8 ms·

U.S. Representative Comments on New “Object” over Montana

69 points by bison3 4y ago

bison3 4y ago
From the tweet: "I am in direct contact with NORCOM and monitoring the latest issue over Havre and the northern border. Airspace is closed due to an object that could interfere with commercial air traffic — the DOD will resume efforts to observe and ground the object in the morning." Seems like they are waiting to shoot it down in the morning.
- hgsgm 4y ago
  Why is a member of Congress commenting and not the DOD or the Governor of Montana? Is someone spilling classified information to show off?
  - triyambakam 4y ago
    Because we're not being told the whole story.
  - Dalewyn 4y ago
    It's worth noting that in the US government hierarchy, the United States Congress is superior to the Department of Defense. Why? Because they (both House and Senate) write the laws stating who and what the DoD is, the House funds the DoD, and the Senate confirms appointments of officers. Specifically with regards to Matt Rosendale, he is a Representative from Montana. He is in a position where he can demand (and will get, within reason) information from the US military and represent Montana in demanding and publicizing said information.
    - hedora 4y ago
      That is not how the chain of command works for the military. The president is the commander in chief, and senators do not report to him.
      - wyldfire 4y ago
        Ultimately their paramount allegiance is to the Constitution and the people of the United States. This can supercede the chain of command when Commander-in-chief places orders contravened by the People. Congress performs oversight of the military and sets budgets, so they're briefed on operations like this which have some outsized political impact. It doesn't seem to me like these things should be a big deal but the rest of the people in the US seem to act like it is, so Congress is naturally very interested.
  - Spooky23 4y ago
    He’s a freshman congressman buddying up with Lauren Boebert and joining the “rebel” GOP faction that was opposing the speaker. It’s all about making noise to stay alive - how often do you hear from congressmen from Montana?
    - peepeepoopoo3 4y ago
      Petty politics doesn't belong on HN. Please take this to reddit.
      - ihatepython 4y ago
        I agree with peepeepoopoo
      - Spooky23 4y ago
        Then a highly political story of shooting down balloons or whatever shouldn’t be front and center.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
kneebonian 4y ago
Anyone else feel like we aren't getting the whole story here?
- thrill 4y ago
  No, I feel like we are jumping with both feet to conclusions rather than gathering data and then evaluating.
  - topspin 4y ago
    > jumping with both feet to conclusions What conclusions? I'd actually like to see some conclusions. So far all we have is 'objects'.
    - ggm 4y ago
      "Reported" objects. On a complex radar system which has filters in the process of being re-tuned, because of concern things have been missed but now, there are more false positives: radar is complicated and weather, dust, floating metallised party balloons, insects, migrating birds can generate signals.
      - dylan604 4y ago
        >migrating birds can generate signals. Great, so you're setting up Pearl Harbor 2.0
        nubinetwork 4y ago
        "Bird doughnut" https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/roost-ring-long-point-birds-1.6558586 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/roost-ring-long-point-...
      - deleted 4y ago
        [deleted]
    - yowzadave 4y ago
bison3 4y ago
Update: NORAD and U.S. Northern Command confirmed the TFR put in place and later rescinded over Havre, Montana was in response to a "radar anomaly" that it sent fighter aircraft to investigate. Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits, and NORAD is still monitoring the situation.
- breck 4y ago
  Source: https://twitter.com/NORADCommand/status/1624596337890058240 https://twitter.com/NORADCommand/status/1624596337890058240
COGlory 4y ago
Live in Montana. Very confused. Mildly concerned. Obviously they don't want to divulge everything they know....
hindsightbias 4y ago
Relevant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q7tN7MhQ4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q7tN7MhQ4I
thorawayz 4y ago
Interesting flight patterns over the Dakotas/MN border, not like we have anything near Grand Forks that anyone would care about....... Seriously, why are there a few dozen "UofND" planes flying about right now? https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ab6866 https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ab6866
- morpheos137 4y ago
  A large number of ICBM sites are in northern and western ND.
- hindsightbias 4y ago
  Couldn’t possibly be the UND Flight School program.
  - zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago
    UND has over 120 aircraft and the weather was beautiful today. Good day for flying, I imagine. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Odegard_School_of_Aerospace_Sciences#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20the%20school's,Gateway%20Airport%20in%20Mesa%2C%20Arizona https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Odegard_School_of_Ae....
dvh 4y ago
Could this be a distraction from train on fire that rains hydrochloric acid on entire town? For how large disaster it is, it's completely absent from the news.
- PartiallyTyped 4y ago
  Context: > An air quality disaster resulted on Friday night after about 50 cars on a Norfolk Southern Railroad train traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Ten of those cars contained hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/toxins-ohio-train-derailment-posed-deadly-threats-residents/story?id=96978394 https://abcnews.go.com/Health/toxins-ohio-train-derailment-p... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34758525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34758525

69 points by bison3 4y ago

From the tweet: "I am in direct contact with NORCOM and monitoring the latest issue over Havre and the northern border. Airspace is closed due to an object that could interfere with commercial air traffic — the DOD will resume efforts to observe and ground the object in the morning." Seems like they are waiting to shoot it down in the morning.

hgsgm 4y ago
Why is a member of Congress commenting and not the DOD or the Governor of Montana? Is someone spilling classified information to show off?
- triyambakam 4y ago
  Because we're not being told the whole story.
- Dalewyn 4y ago
  It's worth noting that in the US government hierarchy, the United States Congress is superior to the Department of Defense. Why? Because they (both House and Senate) write the laws stating who and what the DoD is, the House funds the DoD, and the Senate confirms appointments of officers. Specifically with regards to Matt Rosendale, he is a Representative from Montana. He is in a position where he can demand (and will get, within reason) information from the US military and represent Montana in demanding and publicizing said information.
  - hedora 4y ago
    That is not how the chain of command works for the military. The president is the commander in chief, and senators do not report to him.
    - wyldfire 4y ago
      Ultimately their paramount allegiance is to the Constitution and the people of the United States. This can supercede the chain of command when Commander-in-chief places orders contravened by the People. Congress performs oversight of the military and sets budgets, so they're briefed on operations like this which have some outsized political impact. It doesn't seem to me like these things should be a big deal but the rest of the people in the US seem to act like it is, so Congress is naturally very interested.
- Spooky23 4y ago
  He’s a freshman congressman buddying up with Lauren Boebert and joining the “rebel” GOP faction that was opposing the speaker. It’s all about making noise to stay alive - how often do you hear from congressmen from Montana?
  - peepeepoopoo3 4y ago
    Petty politics doesn't belong on HN. Please take this to reddit.
    - ihatepython 4y ago
      I agree with peepeepoopoo
    - Spooky23 4y ago
      Then a highly political story of shooting down balloons or whatever shouldn’t be front and center.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

kneebonian 4y ago

Anyone else feel like we aren't getting the whole story here?

thrill 4y ago
No, I feel like we are jumping with both feet to conclusions rather than gathering data and then evaluating.
- topspin 4y ago
  > jumping with both feet to conclusions What conclusions? I'd actually like to see some conclusions. So far all we have is 'objects'.
  - ggm 4y ago
    "Reported" objects. On a complex radar system which has filters in the process of being re-tuned, because of concern things have been missed but now, there are more false positives: radar is complicated and weather, dust, floating metallised party balloons, insects, migrating birds can generate signals.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      >migrating birds can generate signals. Great, so you're setting up Pearl Harbor 2.0
      - nubinetwork 4y ago
        "Bird doughnut" https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/roost-ring-long-point-birds-1.6558586 https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/roost-ring-long-point-...
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
  - yowzadave 4y ago

bison3 4y ago

Update: NORAD and U.S. Northern Command confirmed the TFR put in place and later rescinded over Havre, Montana was in response to a "radar anomaly" that it sent fighter aircraft to investigate. Those aircraft did not identify any object to correlate to the radar hits, and NORAD is still monitoring the situation.

breck 4y ago
Source: https://twitter.com/NORADCommand/status/1624596337890058240 https://twitter.com/NORADCommand/status/1624596337890058240

COGlory 4y ago

Live in Montana. Very confused. Mildly concerned. Obviously they don't want to divulge everything they know....

hindsightbias 4y ago

Relevant https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q7tN7MhQ4I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9q7tN7MhQ4I

thorawayz 4y ago

Interesting flight patterns over the Dakotas/MN border, not like we have anything near Grand Forks that anyone would care about....... Seriously, why are there a few dozen "UofND" planes flying about right now? https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ab6866 https://globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=ab6866

morpheos137 4y ago
A large number of ICBM sites are in northern and western ND.
hindsightbias 4y ago
Couldn’t possibly be the UND Flight School program.
- zoklet-enjoyer 4y ago
  UND has over 120 aircraft and the weather was beautiful today. Good day for flying, I imagine. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Odegard_School_of_Aerospace_Sciences#:~:text=The%20majority%20of%20the%20school's,Gateway%20Airport%20in%20Mesa%2C%20Arizona https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_D._Odegard_School_of_Ae....

dvh 4y ago

Could this be a distraction from train on fire that rains hydrochloric acid on entire town? For how large disaster it is, it's completely absent from the news.

PartiallyTyped 4y ago
Context: > An air quality disaster resulted on Friday night after about 50 cars on a Norfolk Southern Railroad train traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. Ten of those cars contained hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses. https://abcnews.go.com/Health/toxins-ohio-train-derailment-posed-deadly-threats-residents/story?id=96978394 https://abcnews.go.com/Health/toxins-ohio-train-derailment-p... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34758525 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34758525