Radhika Desai: Western Press Uses ‘Ankle-Biting Yappy Dog’ Pseudo-Academics to Silence Critics

A prominent Canadian academic has come under fire in the Canadian press for attending the Valdai Forum in Russia. She told Sputnik that the Western press uses government-funded “lapdog” academics to smear the reputations of those who criticize Western policies and highlight how they have discredited themselves.

Radhika Desai: Western Press Uses ‘Ankle-Biting Yappy Dog’ Pseudo-Academics to Silence Critics

US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron

Military says objects are thought to have landed in difficult terrain, after hobbyists suggested one could belong to them.

US military ends search for balloons shot down over Alaska and Lake Huron

Most likely, we’ll never know if they really did shoot down a pico balloon. They’re too embarrassed.

Related:

Did an F-22 shoot down an Illinois hobby group’s small radio balloon?

A military spokesperson tells NPR it’s their understanding that the FBI has spoken to the hobbyist group in question — the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, based just north of Chicago — in an apparent attempt to determine whether their small balloon might have inadvertently caused a big ruckus.

When the prediction showed K9YO-15 heading from Alaska over the Yukon, [Dan] Bowen said, “we really hoped it wouldn’t be intercepted. But we knew the moment that the intercept was reported, whose it was and which one it was.”

Asked if he believes the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade’s balloon was shot down, Bowen didn’t hesitate.

“Yes. Absolutely,” he said. “You know, I would say with 98% certainty.”