If you manufacture in China, you MUST receive a patent for every product.

If you do any sort of business there, you MUST have a bank account there.

The accusation you're trying to make was a "holding account of $50K"... Basically sofa cushion change... And it was a BUSINESS account, not a PERSONAL account...

And it wasn't the "administration" that held anything. Most of those patents and the bank account were established years before there was a "last administration"...

But nice try at being political...

Far more likely to be a weather balloon

EXACTLY! This is probably just a trial run to see how we respond. It could be an EMP Weapon and take out ALL of our electronics. It could be a bio-weapon. Who knows. Not shooting it down is as stupid as it gets.

No worries it's just stationed over a area that we have nukes.

Nothing to see here says Press Secretary they're just air dropping the 10%.

Funny how foreign countries are getting so bold these days, I wonder why?

The government needs to declare a balloon hunting season starting today. Bubba and his buddy Billyray Joebob Johnboy will rent a Piper Cub and blow the balloon out of the sky. It'll attract even more hunters if there is a bounty on it. Think about it, a balloon skin rug.

That seems to be what our Govt. believes, and I think they should know.

Is not shooting it down as stupid as dropping it on an American home, car, or head?

It's harmless where it is but potentially harmful if it falls 16 miles.

What do you suggest, a big fan at the end of a 16 mile extension cord? Shoot a missile at it, hope the aim is good, and pray that there are no people at the end of the 16 mile drop?

Based on??? Why would China want weather info over Montana?

Where is our unmanned balloon brigade? Surely we have the capability to launch an entire flotilla of balloons from one our Western European allies to nearly aimlessly float over the old USSR gathering weather data and hoping to drift over something of interest that our satellites completely didn't see.

Those Chinese are so clever, but they should have sent a stealth balloon. This one was too easy to spot. And surely they didn't want to get data on upper Canada where the balloon could have drifted. And it will likely have a self destruct mode so we can't shoot it down once it crosses over the Atlantic seaboard. It might be carrying balloon mail with more love letters to American politicians who expressed admiration for their and their neighbor's dear leaders. The possibilities are just endless. Or maybe it really is a weather balloon. Somehow I think we will learn more in the next few days, or not.

And don't call me Surely.

It’s now over Missouri and headed East. I find it astonishing that our gvt is allowing this to happen. Back when it was over Montana they indicated it would be dangerous to shoot it down as it may hit public spaces …. Montana. Now Missouri and of course more populated areas. How stupid are we???? We meaning our leaders.

China is testing us and we are acting like a sweet pussycat. We must be like a tiger. But it’s now too late.

So, if we see ICBMs coming from them or Russia simply wait - they may be harmless… Purrr….

Is there a Villages club for learning Mandarin?

Just trying to get a leg up for when I get assigned to a re-education camp.

To count the missile silos.

We should steal the payload, and paint a big "moon" on it. Then let it slowly float back to China.

It would be better to paint a picture of Winnie the Pooh on it. President Xi is sensitive to the physical comparison.:D