I love how they admit the previous balloon didn't send data to China and STILL CALL IT A FUCKING SPY BALLOON 
They're spying on our weather 
The developments come one year after tensions between the U.S. and China ratcheted to new heights after a Chinese balloon carrying sophisticated spying equipment flew over the continental U.S. for several days.
Even a year later, they haven't abandoned the narrative that it was designed to intercept valuable US intel, such as the weather
This balloon will be Iran-backed to stay trendy.
Okay sure the last one wasn't a spy balloon but this one could be! Scramble the jets!
Continuously releasing high altitude balloons to bankrupt the USA is praxis.
How cheap is it to get those balloons? The last time this happened they also shot down a bunch of hobbyist balloons. We could deploy a fleet of them, it would be very funny
Hobbyist balloons are rather cheap. The smallest are a couple feet across and cost under $10. A typical weather balloon is around 20 feet in diameter and costs about $100.
Compare to the millions it costs to track an object, deploy fighter jets, pay for missiles to shoot one down and one has an impressive guerrilla operation.
https://www.scientificsales.com/Meteorological-Weather-Sounding-Balloon-s/25.htm
I guess the gas is expensive then, right?
More expensive than the balloon, but not outrageous. The amount of gas needed is a function of payload size and ascent rate but 3400l would carry a 1kg payload to ~35km over about 2hr before bursting (based on a calculator I found).
It was tough to find pricing for helium, but one place had prices listed and would run about $350 for the gas. Assuming that's normal pricing, one could hoist a little Lenin statue to high altitude for around $500 all in.
New bit idea: fundraise enough for a fleet with a big picture of Lenin sprayed onto the exterior of the balloons. Have them all continuously fly over the US mainland on the air currents. Ensuing chaos will be 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHwAPy1pWhI with baloons
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Same time as last year, even
Link to the other post so both discussions can be viewed
It’s really hilarious if they shoot this down again
The repost detector didn't show me that thread, ah well.
No worries, it only shows up if you have like the exact same link/title based on my experience.
The article is slightly different anyways, might prompt different discussion
i hope this becomes a february tradition
Yes, ha ha ha, YES!!!
Just in time for election year!
Coincidence? Totally!
NOO IT"S ANOTHA BERTHDAY PARDY 
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