checking the weather

 Well, we used a one hundred and forty million dollar attack airplane to bring down a balloon. It was taken down over the ocean in an abundance of caution. Of course, to my way of thinking that is like closing the barn door after the animals have gotten out. All the data had been collected and transmitted to China by then. It should have been eliminated as soon as it entered our airspace. Why didn't we just send an unmanned drone to take it out? It's my thinking that is what the Chinese were counting on, that nothing would be done until it was over the water. They were correct.

 Everyone knows it was a spying device. The whole, it is just a weather balloon, story is stupid. The whole idea that its' flight wasn't controlled, directed in some fashion is stupid. And our response was? Oh, okay we will believe you as long as it is over our territory but once it is over the water, we will shoot it down. Well, because we always shoot down weather balloons. But not if they are spying over land first, then we wait. You know, safety first! It was still a risk however, that thing could land on an endangered sea turtle or something. It was a risk to marine life and possibly to the global climate! What if data about climate change was lost? Have you thought about that? Well, it was pretty risky! But the balloon has been eliminated.

 This whole incident should give us all pause. Is this the reaction, the response we can expect from this administration when national security is threatened? The answer is an empathic yes. Just look at what is going on at our borders for further proof of that. The inaction to control any of that is the same inaction we witnessed with this spy balloon. We are simply going to wait to close the door after everyone is through. It is a threat to our national security, make no mistake about that. No one knows who is coming across that border and what their true intentions are. That they are simply poor migrants fleeing for their lives is as ridiculous as saying that was a weather balloon. There are being bused for hundreds of miles, with their cell phones, backpacks full of designer clothing and arriving overweight, demanding food, shelter, medical care and a monthly stipend! And that's only the ones that aren't transporting illegal drugs and weapons. But we are going to wait until when? When it is safer? 

 In the meantime, we have promised to send 14 M-1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine. They cost about nine million dollars each. Guess the administration figures that is safe enough. It shouldn't upset the Russians at all, cause no escalation, no sense of urgency on their part to conclude whatever plans they have. Now shooting down a Chinese spy balloon before it could get its' spying done would have been risky, so we didn't do that. And the thinking is we are not going to actually drive those tanks, so the Russians won't get mad about that. Should be safe enough. We can continue to fund the Ukrainians and supply munitions, cash, whatever they need without concern.

 I suppose the Chinese got whatever information they wanted. A great picture of the national gird, a great ariel view of our nuclear power plants and other infrastructure. I'm guessing they were simply preparing a tourist pamphlet for distribution in China. It's certainly great for the real estate business too. Currently China and Chinese interests only own 191,000 acres of America. Mostly farmland and forests. With these new photos maybe, interest could be aroused for further investments. Could be the Chinese are interested in making a trade. We currently owe the Chinese 1.1 trillion dollars! Maybe they would just take some land in trade for that debt. Niagra falls or the Hoover dam perhaps? Yeah, I guess that is what they were doing, a little land speculation, not spying, just checking the weather.