Science denial is a weapon of mass destruction. Director https://xitter.cf/t.co/Bin6cU3MEh, host https://xitter.cf/t.co/vhqPXMEjky, author https://xitter.cf/t.co/DMaCQejzaa

Bend, OR
Joined May 2008
Sure wish I knew what a "trained observer" is
Why did Jay Stratton effectively debunk his own book? With his background and access, he could have focused on military UAP encounters: trained observers, advanced sensors, and the evidence those systems collected. That could have made a compelling case for taking the subject seriously. Instead, he mixed that material with ghost stories, werewolves, poltergeists, psychic phenomena, and interdimensional portals. Maybe he believes these things are connected? Maybe including them felt essential to telling the whole story? But believing there is a connection is not the same as establishing one. His credentials cannot substitute for evidence, and evidence supporting one extraordinary claim does not automatically support the others. There’s also an obvious inconsistency. He describes repeated paranormal activity at Skinwalker Ranch and, especially, in his own home, yet apparently none of it could be recorded because the phenomenon knows when it’s being recorded. How convenient. Meanwhile, he opens the book with a triangular craft caught on video, and his military material involves UAP tracked and recorded by multiple systems. If these are related phenomena, why can one be documented while the other supposedly defeats every attempt? That difference calls for an explanation, not an assumption that they belong together. The problem goes beyond presentation. When an author asks readers to trust his judgment about military encounters, then applies that same judgment to werewolves and poltergeists, readers have a legitimate reason to question his ability to distinguish evidence from speculation throughout the book. He has effectively supplied his own debunking: a reason to dismiss the entire account without seriously considering its strongest material. And that is exactly the reaction playing out online. Even if these phenomena are connected, he could have presented the military evidence on its own and made the case for that connection separately. So why make the credibility of the military evidence depend on readers also accepting the paranormal stories?
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This week in the news: A pile of old logs was warped into an excuse to spread more disinformation about Amelia Earhart — when celebrating her true legacy was also a perfectly good option. briandunning.substack.com/p/…
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Online marketers are promoting "Multi-Cancer Detection" tests, promising to use a single blood draw to search for early signs of up to 50 (!!) different cancers. It's real, not a fake scam; however, doctors still say most people should NOT do this. The reasons why are on this week's Skeptoid podcast: skep.us/1063
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Check out this week's Short Wave on NPR. It features the astrobiologist Seven Rasmussen talking about their book on the Drake Equation — which is also the subject of their appearance in our film Alien Echoes (currently in post — skeptoid.org/alienechoes).
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Here's what the science says on whether members of "the other party" are raving lunatics with absurd policies. Today on my Substack: briandunning.substack.com/p/…
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Behold: the direct relationship between lake level changes at Lake Mead, and mass media promotion of false stories about bodies of people killed by the mob. On this week's Skeptoid, the first show hosted by our own production manager Will McCandless: skep.us/1062
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In which I attempt to drive Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter's 1946 Ford, a 75th anniversary gift from Garth Brooks & Trisha Yearwood. It is the worst-driving car I have ever tried, and also the very best. Video courtesy of my co-driver Josh Carter.
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This must be what it's like to live with euphoric frontotemporal dementia.
🧵 Disclosure Foundation Chief Legal Officer Hunt Willis and other Foundation representatives were honored to recently brief the U.S. government's UAP Science Advisory Council (UAPSAC) on national security information and the PURSUE Initiative. The briefing examined the legal frameworks governing UAP disclosures, including a comparison of AARO and PURSUE, whistleblower protections, and congressional pathways to disclosure. We are making these materials publicly available at this time.
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Bigfoot ain't got nothing on the beast that terrorized North American forests 30 million years ago. Today on my Substack: briandunning.substack.com/p/…
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If only there were some way to *actually* restore our public health institutions to trustworthiness... 🤔
This week, I joined @NIHDirector_Jay, @DrOzCMS, and @DrSchwartzCDC at NIH to open a historic clinic dedicated to studying and caring for patients experiencing health problems following vaccination. We must listen to patients and families who report vaccine injuries—not dismiss or gaslight them. President Trump and I are building a health system that takes them seriously, follows the evidence, and uses what we learn to make vaccines safer. This is how we earn back trust in our public health institutions.
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This three-tweet thread ends with some important advice — we all do it, but most not often enough.
Another Marine I served with took his own life. Back in the day, we used to say that he was the one of us who could end up the president one day. He was smart, capable, and really had his shit together. That was 14 years ago.
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The "Lab Leak" conjecture revisited — is it still viable? Today on my Substack: briandunning.substack.com/p/…
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I found a cool fossilized leaf when splitting apart this shale. According to my in-house geologist, this is from a 33 Ma flora.
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The "Pictish Beast" is a consistently depicted animal — or something — on generations of carved standing stones in Scotland. To this day, nobody knows what it was. Could it indeed be some unknown beast? This week on Skeptoid: skep.us/1061
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Brian Dunning retweeted
This is also the definition of mythology. Greek myths, for example, are an entire stratum of fairly consistent, highly specific, overlapping stories told across centuries, and yet that does not make Zeus real nor fossil elephant skulls into proof of Cyclopes. – at Delmar, NY
What David Grusch said on @joerogan represents an entire strata of fairly consistent, highly specific overlapping stories told by many people over many years. If you are just hearing it now for the first time and are skeptical, you should know that there are generals, scientists, commandos, politicians', versions as well. It just goes on and on. You can't make it go away by saying "That particular guy has a mental problem." There are dozens of such sober sounding people with a breathtakingly enormous overlap. It would be the world's largest flash theater troupe of master actors. Or an emergent mass delusion. I find it all but impossible to explain. At some point you do have to ask: "What if I just take it literally?" That's not a huge improvement mind you (e.g. All aliens have tetrapod body plans??? Really????). But it's a kind of weird you have likely never experienced if you stare it in the face. No matter how you slice it. As I have been saying: something HUGE is up. And keep your eyes on New Mexico: Nukes-Trafficking-UAP-Physics-Espionage-"Drones". All the stories converge there.
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Replying to @BrianDunning
You’re thinking like a human. Maybe some of them are biological drones. Don’t be so myopic.
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If we have all these aliens in custody, various species, living & dead, then where is the aliens' Special Ops hostage rescue team? No pushback to our capture of all these guys?
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