#surveillance balloon

[jingerpi]

every accusation is an admission

[hometoursandotherstuff]

I don’t blame them- get out of here!

[gwydionmisha]

Captain Kirk Has A New Enemy In Space

[tomorrowusa]

At least three Chinese balloons violated US airspace during the Donald Trump administration. We’re only finding out about that now. 

Republicans want you to think they are great at national security. So why did 9/11 happen under the nose of a GOP president? (BTW, it was a Democratic president who brought the perpetrator of 9/11 to justice.)

Donald Trump repeatedly played footsie with totalitarian dictators who are enemies of the United States. Joe Biden has spent less than 6% of the US defense budget to help wreck much of the military of the most blatantly expansionist of those dictators. That’s being cost effective as well as security-conscious.

The Trump Republican Party is a danger both externally and internally. They make excuses for domestic terrorists and have occasionally sympathized with them. They mostly refused to convict a president who conducted an attempted coup.

[sgreffenius]

This article is a little disconnected, or discursive we might say, because it has so many examples to cover.

A few observations:

Disinformation has become a euphemism for lying and dishonesty. Yet disinformation reminds us of 1984 and totalitarian states in general, so it’s not a bad euphemism.

Note the oxymoron built into the term disinformation. Information is, by definition, true. Disinformation is information that is not true.

The state has become so comfortable in its ‘myth bubble’, that it uses disinformation to cover its use of disinformation. Lies spawn more lies.

Many of us thought in 2016, “Man, this is one weird election campaign.” We have found in the last seven years or so that 2016 merely took state dishonesty, and the FBI’s involvement in politics, to new heights, so to speak - where lies became part of our national fabric. No wonder the national fabric unravels.

Not one public official - not one - ever acknowledges a major lie. Did observant citizens in Montana look up into their clear skies, then force our department of defense to come clean about its presence? What the hell is that up there? Oh yes, the department says, we’ve known about several other balloons as well. That’s great, thanks for being honest.

The truth always come out at last. Short version: truth will out. I didn’t make that up.

[foxsicle]

ngl but the chinese balloon bs making headlines everyday when ohio is undergoing an ecological crisis due to a toxic train's derailment (that workers were trying to strike to prevent) is just peak US political theater. it's incredibly infuriating

[memenewsdotcom]

Chinese spy balloon spotted over U.S.

[commonsensecommentary]

“I cannot imagine a worse circumstance in which to have Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in charge of our nation’s defenses.”

[fretbored34]

Goodnight birds, goodnight trees, goodnight other surveillance things 😴

[lesmachins]

A U.S. Air Force U-2 pilot takes a selfie while looking down at the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it floated over the central continental United States on February 3, 2023, before later being shot down by the Air Force off the coast of South Carolina, in this photo released by the U.S. Air Force on February 22, 2023.

[theeleventhsignofthezodiac]

[tomorrowusa]

Historian Michael Beschloss [@BeschlossDC] reminds us of a 1960 incident when the Soviet Union shot down an American U-2 surveillance aircraft over its territory.

The late CBS correspondent Walter Cronkite explained the U-2 crisis in this 2005 piece at NPR.

Loss of Spy Plane Sabotaged 1960 Summit

Just as the U-2 incident disrupted President Eisenhower’s summit with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, the recent balloon incident caused the cancellation of an important diplomatic meeting between Xi Jinping and Sec. of State Anthony Blinken.

Of course this time it will be the United States putting on display the remnants of a foreign surveillance device shot down over its territory.

@npr

[incorrectbatfam]

Does the Batmobile ever get ticketed or does the GCPD just ignore it

Bruce: *puts a box on the table*

Bruce: Gather around, everyone. It's time for our monthly ticket review.

Bruce: First up, Steph. Can you explain what happened last Friday?

[earlier]

Steph: *looking for parking in a full lot*

Steph: Screw it, I'm going around back.

Steph: *parks in front of a fire exit*

[present]

Steph: I just needed to use the bathroom.

Bruce: And in those three minutes, the Joker released a giant water balloon forcing everyone to evacuate through one less exit.

Steph: It said "fire exit." That technically wasn't a fire.

Bruce: Well, the penalty is $100 plus the towing cost. I can pay it off but you have to help Alfred in the kitchen for a month.

Steph: Yeah, that's fair.

Bruce: Next up... Cass and Barbara? Color me surprised.

Barbara: Oh yeah, I had to remotely pilot the Batmobile the other day because Cass needed a getaway.

Bruce: Then why am I being charged $250?

[earlier]

Cass: *fighting a gang*

Barbara: Orphan, ETA thirty seconds. Prepare for extraction.

Cass: *knocks out the last henchman and runs to the car*

Comm. Gordon: *writing a ticket*

Cass: ?

Comm. Gordon: You're in a disabled parking spot without a permit.

[present]

Barbara: Well I am disabled.

Bruce: Understandable. I'll let it slide since it's the first time. Just file the paperwork for a permit.

Bruce: Dick, you went thirty-five over the speed limit when you weren't pursuing a suspect. Explain.

[earlier]

Wally: Race you to Keystone?

Dick: *revs the engine*

[present]

Bruce: You're better than this. I'm disappointed. Next up: Tim. Driving without a license plate. What happened there?

[earlier]

Tim: I wasn't supposed to take the Batmobile since Bruce benched me for my wrist, but my other ride is in the shop.

Kon: What about cameras? Can't your dad tap into the city's surveillance system?

Bart: Traffic cameras read license plates, so if we take them off, no one will recognize us.

Kon: Now that's an idea.

[present]

Tim: That's on me. I shouldn't have listened to them.

Bruce: Put them back on, plus you're benched for another week. Damian, on to you.

Damian: What on Earth could I have done? I followed the speed limit, parked in the correct spots, and never so much as changed lanes on an empty road without signalling.

[earlier]

Damian, a middle schooler: *driving*

[present]

Damian: Tt.

Bruce: Don't do it again. Duke...

Duke: *cringes and remembers what he did*

[earlier]

Duke: *hooks the Batmobile to a freezer trailer*

Duke: *starts driving around with a megaphone*

Duke: Ice cream! Get your ice cream!

[present]

Bruce: Fantastic job. No complaints.

Jason, muttering: Teacher's pet.

Bruce: And finally, Jason.

Bruce: *empties the rest of the box*

[head-post]

Two Chinese balloons spotted north of Taiwan

Taiwan authorities said two Chinese balloons have crossed the median line in the strait between the two nations.

According to the defence ministry in Taipei, one balloon was spotted at 9:03 a.m. Sunday and the other at 2:43 p.m. They continued eastwards and disappeared.

On Monday, ministry spokesman Sun Li-fang told reporters on social media that initial assessments suggested the planes were used for meteorological purposes.

The US drew a median line in the body of water separating Taiwan from China in 1954 at a time of heightened tensions between Beijing and Taipei. For a long time, China did not breach the line, but has recently become involved in military aircraft flights across it, wearing down Taiwan’s sparse armed forces.

Earlier, a Chinese balloon disrupted relations between Beijing and Washington. 

Learn more HERE

[memenewsdotcom]

U.S. shoots down unidentified object over Lake Huron