Similar high-altitude surveillance balloons and airships have previously been spotted over Hawaii, Japan, India, and the Phillipines.
2) @TuckerCarlson: "The Pentagon is tracking a very high altitude Chinese spy balloon over the northern US. The Pentagon has decided to not shoot down the balloon even though it's flying over 'sensitive sites.' There are intercontinental ballistic missile silos in that area."
3) The same type of reconnaissance balloon was spotted over Sendai, Japan, on June 17, 2020.
Japanese officials said:
"We have absolutely no idea what it is. It may be some kind of weather monitoring equipment, but it definitely isn’t ours."
4) Japanese officials confirmed that the balloon was "equipped with a cross part hanging beneath it as well as two propellers," but were unable to determine the purpose or owner of the balloon.
7) Indo-Pacific Command visually confirmed that it was "an unmanned balloon without observable identification markings" floating in the air near the island of Kauai.
8) The Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai's west coast is one of the US military's most advanced testing sites.
The Navy describes it as "the world's largest instrumented multi-environmental range capable of supporting surface, subsurface, air, and space operations."
9) The USAF F-22s intercepted the "high altitude unmanned balloon" floating north of Kauai's Pacific Missile Range Facility.
"There is no evidence the airship was from China, though its design appears similar to types on display at the Zhuhai air show."
14) Brazilian media reported that the airship seemed to turn "transparent" and had broad similarities to high-altitude airships that Chinese companies are known to have been working on.
The US and other nations have also developed similar airships.
15) A Chinese-language poster depicting the Yuang Meng airship.
China's domestically developed floating airship Jimu-1.
A satellite image showing a Chinese airship in the Spratly islands in the South China Sea in 2019.
A US military airship in Baltimore, Maryland, in 2014.
16) The current Chinese spy balloon flying over the US is flying over "sensitive sites," like the Malmstrom Air Force Base, which holds well over 100 nuclear-tipped ICBM silos.
DOD: "Considering the size of the payload, looking at the potential for debris and the impact on civilians... We assessed that it does not pose a risk to people on the ground as it traverses the United States."
🚨THREAD: The All In Podcast highlights Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative, a bold effort to overhaul the federal government by reducing inefficiency, bureaucracy, and wasteful spending.
The plan focuses on reducing government inefficiency, bureaucracy, and wasteful spending through bold, rapid reforms spearheaded by the DOGE team working with the Trump administration.
1. Objective:
• Eliminate unnecessary regulations.
• Reduce administrative roles and save taxpayers money.
• Streamline government operations.
• The approach aims for a "lean team of small government crusaders."
2. Key Actions:
• Target $500 billion in unauthorized annual federal expenditures.
• Reform procurement processes by auditing payments and suspending them temporarily during reviews.
• Use executive actions based on existing legislation rather than passing new laws.
• Leverage two Supreme Court rulings (West Virginia v. EPA and Loper Bright v. Raimondo) to challenge and pause excessive regulations exceeding Congressional authority.
3. Methodology:
• Develop software-assisted tools and expert legal analysis to identify regulations for immediate suspension.
• Introduce accountability measures and create a leaderboard to track progress.
4. Challenges:
• The team has roughly 18 months to implement changes before midterm political pressures intensify.
• Strong pushback and litigation are expected, making fast and decisive action critical.
• The plan faces politicization despite its focus on efficiency and fairness to taxpayers.
5. Broader Context:
• The goal is to address the U.S. "debt death spiral" caused by decades of inefficiency and waste.
• Advocates argue these reforms are essential for long-term economic sustainability and should not be politicized. They emphasize the fairness and necessity of cutting wasteful spending for the country's future.
@friedberg: "What frustrates me is that everything they’re proposing seems obvious and right. I don’t understand how these points could be politicized. Forget the party, the individuals, or how we got here—this federal government needs to be run more efficiently. Wasteful spending, bureaucracy, and mismanagement are a tax on every one of us, our children, and our future. It needs to be fixed."
2) @DavidSacks highlights key reasons to be optimistic about the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy:
1. Elon Musk’s Leadership:
• Elon’s deep understanding of how excessive regulations harm businesses could drive meaningful reforms.
• His influence through X as its largest account holder and his established Get Out the Vote operation provides a platform to push the initiative forward.
• Elon’s track record shows it’s unwise to bet against him.
2. Vivek Ramaswamy’s Expertise:
• Vivek’s business acumen and legal background as a Harvard-trained lawyer bring critical strategic and legal expertise.
• His influence is evident in the team’s legal roadmap, which focuses on leveraging executive actions and the court system, minimizing reliance on Congress.
3. Party Consensus:
• The Wall Street Journal’s endorsement suggests DOGE is gaining support across both populist reformers and establishment conservatives.
• This broad support indicates potential for unity within the Republican Party despite challenges like resisting pork-barrel spending.
4. Strategic Framework:
• Drawing inspiration from successful models like the military base closure process, DOGE could create mechanisms for fair and balanced cuts to unnecessary regulations and roles.
Outlook:
Although the initiative may not achieve Milton Friedman-level reforms, the combination of Elon’s and Vivek’s leadership, a carefully designed legal strategy, and growing bipartisan support within the Republican Party creates strong potential for meaningful progress under the current GOP trifecta.
3) @chamath believes that by aggressively reducing bureaucracy, slashing excessive regulations, and implementing bold initiatives like tax simplification, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) could ignite an "economic renaissance."
1. Accountability and Symbolic Wins:
• By leveraging Elon Musk’s platforms, DOGE could create transparency and accountability in government spending.
• A powerful starting point would be halting vendor payments until thorough audits are conducted, addressing symbolic issues like overpriced goods, which builds trust and engages the public in government accountability.
2. The Regulatory Burden:
• California’s example demonstrates how excessive growth in government jobs correlates with a surge in regulations, stifling private sector growth and driving businesses away.
• Similarly, at the federal level, unchecked regulatory accumulation from federal agencies has created a massive drag on the U.S. economy. Regulations rarely expire, compounding the problem over time.
3. Economic Opportunity:
• The U.S. economy could grow significantly faster—potentially by 4-5% annually—if the regulatory burden were reduced. DOGE’s goal should be to eliminate unnecessary regulations entirely and rebuild from the ground up by reinstating only essential ones.
4. Tax Code Simplification:
• There’s public appetite for a flat tax system and a simpler tax code. Simplification could free up entrepreneurs and businesses to focus on innovation rather than navigating complex tax laws, as seen in Singapore’s efficient system.
• Simplifying the tax code could unlock significant economic growth, adding 1-2% to GDP.
5. Potential for Reform:
• By aggressively cutting bureaucracy and regulations and introducing bold changes like tax simplification, DOGE could spark an "economic renaissance," enabling innovation and growth while addressing systemic inefficiencies in government.
Conclusion:
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, aims to streamline government, cut waste, and boost economic growth. With strong leadership, strategic planning, and bipartisan support, DOGE has the potential to deliver meaningful reforms and create a more efficient, accountable government.
🚨THREAD: Twelve Charts Show Why Donald Trump Won The 2024 Election
Inflation, Income, Net Worth, Taxes, Regulation, Immigration, War, Homelessness, Poverty, Afghanistan Withdrawal, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Wealth Gap
@JDVance on @realDonaldTrump: "He was President, and take-home pay was going up faster than it had in 40 years. Inflation was low. The border was secure. And remember, they all said Trump was going to start World War III, and yet we had more peace around the globe than we had had in a generation in this country."
1) The Biden-Harris administration saw the highest inflation in 40 years.
Cumulative inflation surpassed 20%, driving up the cost of groceries, gas, and daily necessities.
2) Real median household income rose by $7,700 under Trump, compared to only $1,050 under Biden-Harris.
After twenty years of stagnation, real median income surged under Trump and flatlined with Biden.
BREAKING: Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist who lied to the American public into the Iraq War and fabricated the "suckers and losers" hoax during the last election, has just launched his latest October hoax.
Once again, he's relying on anonymous sources.
Once again, it's a bullsh*t, made-up story.
Glenn Greenwald explains how Jeffrey Goldberg, the journalist who lied America into the Iraq War, became the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic:
"Let's remember that the journalist who did the most to convince Americans of the vital lie that Saddam Hussein had an alliance with Al-Qaeda and therefore led 70% of Americans to believe the lie that Saddam Hussein participated in the planning of the 9/11 attacks was named Jeffrey Goldberg...
He did that in two articles that even won journalism awards. He was put on NPR and every Sunday show to spread this lie... Jeffrey Goldberg did more to spread the false conspiracy theory that led to the Iraq War.
He also became ground zero for every Russia Gate fraud, and of course, Jeffrey Goldberg is not expelled from the mainstream media.
He's not writing at Substack. He's the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic.
He was rewarded with that position as a result of the lying he did on behalf of the U.S. security state... Journalists who spread CIA conspiracy theories get promoted, and journalists who question the CIA get destroyed."
Jeffrey Goldberg lied about Al Qaeda working with Saddam Hussein to deceive Americans into supporting the Iraq War.
He also fabricated the "suckers and losers" hoax using anonymous sources—a claim later debunked by dozens of officials who were with Trump that day.
Now, with his latest hoax once again relying on anonymous sources, it should be laughed out of the room, and he deserves to be ridiculed for lying to the American people yet again.
Also, what does it say about The Atlantic that its editor-in-chief is the same person who lied America into the Iraq War?
THREAD: @RobertKennedyJr explains how President Bush placed Dr. Anthony Fauci in charge of developing bioweapons for the Pentagon as part of the Patriot Act in 2002. In 2014, Obama shut down 18 of Fauci's gain-of-function experiments after lab leaks and 300 top scientists raised concerns about his dangerous experiments with "potential pandemic pathogens."
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#3 @RobertKennedyJr tells @jimmy_dore: "They took the money that Cheney gave them [from the Patriot Act], $2.2 billion, and they funneled it through NIH, and it all went through Anthony Fauci. So beginning in 2002, Fauci got a 68% raise from the Pentagon for doing bioweapons development, and he got a raise of billions of dollars a year, and then he started doing all of this gain-of-function.
In 2014, three of those bugs escaped in high-profile escapes from different labs in the US. Congress held hearings on it. Everybody was angry, and 300 top scientists sent letters to Obama saying you got to shut down Fauci because he is going to create a pandemic.
So, Obama ordered a moratorium, and at that time, Fauci had eighteen different gain-of-function experiments he was doing around the US. He instead moved his stuff offshore to Wuhan, where he could do it out of sight of these 300 scientists and nosy White House officials who were trying to shut him down.
And he continued to do it with the same people he was funding here, Ralph Baric and Peter Dazak, and they moved their operation to the Wuhan lab."
MUST WATCH:🚨 Watch this crucial 20-minute video featuring prominent Democrats, computer science professors, and election security experts discussing the vulnerabilities in America's election system.
They warn that the system is online, easily hackable, and often operates on outdated Windows 7 or older systems.
Key Points:
Easily Hackable Voting Equipment: All electronic voting equipment can be hacked as they must receive programming before each election from memory cards prepared on election management systems. These systems are often connected to the internet and run outdated Windows versions.
Spread of Malware: If a county election management system is infected with malware, it can spread to USB drives, which then transfer it to voting machines, scanners, and ballot-marking devices throughout the county.
Programming Practices: Most U.S. election systems are programmed by local county officials or third-party vendors. They use previously used USB drives on internet-connected computers before plugging them into scanners, tabulators, and voting machines.
Outdated Systems: In 2019, the Associated Press reported that most of the 10,000 election jurisdictions, including swing states, were still using Windows 7 or older systems for ballot production, vote programming, counting, and reporting.
End of Windows 7 Support: Windows 7 reached its end of life on January 14, 2020, with Microsoft stopping technical support and security updates.
Remote Access and Modems: Voting machine manufacturers have installed remote-access software and wireless modems, connecting voting machines directly to the internet. NBC News reported in 2020 that ES&S, the largest U.S. election machine vendor, had installed at least 14,000 modems.
Dominion Voting Systems: The second-largest vendor, Dominion, has publicly acknowledged using modems in their machines and running remote-access software during the 2020 election. For example, in Georgia, election worker Susan Voyles testified that Dominion employees operated remotely on ballot-marking devices and poll pads.
Findings from Wisconsin and Michigan: Investigations found Dominion and ES&S machines online and connected to the internet. In Michigan, a modem chip was discovered in an ES&S voting machine, potentially allowing hackers to intercept and manipulate election results.
Conclusion: Hackers can potentially infiltrate elections through vulnerable USB cards, election management systems, and voting machines themselves. This underscores the urgent need for securing America's election infrastructure.
#2 All electronic voting equipment is vulnerable to hacking because it requires programming before each election using memory cards prepared on election management systems. These systems are often connected to the internet and run outdated versions of Windows.
If a county election management system is infected with malware, it can spread to USB drives and then to all the voting machines, scanners, and ballot-marking devices in the county.
Local county election officials or third-party vendors program most U.S. election systems. They often connect previously used USB drives to internet-connected computers before using the same drives in scanners, tabulators, and voting machines that collect, count, and determine election results.
#3 In 2019, the Associated Press reported that the vast majority of 10,000 election jurisdictions nationwide, including numerous swing states, were still using Windows 7 or older operating systems to produce ballots, program voting machines, count votes, and report results.
Windows 7 officially reached its “end of life” on January 14, 2020, meaning Microsoft stopped providing technical assistance and security updates to address software vulnerabilities.