1. Welcome! Please take a few seconds to create your free account to post threads, make some friends, remove a few ads while surfing and much more. ClutchFans has been bringing fans together to talk Houston Sports since 1996. Join us!

DOGE The Eschaton

Discussion in 'BBS Hangout: Debate & Discussion' started by basso, Nov 13, 2024.

  1. Sajan

    Sajan Member

    Joined:
    Apr 18, 2009
    Messages:
    9,336
    Likes Received:
    7,134
    Well he got a lunatic elected and then tried to become the face of the party..
    Which republicans soon realized was not a good idea, the Wisconsin race was probably a turning point.

    What Elon got in return was tariffs on his supply chain and a tarnished brand.
     
    astros123 and Andre0087 like this.
  2. Kemahkeith

    Kemahkeith Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Mar 27, 2018
    Messages:
    4,295
    Likes Received:
    5,953
    Well, he did get his South African friends to the front of the line.
    New sales team incoming at a Tesla dealer near you.
     
  3. Space Ghost

    Space Ghost Member

    Joined:
    Feb 14, 1999
    Messages:
    18,213
    Likes Received:
    8,603
    Meanwhile CNN and dumb democrats reporting 66m SNAP benefits cut, and tens of thousands of people are at risk of dying of starvation on American streets.

     
    basso and tinman like this.
  4. tinman

    tinman 999999999
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    May 9, 1999
    Messages:
    104,420
    Likes Received:
    47,318
    @Salvy
    @pgabriel
    this sounds like
     
  5. tinman

    tinman 999999999
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    May 9, 1999
    Messages:
    104,420
    Likes Received:
    47,318
     
  6. astros123

    astros123 Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    Mar 28, 2013
    Messages:
    13,979
    Likes Received:
    11,583
  7. tallanvor

    tallanvor Member

    Joined:
    Oct 9, 2007
    Messages:
    18,732
    Likes Received:
    11,853
  8. DonnyMost

    DonnyMost Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    May 18, 2003
    Messages:
    48,990
    Likes Received:
    19,932
    upload_2025-6-27_8-57-31.jpeg

    There's likely a story worth telling behind this. I'd love to see it explained.
     
  9. adoo

    adoo Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2003
    Messages:
    11,881
    Likes Received:
    7,991
    so according to these two stooges,
    accurate weather forecasting is not that important


    Recent catastrophic flooding in Texas has raised questions about the role of federal budget cuts initiated by DOGE during Trump 2.0.

    Reports indicate that significant staffing reductions occurred at the National Weather Service (NWS), which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Specifically, the NWS lost approximately 560 to 600 employees, reducing its workforce by nearly 20% due to DOGE cuts (source-1).

    These cuts have been linked to impaired forecasting abilities, which some Texas officials claim contributed to the high death toll during the recent flood​
     
  10. basso

    basso Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2002
    Messages:
    33,415
    Likes Received:
    9,322
    source 2:

    Image 2.jpeg
     
  11. adoo

    adoo Member

    Joined:
    Mar 1, 2003
    Messages:
    11,881
    Likes Received:
    7,991
    basso is confused / all mixed up.

    it’d behoove basso to differentiate “advance warning/alert” from “during the storm”
     
    Andre0087 likes this.
  12. jchu14

    jchu14 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2000
    Messages:
    1,050
    Likes Received:
    1,133
    Having more people on staff the night of doesn't make up for the loss of personnel and experience from the budget cuts. The post of 'Warning Coordination Meteorologist' for NWS Austin/SA was vacated in April after the meteorologist took early retirement. Then the post remains empty due to hiring freeze at NOAA.

    https://www.kxan.com/weather/weathe...takes-early-retirement-as-noaa-cuts-continue/

    No one will ever know if having someone with experience in that post could have prevented that tragedy, but it's certainly worth probing. According to Travis Herzog's post, the Flash Flood Warning was issued at 1AM and a Flash Flood Emergency Warning (that triggers an emergency text) was issued at 4AM. That's really not enough time for people to react, especially for middle of the night. If the community warning coordinator post was not empty, maybe the alert would have been sent out earlier or more properly conveyed sense of urgency to the city officials? Who knows.

    https://www.facebook.com/TravisABC1...sking-with-broken-hearts-as/1278872920273979/

    The timing is extremely unfortunate. If this weather event had happened during the day, it likely wouldn't have been nearly as bad.

    EDIT: Also, I wonder how many people turned off their phone alerts after the 'Blue Alert' debacle woke up millions of Texans last year at 5am. Personally I left 'Severe Threats' on and 'Extreme Threats' on. I wonder if that's enough to get weather messages or if I need to leave 'Public Safety Messages' on too.
     
    Andre0087 and snowconeman22 like this.
  13. rimrocker

    rimrocker Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 1999
    Messages:
    23,140
    Likes Received:
    10,208
    The whole excerpt is true yet it is presented in a way that belies the problems. During a big weather event, the local NWS forecast office will call in meteorologists who were not scheduled to work that shift. However, that's not so much "extra staffing" as emergency staffing. Those folks are still expected to cover their own scheduled shifts when the crisis is over.

    A fully staffed office can handle that because the rotation is set up so that you get a shift or two each week for training, research, product development, and office maintenance stuff. That shift is typically 8 AM-4:30 PM. You call those folks in and the ones working night shift and swing shift are able to stay home and rest before their duty. However, if you call in those scheduled for other shifts on the meteorology desks, you are creating both physical and mental fatigue. Those are cumulative and will eventually start to affect decision-making and communication--we know this from numerous academic studies as well as lots of anecdotal experience. The further away you are from optimal office staffing numbers, the greater the stress and the greater the degradation of service. Again, this plays out over time.

    If a forecast office is without a number of meteorologists, that absolutely creates stress on the ones working to cover all the shifts and to respond when destructive weather events occur.
     
  14. jchu14

    jchu14 Member

    Joined:
    Sep 2, 2000
    Messages:
    1,050
    Likes Received:
    1,133
    $14.8B one time SSA payments were disbursed to 2.2 million people due to passage of Social Security Fairness Act that was passed in January 2025.

    https://www.ssa.gov/news/press/releases/2025/#2025-04-29
    https://www.ssa.gov/benefits/retirement/social-security-fairness-act.html

    So the big dip is most likely due to big jumps in payment from the one time disbursements. It's now back to normal payment amounts.
     
    juicystream likes this.
  15. basso

    basso Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2002
    Messages:
    33,415
    Likes Received:
    9,322
    I'm not suggesting understaffing doesn't cause stress.

    I'm highlighting the office was not understaffed for this event.

    and attempting to blame the trump admin for the deaths from this storm is abhorrent.
     
  16. rimrocker

    rimrocker Member

    Joined:
    Dec 22, 1999
    Messages:
    23,140
    Likes Received:
    10,208
    But they were understaffed in that they were missing the key position of warning coordinator. They were understaffed in that they didn't have a full complement of meteorologists.

    As for blaming Trump, he's the one who gave Musk carte blanche, so yeah, some of this falls on him just as some falls on local and state folks.
     
  17. basso

    basso Member
    Supporting Member

    Joined:
    May 20, 2002
    Messages:
    33,415
    Likes Received:
    9,322
    maybe it just falls on the rain.
     
  18. juicystream

    juicystream Member

    Joined:
    Apr 17, 2001
    Messages:
    30,630
    Likes Received:
    7,169
    Two things:

    #1 - This doesn't claim improper SNAP benefits being provided to needy families, but rather a credit card processor illegally providing terminals to accept EBT
    #2 - They are double counting. They start with $30M from illegally obtained Terminals. The $36M comes is for numbers which were used to get the terminals.

    It should also be noted, that DOGE has nothing to do with this potential recovery, as the Justice Department seized their accounts in October 2024.
     

Share This Page