Pentagon to launch ‘one-stop shop’ UFO website for the public

By Alex Hammer

Updated: 06:22 EDT, 1 September 2023

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The Department of Defense has unveiled a new website that will provide official declassified information on UFOs – about a month after a prominent UFO whistleblower delivered bombshell testimony before Congress.

Still under construction, the web page will offer pictures and videos for the public to easily peruse once completed, with several already online just hours after its release.

Its existence was announced Thursday during a briefing from Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, weeks after former intelligence official David Grusch claimed the Pentagon is covering up evidence related to extraterrestrials.  

Other information the will soon be available, the general said, includes reports and frequently asked questions about unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs), as well as links to reports, transcripts, and other resources that’s been declassified.   

In a Thursday statement about the website, federal officials said the release shows how ‘committed’ the Defense Department is to ‘transparency with the American people’ about their work on UAPs – the government’s term for UFOs.

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‘This website will serve as a one-stop shop for all publicly available information related to the Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) and UAP,’ the release reads,

Defense officials said the ‘AARO will regularly update the website with its most recent activities and findings as new information is cleared for public release.’  

The new site can be accessed via the domain aaro.mil, the department added – where users will be able to also find links to other available government aircraft, balloon, and satellite tracking sites.

Its release comes as the government has been forced to take the presence of unknown flying objects more seriously in recent months, especially after Grusch in July testified under oath that the Pentagon had firsthand encounters or knowledge about secret government programs involving technology that is ‘non-human.’

‘My testimony is based on information I’ve been given by individuals with a long-standing track record of legitimacy… whom have shared compelling evidence in the form of photography, official documentation and classified oral testimony to myself and many various colleagues,’ Grusch said, adding that he was driven to share by a ‘commitment to truth and transparency.’

‘I am asking Congress to hold our government to this standard and thoroughly investigate these claims,’ he told lawmakers at the time. ‘But as I stand here under oath now, I am speaking to the facts as I have been told them.’

He told the committee that he and more than 30 aircrew members and veterans have experienced UAPs, unidentified aerial phenomena, along with members of Congress who have confided in him.

He also claimed the government currently has in their possession, ‘intact and partially intact’ extraterrestrial vehicles, though provided no evidence to support that or any of his other assertions.

Suggesting the American people for nearly a century have been left in the dark, he claimed the first recovery of a UFO was in Magenta, Italy, in 1933.

He said Mussolini’s Italian government held it until 1944 through 1945 when Pope Pius XII tipped America off about it. 

When asked if he firmly believes the government has possession of UAPs, Grusch responded, ‘absolutely.’

He said that is based on interviews with at least 40 witnesses.

Asked where the craft are, he said: ‘I know the exact locations and those locations were provided to the inspector general … I actually had the people with the firsthand knowledge provide a protected disclosure to the Inspector General.’ 

He further claimed he has faced brutal retaliation after coming forward about his firsthand accounts of UFOs.

‘I do have knowledge of active planned reprisal activity against myself and other colleagues,’ Grusch said.

‘There were certain colleagues of mine that were brutally administratively attacked. It makes me very upset as a leader to see that happen to other co-workers and superiors of mine in the last three years.’

He was among three military whistleblowers who testified under oath in July that they had firsthand encounters or knowledge about secret government programs involving technology that is ‘non-human.’

His remarks, however, were condemned, by the head of the Pentagon’s UFO office, Sean Kirkpatrick, who slammed Grusch’s claims about alleged secret programs that retrieve crashed UFOs and reverse engineer the technology as ‘insulting’. 

Grusch alluded to both programs in his statements, which were there bolstered by testimonies Navy Commander and veteran fighter pilot David Fravor and Ryan Graves, also a former pilot.

Graves said, as an F-18 pilot in the Red Rippers, their squadron was ‘split by UAP’ during a training mission near Virginia Beach in 2014.

He described the object as ‘dark gray or black inside a transparent sphere.’ It was about 15 feet in diameter and came within 50 feet of the lead aircraft.

Retired Navy Cmdr. Fravor, meanwhile recalled  his experience seeing what he described as a ‘Tic Tac-looking object’ while on a flight back in 2004, during a routine training mission with the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz off the California coast.

The object was ‘far superior to anything we had at the time, have today or are looking to develop in the next 10-plus years,’ Fravor said in his statement. 

When asked whether the U.S. has been concealing evidence of non-human aircraft. The commander of the F/A-18F squadron on the USS Nimitz said he spotted the object and later told his superiors, but that there was never any official investigation 

When asked if any reporting took place after the incident, Fravor said there was just a standard debrief, but no more. 

All three men were sworn in and made their assertions under oath, with Grusch openly testifying that he knows colleagues who were injured while reverse-engineering UFO tech.

He further accused the government of ‘absolutely’ hording UFO tech and ‘biologics’ of ‘non-human origins’ since the 30s, and claimed to known the exact locations where they’re being held.

He added that he would be willing provide specifics in a classified setting. 

The testimonies the way for six members of Congress – Reps. Tim Burchett, (R-Tenn.), Jared Moskowitz, (D-Fla.), Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) and Andy Ogles (R-Tenn) – to pen a letter to Inspector General Thomas Monheim this past week demanding details about alleged secret programs.

Within six days, the DoD unveiled its new website, which, while unfinished, already has several videos showing UFO-involved cases over the years, with real-time UAP reporting soon to come.

The site can be accessed here. 

Selfridges will axe some head office staff and shop workers in an ‘efficiency restructure’

• Boss of iconic retail brand tells staff some teams will be ‘resized and reshaped’
• Staff will be informed tomorrow of ‘proposed new shape of the organisation’

By Mike Sheen

Published: 12:48 EDT, 10 August 2023 | Updated: 12:48 EDT, 10 August 2023

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How that summer coffee shop frappe can be worse for you than eating FIVE KitKats: Eye-watering levels of sugar in drinks sold by Costa, Starbucks, Caffe Nero and McDonald’s revealed

• EXCLUSIVE: Campaigners warn the drinks will add to Britain’s obesity epidemic

By Dominik Lemanski For Mailonline

Updated: 13:00 EDT, 25 June 2023

The Repair Shop team stun guest by rejuvenating a 128-year-old ventriloquist’s dummy after it helped her overcome the trauma of being bullied for undiagnosed dyslexia

By Owen Tonks For Mailonline

Published: 20:01 EDT, 13 June 2023 | Updated: 21:17 EDT, 13 June 2023

BUSINESS LIVE: Shop price inflation hits record high; Asda to buy petrol station operator; Home REIT kept in dark by investment adviser

By Live Commentary

Updated: 08:02 EDT, 30 May 2023

Some links in this article may be affiliate links. If you click on them we may earn a small commission. That helps us fund This Is Money, and keep it free to use. We do not write articles to promote products. We do not allow any commercial relationship to affect our editorial independence.

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On the basis that you should invest in what you know, I have lately been watching other people shop for furniture and furnishings. This is not snooping, but a way to gauge consumer sentiment ahead of a portfolio makeover.

The fortunes of homeware retailers rely on people feeling relatively confident about their circumstances and the outlook for the property market.

Which is why this weekend you will find me monitoring activity in one or more of the sector’s UK-listed players such as B&Q (part of the Kingfisher empire), B&M, Dunelm, Marks & Spencer, Next and Sainsbury’s, owner of Argos and Habitat.

These companies are operating in what Dunelm chief Nick Wilkinson has called ‘a new, complex and rapidly evolving economic reality’. They have to deliver great design, service and value in stores and online, to appeal to households with squeezed budgets.

This endeavour could falter if interest rates continue to rise and inflation lingers even longer than expected. But this year I am taking bets on the UK market, which many consider undervalued.

Also, demand for furniture, lighting and the rest is proving stronger than feared. For the moment, house prices have not fallen as sharply as forecast, and the pandemic appears to have fostered an even closer attachment to the home and its refurbishment.

The travails of John Lewis also provide an opportunity for its rivals, although they must also strive not to cede more ground to Amazon. In the first quarter, the US giant seized an 8.82 per cent share of the online homeware market, ahead of Argos with 8.67 per cent. Dunelm was third, with 4.42 per cent.

First-quarter sales at Dunelm rose 6.1 per cent and its enthusiasts believe it can continue to deliver because it provides contemporary and traditional styles for every pocket. Guy Anderson, manager of the Mercantile investment trust, which has a stake in the company, says: ‘Consumer weakness could make life more challenging for many retailers.

‘But we’re optimistic about Dunelm’s growth ‘runway’, which is driven by an improving omni-channel proposition.’

Richard Hunter of the Interactive Investor platform observes that Dunelm has been the subject of vague bid speculation – one reason why the shares are up 16pc this year. Eleonora Dani of Shore Capital rates them a ‘hold’ since they trade at 16 times earnings, which is at the top end of the retail sector and means that I will be waiting for some weakness before I buy.

Next, trading at 13 times earnings, is on my list of stocks to consider if the price slips a bit. Its collection is attractive and affordable, and a formidable website features a host of third-party brands such as The White Company.

Meanwhile, Kingfisher, whose divisions include B&Q, Screwfix and the French chain Castorama, said this week that it had been hit by poor weather, but that ‘sales in core and big-ticket categories were showing continued resilience’.

However, Hunter says shares are a ‘sell’ in the opinion of a consensus of analysts, which may reflect an assessment that, while the desire to refurbish remains keen, the pandemic DIY craze is over.

Sainsbury’s shares – up 26 per cent this year – trade at 14 times earnings, partly spurred by improvements in profitability at Argos.

The potential of this combination is one of the reasons why analysts argue that it is worth continuing to hold Sainsbury’s shares.

I will be hanging on to my stake in Marks & Spencer following this week’s news of an 11.2 per cent jump in clothing and home sales. This formerly woebegone operation is ‘fast becoming the poster child for the new-look M&S,’ says Hunter.

Based on my love of M&S fashion and furniture, I invested last November at 120p. The shares now stand at 179.5p. A few investors may dream of a return to 743p, its peak of May 2007.

But higher energy costs are just one obstacle to such a revival.

The return of shoppers to high streets and malls is boosting M&S. Another beneficiary is B&M, the discounter which supplies decor trends for less.

Such is the pull of this latter-day variety store that Simon Skinner at Orbis Investment, one of the largest shareholders, says: ‘I defy anyone to leave a B&M without buying something for their home.

‘It provides very compelling products at very compelling price points, thanks to its efficiency.

‘It makes the very best use of its store estate and sources its stock directly from Asia, rather than through middlemen.’

He considers the shares, which have risen by 13 per cent since January and trade at 11 times earnings, to be a good, long-term gamble.

The discount supermarkets Aldi and Lidl have gained acceptance among an affluent middle-class clientele. As a middle-class person, I am taking a bet on B&M doing the same.

Employee of the month! Fish and chip shop worker moonlights as an EAGLE to stop seagulls stealing food on Whitby seafront

By Monique Rubins

Published: 06:03 EDT, 23 May 2023 | Updated: 07:26 EDT, 23 May 2023

Rishi Sunak today revealed he was inspired to expand the role of pharmacies after watching his mother form a ‘powerful connection’ with patients in the family shop.

The Prime Minister, who worked as a boy in his mother’s pharmacy in Southampton, today unveiled plans to allow pharmacists to issue prescriptions for a string of common ailments.

The plans, designed to take pressure off GP appointments, is backed with funding of £645million.

Speaking to the Daily Mail today, Mr Sunak revealed that his own experience as someone with a pharmacist mother and GP father had persuaded him the plan could work.

He said the issue was ‘personal to me’, adding: ‘My dad was a GP, my mum was a pharmacist. I grew up working for my mum – I worked in her pharmacy for years. And so I saw first-hand how powerful the connection that she had with her patients was, how much they trusted their trusted her but more generally how much people trust their local pharmacist.

‘So it’s really personal to me, and that’s why what we’re announcing today empowers patients so that they can get more services from pharmacists, but it also is a massive vote of confidence in our community pharmacies.’

The PM took a trip down memory lane today, returning to the pharmacy run by his mother Usha until 2014, where he helped measure out and deliver medicines as a boy.

He said that today’s prescribing plans, which are due to be in place by the winter, would make life easier for patients with minor complaints, as well as freeing up 15million GP appointments a year.

‘Imagine you’ve got kids with an earache or sore throat? You won’t have to call the doctor. You won’t have to wait for an appointment. You can just go to your pharmacist and get those medicines. If you’re someone needing contraception or indeed blood pressure checks, all those things. We’re now going to say you can do it your pharmacy.

‘And it’s great for patients because it means they can get the care they need quicker.’

Mr Sunak appeared to acknowledge that the Government is likely to miss a target to increase the number of GPs by 6,000 next year.

But a new workforce plan in the coming months is expected to boost training places by up to 50 per cent.

And the PM insisted that the pressure on GPs could be eased by directing patients to other medical practitioners.

Speaking during a visit to a GP practice in Southampton, he said: ‘You don’t always need to see your GP. Talking to the patients here, there’s someone seeing a physiotherapist, someone else seeing a nurse for managing their asthma, someone else seeing a nurse for their diabetes treatment.

‘That’s great. They don’t need to see the GP, they can see those people, get the care they need. They can get it faster, and it frees up the GP to focus on the things that only the GP can do. And that’s why we’ve hired 25,000 more people like that since 2019. And that is what modern general practice looks like.’

Mr Sunak outlined the plans as industry groups warned that more pharmacies will close unless ministers provide more funding to the ‘struggling’ sector.

On average, one pharmacy is closing every five days, with owners warning that NHS payments are failing to keep up with the soaring price of medicines.

Mr Sunak said pharmacies are now receiving ‘record’ funding, with additional help for those in rural areas. And he said he was committed to helping the sector thrive.

‘Eighty per cent of the country lives about 20 minutes’ walk from a pharmacy, and for many people they are an easier place to access than their surgery,’ he said.

‘That’s why we’re investing more in them and allowing them to do more, and it’s not just more medicines that people will be able to get there.’