ROGER KIMBALL: The truth comes out about Beijing’s balloon.

Well, well, well. The world seems amazed at the news that the Chinese spy balloon that meandered over the entire continental United States this winter was, you know, spying. That’s what spy balloons do: they spy. They collect intelligence — in this case, information from some of America’s most sensitive sites (I was going to say “secure sites,” but that would clearly be inaccurate). What do they do then? Like bees collecting pollen, they transmit what they collected back to the hive, which, mirabile dictu, just happens to be located in Beijing.

Anyone who was paying attention knew this. Did secretary of state Antony Blinken? Did puppet-in-chief Joe “Chocolate-Chip” Biden? Probably. But there is knowing and then there is knowing. The latter includes acknowledging what you know, which neither they nor SecDef Lloyd “Stand Down” Austin nor chair-entity of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark “White Rage” Milley did.

Nope, it was ostrich time all around — by which I mean that our heads were buried in the sand. Which is why the NBC report that — can you believe it? — Beijing’s spy balloon was not only collecting secrets but also transmitting them back to Comrade Pooh-Bear Xi caused a little ripple in the pond of public complacency yesterday. “Chinese spy balloon gathered intelligence from sensitive US military sites, despite US efforts to block it.” You don’t say?

In accordance with the prophecy: Biden Says He’ll Shoot Down Chinese Spy Balloon As Soon As He’s Done Letting It Spy.

— The Babylon Bee, February 3rd.