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Ballongate Ends with a $12 Thud

The big hullaballoo, which is the technical term for a Pentagon four star general passing gas, is that the United States Air Force with NORAD was ordered to destroy Hobby Lobby should it ever get into orbit.

Or at least their $12 balloons that they sell to hobbyists:

Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down By USAF

From the Aviation Week Network story:

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.

Ugh.

The United States spent over $400,000 plus aerial refueling plus jet-A fuel to send a F-22 Raptor to shoot down a Hobby Lobby type toy balloon.

Seriously.

To demonstrate that “China can’t do this twice” or to prove that we’re on top of our national defense by shooting down anything, anywhere, even if it is perfectly harmless.

America, let’s face some reality:

Our government is being run by pathetic lunatics.

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