Pentagon says it is monitoring Chinese spy balloon spotted flying over US

[el midgetron]

1 hour ago, Golden Duck said:

Indeed, Trump has dreams that he can't quite implement. 

Assuming, he wanted to to pop the Chinese balloons that invaded US Airspace during his tenure - he was obviously too impotent to get the shot away.

The Chinese probably agree with you that voters may see this as embarassing for Biden.  Clearly neither, you nor China want Biden as POTUS.

Chinese spy balloons over US during Trump admin 'discovered after' he left office: senior Biden official

….But on Sunday, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital that "U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration" assesses that "PRC government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time."

The official told Fox News that "this information was discovered after the [Trump] administration left." 

"They went undetected," the official told Fox News Digital…..

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chinese-spy-balloons-over-us-during-trump-admin-discovered-after-he-left-office-senior-biden-official

 

But but but but Donald Trump……..Donald Trump….but Donald Trump…..

[spartan max2]

1 hour ago, Sir Wearer of Hats said:

Something nasty. 
Ricin? Anthrax? Talk show hosts? American Chocolate? 

Oh ****. Not more of those 

[spartan max2]

2 minutes ago, el midgetron said:

Chinese spy balloons over US during Trump admin 'discovered after' he left office: senior Biden official

….But on Sunday, a senior administration official told Fox News Digital that "U.S. intelligence, not the Biden administration" assesses that "PRC government surveillance balloons transited the continental U.S. briefly at least three times during the prior administration and once that we know of at the beginning of this administration, but never for this duration of time."

The official told Fox News that "this information was discovered after the [Trump] administration left." 

"They went undetected," the official told Fox News Digital…..

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/chinese-spy-balloons-over-us-during-trump-admin-discovered-after-he-left-office-senior-biden-official

 

But but but but Donald Trump……..Donald Trump….but Donald Trump…..

Unless I'm reading this wrong, this is saying that under Trump's admin we didn't even detect the balloons in our airspace?

We just discovered they were in our airspace after they already left?

That's comforting ...

Edited February 5, 2023 by spartan max2

[el midgetron]

4 minutes ago, spartan max2 said:

Unless I'm reading this wrong, this is saying that under Trump's admin we didn't even detect the balloons in our airspace?

We just discovered they were in our airspace after they already left?

That's comforting ...

Not as comforting as Biden wanting to keep the balloon a secret and just let it go. They’ve known about these for at least two years, observed them over several continents, watched one crash off the coast of Hawaii four months ago. They detect this one and Biden just wants to hush it up and ignore it, That’s comforting…..

[lightly]

2 hours ago, el midgetron said:

It was reported it may have had limited steering abilities.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/chinese-spy-balloon-has-unexpected-maneuverability/

Yup. .from your informative link:

Is it possible to steer or otherwise control a typical high-altitude balloon? 

It can be controlled, but let me be careful about what I mean by that. Balloons go with the wind. And so the only control that a balloon has is: in some balloons, you can control the altitude—you can make it go higher or lower. To the extent that the wind speed and direction varies with altitude, you can change the altitude, within some limits. And that can give you some measure of control—but not anywhere near the level of control that you have [with an airplane]. You can’t turn around and go the other direction; you can never go upwind in the balloon. You’re always going to be moving with the atmosphere that surrounds it.

Given existing knowledge of wind patterns at different altitudes.    Flocks of migrating birds ,and even butterflies , use this technique .

Edited February 5, 2023 by lightly

[Golden Duck]

42 minutes ago, el midgetron said:

Not as comforting as Biden wanting to keep the balloon a secret and just let it go. They’ve known about these for at least two years, observed them over several continents, watched one crash off the coast of Hawaii four months ago. They detect this one and Biden just wants to hush it up and ignore it, That’s comforting…..

Previous incursions by ballon were hushed up too.

Seems like you hate the player, not the game.

[F3SS]

Who would've ever guessed that balloons were going to be the next big divide in American politics?

[Occupational Hubris]

9 hours ago, el midgetron said:

They detected it over the Aleutian Islands. There is no reason it couldn’t have been safely brought down before passing over the Continental US.

If the unnamed source for the Trump story is even real…. I’m sure the same people who had a meltdown over Trump saying the “China Virus” would have accused him of racism for calling it a “Chinese ballon” and then accused him of xenophobia for shooting it down. 

So, is the whataboutism supposed to vindicate Biden covering it up? shooting it down? normalize doing nothing? If you are defending it under the pretext it also happened under Trump and is “no big deal”, then why did Biden first hide it from the public and why did he then shoot it down? It’s like “see it happened under Trump too, it’s no big deal”! Well, if it’s no big deal then why did Biden shoot it down after failing to cover it up?

You seem to make the mistake that just becasue i, rightly, view trump as a piece of garbage that i support biden. I don't. I just want to see some intellecutal honesty from you. I knwo that' sasking too much, though.

[+and-then]

13 hours ago, eight bits said:

it seems to me to have been a reasonable response, something worthy of being called a plan. That is, to shoot it down over shallow water and temporarily empty air space.

Fair enough but the fact remains that the same thing could have been accomplished over uninhabited parts of Alaska, before it had the chance to spy on signals on the mainland U.S.  We were told it has happened before and they didn't mention it then.  I wonder when they became so casual with allowing what easily could be an EMP weapon to drift over our country.

[+susieice]

3 hours ago, DarkHunter said:

I havent seen anything that indicates that it was being controlled instead of just following air currents.  The balloon part itself was massive, it was 90 feet wide or approximately 27.34 meters wide.  That gives a cross sectional area of catching wind of approximately 6361.7 square feet or approximately 587 square meters.  The result is any slight wind, let alone the wind at the altitude it was flying at, will result in a lot of force pushing it.  For it to be controlled there would need to be a significant motor/engine pushing it of which there does not seem to be any.

I know the payload that it was carrying had solar panels and was the size of three buses. If you look at the path it took there's not a lot of deviation at all.

[+susieice]

Columbia has said they tracked the second balloon when it flew over them. It may have also flown over Venezuela.

https://www.newsweek.com/colombia-releases-information-second-chinese-balloon-1779026

[el midgetron]

1 hour ago, Golden Duck said:

Previous incursions by ballon were hushed up too.

…..by the Biden administration…..

[el midgetron]

49 minutes ago, Occupational Hubris said:

You seem to make the mistake that just becasue i, rightly, view trump as a piece of garbage that i support biden. I don't. I just want to see some intellecutal honesty from you. I knwo that' sasking too much, though.

Ah, yes my mistake, You were just going on about Trump because that’s what you do. 

[Occupational Hubris]

2 minutes ago, el midgetron said:

Ah, yes my mistake, You were just going on about Trump because that’s what you do. 

Sure. Why not? 

[DarkHunter]

27 minutes ago, susieice said:

I know the payload that it was carrying had solar panels and was the size of three buses. If you look at the path it took there's not a lot of deviation at all.

There being little deviation doesnt mean it was under any real control, it just means the air currents were generally blowing in one direction.

As can be seen the balloon is significantly larger than what it was carrying and the forces acting on it would require a significantly powerful motor or engine of some kind to control its movement.  There is very clearly not anything attached to whatever it was carrying to allow for it to be truly controlled.  

[Hankenhunter]

9 hours ago, el midgetron said:

So, why do you imagine letting the balloon cross the US before shooting it down was a good idea? Because it could have been safely brought down before entering the skies over the Continental US. 
 

The argument you have imagined goes: “they let it cross the US because it wasn’t a threat” “they shot it down after it crossed the US because it was a threat”. 

Stuff it! Canada neither wanted, nor needed to shoot it down over B.C. Safely shoot down over Canada? Get stuffed. Unlike you, we don't crap our pants over a balloon. Nor do we blame our Prime Minister for it. 

[Hankenhunter]

6 hours ago, el midgetron said:

Do you have a source for us “jamming” the balloon? As far as I am aware, we aren’t certain what exactly it was even doing. 
 

 

As far as you're aware? I've seen trees that are more aware than you are. You've been accused many times of passing Russian lies, and misinformation as truth, yet were supposed believe what you say on faith? Back on ignore you go with the rest of your traitorous ilk.

[Golden Duck]

55 minutes ago, el midgetron said:

…..by the Biden administration…..

So you think the Biden Administration can travel through time.

[acidhead]

1 hour ago, and-then said:

I wonder when they became so casual with allowing what easily could be an EMP weapon to drift over our country.

Why on earth would China attack America with an EMP weapon?  How would that benefit them in anyway whatsoever?  No offense to you personally but it seems America is so paranoid that everybody is out to get them. Why is that? Could it be because your government has done a lot of bad things around the world in the so-called name of spreading democracy. Who benefited from those escapades?  Surely not you or I. And most definitely not the average individual in the countries that were so called liberated by American military intervention.

[F3SS]

2 minutes ago, Golden Duck said:

So you think the Biden Administration can travel through time.

What was posted clearly said that there was no knowledge of the balloons until after the Trump administration left. That doesn't make sense to me and somebody had to know but that's what it said. Hence, yes it had to be the Biden administration not making the knowledge known and honestly I don't care but that settles your argument. 

[acidhead]

9 minutes ago, Hankenhunter said:

As far as you're aware? I've seen trees that are more aware than you are. You've been accused many times of passing Russian lies, and misinformation as truth, yet were supposed believe what you say on faith? Back on ignore you go with the rest of your traitorous ilk.

Seems like a reasonable response to Midgetron's question.   

Seeing a lot of that recently.  People absolutely losing it for no real reason at all. 

[lightly]

[Tatetopa]

1 hour ago, and-then said:

Fair enough but the fact remains that the same thing could have been accomplished over uninhabited parts of Alaska, before it had the chance to spy on signals on the mainland U.S.  We were told it has happened before and they didn't mention it then.  I wonder when they became so casual with allowing what easily could be an EMP weapon to drift over our country.

You will have to ask ex-president Trump about that one.

[Tatetopa]

9 minutes ago, acidhead said:

Why on earth would China attack America with an EMP weapon?  How would that benefit them in anyway whatsoever?  No offense to you personally but it seems America is so paranoid that everybody is out to get them. Why is that? Could it be because your government has done a lot of bad things around the world in the so-called name of spreading democracy. Who benefited from those escapades?  Surely not you or I. And most definitely not the average individual in the countries that were so called liberated by American military intervention.

Well, you are right. Yes we are and yes it could.  Corporations otherwise unofficially know as donors benefit.  It is a long history. You could look up the Banana Massacre in 1928 and the United Fruit company. It becomes less funny than it sounds.  

[Golden Duck]

10 minutes ago, F3SS said:

What was posted clearly said that there was no knowledge of the balloons until after the Trump administration left. That doesn't make sense to me and somebody had to know but that's what it said. Hence, yes it had to be the Biden administration not making the knowledge known and honestly I don't care but that settles your argument. 

That's some semantic contortions you're performing thete.