The universe is too big to statistically not have them, and ironically, too big for us to find them.

We can all suppose they are real. It's a safe bet, yet still just a presumption.

the Earth is the only planet inhabited by intelligent life one must have a religious belief for doing so.

Should’ve just just let Gort wipe us all out.

We know how life was able to evolve on earth. There is no reason to believe that with billions of planets with essentially the same conditions as earth has had for billions of years, that there wouldn't be life forms. Certainly the simplest life forms (single cell) must exist in millions or billions of places. But moving up that pyramid, you need lots of things to break your way to evolve to higher forms. You need a sun that provides steady energy, not a sun that is in a giant or dwarf phase. You need an atmosphere. Mars once had much more of an atmosphere than it has today. You need a stable, mostly circular orbit to avoid temperature extremes, and an absence of cataclysmic events.

You probably need a molten core, as our earliest life probably sprung from vents in the oceans. And so on. Simple life forms will be very common, IMHO, but higher life forms require good luck. At the rate that we are destroying our planet, we will not evolve to a much higher life form. But among the bullions of solar systems, it is almost certain that there will be many places where life has surpassed our level.

The problem is travel. At this point, we have no way to travel faster than the speed of light, and not even any interesting theories about that. So for now, we can pretty much rule out the whole Star Trek/Star Wars transportation mode. If we could travel at the speed of light (we can't), it would take us over 4 years to take a one-way trip to Proxima Centauri, which is the closest star to us. If we wanted to leave the Milky Way and go to another galaxy, the closest one would take us over 2 million years if we traveled at the speed of light.

But in Einstein's space/time theories, there is at least the possibility of distortions (wormholes) that could allow one to take shortcuts to distant places. Maybe that is possible, and maybe a race of critters much smarter than us has figured it out. But from where I sit, that is science fiction with no real basis in science. But who knows? A master race may have answers that we can't possibly envision. If we have been visited by intergalactic space aliens, they certainly seem to have been both mysterious and clumsy about it.

"Approximately 50% to 65% of Americans believe in the existence of extraterrestrial life in the universe. While nearly two-thirds believe in general life elsewhere, a smaller, yet growing, percentage (roughly 30%-34%) specifically believes that UFOs are alien spacecraft. Belief is generally higher among men and younger individuals."

I'm not saying intelligent life, just life. Yes, single celled organisms count.

how many alien races have

a) developed technology that allows them to travel great distances ( whether FTL, long duration, or some sort of worm hole / space warp ).

b) exist at this time ( or within the last, say, 2500 years ( earth years )

c) especially those within about 120 light years of our planet ( or rather where our planet and solar system have been traveling for the last 120 year ). There should be a reason to come investigate this planet. Radio waves would be one reason. Another is that they have developed technology to recognize a "habitable" planet much more so that we have.

The last postulate ( 120 years for radio waves to draw attention ) sort of limits the number of places aliens could come from UNLESS they have developed some form of FTL travel or Space Warp... without all the pesky time dilation issues.

There are almost certainly aliens in our galaxy... and many thousands or millions or billions of aliens in our universe. The number of exo planets, even those in the "goldilocks zones" is so large that it would be the absolute hubris to think we are the only life forms. However, the real question is about time, how many of those aliens are around NOW ( or near to our NOW ) and how many have the technology to visit ( since we do not have the technology to visit them) ???

So Obama is likely correct. There are aliens. they are not likely hiding at Area 51. If they are, then the President isn't cleared to know about it ( for fear that he would "spill the beans" ).

being destroyed by monsters, yes, monsters are real too.

bigger headlines?!!
Or is it just too new, and the weekend.

I mean... like... woah??!

I remember in Independence Day when Jeff Goldblum's character's dad Judd Hersh says something like 'why didn't you know?', to the President (Bill ?Pullman).
And the ?Secretary of Defense says "plausible deniability.".

Our galaxy is immense! And it's just one galaxy out of ?millions!

True as posted a lot of factors go from proper? chemicals into proteins into single cells; and up the building block of more complex life, and finally sapiency, and intelligence...eventually?

And as posted... the time factor is any space faring civilization out there now? More than one? A "Federation"? Factions that may be friendly, or hostile to humanity? Maybe indifferent? Are they capable of FTL drive, finding "wormholes", etc?

What can I say? I' been reading, and watching Science Fiction for 62 yrs or so!

about alien civilization(s).

Now, if it's at all true...

At least, it's Obama, and not drumphf letting the proverbial "cat outta the bag"!
I guess maaaaybe we'll see?? 🤔

*goes to watch Contact* 😉

that's one of the few explanations I can come up with to account for Drumpf.

There are people out there on social media that are saying different things. You go to their website, and it looks like they are trying to make money off of it. I think that there are some scammers out there.