Subject: Re: YES, YES, YES!
I am ashamed to admit that I must not be among the smarter and better informed MAGA's. So as I strive for enlightenment, could you explain the mechanics of how getting rid of the National Weather Service can be monetized for their own personal gain?

There is a significant faction of both MAGA ad the traditional Republican Party that thinks anything government does can be better done by private industry. (Variant: everything government does is bad.) The National Weather Service is one which has been targeted, and in fact survived an onslaught in Congress several years ago.

The head of AccuWeather, a heavy contributor to Republicans, got several to propose a bill to privatize all weather service, (never mind that he already made a handsome living from it). The base information, of course, is provided by government satellites and forecasters using computation models developed by government over many decades.

It turned out that AccuWeather had forecast a tornado for a particular part of the Midwest, but only bothered to tell its paying subscribers. (The NWS did so as well, but a bit later.) Not a good look to say the least.

What seems to elude some is that there are thing that are “a public good.” Roads, schools, and yes, weather forecasts. A public safety issue should not be outsourced to a company which wants to sell you protection for a price, and if you cannot or choose not to pay, some of us believe that’s OK, you should still have such information to do with as you please. Some don’t, and want to make a buck.

One of the complaints is that private weather services (of which there are literally hundreds) have to “compete” with the government which provides weather information free to the public. Some of us feel the same way about having public monies used to pay for private schools, and especially private religious schools.

https://www.cnn.com/2017/10/14...