I have a longtime friend who would be an excellent source of info. I can probably give more insight after I see the source this weekend. After a couple of cocktails :)

I'm always up for a good conspiracy theory when it comes to UFO's - especially if it involves Vulcans coming to visit.

Seriously, Bfenton—- I hope it is an alien landing force that will save us from ourselves. It’s probably just old spy stuff losing components or equipment degrading and consequently losing the ability to orbit. Too bad, really.

Entertaining responses from a similar thread at the KT include one surmising it is possibly our own government sending them up to shoot down and show that they are finally on the ball.

This was on my facebook feed with the caption, ”I thought it was another balloon, but it was only bird poop!”

My understanding is that after the Chinese surveillance balloon, the US tightened up restrictions for what could pass through radar and not be considered a concern. Imagine it like a net, the net holes are now a lot smaller, and non-threatening things are now being looked at more closely.

I agree with the explanation that Jojo shared. I also read that there are around 1,000 (some articles state closer to 2000) weather balloons launched around the world on a daily basis, with 100-200 (again, number depends on source) or so in the United States. We just haven't heard much about them until the Chinese balloon came along and put a spotlight on the situation. I'm also seeing conspiracy theorists say that the shoot-downs are manufactured to remove the spotlight from whatever is currently going on in the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation and the derailed train in Ohio that spewed dangerous chemicals. <eye roll>

"What do you think about the UFO's"

Weather balloons and aliens arriving here from planets light years away... spying on us, are a different level of technology.

Anyone streaming the show "Skin Walker Ranch"? It's pretty spooky to think aliens are already here, have always been here...according to Native American legends.

What do I think? I think China spies on us (duh), and our government wants to show them - and anyone else with similar intent - that we're not messing around.

Eons ago, on a high school class trip to DC, we were given a tour of the situation room in the Pentagon. Our guide, a high ranking military officer, picked up a phone connected to NORAD and asked if there was anything interesting. The person on the other end answered in a casual tone that they had sighted a few UFOs.Before we could get crazy, our guide explained that all that UFO meant was that they just had not yet determined what the objects were.

Honestly, I don't know what to think and the more time goes by and additional ones are mentioned or found or shot down, I think I can't think about them. On the one hand, I can start to buy in on every conspiracy theory I hear and on the other I can just remind myself that I truly have no idea or understanding of all this.

I'll think about them tomorrow a la Scarlett.

I had the pleasure of sitting next to an astrophysicist on a flight to London one time...poor fellow...I kept him up all night with all my questions about the Universe. I asked him if he thinks there are aliens. He said absolutely, but he didn't believe they were here. He said the spaces in the Universe are so large, it would be like an atom on one wing of the plane finding a specific atom on the other wing of the plane. For one to find us and to be at such space and time and level of development where we could interact would be darn near impossible.

I have a tough time fathoming the distances in the Universe. One concept that has helped me is the fact that our nearest galaxy ... Andromeda ... and ours are on a collision course as they are moving towards each other. They have modeled the expected interaction of the two galaxies and have found that even with each containing billions of stars, the spaces between are so large, they don't expect any stars to actually collide. Stunning.

Thanks, Annie. That was good. The universe is so vast it seems rather - I don’t know, arrogant? naive? absurd? to think that we earthlings are alone in this universe. The more we learn, the more there is to learn. Since the universe is so vast, I am not exactly concerned about being invaded by beings from another planet.

Actually, the military shooting down three "things" in the U.S. is sorta a big deal.

I'm more concerned with the spying and "information" these UFO's could be gathering from the U.S. Although, I'm sure we do the same thing to other countries also.

I'm not particularly worried about aliens from outer space-not yet, anyway.

Do I believe there is life on other planets? Yes, I do. And that there are manned or guided UFOs that have been here or are here now. Have I seen or met any? Nope. Would I want to? BIG NO!

Hmmmm, our nextdoor neighbor is a pretty well-known astrophysicist. In all these years I’ve never thought to ask him about his ideas on the subject. Next time I see him out walking his dog, I just might bring it up!