Dear Progressive Reader,

Balloons and other unidentified aerial objects remain in the news. On Thursday, President Joe Biden gave a briefing on the response of the United States to these objects, noting the continuing uncertainty: “We don’t yet know exactly what these three objects were.  But nothing—nothing right now suggests they were related to China’s spy balloon program or that they were surveillance vehicles from other—any other country.” In fact, it is very possible, according to some investigations, that at least one of these other objects may have been of U.S. origin—a hobbyist's radio repeater balloon launched from Illinois. And, as Biden noted, “We don’t have any evidence that there has been a sudden increase in the number of objects in the sky.  We’re now just seeing more of them.” One amateur radio enthusiast tells me, “The lack of regulation and registration of balloon launches under the FAA rules seems to be the problem here.”

But one thing appears certain, as White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre felt obligated to state in a press briefing on Monday, “Again, there is no indication of aliens or [extra]terrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.  Wanted to make sure that the American people knew that, all of you knew that.  And it was important for us to say that from here because we’ve been hearing a lot about it.” It is perhaps not surprising that they have heard a lot about it, since UFO sightings are up and, according to a 2021 Gallup poll, 41 percent of Americans now believe that some UFOs are of alien origin (up 8 percent from 2019). In addition, as Vice News revealed eleven months ago, “The Barack Obama Presidential Library claims [in response to a 2022 Freedom of Information request] it has ‘3,440 pages and 26,271 electronic files’ possibly related to the existence of UFOs and related phenomenon.” 

In the meantime, both the United States and Canada announced today that they are no longer search for remains of the three unidentified objects that were recently shot down. But one thing is certain, the cost of these shoot-downs was immense with each missile used costing approximately $400,000, and at least some of those missiles completely missing their targets.

On our website this week, Jeff Abbott reports on the uncertain future of the new anti-corruption organization in Honduras, David Rosen examines the story of recently released Guantanamo detainee Majid Khan, and Mark Fiore turns his pen on large oil corporations pretending they are investing in green energy solutions. Plus Chuck Collins pens an op-ed on getting billionaires to pay their fair share of taxes, and Saurav Sarkar shines light on the way Starbucks is trying to break efforts at unionization of its stores by chronically understaffing them.

Please keep reading, and we will keep bringing you important articles on these and other issues of our time.

Sincerely,

Norman Stockwell
Publisher

P.S. - If you missed our online book discussion with Frank Emspak and his new memoir Troublemaker: Saying No to Power, on February 2, the event with panelists Steve Early, (free-lance journalist and the author or co-author of five books about labor, politics, or veterans issues), Alice Herman (labor reporter whose work has appeared in The Progressive, In These Times, and other outlets), and Norman Stockwell (former Board member of Workers Independent News and publisher of The Progressive magazine) is still available as on online archive on YouTube. You can also still get a signed copy of Frank’s book with a donation to The Progressive at: Progressive.org/troublemaker.

P.P.S. - The new 2023 Hidden History of the United States calendar is now available. You can order one online and get it mailed in time for the holidays.

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