The US Military Budget is $817 Billion Dollars

So hostile Bottlecap Balloon Brigade actors had better not step out of line.

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.

The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.

But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.

There are suspicions among other prominent members of the small, pico-ballooning enthusiasts’ community, which combines ham radio and high-altitude ballooning into a single, relatively affordable hobby.

“I tried contacting our military and the FBI—and just got the runaround—to try to enlighten them on what a lot of these things probably are. And they’re going to look not too intelligent to be shooting them down,” says Ron Meadows, the founder of Scientific Balloon Solutions (SBS), a Silicon Valley company that makes purpose-built pico balloons for hobbyists, educators and scientists.

28 Replies to “The US Military Budget is $817 Billion Dollars”

  1. Clearly the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB) are domestic terrorists.

  2. I know we-mere mortals can’t handle the truth but the truth is this:

    – Xiden & co got caught by surprise by one Montana guy who dared to look up in the sky and see some balloon…
    – …which was Chinese. Well, since Xiden is in their pocket, he had to shot it down only waay later
    – To give the impression to us-proles that they care + they know what they’re doing, Xiden&co went Yosemite Sam – every next flying object has been shot down
    – Now we’re at the point where dust has settled and everyone can see the fiasco.

    But no pb, nothing will happen to this administration.

  3. So this is the deadly threat that sockboy sprained his shoulder patting himself on the back for having begged the US to shoot it down?

    Clown. World.

  4. I have been wondering…after the initial balloon, and we were supposedly on some sort of high alert….how could subsequent balloons from China make it to the Yukon (via Alaska), Havre Montana, and especially Lake Huron without being previously detected?
    Unless, of course, they were launched from within the US.
    A friend had suggested that they were just party or recreational balloons, but I thought, “Naw….the military could not be THAT incompetent.”
    So the theories – launched by the US gov’t in order to stoke fear and frenzy in preparation for war? Or lockdowns? To justify internet censorship? To divert attention from the many scandals in the Biden admin?
    Because….surely the military could not be THAT incompetent.
    Sorry….I’ll stop calling you Shirley.

    1. ft
      The USA intel agencies watch that Chinese spy balloon lift off in southern china, more than a week before it arrived over the USA

  5. It’s all a scheme by military industrial complex.
    The retired colonel told Carlson that one missile is about $400K.
    They used $400K missile to shoot down a cardboard box in Alaska/Yukon.
    For the industrious missile maker, it’s easy money.

    The Calgary media refer to the intelligence gathering balloon from Chinese communists as “it is thought to be from China”.
    Well, no shit.
    How stupid can they get?

    1. If the budget is 800 billion, what’s a couple million in missles?

      How many sidewinders have they made in the last 50 years?

      The things probably expire after a few years anyway.

  6. The conventional wisdom is that the initial balloon was at high altitude looking down across the continental US gleaning information. I think it more likely that the balloon was collecting information from above, instead. Hundreds of geosynchronous satellites, so little time.

  7. Here’s what Intelligent Joe had to say about the first balloon today: “I hope we are going to get to the bottom of this”. Odd choice of words after all this time, and strange that he missed an opportunity to dispute the Chinese claim that they gave the US advance warning about what was headed their way. Strangest of all, the obedient media isn’t talking to the experts who could tell them that such balloons are useless for spying in the winter months, especially at an altitude of 60,000’ instead of 125,000’.

  8. Hahahahaha (deep breath) hahahahahaha OMFG really? Really?! The Bottle Cap Balloon Brigade?! The Balloon Brigade is responsible for this? These Bottle Cap guys need a 3am visit from some full body armoured FIBs, that’ll teach em to, um well, I’m not sure what that’ll teach em but it’s frikkin hilarious

  9. $800 billion for sex change operations and pride flags. The rest for writing surrender documents in advance of any war with China, Russia or Nicaragua.

  10. There were stories in the media that the balloons shot down were the size of a bus, or even the Statue of Liberty. That’s a big mylar party balloon. It would carry an awful lot of ham radio equipment.
    Can anyone explain this?

    1. Yep. Explanation is as follows:

      A) Montana balloon story was a lie. Or,
      B) Montana story was true, but they lied about how big it was. Or,
      C) They lied about the shoot-down. Or,
      D) They lied about the other shoot-downs.
      E) All of it was a lie from start to finish, including this story.
      F) Something else we don’t know about.
      G) All of it was true-ish, but reported by IDIOTS who dumbed it down further for an audience of five year olds.

      Helpful? ~:D

  11. Sure.
    That’s just the cover story that Big Balloon is pushing.
    You’re all in the pay of Big Balloon.

    Bunch of Balloon Deniers.

  12. A “satellite” malfunctioned, which threatened to expose the fiction of “space”. As a result, the Chinese spy balloon was the best BS the scum who rule us could come up with.

    And the plan was always to shoot it down over deep water so that no citizen would be able to investigate what landed.

    The rest is spin.

    And sadly, it’s working.

  13. Joe referred to Lake Huron as “the mid-west” so we know he’s good at geography.

  14. 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?

  15. Wasn’t Glorious Leader up there in the Yukon after the big shoot-down for photo ops? If it becomes widely known that they shot down a hobbyist balloon, he’ll be out of there pretty fast, no more Dr Balloon-bro fantasies for the chyxvoters, another route to the re-erection will need to be found.

    Maybe he was Peking too early.

  16. 1967 British Television program called “The Prisoner” used a balloon called “Rover” to keep everyone from escaping.

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