comment: >
  
  You're too emotional if you can't entertain an idea even if you think it's highly unlikely
context: Force majeure: An event or effect that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled, e.g. ACT OF GOD >
  
  The Pentagon says the balloon, which was carrying sensors and surveillance equipment, was maneuverable and showed it could change course. It loitered over sensitive areas of Montana where nuclear warheads are siloed, leading the military to take actions to prevent it from collecting intelligence. >
  
  The issue is those silos have been known and can be seen via Google maps. This is just really bizarre >
  
  Probably scanning all the local radio transmissions along with seeing what's unsecured. >
  
  I believe their goal is to disrupt our communications in event of war. >
  
  Which is why we should be mindful of where our communications equipment is manufactured. >
  
  Absolutely. They have shown they can not be trusted. >
  
  Anyone can be trusted, until they can’t. It’s best to operate with the future in mind. Don’t trust what you don’t control. 
  Google in the past had an unofficial policy of “don’t be evil”, and while currently they have been shady, they have never been super data-sharing shady, but let’s say Chat GPT destroys them and a Chinese buyer comes along and snatches Alphabet up, suddenly all of Gmail is an espionage dream for an unscrupulous government. >
  
  So they'd have no problem with us bringing down their "errant" balloon? >
  
  it is down >
  
  “Just another unnecessary act by US warmongers.”
  -China, probably. >
  
  So I guess the other one over Latin America is another “mu-bad”?!! 🤨 >
  
  Actually there's 4 Chinese balloons still floating around:
  
  Sources also told CTV News U.S. intelligence knows of a total of at least four of these balloons from China sent to other countries, beyond the one currently over the U.S. That includes the one the Pentagon confirmed late Friday night floating over Latin America.
  This incident comes at a time of heightened tensions between China and the West. In a statement, the Chinese foreign ministry said the balloon did come from China and apologized for its entry into U.S. airspace, but insisted the balloon was used for civilian research purposes rather than espionage. >
  
  That's funny, because the Chinese government uses civilian research to conduct espionage >
  
  At a scale few comprehend and with an audacity fewer believe. >
  
  Are we supposed to believe that China didn't have any way of tracking their balloon? And if they did, and it was just an innocent weather balloon that got blown off course, what was stopping them from calling up the US and letting them know that shit happened, let's all be chill about it?
  I mean, we all know China is bullshitting, but they could at least come up with something more convincing... >
  
  Initially, I’d call bullshit on US military except China’s foreign ministry offered no explanation of where it came from or what research it was supposed to be doing. Further, it seems like any party that loses balloons the size of several buses would take care to know where it went and make the appropriate phone calls, which China did not. It’s all very curious. >
  
  There are also multiple balloons apparently. Another was found over recently I believe >
  
  I might believe the balloon somehow got blown way off course-
  If there wasn’t another one over South America. 
  Two just seems a little too much of a coincidence. 
  I guess it might be possible both balloons got caught up in the same winds or jet stream, but… eh. >
  
  Once is chance, twice is a coincidence, three times is a pattern. 
  I’m just waiting to read about the third one floating around so I can then jump to the ‘oh it’s totally intentional’ conclusion. >
  
  fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, uhhh cant get fooled again >
  
  *throws shoe* >
  
  *dodges*
  *throws other shoe*
  *dodges again* >
  
  George Bush don’t care about Shoe people >
  
  Hilariously, neither does Ye anymore. >
  
  Great follow up. >
  
  Adidas dropped him, didn't they? >
  
  From where? On his head? >
  
  Force Majeure in their vocabulary is " caught in the act". >
  
  Find a third balloon, and it is a majeure à trois >
  
  Maybe then we'll figure out who the Chinese are in bed with. >
  
  China doesn’t do soft power well. They have a limited number of allies.
  Russia and China are friendly but only if China doesn’t mess with India. Russia will always side with India because Russia and India both experienced “Sino wars” in the 1960’s. >
  
  India is one of Russia’s largest trading partners. It might be the largest now. >
  
  Sure - it “accidentally” flew through Canada and halfway across the US without them notifying anyone >
  
  I've seen a flight path posted which supposedly originates from NORAD and they have the balloon as coming from the Chinese mainland. That thing crossed over both South-Korean and Japanese airspace before going up the Pacific Northwest outwards of Kamchatka towards Alaska. So they must have been tracking it since it was launched, or are they just extrapolating from wind directions etc? >
  
  The US definitely tracked the balloon since launch. The US early warning agencies are very, very interested in all artificial flying things coming out of Russia/Asia. >
  
  But then let it fly through Alaska and CONUS and only shot it down over the Atlantic when it was done doing everything it wanted to? 
  I’m not saying you’re wrong but it honesty doesn’t make sense. >
  
  If it is harmless why show your emergency response? >
  
  
  "China has always strictly abided by international law and respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries," the ministry said
  
  Riiight, riight, right. >
  
  Every other country that borders the South China Sea would beg to differ. Every single one. >
  
  China has fought a war with every single one of their neighbors, even the ones that aren’t land bordering them lol >
  
  I do indeed remember when big bully China fought a war against sweet innocent Japan in the 1930s and 40s >
  
  Japan was trying to de-Nazify China ofc >
  
  Now it seems the accident is changing course intentionally and there is a second accident floating over Latin America. >
  
  Would not be surprised it if lingers over Brazil for a long time.
  Two democratic countries that have extremely splintered political parties and very narrow elections where candidates refused to concede a loss. Just throw a scary sounding spy balloon and rile up the portion that scares easily so they vote for more authoritarian politicians. Another way to create division and sow weakness in countries. >
  
  when it comes to Chinese surveillance, I’m generally more concerned with the millions of people sharing their faces and voices w TikTok everyday than I am with the balloon >
  
  china: we dont have to use airballoons to spy on you. we simply bribe some of your underpaid workers. >
  
  That costs money though. Just handing out TikTok to everyone is way easier. >
  
  Insane how little tiktok is being brought up right now. 1/8th of all living humans across the entire planet are using tiktok every month, voluntarily sharing private and confidential info >
  
  Insane how little US spyware apps like Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Snapchat get brought up >
  
  Well the two are very different so why would those be brought up? >
  
  Difference in that American spyware = good? Chinese spyware = bad? >
  
  The level of spyware in TikTok > level of spyware in Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter combined >
  
  If you actually believe that, then there's really no changing your mind lmao >
  
  Lol ahh yes because all the other apps share data through a third party and I can’t tell where my data goes from Facebook 🙄 putting it out there I don’t use Facebook Twitter or insta for the reason I don’t want my data fucked with, doesn’t change the fact that TikTok is leagues worse than any of them tho >
  
  
  through a third party
  
  Is the US government a third party though?
  Surely if you're concerned about Tiktok spying then you would like to see something done about all apps spying >
  
  Force majeure usually comes with notifying the country first, so nah. >
  
  Weather / wind current patterns suggest that China is lying, especially now that there is another spotted in Latin America. >
  
  China and lying about foreign policy. Name a more iconic duo. >
  
  Yeah, but [insert whataboutism here]? >
  
  They are working their way down. They're busy doing that to the top comments, atm. >
  
  Yep.  I just caught a "The US can't have the moral high ground on this because [the US did bad shit in the past]"
  On a comment that had nothing to do with the US, and was just pointing out how much china bald-face lies. >
  
  I’d be embarrassed if I were them. We have people just taking pics of their spy tech with their cell phones as we all watch it pass by. >
  
  This was the funniest bit. Literally every news agency and twitter post has close up images of ‘secret spy balloon’. >
  
  I would think the US would want to get hands on that to see the payload.  Maybe that would explain why a balloon vs satellite or spy plane. Maybe it's carrying some instrumentation that won't work from too high altitude. >
  
  
  Maybe it's carrying some instrumentation that won't work from too high altitude.
  
  It's 66,000ft. The US U2 spy plane ceiling is 70,000ft. The Chinese J11 has a ceiling of 62,000ft. Most commercial aircraft are 42,000ft. Obviously satellites are a lot higher. >
  
  Further, there are satellites in ‘space’ that can see whether your toes are hanging over the edge of a curb while you’re waiting for the bus… >
  
  Yeah but the ballon can loiter around an area for longer. Also given where it actually was, I’m kind of wondering if it had specialized equipment designed to check on the readiness status of the minuteman instillations in Montana that a satellite isn’t able to do. Either that or they’re after the Krusty Krab Secret Formula. >
  
  Geostationary satellites survey the same spot on earth indefinitely because they are rotating with the earth at the same speed.
  Examples: 
  NOAA GOES EAST
  NOAA GOES WEST >
  
  cool but those have shit resolution cause of their range. spy sats are generally not in geostationary orbit. the reason those sats can be that far out is they are looking at things the size of clouds. most earth observation sats are in LEO. >
  
  We are sorry we got caught. >
  
  This things was not necessarily taking pictures that a satellite could’ve captured. Probably acting more like a “stingray device” or capturing data and communications around specific sensitive areas. And/or even testing capabilities to hack certain pieces of equipment. >
  
  God himself could come down and confirm this as an "Act of Me" and I still wouldn't trust China. Totalitarian regimes do batshit insane things all the time, depending on which side of the bed Dear Leader woke up on. "Spy balloon" is well within the batshit insane realm. >
  
  
  Sorry
  
  A word we will NEVER hear from the chinese government.
  
  China's foreign ministry said on Saturday that flight of a Chinese "airship" over the United States was a force majeure accident, accusing U.S. politicians and media of taking advantage of the situation to discredit China.
  
  Figures. A "higher power" launched (of all clays!) a chinese spy balloon and then moved it across the US. >
  
  No apology, but we did get a lecture on how we should be reasonable about spying and keep a cool head about having our airspace violated. The gaslighting is real. >
  
  Russia doesn’t lie to deceive you. They lie to insult you. >
  
  Chinese version of "Sphere" of influence xD >
  
  We accidentally shot it down, no worries >
  
  “We are very sorry that we got caught” >
  
  The U.S. should just send a big balloon with Winnie the Pooh on the side into Chinese airspace just to troll them. >
  
  They just shot it down over South Carolina. My mother in law said it was really loud >
  
  The US has been tracking that thing since at least it crossed through Alaska.  The US didn’t shoot it down earlier, because it was more valuable to gather counter-intel, while it’s working. >
  
  And we accidently blew it up with an f22, mb dawg >
  
  Maybe the real Chinese spy balloons are the friends we made along the way 🙏🏾 >
  
  "China has always strictly abided by international law and respected the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries," the ministry said in a statement.
  Hong Kong would like a word.  Tibet would like a world.  Taiwan (later this year most likely) would like a word.  The Uyghur people would like a word. >
  
  Cmon do we really need to have the conversation if this was intentional or not? Are we really going to entertain that idea? Yall cannot be that stupid to think this was an accident.