This looks like a good place to talk about Project Blue Book. My Dad, Bill Powers, worked with Dr. J. Allen Hynek on a number of UFO investigations in the 1960s. Jacques Vallee is another UFO researcher who studied with Hynek and was friends with my parents. I posted some pictures in another thread of books autographed by Hynek and Vallee to my parents, thanking them for their contributions to their work. Link: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/who-have-you-met-or-spotted-that-is-famous/page/4#post-5997789
Dad died in 2013, and lately I've been looking through all the books and stuff my parents left me.
Before he passed, a gentleman named Mark O'Connell interviewed him for a biography he was writing about Dr. Hynek called "The Close Encounters Man". My Dad played a fairly major role in Hynek's UFO research activities for awhile, and I heard that there are parts of the book that document that. I've never read it, but I just ordered a copy. When I get it, I'll post the good parts here...I have a few stories too...
Here's a picture of the O'Connell biography about Dr. Hynek. It can be ordered from the publisher at https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-close-encounters-man-mark-oconnell.
Looking forward to some good UFO discussions!
I'm tagging Azmodeus JohnnyPinball007 JimFNB and jhanley so they can follow the UFO discussion here...

TheCloseEncountersManMarkOConnell (resized).jpg

It's very possible he helped with that...the swamp gas story happened during the time that Dad was traveling around the country with Hynek investigating various UFO reports. Many of the witness interviews were written up by him (and credited to Hynek, of course...he was the boss!)
Hynek also received quite a bit of "fan mail" which he turned over to Dad to answer. So, quite a few people who saw UFOs in the 1960s and reported them to Dr. Hynek or Project Blue Book ended up corresponding with Dad masquerading as Hynek.
A lot of those documents are archived at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, where Dad and Hynek worked in the astronomy department (picture below is Page 1 of the Hynek index). Maybe there's a Pinside UFO fan that lives in the Chicago area that would volunteer to go to Northwestern to check out the archives.
The book about Hynek, "The Close Encounters Man", supposedly contains a bunch of references to this. It should be here in the mail soon, and I'll post anything interesting I find.
I have not thought about this stuff for years, and I did not get along very well with my Dad during his last days. Now that he's been gone for 7+ years, I am able to go back and explore some of the amazing stuff that he did or was involved in.
I had one of those Dads that everyone thought, "You have the coolest dad ever!" But rarely do motivated, genius-type people make good parents. It was a peculiar kind of hell growing up with him. His dad was a character, too. It was quite explosive at family gatherings when the two of them would have a few cocktails in them. Kind of an "Edison-Tesla" battle of the brainiacs. It did not inspire any of us to become scientists! LOL
Now, as a 63-year-old, I can enjoy and appreciate his legacy. I have my parents' entire library in my possession now (except for Dad's Northwestern-related work, which is now stored in his own William Powers archive at NU). I'll do my best to dig deep for cool UFO tidbits!

2020-12-11HynekNUArchiveP1 (resized).png

Here's another copy of Dr. J. Allen Hynek's first book, "The UFO Experience". It's the later paperback edition.
Hynek signed this one to my folks also.
I'm working on getting in touch with one of Hynek's sons, and I've started emailing back and forth with Mark O'Connell, the author of "The Close Encounters Man".

I've never really read Jacques Vallee's work. It looks very interesting, and the guy is still alive at 81 and has written 25 books and invented all kinds of stuff. Here's his website - I should write to him, too, and see if he's got any interesting stories. I remember him from his visits to our home when I was a kid, but I was way too young to pick his brain yet...not too late, apparently. His site is https://www.jacquesvallee.net/. There are quite a few free PDFs to read, and a list of all his books.
I'm building up a winter UFO reading list!

UFOExperienceHynek1972PaperbackSigned (resized).jpg

UFOExperienceHynekSignedToPowers (resized).jpg

That is a very famous photo, indeed! Classic flying saucer...

No, Quinn isn't Bill Powers...the stories in the show are "based on" all kinds of UFO reports that weren't necessarily even Blue Book incidents. It's a fictional show, not meant to be a real documentary.

Cool looking, but they look to me like modern CGI techniques and/or animatronic puppets along with effects that make it look like old film. These aren't old clips. They only recently "appeared".
There are parts where the lighting changes, the "old film" effect partially fails, and you can see the resolution suddenly get clearer. A real film would not do this.
We're going to have to do a whole lot better than that before we can say we have "proof" of aliens.

Hmmm, didn't know "genital translucency" was not a capability of CGI. Almost anything can be faked on video these days. Do you have a screenshot or link to that part?
I take your opinions seriously, @vid1900, and I intend no disrespect by asking you to elaborate on this...
I would like to hear your arguments for why you believe the video is authentic, and why you don't think that models, animatronics, and CGI can explain it.

Hmmm, this looks like the classic "It's such a good fake, it must be real" argument! Not convincing to me, even coming from Spielberg and @Vid1900.
Please allow me to give some background as to why I am such a diehard skeptic. I don't want anyone to think that I am just some asshole who is disrespectful of others' opinions. People who aren't used to having their ideas questioned can sometimes see skepticism as a personal attack. I just want all of you to know that I never mean it that way, and am only trying to contribute to truth-seeking in my own unique and sometimes abrasive manner.
I grew up with, and was taught by, a serious scientist and respected thinker (my father, Bill Powers - astronomer, psychologist, systems theorist, UFO investigator) and his friends (such as Vallee and Hynek) to be deeply skeptical of "proof" of any kind. I've logged many hours of listening to and reading their detailed deconstructions of many so-called "phenomena".
Dad used to refer to a thing in the human brain called the "Bullshit Detector". Everyone has one, but some are more finely-tuned than others. One's bullshit detector can be strengthened by experience and various exercises in logic and deduction. I was somewhat harshly trained in this fine art, but I appreciate it more and more the older I get.
Bill Powers was invited to participate in Hynek's UFO investigations because of his "powers" of observation, and his strong ability to read people and sniff out fakes.
There were only a very small number of UFO reports that Hynek, Vallee, and Powers believed were credible. The rest were the result of misidentification, misinformation, or some sort of deception or trickery with varying degrees of sophistication.
There are a lot of people in the world who are willing to spend a lot of time and money to convince others of the truth of whatever it is they are preaching.
Some billionaire could have commissioned the Skinny Bob fake, and provided the fakers with all the server time they need. People with big bucks and the motivation to deceive the public have been able to convince large numbers of people that their illusions are actually reality before.
Who might have such motivation? Our own government is a prime suspect for many reasons, some obvious, some not.
The Air Force has a huge motivation to try to convince the public that UFOs either do not exist, or that the Air Force already has made contact and has everything under control.
Think about it - if they ever admitted there were objects freely zipping around in NORAD's airspace that were "unidentified", they would be admitting that they don't have full control and domination of the airspace like they always tell us.
This makes some practical sense, since we don't really want our enemies knowing that certain flying objects seem to be undetectable by our systems.
So they always press for full ID (debunking, or "We have the UFO in our possession" stories), or they question the psychological integrity of the person reporting the incident.
This pattern has been the same since the Air Force first got involved in UFO investigations in 1952.
Unfortunately, in 2020 and beyond, mere existence of film or video evidence contributes even less to the actual proof of a phenomenon than it ever has before. The Greys are going to have to step right up and start posting on Pinside, or we will never believe they exist!!!!

I forgot my other reason why I think Skinny Bob has to be a fake. How could he get that turtleneck over his head???
benheck - Must be some kind of carbon nanotube fabric that stretches like that.
Don't get me wrong - Skinny Bob is invited to stop by my place any time he wants. I would be thrilled to meet him. C'mon down!!!!

When Dad would talk about the Lonnie Zamora incident in Socorro, New Mexico, his eyes would get as big as flying saucers.
He personally investigated the site and interviewed Zamora in 1964.
That one sent chills up his spine, and mine, too!
Dad measured similar physical impressions left in the ground during another investigation, but I'll have to look up which one it was.

I think I have a copy of "Incident at Exeter" around somewhere...I'll have to read it again...

Looking through the family UFO book collection again
Two more first edition copies of Jacques Vallée books. They both have funny inscriptions written by Jacques to my Dad.
I've written to Dr. Vallée and hope to hear back from him soon...I will post an update if I hear back from him.

AnatomyLesPhenomenes.jpg

AnatomyPaperbackAutographed.jpg

20201220_182753.jpg

Took this the day after Christmas looking out my kitchen window.

20201226_UFO.jpg

That's what it is...it looked like a "UFO" so I posted it for fun.

A bottle of Skinny Bob vodka from Outer Space...

20210104_153934.jpg

I just read Jacques Vallee's book "Messengers of Deception" from 1979. I think it is one of the more significant books I've read on the topic of UFOs and unexplained phenomena. It explores some very interesting connections between UFOs and mythology and mystical experiences. Vallee also never lets up on the important idea that any theories we have regarding these phenomena are only theories, and that we should think carefully about the whole concept of "belief". Just because one explanation sounds good to us does not make it true or even a "theory". It's just a guess until you have proof. Vallee is extremely skeptical of most things people offer as "proof". We should all be that skeptical about anything anyone is trying to make us "believe", whether it's UFOs, ghosts, or ideologies.
Any information you receive could have been delivered by Messengers of Deception. Be careful!!!

MessengersOfDeceptionVallee (resized).jpeg

I thought this was interesting...some SpaceX debris above Seattle last night looked just like a UFO! Re-entering space debris (man-made or not) could definitely account for a number of UFO sightings. Of course not all of them, but watch this video and it looks like something familiar from many UFO reports. It could look like a lot of different things from different angles (there are more videos online to compare).

Nothing seems new here - opening our minds to the possibility that UFOs were "real" but still "unknown" was pretty much the mindset amongst UFO scholars in the 1960s. There are new videos, but they don't prove or disprove anything beyond what the grainy films of the 50s and 60s already showed. We've already been opening our minds and letting possibilities sink in for over 50 years now. Unless one lands in a Pinsider's yard and we see footage of aliens playing pinball, we are not going to know for sure what UFOs or UAPs are.

Now you're talking! C'mon, Skinny Bob, take your best shot!

And you have literally none of the witnesses saying that they know what the things are. None of those people are technicians or film analysts. They are reporting the truth when they say they saw something in the air and they didn't know what it was. Beyond that bare-bones report, they offer no evidence or proof of the nature of the sightings. The armchair analysts can be interesting, but they are taking second-hand information and applying a lot of speculation. So far, the truth is that we don't know what UAP / UFOs really are. We can't even really call them "objects", because all we know is that something apparently was seen. No one has gotten close enough yet to get a photo that's any better than a cheap 1950s UFO magazine cover. The aliens need to abduct someone who has a fully charged smart phone who can make some decent recordings.
There has not been any conclusive evidence that points to extraterrestrial origin, unknown advanced technology, paranormal activity, or any other explanation. There are a large number of reports covering many decades from people who have seen things that they can't explain. As soon as you start calling it "advanced technology", you are claiming to have identified the object. This hasn't happened. The sightings are still not explained at all.
Unknown means unknown. As in we don't know yet. There is really nothing new here, and nothing to get excited about.
"The Government" didn't admit officially that people had seen these things in the 1950s and 1960s, but many people, including civilians and those who worked for the government, pilots, astronauts, and many others, definitely said they believed they actually saw something, but it was unknown what it was, just like today.
Someone is trying to whip up some new excitement about this old, old issue again without providing any new or enlightening information, just more eyewitnesses who saw "something". There is no more evidence of alien visits today than there was 50 years ago.
I highly doubt "the government" is about to unveil any new or useful information. Like anything our government does, there are layers of meaning and propaganda in everything they say and do, and politicians are professional actors.
JMcDonald I'm not trying to dampen your enthusiasm, but I'm just trying to point out that quite a few of us have been hearing these same exact stories for decades. When there is some real evidence telling us what these UFOs really are, we will all be very excited to hear about it! But you've got to trust some of the old-timers around here and remain skeptical until real proof shows up. We're not there yet.

I will never believe that somehow only people in the government have seen the "proof" of UFOs, and they have kept it secret from the entire world. If someone knows the truth about this, it will get out there no matter how much anyone tries to suppress it.
People can swear all the oaths they want, but saying they "know of photos" that were taken or "know of samples" that supposedly exist is not proof of anything. It only shows that a lot of people make claims without being able to produce evidence. Not helpful.

People see stuff in the sky. They don't know what it is. A number of the sightings do get identified, and often turn out to be weather balloons, aircraft, meteors or falling rocket parts, and that sort of thing. The rest are unidentified, and so we call them UFOs or UAPs. That's all we really know right now. Anything else is still just a guess.
I have to say this again: the situation is exactly the same now as it was in the 1950s and 1960s. Pilots, astronauts, cops, and ordinary citizens all see things flying around that they can't identify. No one has ever proved that UFOs "violate the laws of physics", are extraterrestrial, or use some sort of advanced technology. None of the information that has come out recently has even claimed to prove any of those things. They still say the phenomena are unidentified.
People hate not having an answer for a question. Reality is that there are some questions that are not answerable yet. You can make up all the explanations you want, but for now, the nature of UFOs / UAPs is an unanswerable question.
People like me who have been following this and asking questions for the past 50 years or more are anxiously awaiting any new developments. The fact that the government admits that they have been seeing UFOs and that they don't know what they are is not really a new development as far as information about the phenomena themselves.
The films and photographs have not proven anything yet despite decades of technological advancement and thousands of images that have been studied. There still has not been any physical evidence collected that has advanced our knowledge about these things. They remain a strangely distant and unstudyable phenomenon for now.

This is why I feel that it is still accurate to say that we have not seen any new proof or evidence that can tell us the true nature of UFOs / UAPs.

I've been paying attention since Project Blue Book.

It doesn't matter what the "officials" say. No one believed what they told us back then, and we shouldn't trust what they say now.
Nothing has changed about our knowledge of UFOs for decades.
I'm done arguing with you. All we have seen are more eyewitness stories exactly like the ones we've been hearing for decades. There is no proof.
Enjoy your fantasies.
Wake me up when something new is discovered.

OK, I read it. Don't get me wrong. I want to see evidence of alien intelligence as much or more than the average person. My Dad investigated UFOs for Project Blue Book with Jacques Vallee and Dr. Hynek. In the 1970s, I was "buzzed" by a weird energy that I can't explain, but I don't have any beliefs about it because there is no proof or evidence beyond my own observation.
I am a critical and expert observer, and I really hope to find out if aliens are visiting us.
Yesterday's report brought us no closer to that moment, however.

Here's my summary of what they said, based on quotes from the document:

It starts right off admitting the high-tech hardware we're using can glitch and cause a "UAP sighting".
p.2 "Assumptions
Various forms of sensors that register UAP generally operate correctly and capture enough real
data to allow initial assessments, but some UAP may be attributable to sensor anomalies."

Now they repeat what we have known for 50+ years. We don't know what UAP are.
p.3 "EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The limited amount of high-quality reporting on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP)
hampers our ability to draw firm conclusions about the nature or intent of UAP."

Note the use of the word "probably". Not "definitely". And no evidence of these "physical objects" being aircraft, spacecraft, or advanced technology. Those are still only guesses, just as they have been for our entire lives.
p.3 "Most of the UAP reported probably do represent physical objects..."

Note the use of the phrases "appeared to" and "could be". That means they still don't know what they are. Nowhere in this
report does it ever say that they have proof of any advanced technology or violation of the laws of physics. It only says that there are many possible explanations, exactly the same as we have known for 50+ years.
p.3 "In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight
characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or
observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis."

None of the 5 categories below include "alien spacecraft" or "multidimensional travelers". Those would fall under the category of "a catchall 'other' bin" to the government.
p.3 "Our analysis of the data supports the construct that if and when individual UAP incidents are resolved they will
fall into one of five potential explanatory categories: airborne clutter, natural atmospheric
phenomena, USG or U.S. industry developmental programs, foreign adversary systems, and a
catchall “other” bin."

Note the wording: "Would" represent a security challenge "if" they are foreign adversaries. But they have not found
any evidence that supports that explanation. Of course they should keep looking for signs of enemies. But that is
their job. Again, nothing new revealed.
p.3 "UAP would also represent a national security challenge if they are foreign adversary
collection platforms or provide evidence a potential adversary has developed either a
breakthrough or disruptive technology."

In case you missed it in the report, they repeat it in big capital letters so there is no doubt...
p.4 "AVAILABLE REPORTING LARGELY INCONCLUSIVE
Limited Data Leaves Most UAP Unexplained…"

Later on the same page, they sum it all up. UAPs remain unexplained. No aliens, no ultra-high-tech, no time travelers. Unexplained.
p.4 "We were able to identify one reported UAP with high confidence. In that case, we identified the object as a large, deflating balloon. The others remain unexplained."

I don't know why some of you guys insist that the government has admitted that some UAPs are using
advanced technologies beyond our current knowledge. Here they state that they are still analyzing the data
and have not made a conclusion yet. It would be exciting if new breakthrough technologies were revealed.
But that hasn't happened yet.
p.5 "Additional rigorous analysis are necessary by multiple teams or groups of technical experts to determine the nature and validity of these data. We are conducting further analysis to determine if breakthrough technologies were demonstrated."

And yes, weather balloons.
Once again, they state clearly that they have no new information to add that hasn't existed since the 1950s.
p.5 "With the exception of the one instance where we determined with
high confidence that the reported UAP was airborne clutter, specifically a deflating balloon, we
currently lack sufficient information in our dataset to attribute incidents to specific explanations."

Again, note the wording. They don't know anything. They are only sharing their guesses with us,and we have already guessed most of the same things. We don't have conclusive evidence or proof yet.
p.5 "Some UAP observations could be..." "Some UAP may be..."

The Senators that stated they had national security concerns after the hearing must not have read up through page 6. This appears to contradict their concerns.
It also reiterates the fact that they have no proof or evidence of any "major technological advancement".
(The real explanation for their concerns comes next).
p.6 "Potential National Security Challenges
We currently lack data to indicate any UAP are part of a foreign collection program or indicative
of a major technological advancement by a potential adversary."

A-HA! The REAL reason for this whole buildup, and for this non-report! MONEY! CHA-CHING!!!!
p.6 "EXPLAINING UAP WILL REQUIRE ANALYTIC, COLLECTION AND
RESOURCE INVESTMENT"

Yes, see??? It's all just a big money grab. Yes, throw more money at it. Lots and lots of money.
p.7 "Increase Investment in Research and Development
The UAPTF has indicated that additional funding for research and development could further the
future study of the topics laid out in this report."

And lastly, their definition of UAP. Not aliens, time travelers, dimensional protrusions, foreign Brainiac villains,
interstellar drones, or any of that. Unexplained. Not known.
The term "UAP" was merely created to draw attention away from "UFO", which has become a synonym for alien
spacecraft, despite also meaning UNIDENTIFIED flying object.
<sigh> Nothing that we haven't already known since the 1960s.
p.8 "APPENDIX A - Definition of Key Terms
This report and UAPTF databases use the following defining terms:
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP): Airborne objects not immediately identifiable. The
acronym UAP represents the broadest category of airborne objects reviewed for analysis."

You want answers? It's gonna cost ya...

Perhaps it's because we know that things haven't changed much at all. I was quoting what the report actually said, not reading between the lines.
Nowhere in that report does it say we'd better prepare for meeting extraterrestrials. The most dire explanation that they offer is that foreign adversaries may have advanced technology we don't know about.
They also do in fact state that most UAP / UFO reports are explained as natural phenomena, weather balloons, etc. It is only a small number of reports that remain unexplained after investigation.

You speak as if you have some inside knowledge of the progression of this story. By reading between the lines, you have concluded that we are now progressing towards new, previously unrevealed knowledge, even though no one has said that is happening. Nothing in this report says any such thing. Nothing that has been shown recently has indicated we have progressed one inch toward understanding UAP / UFOs. You are allowing your wishful thinking to shape your opinions.
We have heard the stories, seen the videos, heard from the investigators, and asked many questions. Many people have been saying "These could be aliens" and "aliens are real" for decades now. Investigations have been opened, closed, promoted, debunked, and forgotten. Some incidents have never been explained.
Admitting that we don't know what UAPs are is old news. Hearing these old ideas coming from the government now doesn't suddenly "change everything". I'm sorry, but it's true.

If you are seeing a "Step One" that is leading to future revelations about interstellar visitors, it is you that is reading between the lines, my friend. I don't blame you for getting excited. It's very annoying that there are phenomena that have no explanation. But that is reality. When they say "We don't know what they are", they mean "We don't know what they are". There are no hidden meanings in the report. What has been unknown for decades still remains unknown.

What is clear is that they are going to propose some sort of funding for studying UAP /UFOs. I'm all for studying the phenomena and gathering as much information as we can. But the way the government led up to this report, and the report itself, have many of the familiar hallmarks of a Pentagon money grab.
I hope they find some useful information from the studies.

Out-of-focus police helicopter.

There are different types of sensor data that wouldn't be in the form of video. It would be more like databases full of timestamps and spatial coordinates. Not something where you could see anything with the naked eye.

This doesn't sound like anyone's admitting breakthrough technology (from p. 3 of the "Preliminary Assessment UAP 20210625"):
p.3 "In a limited number of incidents, UAP reportedly appeared to exhibit unusual flight
characteristics. These observations could be the result of sensor errors, spoofing, or
observer misperception and require additional rigorous analysis."

Then on Page 5 they say:
"Additional rigorous analysis are necessary by multiple teams or groups of technical experts to determine the nature and validity of these data. We are conducting further analysis to determine if breakthrough technologies were demonstrated."

So they are saying they are not even sure if the data showing "breakthrough technologies" is valid. In other words, they are not even at Square One regarding this mystery.

p.5 "With the exception of the one instance where we determined with
high confidence that the reported UAP was airborne clutter, specifically a deflating balloon, we
currently lack sufficient information in our dataset to attribute incidents to specific explanations."

The report clearly says that they don't know what any of the UAPs are except for one deflating balloon. It absolutely does not "admit" breakthrough technologies, or anything else. They simply state that there is not enough information to give any specific explanation.

It's fine to exercise our imaginations and try to guess what these things are. But don't "read between the lines" and say that the government has admitted anything.
They've acknowledged that there are things in the air that can't be identified since at least Project Blue Book. I will dig around in my library and find some quotes from government officials from the 1960s and 1970s that say exactly the same things they are saying today. You're acting as if history began in 2004.
The recent attention to UAP / UFOs only means we are repeating a cycle that has happened a number of times in our lifetimes.
For decades, government officials from many countries including the US have been admitting publicly that UAPs are reported regularly. This means as little now as it did then. "Unidentified" means "Unidentified".

Police and military helicopters are not required to broadcast their locations. They often don't show up on tracking apps like flightradar24.com.
It was a police or military helicopter.

Nine minutes would be quite a normal hover time for a police helicopter.
Next hoax, please?

I was wondering if maybe UFOs have the ability to detect if a high-resolution camera is pointed at them. For some reason, the only pictures we have are always low-res and/or out of focus.
The aliens must have a way of manipulating the autofocus function of a camera. Or they are clouding our minds and making us take bad pictures.
Hypothesis: A high-resolution, properly-focused camera makes UFOs disappear or causes them to activate some sort of cloaking device.

CameraMakesUfoDisappearChangeMyMind (resized).png

Please show me where in the report it says that. My "reading difficulty" is apparently making it difficult to see.
I've backed up all my statements with quotes from the report.
Instead of paraphrasing, please show us the quote that says they appear to show breakthrough technology.

There are UFO reports from daytime as well as night, and some UFOs are supposedly gigantic.
You're going to have to do better than that.

That's not what I've been saying at all.
I've said, and the report also says, that no one knows what UFOs are yet.
And nowhere in your quote does it say that anything "appears to be breakthrough technology". You're just interpreting it that way.
Some people are "true believers" and some are skeptics.

??? You're doing yourself a disservice by writing off all UFO history prior to 2004. There were lots of high- quality military reports from the 1960s.
It's good to acknowledge those older studies so we don't just keep repeating history (like some of us seem to be doing in this thread).

LOL. OK. Whatever.

Excuse me for being a moron.
I guess you know way more about this report than any of us.

Yes, I agree that it "appears that they are looking to verify" data they have.
That does not mean it appears there is breakthrough technology. I don't know how you can conclude that from the information provided in the report.

If it turns out to be true that we owe all of our technological advancements to alien interventions in the past, the least they could do is come back and show us how to use all the stuff so we don't kill ourselves with it.

I am absolutely not a "troll" that is crapping on your posts (you are getting very close to violating Pinside's rules with your name-calling). I am trying to introduce some badly-needed critical thinking into this thread.
I am very frustrated with people saying they have read the report, and then making statements that are not supported by anything that was said in the report. You seem to have zero tolerance for skepticism, which is not going to take you very far in the world of science.
It is a fun and fascinating topic. I grew up with UFO investigations. My Dad worked for Dr. Hynek, and had many interesting friends such as Dr. Jacques Vallee. Dad personally interviewed Betty and Barney Hill, and Sgt. Zamora of Socorro, New Mexico. I am not unfamiliar with these topics.
Please don't act like you have such a thin skin. I am only trying to provide a much-needed counter-opinion in this thread.

I find the topic plenty interesting - you really mean it's fun and fascinating as long as we agree with you.

And herein lies the problem.

Definition of imagination:
1 : the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality

Imagining things is fine, and is necessary for creativity, happiness, and human advancement. But when scientific proof is needed, imagination is not a substitute for healthy skepticism and a scientific approach.
I think we need to have a serious educational discussion about what generally constitutes "evidence" and what is needed to claim "proof". There seems to be a general lack of understanding of this topic amongst people these days.
A lively discussion about a controversial topic should always include opinions from all sides.
I believe it is totally wrong to say that "skeptic == troll". Skepticism is a requirement in any meaningful search for truth.

I really don't know how you get "breakthrough technology" out of that description. "Without discernible means of propulsion" only means that they couldn't detect the exhaust. It does not say "breakthrough technology".
Remaining stationary, maneuvering "abruptly", moving at "considerable" speed...these are not awe-inspiring revelations, I'm sorry.

They built this report up for months by implying that it was going to reveal "something new" about UFO / UAPs. It didn't do that. I am as disappointed as you are, trust me. But I am not going to pretend that some new discovery was revealed. It didn't happen yet.

The only way we are going to find out what UFOs are is by examining all of the evidence in a highly critical manner. You don't prove something by assuming it's true and then looking for things to support it. You prove something by being skeptical and holding out for real, conclusive evidence.
If we prove UFOs are real, it will be conclusive and unarguable. I have no problem with that, and I hope it happens.
It won't happen unless we are highly critical of any claims by the government or anyone else claiming they know the answer to the UFO / UAP mystery. If we accept any explanation that sounds good, we'll be led around in circles by our own imaginations.

No, not really. Something would have been leaked by now.

Please give us an example!!! I don't think we've missed any of the "relevant and important" stuff!

A couple of interesting articles...the first one is about the CIA's involvement with UFOs and coverups from the 1940s until the 1990s. I think we can assume this sort of thing still goes on.
https://fas.org/sgp/library/ciaufo.html

This Forbes article from a few days ago is good discussion on how much we should trust UFO news from the Pentagon:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidhambling/2021/06/25/why-you-cant-always-believe-what-the-pentagon-says-about-ufos/

This is interesting, too...a report from over 3 years ago releasing the same Navy footage that they just released a few days ago.

https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/03/13/video-shows-apparent-encounter-between-navy-pilot-and-ufo/

They're trying to tell us now that this is "newly-released" footage, when it's been out in public for years.
Why would they be repackaging this information and presenting it to us again now as a "new" report? Maybe not enough people noticed the story last time.

As I've said before, no discussion about a controversial topic would be worthwhile if only one side was represented. We should be open to everyone's opinions, not just those of the people who have already decided that aliens are visiting us.
You've called some of us trolls over and over again in this thread. We're not trolls. We're people with a different opinion from you.
We are all interested in UFOs for some reason or another, or we would not be here. There is no requirement to be in agreement with you for our opinions to be valid and welcome in this thread.
We don't have to be "True Believers" to be allowed to voice our opinions.

I think some of these quotes show that you have been trolling us pretty hard. Please stop, and let's return to the discussion.
You keep promising us that there are going to be amazing new revelations about UFOs.
We will continue to wait patiently.

You repeat your claims over and over again regarding your belief in FTL and aliens. That's what people do - they repeat the things they believe.
Again, all of our opinions are welcome and valid here, not just yours.

Yet another example of your "impersonal" comments. Keep to the topic and stop with the personal attacks.

Read this if you're interested in knowing how Hubble has contributed to the study of planets in other solar systems:
https://hubblesite.org/science/exoplanets

"Probably", "possibly","maybe", "suggests", "allegedly", "reportedly", all get overused, too. We get numb to those words and forget that they mean "the complete facts are not known yet", and "here are some of our guesses". Our government is well aware of our numbness to those words, and uses them often when discussing any controversial topic to allow themselves to weasel out of anything they say.
Another one that gets overused as a disclaimer is "based on". A story that says it was "based on" a real story or another work of fiction doesn't have to contain any facts at all, and it doesn't have to depict the story in the same way as the original. Any sort of real or fictional details can be added to make the story more interesting.
A recent example is the "Project Blue Book" TV series, which is "based on the UFO investigations of Dr. J. Allen Hynek". Almost every detail in that series is either fictional or is a mishmash of stories from many sources. The way that they throw real names around gives it a ring of authenticity, but you won't learn anything about the real Project Blue Book or Dr. Hynek by watching that show.

AidenGillenBasedOnHynek (resized).png

TheRealHynekInCloseEncounters (resized).png

This site has a lot of good historical material on UFOs: http://www.cufos.org
I had visited there awhile ago while looking for material on my Dad (William T. "Bill" Powers) and Dr. Hynek (Dad's boss through the 1960s and early 70s).

This is a link to a PDF on that site containing some interesting letters from 1966-67 by Hynek, Dad, and Dr. Phillip Klaas mostly referring to the Lonnie Zamora incident from 1964 at Socorro, NM.
http://www.cufos.org/1965_04_24_Socorro/1964_04_24_US_NM_Socorro_CUFOS_Hynek-Powers-Klass_Corresp.pdf
I think Dad's and Hynek's letters do a good job of illustrating some of the thought processes that went on during those 1960s UFO investigations. I think they explain their scientific, skeptical yet open-minded views very well in these letters.

The official stance of the Air Force in 1966 was that all UFOs were explainable, and none were unidentified. This was contradicted by many "unofficial" sources like UFO investigators who said that some of the phenomena remained unexplained. The Zamora incident was one of the earliest reports that was generally considered to be a credible report that was unexplainable. There were many newspaper articles about it at the time.

Hmmm, another grainy, shaky 1950s-style video, even though it was shot in 2009. UFOs are definitely still avoiding good cameras and competent photographers.
off now:
The Turkish hovering object could very likely be a ship in the distance. Even on dry land, objects can appear to be hovering above the horizon when they're far away (e.g. mirages on the highway or desert).
This guy does an OK job of stabilizing the video. I tend to agree that it looks a lot more like an ocean-going vessel than a flying object - see his comparison at 6:02.

I've been quiet for awhile, but I do read all of the posts, and watch the UFO videos. I would love it if someone finally gathered enough evidence to find out what they are, but all the recently posted videos show are weather balloons and mirages and totally unidentifiable junk, similar to the photos and videos from the 20th century. Concrete evidence of alien visitors is lacking, despite many eyewitness reports and tales of alien autopsies, reverse engineering of ufo engines, etc. Until someone actually shows evidence of any of these things (talking about seeing something is not "evidence"), we are no closer to knowing what UFOs really are.
Of course, not all UFOs are easily identified, but that's what the "U" stands for - unidentified. Labeling it as unidentified does not give more weight to one possible explanation over another. It just means we didn't see it well enough to know for sure what it was.
Maybe all we've proven in the past 80 years is that cameras produce a certain percentage of unidentifiable images, and that our eyes are even less reliable than the cameras (because our memories aren't perfect and we are susceptible to optical illusions).
There will always be things seen by people that can't be explained. This says more about us than it does about our environment.

<sigh> The US Government has done no such thing! They have never confirmed any of the objects are a "craft" of any kind.
They have also most definitely NOT ever said they were "not US technology".
Once again, you are letting your wishful thinking put words into the government's mouth.
All they have done is confirm that many things seen in the air are still unidentified.
They have not said that they believe UFOs to be one thing or another. They simply said they don't know what they are.

No proof or even strong evidence has ever been shown.
So, why make that statement?

It's not about trust. It's about gathering credible, repeatable, verifiable evidence.
Most UFO witnesses are apparently not very good at that.
People see things all the time that they can't identify. That proves nothing.

No, I'm not in denial. They keep using the word "unidentified" to describe the sightings. That means they don't know what they are. They don't know if they're a "craft", an "object", or an illusion.
They just plain don't know what they are.
No one has "admitted" anything about the origin of UFOs. They still are only saying they don't know what they are.
Anything else you are reading into these reports is a product of your imagination.
The government reports seem like they are designed to make people jump to conclusions without them having to actually admit anything. This seems like a big misdirection campaign to take our attention away from something else.
There's definitely more to this story than some supposed "new" information coming from the US government. It appears to be a very deliberate disinformation / misinformation campaign, perhaps some kind of test to see how gullible we are about the UFO issue.

My suspicion is that this is exactly what they want us to believe - that they know something we don't.
They don't want us or the Russians or Chinese to know that they actually still know next to nothing about UFOs.
This seems a lot more likely to me than the possibility that the US government knows the secrets of the UFOs and are hiding them from the rest of the world.
They're just putting up a smokescreen to hide their lack of knowledge, and wording their press releases so it sounds like they might know something.
I still remain completely and utterly unconvinced by any of the so-called "new" information that has been released recently. Sorry.

I would say those are meteors...they appear in about 3 frames of video, hence the 3 lights.
They also come from generally the same direction, another characteristic of meteors.
The Perseid meteor shower is going on right
now, and is one of the more active and visible showers.
(Edit: added link to good article about the Perseids)
https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-perseid-meteor-shower/

Really? I think it's way easier to just believe whatever you imagine.
Real evidence and proof is a lot harder to come by than many people realize. That's why the "objects" are still being described as unidentified. If there is better evidence, it has not ever been shown or leaked.
There have been lots of similar UFO reports mostly coming from the US military over the past few decades.
We don't appear to be any closer to knowing what UFOs are than we were in the 1960s or 1970s.

Where are these supposed HD photos and videos?
I really would be very interested to see some.
Why would governments be the only ones with HD pics? Why hasn't anyone else gotten a decent photo of a UFO?
Any real photos or videos like that would certainly have been leaked by now.
We are severely lacking solid evidence that could tell us the true nature of many UFOs.
The US government has confirmed only that they still don't know what UFOs are.
Nothing to get excited about yet.

I'm not following your reasoning here.

And it was Einstein the skeptic who did make it possible, by being skeptical of his own work until he knew he had a usable theory.

...because skeptical scientists persisted until they had repeatable and provable results.
They didn't become possible because someone wished they were possible, or because the "true believers" convinced the skeptics.
Skepticism is a useful skill that produces indisputable results.

...and you are still reading a whole lot into the government reports that isn't really there.
They've worded the reports very carefully to make you think that they know some secret info that we don't.
The ambiguity of their statements is designed to spark your imagination and make you think the government knows something about aliens and UFOs.
Don't buy into their propaganda. This is nothing new.

You really do need to read my posts more carefully - government reports, too. You have a very strong tendency to let your imagination run wild.
I did not say Einstein worked on the bomb. I said his work made it possible.

Bad radar data (they never get distance readings), artifacts created by heavily computer processed heads-up displays, distant aircraft misperceived as being closer than they really are, meteors, weather balloons, space debris, etc.
There are a LOT of "normal" explanations that are just as valid at this point as any speculation about interstellar or interdimensional craft.
We don't know what they are, and I do not believe the government does, either.
It's a big propaganda job meant to disguise their ignorance on the topic.
That explanation is at least as likely as any of yours.

Care to share some with us? "Tens of thousands" of clear photos and videos of UFOs?
Yet none of them have been clear enough to actually identify the objects. Hmmm.
I don't think I'm the one going off the truth rail here.

I don't believe anyone has any evidence that proves or even strongly supports the theory that UFOs have violated the laws of physics, are interplanetary craft, or anything else. There are photos and videos, and most of them aren't very good, and none of them have proved anything.
The government doesn't know what they are, but they're doing a great job convincing some people that they really know something.
It's a huge con job. Don't buy into it.

???? How can you claim this? It "feels" like it must be true?
I don't buy it. I think the government is bullshitting us (again) about UFOs.

That really is not "obvious" at all. There has been ZERO real evidence of any UFOs actually violating the laws of physics or possessing advanced technology of any kind.
It is sheer nonsense to claim that as a fact.

Downvote me all you want, @jmcdonald. That doesn't prove anything or make your wild speculation any more true.
The fact is there is no proof yet. Period.
Edit: LOL @jmcdonald, I must be getting to you!
You downvoted this post, too. That's really going to convince everyone that you're right and I'm wrong.
It's too bad we can't have a conversation that includes all opinions.
My ideas are every bit as valid as yours. You are free to disagree (and downvote too, I suppose, if that makes you feel better.)

They did no such thing. They released an ambiguously-worded piece of propaganda designed to make you believe a lot of things.
Read the report again. It did not "show" any proof of anything.
It only repeats old speculative ideas about what UFOs might be.
They never claim that they have proved anything.
It's a trick the government uses on us all the time.
Read the report again and note how there are ALWAYS "weasel words" that stop short of ever claiming proof.
If you don't see that, the government has pulled the wool over your eyes.
That is most likely the plan.

Believe me, I have looked at a lot of stuff related to UFOs over the past 50 years or so.
NOT ONE of the photos or videos has ever been proven to show any object not made by man or nature.
When it is impossible to debunk a photo, that doesn't mean that the supposed explanation for the photo is true. It just means that it the photo isn't good enough to prove anything.
There is not one UFO photo or video that has ever been definitely proven to be an interstellar craft or other non-earth object.
That sounds like a big statement, and I know it offends some of you.
But damn it, it's true!
Show us evidence if you claim to know something different.
For now, UFOs are still as unknown as they were to cavemen.

It is an extremely huge leap. Only our imaginations have ever told us these are alien craft.
There has been no proof or solid evidence.
I wish you would quit saying that shitty unidentifiable photos are "evidence" or proof. They simply aren't.

You deny everything I say - how is that any different?
We clearly have different opinions.
Mine aren't any less valid than yours.
I'm just trying to warn a few people not to be so gullible when you read or listen to statements by our government.
I'm serious about the weasel words. That is a very important aspect of the report that you don't ever address or seem to notice.
I'm actually trying to help here. If you would take the time to really understand what I've been trying to say, you might appreciate that.

Well, maybe to you it points there. Many of us are not so easily persuaded.
I think it's a huge leap to say that there is any evidence at all pointing to alien origin.
The overwhelming evidence only exists in your imagination! I know you hate to hear that, but where is this "evidence"?
There is no definitive evidence of alien origin. You are just talking silly stuff now.

It really doesn't reinforce that, either. We don't know why they decided to release the report when they did.
They didn't offer any new evidence or proof in the report, so why was it released?
The Weasel Words make the report sound like they're acknowledging something new.
They haven't told us anything new.
They are fucking with your mind.

That's exactly what I've been saying all along. The government has never said that they know what the Tic Tac is. They never said any of the sightings were extraterrestrial.
They said they MIGHT be.
Huge difference those weasel words make.

I would like to clear something up. I am not the negative skeptic some of you try to say that I am. I would be fascinated and amazed, just like you, if we ever see real evidence of UFOs being alien craft. I have never said that it's impossible for aliens to visit us. I have been hoping to see this evidence for most of my life.
I have mentioned this before, but I'd like to remind everyone that my Dad, Bill Powers, worked directly for Dr. Hynek and personally participated in UFO investigations, including the famous Socorro incident, and Betty and Barney Hill. Our family was friends on a personal level with Hynek's family and Jacques Vallée and many others. I was a curious young boy growing up with a Dad who was working on Project Blue Book. It was awesome!
I learned from Dad and others about critically examining evidence, and how to tell if you have proved something or not.
I don't carelessly discard any of your ideas. It's just that I've heard so many of the same statements over the years, and I can tell the difference between someone with an enthusiastic imagination and someone who possesses real proof.
I will be the first to celebrate with you when proof of aliens is finally found. But I will respectfully try to warn you guys that the recent UFO docs released by the government do not contain that proof, and may in fact be no more than a fairly crude attempt to hide the fact that they still don't know what is really behind these UFO sightings.
I'll keep reading and watching videos along with all of you, and I'll keep hoping that real evidence and proof is forthcoming!

Pretty strong evidence. Likely to lead to proof.
All we need is the alien dead body for proof of aliens. We don't need to have a suspect or a motive.

Much weaker evidence, far less likely to lead to proof. We are trying to prove the existence of extraterrestrials, which is an extraordinary claim.
Proof is going to require extraordinary evidence, not just millions who believe.
We are still waiting for this extraordinary evidence.
Belief does not equal proof.

That's exactly what I keep saying - the military has not explained what the UFOs are. They remain UNIDENTIFIED, just as they have for years.
Not aliens, not physics-defying. Unidentified.
We will keep enjoying your vivid imagination and your emotional outbursts.
But the truth is that the government does not have any idea what the UFOs are.
You can yell at me until you're blue in the face, but that won't make your misinterpretation of the report any more true.
Sorry @jmcdonald.

I'm sorry, but that's a pile of horse doodoo.

That is already the government's mission. They don't need to release UFO reports to have a reason to want to know what's in our airspace.
Just another reason why the recent report doesn't pass the smell test.

I still don't believe that only the military and businesses would have exclusive knowledge about UFOs. That is a myth that has been perpetuated for years by reports such as the recent one to make us believe that the government knows something about UFOs that we don't.
When aliens visit finally visit us and prove their existence to mankind, they're not going to say "take me to your leader" like they do in the movies. There will be a variety of witnesses, not just military or business people.

I don't know why you think that the UFO proof has to come from military or business people. If real evidence of UFOs and aliens does show up, no one will be able to stop that news from being leaked.
It will never be a government secret for very long if they even find out before we do.
It seems more likely that the general population will know about the aliens before the government or at about the same time.
Don't believe the government when they brag about knowing more than you. It's an old tactic.

A person's astonishment doesn't make something real. You are setting the bar way too low for proof of reality.
It's very easy to be deceived when you do that.
If you are really interested in truth, you would do well to hang on to your skepticism for a little bit longer before labeling something as "real".

It's really too bad that the only "UFO" videos that have been coming out lately are fuzzy little unidentifiable dots.
Just like all the others from the past half-century of poor photography.
How incredibly worthless and boring.
Videos like this contribute nothing to our knowledge of UFOs.

I'm glad to see that you remain as open-minded as ever. Sorry for popping your bubble and disagreeing with you.
There are multiple points of view in this world.
Not all of us are as gullible as you.

Yes, please keep sharing the videos. I'm hoping eventually one of them will actually show enough details to prove something.
So far, you haven't shown anything better than we've been seeing for many years.
Having an "open conversation" includes allowing people to voice their opinions about what UFOs might be, and whether the videos are "real" or not. We all get to participate.
The mods are not going to tell anyone that they can't do that.
I've never said I'm the one who knows all. I'm only strongly suggesting that you might learn how to apply slightly more critical thinking to some of the "evidence" that you have been showing us.
I'm extremely open-minded. Being overly willing to believe in something is not open-mindedness, it is being gullible. My opinion. You are welcome to yours!
But please don't keep wasting everyone's time telling us how much you don't like me. We've known that for months now.
Just ignore my posts if they are so offensive to you. You don't always have to comment if you don't like what I say.
Your posts aren't offensive to me. You are welcome to say anything you want. When I read certain things, sometimes I feel like commenting.
Don't like it? Start your own Pinside!

I wanted to expand on this a little. The things I say are not meant as "trolls". They actually represent how I think.
It does seem like poor photographs and videos "create" many UFO sightings by giving us an ambiguous image that can't be clearly explained. It is part of the nature of photography that some photos are good, and some are poor and show inadequate detail.
There are many objects in the air, and many types of natural and man-made aerial phenomena that will show up in photographs or videos with greater or lesser clarity.
A perfectly clear photo of a jet airliner, or a hot air balloon, or a meteor is not really that exciting. It's easy to identify the object in the picture, because the picture is clear and sharp.
The same objects seen at a distance, through our distorting and moving atmosphere, and with hand-held cameras that are out of focus, appear as "unidentified objects". In those cases, the cameras have definitely "created" the UFO.
This is why it is completely reasonable to ask why we haven't seen any high-resolution photos of UFOs that are actually not man-made or natural objects. So many photos and videos are taken every day, with most of them in much higher resolution than was even possible 20 or 30 years ago.
It does not make sense to say that only people that record fuzzy, low-res images actually obtain pictures of alien spacecraft or secret government projects. It makes much more sense to just throw out any photographic evidence that is not clear and in focus. There are too many artifacts and illusions created by cameras themselves, especially when the lighting and focus is off, to justify spending too much time analyzing bad photos.
If better photos and videos really can't ever be taken, then we must consider the possibility that many UFO sightings are optical illusions or distortions, or artifacts of poor recording quality.
The more dramatic "Close Encounters" events can't be explained that way, of course. But why has there been nothing recorded of any of those?
Could it be that some of these close encounters could be caused by psychological, neurological, pathological, or other conditions that exist in people? Could it be that our senses and our memories are not as good as we'd like to believe?
Our senses have been proven to be unreliable under controlled conditions in careful experiments. An easy example would be optical illusions on paper. You can see things moving that aren't, and see colors and lines that aren't there.
Now, take these same fragile, inaccurate senses outdoors and expose them to something completely unfamiliar.
Wouldn't it be possible for any of us to completely misinterpret something that surprised us, when we can be fooled so easily in our own living rooms with a book of illusions, or by watching a clever stage magician?
Some of us have studied photography, physics, astronomy, UFOs, weather, aviation, rocketry, psychology, stage magic, and other things that make us cautious regarding standards of evidence and proof. This does not make us trolls or unconvinceable skeptics. It just means that different people use different methods and take varying amounts of time to decide what they believe.

I doubt the US or any other country would be able to hide the fact that they possessed "super tech" for very long.
Stuff like that gets leaked.

What if a nuclear explosion in space caused unpredictable effects? We'd be screwed, because like the true idiots that we are, we've already tried that one, in the late 50s and early 60s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starfish_Prime
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-altitude_nuclear_explosion#List_of_high-altitude_nuclear_explosions
It's really amazing that we've survived this long after developing nuclear weapons. The threat of nuclear war has stressed out our entire civilization for over 70 years now.
If there are Aliens, I hope they are able to reach us in time to prevent a catastrophe. Or maybe they are already at work keeping us safe.

Very legit formation of helicopters passing by, as depicted by a cheap fuzzy doorbell cam.
We see groups of military helicopters fly by here several times a month that look just like that.
If we're going to prove anything about UFOs, we're going to need a lot better "evidence" than that.

JMcDonaldSeesAnotherOne (resized).jpg

We should be seeing JMcDonald getting dragged into a UFO by the aliens very soon...

AliensAbductingJMcD (resized).jpg

Therefore, UFOs are in fact travelers from other planets visiting us. I see no other explanation.

Those are jet contrails, and they only appear as if they are coming from the ground because they come from beyond the horizon, and disappear over the horizon.
Try flightradar24.com or similar aircraft tracking apps. If you see a trail like that above you, you can often find the aircraft on the map and see if it's a private plane or a scheduled airliner, and most of them will show you where they came from and where they're going.
You'll quickly figure out which airports are generating your trails.
Good luck, and keep searching for UFOs, because they are out there somewhere.
Here's a screenshot from flightradar24.com, but it's too early to show much traffic (5:27AM Central time). Some guy just flew over you a few minutes ago.
Crown Point Indiana Air Traffic2022-01-15 06-27-14 (resized).png

??? What's different this time, from all the other times over the years when it was about to "open up"???
My guess is...........nothing.

Oh, another thing about contrails is that they are especially visible in the winter, because the ice crystals in them hang around a lot longer before they dissipate.
I love taking pictures of the sky and clouds in the winter. There are many interesting natural phenomena that appear in the sky. Here's one I posted on another thread on Pinside recently:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/a-picture-from-your-window/page/55#post-6600459
The colorful fringe on the clouds is caused by sunlight being refracted by ice crystals in the atmosphere.

We get a lot of weird clouds here because we sit between multiple ridges of mountains and valleys.
Here's a good one from yesterday. It looks like a huge Mother Ship just plowed through the sky!

MotherShipPassedOverKeyserWVJan142022 (resized).jpg

@RonSS, your location is a very busy air traffic area and I think you would enjoy flightradar24.com. A lot of weird clouds start as jet contrails and expand and combine with other contrails and clouds.
Definitely doesn't explain everything we see in the sky, of course, but it's interesting to match up air traffic to what we are seeing in the sky.
Here's a shot of your area just a few minutes ago from flightradar24.com:

Screenshot from 2022-01-15 11-10-03 (resized).png

I've been ready all week (actually, I've been ready for about 55 years).
I'm curious why you made that rather provocative statement a week ago.

I hope we eventually get to see some actual evidence. Extremely fuzzy, out-of-focus, handheld videos just do not cut it. They could be anything. Blurry videos are not evidence of anything but poor photography.

It should be obvious by now that our government releases "UFO reports" any time they want to distract us from other issues. When the "Tic Tac" video came out last year, a lot of people didn't realize that an earlier report with the EXACT SAME VIDEOS was released in 2018, and other versions came out in 2019.
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2018/03/13/video-shows-apparent-encounter-between-navy-pilot-and-ufo/
It wasn't a new report. It was just time to distract the public again. They'll bring it out again in a few years if they need the distraction. The "tic-tac" is dramatic-looking, so it makes good TV and rumor-starting material.
My opinion re: "tic-tac": it's an internal reflection of some sort in the aircraft's camera systems. It rotates in perfect sync with the aircraft that's watching it, therefore it is actually PART of that aircraft being picked up by sensors and improperly displayed. Glitches like that happen a lot in high-sensitivity sensor systems. It looks cool, so they show it to us over and over again. Other weird-looking "craft" may be our own guys testing cloaking systems. These systems have been in use since WWII, so it's not some kind of new "alien technology". LOL.

I am firmly holding my opinion that the government doesn't know shit about UFOs, but realizes the importance of appearing as if they do know something.

So, we're not going to see any new "proof" released by our government in the near future, and we probably won't see it for the rest of our lives, because it DOESN'T EXIST. There are no Roswell UFO pieces, no alien bodies, no hard evidence of any kind.

Relax and enjoy the UFO reports and videos. Some of them are pretty entertaining. Nothing about our knowledge of UFOs and aliens has changed in 6 decades, and nothing is about to change any time soon. There's nothing wrong with discussing UFOs and posting videos - just don't expect any of this type of "evidence" to prove anything. As I've said before, the only thing that a fuzzy video proves is that the videographer does not know how to operate their equipment.

@phil-lee, if you have something you're keeping from us, now is the time to bring it out!!!! You got us excited last week by your mysterious announcement.

This "boom-and-bust" cycle of the government building up excitement about UFOs and then releasing non-informative reports will continue. It apparently fulfills some need that our government has to distract certain citizens from other things they don't want you thinking about.

I think it's safe to say that we don't need to get excited about any announcements about UFOs from our government. I think it's also safe to say that proof of the existence of extraterrestrial beings is not going to come from shaky, blurry, hand-held videos, or any kind of "unidentifiable" (<===clue!) images from the military or anyone else.
Shitty photos and videos do not prove anything, even if they were shot by an ace fighter pilot. If you can't identify it, the pictures are worthless.