U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a planned visit to China amid a wave of outrage over a suspected Chinese surveillance balloon spotted over American airspace this week. Blinken was scheduled to visit Beijing next week to meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and potentially Chinese President Xi Jinping , CNBC reported. Bloomberg , citing two unnamed officials, reported on Friday that officials decided that going forward with the trip now would send the wrong signal in the wake of the balloon's detection. A State Department spokesperson confirmed to Newsweek on Friday afternoon that the visit was postponed. In a background call with reporters, an unnamed senior State Department official said that they concluded "the conditions are not right at this moment for Secretary Blinken to travel to China" following consultations with Congress and interagency partners "We are committed to maintaining open lines with the PRC [People's Republic of … [Read more...] about Blinken postpones China trip after outrage over spy balloon handling
Marsha blackburn
Chinese spy balloon puts U.S. back on Cold War footing
The presence of a Chinese spy balloon in U.S. airspace may put the country back on a footing similar to the Cold War era when Soviet balloons and the satellite Sputnik caused alarm among Americans. Some commentators on social media have already made the comparison between the balloon, which U.S. officials said had been flying over the country for several days, and similar incidents during the Cold War when the U.S. and the former Soviet Union were global superpowers locked in competition. Former President Donald Trump called for the balloon to be shot down on his Truth Social platform on Friday, joining other conservatives who have expressed apparent alarm about the balloon. "Why won't Biden shoot down the Chinese spy balloon that is currently flying over the United States?" tweeted Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn on Thursday. "The Chinese Communist Party is a threat to our existence," she added. President Joe Biden first became a U.S. senator in 1973 during … [Read more...] about Chinese spy balloon puts U.S. back on Cold War footing
Marco Rubio: It Was a ‘Mistake’ Not to Shoot Chinese Spy Balloon
It was a “mistake” to not shoot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon when it was hovering over a sparsely populated area, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said on Friday. “It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area This is not some hot air balloon, it has a large payload of sensors roughly the size of two city buses & the ability to maneuver independently,” the senator explained: It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area This is not some hot air balloon, it has a large payload of sensors roughly the size of two city buses & the ability to maneuver independently — Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) February 3, 2023 Rubio also said the suspected spy balloon over the United States is “alarming but not surprising.” “The level of espionage aimed at our country by Beijing has grown dramatically more intense & brazen over the last 5 years,” he added: A … [Read more...] about Marco Rubio: It Was a ‘Mistake’ Not to Shoot Chinese Spy Balloon
Obama’s Energy Efficiency Regs Are Making Appliances Way Worse
The Obama administration’s seemingly never-ending wave of energy efficiency regulations for everyday household appliances don’t seem to be working very well, according to congressional testimony. Energy Department regulators have or plan to impose 23 different energy efficiency regulations for household appliances by 2018, and already the home appliance industry and policy experts find these rules just make appliances cost more and perform worse. “DOE has never looked back to see what the energy savings actually were or if consumers actually ever benefited from spending more money,” Stephen Yurek, the president of the Air-Conditioning, Heating and Refrigeration Institute, told Congress Friday . “Although energy efficiency standards are often billed as having substantial environmental benefits, these benefits are relatively small and typically are not sufficient to outweigh the costs to consumers of the standards,” echoed Sophie Miller , a senior policy analyst at The George … [Read more...] about Obama’s Energy Efficiency Regs Are Making Appliances Way Worse