Friday's Fraught Absurdities: Pentagon Snoozes on ChiCom Spy Balloon as CNN's Lemon Sours on Collins

Nothing to see here, folks - move along.

Man, nobody could’ve seen this one coming! It seems that fussy CNN morning show co-host Don Lemon - demoted from his prime time fiasco last fall - isn’t playing well with his fellow low-rated hosts on the set:

Joseph A. Wulfsohn @JosephWulfsohn

CNN's Don Lemon got ‘nasty’ and ‘snapped' at co-host Kaitlan Collins for interrupting him on-air during an incident in December, leaving her ‘visibly upset,’ a source who witnessed the exchange told Fox News Digital.

foxnews.comCNN’s Don Lemon ‘snapped’ at co-host Kaitlan Collins for ‘interrupting’ him during on-set incidentTensions erupted during a December incident between CNN colleagues Don Lemon and Kaitlan Collins, who was “visibly upset” after he “snapped” at her for interrupting.

Lemon, who has maintained his highly-paid gig with the low-rated fake news channel despite being credibly accused of sexual assault by multiple young men, got huffy with Caitlan Collins following one show in December, accusing her of - gasp! - interrupting him during the broadcast.

Here’s an excerpt from the story at Fox News, which is no doubt taking great joy in being able to report on the matter:

Don Lemon had a "nasty" exchange with his "CNN This Morning" colleague Kaitlan Collins in what appears to have been a rift between the two on-air personalities. 

On Dec. 8th, during CNN's breaking news of Brittney Griner's release from Russia, there were multiple on-air instances where Collins attempted to interject while Lemon was speaking. At one point, Lemon wagged his finger above the desk and told her "standby one second."

While off-air, however, 56-year-old Lemon got "nasty" at 30-year-old Collins, scolding her for "interrupting" him, which left the female co-host "visibly upset," a source who witnessed the exchange told Fox News Digital. 

Word of the incident reached CNN boss Chris Licht, who urged Lemon to "take a beat," the source said. 

[End]

Man, that’s some big-time, multi-million dollar management by Chris Licht right there, huh? “Take a beat, Don.” Maybe he added, “Go to a bar and harass another teenager.” Lovely.

That Don Lemon still has a job remains one of the real mysteries surrounding CNN’s recent travails. He is not an asset in any real way to the channel - just a haughty, pompous body to fill a chair for a couple of hours each morning while everyone around him tries to work to find some audience outside an airport lounge for his horrible show.

Licht took Lemon out of prime time citing low ratings at the same time he jettisoned human potato Brian Stelter and others, choosing to reassign him rather than put him out on the street. Since dumping him into the morning time slot, that show’s ratings have also tanked, and there is little doubt Lemon’s pervasive personal disagreeability is a big reason why.

You have to wonder whether Lemon has a collection of compromising photos of key CNN figures hidden beneath his mattress. There seems no other rational explanation for his continuing employment.

Meanwhile, nothing to see here, folks: Just a ChiCom spy balloon flying across the U.S. unmolested by the American military:

Reuters @Reuters

A video filmed in Montana appears to show what could be a suspected Chinese spy balloon that has been flying over the United States for a couple of days, U.S. officials said reut.rs/3wPtfeK

That’s right: people in the hinterlands of Montana and other states are just out in their backyards filming the damn thing. Meanwhile, the woke generals at the Pentagon are advising the Sock Puppet and his evil handlers and whomever it is who is actually running the country to just leave it alone.

No, really, that’s their advice.

Here’s an excerpt from a Wall Street Journal story:

WASHINGTON—The U.S. tracked what officials described as a Chinese reconnaissance balloon over the continental states this week, in what would be an aggressive act of intelligence gathering over sensitive American national security sites.

The balloon sighting came days before Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to make a planned trip to Beijing, according to U.S. officials, throwing into question efforts to repair relations between the two powers who are at odds over a host of global and regional issues. The balloon was first spotted on Wednesday by civilians in a commercial airliner, U.S. officials said.

Two Air Force F-22 fighters scrambled from Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada to Montana, where the balloon was observed, before the administration decided not to shoot it down.

The U.S. maintains an arsenal of 150 nuclear-armed Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana. A senior defense official said the U.S. government was taking steps to shield sensitive sites, but added that the reconnaissance systems on the balloon were presumed to have “limited additive value” beyond what the Chinese could gather from their low-earth-orbit satellites.

…

It will be over the U.S. for “potentially a few more days,” one U.S. official said. A second official said it is moving southeast.

Defense officials said the U.S. was confident the balloon belonged to China.

“We do not doubt that this is a [People’s Republic of China] balloon, and that is an assessment shared across our intelligence and analytic community,” a senior defense official said.

The balloon has already flown over Alaska’s Aleutian Islands and Canada, a U.S. official said.

One U.S. official said China had previously sent high-altitude surveillance balloons over the continental U.S. “It’s pretty low risk for them,” the official said. U.S. defense officials said this balloon had loitered over the U.S. much longer than in previous similar incidents, which made this “different.”

President Biden was briefed on Wednesday and asked the military to present options, a senior administration official said. The balloon was large enough for its debris to cause damage, and the senior administration official said Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and other senior military leaders recommended the military not “take kinetic action” because of the risk to people on the ground. Mr. Biden heeded that recommendation, the official said.

[End]

“It’s pretty low risk for them.” Yeah, no sh*t, Sherlock. It’s no risk at all with fat, woke clowns like Lloyd Austin running the Pentagon. Austin, after all, has more important matters on his agenda, like brainwashing new West Point recruits with CRT propaganda.

You just cannot make this stuff up, folks. You leave these idiots in office 6 more years and none of us will survive it.

That is all.