NEWS AND VIEWS
COULD IT BE THAT THOSE WHO DO IT FOR A LIVING
HAVE RUN OUT OF NEW CONSPIRACY THEORIES, AND HAVE HUMBLY COME BACK TO THE
CLASSICS? I HAVEN’T HEARD BIGFOOT IN AWHILE, EITHER. IT’S PROBABLY GOING TO BE
HIS TURN NEXT. REMEMBER, THIS IS FOX NEWS. ONE OF THE EARLIER ARTICLES ON THIS
SUBJECT IS AT: https://www.foxnews.com/media/rep-walker-tells-tucker-carlson-hes-concerned-over-reports-of-ufo-sightings-by-navy-pilots.
I WILL PLACE IT ALONG WITH OTHER RECENT MENTIONINGS BELOW THIS ARTICLE.
Published 19 hours ago (APPROXIMATELY 10:00 PM AUGUST
8, 2019)
Bernie Sanders pledges to reveal info on aliens if he wins in 2020
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., pledged that as president he would
disclose government information about aliens and unidentified
flying objects.
Sanders, one of the leading 2020 Democrats,
told podcast host Joe Rogan on Tuesday that his wife would "demand"
he tell people about the mysterious phenomena.
“Well
I tell you, my wife would demand I let you know," he told Rogan who asked whether Sanders
would disclose that information.
When Rogan asked whether his wife was
a UFO nut, he said she wasn't but said
she has previously asked him about the information he might have as a senator.
“No, she’s not a UFO nut. She goes,
Bernie, ‘What is going on do you know? Do you have any access?’"
“All
right, we’ll announce it on the show. How’s that?” Sanders later said after
Rogan pressed him on the issue.
His
comments came amid months of renewed attention given
to the issue. The Defense Department reportedly briefed Senate Intelligence Committee Vice
Chairman Mark Warner, D-Va., in June, along with two other
senators as part of what appeared to be heightened efforts to inform
politicians about naval encounters with unidentified aircraft.
Warner's
spokesperson indicated that the senator sought to probe safety concerns
surrounding "unexplained interference" naval pilots faced, according to Politico. The outlet reported
more briefings were being requested as news surfaced that the Navy revised its
procedures for personnel reporting on unusual aircraft sightings.
As
part of a program investigating the issue, Navy personnel reportedly told
Pentagon officials that they encountered aircraft that appeared to defy the
laws of physics and aerodynamics while in military airspace.
Navy
strike group pilots also reported seeing strange objects flying
above 30,000 feet at hypersonic speeds with no visible engine or infrared
exhaust fumes, according to the New York Times.
President Trump has said that he doesn't
believe UFO's exist but is open to the idea. "Well, I don't want
to really get into it too much. But personally, I tend to doubt it,"
he previously told Fox News host Tucker Carlson. "I'm not a believer, but
you know, I guess anything is possible."
FROM
RUSSIA WITH LOVE, OR CHINA, PERHAPS? FOR YOU YOUNG FOLKS OUT THERE WHO DON’T
RECOGNIZE THIS RUSSIA REFERENCE, HERE IS A HINT: “SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED.”
Published July 26
GOP lawmaker says he's 'concerned' over reported UFO sightings by Navy
pilots
VIDEO: What does the US military actually know about UFOs?
North Carolina Rep. Mark Walker
demands answers about the military's probe into UFO sightings.
Rep.
Mark Walker, R-N.C., told Fox News Friday that he is "concerned"
about recent reports by U.S.
Navy pilots
of encounters with unidentified aircraft that some have speculated could
be otherworldly.
"We
are concerned about it," Walker, a member of the House Homeland Security
Committee, said on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." "As the
ranking member of terrorism and counterintelligence, we have questions. It comes down to some of the new infrared
radar systems that we're putting on some of our new jets are detecting some
things out there."
In a letter to Navy Secretary Richard Spencer earlier this month, Walker
relayed his concerns and asked for more information on what
he referred to as unidentified aerial phenomenon (UAP).
Specifically,
Walker asked whether the Navy was still logging the reported sightings,
fully investigating the origins of the accounts, and dedicating resources
to track and investigate the claims.
Walker
also asked Spencer in the letter if investigators had "found
physical evidence or otherwise that substantiates these claims."
The
Pentagon confirmed the existence of a program to investigate UFOs in 2017,
but it is unclear if that is still operating.
The
New York Times recently
reported that Navy pilots said they saw “strange objects” with “no visible
engine or infrared exhaust plumes” flying at hypersonic speeds at an elevation
of 30,000 feet along the East
Coast.
Politico reported last month that
three senators received a briefing from the Pentagon on the encounters.
"There
must be theories about what these objects are what these aircraft are,"
Carlson told Walker. "What's the most plausible theory, do you
think?"
"We
don't know for sure," Walker said. "The question that we're wanting
to get to is, is this something that's a defense mechanism from another
country?"
WHAT
IS THE SPACEX STARLINK TRAIN? MAGICAL.
SPACEX
STARLINK 'TRAIN*
SpaceX Starlink satellite train at dusk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlkjMnWNjic –
ORION - NASA's Deep Space Exploration Spacecraft - Explained in Detail
YESTERDAY’S FOX NEWS HEADLINE ON SANDERS’
CLEARLY JOKING COMMENT ON THE NEW UFO SCARE, CAUGHT MY ATTENTION. IT STATES
THAT BERNIE REALLY AND SERIOUSLY ANSWERS QUESTIONS ON THE OLD FAVORITE
CONSPIRACY THEORY ABOUT AREA 51 AND UFOS; AND UNFORTUNATELY THAT IS ONE OF THE
TOP THREE HEADLINES FOR TODAY. IT’S ENOUGH TO MAKE ME BELIEVE THAT THE MEDIA
ARE TOTALLY DISHONEST. I ALWAYS GOOGLE ‘BERNIE SANDERS NEWS’ TO SEE WHAT POPS
UP. WHAT FOX HAS TO CONTRIBUTE TODAY IS OBVIOUSLY THE NEWEST VERSION OF THAT OLD FAVORITE CONSPIRACY THEORY, ALL SHINED UP LIKE NEW, AND ALMOST CERTAINLY
PUBLISHED BY FOX’S FAVORITE SOURCE, THE PETERSBURG LIE FACTORY. THEREFORE I
GOOGLED “JOE ROGAN SANDERS UFO,” AND GOT YESTERDAY’S LONG INTERVIEW. AT THE
VERY END OF IT, SURE ENOUGH, ROGAN DOES ASK HIM ABOUT FLYING SAUCERS AND
BERNIE, CLEARLY JOKING, SAID HE WILL BRING IT OUT INTO THE OPEN IF HE LEARNS
ANYTHING ABOUT IT. THIS IS THE WAY FOX NEWS TREATS NEWS. IF IT RALLIES THE
BASE, THEY’LL USE IT.
IN THIS VIDEO BELOW, BERNIE AND JOE ROGAN DO TRUE
REALITY THINKING TOGETHER. THIS IS BERNIE AT HIS BEST. ROGAN IS NEW TO ME, BUT I CERTAINLY DID ENJOY THE INTERVIEW. IT REMINDS ME OF THE
TIME IN THE NEW TESTAMENT WHEN IT SAYS THAT JESUS IS GATHERED WITH HIS
DISCIPLES AND INVITES, “COME, LET US REASON TOGETHER.” THAT HAS ALWAYS BEEN
BEAUTIFUL TO ME. IF ONLY MORE PARENTS WOULD USE THAT APPROACH, WE WOULD HAVE FEWER EMOTIONALLY LOST AND UNPREPARED YOUNG PEOPLE WHO "FIND THEMSELVES" IN A STREET GANG.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE VIEWING STATISTICS NUMBERS, THIS ONE PODCAST WHICH CAME OUT JUST TWO DAYS AGO HAS HAD NEARLY FOUR AND A HALF MILLION VIEWS, NEARLY TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND SHARES AND TWENTY SIX THOUSAND SAVES. THAT MEANS THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THESE ISSUES AND ARE VERY INTERESTED IN BERNIE HIMSELF. SOME SAY HE’S CRAZY, AND SOME SAY HE’S CRAZY LIKE A FOX. I’M IN THE LATTER CAMP. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SHOULD LOOK SERIOUSLY AT THIS. BEING ABUSIVE TO THEIR MEMBERS WON’T CONVINCE VERY MANY, AND IT WILL ONLY INTIMIDATE A CERTAIN KIND OF PERSON. SOME OF US WILL JUST WITHDRAW OUR MEMBERSHIP IN THE PARTY AND STOP GIVING MONEY. COME, LET US REASON TOGETHER.
IF YOU LOOK AT THE VIEWING STATISTICS NUMBERS, THIS ONE PODCAST WHICH CAME OUT JUST TWO DAYS AGO HAS HAD NEARLY FOUR AND A HALF MILLION VIEWS, NEARLY TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND SHARES AND TWENTY SIX THOUSAND SAVES. THAT MEANS THAT A LOT OF PEOPLE CARE ABOUT THESE ISSUES AND ARE VERY INTERESTED IN BERNIE HIMSELF. SOME SAY HE’S CRAZY, AND SOME SAY HE’S CRAZY LIKE A FOX. I’M IN THE LATTER CAMP. THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY SHOULD LOOK SERIOUSLY AT THIS. BEING ABUSIVE TO THEIR MEMBERS WON’T CONVINCE VERY MANY, AND IT WILL ONLY INTIMIDATE A CERTAIN KIND OF PERSON. SOME OF US WILL JUST WITHDRAW OUR MEMBERSHIP IN THE PARTY AND STOP GIVING MONEY. COME, LET US REASON TOGETHER.
ALSO, IF YOU WILL NOTICE, THE NUMBER OF NEW
PARTY CANDIDATES WHO AGREE ESSENTIALLY WITH BERNIE CONTINUES TO GROW. I
URGENTLY WANT TO SEE THE DEMS NOT ONLY MAKE PLACES AT THE TABLE FOR TRUE PROGRESSIVES
– NOT THE EXPEDIENT THINKERS ONLY -- BUT ALSO BRING IN A LARGE NUMBER OF NEW TABLES AND CHAIRS TO SEAT THEM ALL. PELOSI’S RECENTLY MAKING SNIDE LITTLE
HYPERFEMALE VERBAL ATTACKS ON THE FOUR NEW WOMEN OF COLOR IN CONGRESS, AOC AND OTHERS OF "THE SQUAD," SHOWS ATTITUDES THAT MAKE HER, JUST LIKE MITCH MCCONNELL, NO LONGER FIT FOR HER
CLEARLY OVERLY POWERFUL POSITION. I DON’T WANT HER LOCKED UP, BUT I DO WANT HER
OUT. HER WAY OF BOSSING THE CONGRESSIONAL DEMOCRATS MAKES US LOOK LIKE A
TOOTHLESS WATCHDOG. HER HOPE THAT WE WILL BEAT TRUMP IN THE BALLOT BOX IS
FOOLISH, IN MY VIEW.
AGAIN, THE PARTY DOES NOT REPRESENT THE
PEOPLE EFFECTIVELY BECAUSE OF ITS’ STRUCTURE AND MONEY-CENTERED WAY OF DOING
BUSINESS. THERE SHOULDN’T BE A NEED FOR A BERNIE SANDERS TO RING THE ALARM
BELL, AND THE INCREASINGLY NUMEROUS OUTSPOKEN AND REBELLIOUS CANDIDATES FOR
PRESIDENT IN 2020. THE PEOPLE NOT ONLY WANT MORE, THEY WANT SOMETHING
DIFFERENT. TO MITCH MC AND NANCY, PAY ATTENTION!
NOW, FOR YOUR ENJOYMENT AND EDIFICATION,
LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST OF “THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE.”
Joe Rogan Experience #1330 - Bernie Sanders
4,397,953 views
188K26KSHARESAVE
Published on
Aug 6, 2019
THIS IS A SANDERS BIO FROM A RIGHTIST NEWS
SOURCE -- WALL STREET JOURNAL. I NOTICE THE HEADLINE DISPARAGINGLY USES THE
TERM “TALES.” I NOTICE ALSO THAT THE WRITER USES THE TITLE “MR.” RATHER THAN
“SENATOR,” ALTHOUGH HE HAS BEEN IN CONGRESS AND THEN THE SENATE FOR MANY YEARS.
IS IT AN ERROR, OR A DIG? WHATEVER THEY MEAN AT THE WSJ, THIS ARTICLE IS FULL
OF INFORMATION THAT I HAVEN’T SEEN OFTEN IF EVER. VERY INTERESTING.
By
Eliza Collins
·
Aug.
9, 2019 9:45 am ET
By
Eliza Collins
Aug.
9, 2019 9:45 am ET
In
Shift From 2016, Bernie Sanders Shares More Personal Tales
Democratic
presidential candidate has been wary of talking about himself, but has changed
gears as his poll numbers have stalled.
PHOTOGRAPH -- Bernie Sanders,
standing, speaks on the first day of the Committee on Racial Equality's sit-in
at the office of University of Chicago President George W. Beadle in 1962. PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARY,
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS CENTER
Bernie Sanders is
finally getting more comfortable doing something that comes naturally to most
politicians—talking about himself.
Mr.
Sanders is sharing more personal stories now than he did during his first
presidential bid in 2016. But when the
Vermont senator occasionally talks about himself, he keeps his comments brief;
he remains far more private than the other top Democrats running for president,
most of whom eagerly share tales of their formative years in an attempt to
connect with voters.
Mr. Sanders
has said he would much rather talk about his vision for an overhaul of the U.S.
government than invoke stories of his childhood growing up in a working-class,
immigrant family in Brooklyn, or protesting as an activist while a student at
the University of Chicago. Advisers are urging him to do both—perhaps out of
necessity.
Mr. Sanders has
struggled to raise his support with Democratic voters, frequently trailing
former Vice President Joe Biden by double digits in national and state polls.
Meanwhile, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who has a similar progressive
agenda, has seen her support rise.
The liberal policies
that made Mr. Sanders unique in 2016 have since been adopted by some others in
the field. So something in his approach may need to change.
“He’s a victim of his own
success, in that many of his policies are now standard orthodoxy within the
party. So he’s gotta find different ways to talk about them; one way is
reflecting on his past experiences,” said Jim Manley, a
Democratic strategist who worked for former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Mr. Manley has been critical of Mr. Sanders over the years, but is open to
supporting him.
Former Ohio State Sen.
Nina Turner, a co-chair of the 2020 campaign, framed the two campaigns this
way: “2016 was the mission, 2020 has to be about the man, what drives the man
to have this mission that sets him apart from any other candidate.”
Among the Democratic
Party candidates polling closest to Mr. Sanders, all have anecdotes they bring
up repeatedly in speeches. Mr. Biden shares a story of his father telling him
he was unable to pay for him to go to college. Ms. Warren talks about seeing
her mom get ready before going to get a minimum-wage job for the first time
when her father couldn’t work. Sen. Kamala Harris of California recalls being
the second class in a desegregated school and growing up surrounded by adults
who were activists.
Ms.
Turner said Mr. Sanders doesn’t like to talk about himself, and he will never
be the type of candidate to package personal history into a sound bite for
campaign speeches. His campaign slogan
is “Not me. Us.” And if he goes too far in trying to humanize himself, Mr.
Sanders risks appearing inauthentic.
But
if the political moment calls for it, the 2020 version of Mr. Sanders has shown
a willingness to share slivers of his personal story.
PHOTOGRAPH
-- Bernie Sanders, right, member of the steering committee of the Committee on
Racial Equality, stands next to University of Chicago President George W.
Beadle in 1962. PHOTO: UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO LIBRARY,
SPECIAL COLLECTIONS CENTER
One such event came Monday after a
bloody weekend of mass shootings in
Texas and Ohio where at least 31 people were killed
and dozens of others were injured. The
shooting in El Paso is being treated as a case of domestic terrorism after
authorities said the perpetrator appears to have written an anti-immigrant
manifesto.
“When
we look at El Paso for example, we understand that the killer there was
motivated by a strong hatred of immigrants.… My father came to this country
from Poland at the age of 17 without a nickel in his pocket, couldn’t speak
English, and he had not much education, so I know a little bit about being in a
family of immigrants,” Mr. Sanders said Monday at the Latino advocacy group UnidosUS’s annual conference in San
Diego.
Jeff Weaver, a senior
adviser to Mr. Sanders, who managed his 2016 campaign and has worked with Mr.
Sanders on and off since 1986, said this campaign cycle is the most Mr. Sanders
has ever talked about himself, and when he does, it is usually triggered by
specific events.
“There
are moments which evoke his own life experiences that are relevant to the issue
at hand, and he speaks to them,” Mr. Weaver said. Mr. Sanders’s father left
Poland to escape poverty and anti-Semitism. Much of his remaining family was killed in the Holocaust, and people in
his immigrant neighborhood were also affected, so Mr. Sanders “has felt the
oppression of white supremacy in a very direct way.”
After
51 people were killed at two
mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March, Mr.
Sanders recalled crying as a child reading books about what happened during the
Holocaust, as he struggled to understand how people could hurt one another.
Mr. Sanders has been
working to raise his support with minority voters. A late-July national
Quinnipiac Poll found Mr. Biden getting 53% of African-American Democrats in
the primary contest, while Mr. Sanders was a distant second, with 8%, followed
by Ms. Harris with 7%.
Mr. Sanders has a long
history of civil-rights activism, including being arrested for protesting
segregation as a student in the early 1960s and attending Martin Luther King
Jr.’s March on Washington. During a rally in Chicago in March, Mr. Sanders said
his time in Chicago brought him into the civil-rights, labor and peace movements.
It also got him involved in electoral politics, all experiences he said
“significantly shaped my life.”
Rep.
Ro Khanna of California, a co-chair of Mr. Sanders’s campaign, said Mr. Sanders
is sharing more than ever, but he doesn’t need to open up to the level of some
other politicians.
“A lot of times, people
have to share their personal stories because people want to understand what are
their values, where are they coming from,” Mr. Khanna said. “I don’t think
there’s any person in American who doubts his values and convictions.”
During the first
round of Democratic debates in Detroit, candidates split over what shape the
U.S. health care system should take. Photo: Getty
AFTER YESTERDAY’S SOMEWHAT SNARKY COMMENTS ON
SANDERS AND THE ROGAN INTERVIEW, THIS PIECE FROM YAHOO NEWS CALLS IT A SUCCESS. HE IS DOING WELL AT IMPROVING HIS CONTACTS WITH THE PEOPLE WHO WENT FOR TRUMP, WHICH IS ONE OF THE GOALS HE WAS AIMING FOR. POSITION IN THE POLLS IS IMPORTANT, BUT PERSISTENCE IS MORE IMPORTANT. I
THINK ELDERLY PEOPLE WILL HAVE TO PROVE TO MANY OF THE YOUNG, AND EVEN THEIR PEERS, THAT THEY ARE NOT
JUST STUFFED SHIRTS, NO LONGER ABLE TO THINK ON THEIR FEET AND OTHERWISE
BORING. IF THERE’S ONE THING BERNIE ISN’T, IT’S “BORING.” THIS PODCAST
FEATURING SANDERS WAS, AT LEAST FOR A FEW DAYS, THE “NO. 1 TRENDING VIDEO ON YOUTUBE.” FOR SOMEONE WHO
HAS AN IDEA OF JUST HOW LARGE THE YOUTUBE OFFERING IS, THIS IS IMPRESSIVE.
Health care, weed
and aliens: Bernie's visit with Joe Rogan a success
Christopher Wilson, Senior Writer
Earlier this week when his campaign swung through Los Angeles,
Sen. Bernie Sanders sat down for an interview with Joe Rogan, the podcast host,
standup comic and MMA commentator. His show, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” is
known for its huge following (nearly 6 million YouTube subscribers), eclectic
guest list and long conversations that can sometimes reach three hours.
Published Tuesday, the Sanders interview outlining his platform has already
reached 6.1 million views and spent part
of the week as the No. 1 trending video on YouTube.
Sanders is
the third Democratic candidate to go on Rogan’s show this cycle, joining
entrepreneur Andrew Yang (who credited the appearance with boosting his campaign in its early days) and
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii. The Sanders video already has far more views than
the Yang (3.4 million) and Gabbard (2.2 million) interviews.
IMAGE -- Bernie Sanders on “The Joe Rogan Experience”; an alien. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: YouTube, Getty Images)
IMAGE -- Bernie Sanders on “The Joe Rogan Experience”; an alien. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: YouTube, Getty Images)
Rogan has been
criticized for opening his large platform and noncombative
interview style to individuals who push “alt-right” ideologies, including
conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who has appeared on the show multiple times.
However, many progressives have lauded Sanders for reaching out to an audience
that likely has not heard his policies before. As Luke Savage
writes in the leftist magazine Jacobin, “By appearing on the show,
Sanders successfully exposed Rogan’s audience to left-wing ideas many have
probably never encountered before, without the compromising filter usually
applied to them by the mainstream media or the typical bad-faith actors on the
right.”
The reviews for
Sanders’s appearance, both in the YouTube comments and on Reddit, are
overwhelmingly positive, citing Sanders’s answers about money in politics,
health care reform, mental health and legalizing marijuana. Although perhaps
the main takeaway came from the interview’s final question and the senator’s
promise that he would go back on Rogan’s
show to tell the truth about aliens were he elected president.
PHOTOGRAPH -- Joe Rogan, host of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” (Photo: via YouTube)
PHOTOGRAPH -- Joe Rogan, host of “The Joe Rogan Experience.” (Photo: via YouTube)
“One last question: If you got into the office and found
out something about aliens, if you found out something about UFOs, would you
let us know?” asked Rogan.
Laughing, Sanders said that his wife would demand he let
the public know but that he didn’t have any access to records in his current
position.
“You don’t have any access?” said Rogan.
“Honestly,
I don’t,” replied Sanders.
“But you’ll let us know?” asked Rogan one more time.
“We’ll announce it on this show, how’s that?” concluded
Sanders.
This isn’t the
first time aliens have been in the headlines this summer, as a viral (and farcical) Facebook event planning to storm
Area 51 — a U.S. military facility in Nevada where some
conspiracy theorists say alien technology is being kept — grew so big that the
Pentagon actually issued a statement warning against it. Former Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta have also
expressed interest in aliens, with Reid funding the Advanced Aerospace Threat
Identification Program, which from 2007 to 2012 investigated unexplained aerial
sightings.
The Sanders
campaign didn’t respond to a question from Yahoo News about whether the Vermont
lawmaker had seen any noticeable boost in new donors after his interview with
Rogan.
It is not the
first time during this campaign Sanders has attempted to reach a different
audience. He received
positive reviews for his Fox News town hall in which he rallied
the crowd in support of his Medicare for All plan. The event drew the ire of President Trump,
an avid viewer of the network who counts many of its hosts as counselors.
“What’s with
@FoxNews?” Trump tweeted at the time.
ABOUT THOSE SPACE ALIENS, THERE IS BACKGROUND
FROM THE LAST FEW MONTHS. I AM MERELY PICKING UP A FEW OF THE STORIES, BUT READERS
CAN INVESTIGATE THE “ISSUE” FOR THEMSELVES IN GREATER DEPTH. THE YAHOO ITEM BELOW,
HOWEVER, REALLY HAPPENED. LONG LIVE THE INTERNET!!
'Let's see them
aliens': The Facebook group is a joke, but the Pentagon takes plans to storm
Area 51 seriously
The truth is out there — or at least that's the belief the viral, and farcical, Facebook event "Storm Area 51" is peddling.
Late last
month, an event named “Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us” popped up on
the social media platform, searching for recruits to meet in Amargosa Valley
and rush an area named Area 51, part of the Nevada Test and Training Range,
where conspiracy theorists allege the U.S. government is engaged in
extraterrestrial research.
The group was
started by a public meme page and a Twitch video game streamer who goes by the
screen name SmyleeKun. Over the ensuing weeks, 1.6 million people RSVPed to
claim they’re attending the event, scheduled for Sept. 20 at 3 a.m., and
another 1.2 million have said they’re interested.
“If we naruto
run,” reads the event page, referencing an anime meme of running with your head forward
and arms back, “we can move faster than their bullets. Let’s see
them aliens.”
"Hello US
government, this is a joke, and I do not actually intend to go ahead with this
plan,” reads a disclaimer on a
pinned post outlining a strategy for storming the base. “I just
thought it would be funny and get me some thumbsy uppies on the internet."
SEE WEBSITE: Image from the "Storm Area 51" Facebook group outlining a mock plan of attack.
SEE WEBSITE: Image from the "Storm Area 51" Facebook group outlining a mock plan of attack.
Classification
policy and national security expert Steven Aftergood said the idea of storming
Area 51 was a “social media concoction” and cast doubt that droves of people
would show up to the site, for reasons not least of which is the base’s
isolated, arid location.
“Those that try
to reach it will find that it is remote, rugged and quite far removed from
public roadways,” Aftergood told Yahoo News. “People will need plenty of water,
good health insurance, and possibly a lawyer.”
While those in
the group are having a laugh about the idea of investigating extraterrestrial
activity, the military says it’s aware of the event and is taking it seriously.
“The United
States Air Force is aware of the Facebook post,” said an Air Force spokesperson
in a statement to Yahoo News. “The Nevada Test and Training Range is an area
where the Air Force tests and trains combat aircraft. As a matter of practice,
we do not discuss specific security measures, but any attempt to illegally
access military installations or military training areas is dangerous.”
“Any attempt to
illegally access the area is highly discouraged,” said Staff Sgt. Joshua
Kleinholz of Nellis Air Force Base, which oversees the area that
includes Area 51. “Just like any military installation, there are different
levels of security, depending on what has been picked up and what has been
detected. And, obviously, the degree of response may escalate depending upon
the perceived threat.”
PHOTOGRAPH -- Warning signs at the restricted boundary to Area 51 on an unmarked dirt road near the town of Rachel, Nev. (Photo: Larry MacDougal/ZUMA Wire)
PHOTOGRAPH -- Warning signs at the restricted boundary to Area 51 on an unmarked dirt road near the town of Rachel, Nev. (Photo: Larry MacDougal/ZUMA Wire)
Retired U.S. Army Col. John Alexander, who wrote a book investigating myths and
conspiracy theories surrounding UFOs, believes that the threat may not register
with some who buy into the conspiracy of Area 51. Alexander said that naivete
within the UFO community may render some vulnerable enough to forgo official
warnings in pursuit of some intangible “truth.”
“While 95
percent of the people signed up won’t go, the real danger is that a few might,”
he said. Alexander speculated that any potential intruder would be nabbed by
the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department before things got violent.
Still, in the
unlikely event an individual was able to skirt local authorities, things could
get ugly — fast. “If somebody got far enough, that’s a PR nightmare for
everybody,” added Alexander. “Any physical attempt to get in will be
disastrous.”
The 2.5 million
participants in the group appear to be mostly in it for the memes, but there
are at least some people inquiring about a visit that weekend. Connie West,
co-owner of the Little A'le'Inn in Rachel, Nev., has said she’s received an
unusually high level of interest for the night of Sept. 20, and
that she hasn’t seen
this much excitement in 31 years of ownership.
PHOTOGRAPH -- The Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel, Nev. (Photo: David Becker/ZUMA Wire)
PHOTOGRAPH -- The Little A'Le'Inn in Rachel, Nev. (Photo: David Becker/ZUMA Wire)
Other
non-alien-themed hotels in nearby Pahrump, Nev., told Yahoo News they hadn’t
seen any increase in demand for that night. An employee at Motel 6 in Beatty,
Nev., said the property had recently received inquiries about rates that night
but still had plenty of vacancies.
Conspiracy
theories about the U.S. government covering up alien activity dates back to the
1947 crash of a
high-altitude balloon in Roswell, N.M. The government didn’t
reveal until decades later that the crash was of an unmanned craft that was
part of a top-secret program to monitor Soviet weapons tests. In the meantime,
UFO theories grew up around the incident.
Adding to the
conspiracy was that the government for decades denied even the existence of
Area 51. In 2013, a Freedom of Information Act request by George Washington
University confirmed the Mojave Desert facility’s existence.
The university
posted the declassified CIA report showing the U-2
spy plane was tested and operated at the base. According to the
report, President Dwight D. Eisenhower “approved the addition of
this strip of wasteland, known by its map designation as Area 51, to the Nevada
Test Site” in 1955.
There has been
a steady trickle of new UFO-related information released by the government in
recent years. In May, the New York Times
reported that the Navy had updated its protocols for reporting
“unexplained aerial phenomena” after a series of mysterious sightings off the
East Coast. In 2017, the same reporters published a
story about how former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of
Nevada had pushed for funding for the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification
Program, which from 2007 to 2012 investigated unexplained aerial sightings. And
documents showing the British military had a UFO desk tracking sightings were released in 2013.
VIDEO STILLS -- Stills from a Department of Defense video footage of a mysterious object intercepted by a USN F/A-18 Super Hornet in 2004. (Photo: Department of Defense)
VIDEO STILLS -- Stills from a Department of Defense video footage of a mysterious object intercepted by a USN F/A-18 Super Hornet in 2004. (Photo: Department of Defense)
“I’m
not embarrassed or ashamed or sorry I got this thing going,” said Reid in a
2017 New York Times interview. “I think it’s one of the good things I did in my
congressional service. I’ve done something that no one has done before.”
Those stories
have only fueled interest in the search for answers, according to Jan Harzan,
the executive director for the Mutual UFO Network, known as MUFON. The
nonprofit volunteer group has tracked
alleged sightings over the past 50 years, similar to the work of
the Air Force’s Project Blue
Book, a classified program that started in 1952 and counted
more than 12,000 UFO sightings over its 17-year existence, with hundreds still
unexplained.
Harzan told
Yahoo News that membership has ticked up since the New York Times revealed the
Pentagon’s investigation unit, along with the calls from production companies
looking for the next popular cable series investigating extraterrestrials.
While Harzan is
happy with the increased interest, he advised that attempting to rush Area 51
“would be about the dumbest thing you could do,” foreseeing the most likely
potential results as needing a lawyer and spending some time in jail.
“I wouldn’t
even touch the fence because my understanding is even if you touch the fence
they’ll come haul you away,” said Harzan, who was skeptical many people would
actually show up. “I do think it’s good in the sense that it’s telling our
leadership — the president, Congress — that the U.S. citizenry really wants to
know what the heck is going on,” he said.
The belief in a
cover-up about UFOs and extraterrestrials goes beyond the recent interest in
the Facebook event, as large number of Americans have said they think the
government is hiding something about UFOs. A YouGov poll
released earlier this month found 28 percent of Americans said
it was "very likely" the government knows something about UFOs that
is not being shared with the public, while another 26 percent found it
"somewhat likely." A 2016 survey from
Chapman University found that 42 percent of Americans thought
the government was covering up what it knows about alien encounters.
PHOTOGRAPH -- A car moves along the Extraterrestrial Highway near Rachel, Nev., the closest town to Area 51. (Photo: Laura Rauch/AP)
PHOTOGRAPH -- A car moves along the Extraterrestrial Highway near Rachel, Nev., the closest town to Area 51. (Photo: Laura Rauch/AP)
In
addition to Reid, other powerful politicos have expressed an interest in Area
51. John Podesta, who served as Bill Clinton’s deputy chief of staff, has long been
interested in the government releasing what it knows about
extraterrestrials,having reportedly “been
known to pick up the phone to call the Air Force and ask them what's going on
in Area 51." Podesta also served as Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman in
the 2016 presidential election.
When Hillary
Clinton was asked during the campaign if she would, if elected president,
disclose government files on Area 51, she said, “I want to open the files as
much as we can.”
“I don’t know,” said Clinton when
asked if she herself believed in UFOs. “I want to see what the
information shows. There’s enough stories out there that I don’t think
everybody is just sitting in their kitchen making them up.”
President
Trump, on the other hand, appears to be far more skeptical.
"I did
have one very brief meeting on it," Trump told ABC News
chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview that aired
last month. "But people are saying they're seeing UFOs. Do I believe it?
Not particularly."
COMPOSITE IMAGE: Facebook and Area 51. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: David Becker/ZUMA Wire, AP)
COMPOSITE IMAGE: Facebook and Area 51. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: David Becker/ZUMA Wire, AP)
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