297 Comments

We aren’t looking at a wandering reindeer it’s traveling in a straight line across our interior lands with a birds eye view of military installations. We let the country who recently tried to kill the world with COVID do it. What is the government doing?

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Let's wait until they recover the wreckage. I'm sorry but if a USA "weather balloon" drifted over russia or china I'd bet there'd be a tad more than an "it's ok"...

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What amazed me is that a fighter jet was dispatched and used a missile to shoot down a balloon. How much did that missile cost vs. using a few cannon rounds? Why wasn't the balloon captured and examined to determine it's real mission? All of this sound so over the top.

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As you ended broadcasts and writings: Courage!

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Did NOT have that on my Bingo card.

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Troll

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Thank you for the excellent analysis!

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Don't we have satellites that spy on China and other countries? Aren't all the big powers constantly observing the doings and goings on of "near peers?" Sometimes in secret, sometimes right out in the open. Is there really anything new here?

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The weather balloon ruse has been used many times in the past, most famously for explanations of UFO’s and then there was the CIA U-2 spy plane piloted by Gary F Powers over the USSR shot down at 80,000 feet by a ground to air missile and claimed by USA to be a weather balloon, at least initially. Powers parachuted out, was captured and several years later traded for Soviet spy Abel.

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Who might benefit from a Sinofrenzy?

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I was not commenting on the DIFFERENCE of Water and Air. I was commenting on the SIMILARITY of the two. It is obvious that Air and Water are different, and adjustments need to be made, Duh Dude. It is not so obvious that they are similar. A "Crazy Ivan" works the same in both mediums.

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So the media wants to fire up a war. They show NO interest in trying to learn facts, only interested in sensationalism. This is the same media that reported day after day about inflation that never existed, gas prices that never existed, egg prices that were falsely reported. This list goes on and on. Aside from having to fight conservative rights misinformation stream; We now must deal with a media that can no longer be trusted to report news accurately. The United States is on a very wrong path, I hope everyone wakes up soon from this nightmare. The best way to combat this problem is to stay informed and to hold the media accountable for their inaccurate reporting. We must demand more transparency from the media and from our government. We must also support independent media outlets and other sources that are committed to the truth. We must become more active in our own research and fact-checking to ensure that what we are being told is accurate.

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Oh, be real. The Chinese are great fans of the American Silent Movies. They're just bored and want to poke the ant-hill, or heave a rock at the hornet's nest. Balloons are one of the most inert air superiority weapons. They just hang there. But America... especially DC, with the Josh Hawley and the Capitol Sprint Team - they are easy to panic. Watch the Keystone Kops here to see what the Chinese are munching popcorn and watch the Americans do. https://youtu.be/GwUUUqgfu-E

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China became very hostile and threatening when Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan. Seeing that and now this crazy situation with the mystery balloon, one can only imagine what response China would have if the shoe were on the other foot! China would attack it with a military response. We should be cautious but the balloon should be removed from our airspace. I believe that must somehow be done without a forceful action. What is behind all of this is anyone’s guess. The balloon has invaded our country and we can’t really know what it is without bringing it down.

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I second the idea that China just put a good two-fisted yank on the Yanks on New Year's. It's the year of the Rabbit, and big things in the sky terrify Rabbits. In America, many Rabbits wear Red Hats and act tough. But you can fool them with a holiday balloon in the sky. Shakes up them bunnies.

Spying? We are watching the balloon with satellites that can pick out the "Made In China" tag on the top button. Balloon espionage was tried during the Civil War - big problem with the steering thingy.

Imagine the odds - yes, debris falling out of the sky in the heavily settled State of Montana. What are the odds of smushing someone? In a wild gyration of probability, the balloon's payload might land on the Montana State Democratic Headquarters, killing him.

I go with D2T2 (Donald Junior) on this one. Let's send four F22 stealth fighters, each with a corner of a giant US flag tied to it, up, up and away, and wrap up that Red Balloon in-flight with the American Flag, diaper up the sucker so it can't see, and then fly over a stadium or something. It's an entirely practical idea.

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