OMG, Bryce, I love you. I read the NY times, and it felt like waffling. It's as if they're getting ready to fall back on the wrong side of a fence that is too old and too long and not a functional barrier. Didn't that 2017 release say 'we have metamaterial' or a 'crashed ship' and then they retracted that? This whole thing is better than watching sports. I am on the edge of my seat wondering how they will flip the script back to it's just a weather balloon.

You can probably guess, I track the news on this. I do understand people make mistakes, like substituting universe for galaxy. Many people just don't remember simple astronomical terms. But there is some stuff that is just flat meanness:

Ryan Grim, on 'the Rising's piece 'Pentagon PSYOPS Dismisses Alien Tech' started his skepticism with "I reached out to my spirit guide..." I like comedy. I understand dark humor! Gallows humor can help turn a dark situation into something bearable. What he said was not that and it was uncalled for. He was not just insulting the audience, he was insulting our military people. David Fravor deserves respect. The video footage released can not be examined divorced from his testimony. His person, character, and testimony would hold up in a court of law. He and the other officers who witnessed were not channeling spirts, or smoking pot. They're flying our jets and risking their lives daily to keep us safe.

Adrienne Bankert (News Nation Now) "but many scientist are saying don't expect a Martian landing anytime soon..." Who said anything about Martians? Seriously, what scientist said 'Martian' cause I want to lay into them. Tyson? Let me talk to Tyson. No one is saying Martians! Was that just hyperbole, linking to the Orwell incident? There is no other contextual evidence in the report to link those two events, but reporters are still hyperlinking 'experiencers' with old tropes used to dismiss and ridicule people who are just wanting some common decency in unpacking something that is clearly being observed.

I wonder what a line up of common dismissive tropes would look like, accompanied by a list of names of journalist and scientist who are supposed to be unbias in their analysis and reporting but were clearly just disparaging others for not being as smart as they.

Sorry, I get really riled up. :)