North America is secure when we are not caught by surprise. We are best able to protect ourselves when we understand our adversaries’ capabilities and intent, and Canada and the U.S. have long done so with great success. Yet, the interception of a growing number of unidentified objects of various shapes and sizes in Canadian and U.S. airspace – some of which are believed to be of Chinese or Russian origin – shows that we are, in fact, vulnerable. And this is a game-changer.
The government of Canada’s second-most populated province is demanding that Mayor Eric Adams “immediately” stop helping migrants illegally enter the Great White North, as recently revealed by The Post.
“Any form of assistance to migrants crossing the border where it is strictly forbidden to do so should stop immediately,” a spokesperson for Quebec Premier Francois Legault said.
“We understand that the situation of migrants in New York poses major challenges, but the situation in Quebec and particularly in Montreal is even worse and constitutes an important humanitarian issue.”
Recent events have shown America’s foes becoming more brazen in their penetration of the Western Hemisphere; the answer to this challenge lies in our past.
“200 years ago, in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars and during the Latin American revolutions, President James Monroe and Secretary of State John Quincy Adams promulgated the idea that would come to be known as the Monroe Doctrine. In his seventh annual address to Congress, Monroe declared that “the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any European powers.” This message, which also decried the puppet monarchs of European states, was a sea change in how America conducted its foreign policy, asserting a strong stance against foreign interlopers in the Western Hemisphere. For the most part, the doctrine was successful, despite America being far weaker than the European states it sought to constrain.”
As I have written in these pages before, I spent 40 years as a scientist in a federal research facility. We always had a steady stream of gifted young (and senior-level) scientists and students who came from all over the United States and from around the world to work as “guest researchers” with us. For the most part, this was a great opportunity for both them and us.
One of the US’s most easily recognizable vehicles is back on the road after it fell victim to a crime that has grown more common in recent years: catalytic converter theft. While parked in Las Vegas ahead of a Super Bowl weekend appearance, the Weinermobile, a 27ft-long bright yellow-and-red hotdog on wheels, was disabled after someone took the vehicle’s hardware.
Samantha Power, head administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), arrived in Budapest last week with one mission – to save Central European nations from themselves. Her main target was Hungary.
According to a press release issued by USAID to accompany her trip to the Hungarian capital, Power wants ‘to help support democracy in Central Europe’. And she wants ‘independent media to thrive and build new audiences’. ‘[A] free and diverse press is a cornerstone of democracy’, she tweeted, ‘and in Hungary, independent journalists are facing real challenges’.
On Monday, U.S. prosecutors will ask 12 people to authorize a punishment that hasn’t been levied on a Manhattan defendant since 1963: death.
Sayfullo Saipov, 35, was convicted last month of fatally mowing down eight people as he raced a truck down a West Side bike path in 2017. Now comes the phase of his trial that will determine his punishment: The U.S. government wants to end Mr. Saipov’s life with a lethal injection.
On Feb. 3 in East Palestine, Ohio, a train carrying hazardous materials exploded, sparking fears among residents of a potential environmental disaster and leaving them wondering about the possibility of returning home.
East Palestine, Ohio is undergoing an ecological disaster bc authorities blew up the train derailment cars carrying hazardous chemicals and press are being arrested for trying to tell the story.
Oh but UFO’s!
What is going on?
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) February 12, 2023
h/t Mauser
Canada Goose jackets have become such a hot commodity in Washington, D.C., that authorities have issued a warning after people wearing the expensive coats were targeted by robbers.
The city’s Metropolitan Police Department said five incidents were reported between Jan. 24 and Feb. 5, some involving firearms and resulting in injuries to the victims, who were all wearing the Canadian-made luxury parkas, which range in price from a few hundred U.S. dollars to nearly US$1,500.
A friend refers to these garments as the “Public Housing Colours.”
There are conflicting reports of what exactly we’re shooting down over Alaska and Canada. We’re reasonably sure that a balloon with a car-sized payload was shot down over Alaska on Friday. The balloon was flying at 40,000 feet — about the same altitude as commercial jets. But the Pentagon doesn’t think the balloon was from China, given that it flew over the North Pole.
WASHINGTON (AP) — An “unidentified object” was shot down Sunday for the third time in as many days, this time over Lake Huron, after earlier ones in Alaska and Canada, U.S. officials said.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., tweeted that “the object has been downed by pilots from the U.S. Air Force and National Guard.” The shootdown was confirmed by two U.S. officials who were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
U.S. and Canadian authorities had restricted some airspace over the lake earlier Sunday as planes were scrambled to intercept and try to identify the object.
Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick on object shot down above Lake Huron:
"It's just further aggression from the most aggressive Chinese dictator in our lifetime." pic.twitter.com/fzdUt2qY8j
— Citizen Free Press (@CitizenFreePres) February 12, 2023
“We believe in the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between the United States and the PRC in order to responsibly manage the relationship,” declared Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, in a February 7 statement. “Unfortunately, the PRC has declined our request. Our commitment to open lines of communication will continue.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had tried to arrange a telephone conversation with China’s Defense Minister Gen. Wei Fenghe, after the February 4 shoot-down of the Chinese spy balloon, but the Chinese official refused to take the call.
On February 8, 2023, while arguing on behalf of fired NYC workers who declined covid vaccination, attorney John Bursch stated in open court that unvaccinated teachers in New York City were flagged with problem codes in their personnel files, and when that occurred “their fingerprints are sent with that flag to the FBI and the New York Criminal Justice Services.”
h/t Mauser
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has shot down an unidentified object in Canadian airspace, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Saturday.
“I ordered the take down of an unidentified object that violated Canadian airspace. [NORAD] shot down the object over the Yukon. Canadian and U.S. aircraft were scrambled, and a U.S. F-22 successfully fired at the object,” Trudeau said in a statement on Twitter.
“I spoke with President Biden this afternoon. Canadian Forces will now recover and analyze the wreckage of the object,” he said.
Junior ordered squat. Biden’s handlers took pity & decided to let him sound important.
China on Friday accused the United States Congress of “dramatizing” the Chinese spy balloon incident after the House of Representatives unanimously approved a resolution to condemn China for it.
H. Res. 104 condemns the “Chinese Communist Party’s use of a high-altitude surveillance balloon over United States territory” and labeled the situation “a brazen violation of United States sovereignty.”
