MouthBQ98 said:

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I'm not saying THIS balloon at all. I'm just saying maybe China is watching to see how we react to A balloon, and that such a thing could catch us unaware if our reaction was too nonchalant.

I also think the altitude is insufficient to make it an effective delivery system for EMP but do not know for sure.

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Of course, we might have reacted completely differently if the balloon had a much larger payload.

My question is what did the balloon use to maneuver? If it used small maneuvering rockets, then the fuel for those would most likely be highly toxic and might explain the military's reluctance to shoot the balloon down over land.

MouthBQ98 said:

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I'm not saying THIS balloon at all. I'm just saying maybe China is watching to see how we react to A balloon, and that such a thing could catch us unaware if our reaction was too nonchalant.

I also think the altitude is insufficient to make it an effective delivery system for EMP but do not know for sure.

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There was a hypothesis that the Roswell UFO incident was a hoax instigated by the Soviet Union. They allegedly built some peculiar looking remote control aircraft, stuffed a couple of cadavers from a mental hospital in it, and launched it from Mexico to crash into the US. The objective was to see how we reacted to it. If that was true, I would say, well done Joe Stalin.

Here is my question:

Nobody even knew about this thing until pilots reported it

And maybe that IS the idea with these things. We know in seconds if Beijing launches a missile at us, but what about these balloons? Is there any real way to track them especially at the altitude they usually fly at?

If we don't it seems a great way to implement a low tech sneak EMP attack on major cities

Chinese spy balloon is zero emissions.

I posted EMP pretty early on only as a wild ass guess since I don't know much about them and their required delivery and efficiency. I still think it's plausible given the CCP history of playing the long game and having no care at all of how they are viewed.

Heard some former committee head on Fox say that China was embarrassed by this whole episode. I started screaming bull**** at the radio because they don't give two ****s about what the world thinks. You know any coverage propaganda of this in China is dirtbag US shot down a wayward weather balloon as an aggressive act. They can continue to probe and send up test balloons and refine their strategy whether EMP, bio weapon, or some other nefarious payload.

It's like when Putin met with Biden in June before their invasion. He looked into those blank eyes and knew he was golden. He just realized all of his yes men have been lying their asses off to him on their capabilities which then allowed for this slow ramp up of Ukraine's garage sale arsenal.

Maroon Dawn said:

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Nobody even knew about this thing until pilots reported it

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And when it did get reported it was categorized by FAA as a "derelict balloon"

Jabin said:

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MouthBQ98 said:

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I'm not saying THIS balloon at all. I'm just saying maybe China is watching to see how we react to A balloon, and that such a thing could catch us unaware if our reaction was too nonchalant.

I also think the altitude is insufficient to make it an effective delivery system for EMP but do not know for sure.

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Of course, we might have reacted completely differently if the balloon had a much larger payload.

My question is what did the balloon use to maneuver? If it used small maneuvering rockets, then the fuel for those would most likely be highly toxic and might explain the military's reluctance to shoot the balloon down over land.

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Size and weight of 3 school busser is not large enough for you? I understand some may have ridden smaller, shorter busses to school, but there is no issue with a balloon capable of lifting many, many tons. Hell, they are building luxury "yachts" dirigibles.

Regarding EMP, China does not have to be the perp to be successful. Merely showing bad actors how we handle it is sufficient to their cause.

Maroon Dawn said:

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Here is my question:

Nobody even knew about this thing until pilots reported it

And maybe that IS the idea with these things. We know in seconds if Beijing launches a missile at us, but what about these balloons? Is there any real way to track them especially at the altitude they usually fly at?

If we don't it seems a great way to implement a low tech sneak EMP attack on major cities

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that's incorrect

DOD knew about this balloon likely as soon as it was released in China

and certainly once it started to move across the Pacific towards the Aleutians

Canada knew about it as well before it entered Canadian airspace

LMCane said:

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Maroon Dawn said:

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Here is my question:

Nobody even knew about this thing until pilots reported it

And maybe that IS the idea with these things. We know in seconds if Beijing launches a missile at us, but what about these balloons? Is there any real way to track them especially at the altitude they usually fly at?

If we don't it seems a great way to implement a low tech sneak EMP attack on major cities

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that's incorrect

DOD knew about this balloon likely as soon as it was released in China

and certainly once it started to move across the Pacific towards the Aleutians

Canada knew about it as well before it entered Canadian airspace

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And all sat on their hands. Like our border, national defense means nothing if you don't have the sack to implement it or are just Xis Lap Kitty.

Quote:

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Size and weight of 3 school busser is not large enough for you? I understand some may have ridden smaller, shorter busses to school, but there is no issue with a balloon capable of lifting many, many tons. Hell, they are building luxury "yachts" dirigibles.

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I was not aware that this balloon's payload weighed the same as 3 school buses. How did you find that out?

And I realize that other balloons and dirigibles are capable of carrying tremendous payloads. However, we also would have reacted quite differently in that situation.

So if the power goes out one day, the internet and mobile data goes down and all electronic devices are fried ... I'm gonna ago ahead and assume it was a Chinese spy balloon that did it.

Got a cocktail napkin sketch to retrofit F-22 with something like this to deal with the future spy balloons.

If you work at Lockheed please DM me.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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So if the power goes out one day, the internet and mobile data goes down and all electronic devices are fried ... I'm gonna ago ahead and assume it was a Chinese spy balloon that did it.

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Yes, but secure food, ammo and small animals and hunker down. Probably best to find any soy boy liberals and rid them from the food chain. Its going to be all hands on deck.

Jabin said:

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Quote:

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Size and weight of 3 school busser is not large enough for you? I understand some may have ridden smaller, shorter busses to school, but there is no issue with a balloon capable of lifting many, many tons. Hell, they are building luxury "yachts" dirigibles.

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I was not aware that this balloon's payload weighed the same as 3 school buses. How did you find that out?

And I realize that other balloons and dirigibles are capable of carrying tremendous payloads. However, we also would have reacted quite differently in that situation.

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Sure.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/chinese-spy-balloon-montana-flight-tracking/

And you have zero credibility in thinking we would react differently.

Article says "size" of 2-3 school buses, not weight.

And nice personal shot about my credibility. Do you always get so emotional in discussions?

That article seems to be using payload and volume interchangeably.

Jabin said:

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Article says "size" of 2-3 school buses, not weight.

And nice personal shot about my credibility. Do you always get so emotional in discussions?

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Got me. Tell me the max load lift of the balloon in question.

Not doing your research for you just dismissing you as nonsensical and noncredible (based on your posting here as I hopefully do not know you personally).

Edited to Add: An 82ft diameter balloon filled with hydrogen could lift in excess of 30,000lbs.

JohnLA762 said:

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Can't wait for the administrations comments on this:

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Hillary had a stroke and the balloons were in her blind spot(or the dems trotted out someone with dementia-since that is their thing) Dunno about kazoo kid.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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Got a cocktail napkin sketch to retrofit F-22 with something like this to deal with the future spy balloons.

If you work at Lockheed please DM me.

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The strangest thing is I never see a car go into their corporate headquarters next door to my building here in Maryland-

it's almost as if no one works there anymore- it's a massive headquarters campus.

US should retaliate by lunching a spy balloon at China filled with rainbow colored glitter.

Question: If the balloon was super safe, no imminent threat, no nefarious mission, then why did Biden shoot it down at all.

The obvious answer is obvious. The balloon represented an unknown threat and Biden waited until the last possible moment to bring it down - probably based on the national polling data regarding the balloon and only after getting permission from the chairman.

If it was a threat you shoot it down over alaska or Canada. If its not a threat, you let it fly back home.

Like Paulies hammer play, classified docs and Hunter's laptop... the reason for the inconsistency and lies deserves much attention.

Stat Monitor Repairman said:

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US should retaliate by lunching a spy balloon at China filled with rainbow colored glitter.

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They would shoot it down as soon as it got 12 miles of the coast of a US territory.

Geddy Lee soul patch said:

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If the military recommended waiting until it was over water before shooting it down, can we assume they had a good idea of its surveillance capabilities and our ability to mitigate it?

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Never assume competence with this bunch. Never

When the salvage divers get it on deck they should put the electronics in a bag of rice.

Thats flied lice you plick!

TxAgLaw03RW said:

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As expected, "but Trump" is fake news:

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

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Democrats know all they have to do is make the suggestion (I.e.lie and deflect again) out there in the media will lie and the rob Reiner's of the world will lie and your average leftist idiot will believe it.

Jabin said:

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Quote:

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Size and weight of 3 school busser is not large enough for you? I understand some may have ridden smaller, shorter busses to school, but there is no issue with a balloon capable of lifting many, many tons. Hell, they are building luxury "yachts" dirigibles.

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I was not aware that this balloon's payload weighed the same as 3 school buses. How did you find that out?

And I realize that other balloons and dirigibles are capable of carrying tremendous payloads. However, we also would have reacted quite differently in that situation.

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Balloon is being estimated as 200 feet in diameter, more than capable of lifting size AND weight of 2 to 3 school buses.

This thread has devolved into chaos. I hope China launches another spy balloon just to get us back on track.

aggielostinETX said:

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Her post was full snark.

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No, it wasn't! Completely factual. Weird that you wouldn't believe that considering the school that we went to.

DW is suggesting there were explosives on the chyknees balloon.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11719221/Chinese-spy-balloon-carried-EXPLOSIVES-destroy-itself.html

"Explosives to destroy"

That is how these balloons are normally brought down. Small explosive charges to rip the balloon.

88planoAg said:

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"Explosives to destroy"

That is how these balloons are normally brought down. Small explosive charges to rip the balloon.

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Yeah, it just shows the stupidity of journalists, thus the stupidity of most of our population.

Turns out 10thYrSr is the AggieGrant06 of Chinese spy balloons.

Link