Weekend thread: What's going on?

Another Chinese balloon, as MAGA freaks out: "Shoot it down!" Astounding jobs numbers kill GOP & media "recession" narrative. House GOP's crazy -- and dangerous -- political theater.

The mania on the right over what the Pentagon assessed is a Chinese spy balloon flying over the United States is nothing but performative outrage for the MAGA base. And now another Chinese balloon has been identified by the Pentagon, flying over Latin America.

Whatever is the back story of the balloon hovering over the U.S., I trust the Pentagon in not wanting to shoot it down over populated areas — and possibly wanting to retrieve it in tact — a lot more then I trust Marjorie “Jewish space lasers” Taylor Greene’s position that we must “shoot it down!”

The GOP’s hyperventilating over the balloon is surely in part to change the subject from the astounding jobs numbers released on Friday, in which the U.S. added over 500,000 jobs in January when 185,000 were expected. It caused top economists to finally say there is not going to be a recession, which seemed to let down a fear-mongering media and Republicans desperate to blame something on Biden.

Of course they spent all week blaming lots of other things on Biden and making scurrilous charges, pushing conspiracy theories and hate in ugly House hearings, where Democrats slammed them back hard. It’s political theater but it also inspires a base ginned up on violence, which we’re seeing play out every day.