66 Comments

It seems to me it can be very appropriate for our government to withhold information while it evaluates details/circumstances/implications of something…particularly if it sees big national interests in play.

That may well be the case here; and we may have cause for much concern.

But I’m utterly unpersuaded by those who are stamping their feet, demanding “all” info now, and, in some cases, trying to politicize a potentially very sensitive issue.

I give our administration credit for good faith and competence as it figures this out.

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I did not advocate that they release everything they know right now. I simply pointed out that they doubtlessly know more than they have said. Read my last Graf again. I said it will certainly be interesting when they tell us what they know. And I want to see some damn close up photos.

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Lucian, I appreciate how you helpfully explain the various aeronautical terms, aircraft and maneuvers in ways I can more easily understand, such as passive detection systems and others. I can imagine that if you were talking solely to someone like TC, you would not feel compelled to add the explanations. So...good on you.

Andrea

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Let’s be grateful that this is happening during the Biden administration and not under the lunatic tenure of TFG. If the WH is being quiet, there’s likely a good reason for it, such as if we let the American public know what we know, we also let the entity that send these know what we know. Sometimes discretion is indeed the better part of valor. And what has, or has not, happened to the second balloon that was heading to South America? Are we so jingoistic that we care only about our own airspace (and a sliver of Canada’s)?

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No self-respecting alien would choose this fucked-up planet.

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Unless their home planet was even worse off . . .

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Boy, you’re good! I just listened to Michael Moore’s podcast about this event. These events, I should say. Between his documentary filmmaker perspective and your super knowledgeable military observer I am more interested than ever in what’s going on over the skies of North America. Currently “down under” where coverage is slim, and we can’t get away from Super Bowl party gatherings. You’re a life raft. Thank you.

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Michael Moore had reason to be concerned since he heard and felt the sonic boom as the jet flew over us north of Traverse City, Michigan, enroute to down the OUFOWSHFI (octogonal unidentified flying object with strings hanging from it).

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Please, oh please, let it be actual UFOs from outer space. It would be such a relief.

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It occurs to me, that we must have prop aircraft that can handle that altitude.

‘The Orion comes to mind and it’s ancient.

Would it not be more prudent, to drop a ‘skyhook and snag the thing intact; rather than this carnival balloon shoot at $500k a pop?

This would be better spent on Ukraine.

‘And we could save a couple of million on the absurd cost of “recovery.

‘Jus sayin’

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Someone wrote back in the fifties or sixties that the quickest way to unify all countries would be to discover aliens invading the planet.

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Agree 100% Lucian. Everything far far too vague. And you don’t “lose” objects the size of VWs unless they want to disappear. Variety of objects is fascinating. I’m presuming this has zero to do with balloon. We just started looking seriously or the present context requires letting some info out. I imagine amateur astronomers are searching the skies As I said earlier--interesting few weeks -- or more!

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I just tweeted about this. We need to bring the airships down safely. I imagine they are sending data back “home” about atmospheric conditions, viability of life for them here. There’s a DeSantis joke buried here, but I’m quasi-serious: maybe they have computer equipment so advanced (or primitive) that we could study. Then again, I may be stuck in 1958😀

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“Well, I saw the thing acomin’ outta the sky/It had a one long horn and a one big eye/I commenced to shakin and I said “Ooowee/It looks like a purple people eater to me!”

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Shee-rah! You know what made that song work? There is a ringer in the studio band, saxophonist Plas Johnson, who did a lot of jazz and r&b sessions back then. That's why the music from the critter's horn in his head sounded so convincing.

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Wow! Thanks for the info.

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"Hey look up. It's a bird. No, an airplane. No, it's Namrepus." Pentagon spox.

/snark. for those of us a certain age 'namrepus' is superman spelled backwards.

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As someone who has read and delighted in science fiction since I was a young boy (Heinlein, Asimov, Bradbury, Clarke, Niven, and on and on), I sincerely hope we don't shoot first and ask questions later. A true alien object would rock the world and be worth its weight in diamonds.

My guess is it's a foreign government just probing our surveillance and interception abilities.

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I'd bet my last dollar that these are not alien UFOs, because as far as I know they have never been shot down and certainly are not just there like sitting ducks. They could shoot our planes down, if they chose and are very maneuverable and can speed away at unbelievable speeds. The point I was making in my earlier post is that the Pentagon is excellent at keeping things secret if it desires.

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The appearance of these UFO/UAPs, how they are being dispatched/destroyed, and the explanations we're being given are increasingly disconcerting.

One question I've not heard discussed is why hasn't Canada shot them down while they're in Canadian airspace? Don't they have the technology or are they hesitant to ruffle China's feathers and are happy to let US take the heat?

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Canada and the U.S. jointly run NORAD, which oversaw the aerial defense response we've seen these past few days. As I understand it, both U.S. and Canadian fighter-jets scrambled on Saturday to intercept the "object" over the Yukon. A U.S. F-22 got the shoot-down order.

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Thanks

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Maybe Canada is giving the US a chance to observe it, like we're on the same page?

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Good question.

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I bet it is really the monolith found on the moon by Dr. Floyd or the Cetacean Probe looking for whales...

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Heard a comment by Seymour Hersh today that one was a weather balloon sent up by University of Alaska to do the monitoring over the arctic for aircraft that fly the polar route. Something the UA does regularly.

This entire episode stinks to high Heaven

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