- THE FLAG
- Posts
- 🇺🇸 High Altitude Espionage
🇺🇸 High Altitude Espionage
Plus, is tipping getting out of control?
POWERED BY
Good morning, and happy Monday! Meet Charles A. "Chief" Anderson, the lead instructor at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama during World War II. This American gave the famous Tuskegee Airmen their first taste of flight.
Plus, doing this may protect against dementia...
Also, discover all-day comfort with custom cork insoles from today’s sponsor, Fulton. Alignment starts from the ground up.
FLAG POLLS
🐘 Sunday, February 5: General Election: Trump vs. Biden: Trump 48, Biden 45 (ABC News/Wash Post)
📉 Sunday, February 5: President Biden Job Approval: Approve 43, Disapprove 53 (ABC News/Wash Post)
📉 Sunday, February 5: President Biden Job Approval: Approve 45, Disapprove 55 (CBS News)
📉 Sunday, February 5: Congressional Job Approval: Approve 30, Disapprove 70 (CBS News)
TRENDING
Left: GOP's Problem Isn't Voter Fraud. It's Trump Hayes Brown, MSNBC
Left: The Complex Simplicity of Black Cops & White Supremacy Chauncey DeVega, Salon
Left: RNC Doubles Down on Party's Anti-Abortion Crusade Christina Cauterucci, Slate
Right: The Fall of the FBI Ken Masugi, American Greatness
Right: Local Reactions to the Left's Overreach Sumantra Maitra, The American Conservative
Right: Tell Your Kids Marriage Matters More Than Money, Career Karol Markowicz, NY Post
POWERED BY FULTON INSOLES
Kickstart Your Health From the Ground Up
Looking for health and comfort from head to toe? Look no further than Fulton. Discover the world's most comfortable, supportive, and sustainable insoles, designed by doctors to support your body from the ground floor so the rest can stand strong and tall.
Fulton offers comfortable cork insoles that mold to your foot as you walk to provide customized arch support. They mitigate foot, knee, and back pain and align your body to prevent injury. And Fulton offers a 90-day comfort guarantee, meaning your order is risk-free!
QUICK CLICKS
Bus To Canada, Pricier iPhone, DeSantis Statement
US: Five things Biden is likely to say and not say in the State of the Union (The Hill)
World: Pakistan's former President Pervez Musharraf dies in Dubai (CNN)
US: Migrants abandon NYC for Canada with taxpayer-funded bus tickets (NY Post)
US: North-east arctic blast sets record -108F wind chill on New Hampshire summit (The Guardian)
US: Train derailment causes massive fire in East Palestine, Ohio (CBS Pittsburgh)
Tech: Apple may be working on a pricier iPhone 'Ultra' (Engadget)
US: Miami Black leaders make surprising statement after DeSantis labeled racist (Fox News)
US: George Santos Is Accused of Sexual Harassment in His Capitol Office (DNYUZ)
CHINA
High Altitude Espionage
On Saturday, the US military shot down a high-altitude balloon that had flown across the country, after being released in China. The Pentagon says it was a surveillance balloon that violated US airspace and sovereignty, while Chinese officials described it as a rogue weather balloon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also postponed his trip to China.
Reporting from the Right: China experts predict Beijing’s next move after spy balloon shot down (Fox News)
Reporting from the Left: Inside Biden's decision to 'take care of' the Chinese spy balloon that triggered a diplomatic crisis (CNN)
From The Flag: The Pentagon initially said the balloon couldn’t be shot down due to the risk posed by falling debris, but also added it posed no physical or military threat. China called shooting the balloon down an “overreaction” and said it “reserved the right to take further actions.” Here’s more from both sides.
LEFT-LEANING SENTIMENT
This Is a Setback To US-Chinese Relations
Chinese President Xi Jinping has a new challenge to confront, all while the nation relaxes its COVID-19 policies.
There’s something amusing about a fight over a balloon, until you realize how serious the implications are.
It’s possible Chinese officials made a careless mistake, or maybe they wanted Secretary Blinken to postpone his trip.
“China Blames US Politics for 'Overreaction' to Spy Balloon” Christian Shepherd, Washington Post: “China accused the United States of an ‘overreaction’ when it used a fighter jet to shoot down a suspected surveillance balloon off the South Carolina coast, as nationalist Chinese commentators blamed runaway political pressure in Washington for escalating the incident. In a statement on Sunday morning local time, China’s Foreign Ministry reiterated claims that the airship was a civilian vessel that had unexpectedly drifted off course, adding that ‘the Chinese side has clearly asked the US side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner.’ … The setback is an embarrassment for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who began his norm-defying third term in office with a show of diplomatic friendliness that experts interpreted as a pragmatic effort to ease tensions with Western nations, as he deals with internal discontent over a slowing economy and a huge wave of coronavirus infections.”
“The Observer view on the real threat behind China's spy balloon” Editorial Board, The Guardian: “It must be admitted that the flap over an enormous Chinese balloon that flew or blew, unannounced, over the US and Canada last week has a certain funny side. Pentagon generals went on high alert, fearful that their missile silos in Montana were being spied on. Joe Biden, not normally a trigger-happy man, had to be persuaded not to shoot it down, and then changed his mind. Republicans accused the president of being weak on balloon defence. Red-faced officials in Beijing scrambled to talk the over-excited Americans down. The balloon, most likely a clandestine surveillance device, was ultimately deemed not to pose a physical threat. … The world’s two most powerful countries are at loggerheads over numerous issues, big and small. When the balloon went up, mutual trust, cool heads and timely communication were woefully lacking. This is not funny at all.”
One more opinion piece from the Left: Suspected spy balloon shows how diplomacy can go way off course David A. Andelman, CNN Opinion
RIGHT-LEANING SENTIMENT
China Floated the Balloon Because It Could
This may have been a largely symbolic move by China, in a bid to make the US look bad.
China’s official explanation is implausible and likely to make US citizens wary of their intentions.
The US military should also expand its use of high-altitude balloons, which can be more effective than satellites.
“Spy Balloon a Chinese Middle Finger to America” Rebeccah Heinrichs, The Spectator: “The balloon was ‘taken care of,’ to quote President Biden, over the Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of South Carolina. Prior to the maneuver, the balloon drifted, unharmed, over our sensitive military sites and fellow citizens. It lingered there, doing what Chinese President Xi Jinping pleased, while rightfully indignant members of Congress representing those violated states took to press releases and cable TV to demand the federal government secure our sovereign airspace. All of this was no doubt churned back through the CCP’s propaganda outlets, smearing America as divided, weak, and foolish. … US officials downplayed the benefit, saying it would gain no more by this massive balloon than by satellites in space. … But if it’s true that the technical gain is negligible, it makes the symbolism all the more audacious and the political significance unsettling.”
“China Floats a Trial Balloon Over Montana” Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal: “Beijing’s official explanation is that this is merely a hapless ‘civilian airship’ that made a wrong turn and . . . ended up near US intercontinental ballistic missile bases. ‘China regrets that the airship strayed into the United States,’ the foreign ministry said. So the balloon heads over the Aleutians, strays over Canada, but China acknowledges the balloon only after the US announces it has been discovered over Montana? This isn’t believable, and the patent dishonesty will add to the US public’s growing mistrust of China. … Beijing may also be testing what it can get away with, as it often does. Someone thought the intrusion was worth the effort and risk of discovery. … The trial balloon ought to pop US illusions that China’s behavior is irrelevant to Americans at home… Beijing’s ambitions are global, and the US homeland is vulnerable.”
One more opinion piece from the Right: How US should strike back against China in battle for the stratosphere Bryan Clark, New York Post Opinion
FLAG THIS
More Than 6 in 10 Say China Is an Enemy
Polling data from this month shows 67% of Chinese adults consider the US an “enemy or unfriendly” while 62% of US adults feel the same way. Just 15% of Chinese adults and 19% of US adults consider the other country an ally.
Asked if the two countries are in a cold war, 22% of US adults and 19% of Chinese adults said yes. But 57% of Chinese adults and 49% of US adults described it as a competition.
Escalating military tension is considered likely by 58% of Chinese respondents and 51% of US respondents (Morning Consult).
Was the balloon deliberately sent by China to conduct surveillance? |
FLAG FINDS
In-Soul Support, Natural Nourishment, Meat That Matters
👟 How’s your posture? If you’re anything like us, you’re probably hunched over your screen reading this, clutching your morning cup of coffee like a crone’s cane. Well, alignment begins not at your head but your feet. Fulton's doctor-designed insoles provide engineered, sustainable support from your soles to your soul. Claim your 90 days of comfort, guaranteed.
☕ Get back to nature from the comfort of home. Plum Deluxe tea is the perfect way to start a peaceful day: all-organic and additive-free. Experience the difference of hand-crafted tea blends made only from wildcrafted ingredients. Take a break from the modern world and treat yourself to a cup of peace. You deserve it.
🐄 If you care about the taste of your meat, you must care where it comes from. And no one cares quite like Snake River Farms. Family-owned and operated for 55 years, they have a hand in every step their meat takes, from ranch to table. The result: unparalleled American Wagyu Beef. Try for yourself. Taste the care.
WATERCOOLER
Great Communicator Born, Tipping is Out of Control, Mount Everest Once Underwater
On this day in 1911, the 40th President of the United States, Ronald Reagan was born. The former movie star was called the “Great Communicator” for his ability to get through to ordinary Americans and give them hope and optimism for their own future and that of their country. Interestingly, on the same day 74 years later, in his State of the Union address, President Ronald Reagan defines some of the key concepts of his foreign policy, establishing what comes to be known as the “Reagan Doctrine.”
Today I Learned the summit of Mount Everest is gray limestone, complete with embedded marine invertebrate fossils (e.g. trilobites). This means that the rock that makes up the top of Mount Everest was once underwater.
Reply