Mick, I know we discourage purely speculative threads here, but I hope speculative conversation about our "big picture" theories regarding this subject can be allowed since it seems to me that there aren't many quick, simple, straightforward ones that explain it all neatly.
Lots of people would say that they have seen such evidence -- they have seen videos on YouTube, or seen a strange light in the sky. They are not lying, though they seem to have a lower standard of evidence than some of us. It is certainly possible that a Senator or Representative or other government official has seen the leaked Navy videos we've all seen, or a classified video of a similar nature, and has concluded they have seen evidence that suggests UAPs are aliens/interdimensionals/spirits/etc.
I do not point that out to speculate as to whether that is in fact the case, that that is the sort of evidence that they have in fact seen, but to point out that -- just like everybody else -- while capable of lying or exagerating, they can also be honestly mistaken, they can be overly impressed by evidence that would not stand up to careful scrutiny, they can be prone to belief in such things (certainly it seems that Burchett is.) They need not be lying to have reached, or been lead to, an incorrect conclusion.
Absolutely agree on this, and it's a point I'll never tire of repeating to UFOlogists who seem to think the only two options are lying or telling the truth.
But just note that the context of what you're replying to was the question of what may be motivating senators to pass a bill like this. Some of the responses take the extremely cynical view that they're just doing it to gain support among the folks who believe this stuff and other such self-serving reasons, or just straight up lying.
Even though they're politicians, I assume people are generally honest and tend not to have nefarious reasons for their behaviors as a norm unless I have good reason to believe otherwise. Based on what's been happening both in the House and now the Senate, along with the whistleblowers coming forward, it seems to me like the best explanation for this type of bill is that they've either seen some compelling (to them) piece of evidence behind closed doors, or have heard (to them) compelling testimony both publicly and behind closed doors. That's literally what Rubio is saying about his own motivation, and that seems like a perfectly normal, boring, and good enough explanation for his involvement in this piece of legislation as any.
This explanation doesn't assume anything about the quality of said testimony or evidence they've been privy to, since obviously none of us know what it is they've seen or heard. All that matters is that at the very least *they* found such briefings compelling enough to warrant something like this.
What I'm curious about that I don't see discussed too frequently is just what it is that we think is going on behind the scenes here. I take it as a given that what little evidence has been released to the public when it comes to UAPs leaves a lot to be desired. So far I haven't seen any reason to believe any of these claims are true, and until we have something more than just stories, I think the only reasonable thing to do is remain agnostic but skeptical and open minded.
What I'm *not* sure about is just what the hell is going on. There isn't even remotely enough evidence to believe the UAP phenomenon is something extraordinary. But then that leaves the question of what *does* explain this many people coming forward, making these kinds of claims to people like Rubio, behind closed doors.
Presumably they're not just telling him about weird things they've seen in the skies and couldn't identify. They're testifying to the existence of craft and bodies and top secret programs that exist and are in the possession of the US govt or private corporations.
I'm not asking "is any of this true?" (although obviously I do ask that), but rather "If this *isn't* true, and those folks *do* have these kinds of clearances and careers in the defense and intelligence sectors, *why* are they making these claims?" If it's all true then obviously they're making the claims because it's true and needs to come out.
But if none of this is true, are they lying? If so, are they each individually lying for personal reasons unique to each person, or are they lying collectively as a massive psyop aimed at even congressmen themselves and the American populace? And if so, what purpose would this psyop possibly serve?
If they're not lying, then are they merely telling the congressmen things that they simply *believe* are true but haven't actually seen or experienced themselves? This might explain some claims. I have no doubt Grusch's claims about the Vatican and the Italian UFO are just things he's read in UFO folklore circles and not something he personally has any knowledge of in the course of his work. But there are people making more specific and serious claims than this (we have possession of bodies, we have intact craft) that they're alleging are factual and that they have *knowledge* of. They're not just claiming they believe this shit because they watched a Jeremy Corbell YouTube video and believed it. These are people who I think we may safely assume know the difference between testifying to things you personally have knowledge of vs things you simply believe but don't claim to *know* with certainty.
Where are those claims coming from? From that many high ranking folks?
I'm not a huge fan of Eric Weinstein (and his conversation with Mick in the Theories of Everything Podcast was disappointing because he ignored literally everything Mick said), but there is at least one thing I agree with him on: there isn't a single boring branch on this decision tree.
Just to clarify, I don't need to be reminded of the lack of evidence or the fallibility of human testimony, human judgment, etc. I know all this and I'm firmly in the skeptical camp when it comes to UAPs. But what I *do* want to know is just what kind of explanation fits everything we're observing happening in the senate and the house, and the larger community at large. What big picture explanations do you guys have that fits all these data points in a way that makes sense of it all?