US Strips Ocean and Air Pollution Monitoring From Next-Gen Weather Satellites (cnn.com) 121
An anonymous reader shares a report: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is narrowing the capabilities and reducing the number of next-generation weather and climate satellites it plans to build and launch in the coming decades, two people familiar with the plans told CNN.
This move -- which comes as hurricane season ramps up with Erin lashing the East Coast -- fits a pattern in which the Trump administration is seeking to not only slash climate pollution rules, but also reduce the information collected about the pollution in the first place. Critics of the plan also say it's a short-sighted attempt to save money at the expense of understanding the oceans and atmosphere better.
Two planned instruments, one that would measure air quality, including pollution and wildfire smoke, and another that would observe ocean conditions in unprecedented detail, are no longer part of the project, the sources said.
This move -- which comes as hurricane season ramps up with Erin lashing the East Coast -- fits a pattern in which the Trump administration is seeking to not only slash climate pollution rules, but also reduce the information collected about the pollution in the first place. Critics of the plan also say it's a short-sighted attempt to save money at the expense of understanding the oceans and atmosphere better.
Two planned instruments, one that would measure air quality, including pollution and wildfire smoke, and another that would observe ocean conditions in unprecedented detail, are no longer part of the project, the sources said.
No data, no problem (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
If we just ignore the problem, it will go away. That's how science works, right?
Seems to work. https://www.yahoo.com/news/tru... [yahoo.com]
Re:No data, no problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Back in 2020 Trump said "If we stop testing we'd have fewer cases" in regards to CV19
A staple of fascistic governments is that everything has focused around aesthetics. That's why the flashy ICE raids in public and propaganda videos. The appearance of what you are doing is far more important than the actual thing.
This is related to Umberto Eco's point #3 of fascism The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”
One of the problems here is (Score:5, Insightful)
They have to stay inside a bubble and a safe space because otherwise reality comes crashing down and they're just not prepared to deal with that. Too many Hang-Ups from when they were kids
Re:One of the problems here is (Score:5, Funny)
The most devastating question you can ask a Republican today is "What sources do you trust and get your news from"
Re: (Score:2, Funny)
"Oh, I don't trust anything I see. I do my own research. It's all out there if you look."
No, they don't have the skills necessary to understand the contradiction there. You can't reason with an idiot ... especially one who is proud of being an idiot.
Re: (Score:1)
> "Oh, I don't trust anything I see. I do my own research. It's all out there if you look."
The wisest thing that's been posted, or is likely ever to be posted to this thread.
Didn't bother quoting any of the garbage you posted, anon.
Re: (Score:2)
<Raises hand>
I know, I know. The AI told me!!!
Re: (Score:3)
There's a reason Musk had to force Grok to give conservative answers to questions instead of expecting it to come to them naturally through facts and history.
What I like best about right-wing AI (Score:2, Troll)
That's because to the training model a right winger is indistinguishable from a Neo-Nazi. The two of them were using the same talking points and dog whistles. Because it's all part of the same pipeline. And it all ends at the same place
Re: (Score:1)
"it immediately starts praising Hitler."
Citations, please.
to the training model a right winger is indistinguishable from a Neo-Nazi
Again, citations please.
I watched an x co-worker of mine (Score:4, Interesting)
He would watch Fox News I would ask him why and point out that it was going to rot his brain. He would tell me it was just entertaining.
That's the real problem with right-wing propaganda. They have highly skilled professionals so to a lot of people consuming it is entertaining in and of itself. Even if you start watching it in a tongue-in-cheek manner the fact that you're being entertained by it means it will gradually get into your skull.
It's not 24/7 crazy after all. They will pepper in a little bit of reality and things that you can legitimately agree with here and there. It's part of the pipeline to move you along and get you ready to accept the crazier shit.
It's the exact same trick Scientology uses and for the same reason.
Re: (Score:3)
My ex-GF started watching Faux News during the pandemic because "It was the only place she could find info on getting her small business loan".
Soon, she had it on in her kitchen whenever she was awake. Then she started on the hard stuff -- OANN and NewsMax.
I broke up with her post Jan 6.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
They have to stay inside a bubble and a safe space because otherwise reality comes crashing down and they're just not prepared to deal with that.
The point were "deal with it" is going to be a harsh one then. A lot of people may even die, and from that standpoint the Darwin crowd may see it as a self-correcting problem.
Re: (Score:1)
Yes like many things Trump we can use the phrase "Yeah that's true but it's fucking stupid for you to say. You're the President and you don't understand"
Re:No data, no problem (Score:4, Insightful)
The last line of the post you typed is *actually* just saying the boring claim: "If we stop testing we'll know about fewer cases"
Re: No data, no problem (Score:2)
My second distinct symptom was extreme fatigue... like walking down one flight of steps was too much. Not a triathlete by any means but I do place ice hockey twice a week. That feeling did not happen when normally ill.
So even the times I didn't test, I knew by the symptoms that is was a very re
Re: (Score:2)
Back in 2020 Trump said "If we stop testing we'd have fewer cases" in regards to CV19
Well, technically, that's true.
Yeah, that's not how reality works.
Re:No data, no problem (Score:5, Insightful)
Exactly. It's not an ill-advised attempt to save money, it's an attempt to sweep any pollution problems under the rug.
Re: (Score:3)
Worse still, even if Trump doesn't get a third term, those satellites are expensive and supposed to last a lot longer than one term. Whoever inherits what's left of the US will have to decide between launching new ones with the proper equipment, or trying to make do with what other countries are willing to share. Which fortunately is a lot.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:1)
There's too much data (Score:2)
It's getting harder to call science a hoax with all the data they amassed. It's time for fair and balanced reporting, for that to happen both sides need to operate on ignorance and a lack of solid facts to back up their arguments.
Re: No data, no problem (Score:2)
Wow, they list me half-way into the second paragraph:
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is narrowing the capabilities and reducing the number of next-generation weather and climate satellites it plans to build and launch in the coming decades, two people familiar with the plans told CNN.
This move â" which comes as hurricane season ramps up with Erin lashing the East Coast â" fits a pattern in which the Trump administration is seeking to not only slash climate pollution rules, but also reduce the information collected about the pollution in the first place.
The satellites we are discussing are going to be "planned and built over the coming decades", WTF does that have to do with a hurricane heading toward the U.S. coastline THIS WEEK?
The reporter is acting like DJT ran out to the launch pad and started ripping sensors off the weather satellites as they were ready to launch - these things are just specifications and goals written down to secure federal funding.
As best as I can figure, these satellites won't
Re: No data, no problem (Score:4, Interesting)
You don't know how congressional funding works, I take it. Once something is removed from a program it's pretty much impossible to add it back in unless there will be a dramatic cost saving (and not normally even then.) Anything that raises the cost of a program, no matter how much it will improve it, is DOA.
The obvious glaring exception is any military program, which can add all the cost overrides that can be poured into it without anyone blinking an eye. I suspect that is at least in part because every military contractor has a list of the home addresses of all the congresscritters.
Re: (Score:3)
That's not how science works, but it really is how Trump works. This is the guy who made drunk Hegseth fire the DIA chief because the intel assessment of the Iranian bombing wasn't loyal enough.
He wants his underlings to lie to him. If you tell Trump the truth about something, it makes him angry. Wouldn't pollution censors on a satellite also pose a risk of seeing something Trump disagrees with?
It raises the question: why are any sensors being tolerated at all? Aren't temperature and moisture readings jus
Three Orangutans (Score:4, Interesting)
"See none of our evil, hear none of our evil, speak about none of our evil"
If you stick you head too far in the sand... (Score:4, Funny)
If you stick you head too far in the sand, you will suffocate.
Re:If you stick you head too far in the sand... (Score:4, Funny)
It's okay, DOGE's cuts to meat inspections will give everyone brain-worms to pop up for air, an RFK brain-worm, I mean brain-child.
Re: (Score:3)
what value? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
SCUTOS ruled corporations are people, and they are bigger and have more money than you little people, so STFU and worship the Profits.
Re: (Score:1)
Correction: SCOTUS, or more like SCROTUS
Re: (Score:1)
No, SCOTUS did not rule that. They didn't need to - the word "corporation" literally means "person".
What the Citizens United ruling really said was that humans didn't lose their political and first amendment rights when they work together with other humans using a structured organization.
Re:what value? (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah buddy, don't forget that spending cash is a form of free speech, that cannot be hindered (or even tracked apparently)
Citizens United is a direct assault on the American Public, and we are seeing he results
Re:what value? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
completely stumped (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Limiting corporations doesn't limit what they can still do as individuals. Their individual rights don't go away if they form a corporation. Sorry, but Walmart is NOT a fucking "person"!
Re: (Score:2)
Are corporations also citizens? Most countries limit non-citizens political rights, no voting or political contributions for example. Mobility rights are another one that is limited to citizens and perhaps permanent residents in many countries.
Re: (Score:2)
Remember that the people who wrote/signed "We the People" were mostly rich white men who owned not only property but also people. All men are created equal, but some are more equal than others.
Re: (Score:2)
So? Despite that now the descendants of rich, poor, enslavers, enslaved, are all benefiting from this rich framework. True it took far too long to get to this point, but nevertheless, it did happen. In other words it was the people and the application of their principles that were wrong, not the principles themselves.
Sadly it appears the current regime is out to destroy it all, including the very principles themselves.
Re: (Score:1)
"not only property but also people"
Your claim is that the writers and signers of our Declaration of Independence, and/or our Constitution, were slaveholders?
You have a source for this assertion?
Re: (Score:2)
LOLwut? Like... a history book? I know those are hard to find and read these days.
Re: what value? (Score:2)
We'll, yeah. At least half of them had or were.
The other half-ish? Not at all pleased. But collectively they forged a constitution that ultimately was amended and dealt with the issue. A hundred years it took, yes.
Re: (Score:2)
If it is important for "the people" to have this data then it should be in legislation and budget from Congress.
I agree that Congress probably should be more involved in actually governing. One of the problems with representative democracy is we end up with representatives who are good at getting elected and often not good at anything else. A problem which is exacerbated by the tendency to tribalism in both voting and governing.
But that isn't really the issue. It's unreasonable to expect Congress to pass a spending bill with a line item for, for example, every experiment in a satellite. That seems akin to expecting
Consistent strategy from the administration (Score:5, Interesting)
If you rewind back to COVID he wanted to limit testing so that there would be less positive cases reported. Same here with pollution.
Re: (Score:2)
When he was governor of Texas Shrub changed reporting of chemical spills from mandatory to voluntary. He then took credit for the resulting 30% reduction in reported spills as though it meant there were actually an improvement.
Petty and spiteful (Score:5, Insightful)
It just occurred to me that a large part of what the Trump administration is engaged in is vandalism. These are mean, small-minded, small-hearted, short-sighted criminals who would be petty if they hadn't succeeded in winning the highest offices in the land.
The country that used to be considered the leader of the world is now run by small-minded, cunning habitual liars whose contempt for the truth is jaw-dropping. I'm not sure that the US can ever recover from the damage currently being done.
Re: (Score:2)
He's certainly solving the immigration problem. The country is becoming such a shithole that soon you won't be able to pay people to come here.
Re: (Score:1)
May then you unemployed IT goons will be eligible for employment once again.
Re:Petty and spiteful (Score:4, Informative)
Just look at who has been appointed to the various government agencies. They’re all DEI hires.
It's not vandalism (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This is a comprehensive plan to roll back to a gilded age style ruling class. One that gets enforced with technology so that it doesn't break down like the last one did.
That's demonstrably true. Ironically, even the senile and doddering orange stain who is the face of the movement probably doesn't realize that. But guys like Musk, Thiel, Andreesen, and Yarvin certainly have that as an explicit goal. BTW, if you're not familiar with Technocrats and their chilling idea of an American Technate, you might want to look it up. Or not - it's pretty dismal and creepy stuff.
Re: Petty and spiteful (Score:3)
Vandalism has been the Republican plan since at least Reagan: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
Re: (Score:3)
Vandalism has been the Republican plan since at least Reagan: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem."
Thanks - I hadn't thought of that, but you're absolutely right. It really is a "might makes right" or "divine right of oligarchs" delusion.
Don't look up. (Score:3)
n/t
Call it what it is (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Re:Call it what it is (Score:4, Informative)
Republicans and supporters of President Childmolester are typically both armed and violent. The numbers don't lie.
For further reading: https://www.csis.org/analysis/... [csis.org]
Re: (Score:2)
Somebody has to be the adult of the household (Score:5, Interesting)
California has been forming its own space program to launch climate satellites. [ca.gov]
Reality is a opinion I guess (Score:2)
The Cylinder Spins– (Score:2)
and we pull the trigger, over and over.
Humanity is soooooo stupid!
Change the documentation, not the product (Score:1)
This is what they should do in response to the WH request.
Make it go away mommy! (Score:2)
Hear no evil, see no evil...
Get rid of mammograms, cancer rates will plummet.
Decline of US science (Score:5, Insightful)
The US is taking the first steps towards handing its mantle of science leader to other nations.
Re: (Score:2)
First? No, that was taken by Ronald 'Facts are stupid things' Reagan. This is just the culmination of a program four decades in the making.
Re: (Score:2)
The problem is that "Republicanism" is spreading to other countries. Here in Canada, the Federal Conservative party now seems very like American Republicans with the attacks on various social issues such as equality (gays should be attacked), science, especially climate change, along with gas lighting and basically hateful rhetoric. Last election they scored more votes then in 40 plus years and only lost due to the collapse of the left and Trump. Their leader sounds very Trump like, except not so stupid wit
Not a foolish attempt to save money (Score:5, Insightful)
“In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true. ... Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow. The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they had known all along that the statement was a lie and would admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness.”
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Re:Not a foolish attempt to save money (Score:4, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
So you're saying its actually a jobs program? Thats even better!
Re: (Score:2)
No Data - No Problems (Score:1)
Nothing like burying your head in the sand to make your troubles go away.
Same thing over again (Score:2)
This is exactly what he did with Covid.
If we don't count the infected people our number will be lower!
Potential Revenue Source (Score:2)
Trump has seemed intent on revenue gathering with all the tariffs ... so I'm slightly surprised he hasn't sent bills to other nations to pay for the services these satellites provide ... or will provide.
Re: (Score:2)
Trump has seemed intent on revenue gathering with all the tariffs
So now the Democrats are coming out against taxes.
Re: (Score:2)
And the GOP is full on in favor of the biggest tax rise in decades. And the party of small government and states rights is actually the opposite. It's a bizarre world now.
This is why it is hard to unspend tax dollars (Score:1)
For some people there will never be enough research/monitoring spending. For others we spend way too much now. This is a completely subjective personal value judgement and there is no correct answer. There are some metrics one could use to try and objectively measure value for tax dollars. They are virtually never used by any government, and certainly not by the electorate eit
Re: (Score:2)
Knowledge is power.
Re: (Score:2)
And time is money [byu.edu].
Re: (Score:1)
Long term? (Score:2)
Come on, the world only has to remain tolerably livable for the duration of the Tech Bro's lives - it's maximize profits until then.
What you don't measure can't hurt you. (Score:2)
(Quoting Edward Smith, captain of RMS Titanic.)
Citizen-Sourced data. Is it feasible? (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
It's short-sighted, stupid, and detrimental to the population, but it's not necessarily treason. We've had a lot of short-sighted stupid decisions in the last decades, from both sides. The answer isn't calling all republicans hateful and racists (or deporting them.. to where?), unless you fundamentally believe you should not be in the same country. Although... that latter one may be an answer. If we truly can't agree on even basic ideas, it may not be worth continui
Re: (Score:1)
Na, this is what the people want. Trump is the product of democracy. Deporting all the Rs wouldn't work anyway because there's plenty of hate and racism ingrained in the American left.
Re: (Score:2)
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
H.L. Mencken
Re: Congress should require and fund this (Score:2)
Congress did do that. They did it by delegating.
Re: (Score:2)
Cite the bill or stop typing.
Re: (Score:2)
Cite the bill or stop typing.
Jerk my dick or stop using your hands.
Re: (Score:2)
Whip it out then, coward.