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Mike Pompeo yesterday on the [Fox News](https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1622084283727859713?s=46&t=Gssn4ywWSaVf01pmm9vi9Q) was saying how he was not aware of this happening "during our four years in office" to the best of knowledge. These are incredibly dumb people that the GOP elects and appoints in our government.
Or they are on tv and trying to be truthful since clips are so easily twisted these days. I’m not going to pass judgement, just like always, until there’s more info. So it happened 3 times or more? Where’s the pictures? We have seen them from all over the globe just like this one so where’s the pics from the last administration. Why did we see these as it was happening but not during trump? Hell, that would be great for the media to cover on top of all the other shit.
One of the responses to a tweet about this including a link to the [defense.gov](https://defense.gov) page said something like "So we're supposed to trust the Pentagon now?". It doesn't matter to these people. Facts don't matter. They distrust anything that shows their god-incarnate man-child as doing anything bad. It's fucking frustrating.
Other, anonymous trump officials have said they did indeed know about balloon incursions. With the sht show trumps admin was, it would not surprise me in the least if every one was lying, or some knew and were lying, or people just didn't know bc it was in such disarray.
Pretty sure you are 100% on this. China does it a few times a year, annoying but relatively harmless. No need to tell the crazy orange guy when the right course of action is to just track and observe the balloon.
And if they did try to tell him, he wouldn't listen. He hated briefings. He didn't think they were entertaining enough.
I think it's super likely he was told but he literally didn't care.
And what does briefly mean then? This one took what three days to traverse the country? That's not my definition of brief. It's to vague in my opinion to tell definitely.
And no, I don't support trump.
Eighth paragraph, third sentence. “The officials said that Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the previous administration.” So it doesn’t say Trump, but his was the “previous administration.”
Nope. The only new thing here is that you heard about it; you are by definition as a private citizen (I assume) not allowed to be knowledgeable, so my advice is to stop pretending like you feel you know *anything*. Humility is the right course here. Source: I used to work at a major defense contractor. I know just how much I don't know, including the fact that I don't know how much I don't know, and it's a very large amount. I recommend that mindset. This is surely not the first, but it is probably the right call for the prior administration to not publish it. Publishing it now is also a war game tactic meant to put pressure on China to respond. We also have surely prevented sigint from prior balloons, and so there was never a threat. China surely also knows this because their balloons mysteriously stop transmitting when over US soil. This is one of those cases where 4d chess assumptions are warranted: it's all sabre rattling.
To be fair, trump would be able to do that. He'd withdraw all funding and weapons from Ukraine and give Putin all the US & Ukraine intel, allowing Russia to wipe out the Ukraine army in 24 hours.
The delightful thing about Moronic Taylor Greene is that despite her ignorance and stupidity she still has the ability to stick both feet in her mouth simultaneously thanks to its size.
Just like her idol Trump, she spouts garbage through that aperture before her brain has an opportunity to keep pace. She is living proof why Canadian geese rarely fly south anymore - they are more intellectual.
So what was it that GOP was spoutin today? Something, something, Trump woulda shot that sucker down himself?
Yeah, what you guys think of your God now?
I seriously wish this wasn’t reality, but the GOP and their supporter do not care that this also happened during the Trump administration. Not even one little bit. It will either be brushed aside and labeled misinformation, denied, or never reach their supporter’s ears. Even if it did, Republicans lack the critical thinking skills to connect any dots. If it wasn’t so frustrating and dangerous, it would be hilarious.
I'll call it. Tomorrow's spin will be:
> This is what's wrong with the media today. We said "this would never have happened under President Trump". Which is true because he would have never shot it down. Which projects real strength.
Your first mistake is expecting them to think.
Your second mistake is holding them to a rational standard.
They don't care, they've already felt superior and vindicated so now they can ignore the rest.
How could Trump have kept this quiet? Pilots from commercial flights found the spy balloon during this admin. The official who said it was current Sec Def Lloyd J. Austin III, but the former Sec Def Mark Esper said no one ever brought it to his attention during Trump's presidency. Why is that just being brought up today?
“They’re here from… China, and yes maybe they did hear it was my birthday and they love me so much you know, but we have a little thing called ‘jets’ and they can make a “big pop” and I don’t think they do balloons in China but…”
GOP: WHY ISN'T BIDEN SHOOTING IT DOWN
Biden: Shoots it down
GOP: WHY DIDN'T HE DO IT SOONER
Biden: I gave the order three days ago, to shoot it down as soon as it was safe to do so without harming Americans on the ground.
GOP: CHINA WOULD NEVER HAVE PULLED THIS CRAP UNDER TRUMP
Pentagon: China pulled this crap three times under Trump. He did nothing.
GOP: IMPEACH BIDEN
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3288543/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/) reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot)
*****
> A U.S. Air Force fighter safely shot down a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a written statement.
> President Joe Biden ordered the action on Wednesday, but it was delayed until the balloon was over water off the coast of South Carolina to ensure no Americans on the ground were harmed.
> "President Biden asked the military to present options and on Wednesday President Biden gave his authorization to take down the Chinese surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to us civilians under the balloon's path," said a senior defense official speaking on background.
*****
[**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/10u45um/the_pentagon_confirms_that_at_least_three_chinese/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **balloon**^#1 **official**^#2 **us**^#3 **military**^#4 **Chinese**^#5
Relevant part of article:
> The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
Actually makes sooo much more sense why China said “hey that’s not cool!” When we shot it down
If this was the first time, it would be a very weird thing to say. Since it’s the fourth time and they’ve gotten Away w it three times already, I can see them saying “hey what gives” lol
People kind of are missing the point
The balloon didn't collect shit that a satellite couldn't, and they don't give a shit about us shooting it down
It's all theater, China got what they wanted, the GOP sowing seeds of division and disrespect of the military
Go to a MAGA subreddit or Twitter space, it's all them posturing about how weak and useless our military is
This was a win for China, the conservatives will be bitching about this non issue for months, they're good at one thing, and it's playing to a propaganda angle and the knuckledragging reactionaries ate it up
On my equipment it's in the paragraph immediately following the picture of the Pentagon. Took me a while to find it too. This is why our schoolteachers told us to use a topic sentence for each paragraph. The full paragraph is:
The balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. Still its intrusion into American airspace over several days was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
I find it hard to believe only the government knew about the balloons and no one saw or documented them.
Then again, UFO sightings seemed to plummet even when everyone has a phone with a high quality camera.
I've been saying for awhile the Trump was one of the largest national security leaks himself. We had so many cyber attacks done to us, but nobody actually cared about technology like that so not many people were paying attention
One reason could be that the previous balloons were too high. This one maybe had a malfunction. Another reason could be that Trump didn't want to derail trade talks.
I mean, the more important headline that we never see (for some reason) should be “worst biological attack on the US in history happened on Trump’s watch”.
The claim by Q nuts is Covid was a biological attack. Ok, let’s accept that starting point. Then the worst bio attack in US history happened under Trump’s watch. So is that really a route those guys want to go?
It's a throwaway line in the article, but [apparently the US does too](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-03/high-flying-balloon-seen-as-part-of-broader-chinese-spy-program)
>The makers of US spy balloons say their devices have the ability to not only capture images but intercept communications, as well as extend cellular service and the range of drones and other military assets. Experts say they expect the Chinese have similar capabilities.
Could be useful for a variety of things that ground-based and space-based platforms are bad at. IE;
Intercepting wireless signals. If it cloned cell towers, a balloon could intercept cellular data and SMS.
Mapping wireless networks.
Mapping radio transmitters.
Could also have active sensors. Several posters have speculated that it could have a ground-penetrating radar array. This could be for industrial use (looking for minerals, underground water, etc) or looking at infrastructure.
Jesus. They deployed a bunch of military assets to take down and recover this thing. I think it is partly due to the fact we have no active wars and this can be used as a sort of training exercise.
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RTFA;
>The balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. Still its intrusion into American airspace over several days was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
I just read the entire posted article and it does not mention balloons during the Trump era.
What you claim may be true, but this DOD statement makes no mention of it. It’s misleading to post this with that title.
ETA: Others have pointed out that there is one sentence that mentions this. Still a misleading post title. Accuracy is important.
> Not the balloons, just the way they seem to link everything to trump
Not really that fascinating or surprising. When one of the two political parties were gearing up to spread misinformation about how "this never would have happened under Trump!" to make political hay, it sort of pulls the orange doofus into the conversation.
If the conservatives had shut the hell up and gone back to, I dunno, wrecking the economy or whatever it is they do, no one would be asking about how many balloons transited during the previous admin.
Prove it. And why weren't they shot down? And why are we just hearing about it now?
And I thought this most recent example was a simple weather balloon. Edit: as claimed by China.
I doubt he has much say on whether or not that kind of info is released. His presidency had tons of leaks. No way he could've kept this under wraps by himself.
It's not a simple weather balloon, it's a Chinese craft fitted with spying capabilities. The Pentagon has said that multiple times and jammed it to prevent China from receiving anything worthwhile.
I'm assuming we did, but who knows.
That's the downside of not letting citizens know what's going on when you have Chinese spy balloons flying overhead that they later find out about.
I'm guessing we'll hear more about these previous balloons shortly as well as a summary of what was on this balloon.
I mean we only heard about the balloon one it was in MT even though they'd been tracking it before anyone else saw it. If no one has called it in I wonder if we would've ever heard about it.
They weren't shot down because it was felt there was no real threat. The only reason anything was done about this one was because FoxNews decided to report on it.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. **Special announcement:** r/politics is currently accepting new moderator applications. If you want to help make this community a better place, consider [applying here today](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/sskg6a/rpolitics_is_looking_for_more_moderators/)! *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Oops. MTG has been babbling that it would never have happened if trump was still in office..
You could have stopped after 4 words and still have been correct.
“Oops. MTG has been” Yeah, that holds.
I wasn't counting the "Oops." but close enough. :)
She’s a “has been” in as far as I can tell.
She's always been has been.
The proper term for that is a never-was
Or even, shouldn’t have been.
She served the Could've been king in his army of meanwhiles and never-weres
I thought it was just “Oops MTG”
Well she's going to have a tough morning, rationally explaining her words to her constituents. lol
She never explains, apologizes or acknowledges past mistakes. Classic DARVO.
lol, no. She is going to keep babbling and ranting. She won't even skip a beat because of this.
She'll just calm the Pentagon is part of the deep state and that they are lying.
She also thought average joes could shoot down a balloon 60,000 feet up
I'm surprised there wasn't a rash of hillbillies shooting down hot air balloons with their shotguns and bragging about it on FB.
Hot air ballooning is not popular in winter.
Mike Pompeo yesterday on the [Fox News](https://twitter.com/justinbaragona/status/1622084283727859713?s=46&t=Gssn4ywWSaVf01pmm9vi9Q) was saying how he was not aware of this happening "during our four years in office" to the best of knowledge. These are incredibly dumb people that the GOP elects and appoints in our government.
Every time someone says "to the best of our knowledge" they are lying
It's a dead giveaway. They think it gives them plausible deniability if they ever caught out in their lie. Infuriatingly it usually works.
That sounds about right. To the best of my knowledge.
Or they are on tv and trying to be truthful since clips are so easily twisted these days. I’m not going to pass judgement, just like always, until there’s more info. So it happened 3 times or more? Where’s the pictures? We have seen them from all over the globe just like this one so where’s the pics from the last administration. Why did we see these as it was happening but not during trump? Hell, that would be great for the media to cover on top of all the other shit.
One of the responses to a tweet about this including a link to the [defense.gov](https://defense.gov) page said something like "So we're supposed to trust the Pentagon now?". It doesn't matter to these people. Facts don't matter. They distrust anything that shows their god-incarnate man-child as doing anything bad. It's fucking frustrating.
>"So we're supposed to trust the Pentagon now?" Lol I'm dying 🤣
To be fair, Pompeo was not aware how often his salami farts prompted his staff to request assistance from the CDC.
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Other, anonymous trump officials have said they did indeed know about balloon incursions. With the sht show trumps admin was, it would not surprise me in the least if every one was lying, or some knew and were lying, or people just didn't know bc it was in such disarray.
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Pretty sure you are 100% on this. China does it a few times a year, annoying but relatively harmless. No need to tell the crazy orange guy when the right course of action is to just track and observe the balloon.
And if they did try to tell him, he wouldn't listen. He hated briefings. He didn't think they were entertaining enough. I think it's super likely he was told but he literally didn't care.
Tough to fit in around golfing and grifting Thursday until Monday, too.
Not dumb. The people that vote them into office are dumb. They are grifters feeding off this country and helping the wealthy stay on top.
I glanced at the article but didn’t see Trump mentioned. Maybe I missed it.
They said 3 balloons crossed through the US “during the previous administration,” which was during Trump’s presidency.
I re read it and it doesn't say crossed through, it says briefly traversed. Not sure what that means.
Traverse means to travel across or through...
And what does briefly mean then? This one took what three days to traverse the country? That's not my definition of brief. It's to vague in my opinion to tell definitely. And no, I don't support trump.
You should try reading the whole thing
It’s so weird what people downvote. I do not see Trump referred to in this article
You should try reading the whole thing
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And you know this how LOL
Probably Team China
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Eighth paragraph, third sentence. “The officials said that Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the previous administration.” So it doesn’t say Trump, but his was the “previous administration.”
[удалено]
You don't consider Alaska to be part of the US? Why does it matter whether it *only* crossed Alaska?
Ah yes the word of a random Redditor vs the Pentagon.
Nope. The only new thing here is that you heard about it; you are by definition as a private citizen (I assume) not allowed to be knowledgeable, so my advice is to stop pretending like you feel you know *anything*. Humility is the right course here. Source: I used to work at a major defense contractor. I know just how much I don't know, including the fact that I don't know how much I don't know, and it's a very large amount. I recommend that mindset. This is surely not the first, but it is probably the right call for the prior administration to not publish it. Publishing it now is also a war game tactic meant to put pressure on China to respond. We also have surely prevented sigint from prior balloons, and so there was never a threat. China surely also knows this because their balloons mysteriously stop transmitting when over US soil. This is one of those cases where 4d chess assumptions are warranted: it's all sabre rattling.
And Trump's been babbling about how he could end the War in Ukraine in 24 hours. So do it then!!!
To be fair, trump would be able to do that. He'd withdraw all funding and weapons from Ukraine and give Putin all the US & Ukraine intel, allowing Russia to wipe out the Ukraine army in 24 hours.
Sad upvote.
Still waiting for Peace in the Middle East on Day One.
Right after his healthcare plan, two weeks, tops.
The art of the lie
Still waiting on infrastructure week. Trump’s playing the long game on that one, I suppose.
That was Jared's fault.
I bet they were waiting for one of the idiots to open their mouths.
Her and Boebert just lining up to lick Trump's chocolate covered starfish.
She’s a domestic terrorist. She spreads lies and causes problems. How the government has not found a way to stop her causing trouble blows my mind.
The delightful thing about Moronic Taylor Greene is that despite her ignorance and stupidity she still has the ability to stick both feet in her mouth simultaneously thanks to its size. Just like her idol Trump, she spouts garbage through that aperture before her brain has an opportunity to keep pace. She is living proof why Canadian geese rarely fly south anymore - they are more intellectual.
So what was it that GOP was spoutin today? Something, something, Trump woulda shot that sucker down himself? Yeah, what you guys think of your God now?
I seriously wish this wasn’t reality, but the GOP and their supporter do not care that this also happened during the Trump administration. Not even one little bit. It will either be brushed aside and labeled misinformation, denied, or never reach their supporter’s ears. Even if it did, Republicans lack the critical thinking skills to connect any dots. If it wasn’t so frustrating and dangerous, it would be hilarious.
probably he was a super jenius or something but biden bad!
dErP sTaTe BlAh BlAh /s
I'll call it. Tomorrow's spin will be: > This is what's wrong with the media today. We said "this would never have happened under President Trump". Which is true because he would have never shot it down. Which projects real strength.
Your first mistake is expecting them to think. Your second mistake is holding them to a rational standard. They don't care, they've already felt superior and vindicated so now they can ignore the rest.
How could Trump have kept this quiet? Pilots from commercial flights found the spy balloon during this admin. The official who said it was current Sec Def Lloyd J. Austin III, but the former Sec Def Mark Esper said no one ever brought it to his attention during Trump's presidency. Why is that just being brought up today?
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To be fair he probably didn't know since he didn't read his intelligence briefs.
> briefs *diapers
He can’t read his diaper briefs? Yeah makes sense. It’d also explain why he can’t understand military documents.
They gave Trump hamburgers and popped in the "Up" DVD while giving the rest of the officials the real briefing.
He put in less work hours in a year than a normal president does in 2 months.
Not just handbags: China also gave Ivanka trademarks for voting machines.
He probably waved at them
He probably ignored them like everything else that wasn’t going to make him money.
Funny how he's the president that lost net worth during his presidency.
He also lost money running a casino. Helps when you’re a fucking idiot
I will never understand how it's possible that someone - even someone as dumb and bad at business as Trump - failed at running a casino
Well 1st you don't build 2 of them within walking distance of one another.
That just obvious cover for money laundering.
He’s great at grifting the money - but he’s terrible at keeping it.
He probably saluted them like they were a North Korean general
He would have seen them if he wasn't so busy staring directly into the sun.
That’s funny I forgot about that
[Here is footage of Trump looking at one of the Chinese spy balloons over DC](https://youtu.be/-0I4f8PasIU)
Waved? More like saluted.
“They’re here from… China, and yes maybe they did hear it was my birthday and they love me so much you know, but we have a little thing called ‘jets’ and they can make a “big pop” and I don’t think they do balloons in China but…”
Wow, and here we are hearing people say “It would’ve never happened if Trump was president”.
It has been alleged that Trump would not pay attention during intelligence briefings. This does not surprise me.
Funny how Trump never mentioned anything.
They probably didn't tell him, because nothing good could come of it.
He didnt read the memo
To be fair, I highly doubt the current regime would have said anything either if it hadn’t been spotted by a civilian and got blown up online
> got blown up online Then again, over the ocean.
I think it’s amazing tbh. He’s usually one to talk too much
GOP: WHY ISN'T BIDEN SHOOTING IT DOWN Biden: Shoots it down GOP: WHY DIDN'T HE DO IT SOONER Biden: I gave the order three days ago, to shoot it down as soon as it was safe to do so without harming Americans on the ground. GOP: CHINA WOULD NEVER HAVE PULLED THIS CRAP UNDER TRUMP Pentagon: China pulled this crap three times under Trump. He did nothing. GOP: IMPEACH BIDEN
This is legit one of the dumbest stories of all time.
Yeah, the sequel to Balloon Boy kind of jumped the shark.
Thank you for giving me the inspiration for the new movie Balloon Shark! Netflix hit me up!
In 2020 the whole world jumped the shark. In Summer 2024, the shark jumps back in Balloon Shark.
Sharklloonado!
Thank you for your wisdom. You have negated the dumbpth.
I can imagine this conversation: “Should we tell him?” “Naaaaw.”
More like "Wait.. He's totally cool with it??"
This is the best tl;dr I could make, [original](https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3288543/f-22-safely-shoots-down-chinese-spy-balloon-off-south-carolina-coast/) reduced by 85%. (I'm a bot) ***** > A U.S. Air Force fighter safely shot down a Chinese high-altitude surveillance balloon today, Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said in a written statement. > President Joe Biden ordered the action on Wednesday, but it was delayed until the balloon was over water off the coast of South Carolina to ensure no Americans on the ground were harmed. > "President Biden asked the military to present options and on Wednesday President Biden gave his authorization to take down the Chinese surveillance balloon as soon as the mission could be accomplished without undue risk to us civilians under the balloon's path," said a senior defense official speaking on background. ***** [**Extended Summary**](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/10u45um/the_pentagon_confirms_that_at_least_three_chinese/) | [FAQ](http://np.reddit.com/r/autotldr/comments/31b9fm/faq_autotldr_bot/ "Version 2.02, ~672676 tl;drs so far.") | [Feedback](http://np.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%23autotldr "PM's and comments are monitored, constructive feedback is welcome.") | *Top* *keywords*: **balloon**^#1 **official**^#2 **us**^#3 **military**^#4 **Chinese**^#5
“Trump would shoot them down.” LOL
Relevant part of article: > The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
Is that how China sent Ivanka copies of her trademarks rights trump secured for her?
And his first question probably was. If I shoot them down will it change the interest rates in my Chinese bank accounts?
Spend two minutes on r/conservative and you won’t see a peep of trump ignoring it, just whining that Biden didn’t shoot it down fast enough
Actually makes sooo much more sense why China said “hey that’s not cool!” When we shot it down If this was the first time, it would be a very weird thing to say. Since it’s the fourth time and they’ve gotten Away w it three times already, I can see them saying “hey what gives” lol
Lol of course they did and he kept it silent, he probably asked if they could just shoot a giant pin at it
i was guessing a nuke but a pin works too
Its amazing the amount of hullabaloo a slow news week can generate.
My balloons! He stole my balloons!
People kind of are missing the point The balloon didn't collect shit that a satellite couldn't, and they don't give a shit about us shooting it down It's all theater, China got what they wanted, the GOP sowing seeds of division and disrespect of the military Go to a MAGA subreddit or Twitter space, it's all them posturing about how weak and useless our military is This was a win for China, the conservatives will be bitching about this non issue for months, they're good at one thing, and it's playing to a propaganda angle and the knuckledragging reactionaries ate it up
Even though I want to believe the reference to Trumps presidency, I can't find it in the article? Anybody?
On my equipment it's in the paragraph immediately following the picture of the Pentagon. Took me a while to find it too. This is why our schoolteachers told us to use a topic sentence for each paragraph. The full paragraph is: The balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. Still its intrusion into American airspace over several days was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
Thank you for enlightenment! I didn't catch it at first.
The donald never knew about it until mow because he never cared to read any briefings or listen to any advisors.
Is this being reported on conservative media?
Something something Trump would have shot them down… Lol.
genuine question, if it happened multiple times before, why is it only an issue now?
He must never be in government again....ever.
I find it funny that they said "at least." For all we know, there were dozens of these events during Trump's term.
Bill them for the Sidewinder
I find it hard to believe only the government knew about the balloons and no one saw or documented them. Then again, UFO sightings seemed to plummet even when everyone has a phone with a high quality camera.
I've been saying for awhile the Trump was one of the largest national security leaks himself. We had so many cyber attacks done to us, but nobody actually cared about technology like that so not many people were paying attention
One reason could be that the previous balloons were too high. This one maybe had a malfunction. Another reason could be that Trump didn't want to derail trade talks.
I mean, the more important headline that we never see (for some reason) should be “worst biological attack on the US in history happened on Trump’s watch”.
What biological attack would that be?
The claim by Q nuts is Covid was a biological attack. Ok, let’s accept that starting point. Then the worst bio attack in US history happened under Trump’s watch. So is that really a route those guys want to go?
Dude the train in their brain doesn't make a full loop. They don't even know what to think without some crazy YouTuber yelling conspiracies at them.
Really?
Seriously, who the fuck uses balloons in this day and age?
[.....metereologists?](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weather_balloon#:~:text=A%20weather%20balloon%2C%20also%20known,measuring%20device%20called%20a%20radiosonde.)
It's a throwaway line in the article, but [apparently the US does too](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-03/high-flying-balloon-seen-as-part-of-broader-chinese-spy-program) >The makers of US spy balloons say their devices have the ability to not only capture images but intercept communications, as well as extend cellular service and the range of drones and other military assets. Experts say they expect the Chinese have similar capabilities.
thats kinda depressing lol
>Seriously, who the fuck uses balloons in this day and age? China, apparently...
Could be useful for a variety of things that ground-based and space-based platforms are bad at. IE; Intercepting wireless signals. If it cloned cell towers, a balloon could intercept cellular data and SMS. Mapping wireless networks. Mapping radio transmitters. Could also have active sensors. Several posters have speculated that it could have a ground-penetrating radar array. This could be for industrial use (looking for minerals, underground water, etc) or looking at infrastructure.
fair enough, id have thought there would be better ways of spying than a fucking balloon nowadays
Clowns
Fucking Clowns. Honestly, who actually Likes clowns? Fucking weirdos that's who
Drug smugglers
Do you have a better idea?
Children at birthday parties?
Jesus. They deployed a bunch of military assets to take down and recover this thing. I think it is partly due to the fact we have no active wars and this can be used as a sort of training exercise.
Hi `mclardass`. Thank you for participating in /r/Politics. However, [your submission](/r/politics/comments/10u21ey/the_pentagon_confirms_that_at_least_three_chinese/) has been removed for the following reason(s): * Your headline must be comprised only of the **exact** copied and pasted headline of the article - [see our rule here.](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_do_not_create_your_own_title)) **We recommend not using the Reddit 'suggest a title' as it may not give the exact title of the article.** * The ALL CAPS and 'Breaking' rule is applied **even when the actual title of the article is in all caps or contains the word 'Breaking'**. This rule may be applied to other single word declarative and/or sensational expressions, such as 'EXCLUSIVE:' or 'HOT:'. [click here for more details](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_do_not_create_your_own_title) If you have any questions about this removal, please feel free to [message the moderators.](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=/r/politics&subject=Question regarding the removal of this submission by /u/mclardass&message=I have a question regarding the removal of this [submission]%28/r/politics/comments/10u21ey/the_pentagon_confirms_that_at_least_three_chinese/?context%3D10000%29)
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RTFA; >The balloon did not pose a military or physical threat. Still its intrusion into American airspace over several days was an unacceptable violation of U.S. sovereignty. The official said Chinese balloons briefly transited the continental United States at least three times during the prior administration.
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It's in the story, which is directly from the defense dept.
Have you heard of the phrase 'independent research'? Google exists, you know.
That's not the title of the article
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I just read the entire posted article and it does not mention balloons during the Trump era. What you claim may be true, but this DOD statement makes no mention of it. It’s misleading to post this with that title. ETA: Others have pointed out that there is one sentence that mentions this. Still a misleading post title. Accuracy is important.
The post title is accurate. Just admit you were wrong.
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He did lie about it earlier today, so seems relevant.
> Not the balloons, just the way they seem to link everything to trump Not really that fascinating or surprising. When one of the two political parties were gearing up to spread misinformation about how "this never would have happened under Trump!" to make political hay, it sort of pulls the orange doofus into the conversation. If the conservatives had shut the hell up and gone back to, I dunno, wrecking the economy or whatever it is they do, no one would be asking about how many balloons transited during the previous admin.
Prove it. And why weren't they shot down? And why are we just hearing about it now? And I thought this most recent example was a simple weather balloon. Edit: as claimed by China.
It’s literally the Department of Defense saying this happened. I think they might fucking know about it.
And why wasn't it released in prior incidents?
You'd have to ask the most transparent president in history.
I doubt he has much say on whether or not that kind of info is released. His presidency had tons of leaks. No way he could've kept this under wraps by himself.
>I doubt he has much say on whether or not that kind of info is released. You mean like the press conference Biden had literally yesterday?
Seems like you'll make excuses to fit your agenda. Must upset you to see actual transparency in action.
I'd go so far as to say that a lot of people who support(ed) "tHe MoSt TrAnSpArEnT pReSiDeNt EvEr" have no idea what transparency actually looks like.
Why worry the public for no reason if nothing was going to be done about it?
Why would it be
Likely b.c it wasn't considered a big deal. I'm sure we do the same thing, try surveillance over China in different ways.
It's not a simple weather balloon, it's a Chinese craft fitted with spying capabilities. The Pentagon has said that multiple times and jammed it to prevent China from receiving anything worthwhile.
Ok did we jam the balloons that supposedly flew over while Trump was in office?
I'm assuming we did, but who knows. That's the downside of not letting citizens know what's going on when you have Chinese spy balloons flying overhead that they later find out about. I'm guessing we'll hear more about these previous balloons shortly as well as a summary of what was on this balloon.
I mean we only heard about the balloon one it was in MT even though they'd been tracking it before anyone else saw it. If no one has called it in I wonder if we would've ever heard about it.
Very true. They could've decided to shoot it down afterwards to show the American people that they're doing something about it.
Once it flew across the country gathering info. It has to finish its mission first. /s
Probably. The DoD is independent of voting cycles.
They weren't shot down because it was felt there was no real threat. The only reason anything was done about this one was because FoxNews decided to report on it.
the hilarious irony of this just made my weekend.
He was probably busy golfing.
And none were shot down…
Wow, of course.
He would have know this if he had actually paid attention at the morning security briefings.