Second "object" shot down

So, is this more Chinese balloon stuff, or...alien?  Whatever, I don't see how this helps the Biden Administration in combatting complaints from MAGA world that he didn't shoot down the Chinese balloon soon enough.

The U.S. military on Friday afternoon shot down a "high-altitude object" flying over Alaskan airspace and Arctic waters, National Security Council official John Kirby confirmed at the White House.

[...]

"The object was flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet and posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight," Kirby told reporters during the White House briefing. "Out of an abundance of caution, and at the recommendation of the Pentagon, President Biden ordered the military to down the object and they did and it came inside our territorial waters and those waters right now are frozen."

[...]

The pilots were able to determine that it was "unmanned" before it was shot down, he added.

[...]

Kirby made clear the U.S. does not know who owns the object and he would not call it a balloon, like the one allegedly owned by the Chinese government that the U.S. military shot down last weekend.

[...]

Officials did not understand the full purpose of the object, Kirby added, saying the U.S. expects that it will be able to recover the debris. "A recovery effort will be made and we're hopeful that it'll be successful and then we can learn a little bit more about it," he said.

The object, which the U.S. learned about on Thursday evening, was described as "roughly the size of a small car," Kirby said.

  NBC

So...UFO, in other words.

I say we pull Elon in and ask him what he knows about it. 

 ...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

UPDATE 2/11/23: Right on cue...

Republicans are ramping up their criticism of the Biden administration’s handling of the Chinese spy balloon, after receiving classified briefings on the incursion and learning the U.S. shot down a second object above Alaska.

[...]

Some GOP lawmakers are arguing it shows the U.S. did, indeed, have the capabilities to down the Chinese balloon immediately.

[...]

“China sent a spy balloon to fly all across America. The Biden administration had a chance to shoot it down over Alaska and they chose to let it spy all across America. End of story,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told reporters following an all-senators briefing on Thursday.

  The Hill

Actually, no. The story from the Biden administration is that they decided to jam the balloon's capability of sending info to China and watch where it went and what it was collecting. They knew what it was, and that's typical protocol when spying is detected. They say they don't know what the second object was or who controlled it. Not the same story at all.

The situation was even more fraught in the House briefing, after which Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) boasted about how she “chewed out” administration officials. According to multiple lawmakers, Greene shouted obscenities and said “I don’t believe you” at the briefers as they tried to explain why they waited for the balloon to reach the Atlantic coast.

“I tore ‘em to pieces,” Greene said.

God, that woman.

Trump sought to make political hay out of the situation. In a number of Truth Social posts, Trump claimed that the “Chinese would never have floated the Blimp (“Balloon”) over the United States if I were President!!!”

We know. And Putin would have never invaded Ukraine. 

Oh, but, oops..

China flew multiple balloons over the U.S. during Trump’s presidency, though they were not detected at the time.

And I also heard one report that it's just they didn't tell him, and that's very believable.