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Comment by breput | Hacker News Reader

It literally was scripted already in the Project 2025[0]:

They said exactly what was going to happen, all pre-planned, and anyone is surprised that it is happening?

To be clear - FUCK Project 2025 and especially FUCK anyone messing with NOAA/NWS.

And if you think I'm exaggerating:

"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."

[0] https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_CHA...

"Break Up NOAA"

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And even the companies who are supposed to provide this “cheaper and more accurate“ vehemently object to it:

https://www.accuweather.com/en/press/accuweather-does-not-su...

WTF is that press release. It says that "AccuWeather does not support Project 2025 Plan to fully commercializing NWS operations" and that "NOAA has critical role in American Weather Enterprise", but then it follows by basically saying "NOAA is just one of 190 inputs for us, NWS suuuuuuuucks; we're proud to be collaborating with them because we're better than them at everything; look ma', we have AI and Superior Accuracy™."

This is not a statement of support, it's a fucking ad. There's no actual "vehemently objecting" - in fact, between the lines, it basically says they don't think disbanding NOAA (as per Project 2025) is necessary - just cutting down to bare minimum will suffice.

My reading between the lines is that AccuWeather realizes that NOAA and NWS are golden geese which give them very cheap access to high quality data, and that if those were privatized, they'd probably have to pay more for that kind of data.

You're right that it doesn't read like they care as much about the public's ability to be directly able to access that data; They're just aware that if the taxpayer is funding it, they're going to be demanding some sort of access, and since a lot of that raw data still needs to be 'digested' to make sense to the average person, it's not a big deal if the raw data is publicly available. And anyone that tries to also commercialize it to compete can be crushed by their Superior Accuracy(tm).

Well, they did vehemently deny it was part of their plan.

I wasn't someone who believed their denials, but yes, some people will be surprised by this.

They probably won't believe it's happening even while it's happening.

You can notice that pattern with conservatives again and again and again. They talk about what they do. Those who read it and believe them are labeled crazy paranoid and polite people are expected to euphemism it.

Then they do it. And again and again. While being awarded excessive amount of benefit of doubt again and again.

Even now, when I read news, they euphemism and undersell.

The term is 'sane-washing'. The media, even the big media companies so often claimed to be left-leaning, do this. And I think its because the right is just so good at crying victim, that when a news organization just reports what they say, they shout that its an unfair portrayal and fake news. It has been remarkably effective.

I believe you're correct - major media imagine their product is objective. They remediate accusations of conservative bias. Over the years they've reduced themselves to quoting and same washing.

As an Argentinian, seeing the current US admin applying the "lessons" learned thanks to the javier milei experiment is the stuff of nightmares.

Preventable and predictable nightmares.

It seems to me that Milei blazed the trail for the second Trump administration. I think we can count on similar economic effects, and a sharp increase in poverty. But to me (from the US), Milei seems politically weaker than Trump, and less likely to be able to seize total power over future elections. The way Milei's policies have impacted the Argentine economy, do you think he has a chance of being reelected? How much damage does it take before the pendulum swings back?

I do think Milei looks weaker than Donald because:

- He is one year in (Donald just began so his fans are still in the honeymoon phase) and still "trickle down" is not working. He did get inflation to go down, but in a way similar to how bleeding out to death also lowers your blood pressure. Argentina needed a Corpus callosotomy, but got The Simpsons Dr Nick for the operation.

- The sheer power of being the USA president is orders of magnitude bigger than being Argentina's president. Argentina depends on fresh money to pay its debts, debt rollover, etc. Also, Argentinians are one of the biggest USD cash hoarders in the world due to currency trauma so we directly depend on what the USA does. no kidding.

- I have NO IDEA how the legislative elections of 2025 or the presidentials of 2027 are going to go. Trying to predict how Argentina will be in 6 months is harder than predicting Norway's next 50 years. Does he have a chance? Of course. The longer he can keep the ARS/USD stable the longer he will be in power. In the worst case it could take ten years, like last time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Carlos_Menem

> How much damage does it take before the pendulum swings back?

oof. Menem's period was followed by one of the most pathetic presidents our country has seen, which ended in this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998%E2%80%932002_Argentine_gr...

I really, really hope someone stops Donald from doing something irreversible. If that is even possible anymore.

>> Argentina needed a Corpus callosotomy, but got The Simpsons Dr Nick for the operation.

Lol. So, I don't know how I should read this. In some sense I agree with you. Did you initially agree with Macri? I was living in Argentina when he was elected, and my Argentine friends lost their minds. Privately, I was not a fan of his socially reactionary rhetoric... he seemed like a version of George W Bush. But I thought that his plan to float the currency and end the blue dollar was the only thing that made any sense, given the ridiculousness of the economy - even my communist friends who were protesting at his election had more USD under their mattresses than ARS in a bank (most worked for the government, and got the preferable exchange rate, after all). Macri did seem to control inflation for a little while, without completely taking a chainsaw to the state. The IMF was initially pleased. Does something like that seem... palatable now?

Having created a technological terror regime, those who present the greatest threat are the people who built it, understand it, and can dismantle or change it. For tyrants and terrorists, it's important to make sure there are very few capable counter-forces, and that they are fully under your control.

In 1976 Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge regime committed mass atrocities against the entire educated population, setting that country back by centuries. Similarly, Stalin's purges from about 1937 on focused on eliminating engineers, scientists, and doctors.

Science is a threat to weak minds because, when all said and done science is about truth. Those who are seizing power in the West now loathe and detest truth. Truth has the potential to empower people.

I do not expect Trump/Musk regime to stop at public science. All those private companies who thik they are going to be 'winners' have a very rude shock coming. Any capable, educated minds left will be pivotal to the survival of democracy in coming years.

Same reason why the first thing Talibans do is going after education.

Any sane person with an IQ >100, I recommend exercising 2a and forming local defense councils.

The goal is stupid supremacy without respect for anticipating consequences. People will die and life for everyone will suck more because of this unnecessary bullshit.

They are messing with everyone and everything… all at once. Musk and Trump. And it’s too late to stop them without blood…

Ooh, there's no bread, let them eat cake.

There will always be enough bread and circus. They're #1 and #2 necessary things to always give people to keep them silent on a couch rather than protesting or worse.

That's the thing though: it's not so easy to just feed a continent's worth of people. As a ruler, if you keep running around like the elephant in a china shop, breaking critical infrastructure left and right in the name of "efficiency", you may discover that, come next season, there just isn't any bread to give, and there's fuck all you can do at that point.

An Italian plumber had a solution

He had a brother though and he likes powerups too.

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