Balloon Wars 2023!!!

[pnwoutdoors]

We showed that when Japan bombed the, wait for it, the, the, the, Phillippines. They occupied our soil for 3 years, costing 500,000+ lives, and we did nothing.

"Our" soil's a bit of a stretch, but good point.

To be real about it, those were "the little people" (those in protectorates, grabbed or conquered territories, those subjected to treaty-arranged control, etc). Indeed, the U.S., like most other similar-thinking imperialist nations, has a fairly ugly record when it comes to such people and their lands. Aside from the U.S.'s WWII handling of Europe's remaining, non-commie-controlled nations, there aren't many bright spots along those lines.

China and Russia are going to present a severe issue for the world over the coming couple of decades, I suspect. If they keep pushing, at some point the world's nations will be obliged to say "no" in as forceful terms as required.

 

[Stress_Test]

What does any of that have to do with balloon wars?

Meh, anything posted to the Internet that is even remotely political is going to start a dumpster fire in today's world.

Unfortunately everything is political now. What you eat and drink. What you wear. What you don't wear. Where you work. What your hobbies are. What you drive. Where you live. If you have kids or don't have kids.

It's like an Apple vs. PC mindset that spilled over into every other aspect of life.

Me, I'm voting for the Giant Meteor in the next election!!

 

[chillinn]

but good point.

This won't be popular, and I don't really care, but it is also massively hypocritical and a tu quoque argument, as we exterminated generations of entire peoples, and not just for three years, more like 3 centuries. Not to mention, you know, an entirely separate 250 years or so of enslaving other peoples. And claiming the concept of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine as uniquely ours is also somewhat hypocritical. So let they without sin cast the first boulder.

 

[idleprocess]

Me, I'm voting for the Giant Meteor in the next election!!

I have very nearly procured that yard sign in both recent Presidential elections.

 

[bykfixer]

This won't be popular, and I don't really care, but it is also massively hypocritical and a tu quoque argument, as we exterminated generations of entire peoples, and not just for three years, more like 3 centuries. Not to mention, you know, an entirely separate 250 years or so of enslaving other peoples. And claiming the concept of Manifest Destiny and the Monroe Doctrine as uniquely ours is also somewhat hypocritical. So let they without sin cast the first boulder.

The indoctrination is strong with this one 🫣

 

[chillinn]

The indoctrination is strong with this one 🫣

Denial is powerful thing. It makes you us believe lies and ignore history.

 

[bykfixer]

^^ Yet another brilliant post....

 

[chillinn]

^^ Yet another brilliant post....

I do appreciate you finally ignoring me and speaking to my argument.

 

[KITROBASKIN]

Is this what social media looks like?
I will try not to insult others. Instead I will try to contribute information that other viewers will find of value, not cringe at the polarizing pronouncements. We lose valuable members on candlepowerforums when they get so turned off at insulting each other and the public figures.

Does the CPF underground still exist? Don't they have balloon chatter there?

Didn't some USA govt. rep say these other objects are not necessarily balloons?

Are we so enamored with spouting our beliefs that we can't help ourselves?

 

[bykfixer]

Doh! 🙈

 

[Duster1671]

Are the spy balloons what they mean when they talk about the increased rate of inflation?

 

[idleprocess]

Does the CPF underground still exist?

Yes. It's not a very busy place these days.

Don't they have balloon chatter there?

Confirmation - up or down - would violate the implicit check valve rule that's in place.

 

[chillinn]

Are the spy balloons what they mean when they talk about the increased rate of inflation?

Funny, but while most will point at Russia, if I try to tell you the real reason for the recent inflation, bykfixer will get annoyed at me. But what the heck, he'll get over it. The primary cause of the increase in consumer and producer prices was due to the dramatic explosion of money and credit which took place during last administration, not only in response to the pandemic, but in the years leading up to it. But the War in Ukraine isn't helping. And this is true for every price increase except for eggs. Don't just wonder. Know.

 

[knucklegary]

Are the spy balloons what they mean when they talk about the increased rate of inflation?

Agreed, it's all just a lot of hot air!

 

[PhotonWrangler]

Ah, the inevitable loaded question. I don't believe you'd seriously debate the relevancy of a response to your comment, which makes mine topically relevant even if yours was not. As much as you're desperate to distance yourself, we're in it together.



Someone seemed to have doubted this above, but I'm not sure why.

I heard an interview with a retired Air Force official who said something interesting. He indicated that their radar systems have traditionally operated with their outputs being filtered to weed out the small, slow moving stuff in order to reduce background noise. After the original Chinese balloon incident, they've been lifting those filters to see what else is in the air besides planes and other large objects. This could account for the sudden "discovery" of these smaller objects, which could be civilian or indistrial telemetry balloons that have been there all the time. This doesn't sound as enticing as some of the other theories but it seems plausible to me.

 

[chillinn]

I heard an interview with a retired Air Force official who said something interesting. He indicated that their radar systems have traditionally operated with their outputs being filtered to weed out the small, slow moving stuff in order to reduce background noise. After the original Chinese balloon incident, they've been lifting those filters to see what else is in the air besides planes and other large objects. This could account for the sudden "discovery" of these smaller objects, which could be civilian or indistrial telemetry balloons that have been there all the time. This doesn't sound as enticing as some of the other theories but it seems plausible to me.

That coincides pretty much exactly with the recent tweets of the author of the 2021 article I mentioned, which I don't recommend because it is a time suck of the author hammering and hammering his point home again and again, but from the first few paragraphs, anyone can smell what the Rock was cooking.

For completeness, and I think some of you guys will appreciate, his twitter. I recommend scrolling down at least half way, maybe further, before consuming. And idk this guy, can't agree or disagree, but he seems to know stuff.

Long article from 2021 in The Drive gives deep paranoid perspective:
Adversary Drones Are Spying On The U.S. And The Pentagon Acts Like They're UFOs

Author of the article speculated in recent tweets that we'll see more of these UAPs because of filters being relaxed on radars as the DoD begins to take "UFO's" more seriously, which is going to increase false positives massively, not the least reason for which, between 900 and 1,300 locations around the globe do routine balloon releases, two or four times daily.

 

[PhotonWrangler]

That coincides pretty much exactly with the recent tweets of the author of the 2021 article I mentioned, which I don't recommend because it is a time suck of the author hammering and hammering his point home again and again, but from the first few paragraphs, anyone can smell what the Rock was cooking.

For completeness, and I think some of you guys will appreciate, his twitter. I recommend scrolling down at least half way, maybe further, before consuming. And idk this guy, can't agree or disagree, but he seems to know stuff.

There's growing speculation that the recent events might have involved benign, private scientific balloons.

 

[Stress_Test]

There's growing speculation that the recent events might have involved benign, private scientific balloons.

Man, anybody who had a balloon up there should've 'fessed up once the missiles started flying if they didn't want to lose their research payload!

 

[chillinn]

They should bill them for the cost of the missiles, jet fuel, etc.

 

[idleprocess]

Man, anybody who had a balloon up there should've 'fessed up once the missiles started flying if they didn't want to lose their research payload!

Get the impression the balloons that got popped after the South Carolina downing long exceeded the mission endurance of their payloads and had been written off.