people stoking hatred and bigotry were the leftist politicians who insinuated that the American people are a bunch of anti-Asian bigots! 

They’ve been playing the “race card” for so long they just can’t help themselves, even when the topic at hand is the threat from a foreign enemy.

And the hypocrisy is off the charts!

The entire left-wing establishment is built on hatred and bigotry. The left is trying to define American history, teaching that our country is evil and claiming that it was founded on racism, slavery and genocide. It’s pushing critical race theory in our schools, teaching white children that they are inherently racist.

But if progressive politicians are really worried about anti-Asian bigotry, maybe they should look in the mirror. 

Liberals in the Virginia State Senate just blocked the confirmation of an Indian-American immigrant, a “woman of color,” to serve on the Virginia State Board of Education because she’s a patriot and opposes socialism.

Who Destroyed The Pipeline?

I’m no fan of Seymore Hersh. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist has made some bizarre claims in the past, and his latest “bombshell” report is raising plenty of eyebrows. 

Hersh alleges that Joe Biden ordered elite U.S. Navy divers to blow up Russia’s Nord Stream pipeline. The White House categorically denies the allegation. But what we know so far is disturbing.

Biden did threaten to destroy the pipeline. One year ago this week, Biden declared:

“If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again, then there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2.  We will bring an end to it.”

Our European allies have said multiple times (here and here) that they can find no evidence that Russia blew it up.

As we have previously noted, it made absolutely no sense for Putin to blow up his own natural gas pipeline. It was a major source of revenue for Russia, and he could simply turn it on or off at whim, which Putin has done before.   

But virtually every strong national security conservative immediately embraced that nonsensical narrative, and it demonstrated the larger problem we’re confronting. 

We have a Deep State, controlled by the left, that has lied repeatedly and may have done so again, this time with consequences that could well be horrific. 

Meanwhile, serious people, like Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), are increasingly concerned by the prospect that Hersh might be right this time. Lee tweeted:

“I’m troubled that I can’t immediately rule out the suggestion that the U.S. blew up Nord Stream. . . If it turns out to be true, we’ve got a huge problem.”

Joe’s Record Low

If you didn’t watch Joe Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday night, you weren’t the only one. It seems most Americans weren’t interested, and either tuned Joe out or turned him off. 

This year’s State of the Union ratings are down 29% from last year, according to the Hollywood Reporter, making it the “second-smallest [audience] for State of the Union addresses . . . of the past 30 years, behind only Biden’s first address to Congress in 2021.”

By the way, one of the “lowlights” of Biden’s address Tuesday night was when he repeated his lie that Republicans want to cut Social Security and Medicare. 

He based this claim on a proposal by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) to create a “sunset commission” that would review the efficiency of federal programs and help eliminate waste and redundancy. The purpose of the sunset commission isn’t to kill programs, but to force Congress to regularly reevaluate them. 

This is not a radical idea. Sen. Scott got the idea for his “sunset commission” legislation from his experience as governor of Florida. Dozens of states use them. 

In fact, Joe Biden proposed the same idea himself multiple times. And in 1995, then-Senator Biden clearly stated:

“When I argued that we should freeze federal spending, I meant Social Security, as well. I meant Medicare and Medicaid.  I meant veterans’ benefits. I meant every single solitary thing in the federal government. And I not only tried it once, I tried it twice, I tried it a third time, and I tried it a fourth time.”