GOP and the Balloon
Today’s Chron hard copy front page has a story on the Texas GOP’s ongoing efforts to suppress the vote. Harris County and the election day problems are featured prominently in the piece. I have to say it is lazyarse reporting. How many folks didn’t get to vote on election day here in Harris County because of problems at polling places? Show me a voter!
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Let’s see. On Friday, it was announced that over half a million jobs were created in January in the USA. Our unemployment level is the lowest in 54 years. These numbers blew away the Fox News talking heads. One of them said “wow!”
On Saturday, fighter jets from our military blew a Chinese balloon out of the sky and into the Atlantic Ocean. Our government had been following the balloon since before it reach our border. Our military jammed the balloon’s info gathering capabilities and took extra precautions to move certain assets away from the balloon’s flight path.
President Joe Biden had given the order on Wednesday to shoot down the balloon and gave the military the option as to when. Now military salvage teams are gathering the balloon’s wreckage to see what kind of payload was onboard. Not a bad haul if you ask Commentary.
Here is what the Chinese government put out in response:
“In these circumstances, for the United States to insist on using armed force is clearly an excessive reaction that seriously violates international convention. China will resolutely defend the legitimate rights and interests of the enterprise involved and retains the right to respond further.”
Got it.
Some GOP members of congress and talking heads went on the Sunday talk shows and social media to say President Biden was weak for letting the balloon drift across the country. They didn’t have any intel to back up their criticism, but still. This went nowhere quick. Like really?
Then it was reported that Chinese balloons had come into our airspace when Donald Trump was at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
Sad weekend for the GOP.
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Today is National Frozen Yogurt Day.
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You know how there are some movie scenes that you never forget. The horse head in “The Godfather.” The flying monkeys from “The Wizard of Oz.” Jack slipping into the deep in “Titanic.” You get the picture.
We learned this past weekend that Melinda Dillon is no longer with us. She was probably best known as Ralphie’s mom in “A Christmas Story.” She was also nominated for two Oscars for Best Supporting Actress for “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Absence of Malice.”
“Absence of Malice” is a flick about a reporter, the mob, and a shady prosecutor. It stars Paul Newman and Sally Field. Field is a reporter. Newman is a business owner who gets caught up in a federal investigation and gets incorrectly named in a newspaper story about the mob. Dillon’s character gets mentioned in a subsequent article on a very personal matter. The movie scene I will never forget is Dillon’s character getting up the first thing in the morning and gathering all the newspapers in yards on her block so her neighbors will not find out about her secret. Heartbreaking. I will always remember that scene.
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Sunday’s hard copy of the Chron had 3 ½ pages in the sports section devoted to new Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans.
Have a nice Super Bowl Week!