Apparently almost every media outlet buried the lead. According to analysis from combined intelligence operations of the U.S government, last week the Biden administration ordered U.S. military fighter jets to launch missiles and shoot down of what is now believed to be “balloons belonging to private companies, recreation, or research institutions.” WATCH (w/ transcript below):
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon. Last week, in the immediate aftermath of the incursion by China’s high-altitude balloon, our military, through the North American Aerospace Defense Command — so-called NOR- — NORAD — closely scrutinized the — our airspace, including enhancing our radar to pick up more slow-moving objects above our country and around the world.
In doing so, they tracked three unidentified objects: one in Alaska, Canada, and over Lake Huron in the Midwest.
They acted in accordance with established parameters for determining how to deal with unidentified aerial objects in U.S. airspace.
At their recommendation, I gave the order to take down these three objects due to hazards to civilian commercial air traffic and because we could not rule out the surveillance risk of sensitive facilities.
We acted in consultation with the Canadian government. I spoke personally with Prime Minister Trudeau and Ca- — from Canada on Saturday.
And just as critically, we acted out of an abundance of caution and at an opportunity that allowed us to take down these — these objects safely.
Our military and the Canadian military are seeking to recover the debris so we can learn more about these three objects. Our intelligence community is still assessing all three incidences. They’re reporting to me daily and will continue their urgent efforts to do so, and I will communicate that to the Congress.
We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were. But nothing — nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from other — any other country.
The intelligence community’s current assessment is that these three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation, or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific research.
When I came into office, I instructed our intelligence community to take a broad look at the phenomenon of unidentified aerial objects.
We know that a range of entities, including countries, companies, and research organizations operate objects at altitudes for purposes that are not nefarious, including legitimate scientific research.
I want to be clear: We don’t have any evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky. We’re now just seeing more of them, partially because the steps we’ve taken to increase our radars — to narrow our radars. And we have to keep adapting our approach to delaying — to dealing with these challenges.
That’s why I’ve directed my team to come back to me with sharper rules for how we will deal with these unidentified objects moving forward, distinguishing — distinguishing between those that are likely to pose safety and security risks that necessitate action and those that do not.
But make no mistake, if any object presents a threat to the safety and security of the American people, I will take it down. I’ll be sharing with Congress these classified policy parameters when they’re completed, and they’ll remain classified so we don’t give our roadmap to our enemies to try to evade our defenses.
Going forward, these parameters will guide what actions we will take while responding to unmanned and unidentified aerial objects. We’re going to keep adapting them as the challenges evolve, if it evolves.
In addition, we’ve derived — I’ve directly my National Security Advisor to lead a government-wide effort to make sure we are positioned to deal safely and effectively with the objects in our airspace.
First, we will establish a better inventory of unmanned airborne objects in space — above the United States’ airspace and make sure that inventory is accessible and up to date.
Second, we’ll implement further measures to improve our capacity to detect unmanned objecti- — objects in our airspace.
Third, we’ll update the rules and regulations for launching and maintaining unmanned objects in the skies above the United States of America.
And fourth, my Secretary of State will lead an effort to help establish a global — a globa- — a common global norms in this largely unregulated space.
These steps will lead to safer and more secure skies for our air travelers, our military, our scientists, and for people on the ground as well. That’s my job as your President and Commander-in-Chief.
As the events of the previous days have shown, we’ll always act to protect the interest of the American people and the security of the American people.
Since I came into office, we’ve developed the ability to identify, track, and study high-altitude surveillance balloons connected with the Chinese military.
When one of these high-altitude surveillance balloons entered our airspace over the continental United States earlier in the month, I gave the order to shoot it down as soon as it would be safe to do so. The military advised against shooting it down over land because of the sheer size of it. It was the size of multiple school busses, and it posed a risk to people on the ground if it was shot down where people lived.
Instead, we tracked it closely, we analyzed its capabilities, and we learned more about how it operates.
And because we knew its path, we were able to protect sensitive sites against collection.
We waited until it was safely over water, which would not only protect civilians but also enable us to recover substantial components for further analys- — for further analytics.
And then we shot it down, sending a clear message — clear message: The violation of our sovereignty is unacceptable.
We will act to protect our country, and we did.
Now, this past Friday, we put restrictions on six firms that directly support the People’s Republic Liberation Army — the People’s Lib- — the People’s Liberation Army aerospace program that includes airships and balloons, denying them access to U.S. technology.
We briefed our diplomatic partners and our allies around the world, and we know about China’s program and where their balloons have flown.
Some of them have also raised their concerns directly with China. Our exports [experts] have lifted components of the Chinese balloon’s payload off the ocean floor. We’re analyzing them as I speak, and what we learn will strengthen our capabilities.
Now, we’ll also continue to engage with China, as we have throughout the past two weeks. As I’ve said since the beginning of my administration, we seek competition, not conflict, with China. We’re not looking for a new Cold War.
But I make no apologize — I make no apologies, and we will compete. And we’ll be res- — we’ll responsibly manage that competition so that it doesn’t veer into conflict.
This episode underscores the importance of maintaining open lines of communication between our diplomats and our military professionals. Our diplomats will be engaging further, and I will remain in communication with President Xi.
I’m grateful for the work over the last several weeks of our intelligence, diplomatic, and military professionals who have proved once again to be the most capable in the world. And I want to thank you all.
Now, look, the other thing I want to point is that we are going to keep our allies and the Congress contemporaneously informed of all we know and all we learn. And I expect to be speaking with President Xi, and I hope we have a — we are going to get to the bottom of this. But I make no apologies for taking down that balloon.
Thank you very much.
(Cross-talk by reporters.)
Q Mr. President, why did you wait so long to address the public on this matter, Mr. President?
Q Sir, there’s been a criticism — there’s been criticism of this —
Q When are you speaking to President Xi, Mr. President?
Q Is this deal with China compromised by your family’s business relationships in China, President Biden?
THE PRESIDENT: Give me a break, man. (Laughs.) (Inaudible.)
Q Sir — Mr. President — Mr. President, there’s been criticism —
Q Did you overreact?
Q — Mr. President, there’s been criticism that this was an overreaction that was done because of political pressure —
(Cross-talk by reporters.)
THE PRESIDENT: I can’t —
Q Is your son still (inaudible) —
THE PRESIDENT: You can come to my office and ask the question when you have more polite people (inaudible).
What’s next Joe? Ya going to shoot downs some kites?
Don’t give Slojoe any ideas please.
We know they weren’t Chinese because he wouldn’t have shot them down until they finished their mission if they were Chinese.
No matter how you slice it, the Biden Administration looks stupid.
They identified a Chinese balloon and let it travel all the way across the country, then shot it down over the ocean.
So, responding to criticism, they saw three couldn’t identify them and decided to shoot them down over land/lakes. Turns out, they were no threat at all.
STUPID. It is contagious.
Incompetence on display.
2 Weeks from now…..
BIDEN:” Our intelligence community determined in these sonar readings potential infiltration in our waterways. With there recommendations and my approval they attacked the unknown watercraft. Afterward we acknowledged these were kids conducting toothpick races in the the spring thae of local drains…”
More BS from the BS factory.
Time out. Tiger, JT and Rory all birdie 18 at Riviera. Tiger finished at -2. He looked comfortable, but it’s Thursday.
Someone has to watch this.
Has anyone seen Richard Branson recently?
What the story they are trying to distract us from with all this baloooooon stuff
Biden blew up the Nordstream gas pipe from Russia to Germany.
Environmental disaster in East Palestine, Oh.
And Xi has Joey Baby by the short hairs.
I’ve never seen anything so stupid and incompetent as Jibberin’ Joe and his pals.
I know a lot of what we see going on is intentional, but these guys are REALLY stupid.
And they’ve got the nuke codes.
May God have mercy on any “undocumenteds” who attempt to cross our southern border in a balloon.
Ship ’em off to Canadia….
ROTFL, I only got as far as reading the title and my husband blurted out, “No, that’s BS, companies would be having a fit over their lost UFO. That’s BS, that guy lies all of the time so much that he doesn’t even know he’s lying.” Which is true. He doesn’t even know he’s president, he’s looking around for obutthead.
This does not JIVE at all with the briefing given to Congress. The MILITARY briefings were totally different than Bidets admins talking points. I have a associate in MIchigan who saw the “objects” took photos of them and the aircraft interacting, Is he faking them don’t know. What I saw was strange . Sun behind them but they GLOWED brightly. Not a site where people pull BS, get you tossed pretty quick. It freaked him out. He said they would be there still and then just blink out. Like the ones on radar. Sum ting wong. He had several different photos of them. Said he watched for an hour and half before all blinked out. They just sat there. Hologram tech is a possibility perhaps. If he saw them others did also.
He’s NOT President.
This is getting ridiculous.
I’m pretty sure they shot down U.S. (Lockheed?) skunkworks tech. It’s been around for decades. It’s just odd that it’s suddenly in the MSM spotlight. Definitely some sort of distraction going on.
Some aerospace engineers have pointed out these can’t possibly be balloons because they are not big enough to hold the amount of gas needed to be at those altitudes.
I would think the gas needed would go down with the size and lightness and payload of a balloon.
A small balloon would also likely need a thinner skin..
On second thought – I ‘m still not convince, but I have changed my mind to thinking it’s plausible anyway.
10 ft = 600 cubic feet of material = 1,000 cubic feet gas
100 ft = 60,000 cubic feet material = 1,000.000 cubic feet gas
So, the 100 ft ft balloon (should be proportionate to a roundish balloon, but easier math) would have 100 times the balloon wight, but would have 1,000 times the cubic gas volume. Assuming the same material and thickness. on the 10 ft balloon which would not be the case, but it would be a whole lot to make up that way.
A $400K sidewinder missile to take out a $100 ballon
According to this site – https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/104505/f-16-fighting-falcon/
An F-16 is armed with one M-61A1 20mm multibarrel cannon with 500 rounds.
Would that not be the better choice? Can any USAF people on this site explain why they would use a missile?
They don’t really want to recover the debris. Instilling fear and distraction on the citizens is so much more important.
at certain high altitudes, standard kinetic munitions are inefffective. at 65,000 accuracy for sure: it is diminished mainly because these are not weapons that the aiming and targeting systems are calibrated to function. Thus, the need for weapons (aim9x, and others similar), that have on board guidance “lock on after launch”.
at lower altitudes, not so much and “conventional” weapons are going to be effective. But it needs to be understood: bullets do not have remote detonation capability….spraying “bullets” in the hundreds at altitude at targets that will only slightly alter ballistic coefficients might not be the safest system to use in or near populated areas.
just something I read.
God Bless America
Truly an embarrassing & deceitful outing by Mr Biden.
And the press allows this poor excuse for an executive to continue to damage the country with barely a word…..just as they allowed him to run for President completely unvetted or challenged.
The press will be to blame as the country struggles economically, our boarders are over run, AND if we end up sending men & women to fight Russia or China
The press would never have allowed Trump to get away with a 7-8 minute explanation of the UFO debacle we saw over the past 10 days…. Including the horrible train wreck and the reaction of the “experts” to blow up the train cars & pollute thousands of miles of the country and ultimately millions of Americans!!!
And you know what- that’s why he was such a good President!!! Promises made- promise’s kept!!
Aren’t balloons supposed to be registered and cleared with the civil flight authorities like other flight traffic? Surely a simple phone call to them before using missiles to shoot them down?
As long as the balloons weigh less than 6 pounds, they are exempt from FAA requirements. Most hobbyist “pico balloons” weigh less than 6 pounds.
Joe ; who has labored his entire life letting the wee roaches Caress his silky leg hairs while battling for control of the municipal pool from marauding gangs of Jeri curl wearing , razor blade wielding , super bad predators , committing civil disobedience in SA in support of Nelson and his gentle wife Winnie as well as many other incredible acts of heroism and gallantry , would like a break and I don’t think that’s too much to ask , just one break for the big guy, heaven knows he ain’t getting one anywhere else from the systemically racist , redneck , anti woke greedy war mongering right wing or they’re lapdog media enablers .
So the pilot who said whatever it was interfered with sensors and we are to believe it’s some science project dad and son were flying ?
We also hear a description of a pentagon shaped object and that was another car lot balloon ?
Lie Lie Lie Lie is all we hear from the WH and politicians and the “Intelligence” community and the Military all of who took that pesky Oath Of Office
Dumbocrats! Ignoramuses
Liar liar pants aflame.
I thought the Other FILTHY LIBERAL Big Chief Spendy McBlackface Hairdo ordered the UFO shot down Eh?
Justin from Canada does not give orders to our Military. Unless he is President of Canuckistan now.. Maybe these “Private” Companies can sue for damages now. Were they Private “CCP” Companies????
NORAD was involved. Joint command.
What was that Barack Obama said about Joe? Something about never underestimating his ability to do something. I’ve forgotten.
That was the old Joe . This Joe is just a sock puppet , but good to have around to take all the “flak” for the unseen team really calling the shots and loading up the teleprompter and feeding him his ice cream….
Now that it is shoot first and answer no questions later, I’m afraid to walk out of the local dollar store with a birthday balloon.
I never thought I’d live in an era of complete collapse and incompetence. It would be funny if not scary.
Hobby Club is missing their balloon.
If you need to see balloons, come to Albuquerque in early October
Maybe they should call it off. You know, in the interest of self-preservation?
Are they gonna charge these ‘folks’ for cost of making them use those expensive missiles to shoot down their balloons? /s
Which is worse. Recommending shooting them down or approving it.
Via Daily Mail
Hobby group claims its $13 weather balloon last pinged near Yukon on February 10 – hours before F-22 shot UFO in SAME area
Ha ha
So … let me get this straight. Hundreds of “Private Companies, Research Agencies, and Hobbyists” are sending large balloons into the airline cruising altitudes!? WTHF!!!??? I sure hope the autopilots … flying my long distance flight … when the crew is sleeping … drive better than your average Tesla Saloon … that the airline autopilot can actually SEE these balloons and take evasive action!! Good Lord! What the Holy Hell!!!
A bird strike brought down Sully’s airliner … what would a giant balloon do to my airliner?
it would not be good. at all.
ingest just a small portion, or cause damage to a pitot or static port, and these fly by wire aircraft are going to have one very bad day…and the passengers, a certain outcome that involves lots of funerals.
this is a point I make in this same thread. I hope you and others will read it to get another opinion.
God Bless America
When I was stationed in England, we had a gentlemen whose job was to fire off a shotgun to chase the flocks of birds from the end of runway as the aircraft took off and landed.
Bird strike and FOD (foreign object damage) were always the 2 major concerns for any flying squadron.
Wait, just yesterday there was a clip of CBS news main news gal saying that US authorities said they had tracked first balloon from its initial launch site “in such and such province in CHINA” so just so you knew they were Not asleep at the switch -But now Joe says… so confusing -and what about the 3 balloons from China during Trump Administration ? So totally confusing – these are their stories and they are sticking to them irregardless ( and btw there is no such word actually ) … Sarcasm
Getting us to re-tune our radar to look for balloons is pretty sneaky… we’re doomed. Thanks democrats, you suck…..
The patients are running the insane asylum.
And that is what our government is right now.
What a jerk.
What a complete laughingstock.
If anyone sees ’99 balloons’ in one location call me fast at 1-415-555-1212!
Nena, please call your office.
And we have 2 more years of this fool.
Thank you, Sundance, for providing the printed dialogue. I wish I could click on the link and watch the lying dogface pony soldier, but I can’t stand to listen to anything he says. It just wouldn’t be good for my health.
Funny not a peep from
private companies, recreation, or research institutions on their missing balloons. That’s downright weird.
Sunnyflower5: See web link, further above, from a reputable aviation magazine, posted by Belle, about an amateur (but skilled, apparently) balloon club. This club claims be to be missing a balloon that matches the description from one of the shoot-downs.
$400,000 stinger missile to shoot down a dangerous Walmart bag.
This stolen presidency is an abomination.
Nothing fills my heart with confidence like POTATUS butchering a script already full of inconsistencies and holes big enough to drive “school buses” through.
Did Kamala write or proof that script? “School buses?”
The balloon answer outsourced?
“The US Military Budget is $817 Billion Dollars”
“A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.”
More at
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/16/the-us-military-budget-is-817-billion-dollars/
Sigh… The enemy isn’t leaving folks, it’s getting worse but everyone just waits for the next election. Neighbors, friends, family… They’ve won, not because they are more powerful, smarter but because everyone continues to sit on their haunches. Well, what am I doing? I can’t act alone, they’ll swat me like a bug and just defame my good name. I see no path to victory, people tell me ‘you have to continue to fight’… I don’t think they understand what words mean anymore.
Love all of you, hope some miracle occurs where these people trip and fall into a treason charge, quick trial and death penalty, I won’t hold my breathe.
Just live your life, sidestep if they throw up obstacles, and otherwise ignore them
Fight when you have to for family or children
Otherwise, you’re not obliged to win arguments with them … disengage
Seek like company and build your life there
Haven’t read the actual filing yet, but these no doubt cherry picked texts are absolutely devastating for FoxNews and us Deplorable by extension.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1626382493480878080.html
hobby group
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/16/mystery-object-balloon-illinois-biden-00083355
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade, in a blog post that was first reported by Aviation Week, says one of its balloons went “missing in action” in the same region the U.S. military shot down one of the three unknown objects.
On Tuesday, the group said one of its balloons was last spotted at 12:48 a.m. on Saturday along an uninhabited island off the coast of Alaska. That tracks with when a U.S. F-22 used a Sidewinder missile to shoot down an object over the Yukon later that same day. Canadian officials have since said the debris will be extremely difficult to retrieve due to the frozen terrain and the remoteness of the site.
So we used a 400,000 dollar missile to shoot down a 12 dollar balloon, not including the cost of fuel for an F-22, etc etc.
Just forget that we’re running low on missiles because we’ve sent them to Ukraine to sell on the black market.
Great, just great.
$80, once you include the ham radio transmitter.
They sent up a 143 Million Dollar F-22 to shoot down an $80 club balloon.
Clown car doesn’t even begin to describe this crew.
I am so proud of Potato in Chief. Our own railroad corporative entity releases what is essentially a bomb in Ohio.
Potato shoots down a balloon.
How can anyone — left or right— prefer and promote this senile mannequin and his handlers over President Trump?
I guess we will all continue to laugh as we gasp our last breath.
… no worries for FJB, he ”auto-elects” himself as presisident… you can only stand there and watch…
… the US Republic was a nice adventure!
Did anyone ever think they may have trying to eliminate the ham radio access.
And we are running low on fuel since Delusional Joe sold off our reserves to pretend the prices had come down and to make his numbers look better.
Is the barometric chamber working? Joey bag of donuts walks out to the podium much straighter and better balanced. He doesn’t appear to be out of breath. He does do some noticeable slurring but overall it’s better than the way he read the State of the Onion address. His afternoon lids, disappearances and obvious medical treatments (deep brain stimulation?) for days are keeping him from complete collapse. How long can this continue? How much money is being spent to keep this biden mutant creature alive?? Who is doing all this and how much of our money is being paid to them?? LOOK OUT!!
I just hope he can hold out long enough to film the up coming sequel to “Deliverence” his banjo playing is essential.
Pimping out We The People to Ukraine and CCP. Words fail me.
The mission was to let Joe Biden look tough on balloons.
The mission is to deflect from what Dr. Jordan Walker revealed, that our leadership are malevolent and quite willing to kill all of us if they can obtain money and power.
Two, they missed with one.
Retro engineered ET technology that military industrial complex can’t wait to strut around in an effort to scare the crap out of everyone.
All that so he could say, “We have $400K missiles and we ain’t afraid to use them, Jack!”
honestly this clown has made the US a laughing stock…
We Canadians are embarrassed at the antics of our imbecile of a P.M. and the other clowns in Ottawa, and greatly appreciate that Biden and his circus performers have outdone us.
That is hard to do…well done!
Cheers!
Thx, Dekester, it’s heartening to hear a voice of reason from our neighbor up there in Canadia
Nimrodman,
There are many of us…whether it be here or the U.S.
It is the system that has been manipulated, and I appreciate President Trump for being the lightening rod to unearth all this sh*t.
yep, I been there coupla times
Niagra Falls at age 12 with family
Three ski trips to Whistler
Will come again, I’ve got a sister with summer cabin in Maine that I haven’t visited yet, will hop across the border for a concert or some car touring in the Maritimes
👍👍
The difference being that Trudope and Krystia still appear to have a brain and are also collaborating with See-See-Pee which is their duty as high paid courtesans of the Klow-sis Scwhuh-waab brigade.
Curious why peder Trudope took his son to the Yukon on so-called governmental business. Oh, perhaps he wanted the junior Turd see how crime works.
Right now things are getting loud before being very quiet in the smoking desolation that was Ukraine. Like Afghanistan, and Europe, everyone is being educated that the U.S. is a death cult. Stay away.
Famine, war, pestilence and death. Biden is invested in all.
Complete lies. How do they not have satellite pictures, know what they are and trace back to when and where they were launched from.
Our government claimed to have U2 spy planes in the air watching the Chinese balloon from its take off and them things can take a picture and zoom in on a pimple from the stratosphere.