
yeah true not many ppl explore the possibility that it might not be an actual spy balloon, im not one to be super skeptical of the govt but i remember in afghanistan when they said we eliminated a "credible threat" and it turned out to be a bunch of kids delivering water.
The balloon is the dumbest shit to occupy a news cycle but I love reading the panic and conspiracy theories.
If you (anyone who knows about it as a civilian) knows about, then the military knew about a long time ago. If you think this is the first time China has flown something over the US or they best they can do is a giant balloon I have some hats that will block their mind probes for you. If you think the balloon is over any consequence then help me build your pepper bunker.
Jokes aside if anyone wants to seriously consider the balloon then the question is why is the military bothering you to tell you about or why China would use a such a low tech option. Hell I wouldn't be surprised if the story wasn't leaked just to discredit Biden knowing shooting it down its not on the table 1) not worth it, 2) you wouldnt teach them your countermeasures, 3)everyone spies on one's another and you don't want a situation where everyone is blasting everyone's satellites/drobes/etc down because it's disruptive. The fact that they are tracking said balloon means they can simply move/hide whatever sensitive material they think the stupid thing is is looking at.
Hell I would leak it just to see all the QAnon people sweat.
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Chinese New Year was like week ago? Surely no one left off any balloons.![]()
Doesn't help that a particular political party has latched onto it and their media ecosystem is treating it as if THIS IS HOW THEY GAVE US THE COVID! DID TH BALLOON ORIGINATE FROM WUHAN?!?!
Really, I feel like we're watching the brainworms and beginnings of the downfall of America as the global superpower in real-time.

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/s...05419163553793
And there we have it, the Hunter Biden Laptop story is now DEAD. This is the moron repairman admitting that several people tried to add things to the laptop and that it has a chain of custody problem. The majority of us on here knew this already, but now we have the repairman admitting to it in his own words on live TV, ON FOX NEWS. I had seen him say it before 2 years ago on Real America's voice or something, but I can't find their source, probably because they are hiding it from the other right wing people to make them believe its still true.
Conservatives on Twitter are so unhinged at how well Biden's SOTU speech went that they're completely ignoring how hard they got owned and instead circle jerking about how Biden must have Parkinson'sAlzheimer'sDementiaAIDSHemorrhoid's because he walked slightly funny to his car.
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/sta...35997264265217
He walked like my healthy 80 Y.O. Grandfather walked.
“Terrible things are happening outside. Poor helpless people are being dragged out of their homes. Families are torn apart. Men, women, and children are separated. Children come home from school to find that their parents have disappeared.”
Diary of Anne Frank
January 13, 1943
Wait...what is "that gait"? Is that like "dat ass"?
I do love that they're so bereft of any policy-level criticisms that the best they can muster up is, "He walks sorta funny, isn't that STRANGE?!"
I do enjoy the folks posting Trump slowly shuffling down a ramp in response.
Boy those "related tweets" though. Do most of those Republicans know that the Twitter character limit was increased to 280 characters?
https://twitter.com/Jim_Jordan/statu...41132073852928
...wasn't there an election of this a few years back?America misses President Trump’s leadership.
I think we have footage of that.
Also, NPR listed the five big moments of the STFU, I mean, SOTU Biden gave.
Not talking about Ukraine much...that was a little disappointing, but I don't know what more he'd need to say. "We 100% support Ukraine"? We've proven that already.1. The speech had to make Democrats more comfortable with the idea of Biden as the standard-bearer again in 2024
2. Biden tried to bait the right, and it worked
3. Populism and nationalism are in
4. There wasn't much about China — or Ukraine, for that matter
5. Biden got both parties to stand on police reform — and continued to walk a tightrope on police and criminal justice
I wonder if FOX News has their own top f--
Yes, of course they have their own list, of course they picked this first. Check for yourself, I get +1 CNN point regardless.1) Liar!
But this is the part I really wanted to cite:
So...what was FOX News going for here?2. McCarthy shushes
Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy shushed hecklers in his own party when they interrupted Biden’s tribute to a fentanyl victim.
McCarthy could be seen mouthing, "Shush," after a member yelled, "It’s coming from China," and another shouted, "It’s your fault."
McCarthy could be seen trying to quiet members of his party again when some of them shouted about securing the border when the president was talking about immigration reform.
If they were trying to show that people objected to Biden...um...helping sick/dying people, then #1 did that. #2 doesn't help. If they want to show McCarthy as an effective leader, #1 contradicts that.
Look, I want that FOX News wants to pretend they're being fair and/or balanced, and good luck with that, but why post intentionally contradictory things like that? That's just bad writing. My posts are horrifying one-sided beat downs of bias, but at least they're consistent.
FOX News then went on to fact check the 12 million jobs claim, like FOX "Death Panels" News has a leg to stand on. In fact, I'm giving myself another CNN point just for FOX News pretending to have credibility.
The more I'm catching up on this the more hilarious it is.
Real, Republicans made it so hilariously easy to bait them and they just walked into everything. Like, holy shit Biden didn't do anything super impressive or sneaky in his speech, he just opened the door and let them leap through.
Seems like his administration may be reading Sun Tzu. The Republican caucus...apparently not.
They're getting masterfully played by, according to them, a senior citizen with dementia who doesn't even know who he is anymore. How embarassing.
Chris Wallace...is this still a CNN point for citing Wallace? Half? Wait, he said it in a CNN interview? Fuck it, they cancel out.
Chris Wallace says Republicans played into Biden’s hands with heckling
“I mean, they literally played into his hands. You know, I don’t know if the people at the White House as they were drafting it at Camp David this weekend envisioned that happening the way it did, but it played out perfectly,” Wallace said on CNN following the speech.
Biden later called on Congress to agree to “stand up for seniors,” getting applause from across both parties.
“When he said let’s all stand up for seniors, there was no politician who was not going to stand up for seniors,” Wallace said.
He said Biden continued in calling for no cuts to Social Security and Medicare while everyone was still standing.
“It was a brilliant moment that, you know, it like took something that had been prepared by the speech writers and he made it his own and he made it magic,” Wallace said. “It was really quite a piece of political showmanship.”
Wallace said before the speech that Biden would likely have his largest live audience of the year on Tuesday night and needed to come off as “vigorous,” as he is likely close to announcing his 2024 reelection bid.
After a few initial stumbles he got on a pretty good roll, really hammered home the notion that we're on the path to recovery and need to stay the course. Had some decent but probably empty rhetoric on tough subjects. Sounded passionate and energetic. Put the MAGA hecklers hypocrisy on a podium. Got the Republicans to stand and applaud for a lot of bipartisan stuff they didn't really want, and had them sit and frown at a lot of objectively good news.
I'm not a Biden fan, but he did really well.
72 percent of viewers had positive reaction to Biden speech: CNN flash poll
All things considered he was the adult in the room...
Looks like a big bounce in his NPR Approval Ratings too after the speech as well....
Here's a look at some of the numbers:
Overall approval rating jumped to 47%, up 8 points from the NPR poll last month. Presidents don't generally see much, if any bounce, out of a State of the Union address. Since 1978, there had only been six times when a president saw an approval rating improve 4 points or more following State of the Union addresses, according to the pollsters. Three of those bounces were for former President Bill Clinton.
Ukraine handling is up 18 points to 52%.
Coronavirus pandemic handling is now 55%, up 8 points.
Economic handling up 8 points to 45%.
https://www.npr.org/2022/03/04/10844...kraine-economy
“You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.”― Malcolm X
I watch them fight and die in the name of freedom. They speak of liberty and justice, but for whom? -Ratonhnhaké:ton (Connor Kenway)
a bit late, but damn the Republicans were enraged. Like, I don't even have to say or cite anything else other than that.