An interesting series of videos from The Basement Office at the New York Post.
Part 1: UFOs, Bigfoot, Robert Bigelow, NIDS
<![CDATA[<a href="https://youtube.com/v/VwfaAz9kxcc&feature=share" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://youtube.com/v/VwfaAz9kxcc&feature=share</a>]]>Wath number 1 and the rest should link automatically. Anything from the NYP should be treated with skepticism of course but it's well researched and everything is verifiable or in the public domain. In particular it gives background to the reasons why organisations with legitimate sounding names associated with Skinwalker Ranch gave credibility to the search for UFO/UAPs.
The National Institute for Discovery Science (NIDS) sounds important but was made up by Robert Bigelow to investigate Skinwalker Ranch based on stories written by (made up by) George Knapp.
The Advanced Aerospace Weapons System Applications Program (AAWSAP) was set up by Harry Reid with $22m government funding. Harry Reid was a friend of Robert Bigelow. The $22m funding was awarded to the sole bidder for the program - Robert Bigelow's
BAASS (Bigelow Aerospace Advanced Space Studies) - that used it to fund investigations at Skinwalker Ranch (spoiler - they didn't find anything).
Despite nothing being found, Knapp and Colm Kelleher wrote a sensationalist book about Skinwalker Ranch with amazing claims about UFOs and also the infamous dino-beaver (a beaver like animal with dinosaur spikes*), wierwolves and poltergeists. All of this despite the fact that in the years of investigations, no evidence of anything was found.
Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program (AATIP) another Harry Reid effort, was followed by the
Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon Task Force (UAPTF).
The bottom line is most of the 'official' stuff we're seeing now stems from the lunatic nonsense that started with Bigelow's purchase of Skinwalker Ranch and Kelleher and Knapp's lunatic ramblings about dino-beavers, poltergeists and UFOs.
There's a good episode on Robert Fugal, who is a fascinating character who comes across as a genuine believer in this stuff. It's worth pointing out that he also believes that Joseph Smith found gold plates buried near his home in America containing the Book of Mormon.
A shout out also to the "To The Stars Academy of Arts and Sciences" founded by well-known scientist Tom DeLonge of Blink-182. One of the leading lights of "To the Stars" is Harold Puthoff. Puthoff is worthy of mention because he was one of the early investigators at Skinwalker in the Bigelow years and one of his claims to fame was declaring that Uri Geller really had psychic powers.
It's a litany of credulous nonsense over decades funded by billionaires who are willing to spend their money to hear what they want to hear. And it's from this motherlode that we're going to recieve credible evidence of actual aliens, downed UFOs and interstellar propulsion?
I won't be holding my breath.
*In the book, there are breathless descriptions of an encounter with the dino-beaver but unfortunately they all forgot to take their cameras. They also forgot their cameras when they encountered weirwolves, landed UFOs and everything else they reported.
