February 5, 2023

"I can't believe I'm Joe's Osama," says the shot-down Chinese balloon.


"How would you like it if someone measured your width in buses?"

29 comments:

Humperdink said...

SNL punts on another opportunity to mock President Dither. Not unexpected. But good Lord the sketch could been funnier. They could have brought Trump or Hunter into this one.

Humperdink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Humperdink said...

Or this from Phil Mushnick (NY PostP: "How did the Red Chinese expect its spy balloon to beat U.S. detection with those enormous Nike logos and LeBron James photos on both sides?"

SNL never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity.

Shoeless Joe said...

Painfully unfunny.

tim in vermont said...

Now the DOD are saying that it happened three times under Trump, and the AP added, but the DOD left out, that it also happened once previously under Biden.

When did our DOD become partisan political fixers?

tim in vermont said...

At first I thought that this was all a big joke, until China got in a snit that we shot it down.

Mr. Majestyk said...

That was surprisingly funny.

Mr Wibble said...

Americans will use any system of measurement except for metric.

Meade said...

The U.S. Military is coordinating to collect debris from the ocean, however, if anyone sees debris fragments along the shore, call 843-248-1520. That’s 843-TICK-TOCK.

Temujin said...

I guess I could have hung in there until the funny part arrived, but after the last 30 years, I can't trust that there will be a funny part arriving. Couldn't make it through. Just no interest in what is put out as SNL. It's like watching 'The Walking Dead, Season 20'.

planetgeo said...

Speaking of the badass balloon that managed to make its way all the way across 4000 miles of our country and some of the best strategic military photo ops ever until our Commander in Chief and gender-correct military finally noticed it and decided to execute it over nowhere...

That'll teach em. Unfortunately.

William said...

Mildly amusing. Bill Maher is the only comedian doing edgy comedy these days.

wendybar said...


Rob Schneider
@RobSchneider
The same Government that says it doesn’t want to poke a hole in the Experimental Chinese Spy Balloon because it might injure people,
Is the same Government that had no problems poking holes in people’s arm with an experimental gene therapy for a Chinese Virus.

stlcdr said...

I believe the US had their own ballon under the Chinese balloon, with a TV on top, showing Tik-tok videos to the Chinese cameras.

Ampersand said...

I doubt that surveillance from a balloon is dramatically better than surveillance from a low orbit satellite. A balloon would have value as a delivery tool in biological warfare aimed either at people or agricultural assets.

Narr said...

Meh. Some good lines, but not enough of them.

Joe Smith said...

Why is it an Asian actor?

Should be white or black or Native American.

n.n said...

Obama sacrificed men and technology to ostensibly abort Osama.

The Chinese probed America through Biden's back ... black hole... whore h/t NAACP.

Iman said...

My… how the once funny have fallen.

It’s a wasteland out there…

Old and slow said...

"Blogger Ampersand said...
I doubt that surveillance from a balloon is dramatically better than surveillance from a low orbit satellite"

This seems like a very silly statement to me. Low earth orbit is around 2,000 km above the surface of the earth and travelling around the globe in less than 128 minutes. This balloon was around 30 km above the ground and moving very slowly. Also, using a balloon instead of a satellite would allow the surveillance payload to be much larger for far lower cost. Seems dramatically better than a satellite to me. The only problem I can see is that it would be so simple to shoot it down. But of course, we didn't do that until after it had traversed the country, for some reason. It certainly wasn't for the safety of the people on the ground. I'f you've ever looked out the window while flying across the US, you will know just how empty most of the country is.

alanc709 said...

Why was it shot down over water? The military drawdown has so weakened the Navy, that they are saying they may not be able to salvage the balloon, shot down off our Atlantic coast, before the Chinese gets their own assets there from 10,000 miles away.

Ampersand said...

Old and Slow at 1125 points out that, since a balloon is at a much lower altitude than a satellite, there would be significantly better resolution. That's true of course, but...
First, the Chinese aren't going to put their best imaging equipment on a balloon. Second, consider US spy satellite KH-11 with its 10 year old tech. If you Google it, you will find amazingly detailed images, which are probably no longer even the state of the art.
BTW, atmospheric balloons could be useful delivery tools for a gaggle of short range drones.

Mikey NTH said...

Why wait to shoot it down? Perhaps it was waiting until it was no longer transmitting data back home, and since there was nothing left to collect from the balloon it could be dropped.

Speculation, of course. But then again, getting into a lather about spy balloons can be fun for the perpetually angry.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

The pentagon had better material in their briefing. The reporter who dutifully quoted our effeminate chiefs of staff’s warning that the balloon would “fall at meteoric speed” and endanger kindergartners was especially hilarious. As expected the big balloon did what all little balloons do and fluttered at substantially less than terminal velocity, much less the velocity of a meteorite. This whole episode is a metaphor for the Empty Suit presidency.

Josephbleau said...

The interesting thing about this whole episode is that it is apparent that no one believes what the government (and it’s captive media) says anymore. I think this is dangerous as it creates opportunity for manipulation by developing a population that is indifferent to events, why bother if we will never know the truth?

Narayanan said...

significantly better resolution. That's true of course, but...
First, the Chinese aren't going to put their best imaging equipment on a balloon.
===========
wondering which cameras were on China's balloon >>>

- could be entire Apple series
- are iPhone cameras considered advanced best imaging equipment [professora and Bueller]

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Interesting. Two “whole episode” comments in a row. Maybe three now. The thread is not so hot as some others.

Narr said...

I'll mention Frank Luke again, here.

I forgot to add on the other thread, that Clinton had the NatSec laws about shallow-water wreck sites strengthened--out of the blue and nearly overnight--immediately after TWA-800 went down in the shallows off of Long Island and following (IIRC) a late-night visit to the White House by Admiral Crowe . . .

We will learn only and exactly what the Organs want us to know about the Red Balloon.

Rockport Conservative said...

Thank you for posting this. I found it extremely funny. I never watch SNL It stopped being funny for me when it went overly leftist. This is good comic fun. Not political, just funny stuff.