(Almost) Daily Meme

China launches investigation into suspected spy balloon flying over US, ministry says

Mao urged the US and China to proceed 'calmly and carefully' amid the suspected spy balloon investigation

Lawrence Richard / Fox News

China has announced its government is looking into reports that a suspected Chinese spy balloon was discovered flying in U.S. airspace over Montana.

"China is a responsible country and has always strictly abided by international laws, and China has no intention to violate the territory and airspace of any sovereign countries," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning during a daily briefing on Friday.

She also urged U.S. officials and Chinese authorities to proceed "calmly and carefully" amid the investigation. "As for the balloon, as I’ve mentioned just now, we are looking into and verifying the situation and hope that both sides can handle this together calmly and carefully," Mao added.

The foreign minister said judgment should be withheld "before we have a clear understanding of the facts."

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken was scheduled to visit China on Friday, becoming the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the country since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more and see video here.

DeSantis Proposes Permanently Abolishing Sales Tax on Gas Stoves

Leah Barkoukis / Townhall Tipsheet 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis waded into the debate over gas stoves, proposing all gas appliances be exempt from sales tax in The Sunshine State. 

Tucked into the nearly $115 billion budget is a $7 million permanent exemption on gas appliances – a move DeSantis argued “needs to be done.”

"They want your gas stove and we’re not going to let that happen,” he said. “And we’re not even a state – the way Florida was built, a lot of this wasn’t even connected to gas lines, you got a lot of electric stuff, but it’s just the principle of, you know, this is ridiculous that they – and they do want to go after it. They got blowback, so they kind of had to back off. They want to go after the gas stoves and so we’re saying, you know, we want you to be able to buy those free of charge from the state of Florida." Read more, see tweet and video here.

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