To The Stars Finishes its Series "Unidentified" - What Happens Next?

As noted in my previous posting, the six episode (First? Only?) season of "Unidentified" has ended. What is the fallout from it? What have we learned, and what can we conclude, after seeing the series? UFO researcher Tom Mellett posted to Facebook that

UNIDENTIFIED Episdode 6 - HITS RATINGS BOTTOM

Lowest ever 18-49 demo at 0.17

Lowest ever Total Audience at 926K

Also, its ratings were consistently beaten by Ancient Aliens (oh, the shame!).
 
I was recently on Kevin Randle's podcast "A Different Perspective," to talk about the claims of "To The Stars," and other matters. (My name is spelled and misspelled inconsistently here). Randle apparently has not been closely following the details of TTSA's claims, but here he, a retired military officer, says he is puzzled by Luis Elizondo's statements about his background, his rank and assignments, etc. Randle thinks it doesn't add up. Also, we discussed the claims about the Italian police helicopter allegedly shot down by a UFO, or alternately, suffering a bird strike damaging the rotors. Randle, a former Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam, says he has never heard of a bird strike on a rotor, causing damage. They experienced the occasional bird strike, but on the front of the helicopter.

Randle remarked on how even Steven Basset was calling out TTSA for their credulity - I was going to bring it up but he beat me to it - and we both commented, how credulous do you have to be for even Steven Bassett to call you gullible?!! Steven Bassett is the Energizer Bunny of Disclosure. His organization Paradigm Research Group sponsored the rather silly "Citizens' Hearing" that was supposed to mimic Congressional hearings on UFO disclosure. Here is what Basset had to say about the final episode of "Unidentified":

The sixth episode of Unidentified was flawed to the point of being grotesque. Every aspect of the production was designed to be dark including the cinematography, editing, and content, which was drenched in "threat" projection.

The TTS/AAS decided to go to Italy to address an incident involving a helicopter allegedly damaged and forced to land by a UAP. Meetings were held with Italian officials and researchers. Within the context of these meetings there was reference to a series of mysterious fires that occurred in the Italian village of Canetto di Caronia in 2004, 2005 and 2014. It was suggested these fires were caused by rays beaming out the sea where a UAP underwater base was located. Really?

It seemed clear to PRG the TTS/AAS had gone to some length to find a case that involved an "attack" by a UAP on a military vehicle. PRG was surprised at the TTS/AAS's lack of credulity regarding these assertions by the Italians. [RS - I think he means "credulity," or "lack of skepticism"].

The fires. In March of 2015 Giuseppe Pezzino and his father Antonio Pezzino were arrested and charged with arson, conspiracy to commit fraud, and sounding a false alarms pertaining to the events in Canetto di Caronia. Insurance fraud was the likely motivation. The Italian military police had installed hidden cameras in the streets after the fires started again in July 2014. Video captured about 40 incidents implicating Giuseppe and Antonio. There was also phone tap evidence. They were found guilty.

The TTS/ASS could have found this information on the Internet in 10 minutes.

The helicopter. Helicopter rotors hit birds. Also, it was not a "military" helicopter. It was the equivalent to a "police" helicopter.

Paradigm Research recently ran this ad for an new documentary about the UFO fabulist Jaime Maussan

One of Basset's recent mailings contains an ad for a documentary movie about Jaime Maussan, famous for promoting bogus UFO claims like the so-called "Roswell Slides" and other alleged dead aliens. Apparently Basset still believes Maussan's rubbish. The reason for bringing all this up is: When Steven Bassett is calling you out for being gullible, that means you must be really, really gullible.

Speaking of gullible, on July 12 To The Stars announced its second round of fundraising, I mean, "investment opportunities." Keith Basterfield looked into the matter of TTSA's financing. He reported,

 "On September 27, 2017, the company announced an offering pursuant to...raising $1,370,230 before closing on September 28, 2018..."

[KB] comment: This is the first time I can recall, that a figure has been shown, for how much was raised by the first stock offering. [A full subscription would have brought in $50 million , so they fell a little short.- RS].

The latest offering is "a maximum of 6,000,000 shares of Class A common stock...The cost price per share...is set at $5.00. The minimum investment is 70 shares or $350."

[KB] comment: If all shares are subscribed to, the result would be an investment of $30,000,000.

  Risk Factors

1. "Our Aerospace and Science Divisions have no current customers and no revenues."

2. "Aerospace and scientific research and development can be risky, and there are no guarantees that any of the projects we undertake will lead to a commercially viable product."

[KB] comment: These statements are telling ones.

So what new thrills can TTSA possibly offer, in addition to a UFO shooting down a helicopter, to inspire "investors" to buy more shares? Don't forget its other big claim, to possess alien "metamaterials," supposed physical samples from UFOs. On July 25, TTSA breathlessly announced,

TO THE STARS ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCE MAKES GROUNDBREAKING METAMATERIALS ACQUISITION

TTSA TAKES CONTROVERSIAL ADAM RESEARCH PROJECT TO NEXT LEVEL

R&D ACCELERATES ON POTENTIALLY EXOTIC MATERIAL FEATURING PROPERTIES NOT FROM ANY KNOWN EXISTING MILITARY OR COMMERCIAL APPLICATION

San Diego, CA (July 25, 2019) - To The Stars Academy of Arts & Science (TTSA) has acquired multiple pieces of metamaterials and an archive of initial analysis and research for their controversial ADAM Research Project. ADAM, an acronym for Acquisition and Data Analysis of Materials, is an academic research program focused on the exploitation of exotic materials for technological innovation.

The ownership of these assets, which were previously retained and studied by investigative journalist Linda Moulton Howe and are reported to have come from an advanced aerospace vehicle of unknown origin, allows TTSA to conduct rigorous scientific evaluations to determine its function and possible applications.

“The structure and composition of these materials are not from any known existing military or commercial application,” says Steve Justice, current COO of To The Stars Academy and former head of Advanced Systems at Lockheed Martin's "Skunk Works."

So, TTSA gets supposed UFO samples from longtime UFOlogist Linda Moulton Howe, and they make a big deal about it. Those who have been around UFOlogy for a while know that Ms. Howe has a reputation for wild claims and sensationalism that's not quite as bad as Jaime Maussan's, but almost. She is the author of a book on Crop Circles, and other very dubious stuff.

Linda Moulton Howe smiling radiantly inside a Crop Circle.

Note how TTSA says that the samples were "previously retained and studied" by Ms. Howe. They seem to not be at all curious about what that study might have found. That supposed sample has been kicking around the halls of UFOlogy since at least 1996. It has been discussed in UFO conferences, and on Art Bell's late-night Coast-to-Coast AM radio show. UFO Watchdog has nicely summarized its history for us. He wrote that Howe arranged for

scientific technologist Nicholas A. Reiter [to examine] the alleged UFO crash debris, he also successfully replicated the metal and presented Howe with a sample. ufowatchdog.com was told by Reiter that Howe reportedly scoffed at the results of the report because the replicated material was not 100% "exactly" like the alleged UFO crash debris Howe has been advertising as being mysterious. Reiter stated in a letter to ufowatchdog.com, " [Linda's] opinion was that what I had offered had no resemblance to her sample. But she never did make any detailed and accurate reference to it either."

 Reiter also mentioned that Howe was reporting the mystery metal would move when high voltage was applied to it. Reiter stated that a piece of a soda can, or just about any metal for that matter, would move with enough voltage running through it.

Odd that Howe would report everything showing the piece to be unusual, yet not report on the conclusions of the report found below. On a side note, the scientific technologist that compiled this report at the request of Howe is the same scientific technologist Howe used to examine the bogus Brazil UFO Abduction. Howe wasn't apparently satisfied with those results and chose to use someone else to examine the materials after Reiter and another scientist concluded there was nothing unusual about the evidence. Howe went on to champion that case in spite of an analysis done by two scientists she has used in the past without question.

TTSA's photo of supposed alien metal sample

Reiter's conclusion was:

At the most basic of levels, we would freely state that the artifact portion provided by LMH does NOT seem to be composed of elements or compounds which are unknown. Nor is it composed of alloys that appear to be of a purity or combination beyond the scope of current material science. The artifact bears a strong resemblance to irregular layered residue often found in large physical vapor deposition (PVD) coaters. This family of filming processes includes sputtering, E-beam, and resistively heated thermal evaporation; all common vacuum processes used widely in industry. The structure of the artifact very strongly suggests long term, high rate, disordered epitaxial growth on a cold surface (chilled evaporant shield? chamber walls?).

And this is what To The Stars thinks is the greatest thing, something that takes their research into physical samples "to the next level"?  As I said before, the folks of TTSA really are "Babes in the Woods" when it comes to UFOlogy.