Greg Evans
Feb 07, 2023
content.jwplatform.com
The United States military has shot down the so-called 'Chinese spy balloon' along the coast of North and South Carolina and people are having a field day.
Security concerns had been raised over the balloon after it was spotted over the skies of Montana earlier this week. US officials reportedly told the Associated Press that president Joe Biden had given the order to have it taken down in the safest way possible without harming any members of the public.
Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter
US officials reportedly want to recover remnants of the balloon from the ocean.
In a statement the Federal Aviation Administration: "The FAA has paused departures to Wilmington (ILM), Myrtle Beach International (MYR) and Charleston International (CHS) airports to support the Department of Defense in a national security effort."
Despite this being a serious matter you can always rely on the internet to make a joke out of anything and this has inevitably caused a flurry of memes.
\u201cSad that the balloon popped and didn't fart about the sky like a wobbly ghost for a while\u201d— HappyToast\u2605 (@HappyToast\u2605) 1675543694
\u201cChinese spy balloon spotted over the Carolina coast\u201d— Mr. Meme's Wild Ride (@Mr. Meme's Wild Ride) 1675541930
\u201cPeople are worried about the Chinese spy balloon, but not worried about this???\u201d— Americana at Brand Memes (@Americana at Brand Memes) 1675456067
\u201cHearing "Chinese Spy Balloon" on the news sounds so insane, that it just feels like a huge meme\u201d— Esfand (@Esfand) 1675540263
\u201cMy favorite Chinese balloon meme so far\u2026\u201d— Harshmallow \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f Rogue Antifa, Inc. (@Harshmallow \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\ud83c\udff4\u200d\u2620\ufe0f Rogue Antifa, Inc.) 1675539190
\u201cLive footage of the Chinese spy balloon being destroyed\u201d— PMT Memes (@PMT Memes) 1675541842
\u201cLiza Minnelli has outlived the Chinese spy balloon. The United States shot it down over the Atlantic Ocean.\u201d— LizaMinnelliOutlives (@LizaMinnelliOutlives) 1675541277
\u201cme and my friends would have burst the chinese spy balloon with hammers i can tell you that much\u201d— Sooz Kempner\ud83d\udc00 (@Sooz Kempner\ud83d\udc00) 1675540314
\u201cThe gay US soldier shooting down the Chinese spy balloon\u201d— Sam Stryker (@Sam Stryker) 1675541519
\u201cthe Chinese balloon was in US airspace for about half a Scaramucci\u201d— Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar) 1675541707
\u201cThe Chinese spy balloon taught me it was ok to be weird.\u201d— Josh Slater-Williams (@Josh Slater-Williams) 1675541408
\u201chttps://t.co/qoJZUzrQ51\u201d— jordan (@jordan) 1675540666
\u201cOh, let the Chinese spy balloon memes begin. \ud83d\ude11\u201d— AV Ningjing (@AV Ningjing) 1675533038
\u201cRIP Chinese Spy Balloon. Never forget. \n\n#ChineseSpyBalloon\u201d— Danny Deraney (@Danny Deraney) 1675544227
\u201cwhat if when they shot that chinese spy balloon out of the sky a bunch of pink powdery smoke came out & that\u2019s how we all found out the nation was fearmongering for days over what ended up being a loose balloon from a gender reveal party states away\u201d— \u2318 left at london \u2318 (@\u2318 left at london \u2318) 1675546092
\u201cVideo of the Chinese Spy Balloon being shot down\u201d— Shooter McGavin (@Shooter McGavin) 1675546179
\u201cBREAKING: U.S. military deploys former Navy SEAL George Santos to retrieve Chinese spy balloon after it was shot down.\nh/t @TheSnarkTank99\u201d— Jon Cooper (@Jon Cooper) 1675542546
\u201crip chinese spy balloon (2023-2023)\u201d— sweeeeet emooootionn \ud83c\udf32 (@sweeeeet emooootionn \ud83c\udf32) 1675539889
\u201cBREAKING: The Chinese spy balloon has been shot down\u201d— Sopranos World (@Sopranos World) 1675540036
Even Donald Trump Jr couldn't resist getting involved with a questionable joke about his dad.
\u201cNot gonna lie\u2026 this is funny.\u201d— Donald Trump Jr. (@Donald Trump Jr.) 1675616080
Remarkably the York County Sheriff's Office had to tell people not to try and shoot the balloon down with their pistols or rifles.
\u201c\u201cThat\u2019s no moon.\u201d Yes, there are reports that the Chinese balloon is flying over our area at the moment. It\u2019s flying at 60,000+ feet. Don\u2019t try to shoot it!! Your rifle rounds WILL NOT reach it. Be responsible. What goes up will come down, including your bullets #YCSONews\u201d— York County Sheriff (@York County Sheriff) 1675526840
What a time to be alive.
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.
Top 100
The Conversation (0)
x