Happy Friday from an overcast Asti.

We’re heading to Milan this afternoon for the weekend. You may not remember that my backpack was stolen at Milano Centrale train station when I returned from Bodrum in September.

But some of my stuff didn’t interest the thieves, so they threw it out. I recovered my passport a few months ago. Now it’s time to retrieve my book and house keys.

We decided to make a weekend of it, as Micah loves trains and Milan.

Before I head out, let’s have a cup of coffee and discuss Sloppy Joe’s latest idiocy.

I loved the Pink Panther cartoons and the Henry Mancini theme tune as a child. As a young adult, I thought Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau was silly and hilarious.

But it wasn’t until recently that I watched the original Pink Panther film. It stars an aging but still suave David Niven, a young, handsome Robert Wagner, and the insanely genius Peter Sellers as Clouseau, but in a supporting role.

It’s a fabulous movie. I love films that bring casual European glamour to the screen. The Pink Panther, set in Cortina in the Italian Alps, reminds me of To Catch a Thief and Charade because of its postwar elegance.

I must warn you, however. While watching the film, you’ll stop believing we’ve progressed as a species and start thinking we made a wrong turn somewhere along the timeline.

I think of all this because one of David Niven’s bestselling books, a memoir, is titled The Moon is a Balloon.

And for the past few days, the moon over America has been Chinese.

Whisky. Tango. Foxtrot.

It’s nearly impossible to believe.

There’s a Chinese spy balloon flying over America.

And it gets worse.

The balloon flew just south of the South Korean coast. I hasten to remind you that South Korea is an ally.

Then it flew right over Japan, another partner.

It then skirted the Russian coast.

Next, it flew clear over Alaska.

After that, it flew over staunch ally and neighbor Canada’s territory.

Finally, it reached Montana, where it’s remained for the last few days.

Have a look at this map:

Credit: @wildweatherdan

Apparently, no one thought of shooting it down.

Ok, I know South Korea and Japan have to walk a fine line since they’re right next to China.

And a power-drunk lunatic runs Canada, a big hippy commune dependent on the US military-industrial complex for its defense and welfare state.

But the US is just letting this happen?

It keeps getting better…

Credit: @Chesschick01

The Pentagon is worried about falling debris. Over Montana.

Montana sports a whopping seven people per square mile.

Do you know what kind of bad luck you need to be hit with debris from a falling balloon when there are only seven people per square mile?

Honestly, you’d just stand over the poor soul who was hit and say:

In fact, I’d say there’s no better place to blow up a balloon than Montana.

Let’s move on to border control.

Sloppy Joe’s Borders Record Isn’t So Hot

Joke Biden’s record on the Southern border is an abomination.

So it’s no surprise nothing was done when the balloon approached the Alaskan coast.

But I find that odd, as well.

Can’t Sarah Palin see Russia from her house?

If we’ve got spy balloons coming over the Bering Strait during this terrible time with Russia, don’t you think the Pentagon should get a little, well, defensive?

And I suppose the Canadians monitored the balloon’s progress through its territory.

But as soon as it hit our border with Canada, it should’ve been shot down.

On principle. Really, it should’ve been shot down when it hit Alaska on principle.

But the USG treats borders with disdain.

Immigrants - not just Mexican - stream over the Rio Grande daily.

The US military moves its personnel and equipment around the world with impunity.

The US attacks other countries at will.

I guess we must give the government credit for its consistency.

But why do we have borders at all?

Jeff Deist, President of the Mises Institute, wrote a great piece on borders back in 2016.

Here are a couple of points from his post:

• Borders satisfy innately human desires for order and separation. Borders arise and exist naturally, without being created or enforced by political entities (although they were generally less rigidly defined and more porous prior to the era of modern governments).

• Humans naturally want to live in safe areas, i.e., in "good neighborhoods" on a macro scale. And they want to know their neighbors are not a threat. In other words, there is a market for security beyond one's own property — not everyone can own and control vast areas of property like Ted Turner. This is why gated communities exist. Simply stating that "nobody has a right to control any property they don't own" does not address reality.

Because of these, if we must have a government, then one of the primary duties of that government must be to protect our borders.

The USG is clearly derelict in this duty.

Here we have a government conversation on the subject:

Wrap Up

The USG blows up stuff all over the world.

I’d really like to know why its itchy trigger finger isn’t so itchy right now.

This is a clear threat, even if the balloon isn’t armed.

Destroying it would say to the Chinese, “No, you can’t do that.”

Of course, the USG has run spy planes up China’s coasts for years.

But what’s one more episode of hypocrisy among enemies?

Have a great weekend!

P.S. In case you didn’t know, I now also write for the Daily Reckoning every Thursday morning. If you missed yesterday’s piece, it summarized all my feelings on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. You can find it here. Feel free to sign up. You will get more from me every Thursday and excellent write-ups from Brian Maher, Jeffrey Tucker, James Howard Kunstler, and more. Best of all, it’s free! So head on over there now to catch up. See you there.