BREAKING (Ed): Joe Biden did the right thing. After pretty much running through all of the options first, of course. After spending the last 48 hours or so stonewalling and then dithering over what clearly appears to be a spy ballon from China, Biden ordered a strike on the craft — after it had completely transversed the US.

Jazz has the video from Lt. Tim McMillan as live television tracked the balloon as it went over the Atlantic — and then into it:

You can just see the fighter jet trailing away at the end of the clip https://t.co/Lqx4dR6oJn

— Jazz Shaw (@JazzShaw) February 4, 2023

Something clearly was up this morning. Biden told reporters that he would “take care of it” today. Shortly afterward, the FAA issued a national-security “ground stop” in the Carolinas region, even though the balloon was an at altitude well above commercial aircraft usage. The agency also imposed a 22,000-square-mile restricted-airspace order.

The big question is why it took this long to take the obvious step, and what the shootdown now gained. Presumably, China gets real-time data from these crafts; retrieving them would save them money, but unless Beijing is staffed by total idiots, their missions are not reliant on retrieval. Biden essentially waited until the potential for intelligence acquisition had been completed. The White House has claimed that they didn’t want to risk falling debris over populated areas, but the China balloon had violated US airspace beginning at the Aleutian Islands. Biden had plenty of time to order the strike.

So why didn’t he? Apparently, Biden and his team are more afraid of Republicans than China:

New @bpolitics report would be funny were it not so painfully true. Says Biden WH did not want to upset the Chinese over the balloon. But WH worried balloon, now public, would be 'fodder for Republicans who believed the administration is weak on China.' https://t.co/Ex5WMU2MLx pic.twitter.com/wt8s4YIGIL

— Byron York (@ByronYork) February 4, 2023

This afternoon, reports are emerging that not one but two more China balloons are on their way. Let’s hope that Biden develops a little more testicular fortitude.

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Original post from Karen follows … 

The Daily Mail reports that Joe Biden has decided to shoot down the Chinese spy balloon when it goes out over the Atlantic Ocean today. The spy balloon is expected to exit North Carolina airspace, or maybe South Carolina airspace, and go out over the Atlantic Ocean. The Pentagon said the balloon will be collected and studied.

The balloon was spotted over North Carolina Saturday morning and was expected to exit the east coast by noon. While it was flying over the United States, it passed over at least one sensitive site – a nuclear missile site in Montana known as the “Doomsday Base.” Despite prominent Montanans and elected officials across the country weighing in that the spy balloon should immediately be shot out of the sky, Biden’s military advisers did not go with that option. Instead, the balloon continued on its merry way across the country before entering its final destination, North Carolina. The decision to wait and take it out over the Atlantic Ocean was due to concerns for American lives and of sparking an international incident.

In Syracuse, New York on Saturday, Biden was asked about the spy balloon and he said, “We’re going to take care of it.” Americans are rightly alarmed about reports of a spy balloon flying over America, doing some sort of surveillance. What’s the matter? China’s satellites aren’t enough? A spy balloon doesn’t seem like the most efficient way of gathering information. I’m not an expert on spying, though.

The spy balloon story has captured the attention of Americans since we learned of it hovering in the sky over Billings, Montana. Americans didn’t learn of it from the Biden administration, mind you, but from local reporting in Billings. The most transparent administration – evah- has once again been proven to be as secretive as any previous administration, perhaps more so.

When it is shot down over U.S. territorial waters, it will require a substantial localized airspace shutdown to protect civilians. Spy balloons operate at altitudes of up to 120,000 feet but the spy balloon has descended to about 46,000 feet. That is within striking distance for an F-22 Raptor, which flies up to 65,000 feet. It’s not a simple mission. It may be tougher to sink than meets the eye. The Canadian Air Force sent up F-18 fighter jets to shoot down a rogue weather balloon in 1998. They fired a thousand 20-millimeter cannon rounds into it before it sank six days later.

Plenty of Americans were gung-ho about shooting the balloon out of the air as soon as it was spotted. Montana Governor Greg Gianforte tweeted, “If it was up to Montanans, the Chinese Communist Party’s spy balloon would have been taken out of the sky the moment it entered our sovereign airspace.” He sees the failure to do so by Team Biden as a sign of weakness.

The Biden administration has emboldened our adversaries. pic.twitter.com/Qc8ZyH5Rtm

— Governor Greg Gianforte (@GovGianforte) February 4, 2023

That is a common criticism of Biden’s handling of the situation. He’s been very quiet about it and that is seen as a sign of weakness. Trump supporters say it would not have happened during his time in the White House, or if it had, he would have tended to the problem right away.

Montanans appreciate our freedoms and privacy, and Chinese surveillance flying over Montana’s ICBMs is a direct threat to those freedoms. pic.twitter.com/8gSn24N2gD

— Senator Jon Tester (@SenatorTester) February 4, 2023

Meanwhile, a second spy balloon is reported o be flying over Latin America.

Late on Friday, Pat Ryder, Pentagon spokesman, said: “We are seeing reports of a balloon transiting Latin America.”

“We now assess it is another Chinese surveillance balloon,” he added, without specifying its exact location.

The spy balloon caused Secretary of State Blinken to cancel a trip to meet with Chinese officials. He was scheduled to leave for China on Friday but remained in Washington. The Chinese government issued a lame excuse for the presence of the balloon.

Moments before Mr. Blinken’s decision to cancel his trip – aimed at easing tensions between the two countries – China issued a rare statement of regret over the first balloon and blamed winds for pushing what it called a civilian airship into US airspace.

China’s foreign ministry said on Saturday that the flight of a Chinese “airship” over the United States was an accident, accusing US politicians and media of taking advantage of the situation to discredit China.

With “limited self-steering capability, the airship deviated far from its planned course,” the ministry said. “This is entirely an unexpected situation caused by force majeure and the facts are very clear.”

But President Joe Biden’s administration described it as a maneuverable “surveillance balloon”.

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo offered his opinion that the spy balloon should be shut down by whatever means necessary. He stated the goals that would accomplish.

“One, to let the Chinese Communist party know that we are serious.

“Two, to find out what it is that they are collecting and why it is the case that they have decided to fly this over the United States of America, and finally to do so in a way that is safe for everyone on the ground.

“I’m very confident that the United States can do each of those three things.”

Joe Biden does not inspire confidence in his ability to protect America and he is seen as a weak leader by our enemies. This spy balloon probably wasn’t so much supposed to be on a surveillance mission as it was to poke a finger in Biden’s eye. China is showing it is not afraid to provoke the United States.

We’ll see what happens as the day progresses. Will Biden shoot it out of the sky? Or will he continue to play nice with the Communist Chinese he appears hesitant to offend?

China would never let a spy balloon fly through their airspace. No strong leader would. And now, it’s flying above South Carolina. Capture the balloon. See what they are collecting. Hold Xi accountable. We need American strength back.

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 4, 2023