Astronaut Mark Kelly, one of the favorites to be Kamala's VP pick, literally owns a spy balloon company funded by a Chinese venture capitalist
ยท Jul 27, 2024 ยท NottheBee.com

I did NOT have the Democrats' darling politician and favorite to be Kamala's VP, Astronaut Mark Kelly, as a Chinese spy balloon guy on my bingo card.

But, dudes, it's real.

Yeah, that's a REAL story from the REAL New York Times. Here's that full quote.

Mr. Kelly has also not faced the harsh spotlight of a national campaign, and has potential political liabilities like a high-altitude surveillance balloon company he helped found with Chinese venture capital, (Republican operative) Mr. Scarpinato said.

The New York Times links to this Axios story that details Mark Kelly's connection to the Chinese spy balloons.

Context: Tucson-based World View, cofounded by now-U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly in 2012, received venture capital from Tencent โ€” among the largest tech companies in China โ€” both in 2013 and 2016.

  • Tencent, like most Chinese tech giants, has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

So ... is Kelly's company building surveillance balloons with CCP tied money? And is China using these spy balloons on the US?

How wild would it be if the spy balloons we've been shooting down over the US were from the company of a US Senator?

(And by "wild" I mean potentially treacherous.)

  • Today, World View contracts with the U.S. government and private companies to provide aerial surveillance via balloon.

  • About 65% of the company's work last year was "defense related," Hartman told Breaking Defense.

Yeah, but what private companies are buying spy balloons? Spy balloons partially funded by ChiComm ties? Like, how is this considered a totally normal business for a Senator to be in?

Democrats wanted to nominate the most normal, boring white guy possible and their favorite candidate has taken money from China and built spy balloons.

What a mess!


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