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Steve Berman's avatar

As usual, a complete deep dive. Thank you David.

One comment: "Parts of Project 2025 violate traditional norms, such as the concern with the political beliefs of military officers." Not true. For many years, the Form DD-398 Statement of Personal History asked "Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party U.S.A. or any communist organizations anywhere?" and "Are you now or have you ever been a member of a Fascist organization?" They've gotten rid of those questions but I believe still ask the one about "advocating or approving the commission of acts of force or violence to deny other persons their rights..."

The military is VERY concerned about the loyalty of officers (well, everyone) and is within its rights to examine the associations of its members. Where those associations bleed into political beliefs that are somewhat mainstream in culture, that's where we have a political football since you can mildly agree with the goals of DEI, BLM, or even the Occupy movement, without agreeing on all the methods. Same with MAGA.

Link: https://www.nsa.gov/Portals/75/documents/news-features/declassified-documents/friedman-documents/correspondence/ACC37442/41896409093532.pdf

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Chris J. Karr's avatar

I was wondering what the Heritage Foundation's beef with NOAA was, and it looks like it wants to toss the baby out with the bathwater because of NOAA data used to back up climate change theories:

"The plan says the National Weather Service should 'focus on its data-gathering services' and 'fully commercialize its forecasting operations.' That’s in line with a long-standing push by some conservatives to foster greater private sector involvement in weather forecasting."

"The National Hurricane Center’s mission is centered on informing and warning the public about potentially deadly storms, and as part of that work, it has connected the effects of climate change to hurricane intensity. The brushback it gets in the Project 2025 playbook speaks to past insinuations from Republicans that government agencies are manipulating data to make climate change appear worse."

In other words, socialize the expensive parts of the forecasting process, and leave it to crony companies to turn a profit after the hard work has been done. As a taxpayer, I object. If The Weather Channel wants to sell forecasting, they can pay for their own satellites, instead of insisting on a gov't-provided monopoly.

https://www.eenews.net/articles/trump-allies-target-noaa-climate-research/

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