The Surgeon Used A Chainsaw

Do you remember Musk holding up a chainsaw? Well...

Trump administration’s cuts to the National Weather Service contributed to the Texas flood disaster

Daily Kos

by Lincoln green

July 05, 2025

Christopher Flavelle of the New York Times is reporting that key staff positions are missing in the Texas offices of the National Weather Service due to the recent DOGE cuts, and this contributed to a lack of communication between the NWS and Texas officials.

I’ll say the obvious out loud: this lack of communication meant many victims weren’t warned in time. And although other factors contributed to the deaths, this factor is a big deal.

In Flavelle’s article “As Floods Hit, Key Roles Were Vacant at Weather Service Offices in Texas”, published a few minutes ago, he writes:

Texas officials appeared to blame the Weather Service for issuing forecasts on Wednesday that underestimated how much rain was coming. But former Weather Service officials said the forecasts were as good as could be expected.... The staffing shortages suggested a separate problem, those former officials said — the loss of experienced people who would typically have helped communicate with local authorities in the hours after flash flood warnings were issued overnight.

Flavelle lists several Weather Service positions that are vacant in that part of Texas, including meteorologist in charge, senior hydrologist, staff forecaster, science officer, and warning coordination meteorologist.

That’s right. There was no meteorologist in charge. And there was no warning coordination meteorologist to liaison with county and state officials. The warning job became vacant on April 30 because the person who held it took the early retirement package that Trump and DOGE offered to federal workers in lieu of being fired later. And the Trump administration did not hire a replacement.

Trump & Musk in their indiscriminate firings of key personnel has cost lives! How many more will die because of their incompetence?

So when I ran an electronic test department, when my techs did a good job, I gave them praise when they f**ked up I took the blame. I had the ultimately responsible for what happens under my leadership. Leaders lead, and that includes standing in the fire when things go wrong.

Now notice the tragic flooding incident on the Guadalupe River, did Trump or Musk acknowledge that the cuts might have had something to do with the tragedy... nope. Not one word! That the staffing cuts tied to Musk’s leadership and the administration’s policies might have worsened the situation, many people see that silence as tone-deaf or worse — a way of avoiding responsibility.

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Updated 7/7/25 @ 4PM

Debate erupts over role job cuts played in weather forecasts ahead of deadly Texas floods

AP News

By  MICHAEL BIESECKER and BRIAN SLODYSKO

Updated 3:07 PM EDT, July 7, 2025

Former federal officials and outside experts have warned for months that President Donald Trump’s deep staffing cuts to the National Weather Service could endanger lives.

After torrential rains and flash flooding struck Friday in the Texas Hill Country, the weather service came under fire from local officials who criticized what they described as inadequate forecasts, though most in the Republican-controlled state stopped short of blaming Trump’s cuts. Democrats, meanwhile, wasted little time in linking the staff reductions to the disaster, which is being blamed for the deaths of at least 80 people, including more than two dozen girls and counselors attending a summer camp on the banks of the Guadalupe River.

The NWS office responsible for that region had five staffers on duty as thunderstorms formed over Texas Thursday evening, the usual number for an overnight shift when severe weather is expected. Current and former NWS officials defended the agency, pointing to urgent flash flood warnings issued in the pre-dawn hours before the river rose.

Basically it boils down to... Yes you did -- No I didn't!

What caught my attention was...

Cuts resulted from Republican effort to privatize duties of weather agencies

The cuts follow a decade-long Republican effort to dismantle and privatize many of the duties of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agency within the Commerce Department that includes the NWS. The reductions have come as Trump has handed top public posts to officials with ties to private companies that stand to profit from hobbling the taxpayer-funded system for predicting the weather.

Whoa! What?

Project 2025, the conservative governing blueprint that Trump distanced himself from during the 2024 campaign but that he has broadly moved to enact once in office, calls for dismantling NOAA and further commercializing the weather service.

So does that mean that Trump's billionaire will be milking us to get the weather forecast?

Only $9.99 per month and you can get 5 checks of the weather a day! (25xxx for each additional check of the current forecast!)

Will this be in our future?