Editorial

Chinese balloon is a potential weapon of war

To the editor:

The question is, can our nation allow the People’s Republic of China to fly a “weather balloon,” over our nation? I say ‘fly’ as the balloon is being directed and controlled by the Chinese Ministry State Security. We have seen how our President’s weakness toward the Russian Federation green lighted the first war in Europe since WWII to rage in The Ukraine. World leaders look for weakness in other nations and exploit it; we need to stand up to this invasion of our air space, not wait days after it entered our air space.

Balloons have been used in war for well over a century. As we sit in our homes in Martin, Hopkins, Moline, Dorr and Wayland, we are within a few miles of the site of a Japanese FU-GO balloon bomb landing in North Dorr on Feb. 23, 1945. Balloons were used by both sides in the American Civil War and most wars after that. Balloons were commonly used in the Cold War to gather intelligence and drop propaganda material. Balloons were also used by the National Socialist German Workers Party, Nazi Germany, to test French and British radar capabilities prior to the invasion of Poland starting WWII.

An interesting bit of data is that at 0730 hours 4 February the “weather balloon” was over Missouri at a location, and only slightly below the altitude that would be the most effective, to use of an Electromagnetic Plus (EMP) weapon; according to open-source intelligence, Forbes.com, China has multiple EMP devices. This balloon did not have an EMP weapon, but it would be military malpractice not to do a test run if possible before using one. The “weather balloon” has a gondola the size of three school buses, larger than the norm for a weather balloon. Why?

An EMP weapon is a first strike weapon that could disable the national power grid to the point where it would take decades to recover. All unprotected communications devices, 98% of them, would be destroyed; our banking system, aircraft in flight, trucks, planes, and automobiles, cellular communications, pacemakers, insulin pumps, ventilators, and nearly all other medical devices, to name but a few.

An EMP weapon (depending on the size of the device, it is powered by an atom bomb) would fry some to all microchips and microprocessors in our nation and southern Canada, along with northern Mexico. An EMP weapon will not directly kill or harm anyone, nor see any dangerous radiation falling to earth, but indirectly cause the deaths of nearly one million Americans in the first hour, according to three open-source congressional reports on the effects of an EMP weapon on our nation.

China maintains that the balloon was blown off course. Why not allow it to descend gradually onto the earth in an open area or into the sea? If it is a harmless “weather balloon” why not allow it to descend gradually over the United States or direct it away from our heartland?

The prize-winning question is, why is our President allowing this potential weapon of war to fly over our nation? It could have been destroyed in our air space over the Aleutian Islands in the State of Alaska hundreds of miles from any occupied areas; why not? Why wait three days, much of it over uninhabited areas, to destroy it?

Again, more unanswered questions concerning our President, his family and the People’s Republic of China.

Robert M. Traxler, Dorr, Mich.

15 Comments

  • As I read this, I was shocked that Young would write this. As I read down,
    I saw Mr. Taxler was involved. Thanks Sir, i think the CHI COMMIES are testing us, although with the weak and feeble president, I don’t see why that is needed.

  • What better place to shoot down the “climate” ballon than just off the US coast in 47 feet of water where the FAA could ground all aircraft attempting to fly over the site and the USN and USCG could begin recovery without having competition from traitors who call themselves militias.

    Unlike David and others who live and breathe FoxNews, Washington Times, Breitbart, Gateway Pundit and right wing radio, I am not certain what instrumentation was cargo of the balloon. The fact it was shot down where the US military can collect and investigate it before returning it to China indicates it may have had some weather related instruments and probably some extras.

    As far as we know the Chinese may have been targeting Canada and miscalculated the strong arctic front that blew it south along with our recent frigid temps. But they shouldn’t be flying “weather balloons” over Canada either. The Chinese have satellites flying over that most Americans will never notice or see.

    I do chuckle about Army Bob who has his shorts on a knot about Hunter Biden. He didn’t say Jacksquat about President Trump saying he trusted Russia’s President Putin more than the FBI in Helsinki in 2018.

    Then at the end of January reiterated that belief again with, “Remember in Helsinki when a 3rd rate reporter asked me, essentially, who I trusted more, President Putin of Russia, or our ‘Intelligence’ lowlifes,

    “My instinct at the time was that we had really bad people in the form of James Comey, McCabe (whose wife was being helped out by Crooked Hillary while Crooked was under investigation!), Brennan, Peter Strzok (whose wife is at the SEC) & his lover, Lisa Page.

    “Now add McGonigal & other slime to the list. Who would you choose, Putin or these Misfits?”

    All that posted in Trump’s Truth Social site. From the same guy Army Bob voted for (at least in 2016) and later wrote commentary that the US should work to have better trade relations with Russia when Trump was President.

    In 2018 and last week in 2023 yet Army Bob never a peep about former President Trump. Now wanting to talk up a Biden China connection when he was silent about the Trump Organization business relationships with China..

    Silent about The Trump Organization getting over a dozen Chinese trademarks granted shortly after the official meetings with Chinese President Xi at Mar-A-Lago. Silent how the Trump organization got help from Chinese financing for a Trump golf resort property in Indonesia along with Trump sons talking up their real estate sales to Russian oligarchs that allowed them to park their money in US real estate.

    Really worried about the Chinese? Take TikTok off your smart phones and tell your kids to do it too. That weather balloon that was over US airspace for less than a week picked up minuscule amount of data compared to the potential data garnered from 73M TikTok users phones in the US. TikTok has a US office in LA but is headquartered in Shanghai.

    • Is the world ending in 2030, as you stated was/is settled science? It is an easy question to answer. Do people who don’t agree with you on the 2030 end of the world settled science prediction still need to be denied cancer treatment.

    • Couchman I think you’re getting under AB thin skin, he doesn’t seem to have a answer to any real facts. And he seems to always write up something that a week later blows his opinion up.

  • Additionally, a faraday cage might be worth researching for those who have the desire to be somewhat prepared. If a emp happens the stop watch to starvation starts, and it won’t have to tick too long. As you stated, almost all transportation will be halted. Anything with micro chips or a ecm is done. One might research all that is affected via a emp. Although I am a Christian, we would see darwins ideology, survival of the fittest. My opinion.

      • The Hill, reported it with many other news sources, but I know you get your source from faux & Newsmax.
        Balloons similar to the one that was shot down off the coast of South Carolina this weekend flew over the U.S. at least three times during the Trump administration, according to a senior U.S. defense official.

        As Republicans spent the past few days criticizing the Biden administration over its response to the suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew across the country, an official revealed during a briefing on Saturday that the U.S. was aware of three other instances during the prior administration and one instance earlier in the Biden administration that such an apparatus “transited” the country.

      • Mr Wilkens, if you read more than Truth Social, you would have your own proof. The Pentagon does not lie like Trump!

      • “But Trump!” seems to be the mantra of the last 2 years. Since few supporters of Biden can claim any good he’s done for the country WITHOUT bringing Trump into the conversation, you know that the TDS is strong. Rent-free.

        General Matthis, who is no lover of Trump (see his comments re: Jan 6), apparently had no knowledge of spy balloons during Trump’s time in office, or if he did, he didn’t share the intel with Trump. DNI chief Richard Grennell, also had no knowledge. I for one think that the MOST INVESTIGATED MAN IN HISTORY would have been charged with treason in a hat-trick impeachment of “what did you know and when did you know it?” Julian Assange, when asked what dirt Wikileaks had on Trump reportedly said, “There isn’t any.” Trump might be loud and crass, but he loves this country.

        “My opinion,” as AB would say, is that:

        *The Bidens have taken money from China and Ukraine (see video where Biden PROUDLY proclaims he had Ukraine prosecutor fired for investigation Hunter, threatening to withdraw funding.)

        *Selling Hunter’s “art” is form of bribes/money laundering.

        *The Crime Bill which Biden authored in 1994—jailing people for doing crack, for which Hunter doing on tape has had no consequences (not to mention the gun.)

        *Biden is a predator of women and children and his own daughter
        https://twitter.com/KristySwansonXO/status/1264692821325426689

        *Biden is NOT TRUMP, so all this is acceptable and preferable to “mean tweets.”

        So it’s another case of, “Look here, not there.” I thought the anti-Trump people who comment here HATE “Whataboutism”? Or so I was told…

        “It’s ok when WE do it.”

        God Bless AB and those who have the courage to question the narrative. It USED TO BE what true journalists did.

        • “So it’s another case of, “Look here, not there.” I thought the anti-Trump people who comment here HATE “Whataboutism”? Or so I was told…”

          You nailed it!! 2030 often talked about “whataboutism” on TB. Here he is doing it!! You can’t make this stuff up!!!

          Cheers!!!!

  • I wonder why President Trump didn’t order the take down of the” Jewish” space laser that was setting the state of California on fire? According to one of our finest congressional leaders, Ms Marjorie Taylor Green. Now that was a real safety issue and national security incident.

    • Hey, hey, my, my…… now someone must bring up jewish folks…..how interesting. Rather reminiscent……My opinion,.my choice. Additionally, I do not recall “jewish” or Israelis ever attacking our nation. Food for thought.

      • Come on David you know they can take out the white house,if they can start Forrest fires and Just over two years ago Greene suggested in a Facebook post that wildfires in California were not natural. Forests don’t just catch fire, you know. Rather, the blazes had been started by PG&E, in conjunction with the Rothschilds, using a space laser, in order to clear room for a high-speed rail project. Here is Greene’s entire post, via Media Matters: you can look this up!

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