I was thinking the exact same thing. Had we shredded that balloon over Montana the righties would've been crowing about how it wouldn't have been shot down had it been sighted over Chicago instead of Red America, that we should have let if drift over the continent so we could gain intelligence on it and then safely shoot it down whenever it floated over a large body of water so we could recover the tech.
тАЬShouldnтАЩt it have been shredded before it even crossed into U.S. airspaceтАЭ
It was in Canadian airspace before it was in U.S. airspace. IтАЩm just as happy American fighter jets didnтАЩt down the balloon over Canadian territory. It could have been messy in several unhappy ways.
Don't we have a mutual defense agreement with the Canadians that would enable us to respond as long as we told them what was going on? Even so, I agree with your point overall.
Well, if it were too dangerous to shoot it down over American territory, it would be equally dangerous to shoot it down over Canadian territory. Not to mention that if anyone were to shoot it down over Canadian territory it would be the Royal Canadian Air Force not Americans.
I must admit it was informative to hear American commentators saying so casually тАЬWe should have shot it down before it entered American air spaceтАЭ without so much as thinking that for Americans to do so without Canadian permission would have been a major international incident. Diplomatically we are friends and neighbours but, please note, Canada is an entirely different country.
And honestly, the only answer 99.9% of the public should be giving is, "no way do I have enough information to make such a call."
So many unknowns (outside of the intelligence community), so many possibilities. What behind the scenes communication between China and the US was there? What signals were we possibly getting? Etc., Etc.
Hell, ask just a simple question: what was the balloon's flight path and where was the optimal spot to down it to ensure recovery? Most of us do not remotely have the information to know. Over water makes some sense, but then again, maybe not.
I'm not for blindly trusting our government, but there are areas where we should all acknowledge that we aren't experts, aren't informed, and really have no idea of what is really going on.
"no way do I have enough information to make such a call."
Really? This is the United States of America. We didn't get to be the America we are today by refraining from judgment until we had sufficient information to make a call.
Their hypocrisy is getting so over-the-top, IтАЩm afraid IтАЩll have an aneurysm just from witnessing this stupid spectacle. The future looks grim, because I see this going only one direction; worse.
I know that I am not the sole person in the USA who saw no need whatsoever to blast away, or even bother with this thing. Saturday Night Live got some laughs out if it, thankfully someone with a sane take.
Blasting it was a good idea. It fell into 40 feet of water, with pieces covering "several football fields." I expect they can recover most of it. It may tell the experts a lot about Chinese cryptography.
It was pretty stupid of them to fly it over the U.S. What did they expect would happen?
Maybe they expected to happen what actually did happen -- stimulate half the American population and most of its government into even greater paroxysms of unreasoning frenzy, with the overall goal being to negate the United States of America, not only as an adversary, but as anything at all.
Those devious yellow devils are pretty clever. They clearly understand us dumb white demons better than we understand ourselves!
If they'd shot the thing down over Montana and it had crushed one cow, Republicans would be calling Biden a murderer.
They already are calling him a murderer and worse. No balloons required.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Had we shredded that balloon over Montana the righties would've been crowing about how it wouldn't have been shot down had it been sighted over Chicago instead of Red America, that we should have let if drift over the continent so we could gain intelligence on it and then safely shoot it down whenever it floated over a large body of water so we could recover the tech.
Bingo. Heads I win, tails you lose.
тАЬShouldnтАЩt it have been shredded before it even crossed into U.S. airspaceтАЭ
It was in Canadian airspace before it was in U.S. airspace. IтАЩm just as happy American fighter jets didnтАЩt down the balloon over Canadian territory. It could have been messy in several unhappy ways.
Actually it was in American airspace before it wasn't in American airspace before it was in American airspace again.
The problem isn't our airspace. It's our airheads.
Don't we have a mutual defense agreement with the Canadians that would enable us to respond as long as we told them what was going on? Even so, I agree with your point overall.
Well, if it were too dangerous to shoot it down over American territory, it would be equally dangerous to shoot it down over Canadian territory. Not to mention that if anyone were to shoot it down over Canadian territory it would be the Royal Canadian Air Force not Americans.
I must admit it was informative to hear American commentators saying so casually тАЬWe should have shot it down before it entered American air spaceтАЭ without so much as thinking that for Americans to do so without Canadian permission would have been a major international incident. Diplomatically we are friends and neighbours but, please note, Canada is an entirely different country.
More like a Moo-durer.
Okay, I'm done.
Please show yourself out.
:)
Reactions to the balloon seem like a Rorschach test. What you see depends on where youтАЩre coming from.
And honestly, the only answer 99.9% of the public should be giving is, "no way do I have enough information to make such a call."
So many unknowns (outside of the intelligence community), so many possibilities. What behind the scenes communication between China and the US was there? What signals were we possibly getting? Etc., Etc.
Hell, ask just a simple question: what was the balloon's flight path and where was the optimal spot to down it to ensure recovery? Most of us do not remotely have the information to know. Over water makes some sense, but then again, maybe not.
I'm not for blindly trusting our government, but there are areas where we should all acknowledge that we aren't experts, aren't informed, and really have no idea of what is really going on.
"no way do I have enough information to make such a call."
Really? This is the United States of America. We didn't get to be the America we are today by refraining from judgment until we had sufficient information to make a call.
Yeah, Churchill said something about that.
Especially if it had been Devin Nunes' cow.... Just saying.
MoosesMom, ЁЯШВЁЯдг
Nice. That brings the DEEP STATE into it.
Their hypocrisy is getting so over-the-top, IтАЩm afraid IтАЩll have an aneurysm just from witnessing this stupid spectacle. The future looks grim, because I see this going only one direction; worse.
Don't think of it as hypocrisy. Think of it as alternative sincerity.
I know that I am not the sole person in the USA who saw no need whatsoever to blast away, or even bother with this thing. Saturday Night Live got some laughs out if it, thankfully someone with a sane take.
Blasting it was a good idea. It fell into 40 feet of water, with pieces covering "several football fields." I expect they can recover most of it. It may tell the experts a lot about Chinese cryptography.
It was pretty stupid of them to fly it over the U.S. What did they expect would happen?
Maybe they expected to happen what actually did happen -- stimulate half the American population and most of its government into even greater paroxysms of unreasoning frenzy, with the overall goal being to negate the United States of America, not only as an adversary, but as anything at all.
Those devious yellow devils are pretty clever. They clearly understand us dumb white demons better than we understand ourselves!