What A Day - 99 Surveillance Balloons Go By

Episode Date: February 13, 2023

After the U.S. military downed a Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean last week, three more “unidentified aerial objects'' have been shot down in North American airspace since Friday. While we don’t yet know what they were – or where they’re from – lawmakers on both sides of the aisle say they want answers from the Biden administration about its response.And in headlines: the death toll from the Turkey-Syria earthquake reached over 33,000 people, the EPA said a major railway could be liable for cleaning up the train derailment in Ohio, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is expected to announce that she’s running for president.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastCrooked Coffee is officially here. Our first blend, What A Morning, is available in medium and dark roasts. Wake up with your own bag at crooked.com/coffeeFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/whataday/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Monday, February 13th. I'm Treville Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, where we picked the exact wrong week to launch our official WOD weather balloon. We are trying to replace the groundhog and let the groundhog retire. And so we thought we'd try this out. Yeah, it's going to be six more weeks of winter.

On today's show, Turkish authorities have arrested building contractors as the death toll from last week's earthquake continues to mount. Plus, a former Trump appointee is expected to run against her old boss for the Republican nomination. But first, is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a quote-unquote unidentified aerial object. And for the record, I'm not talking about the suspected Chinese spy balloon we mentioned on the show last week. Over the weekend, there were reports of at least three other floating

thingamajiggies that have been shot down out of North American airspace over the last week or so. Yeah, I don't love this personally. It's not my favorite thing. Can you tell us what is happening? Yes. Inquiring minds definitely want to know, but the details are kind of slim here. And I should say that many headlines have been using the acronym UFO to describe these floating items. UFO stands for unidentified flying object. But when I think of UFO, you know, I think of alleged life on Mars or something, little green people that I've been told are UFOs. And so for our discussion today, I'm going to use thingamajiggy and thingamabobbin interchangeably here, okay? Love it.

Because that feels more appropriate, okay? I could not agree more. So on Friday, there was another object that was floating over northern Alaska that President Biden ordered to be destroyed. It had a car-sized payload and was flying at just 40,000 feet, which is roughly the same altitude that regular commercial flights fly at. The Pentagon noted that it does not resemble in any way the surveillance balloon from China that was shot down last week, but that's all they're kind of really saying about it. And then, later that same night, another thingamabobin was detected over Alaska. After that thing drifted into Canadian airspace, President Biden and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau jointly agreed to shoot that one down. According to Canada's Minister of Defense, this one was described as similar

to the Chinese balloon, though it was smaller in size and cylindrical. Okay, so that's two thingamajiggies in one day, by the way, in addition to the balloon from last week. So what was the third thingamabob in? So yesterday, right as the Super Bowl was beginning, reports surfaced that yet another entity had been shot out of the air, this one over Lake Huron in Michigan. Turns out that the object had actually first been detected on radar on Saturday over Montana, but it disappeared, leading officials to conclude that it was an anomaly. But on Sunday, a blip appeared once more over Montana, then Wisconsin and Michigan. And once military officials had visual confirmation, it was shot down.

Now, the question still remains here, right? What the hell is going on with all the stuff that y'all are spotting in the sky? And there really is just a lot of uncertainty here. But in light of what we now know about the original spy balloon, the Chinese, you know, surveillance balloon, people are concerned. And that's because officials have officially linked that first balloon to a massive surveillance program run by the Chinese government that has involved aircrafts that have been spotted over five out of the seven continents. So we can't confirm yet whether these latest thingamajiggies and thingamabobbins are also part of that Chinese scheme. But people are worried. We should, though, talk about the political reactions to these various thingamajiggies. What were some of the reactions after the first thingamabobbin on Friday, Josie?

As you may remember, after last week's balloon gate, the Republicans were fairly upset. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, always extremely reasonable. That's sarcasm if you didn't catch it, went so far as to suggest that Democrats secretly don't care about Chinese spy balloons, saying the Biden administration would have, quote, let it go on its merry way, not tell Congress, not tell the American people, and certainly not shoot it down if it hadn't been spotted. On Friday, when unidentified thingamabobin number one was shot down, again, that was the one over Alaska, Republicans were not satisfied by the fact that the Biden administration had apparently changed their approach due to the fact that the second balloon, while smaller than the first, was flying at 40,000 feet and therefore a risk to

planes, according to the administration. Quote, I'm trying to understand why this much smaller, by their own admission, much less capable balloon with a much smaller payload was deemed such a threat that the other one wasn't, Representative Michael Waltz of Florida said. And it can't just be the altitude. It's always so interesting when people who don't have an expertise in a certain area start talking about the motivations for decisions. You either want them to shoot the balloons down or you don't. Right. Picking shoes. What's going on? Right. Yeah. So everybody's kind of playing politics and nobody totally knows what's going on. Right. So now what? We're on unidentified balloon UFO thingamabobin number three, all told. What are the two sides of the aisle saying about that? Yeah, well, there's been a fair amount of

confusion these past few days. So here's Senator John Tester of Montana interviewed on CBS's Face the Nation Sunday morning. This is before thingamabobbin number three was shot down. Late Saturday, NORAD and NORTHCOM said there was a radar anomaly over your state, which is why airspace was closed. Was it a false alarm or is there an object over Montana? Well, I think the investigation is still going on as we speak. The truth is, is that there was an anomaly and they've investigated. I think it got dark last night, so they couldn't fully check it out. I'm sure as we speak, it's being checked out right now. I got to say, I'm going to need my senators to know a little bit more. It's just not giving confidence. Though Tuster was hesitant to say he knew exactly what was

going on above Montana with Thingamabobin 3, he expressed some confidence that China was involved with the object shot down in Alaskan airspace, i.e. thingamabobin one. You think this was China? I don't know. I don't know that it's China. We will find out later on if, in fact, it was affiliated with the Chinese communist government or not. But the bottom line is, is that I think we need to take these things seriously. I think the president and I think, more importantly, the military are taking the very, very seriously. And to back that up, I think through the appropriations process and the defense committee, we're going to make sure that they're taking it seriously. So the checks and balances will be there as we move forward. But like I said,

this has been a phenomenon that we haven't had recently, where we've had other countries that have went into our airspace for the purpose of trying to gather information on what we're doing here in the United States. And look, this seems to be an area where Democrats and Republicans likely agree. They share concerns that China is involved in more than just the balloon from last week. But regardless of whether China is responsible for all or just last week's balloon, that's enough for many Republicans, especially, as you can imagine. So here's Texas Representative Michael McCaul. He was also on Face the Nation on Sunday. When I saw the sites that it was flying over, it was very clear to me

this was an intentional act. It was done with provocation to gather intelligence data and collect intelligence on our three major nuclear sites in this country. Why? Because they're looking at what is our capability in the event of a possible future conflict in Taiwan. I think it was very much an act of belligerence on their part. And perhaps they don't care what the American people think about that. Ultimately, the bottom line is that politicians on both sides seem to be mainly suspecting China at this point, not aliens. I mean, I'm still worried about aliens, but apparently they're not. It's important to keep in mind, like, this is all over one weekend, right?

But it doesn't actually seem to be the first time that we've had these unidentified flying objects over American airspace. According to The Hill, quote, a senior Pentagon official told reporters last week that Chinese government surveillance balloons hovered over the continental U.S. at least three times during the Trump administration. Officials from the Trump administration have denied that, but it certainly seems that this is not a totally unprecedented event. So we will keep you updated on this developing story, but that is the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. More than 33,000 people are now confirmed dead across Turkey and Syria following last week's catastrophic earthquake in aftershocks. Though some survivors have been pulled from the rubble over the past few days, officials with international rescue teams say the likelihood of finding more people alive is

quickly dwindling. Rescuers themselves continue to grapple with extreme cold and growing fatigue. Meanwhile, Turkish authorities have issued over 100 arrest warrants for contractors linked to buildings that collapsed in the quake. At least a dozen people have been taken into custody so far. But critics of Turkey's president are calling the investigation a distraction. They say that widespread corruption and the rush toward development in earthquake-prone areas contributed to the disaster. The aftermath of last week's train derailment in Ohio continues. The EPA said this weekend that the train's operator, Norfolk Southern, may be on the hook to pay for the cost of cleaning up the disaster. Several cars on the train were carrying toxic and extremely volatile chemicals, forcing emergency officials to release it into the air to prevent an explosion.

Though people living near the site have since been allowed to return home, questions remain about whether the toxins are still lingering in the air and whether any of it has leached into nearby waterways. The company has not yet responded to the EPA's findings, though it has offered to cut a check for $25,000 total to help the 5,000 people impacted by the incident. Meanwhile, federal investigators say the derailment was triggered by a mechanical issue on one of the train's rail axles. A union representing Norfolk Southern Rail workers said it was, quote, years in the making and accused the company of skipping out on maintenance and

overworking its employees in order to cut costs. Seems worth mentioning that this was the main subject of the railway strike just weeks ago. And speaking of the EPA, the agency announced it will start cleanup projects at 22 federal Superfund sites. From an environmental standpoint, Superfund sites are the worst of the worst and require the most intense remediation and resources. The agency announced on Friday it's getting another round of funding thanks to last year's massive infrastructure bill to tackle those projects, including a cool $1 billion to clean up lead contamination in Atlanta. The money will also be used to help speed up 100 other ongoing projects across the country. Donald Trump's sleep paralysis demon just got a little more powerful. Florida lawmakers passed a bill on Friday giving Governor Ron DeSantis more control

of what used to be Disney's special tax district in the state. After the company came out against the controversial Don't Say Gay law last year, DeSantis revoked the company's privileges to independently operate in the area known as Weedy Creek, which encompasses the land surrounding Walt Disney World. For decades, Disney had been allowed to run there as a self-governing entity, which explains why Donald Duck never had to wear pants to work. In a statement, Disney said it won't fight the bill and that it's, quote, ready to work within this new framework.

Gotta say, don't like why Governor DeSantis did this. Also, don't think Disney should be running its own small city inside of the state. That's not what corporations are supposed to do. Absolutely. Nikki Haley is expected to be the first announced challenger

to Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries. The former governor of South Carolina and Trump appointee to the United Nations is set to announce her presidential bid this Wednesday in my hometown of Charleston as her team plan stops in battleground states New Hampshire and Iowa in the coming weeks. While Haley will be the first since Trump to announce their candidacy, she certainly won't be the last with governors Ron DeSantis and Brian Kemp expected to join the Republican primary or as we like to call them, our nightmare blunt rotation.

So stock up on your comfort foods and coping mechanisms. The 2024 presidential election is shaping up to be really, really, really foolish. I'm just picturing a clown car. They're all climbing out of it. We're into it. There's more coming. I already know it. It's like a who's who of GOP foolishness.

I don't know what we're going to do, but we better buckle up. Great. And those are the headlines. We'll be back after some ads to confirm what we were all wondering during the Super Bowl halftime show. It's Monday, WOD Squad, and for today's Tim Check, we're talking about Rihanna's long-awaited Super Bowl halftime performance. While the opener took a little longer than we may have hoped, the Fenty Beauty founder performed a markedly straightforward 12-song medley of hits levitating on a platform and surrounded by a fleet of dancers in her first live performance in seven years. That's such a long time. No cameos, no quick changes, just hits.

And while there was no big album announcement, with a single rub of the belly, Rihanna clued us in on what you could call a new project. Shortly after her performance, her representatives confirmed that the singer is pregnant with her second child. So Travelle, did you tune in? What were some of your favorite moments? I did. I watched. My thoughts were before we had confirmed, right, that she was pregnant. Right. And I'll just say that the halftime performer does not get paid. Right. And the type of performance that Rihanna gave us

was the performance of someone who doesn't get paid. I'm just going to leave it there. Like the hits were hitting, don't get me wrong, but it left a lot to be desired. Right. I have to say, okay, so before we confirmed that she's with Child child, I was like, this is okay. Her music's great, but the performance itself, fine. Now I'm like, this is the best performance of all time. Because you have like a nine month old at home and you're pregnant, you should be on the couch. Like, as we discussed, she's fully growing another brain right now. Like, if you are doing a performance at all, much less, like, the most watched musical performance of the year, easily.

Absolutely. I mean, we should also note, right, that, like, she's pregnant pregnant, right? She's pregnant pregnant. It wasn't a small belly. Right. You know? Right. It was very obvious.

Right. No, she's like. It was very obvious. Right. A pregnant woman, you know, strapped to these floating, you know, these floating stages. Okay, maybe she tore, right? Maybe she ate that performance up, actually. Right, right, right. You know, context is everything. The last thing I will say, though, is the performance just kind of reiterated how many hits Rihanna has, right? Oh my gosh. Despite the lukewarm performance itself,

I was sitting on the couch singing all the songs. I had forgotten about some of them too. It's just hit after hit after hit. And it wasn't even all of them. And it wasn't even all of them. Number one hits were left out. Absolutely. Also, shout out to the little cameo of her you

know fenty beauty makeup that was cute that's how you do your promo okay get your free advertising we love to see you this is rihanna once again reminding us she's a musician second these days right he is a entrepreneur and now we're really not getting the album okay right right that was it just like that we've checked our temps my tip is like pretty hot now that i know she was pregnant And now we're really not getting the album, okay? Right. That was it. Just like that, we've checked our temps. My temp is like pretty hot now that I know she was pregnant. It was tepid before, I would say. We'll take it.

One more thing before we go. We are officially in the phase of the George Santos news cycle where it's time to make some merch. The Cricut store now offers coffee mugs and t-shirts for three venerable institutions that George Santos has yet to take credit for starting, but it's only a matter of time before he does. Check out all three designs at Cricut.com slash store. That's all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, have Rihanna's money, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just Super Bowl halftime ad QR codes that you will never scan with your phone, like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Treybell Anderson.

And please let our weather balloon live. Yes, don't get all trigger happy, military. Okay, we need this. Truly. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance, Jazzy Marine, and Raven Yamamoto are our associate producers. Our head writer is Jossie Kaufman, and our executive producer is Lita Martinez. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.