Article  Stop wasting taxpayer money on UFOs? (government justification metrics)

(Sep 22, 2026 06:55 PM)C C Wrote: RANDOMLY GENERATED APOLOGIES: "But, but... It's not a military hazing ritual. There's a conspiracy to be uncovered."

"But, but.. We need to be epistemologically inclusive. Anecdotes and personal accounts / interpretations are important knowledge sources in some non-Western cultures. In general, the white supremacist establishment needs to expand beyond its narrow, biased boundaries." (Tribal critical race theory focuses on stories and values oral data as a primary source of information)
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Wasting money on UAPs
https://ddowdmuska.substack.com/p/wastin...-on-little

EXCERPTS: Will no one rid American taxpayers of the embarrassing farce that is the federal government’s pursuit of unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAP)?

For almost a decade, D.C.’s executive and legislative branches have squandered time and revenue on what used to be called unidentified aerial phenomena - and before that, unidentified flying objects. Along the way, more than a few people who should know better have lost their minds about aliens. (Or are they time travelers? Or interdimensional beings?)

[...] Solemnity notwithstanding, as an anonymous online critic explains, the council appears to be violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act. Signed by Richard Nixon, the statute “is clear: if the U.S. Government establishes or utilizes an outside group of experts for purposes of giving collective advice or recommendations,” it “must file a charter, adhere to open-meeting and public access requirements, announce its meetings via the Federal Register at least 15 days prior to each, and have a Designated Federal Official responsible for it.” In their rush to attain “a new understanding of our cosmic neighborhood,” Loeb et al. don’t seem to have pondered whether their “work” breaks the law.

Aw, who cares about the small stuff, when there’s extraterrestrials to be found? That’s been Washington’s posture since the dawn of the UAP imbroglio. The silliness started nearly nine years ago, amidst the holidays... (MORE - details)

I assume the money generated from UAP/UFO sightings like books, movies, tv series, costumes, conventions, jobs and whatever else actually creates federal revenues through taxation. Might as well stir the pot and reap the reward some more. I figure a lot less happens money wise should everything witnessed in the atmosphere be identified.

(Sep 23, 2026 01:27 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: Any aerial flying object that is detected on radar or seen to be flying in an airspace is an automatic threat.

Yah, that was arguably the original military concern and hopefully still is. But media coverage of the congressional committee circuses and any assembled research panels seem to rarely highlight that over the space alien interpretation craze.

U.S. government activity from 2017 to present: Beginning in 2017, a series of media disclosures, congressional hearings, and legislative actions brought renewed U.S. government attention to unidentified anomalous phenomena. The period saw the creation of dedicated investigation offices, the public release of military sensor footage, whistleblower testimony before Congress, and bipartisan efforts to mandate greater transparency around government-held UAP records.

(Sep 23, 2026 12:29 AM)Magical Realist Wrote: Except you'd have to be living under a rock to claim there's no body of evidence for UAPs. The very fact that the Pentagon has released 6 tranches of hundreds of UAP videos/accounts over the past few months exposes your false equivalence of UAPs to leprechauns. Ofcourse we all know ideological skeptics like you wake up every morning in a new world where no evidence of uaps has ever turned up. It's all part and parcel of your pseudo-scientific denialism--to just pretend you're ignorant of everything that's out there so you can keep mocking it like a 12 year old delinquent.

Titter.  I'm not ideological, unless scientific methods and empiricism is an ideology.  Wait, I just checked: it's not.  What evidence beyond grainy blobs in a video or photo frame are you speaking of?  Those are evidence of the U part - they are indeed unidentified.  But they don't meet the most minimal requirements for evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft.  Sagan's Law applies here. 

I could just as well point to thousands of photos of grainy blobs seen in forests, claim they are leprachauns, and badger Congress to fund a leprachaun investigation.  Nobody gets all huffy when it's suggested that said grainy blobs are likely to be animals or cosplaying humans.  But if we apply Ockham's Razor in finding earthly causes for UAP photos, the true believers just lose their lucky charms and brandish their angry shillelaghs.

Quote:But they don't meet the most minimal requirements for evidence of extraterrestrial spacecraft. Sagan's Law applies here.

I guess you and your little skeptic tribe still haven't gotten the memo that a uap is not defined as an extraterrestrial spacecraft. Hence the qualifier unidentified anomalous phenomenon. Unidentified and anomalous in the sense of NOT being anything natural or manmade and exhibiting characteristics that defy the laws of physics. You know, like little, and big, blobs of light speeding across the sky, coming to sudden stops, and zig zagging around with no respect to g-forces. Or like metallic spheres flying up to Mach 2 with no apparent means of propulsion or aerodynamic lift surfaces. Or gigantic underlit black triangles soaring over cities and military bases (see below). Hence all the research and congressional testimony into what these really are. Just like real science is supposed to do. Remember real science Vat, before you started waving the banner of dogmatic debunkery?

"Triangle UAP Reports in the Declassified Files

Afghanistan Sighting (2002): Part of the fifth release included a military pilot's account of a massive triangular object that blocked out the stars over Afghanistan.

Colorado Springs Sighting (2023): Files and FBI/Department of War digital renderings highlighted investigations into reports of a 100-foot triangular object hovering near a military base in Colorado, prompting inquiries into withheld cellphone footage.

General Sightings: The rolling disclosure—part of the transparency initiative via the Presidential Unsealing and Reporting System for UAP Encounters (PURSUE)—features multiple artistic renderings, witness reports, and documents noting triangular UAPs near sensitive defense sites."

(Sep 23, 2026 08:55 PM)Magical Realist Wrote: Unidentified and anomalous in the sense of NOT being anything natural or manmade and exhibiting characteristics that defy the laws of physics.

IOW, extraterrestrial. 9_9

Nobody ever mistook a uap skeptic for being very imaginative..

https://informationisbeautiful.net/visua...-theories/

Don't spend taxpayer money on your "imagination."

(Sep 23, 2026 10:06 PM)Syne Wrote: Don't spend taxpayer money on your "imagination."

Hypothesis-making and testing is standard scientific method. You remember science don't you?

(Sep 23, 2026 10:30 PM)Magical Realist Wrote:

(Sep 23, 2026 10:06 PM)Syne Wrote: Don't spend taxpayer money on your "imagination."

Hypothesis-making and testing is standard scientific method. You remember science don't you?

There is no testing going on, because no valid, scientific, and testable hypothesis is being made.
Just a bunch of "imaginative" guesses. That's not science.


Scientific literacy is amazing!

Quote:There is no testing going on, because no valid, scientific, and testable hypothesis is being made.

"Scientific testing of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAP) hypotheses relies on empirical data collection, statistical modeling, and calibrated instrumentation rather than anecdotal accounts.

Key Scientific Approaches to Testing UAP Hypotheses

Astrophysical & Historical Transients: Researchers analyze historical sky surveys to test correlations between unexplained phenomena and known events. For instance, a 2025 study in Scientific Reports analyzed Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS-I) data and found that unexplained optical transients were 45% more likely to occur within a day of historical nuclear testing.

Multimodal Sensor Networks: Projects like the Galileo Project bypass subjective eyewitness reports by deploying dedicated, calibrated networks of infrared cameras, radio sensors, and magnetometers to capture anomalous physical outliers in real-time atmosphere data.

Environmental & Spatial Modeling: Statistical and Bayesian analyses test whether public sightings correlate with environmental factors. Studies examining decades of UAP databases show strong spatial and visibility-driven correlations (such as airspace density, light pollution, and population center proximity).

Government Declassification & Data Integration: Official efforts—including ongoing Pentagon UAP file releases—and frameworks recommended by NASA's UAP Independent Study Team Report emphasize standardizing sensor metadata, leveraging artificial intelligence for outlier detection, and removing systemic data collection biases.

Natural Plasma & Atmospheric Models: Hypotheses regarding luminous orbs (such as those studied in Hessdalen, Norway) test whether localized thermal plasma balls or ionized air formations can explain hovering, silent, non-aerodynamic radar and visual objects without invoking extraterrestrial craft."

You were saying?