I’m not a major diarist here on KOS by any means, so bear with me as you move thru this. And needless to type, a lot has gone on since I began this draft.
First, it’s in response to a post by Meteor Blades back on the 8th of this month, kind of challenging all of us in taking apart Project 2025 on a personal level. By reading through the document ourselves to learn about that certain aspect of the manifesto that can be told to the people in your circle. He used a teacher you may know as an example, and hit him/her with the way free school lunches will become a thing of the past under their plan. If you missed his diary, take a minute to read it.
There was also Mark Summers diary dealing with the way P2025 would deal with the NWS and NOAA, by highlighting an article in The Atlantic. I had read that article the day before when it was published, but if you missed it, go back and check it out in that link.
But from MB’s post on the 8th, I had been taking notes and looking at Chapter 21 of the right wing rag about the Commerce Department and how NOAA was under that heading. I began collecting other articles for putting this diary together and also planning to post it to my couple thousand followers on my weather page on FaceBook. I’ve done my best to keep politics and weather separate for those folks and only use it for weather related times that the two mix or intertwine. The take over of NOAA is one of those times and I’ll be posting this there by the end of the month, first of August, as about 2/3s of the folks that visit are maga minded.
A blurb of history from my end. My dad was in construction thru my formative years back in the 60s, and he’d always say that it didn’t matter what the weather was, snow, rain, storms, etc., he still had to go to work to keep food on the table. But every morning at 5:30 you could find him in the kitchen fixing a lunch pail and listening to the local radio station for the weather. If he was in a good enough mood, I would join him for a cup and we’d chat. Otherwise, this was ‘his’ time and we all respected it.
But it stuck with me, the weather that is, and from the time I was old enough to start thinking about what I was going to do in life, I came to the conclusion it should be with the weather. My senior year in high school I took home courses on meteorology and chose an Airline School to go to, as I wanted to be an airport weather forecaster. Long story short, after graduation from that AS, finding that perfect job wasn’t in the cards and I went back to what my dad taught me, how to build things. At one period with my construction business I had 27 full time employees. So weather has stuck with me thru all of these years as I based on where to put my crews that day, or call them all off all together, on the weather. Just Business...
First, if you haven’t not yet downloaded a copy of the manifesto to look over, I don’t think you can really be serious about finding something in there to chat about with your circle of folks. Do it now, as the calendar soon flips to giving us a little over three months to keep our freedoms. Here’s the link. It’s a quick download and then you can get off of their site.
A little History about NOAA, which goes back over 200 Years. The first entry into the linked page, and then plenty of links on that page to the current system.
In 1807, President Thomas Jefferson founded the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (as the Survey of the Coast) to provide nautical charts to the maritime community for safe passage into American ports and along our extensive coastline. The Weather Bureau was founded in 1870 and, one year later, the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries was founded. Individually, these organizations were America's first physical science agency, America's first agency dedicated specifically to the atmospheric sciences, and America's first conservation agency.
Dedicated Folks From A New Era
Some great old pics can be found searching around that shows just how long ago the Heritage Foundation and a new convicted felon wants to erase history and make it all for profit.
From a Mother Jones article:
“Right now, all people can access high-quality forecasts for free through the NWS. But if forecasts were conducted only by private companies that have a profit motive, crucial programming might no longer be available to those in whom business executives don’t see value, said Rosenberg.”
“What about air-quality forecasts in underserved communities? What about forecasts available to farmers that aren’t wealthy farmers? Storm-surge forecasts in communities that aren’t wealthy?” he said. “The frontlines of most of climate change are Black and brown communities that have less resources. Are they going to be getting the same service?”
Pretty simple answer to that question. Mother Jones writers have a way with words and it’s a quick read.
Numerous links can also be found at the NOAA Heritage page.
Although NOAA formed in 1970, the agencies that came together at that time are among the oldest in the Federal Government. The Survey of the Coast formed in 1807, the Weather Bureau formed in 1870, and the U.S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries formed in 1871. Much of America's scientific heritage resides in these agencies.
The NOAA Heritage Program’s mission is to preserve NOAA’s heritage. By telling our unique story, we seek to deepen our workforce’s and the public’s understanding of NOAA’s history and instill a sense of pride and value for our mission and services.
Then, a little History of the NWS, and the first couple of lines from that site.
- 1849: Smithsonian Institution supplies weather instruments to telegraph companies and establishes extensive observation network. Observations submitted by telegraph to the Smithsonian, where weather maps are created.
By the end of 1849, 150 volunteers throughout the United States were reporting weather observations to the Smithsonian regularly. By 1860, 500 stations were furnishing daily telegraphic weather reports to the Washington Evening Star, and as the network grew, other existing systems were gradually absorbed, including several state weather services.
All NOAA links above are pretty good reads about our first setup to get people informed about the weather.
About the current LOGO for NOAA, which we see on just about all the charts and weather guides available everywhere and is the main photo at the top of the diary.
The above design was chosen as NOAA's emblem in 1971. It remains the official emblem of the agency to this day.
About the winning design, NOAA's first administrator Dr. White remarked that: A white, gull-like form links the atmosphere to the sea or Earth. The Earth and atmosphere and the interrelationships between the two are, of course, major concerns of NOAA.
The line defining the top of the gull's wings also resemble the trough of a foaming ocean wave against the blue sky. A creature of sea, land, and air, the gull adds an ecological touch to the Earth-sky motif.
It’s truly a symbol of what we are all fighting for and that’s saving our planet. But let’s just throw it all away, logo and all, according to the project.
Here’s an article from E&ENews from Politicos Environmental and Energy arm, back in April, about The Letter sent to the Administrator of NOAA in March, about ‘siting conflicts’ of the hundreds of stations around the country that help with weather forecasting and such.
“Your agency presents its climate reports as a matter of scientific fact, but we now know that the data is not collected in a rigorously controlled scientific environment,” the lawmakers wrote. “‘Faking it until you make it’ has become the mantra of the Biden administration’s climate policy.”
Needless to say, the letter was signed by four of the Magaist(SP?) Senators we have on the hill. Take a quick glance at the letter for their names.
And for the record, I send my weather data from my station to a few different places, like CWOP(My Station), the Citizens Weather Observer Program and have since 2011. It is a part of the controversy these goons are talking about in the letter, correct siting of all these 7,000 plus stations across the country.
It was developed to let local and national weather service offices get a better ‘feel’ for different readings other than just at airports. Millions of Micro-Climates in this country alone help make up the climate as we know it. My micro-climate is different than just two to three miles up or down the valley I live in. But of course, the Magas have cherry picked just a few stations to pick on with their whining.
I’ve been saying for years, to anyone that would listen, that NOAA is underfunded for all they do. They could be doing so much more to help our planet, not only with weather forecasting, but spreading the word on our Climate. Here’s an article I found with that same kind of thought from The Federal Times. It was from April of this year.
What NOAA acting chief scientist Craig McLean said to Congress three years ago —”NOAA is a $12 billion agency trapped in a $5-and-a-half billion budget”— still rings true today. With a fiscal year 2024 budget of $6.3 billion, the nation’s leading weather and climate agency remains significantly underfunded given the requirements to meet its mission of protecting life, property and the economy.
NOAA has always been a good value for the American taxpayer. Looking at hurricanes alone, a 2022 study estimated $7 billion in savings due to NOAA forecast improvements since 2009—that’s 20 times the agency’s hurricane forecasting system budget during the same period. Another analysis estimates a value of $9 for every $1 spent by federal agencies on weather forecasting and research, which also enables a thriving private weather sector.
A good article and worth the read, along with the assorted links within the article. It also shows us the different budget amounts for the departments that make up NOAA.
Then we have a page from the Chief Financial Office of NOAA, Mr. Mark Seiler, and how his office is using the benefits of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill and the Inflation Reduction Act. No surprise that Heritage wants to destroy those two measures, along with any agency that uses them for Climate related studies.
But first, let’s talk about the man behind this chapter for the Manifesto. The not so honorable Thomas F. Gilman is his name. I’ll call him F for short. F was infamously part of Trump 1. He was nominated to Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary for Administration in January of 2019. Yep, two posts for the orange man. Must be something special this Mr. F.
He came to fame to me with his work at the Chrysler Corporation and was a big part of getting the Obama administration to help out the poor auto industry.
They all have to have a flag behind them.
Don’t you just love that patented smirk? He served the ‘furor to be’ right through to the end of his first, and final term, and was already a Heritage favorite before his appointment.
He is, I believe, a founding partner in ACLJaction.org, along with a couple other well named ex trump administration alums like J Sekulow, James Rockas, and Robert Burkett.
ACLJ was formed to keep illegal aliens from voting, even though they already can’t. And to push the PRAISE act, so that folks won’t have to worry about mandates and such from local governments, for things like Masks during a pandemic and deeming churches as non essential businesses in time of emergencies. Poor churches can’t hold hundreds of possibly sick folks once a week.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a church goer, but I certainly wouldn’t have been thru the covid pandemic. The free exercise of Religious Freedoms has it’s boundaries, but these folks want to make sure they do everything they can to tear them down.
They call The Praise Act “AN ACT prohibiting any governmental entity from discriminating against and closing a place of worship during an emergency.” You don’t really have to visit that site unless you really wish, it’s a eye popping ‘only one religion in this country’ type of site. Some 22 States that I have found passed some form of this legislation.
21. Department of Commerce: Thomas F. Gilman - In my copy of the Manifesto, this begins on page 663 and a couple of opening paragraphs about the Commerce Department.
At the same time, the department has a higher profile now than perhaps ever in its history. It possesses key tools to address decades of poor decision-making in Washington and is central to any plan to reverse the precipitous economic decline sparked by the Biden Administration and to counter Communist China. Both assertions can be equally true, that the department possesses the expertise, programs, and authorities that will be crucial to the success of a conservative presidency and that its role in the federal bureaucracy would benefit from streamlining and reform.
Many programs at the Department of Commerce overlap in whole or part with other governmental programs, and consolidating and streamlining these could increase both accountability and return on taxpayer investment. Any exercise in government-wide budgeting and reform should review the department with an eye toward consolidation, elimination, or privatization that examines the efficiency, effectiveness, and underlying philosophy of each individual component.
Written like just about everything else in this 900 plus pages, tear it all down and rebuild it in the next Conservative Administration's view.
I’m going to skip about 20 pages as it pertains to other things under the Commerce Department, and get to the first line about NOAA.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) should be dismantled and many of its functions eliminated, sent to other agencies, privatized, or placed under the control of states and territories.
Only three lines, but reading between them gets you break it down, get rid of climate related studies, make all weather forecasts profitable, and even worse, allow elected officials at local levels express their concerns which way the winds blow, or if storms are approaching, etc. What could go wrong..?
Then I snip thru another 25 or so pages to get to the real nasty crap.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION
Break Up NOAA. The single biggest Department of Commerce agency outside of decennial census years is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which houses the National Weather Service, National Marine Fisheries Service, and other components. NOAA garners $6.5 billion of the department’s $12 billion annual operational budget and accounts for more than half of the department’s personnel in non-decadal Census years (2021 figures).
Together, these form a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity. This industry’s mission emphasis on prediction and management seems designed around the fatal conceit of planning for the unplannable. That is not to say NOAA is useless, but its current organization corrupts its useful functions. It should be broken up and downsized.
I underlined what is a real tell when it comes to 2025’s view of NOAA. Stop the Climate Change BS.
Then we come to the parts that has to do with the old conservative mantra of Privatizing what is normally provided free of charge. Of course, that’s what they do.
Focus the NWS on Commercial Operations. Each day, Americans rely on weather forecasts and warnings provided by local radio stations and colleges that are produced not by the NWS, but by private companies such as AccuWeather. Studies have found that the forecasts and warnings provided by the private companies are more reliable than those provided by the NWS.2
About that little 2 which asks you to read number two in the foot notes, and I could not believe what I found when I searched it.
2. News release, “Latest Study of 120 Million Forecasts Proves AccuWeather Forecasts Are More Accurate,” AccuWeather, January 14, 2020, https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/latest-study-of-120-millionforecasts-proves-accuweather-forecasts-are-most-accurate-300986848.html (accessed December 16, 2022).
Unfortunately, and probably by design, if you try to go to that link, you get the dreaded ‘Sorry, We Couldn’t Find That Page’. But to dig a little deeper I searched for ‘accuweather-forecasts-are-most-accurate’. Lol, of course that takes you back to many pages on the for profit AccuWeather web pages.
A little refresher: When ex Pres was being a weatherman with his sharpie. That infamous picture was taken on September 1st, 2019 as Hurricane Dorian was approaching the East coast of Florida. We all remember that, don’t we?
Well, just two years earlier, tRump nominated the then head of Accuweather Barry Myers to be the head person at NOAA. So maybe he thought Barry’s weather acumen had rubbed off?
But thankfully, at his confirmation hearings, plenty of folks spoke up to Barry still having too many relatives working in the family owned Accuweather to have any position in the Government.
But since all of this blowup about Accuweather supporting and advertising privatization of the weather, we get this write up on July 18th of this year, that they Don’t Support project 2025’s plans to privatize the weather.
AccuWeather does not agree with the view, and AccuWeather has not suggested, that the National Weather Service should fully commercialize its operations,” AccuWeather Chief Executive Officer Steven R. Smith said in the statement. “The authors of Project 2025 used us as an example of forecasts and warnings provided by private sector companies without the knowledge or permission of AccuWeather.
My emphasis. And they have a strong statement about Climate Change on their site as well.
The evidence is clear, there can be little doubt that humans are contributing to global warming and continue to influence the world’s climate. Climate change is not new, and our climate has undergone many transformations over millions of years. But there is overwhelming evidence that it is being accelerated by humans, especially over the last half-century mainly by the burning of fossil fuels, but also through deforestation, an increase in paved surfaces, and the release of methane gas.
You can take the above statements for what they are worth. Personally, I believe the ‘free version’ of accuweather forecasts from the main page of the site, then zero down to your local area, are kind of worthless. I’ve been comparing NWS forecasts and Accu’s side by side for many a year, and NWS is always a lot closer and more detailed. And searching the web, you can find hundreds, if not thousands of folks unhappy with the service. But to be fair, their ‘paid’ forecasts to large corporations and medium to large companies is their bread and butter. It’s all about the profit.
I’m not going to try and argue that every dime that goes to NOAA is spent wisely, although I do believe the majority is. It’s a large organization, but to totally dismantle it is absurd.
Let’s look at all of the 6 different components, offices under it’s administration. I will give you the title of the office with the link to it’s homepage, along with it’s mission statement in bold and what our enemies from PR2025 partially have to say in the quote box. Underlines will be mine for what really sticks out to me.
The National Weather Service(NWS):
Provide weather, water and climate data, forecasts, warnings, and impact-based decision support services for the protection of life and property and enhancement of the national economy.
The NWS provides data the private companies use and should focus on its data-gathering services. Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations.
The National Ocean Service (NOS):
The National Ocean Service provides data, tools, and services that protect our ecosystems and enhance climate and economic resilience.
Survey operations have historically accounted for almost half the NOS budget. These functions could be transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Geological Survey to increase efficiency.
The Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR):
NOAA Research enables better forecasts, earlier warnings for natural disasters, and a greater understanding of the Earth.
Downsize the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research. OAR provides theoretical science, as opposed to the applied science of the National Hurricane Center. OAR is, however, the source of much of NOAA’s climate alarmism. The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded. OAR is a large network of research laboratories, an undersea research center, and several joint research institutes with universities. These operations should be reviewed with an aim of consolidation and reduction of bloat.
The National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS):
Provide secure and timely access to global environmental data and information from satellites and other sources to promote and protect the nation's security, environment, economy, and quality of life.
National Environmental Satellite Service data centers provide important public safety and business functions as well as academic functions, and are used by forecasting agencies and scientists internationally. Data continuity is an important issue in climate science. Data collected by the department should be presented neutrally, without adjustments intended to support any one side in the climate debate.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS):
NOAA Fisheries is responsible for the stewardship of the nation's ocean resources and their habitat. We provide vital services for the nation, all backed by sound science and an ecosystem-based approach to management.
Harmonize the Magnuson–Stevens Act with the National Marine Sanctuaries Act. Under the auspices of NOS, marine sanctuaries (including no-fishing zones) are being established country-wide, often conflicting with the goals of the Magnuson–Stevens Act fisheries management authorities of NOAA Fisheries, regional fishery management councils, and relevant states.
The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and NOAA Corps:
The research and survey ships operated, managed and maintained by OMAO comprise one of the largest fleet of federal research ships in the nation. Ranging from large oceanographic research vessels capable of exploring the world’s deepest ocean, to smaller ships responsible for charting the shallow bays and inlets of the United States, the fleet supports a wide range of marine activities including fisheries surveys, nautical charting and ocean and climate studies.
NOAA aircraft operate throughout the world providing a wide range of capabilities including hurricane reconnaissance and research, marine mammal and fisheries assessment, and coastal mapping. NOAA aircraft carry scientists and specialized instrument packages to conduct research for NOAA’s missions.
Break Up the Office of Marine and Aviation Operations and Reassign Its Assets to Other Agencies During This Process. The Office of Marine and Aviation Operations, which provides the ships and planes used by NOAA agencies, should be broken up and its assets reassigned to the General Services Administration or to other agencies.
As we can see, the folks at the Heritage Foundation have a detailed outline for taking our hard earned tax dollars and turning them into Profit, once again, for their large Corporate friends and donors.
While NOAA and it’s departments are just small component’s of The Commerce Department, the majority of it flies in the face of what tRump and another(hopefully never) term in office for him would bring.
I’m going to begin to close by bringing you the ending, or closing remarks made by Mr. F at the end of Chapter 21.
CONCLUSION
The above policies, strategies, and tactics will set a new Administration on firm footing that allows the Department of Commerce to assist the President in implementing a bold agenda that delivers economic prosperity and strong national security to the American people. While many of the department’s functions fall outside the remit of the federal government, its unique authorities in diverse areas provide critical tools that can and should be brought to bear in implementing a conservative governing philosophy that keeps Americans safe and provides opportunity for all.
AUTHOR’S NOTE:
This chapter includes invaluable input from over a dozen alumni of the Department of Commerce and numerous other members of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project. All contributors to this chapter are listed at the front of this volume, but James Rockas, Nazak Nikakhtar, Louis Heinzer, Robert Burkett, Iain Murray, Michael Gonzalez, David Legates, and Kristen Eichamer deserve special recognition. The author alone assumes responsibility for the content of this chapter, and no views expressed herein should be attributed to any other individual
I’m now going to include some other articles that you can look thru if you wish, on different takes about the demise of NOAA if we don’t win this fall.
From FloridaPhoenix.com
From free weather forecasts to combating climate change, the blueprint for Trump’s second term would delete vital services.
From OutsideOnline.com
If McEntee, Gilman, and the other former Trump staffers who wrote Project 2025 get their way, you may have to pony up cash to find out if a tornado is headed toward your home or business. There will also be no way to know if that forecast you’re paying for was put together by scientists at all.
From The Guardian back in April:
In the post-second world war era, John F Kennedy called for a global weather-forecasting system that relied on unprecedented levels of scientific exchange. A privatized system could potentially stymie the exchange of weather data among countries, yielding less accurate results.
From TheHill.com July 13th:
What Project 2025 would mean for the fight against climate change.
“Trump would frack the National Mall if he thought it would make a couple of bucks for donors and Big Oil,” said Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, a nonprofit that supports ending fossil fuel use.
But he said “Trump tends to speak in slogans,” while “this is a plan that really gets into the details.”
“We’re not only going agency by agency, we’re going into every single agency program,” Henn said. “They’re coming in with sledgehammers and scalpels to try and dismantle any barriers to the fossil fuel industries.”
From SnowBrains.com on July 20th:
So, what does this mean for snowboarders, skiers, mountain bikers, and other outdoor recreationists?
If these changes are implemented, it is likely we will have to pay for our daily weather forecasts from companies like AccuWeather, which will put together their forecasts largely from data collected by the National Weather Service.
Project 2025 also calls for eliminating the United States’ partnership with the World Meteorological Organization. This would seriously limit the collaboration of countries on weather forecasting and reduce, if not extinguish, the U.S.’ access to other countries’ weather models.
It is important to look at several models when predicting weather, a great example being Hurricane Sandy back in 2012. While American models predicted it would not hit, the European model correctly predicted that it would indeed land in New Jersey. Having access to this information allowed Americans to prepare for the natural disaster that lay ahead.
From Grist.org July 19th: Along with commentary about project 2025's alterations to how we get our weather, the story goes deeper.
The blueprint recommends eliminating the National Flood Insurance Program and moving flood insurance to private insurers. That notion skates right over the fact that the federal program was initially established because private insurers found that it was economically unfeasible to insure the nation’s flood-prone homes — long before climate change began wreaking havoc on the insurance market.
Despite the alarming implications of most of Project 2025’s climate-related proposals, it also recommends a small number of policies that climate experts said are worth considering. Its authors call for shifting the costs of natural disasters from the federal government to states.
That’s not a bad conversation to have, Rob Moore, a policy analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Action Fund, pointed out. “I think there’s people within FEMA who feel the same way,” he said. The federal government currently shoulders at least 75 percent of the costs of national disaster recovery, paving the way for development and rebuilding in risky areas. “You are disincentivizing states and local governments from making wise decisions about where and house to build because they know the federal government is going to pick up the tab for whatever mistake they make,” Moore said.
A decent article worth a few minutes to read.
Anyways, if you’ve made it this far, what I’ve tried to do is bring a few more ‘talking points’ into the conversations that you can have with those Maga folks you deal with in your circle. Very few of us, if any, go thru the day without talking about the weather in one form or another.
Hopefully the entire country is hearing/reading about Project 2025 and it at least, if not swaying them away from the far right, makes them think about doing so the next few months.
Here’s to Kamala and whomever she picks as a VP! And to Joe Biden who has done so much for this Country and the World.
Thanks for having a look…
Brad