LN Readers Speak Out: What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am?

By RT Witt

The words of the Rhythm & Blues classic “What Kind of Fool Do You Think I Am,” recorded by the Tams in 1964, immediately come to mind with the cascade of lies, feints, and cover stories that our Betters floated to distract us from the recent Chinese balloon fiasco. Once and for all, our so-called leaders or, put less generously, the “thought” police, have revealed themselves as the dullards we have long suspected they are.

As well, a motley crew of silly Millys -- which might be best termed the state-controlled media and, as the Soviet commissars used to say, careerists -- once more demonstrated their incompetence by showing themselves utterly contemptuous of the American people’s intelligence with an implacable, utterly unbelievable narrative. As the strange dirigible hovered over the United States, the president’s order to shoot down the balloon was finally carried out. Then he informed the public that the military action wasn’t a big deal and was “not a serious breach.”

So why did he blow this up (gulp, sorry) into a national crisis? The obliteration of balloon number one was followed by the downing of three additional unidentified objects. Most frightening, our storied opposition apparently has no more sense than those in control.

The Debris Debacle

“We didn’t shoot down the spy vehicle for almost a week because of our concern for possible injury to civilians from falling debris.” Anyone but a fool knows this excuse was trotted out to cover up the fact that we did nothing for multiple days after American airspace was breached. If the Chinese balloon had not been spotted and our leaders had not gotten caught with their proverbials down, they never would have responded, and the balloon would still be up there floating around. The purported “debris” excuse doesn’t hold water. (Yes, I know a balloon holds something other than water.) First, the ability to avoid damage from falling debris was greatest when the Chinese breach became evident in the Aleutians. Second, its continuing flight cross country included passage over some of the most sparsely populated areas of the nation. Surely, just a warning before shooting the balloon down would have reduced the likelihood of any damage to near zero.

The Media Assumes the Supine Position

Why do we have such an incurious and credulous national press? Where was the first reporter asking what the basis was for thinking that the Chinese spy apparatus did not include an automatic “self-destruct” feature that would be triggered at the first sign of any attempt to capture it? The conclusion that China had, of course, done exactly that occurred immediately to every reasonably sensate American. Who could possibly think the Chinese were so dumb as to fail to provide for the destruction of its spy equipment to prevent its falling into the hands of the US government, no matter how incompetent?

The Cover Story Doesn’t Hold Water

Given the obvious impossibility of recovering anything useful after shooting down the balloon and its spy equipment, the naval rescue mission is merely a CYA operation, intended to suggest that the wondrous success of our having popped China’s balloon will result in the collection of vital secrets from the retrieval of a spy apparatus blown to smithereens. See the photos of American naval servicemen lifting pieces of the balloon into a boat and FBI agents staring thoughtfully at … what? While colorful, it is unlikely to fool anyone but the most gullible into believing that the United States got anything but egg on our face from this farce.

A Wraith-Like Loyal Opposition

I don’t recall hearing anything from the other side of the aisle except harrumphing about “weakness” and the terrible signal being sent to our enemies, merely chewing around the edges of what is wrong. Of course, too many of them take their handouts from the Intelligence Services (misnomer?) and consequently don’t want to inquire too deeply into the whys and whens of this debacle.

Who can expect anything but quibbling and nitpicking from Republican members of a Senate Intelligence Committee deeply implicated in the pervasive corruption that infects the FBI, CIA, and other reputed guardians of our national security?

Is there a life after stupidity? Let’s hope so.

RT Witt is a graduate of Yale [a university associated with a large Ivy League hedge fund] and of the University of Virginia Law School.  For most of his legal career, he worked as a lawyer for the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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The opinions expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Liberty Nation.