The MAGA Plan to End Free Weather Reports, by Zoë Schlanger

8 comments

1. Zoë Schlanger: “In the United States, as in most other countries, weather forecasts are a freely accessible government amenity. The National Weather Service issues alerts and predictions, warning of hurricanes and excessive heat and rainfall, all at the total cost to American taxpayers of roughly $4 per person per year. Anyone with a TV, smartphone, radio, or newspaper can know what tomorrow’s weather will look like, whether a hurricane is heading toward their town, or if a drought has been forecast for the next season. Even if they get that news from a privately owned app or TV station, much of the underlying weather data are courtesy of meteorologists working for the federal government.

   “Charging for popular services that were previously free isn’t generally a winning political strategy. But hard-right policy makers appear poised to try to do just that should Republicans gain power in the next term. Project 2025—a nearly 900-page book of policy proposals published by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation—states that an incoming administration should all but dissolve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, under which the National Weather Service operates. Donald Trump has attempted to distance himself from Project 2025, but given that it was largely written by veterans of his first administration, the document is widely seen as a blueprint for a second Trump term.”

   Read more: [~https://theatln.tc/hYymtmzG~](https://theatln.tc/hYymtmzG) 

2. lol, one way to attack climate concerns is to prevent the populace from seeing any data, I suppose! Really, tho, they’re aiming at eliminating (or coopting, via corps) the cadre of educated professionals. If they could, they’d do the same for all other fields, but climate/weather is a (haha) “hot” button for them as it opposes the oil interests.

   The GOP bias for removing all non-commercial public services is nothing new. Their habit of attacking any inconvenient authority is 100% on brand. Terrible, but not new.

3. This feels like “what would Darth Vader do?” 

   But it also feels like 1984, where Big Brother would remove words every year from the Newspeak dictionary to control what thoughts people could have, or at least communicate.  Ron DeSantis already banned the term “climate change” and you have to see this as part of a pattern. 

   You know what to do in November. 

4. It’s the Seargent Schulz approach to climate: I see nothing, I hear nothing, I know nothing!

5. Since hurricanes most often make landfall in the south of the U.S. it’s going to hurt their own voters.

6. Have they not heard of the Internet?

7. Everyone will be issued a sharpie.

8. Michael Lewis, the author of The Big Short and Moneyball, wrote about this in his book The Fifth Risk.

   The long running Republican theme that the government is incompetent is mostly made up and overlooks large chunks of the government that do things that private industry either cannot or will not do. One of those things is working on improving weather forecasts.

   For years, the owner of one of the other, paid, weather services has been trying to get the government out of the forecasting game, because the government services are both cheaper and more accurate. Ultimately, they want the government forecasting technology turned over to them.