>

How is that place still allowed to exist? I've seen every kind of bigotry on there and calls of violence towards people.
For the first time in history, the U.S. government says…it’s not a weather balloon >

Holy shit so aliens confirmed??? >

Si, si >

video
I wonder if the plane that shot it down will get a balloon decal on the side.
Edit: I think this might be the F-22's first air-to-air kill >

Another video >

The data they got from the F-22’s takedown was probably more valuable than the weeks of mountains and cattle data they got before that. >

I wouldn’t be surprised if they mounted those radar reflectors that they use for air shows on them just to prevent that. >

Probably, you don't exactly need to be stealthy to chuck a missile at a balloon. >

You also don’t need your best weaponry or to fly as fast as you can. I don’t really think they got any useful data. >

It's just the current prevailing spin for why this thing was allowed to enter our airspace in the first place. Not a ton of logic/thought behind it. >

Electronic counter measures prevented transmission of data... there was no hurry >

Over the continental US they could’ve easily jammed it from the ground but to reduce risk of interference the f22 patrol both flew cap and jammed the drone the whole time. I’d be most interested to know if space force got any information on Chinese satellites from all this. >

Moreover, pointing it out and just allowing it to do its thing for a while is probably incredibly embarrassing for the people that launched it. >

Can’t wait to suddenly remember this 10 years from now when someone references it in a meme >

Or next year when it is a major motion picture of the action-suspense genre starring Mark Wahlberg. >

clint eastwood will likely still be alive to direct,  the US government is actually the bad guy and we get a full 90 min of board room committee meetings. >

Just tie a balloon to an empty chair and film Eastwood yelling at it for 120 minutes >

He’ll also need a couple scenes where he is propositioned for threesomes by women in their 20s >

With and old school Dirty Harry handgun somewhere in the scene >

Perhaps he could shoot the chair? >

Good idea! scribbles it down >

Has not even hit the water yet. >

People who were saying we should have shot it down sooner don't understand the forces at play. Given its size and the distance it fell, it would have hit the ground like a bomb. >

It’s almost like our military knows a lot more about this stuff than the average citizen. >

It’s almost as if the average citizen has a huge ego that they believe they know better. >

Sports, politics, and economics. The three areas of expertise where, for some reason, non-professionals believe they know better than professionals. >

And now military. >

If there's anything the pandemic taught me it's that everybody's an expert at biology too. >

And so ends the story of the balloon that captivated a nation. >

I live around where they shot it down and it was kinda nice to see everyone out in their driveways watching it happen. We haven't had a national event where half the US wasn't mad at the other half in a while. It felt like simpler times... >

I miss the 90s.  Ooo, look everyone, a huge comet! >

Nothing will ever compare to that comet.  Maybe Betelgeuse exploding. >

If Betelgeuse explodes it’ll be bigger than the full moon looks, and will be visible in daytime for several months. In about three years it’ll fade back to the standard level of brightness, and in about 6 years after it’ll no longer be visible. That’s to say, it’ll be the talk of the town for quite a while when it happens >

Oh boy, that's just enough time for idiots to make a cult about it! >

Best Nike ad ever. >

Not even a balloon can go to Myrtle Beach without getting shot >

Can’t have shit at Myrtle >

And when the balloon was finally grounded, the authorities began to doubt the family's story of their son ever being trapped on it >

Internet Historian did a good one on ballon boy >

This was an interesting watch. Thanks for sharing >

Internet Historian does a really good job on all of his vids. Don’t be afraid to watch another of his ;) >

They should have made the balloon blue >

Stealth balloon. >

Nah you need to pop it twice to kill a blue balloon >

At least it wasn’t a ceramic camo balloon >

Raptors first ever air to air kill. This is a pub quiz question for 10 years time.
Bonus point for correctly naming the missile as an AIM9. >

Bonus bonus credit for knowing it was AIM-9X >

Not AMRAAM? Would a balloon like that even have a large enough IR signature for an AIM-9X?
Edit: spelling >

Hence the AIM-9X which can be radar slaved. That said, against something like a balloon which is effectively stationary even a Vietnam-era Sidewinder could have been boresighted in. >

Time for the coast guard to go retrieve it. >

Rescue swimmers are fucking badass real-world heroes...
If I could go 20 years back in time knowing what I know now, then I would definitely want to try to be one of those guys. >

Right. Best of the best.  What those guys do in water is way more impressive than what anyone else does on land. >

Cops:  "I can't tell if that kid is holding a gun or a candy bar, therefore, I'm scared for my life... SHOOT HIM!"
Rescue swimmers:  "The ocean is one of the most powerful forces on the planet, and there's a strong possibility that I might die saving that guy's life, good thing that's exactly what I signed up for... I'M GOING IN!"
Edit: I read somewhere that there were 3 rescue swimmers on duty and they literally played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would GET to go... not who HAS to go.... all three of them were chomping at the bit to risk their lives to save another >

They were there specifically for their "high surf" rescue swimmer training so they were very much itching to get into the water and put their skills to the test. >

Now for the United States to send one back of Seymour Skinner like happens in the simpsons >

"Destroy that balloon" >

It happened right above my aunts place in Myrtle Beach, two fighter jets took it out, it was quite loud apparently, and scared the shit out of a lot of people. >

Lmao I'm there. Yes it was, and yes it did >

Would have been nice if they gave a little warning to people before doing it. 
Just a quick emergency alert “two fighter jets in the area taking down a Chinese Spy Balloon, so don’t shit your pants if it gets loud for a hot minute” >

"Weather device." Totally no spying going on. If there's one thing in this world we can count on, it's the word of CCP. >

Why would they need a balloon to spy when they have tiktok >

One of the best things about Reddit is the amount of armchair lawyers, doctors and now, apparently, military experts on what we should’ve done. >

In the past 4 years, I’ve learned my friends are all experts on pandemics, Supreme Court politics, Afghanistan, Chinese balloons, post-Soviet Russian geopolitics in Eastern Europe, and Banksy. >

To be fair, how do you know one of your friends isn’t Banksy? >

I’m Banksy, but I’m pretty chill about it. >

Eyewitness reports say pink confetti from the balloon confirms, “it’s a girl!!!!!”. >

Nobody killed, no planes downed and no fires started - I call that a successful gender reveal party. >

And all it took was one $200,000 missile! >

And millions in fuel. >

Still not the most expensive gender reveal party in terms of damage, so I'll take it. >

DoD authorizes pilot to draw victory Sky Penis. >

They came close. I was watching from my front porch and unfortunately the contrails were blowing away too fast. >

Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight high altitude Chinese surveillance balloon >

I'm going to pencil this into my copy >

It’s hilarious to me that there is now a pilot with a balloon stenciled on his/her jet. >

fellow pilots talking to the pilot of this mission months later >

I'm half expecting to see a headline somewhere in the lines of "2 Chinese operators with Nikon cameras salvaged from spy balloon wreckage" >

Weekly World News >

Imagine being the lucky Coast Guard who gets to ship out and recover this thing! I hope they have footage of the recovery. I want to see how big it really is >

I've heard it is about 21 fathoms or about 1/5 of a furlong. >

Sir, we only use the Chiquita measurement system here. Convert to bananas please. >

This saga is about to give conspiracy theorists a military base worth of ammo. >

Really? Because they've been floundering to come up with a narrative over at /r/conspiracy for days. 
So far the top two contenders for something they can agree on are "the balloon is really American" and "this is how all satellites actually work because space isn't real."
I'm not joking. >

How is that place still allowed to exist? I've seen every kind of bigotry on there and calls of violence towards people. >

The funny thing is they’re so picky about what conspiracies are allowed. Vaccines are a ploy to cull the good conservatives from America? Sure! Trump may have been assisted by Russian state agents in 2016? BAN! >

The fact so many refuse to believe in climate change despite actual evidence that the oil industry literally tried to hide studies that they were causing it is mind boggling. Like, this is an actual conspiracy from mega corporations. >

They finally found the monkey with the darts I guess. >

I'm surprised there haven't been more bloons references. >

bloons subreddit is thriving rn 🗿 >

Great picture of the F-22 that shot it down >

I thought for sure this would be a meme. >

Which fighter jet is it ? >

The grey one. >

My parents are there right now. They heard a boom. 15 minutes later news story posts they shot the balloon down.
I was on a flight from Charlotte to Myrtle beach that was supposed to leave at 1pm ET that has been grounded while this all went on. We’re supposed to take off soon now. >

Yeah it was pants shittingly loud where I was and my family didn't hear anything just a mile away. 
We couldn't even see the explosion. Just BOOM and then it was falling. 
Watched some clips of it and the actual explosion wasn't much bigger than the balloon itself. Just a big white puff. So im not surprised we couldn't tell the difference from the ground. >

The boom was likely the sonic boom from the fighter jets rather than anything exploding >

Why would the Raptor have to go supersonic to intercept a balloon? The AIM9 on the other hand, hits Mach 2.5. My money is on the missile making two booms here; one sonic, one explosive. >

In the videos the boom is right as the missile hits.  So at such a high altitude it would have to a minute earlier for the sound to travel. >

If you're a FOX news watcher: This spy balloon was meant to be seen. It was a test of our reaction to incursions over U.S
 airspace. We showed China we are slow to react. We failed in our response.
If you're a CNN news watcher: Our government knew this was in our airspace. They monitored it and tracked it effectively. Protecting our civilians from debris is more important than shooting it down over populated areas.
If you're a News MAX watcher: China sends friendly balloon and U. S. takes a dangerous and violent resolution to the Chinese peace balloon. Biden is a disgrace to world peace. The elections were rigged. Trump would have done better. >

Eh, the Fox live stream right now is explaining why it was good to wait to shoot it down and they just quoted ol Chuck's tweet "I strongly condemn President Xi’s brazen incursion into American airspace, and I commend President Biden’s leadership in taking down the Chinese balloon over water to ensure safety for all Americans. Now we can collect the equipment and analyze the technology used by the CCP." >

Fox News is always relatively close to reality for about 30 minutes after news happens, until word comes down from on high about how to spin it. >

I've always heard their 'latest news' reporting is usually up to snuff, it's their opinionated prime time shows where it becomes the crazy train.  They were the first channel to call Arizona for Biden. >

Which was condemned as traitorous behavior by Republicans and caused a mass exodus to News Max and OANN. >

Lol I remember that. Remember thinking "these people are actually angry about fox reporting the news" >

They aren’t angry about FOX reporting the news. They’re angry about FOX reporting news they don’t want to hear. >

If I had a nickel for every time the American public was obsessed with a giant balloon in the past 10 years I’d only have two nickels. But it’s weird that it happened twice. >

Maybe 3? That dude that jumped off a balloon in “outer space” was a pretty big deal. >

Huge shoutout to all the fuckin idiots out there  who thought that the reason it was still up was because somehow the US couldn't shoot down a balloon >

The confidence of that poster made it sound so plausible, lol @ the exasperated fellow who mentioned the low orbit satellite the US brought down 15 years ago. >

The real spy balloon was the friends we made along the way. >

Be interesting to see the Chinese reaction to this >

If they react at all it won't be much. It was still over US territorial waters when we shot it down. >

Nothing survives the dirty myrtle. >

So how did world war 3 start? Well son, it started off with a balloon... >

You’re skipping over the Harambe Prelude >

And the raccoons shutting down the Large Hadron Collidor >

“…the balloon…was estimated to be about the size of three school buses.”
We will do anything to avoid the using metric system. >

Thats about 5 F-150s btw >

This is reddit, I'm gonna need it measured in bananas. >

Assuming 40 ft buses and a medium-sized banana, that would be about 180 bananas end-to-end. >

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got it!" >

Really excited to see what they can figure out from the wreck. See if we can get a sense of what the heck his thing was for >

It's just a distraction. They have satellites and TikTok. They wouldn't need a balloon to spy on us.
The fact everyone is talking about it is just proof it's meant to distract us. Social media is just blowing up over a stupid balloon. Definitely a little sus imo. >

Can’t wait for republicans to switch from “why isn’t Biden doing something, is he owned by China?” To “warhawk Biden wants war with China”. >

Nah they’ve switched to why didn’t Biden do something? (because xi and the ccp owns him). Then the excuse  as to why it got shot down: “xi gave the okay for to be shot down”. This is what I’m seeing in fringe forums/conservative social media atm. 
It’s actually so insane. >

The US will now send a few stealth bombers over for $hits and Giggles 🇺🇸 >

Imagine if this shit turned out to really be a weather balloon lol >

If it was you can bet your ass the government won't admit it. The fact that they outright came out and said they "know" it's spy tech would be super embarrassing for us if it wasn't. >

I don't see how it would be seen as a negative until it would be actively spun as one.
China admitted it was uncontrolled, or it had lost control, or something to the effect that it couldn't control it. Therefore, it would be prudent to shoot it down at some point in its flight, as it could run the risk of becoming a hazard for aircraft.
At that point, it's just the US signalling that it's competent, even if it was just a "mere" weather balloon. >

Watching the events on flight radar and vessel finder, it is incredible how quickly the US military can flood a situation with resources and force. Quite remarkable actually. >

The Pentagon conversions on this must have had some incredible what if?! scenarios.
-What if it's a trojan horse balloon filled with a bio weapon - assuming that we'd just shoot it down over our own land?
-What if they want us to think that so we let it slide allllll the way across the country with sensors scanning the entire country for a myriad of things.
-What if the Chinese were only testing to see how we'd respond and what method we would use to bring it down?
puts down the pipe My God. 
-So the best option is ultimately shoot it down? 
...Wait until it's over water. >

Don't go on Twitter and look up posts about this.
I unfortunately got PLENTY of posts about what it was doing from various far-right nut jobs:

it was a EMP device that was going to shut down the US power supply
it was carrying pounds of Anthrax which is was going to disperse across the US
it was getting "centimeter-wide" shots of the US for military purposes

And of course, interlaced with all this was "Biden isn't going to do anything since he's owned by the Chinese". >

A gem I found: “Oh what a coincidence. A CCP balloon in Missouri and now I can’t save changes to my Ancestry account online.” 😂 >

I have not actually laughed out loud from a comment on Reddit in like a million years. Thank you for this gift. I love you for having found this >

China: “That was excessive”
The US: “Too bad, so sad.” >

Been out of the loop the last few days thanks to COVID… one hell of a headline to be reading right now lol. >

I wonder how many of 3500 are bots. >

Dark Brandon took it out. >

Those who complained about Biden “not doing anything” and called for “patriots” patriots to shoot them down… Seems that Joe was eager to do some thing but was not able to because of a concern for people. 
“Biden said he wanted the balloon downed on Wednesday, but was advised that the best time for the operation would be when it was over water. Military officials determined that bringing it down over land from an altitude of 60,000 feet would pose an undue risk to people on the ground.” >

Boy it's nice to have a President who can listen to experts. >

I love people acting as if they would have been able to see anything that their countless satellites would't have been able to see already.
Seen people talking about missile silos... meanwhile there's loads of missile silos fucking labeled on Google Maps 😂 If we were trying to hide something and surveillance equipment strapped to a weather balloon was able to find it... well we do a real dogshit job at trying hide it. >

so many armchair generals up in this shit >

serious question why does this even matter, is this a serious thing or just drumming up controversy?
Don't they have a bunch of satellites that give better images for spying anyway? >

It doesn't honestly. Will not be surprised if it comes down that it didn't even have spy equipment. >

I'm not sure we would ever hear that, not good for the narrative. 
If we do it might be China showing pictures of similar craft for gathering weather data. >

Nobody fucks with Haywood, bitch! >

What does the fortune inside read? >

I hope it makes that balloon deflating sound. >

They better get a balloon victory marking on their jet >

As someone who is barely paying attention to this, I thought it was over Montana? That thing was fuckin moving. >

In the coming days: "where were you when the balloon that changed the world was shot down?" >

So life is basically 99 Red Balloons now >

This was by far the best thing that could have been done if President Biden determined it was an actual threat to national security. It was shot down over the ocean to be easily recovered and so that it didn’t hurt anyone or damage any property. >

What the hell was China thinking? >

If I had a nickel for everytime the US was captivated by a giant balloon. Id have two nickels, its not a lot, but crazy that its happened twice. >

So I was flying from Boston to Cancun and the pilot actually pointed this out to us on our way down. Wild that it was shot down just after! >

I can’t wait for the South Park episode based on the Chinese high altitude spy balloon >

Im sure if the U.S. sent a “weather balloon” over China, China would definitely get their panties in a bunch. >

Question: why would they use a big white balloon the size of a house to spy on us? Isn't spying technology supposed to be, y'know, stealthy? Not saying it isn't a spy balloon, but I am curious. >

Does anyone remember Falcon the Balloon Boy? >

Any confirmation on whether or not the fungus has reached the ground yet? >

Some poor fucking butterbar pilot is now gonna have a “BALLON BOY” call sign for the rest of his career >

Imagine ww3 starts over a balloon >

'As 99 red Balloons go by'... >

For the first time in history, the U.S. government says…it’s not a weather balloon >

Holy shit so aliens confirmed??? >

Si, si >

video
I wonder if the plane that shot it down will get a balloon decal on the side.
Edit: I think this might be the F-22's first air-to-air kill >

Another video >

The data they got from the F-22’s takedown was probably more valuable than the weeks of mountains and cattle data they got before that. >

I wouldn’t be surprised if they mounted those radar reflectors that they use for air shows on them just to prevent that. >

Probably, you don't exactly need to be stealthy to chuck a missile at a balloon. >

You also don’t need your best weaponry or to fly as fast as you can. I don’t really think they got any useful data. >

It's just the current prevailing spin for why this thing was allowed to enter our airspace in the first place. Not a ton of logic/thought behind it. >

Electronic counter measures prevented transmission of data... there was no hurry >

Over the continental US they could’ve easily jammed it from the ground but to reduce risk of interference the f22 patrol both flew cap and jammed the drone the whole time. I’d be most interested to know if space force got any information on Chinese satellites from all this. >

Moreover, pointing it out and just allowing it to do its thing for a while is probably incredibly embarrassing for the people that launched it. >

Can’t wait to suddenly remember this 10 years from now when someone references it in a meme >

Or next year when it is a major motion picture of the action-suspense genre starring Mark Wahlberg. >

clint eastwood will likely still be alive to direct,  the US government is actually the bad guy and we get a full 90 min of board room committee meetings. >

Just tie a balloon to an empty chair and film Eastwood yelling at it for 120 minutes >

He’ll also need a couple scenes where he is propositioned for threesomes by women in their 20s >

With and old school Dirty Harry handgun somewhere in the scene >

Perhaps he could shoot the chair? >

Good idea! scribbles it down >

Has not even hit the water yet. >

People who were saying we should have shot it down sooner don't understand the forces at play. Given its size and the distance it fell, it would have hit the ground like a bomb. >

It’s almost like our military knows a lot more about this stuff than the average citizen. >

It’s almost as if the average citizen has a huge ego that they believe they know better. >

Sports, politics, and economics. The three areas of expertise where, for some reason, non-professionals believe they know better than professionals. >

And now military. >

If there's anything the pandemic taught me it's that everybody's an expert at biology too. >

And so ends the story of the balloon that captivated a nation. >

I live around where they shot it down and it was kinda nice to see everyone out in their driveways watching it happen. We haven't had a national event where half the US wasn't mad at the other half in a while. It felt like simpler times... >

I miss the 90s.  Ooo, look everyone, a huge comet! >

Nothing will ever compare to that comet.  Maybe Betelgeuse exploding. >

If Betelgeuse explodes it’ll be bigger than the full moon looks, and will be visible in daytime for several months. In about three years it’ll fade back to the standard level of brightness, and in about 6 years after it’ll no longer be visible. That’s to say, it’ll be the talk of the town for quite a while when it happens >

Oh boy, that's just enough time for idiots to make a cult about it! >

Best Nike ad ever. >

Not even a balloon can go to Myrtle Beach without getting shot >

Can’t have shit at Myrtle >

And when the balloon was finally grounded, the authorities began to doubt the family's story of their son ever being trapped on it >

Internet Historian did a good one on ballon boy >

This was an interesting watch. Thanks for sharing >

Internet Historian does a really good job on all of his vids. Don’t be afraid to watch another of his ;) >

They should have made the balloon blue >

Stealth balloon. >

Nah you need to pop it twice to kill a blue balloon >

At least it wasn’t a ceramic camo balloon >

Raptors first ever air to air kill. This is a pub quiz question for 10 years time.
Bonus point for correctly naming the missile as an AIM9. >

Bonus bonus credit for knowing it was AIM-9X >

Not AMRAAM? Would a balloon like that even have a large enough IR signature for an AIM-9X?
Edit: spelling >

Hence the AIM-9X which can be radar slaved. That said, against something like a balloon which is effectively stationary even a Vietnam-era Sidewinder could have been boresighted in. >

Time for the coast guard to go retrieve it. >

Rescue swimmers are fucking badass real-world heroes...
If I could go 20 years back in time knowing what I know now, then I would definitely want to try to be one of those guys. >

Right. Best of the best.  What those guys do in water is way more impressive than what anyone else does on land. >

Cops:  "I can't tell if that kid is holding a gun or a candy bar, therefore, I'm scared for my life... SHOOT HIM!"
Rescue swimmers:  "The ocean is one of the most powerful forces on the planet, and there's a strong possibility that I might die saving that guy's life, good thing that's exactly what I signed up for... I'M GOING IN!"
Edit: I read somewhere that there were 3 rescue swimmers on duty and they literally played rock, paper, scissors to determine who would GET to go... not who HAS to go.... all three of them were chomping at the bit to risk their lives to save another >

They were there specifically for their "high surf" rescue swimmer training so they were very much itching to get into the water and put their skills to the test. >

Now for the United States to send one back of Seymour Skinner like happens in the simpsons >

"Destroy that balloon" >

It happened right above my aunts place in Myrtle Beach, two fighter jets took it out, it was quite loud apparently, and scared the shit out of a lot of people. >

Lmao I'm there. Yes it was, and yes it did >

Would have been nice if they gave a little warning to people before doing it. 
Just a quick emergency alert “two fighter jets in the area taking down a Chinese Spy Balloon, so don’t shit your pants if it gets loud for a hot minute” >

"Weather device." Totally no spying going on. If there's one thing in this world we can count on, it's the word of CCP. >

Why would they need a balloon to spy when they have tiktok >

One of the best things about Reddit is the amount of armchair lawyers, doctors and now, apparently, military experts on what we should’ve done. >

In the past 4 years, I’ve learned my friends are all experts on pandemics, Supreme Court politics, Afghanistan, Chinese balloons, post-Soviet Russian geopolitics in Eastern Europe, and Banksy. >

To be fair, how do you know one of your friends isn’t Banksy? >

I’m Banksy, but I’m pretty chill about it. >

Eyewitness reports say pink confetti from the balloon confirms, “it’s a girl!!!!!”. >

Nobody killed, no planes downed and no fires started - I call that a successful gender reveal party. >

And all it took was one $200,000 missile! >

And millions in fuel. >

Still not the most expensive gender reveal party in terms of damage, so I'll take it. >

DoD authorizes pilot to draw victory Sky Penis. >

They came close. I was watching from my front porch and unfortunately the contrails were blowing away too fast. >

Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight high altitude Chinese surveillance balloon >

I'm going to pencil this into my copy >

It’s hilarious to me that there is now a pilot with a balloon stenciled on his/her jet. >

fellow pilots talking to the pilot of this mission months later >

I'm half expecting to see a headline somewhere in the lines of "2 Chinese operators with Nikon cameras salvaged from spy balloon wreckage" >

Weekly World News >

Imagine being the lucky Coast Guard who gets to ship out and recover this thing! I hope they have footage of the recovery. I want to see how big it really is >

I've heard it is about 21 fathoms or about 1/5 of a furlong. >

Sir, we only use the Chiquita measurement system here. Convert to bananas please. >

This saga is about to give conspiracy theorists a military base worth of ammo. >

Really? Because they've been floundering to come up with a narrative over at /r/conspiracy for days. 
So far the top two contenders for something they can agree on are "the balloon is really American" and "this is how all satellites actually work because space isn't real."
I'm not joking.