News of the World

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Chinese Spy Balloon Reaches Missouri

What U.S. officials say is a Chinese government surveillance balloon is now soaring over the northwestern end of Missouri. This is in line with a generally southeasterly track that the balloon has been following since it was first publicly spotted over Montana on Wednesday...is the latest in a string of similarly concerning incidents in recent years.

Earlier today, the U.S. National Weather Service's (NWS) offices in Pleasant Hill, Missouri, near Kansas City in that same state, Tweeted out pictures showing what looks to be the balloon in the distance. Other images have since emerged from elsewhere in the state. A private pilot flying a Cessna Citation business jet apparently reported seeing a "derelict balloon adrift" at approximately 50,000 feet near Kansas City, which may be the Chinese balloon.

This all matches up with independent modeling of its likely path, which has it continuing in a generally southeasterly direction across the United States toward the Atlantic Ocean. The projections could, of course, change significantly as time goes on.

At a press conference today, Pentagon Press Secretary U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder simply said that the balloon had moved eastward from Montana since yesterday and was now over the central Continental United States. He added that it was at an altitude of around 60,000 feet. Earlier reports said that the balloon had traveled across Alaska's Aleutian Islands and parts of northwestern Canada before moving south into the contiguous United States.

"The North American Aerospace Defense Command [NORAD] continues to monitor it closely," Ryder added. "Again, we currently assess that the balloon does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time."

They're monitoring it closely, they say!?
That's nonsense!
Why should they treat an enemy country like an ally? They haven't even figured out what they pretend by sending such balloons to Canada and the US... and even Costa Rica!!

Strange object seen above Costa Rica as China investigates spy balloon claims

An unidentified white object has been spotted in the skies above Costa Rica.

The mysterious object, which looked like a hot-air balloon, was observed over the Pacific on Thursday.

On Friday, China said it was looking into reports a Chinese spy balloon had flown in US airspace after the Pentagon said on Thursday it was tracking an object hovering over North America.

Pictures and videos were soon being shared on social media — with some users in Costa Rica speculating the object may have come from space.

Twitter user Eduardo Costa said the “UFO was also seen in Costa Rica” while Manuel Hernandez said it could be seen from the towns of Zapote and Grecia in the Alajuela Province.
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But researchers at the institution said they had not launched a balloon on Thursday.

“We always do it in co-ordination with Civil Aviation, through a project with Nasa for the validation of satellite instruments and this balloon that was seen today does not really belong to us,” said Cicanum director Elian Conejo.

What the hell does  China pretend to do now?

F-35s Have Debuted At Greenland’s Strategic Thule Air Base

F-35A stealth fighters from the U.S. Air Force have, for the first time, deployed to America’s northernmost military base, at Thule in Greenland, where they took part in a North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) exercise that ran from January 15-31.

Located 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle, Thule Air Base is playing an increasingly important strategic role in regards to Russia, in particular, which is looking to expand its capabilities in the region, while U.S. officials have been warning about Chinese interest in the Arctic, too.

Four F-35As were at Thule (pronounced too-lee) as of January 16. The insignia on one of the jets is that of the 356th Fighter Squadron, the “Green Demons,” which suggests that the jets have been deployed from Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska, another facility with very important Arctic-related tasking. Geographically, these would also be the closest F-35As available for the exercise.

The stealth jets took part in Operation Noble Defender 23-2.1, a NORAD joint exercise that also involves the Royal Canadian Air Force, or RCAF, for a total of around 225 U.S. and Canadian personnel, at multiple locations in the Arctic, and the coasts of Canada and the United States. As well as the F-35As at Thule, accompanying imagery shows a CF-18 Hornet from the RCAF’s 3 Wing Bagotville operating out of Iqaluit Airport in Nunavut in the Canadian North.
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The U.S. Department of Defense described Noble Defender 23-2.1 as part of “a series of long-planned NORAD operations validating the command’s capability and readiness to defend the United States and Canada against threats from every avenue of approach, in any environment, and demonstrate the ability to integrate with other defense and security partners for a holistic defense of North America.”

And yet, they did nothing to stop a so called weather ballon that is spying on Canada and US on behalf of the CCP.  What a great job protecting those countries, guys!

Trump Pledges ‘Peace Through Strength’ Unveiling His 2024 Hypersonic Defense Plan

Former President Donald Trump unveiled a new military policy as part of his 2024 presidential campaign this week, proposing to develop “a state-of-the-art, next-generation missile defense shield” to protect the United States from hypersonic missiles.
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“Just as Israel is now protected by the Iron Dome, a dream once thought impossible, America must have an impenetrable dome to protect our people,” Trump said. “We have technology that is unsurpassed, but our past leaders haven’t really wanted to use it.”

“Hypersonic missiles move at many times the speed of sound and six times faster than current missiles. Armed with nuclear weapons, they could annihilate entire cities and even countries within minutes, and we can not let this happen,” Trump said.

He said the threat is rising because other world leaders don’t have respect for the current president, and if the United States becomes involved in a war, it would likely dwarf World War I and World War II.
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In 2021 the world was shocked and Pentagon officials were blindsided by reports that a Chinese missile circled the Earth before descending near the target.

Since then, the US and China have both worked relentlessly to improve their hypersonic capabilities, and one analyst believes the United States is losing the race.

Biden Administration’s Climate Agenda Will Damage Two-Thirds of US Retirement Accounts

The Biden administration’s new Department of Labor (DOL) rule allowing 401(k) managers to invest in Environmental Social Governance (ESG) funds will harm two-thirds of America’s retirement accounts, according to Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach..

Kobach said that the Jan. 30 change was being done “in the name of this left-wing partisan agenda.”

He said, “There should be no partisan agenda when it comes to investing our funds. It should be done based purely on financial return without any regard to whether it helps left-wing causes or right-wing causes.”

Kansas is one of the 25 states suing the Biden administration over its rule allowing 401(k) managers leeway to invest in ESG funds by stipulating that the managers can decide to invest by considering “nonpecuniary benefits.”

Meaning they can make investing decisions where the benefits aren’t related to financial gain.
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“And our lawsuit says, ‘Hey, wait a minute, that violates the express terms of [the Employee Retirement Income Security Act] ERISA,’ which is the 1973 Act that President [Gerald Ford] signed into law that is designed to protect the employee retirement savings in these funds.

I don't fully agree with Kobach, the cause they would fund does matter as well.
 Or would you invest in Chinese weaponry just because that makes you earn lots of money?

House Judiciary Subpoenas FBI Director Wray and AG Garland for Targeting Parents

House Judiciary Republicans issued subpoenas to FBI Director Christopher Wray and Attorney General Merrick Garland to produce documents about alleged FBI investigations of parents at school board meetings in response to a controversial directive that Garland issued in late 2021.

The Epoch Times reviewed the subpoena, signed by Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), which forces Wray to turn over relevant documents to the House Judiciary Committee on March 1 at 9:00 a.m. ET due to the alleged “misuse of federal criminal and counterterrorism resources.”

The subpoena wants “all documents and communications referring or relating to” meetings with U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in connection to Garland’s memo issued in October 2021 to address “violent threats” that were allegedly made against school officials that Republicans later described as a politically motivated attempt to squash dissent. It also seeks to compel documents and communications relating to the establishment of a related Department of Justice task force.
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The Oct. 4, 2021, memo directed the FBI to team up with local law enforcement agencies and U.S. Attorneys to identify possible threats at school board meetings.
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All documents and communications relating to the FBI’s “EDUOFFICIALS” threat tag and related investigations are also sought by House Judiciary Republicans, according to the subpoena. Weeks after Garland’s announcement, House Judiciary Republicans, citing whistleblower testimony, revealed how the FBI created the threat tag to track allegedly threatening statements at board meetings and said it was proof that counterterrorism resources were being used against parents.