Archive of entries posted on February 2023

Where’s Gen. Buck Turgidson When You Need Him?

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Pentagon Confirms Second Chinese ‘Surveillance Balloon’ Seen Over Latin America
TheHill | 02/04/2023

A second Chinese “surveillance balloon” was spotted flying over Latin America after another one traveling across the continental U.S. was detected earlier in the day, officials confirmed Friday evening.

“We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America. We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said. “We have no further information to provide at this time.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement earlier on Friday that the high-altitude balloon that was first seen over Montana on Wednesday belongs to China, but claimed it is a weather balloon that was blown off course by wind.

U.S. officials countered the comment, instead speculating that it is a surveillance balloon. They have not shot it down over fears that doing so could risk public safety.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a scheduled trip to China after the balloon was detected. A State Department official said the conditions are “not right” for Blinken to make the trip at this time and noted that the balloon is a violation of international law and U.S. sovereignty.

I Still Don’t Know What Happened. Good Job, Reporter.

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A Walmart run for 3 international graduate students ends in deadly shooting, ‘senseless robbery’ for $6 on South Side
Chicago Tribune via Yahoo | February 3, 2023 | Shanzeh Ahmad

Lakshman Gogada and two roommates… were “five steps” from entering a Walmart when they were robbed at gunpoint and Gogada’s roommates — both of whom had arrived from India only 10 days earlier — were shot, one fatally.

“I was saved by God’s grace, but they both were hit by bullets,” said Gogada, 22, who was not injured when, according to police, five people pulled up to them[?] in a stolen [?] 2020 Kia Forte on Jan. 22. [How do you know?]

“We just gave the phone and money, but they only took the money and left the phones, and even after giving [?], they just shot,” Gogada said “After hearing the shot sounds, I just laid down on the ground.”

Devasish Nandepu, 23, was pronounced dead the next morning of a gunshot wound to the back, while Sai Charan Koppala, 22, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, authorities said. Koppala is expected to be discharged from the hospital soon.

The events that led to the shooting began when the trio decided to grab a bus [?] from their apartment to 87th Street and Lafayette Avenue and walk the rest of the way, about a half a mile, to the Walmart at 8431 S. Stewart Ave.

They were almost there when suddenly the Kia pulled up and two gunmen wearing face masks jumped out. One was carrying a “long gun,” possibly a rifle [?], and the other a handgun, as they “began to demand the victims’ belongings,”

“Get on the ground,” they yelled, saying they wanted their cellphones and pass codes but after snatching a $5 bill and a $1 bill, without the phones, [?] the attacker with the rifle began to shoot — hitting Koppala and Nandepu, according to the police report.

The shooter got back in the Kia and fled.

Honestly, I Don’t Know What’s Going On Here

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Biological male ‘mother’ of 2 ‘trans kids’ tells Minnesota legislature child sex changes are ‘life saving’ care“
P.M. | February 3,2023 | Mia Ashton

A trans-identified male who claims to be the “mother” of two “trans kids” testified before a Minnesota House Committee in favor of Minnesota becoming a trans refuge state for people seeking out-of-state medical sex changes. The biological male has a trans partner as well as two children who are involved in gender identity.

“My name is Amber Mom; I use she/her pronouns,” began the male who identifies as a woman and a mother. “I am also a proud transgender woman. But more importantly, I am the mother of two wonderful transgender and gender-expansive children.”

Amber described the “torrent of damaging, ill-informed, and outright malicious legislation being introduced across the country” as reason for Minnesota to become a “safe haven” for transgender individuals and parents seeking experimental sex changes for their children. This would align Minnesota with California in being a “sanctuary state” for “trans kids.”

House File 146 would turn Minnesota into a trans refuge state by protecting trans people, their families, and medical practitioners from legal repercussions for traveling to Minnesota to receive sex change interventions including experimental puberty blockers for children.

The testimony went on to reveal that Amber’s partner is also transgender.

“My trans partner and I frequently discuss plans to flee the country, if these targeted, hateful bills keep being introduced or passed.”

Hi, Amber Mom, male who identifies as a woman and a mother. Hope you get your trans refuge state. Or flee the country.

Straight Line of the Day: What Is a Chinese Balloon Doing Over the United States?

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What Is a Suspected Chinese Spy Balloon Doing Above the US?
wishtv.com | Feb 3, 2023 | Brad Lendon, CNN

(CNN) — News that the Pentagon is monitoring a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon in the skies over the continental United States raises a series of questions — not least among them, what exactly it might be doing.

US officials have said the flight path of the balloon, first spotted over Montana on Thursday, could potentially take it over a “number of sensitive sites” and say they are taking steps to “protect against foreign intelligence collection.”

Straight Line of the Day: What is a Chinese balloon doing over the United States?

Put This Wreck Out To Pasture Already

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Joe Biden Welcomes Bill Clinton Back to ‘Congress’ – While Hosting Ex-President at White House
NY Post | Feb. 2, 2023

WASHINGTON — President Biden welcomed former President Bill Clinton back to “Congress” Thursday — during an event that was actually at the White House.

The 80-year-old Biden gushed, “I’m so happy to be able to welcome my president back to the United States Congress — back to the United States Capitol, and he’s promised me that I’ll be able to sit at my desk tomorrow.”

The cringeworthy moment occurred in the White House East Room as Clinton, 76, celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act.

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Biden has referred to his vice president, Kamala Harris, as the “president” at least six times — while referring to himself as a “senator” and “vice president,” using his past job titles.

Devastating Review

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I appreciate movie reviews that give it good and hard.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” — 2+ Hours of My Life I’ll Never Get Back
2/1/23 | Marty Fierro

To note that the latest Disney/Marvel Studios woke Phase Four installment, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” is a waste of time is an insult to wastes of time.

This tiresome flick aspires to be a waste of time.

Disney/Marvel had a decision to make when the actor who originally played the Black Panther — the likable but mediocre Chadwick Boseman — died in real life: either drop the BP franchise entirely, or bull ahead with a politically-correct sequel, composed of forgettable secondary characters from the first film. Guess which way they went.

There’s a lot of furious fighting between black- and brown-skinned (or is it blue? Who cares?) warriors. Sticks figure prominently in these battles, how exciting.

Not even the introduction of new Marvel character Namor the Sub-Mariner helps. Disney/Marvel tweaked the character to have Mayan/Aztec/Incan pre-Colombian roots, which I suppose is a sop to that racial group.

An hour + into this turkey and I was looking longingly at the exit doors. Of my own home.

There are no spoiler warnings here, and no plot spoilers, as spoilers imply some level of interest in the movie’s plot.

Not even the one mid-end-credits vignette, where hints of coming developments in future Marvel films are usually aired, is worthwhile. Just another yawn in a long series of yawns. Wak-yawn-da Forever.

You’ve got better things to waste your time on — like trying to catch your right thumb with your right hand — than watching this movie.

Free Hotel Rooms! But . . . Not For You

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Inside New York’s Migrant Hotels: A Once-Trendy Manhattan Hotel Has Become a Wild “Free-For-All” of Sex, Drugs and Violence
Hotair | 02/01/2023 | Jazz Shaw

As you may recall, one part of New York City’s brilliant plan to deal with the flood of illegal migrants being shipped to the Big Apple from our open southern border was to commandeer some of the city’s pricey hotels (at taxpayer expense) and convert them into “temporary” shelters. Two of the businesses appropriated in this fashion are the once-elegant Row NYC in Manhattan and the Watson Hotel in Hell’s Kitchen. I say “once-elegant” because investigative reporters have been touring both of these establishments and finding that they are no longer recognizable. One worker at Row NYC has spilled the beans to reporters, describing a scene of “total chaos,” where hallways are filled with waste and a non-stop “free-for-all” of sex, drugs, and violence is taking place. The lack of planning that went into this housing project is evident and the migrants are becoming violent in many cases. (NY Post)

Row NYC worker Felipe Rodriguez — who told The Post earlier this month that migrants were throwing away “tons” of prepared food at the hotel — said the facility has now descended into “total chaos.

“Chaos, total chaos,” Rodriguez told “Fox & Friends” when asked to describe conditions at the hotel. “There’s no accountability.”

The hotel employee, Felipe Rodriguez, makes it clear that there is almost no supervision or control being exercised by municipal workers. The city simply rounded up the migrants, dumped them off at the hotel, and left the staff to deal with the situation. Predictably, that has proved to be an impossible task and one that the employees were never intended to perform.

The migrants aren’t paying to stay there, so most of them clearly don’t care about trying to maintain their rooms, take out the trash, or anything else. They can’t be evicted because the City has a law forbidding their removal unless they are to be deported or sent to a different facility. Fights and sexual assaults have been reported and all of the food waste and human waste is attracting rats.

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Also, this is no longer looking like a “temporary” housing situation, particularly at the Watson Hotel. A new migrant housing facility was recently established in Brooklyn, but when municipal workers attempted to move the migrants there from the Watson, a large number of them simply refused to go, preferring to stay at the formerly swanky address.

What did the Mayor and the City Council think was going to happen when they launched this project? This chaos was completely predictable. 

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