Ellis Wyatt said:

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That balloon may as well have been a Chinese nutsack dragged across Joe Biden's face very publicly for days.

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LMCane said:

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aggielostinETX said:

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So it seems the former military guys here all agree that we should not have shoot it down prior to this. Why did we even let it get here?

This seems like a massive **** up by our military to allow it to even get over our air space. Explain that.

That's what I mean by carrying the water. Y'all seem to be defending, poor performance and bad decisions.

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I was a Captain in Air Force Intelligence 14N3-

don't lump me in with whoever else claims they are former military

we absolutely should have shot this down as soon as it entered US territorail airspace around Alaska

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Mexican spy balloon intercepted and now in custody! 🇲🇽🎈 pic.twitter.com/esEMP6bgQC

— Magic Beans🐿️ (@DeanJC420) February 5, 2023

redcrayon said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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redcrayon said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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redcrayon said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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redcrayon said:

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TexAgs91 said:

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redcrayon said:

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Rapier108 said:

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redcrayon said:

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We can't just shoot stuff down and endanger civilians. That debris can kill people and destroy property.

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When it was over Montana, there are virtually nothing for it to fall on. Should have been blasted out of the sky right then and there.

Actually, should have shot it down over the Aleutian Islands.

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Why would we do that when we had disabled it's ability to gather and transmit data?

You can't predict where the debris will land. This isn't that simple.

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Actually, we can. Ever heard of physics?

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I guess you should call the Pentagon and let them know that you are better at physics than they are. I'm sure they'd love your assistance since they're all idiots.

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I see. So you've heard from the pentagon that they weren't able to predict where the debris would land?

The only thing in that balloon that's hard to track is the helium. Everything else is heavier than air and will fall.

You have its position, initial velocity, and the military should know what range of velocities the debris would spread from the impact point. You figure out a range of terminal velocities of the likely debris, and then you take into account the winds that the debris would fall through.

I'm sure the pentagon has plenty of smart people who can figure that out.

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The military advised not to shoot it down over the continental US for the reasons I stated. I'll trust they know more than you do.

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Stop deflecting. We're talking about your statement that you can't predict where the debris would land.

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I'm not deflecting. I'm repeating what they said about why they didn't want to shoot it down over the continental US. Maybe they were lying. Maybe they know more about what kind of debris or contaminants would come down. Again, if you know more, send them an email. I'm sure they get more than a few per week.

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I think we can assume there are people within the DoD who know basic physics. Whether they're concealing what they know about that or not is not surprising and is deflecting from your original statement that we can't know where the debris would fall. I've just listed the things you'd have to consider to calculate that. None of which is unknowable. Is there anything else that's unknowable that I should have included?

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What the balloon was carrying. What we could shoot it down with. Other unknown unknowns.

They knew more than you and didn't think it was worth endangering civilians lives or property. Not hard. But maybe they were lying. Email them and ask.

Going out to dinner. Everyone enjoy your surveillance-free evening. Oh, wait....

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Maroon Dawn said:

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If it happened under Trump the media would have been all over it 24/7 demanding his resignation

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Maroon Dawn said:

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If it happened under Trump the media would have been all over it 24/7 demanding his resignation

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