I don't think we can rule out mega-error as the source of the #ChineseSpyBalloon . Whether it was launched for "research" or "intelligence" purposes, it may never have been intended for Montana skies.
Here's my thinking (thread).
In the last week of January China --
MORE
2/ ...from Beijing to Siberia, experienced the coldest weather ON RECORD, with temperatures hitting -63 F in the far north. The frigid Polar Vortex air moved east, hit ocean, warmer air, and soared in an atmospheric river north towards Alaska/Yukon.
MORE washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/0…
3/ On Jan 31 that cold front fell over #Bozeman, and wind chill temp fell to -23F. Since, it has warmed, winds calmed, & now it is 41 F.
Any gas-filled container launched into the atmosphere from China in late January would have been battered by that frigid air flow.
MORE
4/ Rather than "shoot the balloon down," as most #Republican leaders are shouting, @SpaceForceDoD should capture it, undamaged, for close analysis, determining its purpose & intended course.
We need to know -- not blow it to indecipherable smithereens.
MORE
5/ BTW, ever heard of Fu-Go? During WWII Japan launched more than 9300 hydrogen balloons, to the USA. Some 1,000 of them reached this continent, but there were only 285 reported incidents of sightings, landings or explosions.
MORE web.mst.edu/~rogersda/fore…
6/ The balloons "were released with easterly wintertime jet stream winds above 30,000 feet to float 5,000 miles across the north Pacific."
(Sound familiar, #ChineseSpyBalloon ?)
In Japan they were called "Vengeance Balloons," and they carried small incendiary devices.
MORE
7/ The Fu-Go devices were found as far south as Nogales AZ & east as far as Detroit. Based on diatom analysis of found balloons, the objects were determined to have come from Honshu, and it was learned they were made under government orders by Japanese school kids on that island.
8/ Fu-Go rode the same winter air currents over the Pacific that, in far more extreme, northerly form, carried the Chinese "spy balloon."
So, was the #ChineseSpyBalloon launched on a Fu-Go trajectory, blown off course in icy air stream? Regardless, its purpose?
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
The @WHO Executive Board is meeting in Geneva right now, with a very full plate:
- #pandemic security
- dearth of diagnostics
- universal healthcare
- multibillion $ budget shortfall
- ongoing fights over patented drug & vaccine access for all ghtcoalition.org/blog/who-eb-20…
Opening speech by @WHO DG @DrTedros
"As we enter the 4th year of the #pandemic, there is no doubt we are in a far better situation now than we were when the #Omicron wave was at its peak.
But...In the past 8 wks >170,000 people have lost their lives to #COVID19 ."
MORE
cont.
"And that’s just the reported deaths; we know the actual number is much higher.
We can’t control the virus, but we can do more to address the vulnerabilities in populations & health systs.
That means vaccinating 100% of the most at-risk groups;..."
MORE
LIVE now: the #NSABB is meeting to discuss the safety of work on pathogens: biosecurity, gain-of-function, dual-use research, counter-measures & vaccine R&D. W/some #Republicans claiming #SARSCoV2 arose from NIH-sponsored GOF work, this is a hot potato. videocast.nih.gov/livew.asp?live…
Lots of @WSJ & @elonmusk & #GOP chatter today about the US debt ceiling and the "need" to drastically slash federal social services, and raise taxes on poor and middle classes. Musk claims taxing billionaires won't "put a dent" in the national debt.
Let's look, shall we?
MORE
2/ "FORTUNE 500 companies represent two-thirds of the U.S. GDP with $16.1 trillion in revenues (up 17%), $1.84 trillion in profits (up 114%), $37 trillion in market value (up 13%), and employ 29.7 million people worldwide."
- from @FortuneMagazine
BUT...
MORE
3/ But corporate taxes have steadily plummeted -- even for companies that had record windfalls due to #COVID19#pandemic related earnings.
When @wef opens in #Davos , @Oxfam puts out their alternative State of the World rpt. This year's shows that:
• The richest 1% hold 45.6% of global wealth, while the poorest half of the world have just 0.75%.
• 81 Billionaires hold more wealth than 50% of the world.
MORE
OXFAM2/
• 10 billionaires own more than 200 million African women combined.
The richest got WAY richer during the #pandemic -- the top 1% richest got 63% wealthier in 2020-21. We mere mortals got only 10% richer in 2 years, on average.
MORE
OXFAM3/
Food & energy costs are the main drivers of #inflation; companies in those sectors in 2022:
• made $306bn in windfall profits;
• increased profits 256% in 2022 compared w/the 2018–2021 average;
• paid $257bn to stock shareholders in 2022
Many Americans prefer to ignore our Nation's legacy of slavery or worse: claim there were "happy slaves" in the Old South. #Brooklyn once had the world's largest freed & escaped slave community, thanks to the Underground Railroad.
This #Christmas --
MORE nytimes.com/2022/12/20/nyr…
...you may make a year-end contribution to help save one of the original Stations on the Underground Railroad, an key part of African American history. Helping "the Tents" means recognizing that the flight to freedom is at the core of our National story. unitedorderoftentseasterndistrict3.org/home
It seems the gofundme link has gone dead. I'm trying to track down a better way to donate. Apologies.