Various intelligence and defense figures including former Defense Secretary Mark Esper have suggested trying to capture the Chinese surveillance balloon to analyze its equipment and any content. China admits that this may be its balloon but denies that it is used for surveillance. It says that it was lost accidentally due to weather. So the balloon may be ours but it was lost. However, the government is likely to oppose anyone collecting or using information from the balloon. That sounded vaguely familiar. Indeed, Abbe Lowell may have a new client (Indeed, a client with past dealings with his current client, Hunter Biden).
Update: After the United States shot down the balloon, China appeared to send out a Lowell-like message that “China will resolutely uphold the relevant company’s legitimate rights and interests, and at the same time reserving the right to take further actions in response.”
China notably invoked a claim of “force majeure,” or an extraordinary event that can negate contractual obligations. In this case, it is saying that the balloon was not intentionally sent into the United States but lost due to no fault of its own. Such a contractual claim indicates that it may still claim property rights to the balloon and that it was not really abandoned or lost legally.
In a letter last week, Hunter Biden’s lawyer Abbe Lowell called for an array of criminal investigations as well as threatening lawsuits against critics and media figures. It also appeared to confirm that the laptop is indeed Hunter’s. However, the next day, Lowell told NBC “These letters do not confirm Mac Isaac’s or others’ versions of a so-called laptop.” It is a curious position but one that may appeal to the Chinese government (Indeed, this may be the type of legal acumen that prompted the Chinese to give millions to Hunter and his associates).
So here is the pitch. The Chinese first issues a flurry of letters threatening anyone who takes or uses information from the balloon with theft, defamation and privacy lawsuits, the loss of tax-exempt status, and undefined “criminal investigations.” Then you issue a statement the next day saying that, even though China may sue, “these letters do not confirm the United States’ or others’ versions of a so-called spy balloon.” So if there are surveillance capabilities found on the equipment, it is not necessarily yours. You then attack both critics and the media for a “dirty political trick” in using (or “manipulating”) any information found on the property lost by the CCP.
I fully expect a finders fee from the law firm if this works out with the CCP. Not to be too forward but the 2.8 carat diamond sent to Hunter as a gift from the Chinese would do nicely.
That is assuming, of course, that my original theory is wrong and that this is not “the Rover” still searching for “Number Six.” (If so, I will have to get my rowing jacket down from the attic):
I suggest we tell China “It is not open for discussion” and drop the subject. I have no idea what the bully will do, but like termites they will keep gnawing away.
Maybe issue a public statement: “Dear China, we are doing our best to leave you alone. We are trying to get our manufacturing back on our soil so you and your container ships will not need to come here so often and be exposed to the evils of freedom. Just be nice, okay? BTW, One or two of our carrier strike groups are considering home porting in Taiwan. They promise to stay out of you way. We hope you don’t mind.” /S/ Donald Trump, standing in while Biden sleeps.
Anyone that really cares about longterm national security might want to pay attention to the newly revealed evidence.
Brexit (compounded by Covid) has largely caused England to have an economic meltdown – and it’s happening fast. This is also a crisis for the United States and our Allies.
England is a major U.S. ally and partner in NATO. Simultaneously despotic regimes are greatly increasing GDP growth.
Big view, the former communist block and Axis nations today are gaining GDP, while England is losing GDP at a very fast rate. By the end of the year, the nation of Slovenia is estimated to pass ahead of our best ally England.
England needs to reverse Brexit ASAP and Americans should support this move! Not focus on a weather balloon.
“Anyone that really cares about longterm national security might want to pay attention to the newly revealed evidence.”
If one cares about national security, one recognizes our most potent weapon is our economy. Today the economy’s most destructive person is Joe Biden. His removal improves our national security while a return to capitalism will ensure our victory over any enemy.
We need to be focused on the dollar losing its reserve currency status and $32 Trillion in sovereign debt with another $130 Trillion or so in unfunded liabilities that will never be paid out!
I reserve the right for China to kiss my American ass!
Joe robey did not send his grandkid in the peace Corp or to be an elementary teacher….because he believers in the new world order…..quite the opposite. He with the do!phonns was maga. There are so many maga….who don’t dare….but it’s up to maga….to make them. Dare. To be the Americans they are! Stop being some and start being what your grandma said! And don’t be afraid to speak! Bc soon our men American will be drafterd….And whose left to sire? Speak….Joe dovey …speak dolphin Joe speak! Speak goat!
My elderly folks down from Minnesota witnessed no less than a dozen…Chinese ballons released at Millbrook Mardi be as parade. And they kept saying. … “There goes another Chinese spy balloon” and no body would listen! Nobody.
My mom with bad short term memory loss had the word about her to say “they are just monitoring their property”.
My parents knew in the 80$ what the trilateral co.mission was. And they ain’t dying on their knees. And as such almost anyone who was military until 19999… Knows what’s up. And it’s us veterans. Few show their hand re Jan six. Instead we reveal their opponents hands. While still controlling the dod. Who didn’t get a draft our daaughters…..nor will they ever again draft our men!….And send our men to battle while la race – la res – seems to replace us. ax replaces us. No American man will ever be drafted again so long as illegal men are our sires let in by Joe biden. Nope those illegals must be the first drafted….not our posterity.!.
Moreover what is he going to do when my son ….not even running to Canada refuses to bed drafted? Put him on can Firing squad? Who will fire? Or in a detention camp built for ilkegals? Who will fire? There is no American who will ever shoot another….because they won’t give their life to an illegal border crossed to take our men’s place! No man of American posterity would ever commit such treason!. Maga!
I’m just a little black rain cloud hovering over the honey tree!
I think the bees are starting to S-U-S-P-E-C-T something!
Is this a Winnie-the-Pooh operation or something else entirely?
Lowell-like message:
“Hello, is this the bartender?”
“Yes!”
“Well, listen, this China Joe. The coat I left at the bar last night?”
“You mean the one with YOUR NAME AND DNA on it? And the five pounds of CRACK COCAINE in its pockets?”
“Yes, that one. Look, it’s not mine – absolutely not – but if you sell the jacket and/ or the crack I’m going to sue you, for loss of property!”
I can expound on that but not without obfuscating the fact that Hunter lays claim to his property to threaten others. Because obviously if it is not his property there can be no realistic discernible fear of defamation or prosecution. So why threaten?
Obviously the Bidens are not known for their intellect, but to remind: Hillary lost the ’08 nomination because three weeks out she got busted taking money from the Chinese (again). You probably won’t find it on the Net anymore, but it happened, and was well-published. Explain to me then, why oh why, Obama as the chosen-one would opt to couple with someone as seriously challenged as Joe Biden with such a long history of racist congressional acts and statements as Clinton aide-de-camp? Why would he do that? What are we as political bystanders and observers missing here?
It happened! There were books written about it…..good books about it. Before they killed wellstone. But Wellstone really shut ppl up….because it meant death. It’s not by accident we love dramatic Desantis or Kentucky guy….these services who survived……because they can’t kill everyone. That’s why Ron and and Kentucky are so powerful…they ain’t enough prisons….the problem is …there are enough detention camps…but still not enough…because it’s not america to take my neighbor. We will always be maga…… and we know it. So we should have no fear. Ever. Never shy at being an american. And always know in the end we got your back! Always! No general in our current army will ever draft you….before the draft the Raz”. Bc that’s a conspiracy theory!
To and of which they have to explain…..And it can’t be they are waiting for a green card while they get an asylum permit! They need to be the first drafted since their idea of a.Erica is the strongest. Let them be drafted….instead of being our sires. They need drafted first with the m 9mm to their head by officers to obey orders! Anything less is to give our country away….an act of war! And treason by biden!
Evil permeates every act carried out by the leaders of communist China. They have no benign policies. And they always lie.
“After the United States shot down the balloon . . .” (JT)
So the Biden administration waits until *after* the communist Chinese balloon has traversed the country to shoot it down. Then in Afghanistan, it exits the military *before* protecting Americans and securing our military equipment.
Can this administration get any more backwards?
Why was the Balloon not shot down over Alaska….plenty of unpopulated areas there….and finding the wreckage on the ground would be far easier than under the Atlantic….and the Data collected by the Balloon’s sensors would have been pretty much nil.
It requires one thing….a President and SecDef with the Will and Backbone to make a decision in a timely manner.
Simply declare the Balloon to be a hazard to Aircraft and people and property on the ground.
Either the Chinese informed the United States and Canada of the existence, location, and anticipated flight path or it was illegally operating the Balloon in a manner that hazarded American and Canadian interests.
Better yet….say nothing and just shoot the thing down out in the wilds of Alaska and let the Chinese wonder what went wrong with their craft!
Shooting down the balloon was the first thing Biden ever did to fight inflation.
The balloon brouhaha couldn’t possible be a misdirection away from the Pfizer-gate illuminations, could it?
The chinese were just testing our reaction time. My senses tell me they think we flat lined.
Just imagine how massive is the blackmail file China has on Joe Biden and his Biden family crime syndicate. The CCP spy balloon flew all the way across America gathering intel before Pres. Biden shot it down. The world can see just how captured by China Joe Biden actually is. United States is not safe under Biden. IMPEACH the M’fer.
… Long before the shoot down, U.S. officials took steps to protect against the balloon’s collection of sensitive information, mitigating its intelligence value to the Chinese. The senior defense official said the recovery of the balloon will enable U.S. analysts to examine sensitive Chinese equipment. “I would also note that while we took all necessary steps to protect against the PRC surveillance balloon’s collection of sensitive information, the surveillance balloon’s overflight of U.S. territory was of intelligence value to us,” the official said. “I can’t go into more detail, but we were able to study and scrutinize the balloon and its equipment, which has been valuable.”
The balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. Still its intrusion into American airspace over several days was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration. …
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3288543/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/
No doubt the people currently going nuts about this balloon will also go nuts over the fact that “Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the [Trump] administration.”
The use of the term “briefly transited” sugggests that the trips were not over almost the entire territory of the United States, from Montana to North Carolina. A transit over part of Alaska, for example, might actually be accidental. This case does not seem to be accidential, but rather provocative.
Again with the Trump excuse. Biden’s a petty thief and was probably trying to figure out how he could leverage the balloon to increase his bank account.
“petty”?
I don’t believe a word of it. These people lie without blinking.
“Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the [Trump] administration.”
Still waiting for the smallest sliver of proof to support this statement.
And I’m still waiting for the smallest sliver of proof that Trump declassified the classified documents that were seized in the search last summer.
Perhaps we should send a balloon bouquet to the Chinese Embassy with a note that said “sorry for your loss.”
How do you expect top have any more proof than Trump claiming to have done so – with a total blackout regarding the contents of the documents, And the courts successfully thwarting Trump’s efforts to test his claims in court.
What exactly is it that you are expecting ?
There is ZERO chance DOJ will ever admit it if these docs were declassified.
They have taken posession of them BY FORCE.
They have avoided having to explain anything in court.
They can permanently avoid having to defend their claims by never prosecuting
and they are not going to prosecute.
Absent Trump having another copy that he makes public
how exactly is it you expect proof of anything ?
There is plenty of records of Trump publicly declassifying all kinds of things.
Without knowing what these documents are we can not know it they are among those publicly declassified.
Separately we know from Navy V. Egan and also from JW V. NARA that presidents have unlimited power to declassify and to declare WH Records personal property. And that all they have to do is take them to do so.
Judge ABJ’s decision in JW. V NARA found that it did not matter if the Tapes were clearly Presidential Records subject to the PRA, or that they might be Classified. That ex-President Clinton had them in is sock drawer and no one in government – or the courts could order him to relinquish posession. The only cases that run even slightly contrary to this sought ACCESS – not posession.
I would note that so long as the documents were in Trump’s posssion – it was NARA/DOJ’s burden to prove he could not have them.
That is why they went this bizarre route of getting a Warrant.
Because that was the only ex-parte process to get an order allowing them to seize the documents.
If NARA had gone to court – they would have lost.
If DOJ had gone to court over the subpeona – they would have gained ACCESS, but not posession.
The 11th apellate completely shut down any legal effort to determine if the docs werre Trump’s or if they were classified.
That was Necescary – because JW V. NARA says it does not matter – they belong to the Ex president and the courts have no power to review the decisions of presidents.
“And I’m still waiting for the smallest sliver of proof that Trump declassified the classified documents”
ATS, the FBI didn’t want the proof to exist. That is why they didn’t go to court. You always have things ass-backward. The government has to prove the opposite.
And I’m still waiting for the smallest sliver of proof that Trump declassified the classified documents
Several NAMED sources have verified Trump declassified documents.
Tell me again WHO is claiming, Chinese balloons floated over the US during the Trump administration?
No one is contesting that “Trump declassified documents.” The issue is whether he declassified the documents that were taken in the FBI search last summer (and, for that matter, turned over to NARA and the FBI last yeaar prior to the search). Go ahead and name the “Several NAMED sources” you’re referring to. Let’s see what they actually said.
“Tell me again WHO is claiming, Chinese balloons floated over the US during the Trump administration?”
The DoD. You did notice the link is to a DoD page, right? Who would know better than the DoD when Chinese spy balloons enter US airspace?
The DoD is a group. The DoD cant speak. Needs a person.Still waiting
Wait as long as you want. I don’t know the answer to your question and unlike you, I won’t pretend to know things I don’t know.
Trump and a bevy of his national security officials, including Bolton who despises Trump, have said they have no awareness of these alleged Chinese balloon flights over the U.S. during the Trump administration.
So either:
1. They are lying; or
2. The Biden officials are lying; or
3. The intelligence was never briefed to those in authority; or
4. The overflights were missed at the time and somehow reconstructed now.
Fine by me for Congress to question the DoD to find out which of those is the case and why.
Maybe Congress shouldn’t waste time on that but should push full-speed ahead, investigating Joe Biden and his family crime syndicate.
The latest news indicates that it was #4:
“Chinese government surveillance balloons briefly traveled across the continental United States at least three times during the Trump administration and once at the beginning of the Biden administration, but never for this long, a senior defense official said in an emailed statement. The information on the three balloon transits in the Trump years was discovered after that administration had left, a senior Biden administration official said on Sunday night. Intelligence officials can offer briefings on China’s balloon surveillance program to “key officials” from the Trump administration, the person said.”
https://web.archive.org/web/20230206051341/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/02/05/us/politics/chinese-spy-balloon-shot-down.html
““Chinese government surveillance balloons briefly traveled across the continental United States at least three times during the Trump administration and once at the beginning of the Biden administration, but never for this long, “
The NYTimes was found to be a fraud for their Russia Hoax despite the unjustified Pulitzer Prize. They are not credible on issues involving Trump. About a half-dozen officials in the Trump administration have denied this occurred and they are the ones that should know. Bolton was one of them and he has no love for Trump.
This is more debris from ATS who scatters garbage all over this blog.
As you know by now, there were no balloons flown over the US during the Trump administration. BTW, nothing personal. It was not your lie, but a media lie you reported. They did that to you.
It should have been shot down as soon as it entered our airspace. Seriously you couldn’t shoot it down over Alaska or Montana?
I’m calling BS on Biden and his Village Idiots.
Milley and the Joint Chiefs are a disgrace. I think Milley and Biden are traitors.
Is there another video of this being shot down? The ones I have seen so far show the balloon not being shot down, and instead, the weapon the military used shows the weapons as missing their target. Where is the proof of the target blowing up or shoot down? What about the second balloon the Pentagon talked of? So this administration and military allow this balloon to gather information and send the collected data back to China for a few days before acting?
Here’s video of it being hit — right at the beginning of the video and again from 40-53secs in: https://whdh.com/news/us-downs-chinese-balloon-a-flashpoint-in-us-china-tensions/