A can of worms gets bigger and messier

Two stories from the Associated Press:

Supreme Court expands gun rights, with nation divided

Turmoil in courts on gun laws in wake of justices’ ruling

It might not be long before the balloons can shoot back.

Now: Who knows?

From a paywalled (sorry) article in this morning's New York Times:

U.S. Calls Off Search for Unidentified Objects It Shot Down

The end of the search for objects downed over Alaska and Lake Huron raises the possibility that the devices will never be collected and analyzed.

Pretty much nails the possibility, seems to me. But worry not…

Mr. Biden has said the intelligence community’s assessment is that the three objects were most likely balloons tied to private companies, recreation or research institutions studying weather or conducting other scientific studies.

["Mr." Biden? What's going on there, NYTimes? –ED]

Here's a non-paywalled story from the New York Post, says pretty much the same thing, but with pictures. 

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

But, says this story in Aviation Week — Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down By USAF — NIBBB members have been in touch with the FBI about the disappearance of a "pico" balloon belonging to them on a how-long-will-it-stay-up-there mission somewhere over Canada's Yukon Territory the other day. Says Aviation Week: 

The descriptions of all three unidentified objects shot down Feb. 10-12 match the shapes, altitudes and payloads of the small pico balloons, which can usually be purchased for $12-180 each, depending on the type.

A New York Post story — UFO shot down by $400K US missile may have been a $12 hobby balloon: report  — notes:

White House officials admitted this week that “hundreds, if not thousands” of objects in the sky — including the UFOs it shot down last week — could be as innocuous as “used car lot balloons.”

And about that $400K missile: The first one fired at the balloon over Lake Huron missed, apparently. So two.

Maybe we should start a GoFundMe to buy the Air Force a subscription to Aviation Week. Or a membership in the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade. Or even both.

We're already paying for the missiles.

Spook

Textbook

Study shows ‘striking’ number who believe news misinforms

NEW YORK (AP) — Half of Americans in a recent survey indicated they believe national news organizations intend to mislead, misinform or persuade the public to adopt a particular point of view through their reporting.

The purpose of disinformation efforts — information warfare, if you will (and yes, that's a thing) — is to create an environment in which people don't know what to believe. Confusion, not persuasion, is the goal.

Is it working?

Shadows and steel

Or get shot down on sight

See Blade’s futuristic new ‘helicopters’ that will bring NYC’s elite to the Hamptons — quietly

May not be the best possible time for futuristic flying objects.

Blowing it in the very last line

Science needs to stop using terms like male, female, mother and father, researchers say

"The hope is that this grassroots effort brings people together.”

“Blessed is he who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed.” 

― Alexander Pope 

Sun on an old stone wall

Either it's shoot first and ask questions later…

…or there's something they haven't been telling us. Reluctantly I'm beginning to wonder if the latter might be true. From NBC:

White House announces interagency team to address 'unidentified aerial objects'

This is serious stuff: It's increasingly difficult to sort through all the questions that have come up unanswered in recent years, and even more difficult to believe the stories — narratives, in the popular argot — surrounding them. (That situation was addressed earlier this month in a Wall Street Journal article, 

A Balloon Pops D.C.’s Myth Bubble.)

If you can't trust the people who are supposed to be trusted…

Occam's razor suggests the simplest explanation is most likely to be the correct one, so then a series of random occurrences that just happen to…yeah, that's getting a little hard to swallow, isn't it.

At halftime, approximately…

China accuses US of ‘illegally’ flying balloons across its airspace

First of all…

The downing comes after earlier objects in Alaska and Canada were shot out of the sky because they were flying at altitudes that posed a threat to commercial aircraft, according to the officials, who had knowledge of the downings and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive operations.

What's the point of the "sensitive" in "sensitive operations"?

And secondly…

‘Unidentified object’ downed over Lake Huron, 3rd this week

The news comes as U.S. officials were still trying to precisely identify the other two objects blown from the sky by F-22 fighter jets over the past two days, and were working to determine whether China was responsible as concerns escalate about what Washington says is Beijing’s large-scale aerial surveillance program.

Really?

I can't wait to see what happens at halftime.

A word of reassurance from the New York Times

"It is believed to be rare for the United States to shoot down unidentified flying objects."

 Whew. Good to know. Still, for the record, twice in the week just ended the U.S. rarely shot down unidentified — as in nobody seems to know exactly what the were — objects flying over Alaska or the Canadian Yukon.

Or so we are led to believe. By, among other sources, the New York Times.

Go figure.