comment: >
  
  Or maybe it was just a normal weather balloon that veered off course. Not everything has to be China Bad, you know?
context: CNN is reporting that Biden gave the order on Wednesday to shoot it down as soon as it could be done safely. >
  
  What if it had some kind of bomb or chemicals they didn’t want to shoot it down over civilians >
  
  It's also the fact that it's still a balloon with a bunch of stuff attached to it at 60,000 ft, that falling to Earth is going to cause a pretty significant impact. I can't imagine at that height it make much of a difference, but maybe the water would damage it less so we can analyze it? Although at that height again I'm assuming that water is essentially as hard as concrete so who knows >
  
  Article said debris field was 4 nautical miles. Hard to not hit anyone on the ground within a 4 mile radius >
  
  I mean… Wyoming is a place >
  
  Is it, though? >
  
  Ya, been there. It's just open space and wind. Constant wind. >
  
  I thought it was a state of mind >
  
  I don’t know. Maybe it was Utah. >
  
  White smoke means new Pope right? >
  
  No, it means the GQP will complain that Biden shot it down.  
  Also, they would complain if he didn’t shoot it down. 
  Also, fuck them… >
  
  I am think in this case the complaint will be why did it take him so long. >
  
  They waited until it was over the water, like they said they would do multiple times. They closed the air space and made sure there were no boats. Ya know, responsibly >
  
  And it was the advice of the military to wait to shoot it down.
  Can’t wait to see how republicans spin this into “Biden is old and weak and won’t even let our military do its job when America is threatened” when he was actually taking the expert advice FROM THE MILITARY to wait. >
  
  Dude listens to his advisors and he surrounds himself w qualified ppl.  Part of the reason why Ukraine is still Ukraine and not Russia. >
  
  To be fair, the Russian military sucks. Ukrainian farmers were stealing Russian tanks before they got our weapons. >
  
  Yeah, other part is Ukrainians giving their all to protect their homeland. >
  
  No better motivation than survival. >
  
  While I agree.....I have no clue how that aides in solving the issue at hand. A communist country flying spy balloons over the country, regardless of who is president, is bad. I think it is perfectly logical to question the motives of both gentlemen....since the evidence seems to support that they are both corrupt, greedy whores. It's OK to say it. >
  
  The GOP gave Biden a fucking layup here.
  “Biden doesn’t have the BALLS to shoot it down! Trump would have shot it down because he’s a REAL man!”
  Lmao okay well Biden shot it down so you can shut the fuck up now >
  
  Except now they’re saying he waited too long. 🙄 >
  
  He waited until it was over the ocean so it wouldn't fall on people? And the ones wanting to shoot it down were the ones living beneath it supposedly shooting handguns, Imagine wanting a balloon to fall on you to own the libs >
  
  And their bullets wouldn’t have been able to even reach the balloon lol >
  
  And the fact those bullets came down. People still think that if you fire a bullet in the air it goes on forever 🙄. >
  
  But there ain't no gravities up in them there outerspace >
  
  I’m sure George santos is going to claim he shot it down. >
  
  He is after all an expert marksman as demonstrated when he was at Iwo Jima. >
  
  Fighting for imperial Japan >
  
  He is the Last Sammyrye >
  
  
  The United States has shot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon over the Atlantic Ocean Saturday at approximately 2:40 p.m. ET.  
  Less than an hour prior, two anonymous U.S. officials told the Associated Press Saturday that U.S. President Joe Biden has made the call to shoot down the suspected Chinese spy balloon currently floating over the Atlantic Ocean near North Carolina. >
  
  I hope it is recovered and the public is informed of what the balloon was actually carrying. >
  
  How much do you think was spent on this whole ordeal. >
  
  Do you not think this is worth it? I am all about defunding the military industrial complex, but this is money well spent. >
  
  This is absolutely not money well spent. This was a fear monger campaign to manufacture consent for future engagements. If this was at all a threat it would have been silently shot down before it even reached Alaska. >
  
  Yes. Since you seem to have more knowledge than me about this, how did we determine that it didn’t have chem/bio or explosives inside. >
  
  If there was even a risk of it, it would have been shot down before coming near Alaska. We have bases and a fleet in the Pacific. There is absolutely no way we missed a weapon of war. The chances of us letting a weather balloon slip? Much higher. 
  Also what benefit is that to the Chinese? A giant balloon that can be seen with the naked eye that has to meander across the Pacific, over Alaska, AND over Canada? A single attack? It makes 0 strategic sense. >
  
  Yes. Agree with your analysis. But they are a bit nutso and not everything they do makes sense.  Case in point. >
  
  A weather balloon in the Pacific getting hit by the cold front and getting caught in the Westerlies pushing it East isn't a "nutso" act. It's why they're claiming force majeure. This will be taken up in the UN if the US cares to press the issue further.
  It doesn't even make sense to use balloons for surveillance against the US mainland when they have satellites capable of seeing the same information. Having spies in the US launch drones would be far more effective at this task. >
  
  This is interesting. You take them at their word? Why was it cruising over the location where we have underground nukes. >
  
  Now the narrative will change to why wasn't it shot down sooner. >
  
  it already did the maga yokels were saying he let it fly over half the country. they are perpetually butthurt that biden is president lol >
  
  Yet they won't mention said guy wanted to nuke a hurricane. >
  
  They won't mention the guy who literally was caught with highly classified material out in the open at his Golf Course/Country club home and also had a Chinese spy caught wandering around Mar-a-Lago.
  Oh, also that same President had a secret Chinese Bank account he didn't disclose and when this was discovered he lied about closing it prior to becoming President.
  Oh also the former Senate Majority Leader and his wife former Secretary of Transportation have received literally millions from CCP members and guess what?! His wife's father was the right hand man to the former Chinese Premier and his wife's sister is responsible for building the Chinese Navy.
  Hmmm ...
  Gaslighting. Obstruct. Project. >
  
  Wait , Moscow Mitch is actually Mandarin Mitch? >
  
  Always has been. >
  
  Can't wait for the MAGA crowd to say he only shot it down because they "exposed his Chinese connections" or whatever other stupidity they're planning on saying now. >
  
  Already happening,  alas. >
  
  Ahh, the long awaited sequel to Up!  
  Down! >
  
  Sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest SOB in space. >
  
  THAT IS WHY, SERVICEMAN CHUNG, WE DO NOT "EYEBALL IT!" >
  
  THIS IS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION! >
  
  You guys should really go on over toe /r/Conservative  and read through the comments on the several posts about this balloon. It seems like  about 50% of the comments are russian trolls, 40% are at the level of a 15 year old or at least the education level of one and 10% maybe are rational adult comments. >
  
  Best comment I read so far:
  "The only possible reason for letting it go then shooting it down is to recover whatever was on the balloon and investigate exacty what they were looking at. But that is like a 1% chance they will get anything out of it. My worst fear is that it was releasing chemicals. A new covid strand if you will" >
  
  “A new Covid strand if you will” gave me the chuckles. Hard to say exactly why. Maybe it’s the misplaced sincerity or being so confidently incorrect, but definitely something along those lines. >
  
  You can’t just say “perchance”! >
  
  Perhaps I cannot, however persons with similar thought processes prefer to be scripturient in their march towards a penultimate show of true bêtise.
  And so it shall be. >
  
  I never got to say goodbye 😢 >
  
  Yeah. I sort of miss the spy balloon now. Goodbye spy ballon we hardly knew you. >
  
  Goodnight table. Goodnight moon. Goodnight Chinese spy balloon. >
  
  I suppose it was safer to shoot it down over the ocean?  I heard the the equipment that thing was carrying was the size of a school bus.  Maybe would have killed someone if it landed on a house or a car. >
  
  Your house can't handle a flaming school bus dropped from 60,000 feet? Must not have a gas stove in it. >
  
  There may or may not have been a boy in that balloon! >
  
  It was a gender reveal! >
  
  And now the running narrative for the right is Biden let it gather info so it could send it to China. I mean if Biden is bought by China then why the fuck would China need a balloon over Montana >
  
  Exactly, he would just do what Trump did and give classified documents away. >
  
  Don’t be silly. He didn’t give them away he sold them jeez. >
  
  Doesn’t china know they can get Idaho weather with the free weather.com app? >
  
  I hate the fact that the Chinese have the audacity to even attempt to spy on us ( I use TikTok for 6 hours a day) >
  
  Nice shot >
  
  Oh Biden did the thing he said he would do earlier in the week? Cool story. >
  
  It's all thanks to George Santos for being the first to spot the balloon, and also the one to shoot it down by pointing his fingers at it and saying BANG >
  
  So they nullified any transmissions it could send out and they dropped it over the Atlantic safely and can possibly recover some of it which could be useful. 
  Sounds like Biden did a great job >
  
  Sounds like Biden made an easy tactical decision supported by competent advisors because 10,000 professionals working in unison across multiple high technology platforms did a great job. I am sick and fucking tired of every goddamn action in this country being anthropomorphized into a single human with some magical wand or knob which also controls the daily costs of individual items. Stop leaning into this brain mush kindergarten interpretation of how an entire nation functions. >
  
  Dark Brandon isn't messing around. >
  
  I bet that balloon wished it had never been inflated when it met Dark Brandon's wrath. >
  
  Chinese Aircraft Shot Down By Biden: 1
  Chinese Aircraft Shot Down by Trump: 0
  Trump is a pussy and is scared of China. Biden has balls and doesn’t fuck around. /s >
  
  Watch the right wing still find something to complain about, even after Biden did EXACTLY what they asked him to do. >
  
  Why use this picture of Biden? >
  
  I came here to say that. Wtf. >
  
  Gone are the times when the news would use respectful photos of our political leaders. >
  
  Good. >
  
  It would have been so awesome if a giant cascade of glittery pink rained  down, and this was an elaborate gender reveal the entire time. >
  
  Does anyone else think this story about the ballon is being blown out of proportion (see what I did there?). Obviously US rivals are spying on it.  The crime in espionage has always been getting caught >
  
  I can see the cult crying, "Biden has blood on his hands" if the shot down balloon had taken out some MAGAs Unibomber shack in Montana. >
  
  The most appropriate American response is to send a larger balloon that can play the national anthem and launch American flag fireworks. >
  
  I kind of feel this could have been a pure troll by China. Put an extremely suspicious but harmless balloon in our airspace, and if/when we shoot it down it's portrayed by China as overreacting to a minor incursion. I don't think we did overreact, but then again we wouldn't be the intended target for the propaganda. >
  
  My favorite part is the GOPs and special needs trump fans outrage at the balloon and that “Biden” had not done anything yet.  How did it get here with no one noticing!!?!  Then we find out NORAD had been tracking it basically since it took off. >
  
  China's response is pretty funny. "How dare you shoot down our aircraft that has been invading your airspace for the last week." >
  
  To quote somebody else, he was going to shoot it down over water, or Texas, so as not to hit any Americans >
  
  What is wrong with China's satellite program is the real question? >
  
  Nothing's wrong with it.  They're being provocative.  It's a psyop more than anything.
  And nobody should be surprised if they use this as a pretense for escalation in the South China Sea.  They're looking for a reason to pop off over there.