Great shot! Is it me, or does it have an expression reminiscent of Chicken of Chickenthoughts?

Looks like a wasp pretending to be a fly, really. Might just be the Beedrill shape it kind of has.

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For a moment, I thought this was a cryptid instance and briefly wondered what level of crazy believes that Bigfoot will put you in the ground if you don't believe in him.

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Man, I had such high hopes for Anthony Mackie. He's been great in everything else. Can't out-act bad writing, though.

Depends on your situation, I will admit, but I think I have a different definition of "pointless" from you, and from what I can tell, from most. I was definitely the odd man out for preferring to manage my life in a fashion that let me prefer my time at home over my time at work.

It was a common mentality there, which was amazing to me, considering it was a union job. But it turned out that was part of the problem, since unions guarantee overtime allowances.

I eventually realized it was because quite a few people were determined to take as much overtime as possible out of pure greed. They seemed to often believe they were somehow getting one over on management by working overtime. They didn't really need the money, and they truly didn't care about how little time they spent living their lives versus working. Getting two hours of time and a half meant more to them than any evening spent at home.

There were those that needed to pay their bills, but they were rare and completely overshadowed by the greedy. The majority of overtimers just wanted more money and less time at home.

The truth was most of the greedy were committing massive time clock fraud during their overtime and were relying on one another to keep the lie going that the overtime was needed. Then, anyone who didn't want the overtime was considered a threat to their profit margins, and so was treated with contempt.

Management knew, but didn't care, because employees selling their bodies was barely the cost of business. I mean, a single fastener, of which we would scrap hundreds without a care, would cost the company more than an hour of a full-time floor worker on double time and a half. It was worth more to them to keep butts in seats feet on the floor (just remembered that before I left, they took all the chairs away to keep people from sitting so much...) and eyes on the machines than it was to try and stop people from abusing the overtime system.

Overtime in manufacturing isn't going to make anyone a millionaire, but you might be convinced otherwise from how they behave. The money was amazing for manufacturing, the best you can get really, but it will never be enough to make me willing to miss time with my family.

While I generally approve of the actions Congress is taking on this topic, and I am very interested in all this UAP business, I actually agree with a lot of his sentiment. I mean, my god, why couldn't it be healthcare or UBI they united on... This might be a good step, but, people are also literally dying right now that Congress could be actively saving, and I'm not referring to anything UAP related with that. We have massive systemic issues, so this UAP stuff can feel like a slap in the face to people that are suffering. For example, my wife and I are being forced out of our home next year due to uncontrolled rent increases in our area. I'd be very inclined to be (more) furious at Congress as well if I wasn't a sucker for scifi.

EDIT: I also couldn't reply directly to him, for whatever reason. Just lemmy things, I guess.

The 4chan UAP larper.

A fun read, even if it's as substantial as smoke. The writer does his best to connect the dots of all the recent UAP news and sightings that have been happening. Still, his posts helped drive a fair bit of the engagement surrounding current events. The air of anonymity from places like 4chan really captures the imagination.

My personal favorite.

Difficult to explain, and the writer shows some fear that seems appropriate for the time period. The writer doesn't speculate as to what they saw out of fear of reprisal from God, and otherwise seems terrified in general. Also written accounts are rare.

I think we should remember, however, that humanity can be pretty creative from our own perspective. Look at Hollywood for the things we're capable of dreaming up, and then bear in mind that humanity has had that creative spark for its entire lifespan. There's a surprisingly good chance that the whole aliens thing is a phantom in the human gestalt, something that enough of us have wished to be real and enough others have hoaxed into life that it now has a life of its own.

Coulthart asked him specifically about Kirkpatrick's statements that there is "no credible evidence" for any extraterrestrial technology.

I just rewatched the relevant clip from the Coulthart interview. Grusch stated that he knew Kirkpatrick for 8+ years, before AARO. He stated specifically that he informed Kirkpatrick in an attempt to draw attention, and that Kirkpatrick never followed up with him. He goes on to say that Kirkpatrick could have done all the same investigations that he, Grusch, had, but chose not to for whatever reason.

So not AARO generally, but Kirkpatrick specifically is who Grusch referred to. I amended my comment to compensate for my bad memory.

No way to migrate posts and comments, is there? It'd be a shame to lose the little spark that was already here.

Grusch claimed early on that he had tried to reach out to AARO specifically Kirkpatrick, before AARO existed, for years before the whistleblower hotline came available. He also claims he tried repeatedly leading up to his tapping the hotline, and he was routinely ignored. This unfortunately tracks with AARO’s public face Kirkpatrick; they have expressed more than once that they do not follow up on the majority of tips they receive as they discount them as “not credible.”

It’s his word against Kirkpatrick, in this case, and Kirkpatrick has not shown a great deal of willing, or even interest, in this regard.

EDIT: Since this is a repost on this new instance, I'm reposting this comment. Also, in the other instance, someone pointed out some flaws in my remembering, and I have amended them here. AARO didn't exist at the time Grusch claims he was reaching out to Kirkpatrick.

Man, Coulthart... needs to stop talking so much. He's already been wrong a few times about things he said were definitely coming, and the more he speculates, the more he erodes his credibility.

He got the Grusch interview. I don't believe anything he has said since has been particularly relevant or accurate, and he's making a great deal of money off of all of this.

But hey, maybe he does know something. We can but hope.

This is what has Congress so interested, more than the possibility of aliens. There's a chance that this could lead to tracking down the trillions in missing taxpayer money that the Pentagon has "lost" over the years.

EDIT: Except Burchett, I think that guy really wants it to be aliens.

Grusch claimed early on that he had tried to reach out to AARO *specifically Kirkpatrick, not AARO, for years before the whistleblower hotline came available. He also claims he tried repeatedly leading up to his tapping the hotline, and he was routinely ignored. This unfortunately tracks with AARO's public face Kirkpatrick; they have expressed more than once that they do not follow up on the majority of tips they receive as they discount them as "not credible."

It's his word against Kirkpatrick, in this case, and Kirkpatrick has not shown a great deal of willing, or even interest, in this regard.

"You think I want to be here? You think I want to work all these hours? I have a wife and new kid at home, you think I don't want to be spending time with them?!"

That is a direct quote from a former coworker at a well-known manufacturing company notorious for overworking their people on the floor. He was ranting about how offended he was by other people not volunteering to take overtime.

I was... confused by his statements. The overtime he was referring to was entirely voluntary, no one had to volunteer. The company was facing a nasty downturn and there was barely enough work to go around as it was. But he was furious at the idea of people refusing to work literally pointlessly, taking time away from their loved ones. The absolute contempt in his voice was striking, and I remember it clearly years later.

I wanted to turn around and tell him, "No, it doesn't sound like you do?" but I felt he was already hurting enough.

It's much more complicated than that, unfortunately. I've been following this for some time, purely for my own entertainment.

This primarily started with the Nimitz Incident, when the military released official video of what they claim is unknown technology. This received little attention, except for civilians taking interest and making it heard. Fravor, for example, was brought on talk shows to give his account.

Not much was then heard for a few years, until a new whistleblower hotline was implemented, ostensibly for the sake of digging up dirt on Democrats.

David Grusch's story is that he has been working for UAP-adjacent programs for some time, and in his career, has heard a number of very disturbing secrets. Claiming he's a boy scout, he has used this new whistleblower hotline to try and drag this out into the light, and he claims he has names and locations of ET material, as well as direct knowledge of the location of massive amounts of taxpayer money that the Pentagon "lost." To use a metaphor, a net that was meant for minnows may have caught a shark, and Congress has finally taken notice.

Now others are following his lead in using the whistleblower hotline. The other two in the hearing have similar stories and testimonies, and all three have staked their reputations and careers on this, to whatever end that means. According to Grusch, he has already been targeted and is currently being protected from further retaliation.

The purpose of the hearing was to put their testimonies into official record, which is VERY interesting, given how outlandish their claims are. This is the first time such testimonies were given credence.

Also very interesting, during the hearing, Matt Gaetz weighed in with a testimony of his own. Cautiously putting politics aside, Gaetz has, at the very least, said some VERY strange things for any sitting representative to say. He has risked being labeled a full on loon for this, which while not totally devastating for a Republican these days, I don't imagine is exactly preferred.

This is some of the most extraordinary events related to UFOs and aliens in many decades, even if you ignore the endless sea of bullshit that surrounds the UFO community.