John Brandenburg, PhD, a plasma physicist with a diverse research background, delved into the intriguing topic of the Roswell UFO crash and the clandestine history of government UFO cover-ups. His studies have led him to a fascinating conclusion-- not one, but two separate UFO crashes occurred near Roswell in 1947. "They found two debris fields of wreckage, as if... something had disintegrated in mid-air," he detailed. The site in Socorro, New Mexico, revealed a "pretty much intact disc, but it had a big hole in the side, and there were dead aliens inside and on the ground; some of them may have been alive." He noted government "compartmentalization" limited knowledge among military personnel at the Roswell base about these incidents.
Regarding the cause of these crashes, Brandenburg dismissed radar interference and lightning as potential culprits. He believes it was likely a military clash, as the UFOs were suspected of spying on US nuclear facilities, and there was heightened security, given that it was only two years after World War II, and there were also ingrained cultural narratives about hostile aliens such as from "War of the Worlds." WWII vets in a propeller-driven twin-engine plane with four 20-millimeter cannons and machine guns on a turret on the top shot down one of the craft and blew up the other one, he posited. Brandenburg conjectured that the two downed craft may have been scout ships sent out by an interstellar mothership.
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Prof. Richard Blakemore has been writing and teaching about historical piracy and maritime empire for over a decade. In the latter half, he discussed the so-called 'Golden Age' of piracy, which steered major events in the 17th and 18th centuries. The "romanticized image" of pirates depicted in books and movies comes from this era. Piracy often stemmed from the economic motivations of sailors transitioning from wartime activities to illegal plundering once conflicts ended, he explained. They sought out valuable cargo, including silver from the Spanish Empire, and luxury goods like silk and spices, he continued, adding that they operated mainly in concentrated trade routes, particularly in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
Pirates used intimidation and deceitful tactics like flying false flags, and there was an interconnectedness between piracy and colonial economies, as "some colonies would not have survived without the income coming in from plunder," Blakemore revealed. Pirates had their own code of conduct, and some were more than just outlaws like William Dampier, a renowned voyager and author, who chronicled his observations from far-flung places. Blakemore spoke about the lives of two notorious female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, suggesting that historical accounts of them often reflected societal fears and stereotypes about women. He also touched on modern piracy, such as off the coast of Somalia, where various vessels have been attacked.
News segment guests: Christian Wilde, Kevin Randle