William G. Pullin

Greetings. Here in the United States, the quality of journalism at play is questionable, often times disconcerting, many times downright embarrassing. Providing accurate and objective information to the public has taken a back seat to subjective commentary and doubling-down behaviors. One such example is Ms. Yami Virgin, a journalist who currently works for KABB-TV, the FOX affiliate in San Antonio, Texas.  Ms. Virgin posted a video on her Facebook page which garnered quite a number of comments and declarations, some reasonable, many reflective of the critical thinking skills, or lack thereof, of the general public. The video shows a Falcon 9 rocket ascending towards Earth orbit, separating from a booster stage along its flight path. Nothing anomalous. Nothing extraordinary. Nothing extraterrestrial.  Ms. Virgin began her post with, and I quote, "Omg. Anyone know what this is? Look at the video notice that there are other stars or planes and they do not look foggy like when th...

Greetings. UFOs, or the other acronym, have been the subject of quite a bit of chatter in recent years. The tumult is almost deafening.  Back in decades prior, discussions about the UFO problem tended to focus on the issue itself, witness testimonials, sighting reports, and the results of the field investigations actually conducted at the time. The UFO subculture seemed to be less enamored with the sensationalized aspects of the topic, with some notable exceptions. As time has irrevocably progressed, the situation has changed, and not for the better.  Putting aside the entertainment wing of the UFO subculture, the lion's share of the rhetoric nowadays is centered around the claims and promotional activity of only a few well-known individuals. The Ross Coultharts of the UFO world have become the center of attention, all as a result of the public's fascination with unsubstantiated claims and declarations, with such statements completely void of anything tangible, with nothing of...

Greetings. The UFO subculture has made some truly revealing statements in recent days, some coming from some notable individuals. Let's take a candid look. The recently released AARO report has become a talking point for many in the UFO subculture, with a good percentage of the conversation focused on the report's shortcomings. Now while the historical errors and inaccuracies contained within the pages of the AARO report are certainly troubling and inexcusable, the same could be said about the vast majority of the UFO literature. Such errors can be found in most UFO books and papers, but strangely, nobody has ever shouted from the ufological mountaintops to complain about those informational missteps. As it pertains to the AARO report, many have taken up residence at the summit of Mt. Soapbox, an ideal spot to pick at the report's shortcomings, all the while taking the focus off the report's valid and scientifically defensible conclusions.  The persons shouting from Mt....

Greetings. Self-examination. Taking account of one's own belief structures and positions. An effort that is "alien" to many in the UFO subculture. Pun intended.  Human beings are by definition, biased, error-prone, subjective, bipedal mammals. We are all guilty of being biased to a certain extent, with true objectivity almost an unattainable goal to aspire to. We all are guilty of not honestly examining our own beliefs, at least not as often as we should. None of us are perfect animals, despite what some might think of themselves. I am one such imperfect, error-prone mammal. Confirmation is the sole motivation for many in the UFO world, with grounded, objective, scientifically-minded looks at data sets and information being thrown away like a spent cigarette on the streets of Roswell, New Mexico. The recently released AARO report put that situation on full display. The reactions to the report and its final conclusions were not unexpected. The fact that no evidence has com...

"....what we're talking about is just some advanced civilization that hybridized us a couple of hundred million years ago and imbued us with different religions as some kind of cargo cult to make us believe in a moral values system, and maybe they really do hear our thoughts and guide us." Ross Coulthart.  Greetings. The SCU, the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, was founded a few short years ago under the auspices of attempting to scrutinize the UFO problem with a strict adherence to the scientific method. Certainly a worthwhile endeavor, but has the situation changed? It seems so. The organization has made the rebarbative decision to have the controversial pseudojournalist Ross Coulthart appear as the keynote speaker for their upcoming conference. The decision-making process undertaken by the organization has not been made publicly known, so their transparency is clearly in question. Additionally, the organization seems to be quite comfortable with the violent rheto...

Greetings. Mr. Robert Powell, an Executive Board Member of the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, recently wrote a response to the recently released AARO report, published just this morning on X (Twitter.) The details of Mr. Powell's piece are not really important, although it must be said that the opinion piece is a lengthy and very well-constructed writeup that accurately conveys his thoughts on the AARO report. I do not agree at all with Mr. Powell's opinions or conclusions, but that is not the focus of this particular blog posting.  The focus of this writeup is one particular statement that Mr. Powell made in his opinion piece. The statement reads, and I quote, "There is a tendency in the AARO paper to pull the data that supports the AARO position and leave out the data that might argue against it." You read that right. Mr. Powell is stating that AARO embraced information that supports its paper, and pushed away from data that may support contrary conclusions. ...

Greetings. Ross Coulthart. The winner of the 2023 Bent Spoon Award.  The Bent Spoon Award is given by Australian Skeptics Inc. to "the perpetrator of the most preposterous piece of paranormal or pseudoscientific piffle." The award is given to Australian citizens, who have carried out their "work" in Australia. Mr. Coulthart won the 2023 award for, and I quote, "Espousing UFO conspiracies, including unsubstantiated claims that world governments and the Vatican are hiding extraterrestrial alien bodies and spacecraft on Earth." Not exactly an accolade that a journalist would place on their fireplace mantle at home, but that's just my humble opinion.  Last summer, Mr. Coulthart made an interesting claim, one that is completely unsubstantiated by any verifiable evidence or documentation. The claim, and I am paraphrasing, was as follows: "A spacecraft, too big to move, is currently being stored underneath a major landmark." Mr. Coulthart stated on ...

Greetings. Bullying and violent rhetoric. Such unfortunate usage of the English language has become as commonplace as unsubstantiated claims of alien abduction or visitation. Far too commonplace.  "I don't like the bullies in UFO social media and they need to be taken down. They need to be called out, and vilified, and exposed for what they are...." Mr. Ross Coulthart, an Australian journalist who is well-known in UFO circles, made the previous statement during a recent edition of "UAP Studies Podcast." The program is co-hosted by Jason Guillemette and Dr. Michael Clawson, who is a member of the SCU, the Scientific Coalition for UAP Studies, a detail which will become important as we move along. The link to the program is https://youtu.be/Y6vG_L8KLvM?si=ypN9ywMG-hZQZjou Back to Mr. Coulthart and his statement, or should I say statements. During the course of some previous programs, Mr. Coulthart has uttered some troubling and downright disrespectful things, aime...

Greetings. David Charles Grusch. The name is familiar in UFO circles, infamous in some.  Over 270 days have passed since Mr. Grusch testified before a congressional hearing on UAP (UFOs dammit!) and still no details, no tangible evidence, nothing but more talk and talk and talk. His veracity of his claims has not been determined, which leaves them floundering about in the land of opinion, but no matter. The UFO subculture strongly favors such content, with the necessity for physical evidence or documentation far, far in the background, if present at all.  Mr. Grusch is closely associated with some characters who are themselves, less than credible and desirable. The yoga sensei Jeremy Corbell, the once credible George Knapp, whose journalistic integrity has flown the UFO coop, and a few other people who are part of the religious narrative now being pushed in the UFO subculture, and offered to congress and the public. Mr. Knapp and Mr. Corbell are certainly central figures in th...

Greetings. The question "Are we alone?" has been asked since the human species first looked up at the night skies and thought about what may be "up there." From Neanderthals, to Cro-Magnons, to Homo sapiens, humans have always thought about that fascinating and still unanswered question.  2024 has arrived, and we still don't know if life exists anywhere else in the known universe. However, thanks to the herculean efforts of scientists around the planet, we can make some well-informed and reasonable guesses. Several countries have landed on the Moon (no, the landings were not faked,) with the United States having sent astronauts to the lunar surface. Our species has sent unmanned probes to the other planets, many of their moons, and beyond the boundaries of the solar system. Soil samples have been collected and examined, thousands of photographs have been captured, atmospheric and environmental measurements have been taken and scrutinized, all in an effort to lea...