USA Playing Its Marbles In The Sky?

How Biden And His Media Allies Turned A Threatening Chinese Spy Balloon Into A Political Feud

BY: MARK HEMINGWAY at the Federalist:

FEBRUARY 06, 2023

Instead of uniting Americans around the threat of China’s military provocations, the spy balloon episode produced a fog of misinformation and partisan finger-pointing.

MARK HEMINGWAY

If there was any doubt that we are engaged in some sort of cold war or contest for global superiority with China, the emergence of the CCP surveillance balloon over the United States should eliminate that. There’s no question China is being intentionally provocative.

And why wouldn’t it? The CCP is paying close attention. Chinese leaders have correctly assessed America is so politically and culturally dysfunctional that blatant acts of provocation can be done with impunity because blatant acts of hostility will just become more fodder for our domestic political disputes.

Our lack of national unity has been a national security problem for a long time, but as far as China’s concerned, it became abundantly clear just how bad a problem it was in 2020. The media and those otherwise responsible for “fortifying” our elections decided we weren’t allowed to say Covid came from Wuhan and started banning people from social media for saying the virus leaked from a Chinese lab. Regardless of the fact that China’s irresponsible behavior was to blame for the deaths of millions of Americans, it became an important domestic political priority to convert a global plague into baseless accusations of racism so it could be used as a cudgel in a presidential election.

Similarly, when the local media first noticed the surveillance balloon over the northern states, there was clearly a scramble by the Defense Department — which by all appearances was aware of the balloon and could have shot it down over the Aleutian Islands but let it continue, hoping civilians wouldn’t notice — to avoid having to explain why it was forced into doing something reactive as a result of public outcry. And since the president is responsible for national security matters, this made him look like he wasn’t doing his job, either.

What could be done so the DOD could avoid having to explain any failures here to avoid public doubt and fear? And what could Biden, who already looks tremendously weak on foreign policy after the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal and his failure to preempt the Russian invasion of Ukraine, do to minimize domestic political blowback?

The answer was obvious: Just go to the well for this one and blame Trump. Of course, that strategy depends on having a wholly credulous media that innately trust conflicted and compromised government officials who care more about political fallout than the safety and security of their country. So naturally, the accusation that the Trump administration looked the other way while several other Chinese spy balloons transited the U.S. was all over the media last week before anyone asked any real questions about whether this was fair or accurate.

After days of top Trump officials, including Trump’s CIA head Mike Pompeo and the former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, publicly denying the story, we’re now getting a situation so absurd it demands the mixing of metaphors: a backhanded walkback.

Monday morning, CNN was up with the story, “Chinese spy balloons under Trump not discovered until after Biden took office.” If you’re inclined to believe the national security apparatus under Trump would have been a little more aggressive in confronting China’s provocations, as most realists are, now the blame has shifted so as to portray the Trump administration as too incompetent to even notice what was going on.

There remains a possibility that this version of events is true. But the way this issue was dealt with by immediately pointing the finger at the previous administration, and then admitting the accusations that made it to the press were devoid of important context, is infuriating, less than reassuring, and difficult to believe.

As for how politics might enter into this transparently insulting and unserious media narrative, it’s probably worth noting that the aforementioned CNN story was written by Natasha Bertrand, a reporter so credulous that she earned the nickname “Fusion Natasha” because she wrote so many inaccurate stories about Trump-Russia collusion that appeared to be fed to her by Fusion GPS, the dodgy opposition research firm behind the so-called “dossier,” as well as other dishonest partisan sources.

Bertrand also holds a special place in President Biden’s heart for her, well, “politically helpful” journalism on Hunter Biden’s laptop. When the New York Post broke that story in October of 2020, Bertrand, then at Politico, wrote up the now-infamous story “Hunter Biden story is Russian disinfo, dozens of former intel officials say.” The article was cited by Joe Biden himself on the presidential debate stage while he was brazenly lying about his knowledge of his son’s corruption, and the broader media used her article to dismiss the need to look into the scandal. Of course, even some of the “former intel officials” Bertrand cited now admit they knew all along the laptop was real and declared it was Russian disinformation anyway.

To bring this full circle, it’s probably worth noting that some of the most damning allegations of Hunter Biden’s corruption involve him being financially compromised by the CCP and President Biden’s personal role in those deals.

Suffice to say, the situation we’re in where we have a Chinese spy balloon floating over the United States and we’re unable to trust the information we’re getting from our inept government and the corrupt media that enable it is a horrible one to be in. The end result of their excuse-making and blame-shifting is that a great many people feel more confused and less safe than when they first learned of the balloon.

National security threats can’t be used to play political games, yet that’s all we’ve seen for several years. The baseless accusations of Russia collusion under Trump were leveraged for domestic partisan political gain at the expense of actively poisoning our relationship with a hostile nuclear power with which we’re now mixed up in a war in Eastern Europe. And now we can’t bring ourselves to even speak forthrightly about the national security threat posed by communist China because it would have bad electoral ramifications for the same bad actors that regularly instigate domestic political tumult and sleepwalked into the war in Ukraine.

These bad-faith attempts of the Biden administration and the media — for once “collusion” is the right word — to examine every serious foreign policy development through a self-interested political lens have simply got to stop. Uniting Americans and the world at large around the threat China presents militarily and economically needs to be a much higher priority. And that’s simply impossible so long as China can exploit the fact that its every provocation will trigger a blizzard of dubious and divisive information coming straight from our government and sympathetic partisans in the press.

Mark Hemingway is the Book Editor at The Federalist, and was formerly a senior writer at The Weekly Standard. Follow him on Twitter at @heminator

How About Loony Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Mouth?

 FEBRUARY 6, 2023 BY STEVEN HAYWARD at Power Line:

2024—THE EARLY LINE IS WRONG

The announcement late last week that Nikki Haley is likely to announce soon as a candidate for president in 2024, with several other worthy contenders (Pence, Pompeo, Hulk Hogan) lining up to do the same before long, set off the commentariat handicapping the Republican field. It could well be crowded with good candidates, as was the case in 2016, and right now most people seem to think the leading prospect is a slugfest between Trump and Gov. DeSantis—if DeSantis chooses to run. And that could be a bloodbath for Republicans that will damage their chances of beating Biden.

I think there is a strong likelihood that everyone has sized up the scene backwards, and that the real surprise of the 2024 election cycle is a disaster in the Democratic Party. There could well be a rerun of 1968 in some ways, when the year began with the certain Democratic incumbent nominee, Lyndon Johnson, appearing to head to the election in a strong position. “Johnson Popularity on Upswing, Year-End Gallup Polls Discloses,” the New York Times declared on page one on New Year’s Day of 1968. LBJ’s public approval numbers had bounced back from a low of 38 percent in October 1967 to a respectable 46 percent at the end of December.  While the polls showed that LBJ would face a close race in a head-to-head contest against a Republican, he would win handily in the anticipated three-way race that included Alabama Governor George Wallace running as an independent.  A Fortune magazine poll of 400 top corporate executives found 65 percent expected Johnson to win, though they preferred Nixon.

Time magazine named LBJ their “Man of the Year” for 1967.  Despite all of the troubles at home and abroad, Time wrote, “the President’s prospects are not all that gloomy.” “We know who our nominees will be,” the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, John Bailey, said on January 8. “I’m happy to be able to say the Republicans have all their bloody infighting to look forward to.”

Well we know how that all turned out for Democrats, don’t we? Johnson was a goner less than ten weeks later. A critical mass of the restive Democratic Party wanted someone else.

Guess who thinks the same thing about Biden today? Looks like Democrats. That’s one big takeaway from the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll just out, which finds by a 58 to 31 margin (nearly two-to-one, in other words) Democrats favor nominating someone other than Biden in 2024. This finding is muted in the Post‘s write up, which chose instead to say voters aren’t enthusiastic about a Biden-Trump rematch, which, however, the poll finds Trump would win by a 48 to 44 percent margin.

Biden is still underwater generally with an approval rating at 42 percent and disapproval at 53 percent. But on specific key issues he’s deeply under water. On controlling the border, he doesn’t even keep the Democratic base, with only 28 percent approving, and 59 percent disapproving. (That’s down from a 37 percent approval at the end of 2021.) There are also signs that the public is wary of his handling of Ukraine: right now the disapprove/approve breakdown is 48 – 38.

So where do Democrats turn? Kamala Harris is no Hubert Humphrey, but Humphrey had to strong-arm his way to the nomination in 1968—it was still possible to do that back then, but not after the post-Humphrey primary reforms radical Democrats demanded after the 1968 election. And Kamala, remember, has never even entered a single Democratic primary, let alone won one. Who else have they got? Gavin? Gavin??  Who else. Mayor Pete?

Buy your popcorn futures now.

THE IGNORANCE OF TODAY’S AMERICAN ADULT CELEBRATES THE NATION’S ATHEISM

February 5, 2023

Christian institutions are taking sides on the so-called transgender question

By Andrea Widburg at American Thinker:

The Bible has always been clear about one thing, and that’s that there are only two sexes: “In the day that God created man, He made him in His own likeness. Male and female He created them, and He blessed them.” (Genesis 5:1.) The sexual binary is a fundamental truth underlying every subsequent Biblical narrative. However, in both England and Canada, Christian institutions, when given a choice between the so-called transgender narrative versus the Bible, have opted for the former over the latter.

England’s official, state-sanctioned church is the Church of England, which Henry VIII established when he split from Rome. It used to be a standard, Bible-believing Church. Now, though, it seems that things are changing in a big way.

Image: The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise by Giovanni di Paolo (1445). Public domain collection at the Met.

The Church of England’s Bishop in Coventry (a bishop, mind you!) is alleged to have reported a member of the congregation to the police for committing a hate crime. The crime? Opposing gender theory and the sexualization of young children within the church:

Sam Margrave, 40, has been a lay member of the Church of England’s general synod—its governing body—for over 10 years. Since he put forward a motion for debate at the July 2022 general synod, he has received death threats and faced constant harassment.

His motion proposed that the synod, “affirming that God loves all people, nevertheless consider[s] that the ‘Pride’ rainbow flag, activity and events, and what it represents in terms of the ordering of lives and relationships is contrary to the word of God….

Margrave cited myriad Biblical verses to support that principle and then called on the House of Bishops

to state that support for Pride (including use of the rainbow flag; and blessing, participation in, publicising, resourcing and endorsement of Pride events or flags) is incompatible with the Christian faith, its agenda being contrary to scriptural teaching, Church doctrine and Canons of the Church of England …”

In addition, Margrave has spoken out on Twitter about the whole universe of “Queer Theory.” In addition to the usual threats one gets from LGBTQ activists, Margrave got “abuse by members of the clergy.” But it’s what the Bishop allegedly did that’s the shocker:

In addition, the Bishop of Coventry sent correspondence to Musgrave that said: “The Diocesan Secretary has had no option, in view of a number of complaints received, to report your offending tweets to the West Midlands Police and is in continuing conversation with them. They have advised her that they have been able to speak to you but that you continue to deny you have done anything wrong.”

In sum, for reciting the Bible to the church hierarchy and asking that the church conform its teachings to the Bible, the church hierarchy didn’t merely say “no” (which is surprising enough). Instead, it turned a parishioner over to the police for daring to advance a Biblically-based worldview. Am I the only one who wonders who a Church is for if it doesn’t abide by core Biblical principles?

Closer to home than England but still in the totalitarian, non-constitutional Anglosphere, a Catholic high school in Ontario, Canada, allegedly suspended a student for insisting that there are only two genders and that boys shouldn’t be using the girls’ room under the fiction that, their genitalia and, indeed, DNA to the contrary, they’re really girls:

Since November, Josh Alexander has allegedly been suspended from St. Joseph’s Catholic High School in Renfrew, Ontario. Alexander was allegedly punished by the school for organizing a protest against transgender students using girls’ bathrooms. Alexander said he launched the demonstration after two girls at his school confided in him that they were uncomfortable sharing bathrooms with biological males.

Alexander, an 11th-grade student, was reportedly barred from attending St. Joseph’s Catholic High School for the remainder of the school year.

Alexander informed The Epoch Times that St. Joseph’s Catholic High School told him that his attendance at the school would be “detrimental to the physical and mental well-being” of transgender students.

Alexander said the school labeled his beliefs as “offensive” and “bullying” because there was a transgender student in his class.

Again, does it strike anyone as weird that a religious organization would choose the delusions of mentally ill people over the word of the Bible? Can you still call yourself a religious institution if you do that? Of what use is a religious institution if it doesn’t stand for anything and is willing to take on every fad that comes its way?

And Then: “Rashida Tlaib and AOC were the antithesis of role models…”

February 6, 2023

‘Democrat Leadership’ is an Oxymoron

By Noel S. Williams at American Thinker:

A Gallup poll taken between Jan 2 to 22, 2023, indicates that the most important problem in the U.S. is government and its poor leadership.  Since the opinions expressed were formed while Democrats were in control of most of the federal government, and the country’s major population centers, this reflects particularly poorly on them.  Republicans aren’t blameless, but Democrat leadership is an oxymoron.

At least Republicans have political diversity, as evidenced in the manner of extracting concessions from Speaker Kevin McCarthy, whereas Democrat authoritarians abhor conscientious dissent.  Their conformity is ironic, considering that Congress has more racial diversity than ever; in fact, 133 members identify as non-white.  Most of them are Democrats, and some of them are in the so-called Squad.

Squad member antics after Ilan Omar was voted off the House Foreign Affairs committee were unbecoming.  Rashida Tlaib and AOC were the antithesis of role models as their hysterical deportment harkened back to old stereotypes.  Their petulant behavior suggest that their liberal college professors never challenged them to think critically, but encouraged them to stumble onto the grievance bandwagon.

Leadership in the wider caucus is also on hiatus.  Inflation is sticky, but rather than make sound fiscal choices, they spend like drunken Democrats.  When not pursuing Modern Monetary Policy, they engender a culture of fear by imposing soul-destroying DEI and ESG imperatives.  It’s further evidence, in addition to Biden’s contemptible cabinet, that their definition of diversity is not necessarily a strength.  Instead, today’s demented Dems foster resentment and division, and are a big reason that poor leadership ranks as the top problem facing the nation.

Research shows that grandiose narcissists lack self-awareness, exaggerate their skills and experience, and are not the best leaders. Unfortunately, today’s Democrat leaders are riddled with grandiose narcissism as they determine to save us from ourselves.  One example:  it’s ludicrous that those so full of hot air would contemplate banning our gas stoves , and clean gas in general.  They are more bullies wielding a cudgel than leaders with a gavel. Such forceful tactics may work in battle or other emergency situations where there’s no time for debate, but not in a government of checks and balances designed for deliberate debate. 

We expect politicians to be extroverts, but contrasted to old frenemies like Reagan and Tip O’Neil, today’s cohort are often egotistical schemers who are skilled at self-promotion — including imprinting their name on sponsored infrastructure projects. Unfortunately, being a big mouth is not the same as being a leader.  In fact, big-mouth liberals relish the privileges of “leadership,” but shun the responsibilities and accountability.  With those pompous pretenders, the buck stops elsewhere.

One doesn’t naturally associate grandiosity with Biden; indeed, he exhibits traits of a vulnerable narcissist. Respect is due the office of the President, but this incumbent is a really pathetic personage doing his utmost to give seniors a bad name even as calls crescendo for a new generation of leaders. 

Biden, who plays the blame game to the hilt, is a big reason why poor leadership, at 21%, far outranks the second most important problem of inflation, at 15%, according to Gallup. Unlike previous Presidents, he’s not a vibrant leader, but a puppet of scatterbrain liberals whose values reflect a small minority of legal voters, and a majority of illegal aliens.   

Consider Biden’s initial insistence to not negotiate debt limit and spending plans with leaders of a co-equal branch of government with power of the purse.  He’s just a petulant child who’s quick to anger if he doesn’t get his way or is asked a challenging question. That’s a fair critique, because childlike behaviors often manifest in those with dementia. 

Leader of the Free World?   Biden is not even leader of his own being — that would be Jill Biden, who substitutes for his free will by ushering him around.  Americans see that, with 64% in a Fox News poll corroborating the Gallup results — Biden is not a strong leader.  That’s a very large majority in a polarized populace, but it makes me wonder if the other 36% are on planet TikTok, for apparently they’re not aware of his proclivity for shirking responsibility. 

Interestingly, over three quarters of the veterans who are members of the 118^th Congress are Republicans.  Unlike the mollycoddled drama queens in the Squad, they are well versed in the principles of leadership.  Retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willink is not one of them (yet), but he’s a legend who points out that a key element of leadership is to admit mistakes.  By taking ownership, one can build trust, without which leadership is undermined. 

Willink emphasizes humility, but our political “leaders” often have delusions of grandeur.  That’s troubling because researchers have discovered a definite link between grandiose narcissism and multiple indicators of inauthenticity — the exact opposite of Willink’s wisdom.  I’ll go with Jocko over just about anyone in Congress any day of the week, especially in a constitutional republic which flourishes with some trust between government branches.

Willink also emphasizes that clear communication is important in leaders, yet Biden added to his vast collection of incomprehensible utterances by asserting that “more than half of the women on his team are women.”  His point should be obvious, but then again, maybe the other half are not women but ‘birthing people.” Clearly, clear communication is more important than ever for a leader amidst ever-changing woke absurdities.

Democrats have been in charge for a while, but “Democrat leadership” is an oxymoron.  No wonder government and poor leadership far outranks even inflation and immigration as our most pressing problem. 

Woke Trudeau…Canada’s Fascist Prime TO OUR NORTH!

BY JOHN HINDERAKER IN CANADA, WOKENESS

WHAT HAPPENED TO CANADA?

Canada was once a land of fishermen, lumberjacks, oil drillers and Mounties. What the Hell happened? In the Telegraph, Zoe Strimpel writes: “Canada is testing sinister wokeness to destruction.”

The madness of Trudeau’s Canada has reached a fresh, painful high. New rules have come into effect that allow adults in British Columbia – the capital of which is addict-packed, overdose-ravaged Vancouver – to possess 2.5g of ecstasy, cocaine or heroin, as well as the opioid fentanyl, without fear of being troubled by the police. The idea is that with so many shooting up and dying on the streets, the kindest and most helpful thing to do is decriminalise drug possession, ending arrests and prosecution as well as fines and confiscation.

As Kennedy Stewart, former mayor of Vancouver, proudly pointed out: “It gets the police out of the lives of drug users.”
***
Just as heroin has effectively been made legal on the streets of British Columbia, Canadians have been told not to have more than two alcoholic drinks per week – a drastic change from the previously recommended upper limit of around two drinks a day – because alcohol raises the risk of cancer and other diseases. So: a blind eye is turned to heroin on the streets, but a third glass of wine is frowned upon. As far as a philosophy of society goes, at least in 2023, this is a wacky mixture of the controlling and soulless with the callous and wilfully denialist.

And that is only the beginning.

Then there’s the tampering with history for the sake of politics. After unmarked graves were supposedly discovered on the sites of former church-run residential schools for indigenous children, some tried to cancel Canada Day and churches were burnt down – an action that Trudeau called “understandable”. The treatment of indigenous peoples was indeed scandalous, but the evidence for mass murder is not there.

I believe this whole thing turned out to be false, but some stories are too good not to believe.

Nevertheless, an official inquiry in 2019 determined that Canada had committed – and was continuing to commit– “genocide”. Those who pushed back on the use of that term – Holocaust survivors and those who had witnessed the mass murder in Rwanda, among them – were mocked.

Wokeness remains a mystery to me. Sure, some people are making money off it, and some are using it to advance political ambitions. But that isn’t enough to explain the madness. There is a deeper sickness at work, and we see it here in the U.S. every day.