18 Comments
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Randall Livingston's avatar

Who are we to doubt the Noem? Your reporting failed to forecast the government’s improved capacity to deliver weather maps and sharpies to the Unitary Executive, Sole Tariff Determiner, and Grand Weather Forecaster. If only he had those sharpies earlier in the day!

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Kat's avatar

I’m a patron of TFN- I thought you only worked blue! I was waiting for sarcasm or the fbomb. Ha! In addition to this wonderful deep dive into the nonexistent upgrade, I do remember the DOD was going to cancel sharing info with the NWS and NOAA recently because *they* were upgrading and it would be a national security threat to share for cyber security reasons. They put it off for a month. I wonder if this is what Noem was conflating? Thanks for these, Jonathan. Always so good.

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Jonathan Larsen's avatar

Thanks, Kat! I have a separate Substack for original-reporting so in case any of the MSM wanna pick up my reporting they won't be scared off by the blue. And, yeah, I did see that DOD thing float by but honestly didn't look into it. I strongly doubt that's what she was referring to, but it's as good a guess as any. Thanks for the kind words.

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Kat's avatar

Understood. (Although it would be very refreshing if they did. I wish they would).

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Lewis Dalven's avatar

Jonathon, you are a scrupulous journalist and I rely on you for that. What this Substack lacks in belly laughs it makes up for in informative content.

Of course the Gnome made it up! With ease! The recently upgraded system had to be “antiquated” and “neglected” implying government incompetence and wasted resources. NOT. Thanks for digging up the truth! Better to blame God than the state and county officials who decided an advance warning system was too expensive.

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Jonathan Larsen's avatar

Thanks, Lewis. I was hoping to do all of it over at TFN, but some folks told me they'd have trouble passing my reporting around littered with F bombs, so...two Substacks! Thank you.

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celeste k.'s avatar

Which they laid blame on citizens, saying 'the tax-payers would not pay for it'. Tax-payers DO pay for things like warning systems, if only the taxes were applied to things the people need, and not sent to enrich the already rich.

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OldFart's avatar

what elements of the system were supposedly “neglected.”?

Noem: AOTK (All of them Katie)

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Artb3ing's avatar

As much as I love TFN, I really do appreciate your sober serious tone as well. Keep doing it all, J!

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Jonathan Larsen's avatar

Thank you! That's the plan...!

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Erisian's avatar

"I was governor of South Dakota and served in Congress for eight years before I was governor, and so I will tell you that, for decades, for years, everybody knows that the weather is extremely difficult to predict, but also that the National Weather Service over the years at times has done well and at times we have all wanted more time and more warning and more alerts and more notification. That is something, and one of the reasons that, when President Trump took office, that he said he wanted to fix and is currently upgrading the technology and the National Weather Service"

* DHS' Birkenau Barbie was such a beloved governor that she was banned from stepping foot in ~12% of the state.

* I'm not sure what being a Congressperson and governor makes her a weather expert. She is resorting to the argument from experience when she has none, and the argument from authority that she knows her shit because she was a governor.

* News flash for Capt Obvious: predicting the weather has been extremely difficult for a tad more than "for decades, for years" and, as a matter of fact, been hard since her G-d created the heavens and earth ~6000 years ago (and for the rest of us, since humankind stepped out of the primordial ooze and realized that there was such a thing as weather).

* No shit that the NWS -- and NOAA -- has done well over the years, and not just at times. Their expertise has saved a multitude more lives than the Fulvous Fuckwad wants to export.

* If you want more time and warning then maybe DOGE and the gubmint shouldn't have fired the above mentioned experts.

* I expect the upgrade to be completed around the same time it's safe to fly in and out of Newark Liberty International Airport.

fnord

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celeste k.'s avatar

Ah, common sense. Too bad not enough Americans have it. What if it could be taught? Or is death and destruction necessary to wake them up? Sigh.

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Steve B's avatar

Oh, just so you know, I'm SOOOO stealing, "Birkenau Barbie."

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Erisian's avatar

No problem. I figured that since Noem has been cast as New Himmler in the Fulvous Fuckwad's Fourth Reich "ICE Nazi" was to... to... gentle? Kind? Nice? Non descriptive?

fnord

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Ajarn Craig's avatar

When they say "ancient systems left in place for years" they conveniently forget Trump was in office just four years ago.

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Todd's avatar

I figured she was planning to take credit for upgrades planned and paid for by the Biden administration. Maybe not. I am starting to worry how such a thin creature can support so much hair weight without neck damage.

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Artb3ing's avatar

Noem should check with NOAA if her prolific gaslighting is effecting climate change.

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Michael Dawson's avatar

She's a dunce among dunces.

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