CNN is an awful news channel. All the world’s leaders could come together in a declaration of eternal world peace, and CNN would cut away to cover nonsense. A United States military test balloon came off of its tether earlier today in Maryland and grounded in Pennsylvania. There was no danger to anyone, just a weird screw up during a test exercise.

CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr covered the balloon’s uneventful, boring descent in dramatic, ratings-whoring fashion.

“We’ll stay on top of this very disturbing story. And we’ve never seen anything like this in the United States before,” Blitzer said. “Hopefully they’ll be able to bring that blimp down peacefully in an unpopulated area — some field somewhere. We’ll see what they can do.”

He called the story “disturbing.” A mass shooting is disturbing. A loose balloon that’s not dangerous is kind of funny, but it’s nothing to be afraid of.

For more on this story, visit Talking Points MemoWATCH: 2 Minutes Of CNN’s Over-The-Top Runaway Blimp Coverage”

Farron Cousins is the executive editor of The Trial Lawyer magazine and a contributing writer at DeSmogBlog.com. He is the co-host / guest host for Ring of Fire Radio. His writings have appeared on Alternet, Truthout, and The Huffington Post. Farron received his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of West Florida in 2005 and became a member of American MENSA in 2009. Follow him on Twitter @farronbalanced