The real story here is Donald Trump’s ongoing malice towards Barack Obama. And that’s not “news” it’s history and carved in stone. A secondary story is just how disinterested the public is in the topic of UFOs (or UAPs) and space aliens. We’ve had too many decades of Star Wars, Star Trek and X-Files for people to raise much of an eyebrow when Obama said on a podcast a few days ago that we were not alone. But Trump raised both eyebrows and it must have strained his brain. Raw Story:
During a Thursday gaggle on Air Force One, Fox News correspondent Peter Doocy asked Trump about Obama’s remarks.
“Barack Obama said that aliens are real. Have you seen any evidence of non-human visitors to Earth?” Doocy wondered.
Well, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that,” Trump replied.
“So aliens are real?” Doocy pressed.
“Well, I don’t know if they’re real or not,” Trump insisted. “I can tell you, he gave classified information. He’s not supposed to be doing that. He made a big mistake. He took it out of classified information. No, I don’t have an opinion on it. I never talked about it. A lot of people believe it.”
“Well, the president can declassify anything that he wants to. So if you want to make an announcement,” Doocy said.
“I may get him out of trouble by declassifying,” Trump concluded.
There you go, seeing Obama get in trouble is Trump’s constant dream. Meanwhile, Obama clarified to Instagram that it was his opinion, given the vastness of the universe, that we’re not the crown of creation (my phrase, not his.) Can you imagine a universe so boring that this species is the highest life form in it? No way. But for the moment we’re the highest life form that we can access. Klaatu and Gort haven’t landed on the White House lawn yet and I feel safe in guaranteeing they won’t do so during Trump’s term.
And if there are people four light years away on Alpha Centauri, I’ll bet they’re praying daily that we don’t develop interstellar space travel for a long long long time.
Yes the universe is vast and only a dumbass would reject the notion that intelligent life has/does exist elsewhere. It’s also likely some civilization have, like our own attained the ability to explore space both with unmanned and crewed spacecraft. It’s not the least bit crazy to think some may have learned how to travel at ‘warp’ speeds, or that spacecraft that could carry as many people as an ocean liner or aircraft carrier and have generations who’ve left their home planet have grown up on it. Living, learning and sending back info. on what they’ve found. (or not) Even improve their spacecraft!
Still, the distances are so vast the odds of two civilizations encountering each other are long. That doesn’t mean some aliens haven’t in times past checked us out. Just as if we don’t destroy our ability to live on this planet someday long in the future we too might be able to engage in interstellar travel. Even with a Star Trek type Prime Directive to allow civilizations less advanced than our own to develop, or not on their own.
I never actually read Arthur C. Clarke’s 2001, A Space Odyssey but I have the follow ups. I think there might well be more than just his imagination about serious entities that are made of energy, travelling the universe and leaving behind a means of checking in (the Monolith) and even leaving experiments. Not gods, as some of their experiments failed but still possessing knowledge and abilities we can’t imagine.
It’s a fascinating subject. But in the end we are a tiny little planet in a tiny (by astronomical standards) insignificant planet in a small and insignificant galaxy far from the center of the universe. A beautiful (as seen from space) blue and white ball, but Carl Sagan’s ‘Tiny Blue’ dot lecture and that picture of us from so far, far away gives me perspective.
I’ve not been without some arrogant moments in my life, but I’ve tried to be humble when I catch myself feeling bigger than my britches, and have usually been blessed with people I trust to put me in my place if needed. However I can say from the time I was very young and would look up at the night sky and all the stars I never thought we were alone in the vastness of space.
James Fox’s documentary “Moment of Contact” leaves no doubt. This UFO crash event occurred near Varginha, Brazil in 1996. One of the most moving segments is the testimony of a neurosurgeon, Dr. Italo Venturelli, who briefly examined one of the aliens at the Hospital do Dul de Minas. This facility now has a large plaque at its entrance memorializing the event. If you don’t watch the film, Chris Ramsay has an interview with Fox that covers it well:
I have an unusual indirect evidence of UFOs. The son of one of the Air Force pilots that chased a UFO long ago was a good friend of mine.
USAF evidence eludes CIA
https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/news/2007/11/02/usaf-evidence-eludes-cia/28587953007/
““Well, the president can declassify anything that he wants to. So if you want to make an announcement,” Doocy said.”
I suppose Drumpf forgot that HE said that a President could declassify anything (just by thinking it) as part of his laughable defense at stealing and removing classified government documents. Someone should remind President Obama of that so he could make a public statement along the lines of “Given President Drumpf’s own defense just 5 years ago that a President can declassify anything just by thinking it with regards to classified documents that he removed to Mar-a-Lago, I exerted my Presidential authority when I made my comment about aliens.”
Richard Feynman’s view.