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(The Daily Beast)   Demonstrating how ironclad border security was during TFG's administration, an earlier Chinese spy balloon drifted over Maga Lardo in 2019   (thedailybeast.com) divider line
106
    More: Florida, Surveillance, Military intelligence, China, Air force, Chinese spy balloon, Military, Chinese government, Donald Trump  
•       •       •

1807 clicks; posted to Politics » on 07 Feb 2023 at 6:20 PM (6 weeks ago)   |   Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook



106 Comments     (+0 »)
View Voting Results: Smartest and Funniest


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beezeltown [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 3:00:29 PM  
This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.
 
Lsherm [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 3:32:00 PM  

beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.


I'm curious as to what changed, since the military has already admitted it flat out missed the previous three balloons. It's not like we just recently invented telescopic lenses, and the Chinese balloons are apparently 4.5 times the size of a typical weather balloon.

Yeah, the sky is a big place, but this seems like something we should be able to catch. The only plus side is that even the big balloons can't carry a very large payload.
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 4:08:37 PM  
God I'm sick of this shiat. All Fox News has been droning about is how if Trump were President he would have shot down this balloon before it even reached US soil and it turns out it happened three times when he was President and he and his children were making money off of China and he was paying China tax money while not paying a dime to his own country.
 
Lsherm [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 5:17:01 PM  

beezeltown: I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.


Last I read about it (on the toilet at work this morning) the F22 is capable of getting high enough to fire a missile, but since those balloons are essentially made of Glad sandwich bags and are FARKING HUGE a missile might just punch through one instead of detonating. And as we all know, tiny holes in huge balloons only count in condoms.

The other problem is that the pressure differential at that altitude to keep a balloon aloft is extremely low, in ounces/in^2, so even if you manage to hit it with 10,000 bullets, it's going to a week or longer for it to lose enough gas to drop, and it's going to drop uncontrollably into someone's rush hour, probably. It won't pop like a regular balloon. It's going to deflate like a satisfied guy after a night of hard drinking.
 
Jake Havechek [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 6:04:37 PM  
But Ivanka created 3 million jobs!  In China.
 
Eddie Barzoom
2023-02-07 6:29:14 PM  

beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Jack Sabbath
2023-02-07 6:29:39 PM  
Launch our own balloons that have claws!
 
WordsnCollision [OhFark]
2023-02-07 6:29:42 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
olorin604
2023-02-07 6:29:43 PM  

Lsherm: beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.

I'm curious as to what changed, since the military has already admitted it flat out missed the previous three balloons. It's not like we just recently invented telescopic lenses, and the Chinese balloons are apparently 4.5 times the size of a typical weather balloon.

Yeah, the sky is a big place, but this seems like something we should be able to catch. The only plus side is that even the big balloons can't carry a very large payload.


U.S. officials said Monday that improvements ordered by President Joe Biden to strengthen defenses against Chinese espionage helped to identify last week's spy balloon - and to determine that similar flights were conducted at multiple points during the Trump administration.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/white-house-improved-surveillance-caught-chinese-balloon/4088980/%3famp=1


I'm not even going to try to guess how much of this is political spin and how much is reality.
 
nullptr
2023-02-07 6:30:19 PM  

Lsherm: beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.

I'm curious as to what changed, since the military has already admitted it flat out missed the previous three balloons. It's not like we just recently invented telescopic lenses, and the Chinese balloons are apparently 4.5 times the size of a typical weather balloon.

Yeah, the sky is a big place, but this seems like something we should be able to catch. The only plus side is that even the big balloons can't carry a very large payload.


I wonder if space based radars could see them? SAR satellites can see ships in the ocean and whatnot after all.
 
flypusher713
2023-02-07 6:30:21 PM  

Mugato: God I'm sick of this shiat. All Fox News has been droning about is how if Trump were President he would have shot down this balloon before it even reached US soil and it turns out it happened three times when he was President and he and his children were making money off of China and he was paying China tax money while not paying a dime to his own country.


Mental health tip: don't listen to Fox "News".

Seriously, any Farker could write their scripts.  They're so damn predictable in their butthurt caterwauling.
 
ceejayoz [OhFark]
2023-02-07 6:32:26 PM  

Lsherm: since those balloons are essentially made of Glad sandwich bags and are FARKING HUGE a missile might just punch through one instead of detonating


No. The AIM-9 Sidewinder they used has a laser fuze for proximity detection. It has a ring of lasers on the missile. In flight, they shoot outwards in all directions. When light bounces back, they go ka-boom. Balloon will (and did) set that off just fine, unless it's coated with Vantablack or something.
 
Karma Chameleon
2023-02-07 6:32:55 PM  
let me guess president biden did nothing about the balloon in 2019 either
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 6:33:53 PM  

flypusher713: Mugato: God I'm sick of this shiat. All Fox News has been droning about is how if Trump were President he would have shot down this balloon before it even reached US soil and it turns out it happened three times when he was President and he and his children were making money off of China and he was paying China tax money while not paying a dime to his own country.

Mental health tip: don't listen to Fox "News".

Seriously, any Farker could write their scripts.  They're so damn predictable in their butthurt caterwauling.


Well as I said before, I don't actually watch Fox News. Everything I relayed were from clips from late night talk shows. But it is useful to know what the biggest propaganda "news" site is saying.
 
JDAT [OhFark]
2023-02-07 6:35:39 PM  
Funny how nothing about this made it into the news back in 2019.
 
flypusher713
2023-02-07 6:36:00 PM  

Mugato: flypusher713: Mugato: God I'm sick of this shiat. All Fox News has been droning about is how if Trump were President he would have shot down this balloon before it even reached US soil and it turns out it happened three times when he was President and he and his children were making money off of China and he was paying China tax money while not paying a dime to his own country.

Mental health tip: don't listen to Fox "News".

Seriously, any Farker could write their scripts.  They're so damn predictable in their butthurt caterwauling.

Well as I said before, I don't actually watch Fox News. Everything I relayed were from clips from late night talk shows. But it is useful to know what the biggest propaganda "news" site is saying.


Smart.  2nd or 3rd hand exposure gives the brain cells a fighting chance.

/but I've set a limit on even that
 
covfefe [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 6:36:41 PM  
Is there some law against China floating balloons across the ocean? Is it our law or theirs?
 
schnee [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 6:37:16 PM  
I like the line of thought that the US' new "openness" in UFO info (circa 2017) has paid off in better balloon detectors.

Also, plucking a 200 foot balloon dangling an airline-sized payload out of the sky at 60,000 feet seems hard. We'll be shooting these down for awhile before capturing them.
 
ukexpat
2023-02-07 6:41:00 PM  
And of course let's not forget the Chinese agent who actually spent time hanging out at Mar-a-Lardo...
 
Vermithrax Perjorative
2023-02-07 6:41:17 PM  

beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.


It seems like directed energy (lasers and such) would be ideal for this mission. You could both fark with and fark up a balloon target with the right wavelengths.
 
Shamwow
2023-02-07 6:41:26 PM  

JDAT: Funny how nothing about this made it into the news back in 2019.


Glad you noticed the deep state covered it up to protect republicans. Keep it up and you can help America recover from the Trump administration incompetence.
 
Jake Havechek [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 6:43:40 PM  

JDAT: Funny how nothing about this made it into the news back in 2019.


Yeah.  Probably because Trump would flip out and make some angry phone calls and try to talk the military into launching a few ICBMs at Beijing.
 
jso2897
2023-02-07 6:44:07 PM  
If America really wanted a country with secure, defensible borders that we could keep people out of, shouldn't we have picked a slightly differently situated piece of real estate to put in on?
Thousands and thousands of miles of wilderness and coastline - wouldn't be my choice if I was the sort to poop his pantaloons about immigrants.
 
Perpleman
2023-02-07 6:44:11 PM  
Maga Lardhole
 
jso2897
2023-02-07 6:46:28 PM  

JDAT: Funny how nothing about this made it into the news back in 2019.


The Liberal Media was suppressing it so Trump couldn't own the libs even more.
They always conspire against that great man.
 
palelizard
2023-02-07 6:48:09 PM  

Lsherm: beezeltown: I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.

Last I read about it (on the toilet at work this morning) the F22 is capable of getting high enough to fire a missile, but since those balloons are essentially made of Glad sandwich bags and are FARKING HUGE a missile might just punch through one instead of detonating. And as we all know, tiny holes in huge balloons only count in condoms.

The other problem is that the pressure differential at that altitude to keep a balloon aloft is extremely low, in ounces/in^2, so even if you manage to hit it with 10,000 bullets, it's going to a week or longer for it to lose enough gas to drop, and it's going to drop uncontrollably into someone's rush hour, probably. It won't pop like a regular balloon. It's going to deflate like a satisfied guy after a night of hard drinking.


Well, I saw the Batplane do it back in 1989, so we should be able to do it now.
 
iheartscotch
2023-02-07 6:49:12 PM  
I prefer Moron Largo because we shouldn't necessarily shame someone for their weight because it could be a legitimate health issue that they have no control over.

/ in Donny's case....his health issue is too many burders
 
dailygrinds
2023-02-07 6:49:37 PM  

covfefe: Is there some law against China floating balloons across the ocean? Is it our law or theirs?


Chinese Spy Balloon: Legal To Shoot Down?
Youtube P43wVDiZs8k
 
Meatsim1
2023-02-07 6:51:07 PM  

Lsherm: beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.

I'm curious as to what changed, since the military has already admitted it flat out missed the previous three balloons. It's not like we just recently invented telescopic lenses, and the Chinese balloons are apparently 4.5 times the size of a typical weather balloon.

Yeah, the sky is a big place, but this seems like something we should be able to catch. The only plus side is that even the big balloons can't carry a very large payload.


You have to be looking to notice. Radar operators are looking for missiles and bombers not balloons.

At least I assume that's why I don't actually know what I'm talking about
 
Jake Havechek [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 6:51:43 PM  

palelizard: Well, I saw the Batplane do it back in 1989, so we should be able to do it now.


Fark user imageView Full Size

The Joker shot it down though.
 
DrD'isInfotainment [OhFark]
2023-02-07 6:53:40 PM  
So some of the Trump era balloons hovered over one spot for months,  hmmm?
I wonder where that would be? m thinking Trump on burner phones by the pool.
 
fruit flies like a banana [recently expired TotalFark]
2023-02-07 6:53:41 PM  

Hinged: From the link:  This shows that the U.S. military had knowledge of China's balloons before February's incident, CNN reported. The Chinese government has released multiple HABs, or high-altitude balloons, operating from "65,000ft - 328,000 ft and for months at a time," the report said. The military previously conceded that it missed three spy balloons during Trump's presidency.


1)  328,000 feet???

2)  If the military missed them, how do they know they were there at all, or there weren't many more?


They recorded them on radar at the time, but dismissed it as birds or whatever. Then when they discovered this one, and learned what its radar signature looked like, they were able to compare it to previous radar recordings, and realized that this was not the first one.

//Wild ass guess
 
Dr. Bison
2023-02-07 6:55:32 PM  
*operates at high altitude*
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
gopher321 [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-02-07 6:56:06 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
REO-Weedwagon
2023-02-07 6:56:23 PM  
OMG what if the spy balloon snapped photos of Melania Trump topless?!

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
Claude Ballse
2023-02-07 6:58:00 PM  

Mugato: God I'm sick of this shiat. All Fox News has been droning about is how if Trump were President he would have shot down this balloon before it even reached US soil and it turns out it happened three times when he was President and he and his children were making money off of China and he was paying China tax money while not paying a dime to his own country.


No trolling in my forthcoming response at all. I've not quarrel with you, and I'm just going to give you some friendly advice.

Stop watching Fox News.

I have to be honest with you, Fox News (let alone even CNN at times) just makes everyone who watches it angry. It's like a real life horror movie plot.

We dumped cable TV at home and just went with an antenna for local stations and supplemented that with streaming services. And as a result everyone in our house is calmer.

At my work in the employee dining room, we had a back room with 2 TVs that were always set to Fox News. Aside from feeling all of the tension in the room because everyone was so angry, it tended to also self-segregate as well. Orders came down from on high that Fox News, CNN, & CNBC (business news stations were acceptable) were to all be removed from channel line ups in the dining room. Within a month's time everyone relaxed, enjoyed their breaks more, and the room reintegrated.

I know that Fox News is purposefully antagonistic, because that is how they make their money to keep people watching. But the kind of frustration it spurs by antagonizing viewers isn't worth it.

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
John the Magnificent
2023-02-07 6:58:38 PM  

beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.


The military is working on it. Here is a shot of the promising prototype.

4.bp.blogspot.comView Full Size
 
Claude Ballse
2023-02-07 6:59:07 PM  

REO-Weedwagon: OMG what if the spy balloon snapped photos of Melania Trump topless?!

[Fark user image 328x351]


Fark user imageView Full Size
 
fat boy
2023-02-07 7:00:50 PM  
https://twitter.com/RepMTG/status/1623061882746679296?s=20

Stay classy, Sporkfoot
 
Lsherm [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 7:01:02 PM  

ceejayoz: Lsherm: since those balloons are essentially made of Glad sandwich bags and are FARKING HUGE a missile might just punch through one instead of detonating

No. The AIM-9 Sidewinder they used has a laser fuze for proximity detection. It has a ring of lasers on the missile. In flight, they shoot outwards in all directions. When light bounces back, they go ka-boom. Balloon will (and did) set that off just fine, unless it's coated with Vantablack or something.


Why do you know what missile they used?
 
flappy_penguin [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 7:01:07 PM  

Vermithrax Perjorative: beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.

It seems like directed energy (lasers and such) would be ideal for this mission. You could both fark with and fark up a balloon target with the right wavelengths.


I saw mention of the balloon being disabled by DoD when it was discoverd over the US. I bet they lasered the shiat out of any optical sensors on it
 
Qwurky1
2023-02-07 7:01:54 PM  

Lsherm: beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.

I'm curious as to what changed, since the military has already admitted it flat out missed the previous three balloons. It's not like we just recently invented telescopic lenses, and the Chinese balloons are apparently 4.5 times the size of a typical weather balloon.

Yeah, the sky is a big place, but this seems like something we should be able to catch. The only plus side is that even the big balloons can't carry a very large payload.


They hired this guy to keep a lookout

Fark user imageView Full Size
 
UberNeuman
2023-02-07 7:02:12 PM  
Fark user imageView Full Size
 
ZMugg [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 7:02:18 PM  

fruit flies like a banana: Hinged: From the link:  This shows that the U.S. military had knowledge of China's balloons before February's incident, CNN reported. The Chinese government has released multiple HABs, or high-altitude balloons, operating from "65,000ft - 328,000 ft and for months at a time," the report said. The military previously conceded that it missed three spy balloons during Trump's presidency.


1)  328,000 feet???

2)  If the military missed them, how do they know they were there at all, or there weren't many more?

They recorded them on radar at the time, but dismissed it as birds or whatever. Then when they discovered this one, and learned what its radar signature looked like, they were able to compare it to previous radar recordings, and realized that this was not the first one.

//Wild ass guess


media.tenor.comView Full Size
 
Bootleg [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-02-07 7:02:55 PM  

Hinged: From the link:  This shows that the U.S. military had knowledge of China's balloons before February's incident, CNN reported. The Chinese government has released multiple HABs, or high-altitude balloons, operating from "65,000ft - 328,000 ft and for months at a time," the report said. The military previously conceded that it missed three spy balloons during Trump's presidency.


1)  328,000 feet???

2)  If the military missed them, how do they know they were there at all, or there weren't many more?


1) Between 65K and 328K feet, yes. As someone who regularly operates in the 0-350K ft altitude range, it checks out.

2) The surest way would be having spies in the Chinese government checking their files. Alternatively, signal intercepts by groups other than the military (NSA, for example) or from other five-eyes giving us a heads up.

/I'm usually closer to the 0 end of that range, though.
 
AmbassadorBooze
2023-02-07 7:02:59 PM  
The trump borders were insecure.  That is objectively bad.  Because we all know everything trump does is bad.  He is a butt baby from 99 Hitler clones raping the 100th Hitler clone until enough Nazi homunculi sperm fused together and became a butt baby the 100th Hitler clone carried to term is his butt and then shiat out.

We should lock the farking borders down.  No balloons!  And we need the military to capture and search everybody coming across the borders for balloons.  Even inside them.  Anybody smuggling in balloons and not declaring them should be instantly gitmoed.  You never know where the people experiencing Chinese nationality might hide a balloon.  They might even pay people experiencing other nationalities to snuggle balloons inside themselves.  Even people experiencing French nationality.

No exceptions.  Total militarization of all borders.  Anything bigger than an African swallow better have clearance to be in the air.  Shoot EVERTHING down that isn't given specific and individual permission by the US government.

We MUST stop all balloons!  And we need to achieve balloon Superiority over all nations.
 
Lsherm [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 7:05:49 PM  

nullptr: Lsherm: beezeltown: This is not surprising.

What is surprising, to me at least, is that we haven't developed a system that can intercept and capture such balloons. This has been going on for a while, now. I know it's hard to operate at 60,000+ feet, but there has to be some way to intercept such a device that doesn't involve a debris trail stretching for several miles.

I'm curious as to what changed, since the military has already admitted it flat out missed the previous three balloons. It's not like we just recently invented telescopic lenses, and the Chinese balloons are apparently 4.5 times the size of a typical weather balloon.

Yeah, the sky is a big place, but this seems like something we should be able to catch. The only plus side is that even the big balloons can't carry a very large payload.

I wonder if space based radars could see them? SAR satellites can see ships in the ocean and whatnot after all.


That's how they found them after the fact.
 
DrD'isInfotainment [OhFark]
2023-02-07 7:07:07 PM  

Jake Havechek: But Ivanka created 3 million jobs!  In China.


And lot of them were career vehicles for young female " entrepreneurs" apparently
 
Mugato [TotalFark]
2023-02-07 7:09:36 PM  

Claude Ballse: Stop watching Fox News.


I already said several times, I don't watch Fox News. I don't even know where it is on my menu.
 
Snuffybud [TotalFark] [OhFark]
2023-02-07 7:10:26 PM  

Lsherm: ceejayoz: Lsherm: since those balloons are essentially made of Glad sandwich bags and are FARKING HUGE a missile might just punch through one instead of detonating

No. The AIM-9 Sidewinder they used has a laser fuze for proximity detection. It has a ring of lasers on the missile. In flight, they shoot outwards in all directions. When light bounces back, they go ka-boom. Balloon will (and did) set that off just fine, unless it's coated with Vantablack or something.

Why do you know what missile they used?


It was in the news reports, the Air Force said that was the missile they used.
 
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