Obama gets involved with aliens: "They exist, but I haven't seen them"

BarcelonaFormer US President Barack Obama has sparked an unexpected headline this weekend: aliens "exist." He said this during a rapid-fire Q&A session on Brian Tyler Cohen's podcast, and the reaction has been so strong that Obama had to issue a statement clarifying that he hasn't seen "any evidence to support it."

In a relaxed moment of the conversation broadcast this Saturday Tyler asked him, "Do aliens exist?" And the Democrat replied, "They exist, but I haven't seen them." He then went on to debunk one of the most widespread conspiracy theories in the United States: "They're not hiding in... What do they call it? Area 51. There's no underground facility there, unless there's some gigantic conspiracy and they've hidden it from the President of the United States." Obama was referring to the rumor that the U.S. government is hiding aliens at this air base in the Nevada desert, which is actually used to develop the U-2 aircraft program, planes that some have mistaken for UFOs.

Media outlets around the world have covered Obama's response with headlines that lose sight of the context of his statements. "Former US President Barack Obama says aliens are real" or "They are real": Obama's surprising claims about aliens. Also Time It echoed with the headline: "Obama says aliens are real, but they're not in Area 51."

Amid the media frenzy, Obama published a statement on Instagram to clarify his words. "I was trying to keep the spirit of the quick round, but given the interest generated, let me clarify. Statistically, the Universe is so vast that there's a good chance there's life out there somewhere," he noted. "But the distances between solar systems are so great that it's highly unlikely we've been visited by extraterrestrials or made contact. Seriously!"

ICE, "practices of a dictatorship"

The former president also commented on the recent deployment of thousands of immigration agents to the state of Minnesota, condemning what he called the federal government's "uncontrolled behavior" during months of intensive operations. He compared the Trump administration's actions in Minnesota to practices seen "in authoritarian countries and dictatorships" that had not been seen in the United States. "That federal government agents are acting outside the law is deeply troubling and dangerous. But we must also pause for a moment to appreciate the extraordinary wave of organizing and community: neighbors buying groceries for affected families, accompanying children to school, and teachers defending their students; 'this is not the America we believe in,'" he added. The Trump administration announced on Thursday that It brought an end to the major anti-immigration operation in Minnesota.After months of tension and protests over the excessive use of force by officers, which resulted in the deaths of two Americans.

In parallel, Obama indirectly responded to the controversy over a video released by Trump in which he and Michelle Obama were depicted as apesThe former president lamented "the clown show on social media and television." "The truth is, it seems there's no shame left among people who once believed in maintaining a certain level of civility, decency, and respect for the institution. That's been lost," he added. Trump has refused to apologize for the video's release and claimed he asked a member of his team to publish it without having seen it in its entirety. "I didn't watch the whole thing," he stated. "I watched the first part, which talked about voter fraud at the machines. Then I sent it to my team. They normally review everything, but I guess someone didn't."