Objects being shot down

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I'll keep that in mind when I'm trying to delete the evidence from all of the felonies I commit.

I've been a bad, bad boy...

 

[Imzadi]

Well to be fair, no one really expects any countries intelligence gathering organizations to be transparent and truthful.

So called U.S. experts [interviewed on TV ] are saying the U.S. has also flown balloons over China too.

And anyone who has watched Mission Impossible knows the Secretary will disavow all knowledge of any of our nefarious actions.

 

[Mysterian]

There are so many other ways now to for a country like China to weaken a rival without doing so much damage that they destroy that rival's value as an export market.

Canada could at least send Nickelback to China. Two birds, one stone.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Well it is February, in month what is it, 37?
The Game Makers could be running out of ideas and just throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks at this point.

None of this is even vaguely interesting any more, says this Gen X observer, the shock story literally switches every month. We now live in The Paper from So I married an Axe Murderer.

 

[Imzadi]

Some expert on TV said there are usually about 1000 balloons launched every day, world wide. Most of them weather balloons and scientific balloons. We are supposedly in a climate change, so it makes sense that people launch balloons to study it, especially with the crazy weather we've been having.

However, now the U.S. press secretary released a statement today/yesterday(?) denying the balloons had anything to do with aliens or extra-terrestrial activity.

I don't know. The way she was so vehemently denying it - and the second time forgetting to use the the word "extra" and just said "terrestrial activity," it could have been a Freudian slip. Her needing to release a statement has an air that could also be the government saying, "We need to shut this down immediately before anyone really finds out it IS aliens!"

 

[goofyernmost]

The balloon technology is Not new. During WWII the Japanese sent balloons with bombs to the US. Several actually exploded in US, but they were in remote areas and never were reported.

I said that it wasn't new in the very quote you posted.

Since there are space satellites that can clearly photograph the license plate on a car, the idea that they are still using civil war balloon spying is bordering on the ridiculas. Just shows that today's technology isn't all there is out there. The one thing we can be sure of is that if they were floating around up there for legitimate reasons we would have heard a major uproar by now. Silence is it's own indicator.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I do wonder about this balloon thing. I mean, if China really wanted to spy on the US, they'd use satellites, wire taps and people on the ground. Things that are easy to cover up. Not massive big balloons floating around in the sky that can be defeated by Dennis the Menace with his trusty slingshot.

 

[DLgal]

I do wonder about this balloon thing. I mean, if China really wanted to spy on the US, they'd use satellites, wire taps and people on the ground. Things that are easy to cover up. Not massive big balloons floating around in the sky that can be defeated by Dennis the Menace with his trusty slingshot.

There are multiple ways to gather intelligence. This was their attempt to skirt the limits of "international airspace."

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

There are multiple ways to gather intelligence. This was their attempt to skirt the limits of "international airspace."

I dunno. I don't buy it, tbh. There are so many more sophisticated means of surveillance, a party balloon just doesn't cut it for me.

 

[DLgal]

I dunno. I don't buy it, tbh. There are so many more sophisticated means of surveillance, a party balloon just doesn't cut it for me.

It was a pretty sophisticated balloon...

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

It was a pretty sophisticated balloon...

Just a balloon though. Big, conspicuous, easy to pop, slow, at the mercy of the elements...

Frankly, I'd be FAR more alarmed if it was carrying some sort of weapon like a dirty bomb.

 

[mom2rtk]

Just a balloon though. Big, conspicuous, easy to pop, slow, at the mercy of the elements...

Frankly, I'd be FAR more alarmed if it was carrying some sort of weapon like a dirty bomb.

Yet despite being big, conspicuous, easy to pop, slow and at the mercy of the elements..... it managed to freely float across a wide variety of sensitive sites across a large swath of our country.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Yet despite being big, conspicuous, easy to pop, slow and at the mercy of the elements..... it managed to freely float across a wide variety of sensitive sites across a large swath of our country.

Certainly, the authorities have been slow to act - multiple balloons floated over under Trump, and a few already under Biden. But riddle me this: why use a balloon which is easy to see and destroy? Why not use a covert satellite?

 

[DLgal]

Certainly, the authorities have been slow to act - multiple balloons floated over under Trump, and a few already under Biden. But riddle me this: why use a balloon which is easy to see and destroy? Why not use a covert satellite?

Satellites are way more expensive to deploy. This was probably a test.

 

[mom2rtk]

Satellites are way more expensive to deploy. This was probably a test.

And don't get as close nor can they hover like a balloon.

 

[Mysterian]

I do wonder about this balloon thing. I mean, if China really wanted to spy on the US, they'd use satellites, wire taps and people on the ground. Things that are easy to cover up. Not massive big balloons floating around in the sky that can be defeated by Dennis the Menace with his trusty slingshot.

NORAD retired their Dennis the Menace defense system in the 90's, replaced with Bart Simpson.

 

[Mysterian]

There are multiple ways to gather intelligence. This was their attempt to skirt the limits of "international airspace."

Maybe they just wanted to see the US's response timing and/or reaction as well.

 

[sam_gordon]

And don't get as close nor can they hover like a balloon.

A balloon can "hover"? Is it tied to a string?

 

[Mysterian]

It's now being reported that the US tracked one of these balloons from it's launch on Hainan Island.

The US government knew of this about a week before it was first reported publicly. Then they got shifty-eyed and said "We meant to tell you all about it, we just forgot," and we said "Oh, I can't stay mad at that face!"