And now for something completely different . . . .
UFOs regularly spotted in restricted U.S. airspace, report on the phenomena due next month
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Finally a topic comes up in which everybody is as skeptical as I am -- the invasion from outer space. Space Goons, for crying out loud! Little Green Men and Women or whatever the genders are Out There. One of those things like witches and yetis and zombies -- the Space Goon is a familiar image in our culture, a mythic impossibility that just might turn out to be a real live ray-gun shooter.
Since even the most certitudinous devotees of "objective reality" will join me in having a good chuckle about the possibility that Independence Day was prophecy rather than Hollywood schlock (damn good schlock, by the way imho), I feel comfortable in just skipping over the possibility of extraterrestrial visitors. I already know the right way to deal with them, if and when they show up -- Will Smith slugged the fucker in the nose and said, "Welcome to Earth. That's what I call a real Close Encounter!"
Of course it was the bookish white guy who recalled his HG Wells and came up with the virus to kick ET's ass. Ah, Hollywood, but I digress.
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The more interesting question raised by this little ripple in the News Cycle is why is the government now promoting rather than suppressing this story?
The Science Fiction answer in our 1970s Dystopian Movie Nighmare is for the invaders from Inner Space and Outer Space to cancel each other out. That is no more absurd of an interpretation than whatever we are going to hear out of our government.
CBS gave us a hint in the story Sunday night.
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Mellon says he grew concerned nothing was being done about UAPs, so he decided to do something. In 2017, as a private citizen, he surreptitiously acquired the three Navy videos Elizondo had declassified and leaked them to the New York Times.
Chris Mellon: It's bizarre and unfortunate that someone like myself has to do something like that to get a national security issue like this on the agenda.
He joined forces with now civilian Lue Elizondo and they started to tell their story to anybody who would listen: to newspapers, the History Channel, to members of Congress.
Chris Mellon: We knew and understood that you had to go to the public, get the public interested to get Congress interested, to then circle back to the Defense Department and get them to start taking a look at it.
And now it is. This past August the Pentagon resurrected AATIP, it's now called the UAP task force; service members now are encouraged to report strange encounters; and the Senate wants answers.
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So some brave Insiders went Outside. Unlike Snowden and Assange, they were not charged with treason, but instead they have succeeded in getting their agenda to the United States Senate. Is this a great country or what?
I have no earthly idea what any of this shit means. At least we should be able to agree that the invasion from outer space is difficult to understand, even if the invasion from the infinitismal is easy for anybody to understand by diferring to Science.
Nope for Space Goons -- our only insight comes from Science Fiction.
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Aside from this kidding around, anybody have any thoughts on why this has suddenly become a Respectable Issue.
Comments
The sage young 'Calvin' of Calvin and Hobbs explains it well
Calvin: Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us.
ahhhh...
Calvin the Philosopher, not to be confused with Christian Reformist Calvinism. ; )
Isn’t it always the case
that people assume that other life forms have similar behaviors and consciousness as we humans do. Why, or more precisely how, can we believe ETs would be narrow minded assholes that stupidly wreak havoc on remote planets’ primitive life forms, life forms that have no way of even traveling to other worlds to threaten them? Projection, much?
Leave it to the military to see them first and foremost as a threat to us. We are to believe that ETs would want to project violence around the world and dominate the planet, just like the US military is projecting violence on any “rouge nations” that have the nerve to refuse to accept our dominion over our entire planet.
More likely any intelligent life would have an interest in helping us avoid complete ecocide, or perhaps preventing us from doing something incredibly stupid with our magnificent weapons of war that might have negative consequences beyond the surface of our planet.
I have far more reason to hope for ET intervention than I do for the Biden administration changing anything for the better.
Seriously, our failing empire aspirants are using anything that can be made to create fear in the mind of the population, to make them easier to manipulate and control.
Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
Superb Note
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It is impossible to imagine what space folk would think or do. Inherently impossible. But I agree with you that it is safe to assume that however they "think" and whatever they "do," will not be like the American Government.
If they exist.
The US Government deciding to discuss the possibility that they might exist is the best evidence that they do not exist.
But maybe they do. If they do, I don't think there is anything the Pentagon can do to defend against the "threat" they pose with the technology evident in the various videos showing ET at work.
Just like in Independence Day, we can try to nuke 'em, but . . . .
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
I have one thought...
funding need for Spaaace Force. How else you justify the sudden coverage.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Caitlin weighs in on UFO “Threat”
As usual, Caitlin brings her well written and thoughtful analysis to the puzzling reversal of UFO (Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon) denials by our military and alphabet agencies.
Definitely worth a read.
[Edit: Redundant post. H/T - fire with fire has already posted on this below.]
Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
They live among us
already. The saucers are here to ensure we don't start nuclear war. They are here to save us from ourselves. Homosapiens are not reliable players in the universe and need constant direction and correcting. Things will improve in the coming years as we move toward a more compassionate society/world.
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
I’ve been wondering what the heck is under the ice
at this location in Antarctica.
In 2013 there were some apparently major excavations at this location. A “conspiracy theorist” posted a video with screenshots that were somewhat disturbing. YMMV.
I have yet to find any info in the news about any “discoveries” that might shed any light on these excavations. I did think John Kerry’s “side trip” to Antarctica a few years later a bit curious. Reason for the visit was given of “climate change”. Who knows?! Fertile ground for imagination.
Capitalism is the extraordinary belief that the nastiest of men for the nastiest of motives will somehow work for the benefit of all."
- John Maynard Keynes
New Mexico & UFOs
There's a transforming connection there.
Just ran across an article — Seven UFO Crashes & Retrievals in New Mexico 1945–1948. It was just after that time that US military technology took a non-linear leap forward that still defies explanation.
Your perspective feels right to me.
I wonder if Aliens sit around and complain that Americans stole their Intellectual Property.
____________________
The political system is what it is because the People are who they are. — Plato
A direct question deserves a direct answer
fire with fire
A "security threat" you say.
What better way to Distract the Public. So entertaining. Fire up imaginations.
Trump and company are fading from view.
Gotta talk about something. Gotta scare us with something.
NYCVG
I viewed a documentary recently, which I am unable to find
now, in which a prominent figure was quoted during the 1970's as saying that ET would be a latter of many pretenses used to justify escalating military budgets and militarization. And particularly the militarization of space. At which point they would control the planet. He mentioned the cold war, communism, terrorism, pandemics, and UFOs. And maybe some other boogie man I can't recall. In any case, he indicated that when they rolled out ET that they were nearing the completion of their "plan".
I will try to find the video.
Probably you're thinking of Werner von Braun
the Nazi scientist brought to the USA and put in charge of our rocket program.
He warned in 1974 that there was a game being played to weaponize space. First they'd drum up the cold war. Then it would be rogue states, then terrorists and finally it would be UFO's.
"And it would all be lies."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP8ftWzFYI4&feature=youtu.be
That these people are being allowed to whistleblow without the standard backlash tells us they are actually part of the upcoming false flag operation.
UFO's were once derogatorally dismissed but are now being referred to in terms "threats".
ATIP the T stands for threat.
Space Force propaganda.
That's who it was. You are right. Thanks.
Agreed. Whether it is partially true, all true, or all fiction, they wouldn't allow it to be leaked unless it paid big dividends in advancing some social engineering plan, or some other scheme.
It a terrific justification for the Space Force. Think of
all the money we can blow on that. And it could be used to justify our stupid attempts at colonizing Mars.
"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"
The Space Goons is the name of my new band
I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right, and exercise.
But that was four hours ago when I was younger and full of hope.
There's no there, there.
With the demonstration of (Some Other Country's) missile defense systems (months ago, even) that far surpass everything the US has, the navy (in particular) is frantically rolling out / testing new stuff. SM-6 had a major failure just last week (Oops!). There's stuff flying all over that citizens don't know about (yet).
Stories about alleged aliens are a distraction, so that citizens should forget how behind our systems are, and to keep the paranoia level high. IMO, nothing to see here, as has been demonstrably the case so many times in the past.
“We may not be able to change the system, but we can make the system irrelevant in our lives and in the lives of those around us.”—John Beckett
Caucus 99 seems
to be in wide agreement on this issue.
Distract with fear and pumpup the military budget.
NYCVG
Distraction
"Stories about alleged aliens are a distraction, so that citizens should forget how behind our systems are, and to keep the paranoia level high. IMO, nothing to see here, as has been demonstrably the case so many times in the past."
Distraction, yes, but to hide newer weapons and capabilities by calling them "UFOs". The same happened with the F-117 'stealth fighter' in the late 1980's...this time they they are stoking the rumors. Notice that the "UFO's" are in "Restricted Airspace", military testing areas, which are offshore, and northern Nevada.
"I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” —Malcolm X
So good to see you Bisbonian !
And have the benefit of your musical avatar and analysis.
This will just happen every time DNC thinks it's won, won't it?
Remember October 2016? With the exceptions of Michael Moore, Rudy Giuliani, and Scott Adams, EVERYBODY was CERTAIN the White House was already as good as Hillary's - but we still needed to be afraid, because there were...CLOWNS IN PUBLIC!!!!!
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Caitlin Johnstone
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I have been rapping with buddies about Space Goons since my teenage years -- before I outgrew Robert Heinlein as sci-fi novelist. The only thing you know for sure about visitors from outside the solar system is that they can move fast, almost certainly faster than the speed of light. Violence? They might be millions of years ahead of us, but there is no reason to assume that they ever wanted to hurt anybody.
One other possibility is that they are not fast, just very, very old as they travel at sub-light speeds through the universe for time spans equal to many human lifetimes.
Beyond that, I would not place a bet that they don't know how to kill or don't intend to kill.
Caity's point about our military Smart Guys studying the "capabilities" of Space Goons is spot on -- the scheme is so transparently stupid as to pretty much "prove" that some serious bullshit is being pulled right now.
If we are being watched by Strange Visitors From Another Planet, and, if they are not hurting us, it is probably because it does not occur to them that we could bother them even if we wanted to -- notwithstanding these selfless UFO Whistleblowers and their successful lobbying effort to put this "National Security Issue" on the American Political Agenda.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
Roswell -- And what you should do if you ACTUALLY cared about ET
As several commenters have already said -- this is just click-bait for the media and a diversion from the collapse of American confidence in our governing and corporate overlords. I wish I could believe that ETs will save us as some here have said -- it's equivalent to the belief that Jesus will save us, which I also do not share. What really ticks me off is that WE CAN SAVE US. Climate change is a technical problem with a technical solution and the several trillion that Biden is already ponying up for, I am not entirely sure what, is enough to convert the US to renewables -- properly administered. (About two trillion to replace the electric grid with solar ... almost anyone who isn't afraid of large numbers can do that calculation with publicly available info ... but I digress.)
When I first started professoring in New Mexico in 2002, I met Charlie Moore, who worked on Project Mogul, which is responsible for the Roswell incident. I can vouch for the correctness of the Wikipedia account based on articles in Physics Today, and talking to Charlie.
Moore Obituary
Moreover, listening for Soviet nuclear tests from balloon platforms is exactly the sort of thing the national security apparatus would do. Even today, Los Alamos and Sandia labs in New Mexico have large land and satellite surveillance programs for nuclear testing ... details are secret but the existence of the programs is well known in the open science community.
I asked Charlie for the inside scoop on Roswell. He mentioned that they lashed up their balloon package with some cheap tape they bought in Chinatown. The tape was printed all along with Chinese characters. He didn't say what they translated to, but imagine tape you might buy at a party store. It could have been "Happy Birthday" or "Happy New Year". When he saw the wreckage of Roswell, Charlie recognized his balloon package, and his tape. There sure was alien writing on it all right. It was Chinese!
If you actually cared about ETs, you would be reading about exoplanets (>4000 served so far!), or contributing to SETI, or dedicating your home computer to SETI with SETI@Home. Astronomy is fascinating and talks to something deep in the human soul. Sadly Astrology and the UFO craze are perversions of this need -- but the powers that be don't care if you substitute a cheap imitation for the real thing. Well informed citizens are dangerous to the power elite -- as is well appreciated on C99. Well educated physicists like me are dangerous too, and historians are the most dangerous of all, it's why they need to be starved into submission.
Do not let the plutocrats divide us!
Excellent comment!
I beg to differ on who goes first. It is always the lawyers.
naturally, I am one, and I get to be silenced ahead of the physicists. I bet you are second round!
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
The importance of lawyers for the people.
Dear Cusp --
My Dad was a lawyer from the Bronx, and every time Bernie Sanders
speaks I think of him. I proudly carry my ACLU wallet card.
The wealthy use lawyers to great advantage -- but we the people
need them too! Don't give up the fight!
-- All the best
Do not let the plutocrats divide us!
The things I have in common with these
corporate lawyers is a license to practice and a bar card. That is all I can think of, right off the top of my head.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Everyone makes nasty lawyer jokes, now don't they?
I don't know if you ever had occasion to see Harvey Birdman: Attorney-At-Law, from Cartoon Network's era-defining lineup of late-night programming in the '000s?
If not, the 1-sentence summary would be "nearly the entire back-catalog of Hannah-Barbara characters satirize '90s/'000s law and politics in a legal firm/courtroom setting" - funny as hell (if you like that sort of thing), a relatively-refreshing reminder of when 1984 had taken over our country but not yet our minds, and most importantly, I think YOU may be able to find the eponymous lead especially relatable!
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Thanks for that! Maybe I can find some episodes.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
wm. shakespeare,
King Henry VI, Act IV
First, kill all the lawyers...
Yep.
Pol Pot did. Stalin and Hitler did.
It's historic tradition for conquerors.
"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981
Great comment!
I didn't know that about the 'writing' at Roswell. It makes perfect sense, of course. Great comment!
The UFO stuff amuses me, and saddens me. From an historian point of view, why weren't they spying on us back in Roman times? Medieval times? Any time before the advent of airplanes? There is so much more important to pay attention to in our world. If the PTB are scared of Russia and China, then admit it and get to work. Divert some of that money spent on military machinery that doesn't work, and apply it to space. Get NASA back, the way it was, not the way it is; farming out contracts to Bezos and Musk... what the heck?
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
NASA and Alien Writing
Yes ... the alien writing was mentioned in some of the news reports.
That it's actually Chinese is something that has probably not been
published anywhere else -- it's straight from Charlie.
Totally agree with you on NASA. In another example of companies privatizing
public value, I heard from NASA engineers that I collaborated with that when
Musk was getting SpaceX going they swooped in and doubled or more the salaries
NASA was paying to its experienced rocket designers. They thus hollowed out
NASA and benefitted from all the public investment that went into training these guys.
Yes ... we should totally get NASA back to the way it was. One thing you should know
is that NASA still funds a fair amount of Astrophysics and Geophysics research that is done
at Universities in the US. So, even in their crippled state, they are still a beneficial
force for science.
Nice doggie!
Do not let the plutocrats divide us!
Glad to hear that about NASA
Many years ago, when Darpa web was becoming the internet... ok, a bit later, around 1995 or so, I was approached by NASA to do some coding for them. I was really into Linux coding, GTK stuff, and I guess they thought I was a young-un and could move to Florida on a dime. But, I wasn't that young, I liked living on my farm, and doing my archaeology research and coding, so I declined. Sometimes I regret that.
I'm glad they are still funding a lot of research. That needs to continue, and grow!
Musk stealing NASA engineers, why am I not surprised? We are such an oligarchy now. It's so maddening.
The puppy, who is now 11 years old, sez Hi! Her name is Jaska, she's smarter than me, which isn't saying much sometimes!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
Quibble
Not a "white" guy - a Jew (whose father, no less, was extraordinarily reminiscent of my own grandpa).
Maybe that's why he was able to accomplish the risible feat of bringing down a mysterious superadvanced alien mothership with just a 1995 laptop and a few minutes of the ol' C++: "Jewish physics (the foundational underpinnings of the more recent field of 'Jewish CS')"?
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
That ol' color line sure wobbles a lot
Time was when "white" was short for "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant" (WASP), and "No Irish Need Apply", while anyone even a shade darker was as dirt beneath their feet.
The Irish bent it to include them by the surefire route of getting rich and gaining political power; the Italians followed suit, and Eastern European non-Jews (about the same time, or earlier). The Jews remain on the periphery and could potentially be "included out" again, depending on the international situation. (Moonbat's comment is a clear example of being "included out", whether s/he meant it that way or not.)
As for "Persons of Color", the very existence of the phrase perpetuates the existence of the "color line" and the delusion that some people will never be "worthy" of inclusion no matter what.
Meanwhile, people keep on doing what people do, which is why genealogical research keeps turning up "embarrassing" ancestral revelations....
Written, and should be read, with large doses of snark.
There is no justice. There can be no peace.
Valid Quibble
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I thought about identifying the Jeff Goldblum character as Jewish rather than white. I am willing to go out on a limb on this -- the screenwriter(s) for Independence Day made Goldblum and the character's father (played by Judd Hirsch) Jewish to play into the opposite end of anti-semitic prejudice: Archie Bunker thought that Jews were smart.
I went with "white guy" because it contrasted with the Hollywood Subtle Racism of having Will Smith (aka The Fresh Prince) being a big strong and violent dude with a stripper girlfriend in contrast to the intellectual triumph of Goldblum. Brawn (black) vs. Brains (white or Jewish).
The original Captain Kirk Star Trek had many examples of Hollywood Subtle (and not so Subtle) Racism. Science fiction is the ripe for the tendency.
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
"All Green Women Are Horny" "Black/Whites > White/Blacks"
Frankly, I think anyone who thinks this about science-fiction does so because that's all they care about looking for - and that's gotten worse, recently. No group is less bigoted than sci-fi/fantasy geeks, nor have done more to tear down the walls of bigotry. Even H. P. Lovecraft, whom the Twits love to beat up on for the unforgivable crime of being an early 20th-Century New Englander, deserves far more credit not for the bad influences he picked up from others, but from what he himself originated - the philosophy of cosmicism, which makes any sort of human-vs-human bigotry look INCREDIBLY petty and stupid (and Lovecraft himself seemed to figure that out eventually - his worldview broadened with age, and had he not died so tragically young, who knows what he could've become?).
We've gone back to bullying/scapegoating/spectacularly inaccurate defamation/waging ontocide against nerds because the corporate mainstream has held them in barely-concealed contempt for decades, worlds have collided to tragic effect as certain hobbies have grown and increasingly attracted both hoi palloi with weaponized inferiority complexes and sociopathic businessmen, and (and I suspect this may be a lot of what's really driving this) god forbid there ever be another Aaron Schwartz, right?!?
The pigs have had some surprisingly Malleus Maleficarum-worthy ideas about nerds for decades, now: https://slashdot.org/story/99/11/23/1712222/take-the-fbis-geek-profile-test
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Bless you, Moonbat.
For standing up for us.
There are, of course, a lot of different kinds of science fiction, and therefore a lot of different kinds of science fiction fans. Things like Independence Day and other "the aliens are coming to kill us but we'll stop them with our smart monkey brains and our pow-pows" are actually science fiction, and I could imagine that someone who likes that kind of science fiction might be bigoted (as in xenophobic) because often such stories are used as metaphors for actual xenophobia. But generally speaking, I think you're right.
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
We just happen to have this refrigerator magnet.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
That would be my best guess.
Looking out the window, saying, "Interesting planet. Too bad the people running the place are such bastards."
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver
if visitors from afar
are already among us, do they resemble humanoids?
this is RT.com's recent ouevre on the subject.
stephen hawking knew w/ certainty (/s) that other-wordly visitors would be akin to the Borg, not explorers nor helpers. ; )
Harry Reid saw 'classified' things at Area 51 that 'fascinated me', , Brendan Morrow, May 21, 2021
Brendan Morrow
May 21, 2021, 11:39 AM
'
This is easy
The aliens are the mutant descendants of Bezos, Musk and Zuckerberg travelled back in time. After messing up the Earth, they messed up Mars. Coming to our time they couldn't figure out how to save the future without wiping out their ancestors, so they pretty much just cruise around killing time. The super fast tic tacs and saucers are just leftover futuristic Amazon delivery vehicles.
Hilarious
And as likely as anything else!
If you're poor now, my friend, then you'll stay poor.
These days, only the rich get given more. -- Martial book 5:81, c. AD 100 or so
Nothing ever changes -- Sima, c. AD 2020 or so
@Snode LOL! Superfast tic-tacs
LOL! Superfast tic-tacs are Amazon delivery drones. Well done! "A" for satire!!
Do not let the plutocrats divide us!
This topic always reminds me
of the Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man"...
Rod Serling's adaptation of Damon Knight's story is an immortal classic of good TV. It's as likely as anything else, should those folks choose to actually contact us. Otherwise, I'm inclined to agree with the meme that stated "ride past and lock their doors"...
"Mostly harmless" was maybe a little inaccurate on the part of Douglas Adams. As a species, we've proven to be pretty good at conjuring up things that we can't put down.
Twice bitten, permanently shy.
LOL
"More for Gore or the son of a drug lord--None of the above, fuck it, cut the cord."
--Zack de la Rocha
"I tell you I'll have nothing to do with the place...The roof of that hall is made of bones."
-- Fiver