I am not adamantly defending that it's only a weather balloon. I am merely suggesting that it's not out of the realm of possibilities. Not everything is a conspiracy.
Honestly, I don't know WTF it was. But I do know that China has a fleet of spy satellites watching us constantly so I do question what additional info an unguided balloon can gather. Maybe something? I don't know.
Or, maybe it was just a weather balloon.
I'm not dying on this hill though because I don't know what it was. Could be sinister. But it could just as easily be benign.
For my cats it was a day much more welcoming than the previous twenty-four.