Tag: House Oversight Committee UAP Hearing

Another Congressional Hearing on UAPs and We Still Don’t Know Who Was Driving That Thing

I just sat through the two and a half hour long House Committee Oversight and Accountability hearing dramatically entitled: “Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Exposing the Truth.” The impression I got is that somebody still thinks we can’t handle the truth.

This is the second congressional hearing on UAPs I’ve seen. I have to admit, I thought of Agent K’s line to a low ranking MIB agent in the movie Men in Black 3. It’s in the scene in front of what’s obviously a flying saucer as Agent J is administering a neuralyzer blast to the unlucky human witnesses, who will of course forget what they just saw:

“Check the composition of the fuel units and run a scan on the surface deposits. I want to know who was driving that thing.” Me too.

I don’t think this meeting was much different than the one last July. There were 4 witnesses, one of whom was Luis Elizondo (“I believe what I believe in.”). There were quite a few “I don’t know” and “I’d be happy to answer that question in a closed session” type of answers.

Dr. Gold was the scientist who seemed to play a role similar to retired Commander David Fravor played last year, with an engaging, good humored, “stick to the facts” demeanor.

Nobody talked much about the closed session meetings the previous group had after last year’s meeting, except to point out that the “overclassification” of information about UAPs continues and we still don’t know “…who was driving that thing.”

The AARO Finally Has a Website And is it Part of a Zero-Sum Game?

The All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) finally has a website—more than a year after it was formed.

It looks like there’s an intriguing message in the section “Coming Soon: US Government UAP-Related Program/Activity Reporting.” It says AARO will accept reports of UAP from current government employees who know of any programs or activities related to UAPs dating back to 1945.

One sentence tells you “This form is intended as an initial point of contact with AARO; it is not intended for conveying potentially sensitive or classified information.  Following the submission of your report, AARO staff may reach out to request additional detail or arrange for an informational interview.”

Several other sections provide further information and pictures and videos on UAP.

I wonder if all this is a reaction to the House Oversight Committee Hearing on UAP on July 26, 2023. Either the website has been under construction for all of last year and was just finished a couple days ago or it was just thrown together recently.

This makes me think of a couple of things, one is Dr. George Dawson’s blog post “Is This An Episode of the X-Files?” The other is an X-Files episode itself, “Zero Sum” which Sena and I just saw a couple of nights ago. We don’t remember seeing it when it first aired in 1997. You can read the Wikipedia article about the episode.

The gist of it is that Assistant Director Skinner makes a deal with the Smoking Man in which the latter will save Agent Scully’s life (she’s dying of cancer related to alien experiments) if Skinner hides the death of a postal worker who was killed by a swarm of bees carrying smallpox. This is part of a complex plot by a group called the Syndicate which is either trying to work with extraterrestrials to either exterminate the human race or save it (depending on which episode you watch) by using bees as a vehicle to transmit either smallpox or a vaccine to cure the Black Oil, which screws you up pretty bad. Part of this is my interpretation because the storyline sometimes is not clear about this to me.

Anyway, the back-and-forth actions and reactions of the characters, especially Skinner and the Smoking Man, are pretty good examples of a Zero-Sum game, loosely defined in that neither gets much of an edge on the other as they both try to counter each other’s efforts in what is probably just a power struggle from the Smoking Man’s perspective and a desperate effort to save Scully’s life from Skinner’s perspective.

Anyway, I wonder if the UAP reporters and the government (including the AARO) might be in some kind of zero-sum game. UAP reporters try to get the government to admit that Extraterrestrial Biological Entities (EABs) and Extraterrestrial spacecraft exist. But the government denies it. Neither side ever seems to get much further ahead of the other.

Maybe an Iowa State Fair Contest Would Settle the Score in UFO Flap

I just saw the news story about the whistleblower David Grusch a couple days ago. Apparently, Mr. Grusch’s personal medical record was obtained through the state of Virginia’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and released to the public. He was one of three people who testified recently at the House Oversight Committee hearing on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP). He reported that the Department of Defense (DoD) had knowledge of extraterrestrial craft and “biologics” (extraterrestrial bodies?).

This reminds me of one of the final comments by one of the other three witnesses, which is worth framing as a quote:

“Don’t make the fish bigger than it was.” — retired Commander David Fravor of the U.S. Navy.

The current director of the DoD organization for UFOs, Sean Kirkpatrick, PhD, who heads the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO), expressed his objection in no uncertain terms to Mr. Grusch’s testimony, calling it insulting.

Anyway, I had to learn a little bit more about the FOIA, and found out that in addition to the federal government FOIA, each state has its own FOIA process. I looked up the Virginia state FOIA, and usually personal medical records are one of the exempted files. Apparently, they can still release them.

I think this might be an attempt to discredit Mr. Grusch. I’m puzzled by the release of his medical history. I don’t know anything about specific protections for retaliation against whistleblowers, but I would think exposing anyone’s medical record would count.

Not to spread any more conspiracy theories, but what if this whole thing is a well-orchestrated complex distraction from the general shambles of our political system? It would tend to discourage other whistleblowers from coming forward. Maybe that’s the intent.

If politicians and people in general were to make a concerted effort to treat each other with civility, respect, and a sense of humor, maybe these embarrassing sideshows could be minimized.

I don’t know if UAP involve advanced civilizations from across the galaxy and I doubt it. In fact, I tend to think a quote from Men in Black would fit:

“Human thought is so primitive it’s looked upon as an infectious disease in the better galaxies.”

I’m pretty sure most ETs have been steering clear of us for a long time.

How about this: the Iowa State Fair is on now, and it runs from August 10-20. I haven’t checked this out with anyone at the Fair, but if we could persuade David Grusch and Sean Kirkpatrick to settle their differences by competing in one or more of the contests coming up in the coming week, we might be able to get them to shake hands and have some laughs. Sena and I have never been to the Iowa State Fair, but if this event could be added, I think we could swing a trip there.

I see that the Cow Chip Throwing contest is scheduled for August 16 at 11 a.m. That would be a knee slapper.

It’s too late to arrange for them to compete in the Monster Arm Wrestling contest, which is this Sunday. Could a special event be scheduled later?

How about a cribbage game? The Cribbage Tournament is on August 20, starting at 10 a.m. with registration and the games start at 11 a.m.  Now that would be special since Sena and I are fans of the game. David and Sean would have to learn how to play cribbage ahead of time, and it’s not that hard.

There are other events, but the guys need to get ready and decide soon so they can enter. And they should notify me so that Sena and I can make the trip to Des Moines and catch the action.

Both winner and loser should get free corn dogs.

The Empire Fires Back

I saw this reply tweet posted to the web. It was the reply of Sean Kirkpatrick, PhD, the director of the All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) in reply to the testimony of the witnesses at the House Committee’s UAP hearing on July 27, 2023. I’m not sure we’ll hear much more about it.

House Oversight Committee UAP Hearing Today

We watched the House Oversight Committee UAP Hearing today and it was one of the most interesting presentations we’ve seen in a long while.

I make fun of the topic a lot but I thought all the witnesses were credible. In my opinion, the most credible witness today was retired Commander David Fravor of the U.S. Navy. His sense of humor and down-to-earth (no joke intended) demeanor lent credibility to the issue of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena.

I especially liked Fravor’s advice for anybody reporting UAPs: “Don’t make the fish bigger than it is.

David Grusch, a former U.S. intelligence officer, often deferred answering certain questions because the answer would have meant revealing classified information. Ryan Graves, a former fighter pilot for the Navy, emphasized the need for a safe way to let military and civilian witnesses describe their encounters with UAPs.

There will likely be another meeting, one which would allow David Grusch to be more open to answering questions involving classified information.