Hurricane Irene Prediction Cost Taxpayers Too Much?
The National Weather Service’s (NWS) prediction of weather, and events like Hurricane Irene — which is already responsible for nine deaths, and possibly more by its demise — “may actually be dangerous,” and is too expensive and should be scrapped, according to an op-ed in by Iain Murray and David Bier published in Fox News today.
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The authors posit “the National Hurricane Center and its parent agency, the National Weather Service, are relics from America’s past that have actually outlived their usefulness,” and complain the the public is forced to pay more than $1 billion per year for the NWS.” Which, as New York TImes statistician Nate Silver responds, “costs average American $3 per year.” Silver also adds, “The daft Fox News editorial also ignores the fact that private companies like AccuWeather get most of their data from the gov’t (for free).”
Because Murray and Bier, ignorantly, stated, the NWS “issues severe weather advisories and hijacks local radio and television stations to get the message out. It presumes that citizens do not pay attention to the weather and so it must force important, perhaps lifesaving, information upon them. A few seconds’ thought reveals how silly this is. The weather might be the subject people care most about on a daily basis. There is a very successful private TV channel dedicated to it, 24 hours a day, as well as any number of phone and PC apps. Americans need not be forced to turn over part of their earnings to support weather reporting.”
“The NWS claims that it supports industries like aviation and shipping, but if they provide a valuable contribution to business, it stands to reason business would willingly support their services. If that is the case, the Service is just corporate welfare. If they would not, it is just a waste.
“As for hurricanes, the insurance industry has a compelling interest in understanding them. In a world without a National Weather Service, the insurance industry would probably have sponsored something very like the National Hurricane Center at one or more universities. Those replacements would also not be exploited for political purposes.”
Exploited for political purposes? Like, saving lives?
Isn’t it possible that this is just another anti-science Tea Party Republican attempt to chop down anything related to climate change and the science surrounding the proven theory of global warming?
Murray and Bier both work for the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), which Sourcewatch describes as this:
“CEI projects dispute the overwhelming scientific evidence that human induced greenhouse gas emissions are driving climate change. They have a program for “challenging government regulations”, push property rights as a solution to environment problems, opposed US vehicle fuel efficiency standards and been a booster for the drug industry.”
This is what passes for intelligent, fair and balanced, information and opinion at Fox.
But wait, it gets worse.
Evidently, it’s asinine war on government week at CEI. Or, rather, asinine war on government decade at CEI. And war on science. And, war on Americans.
Hurricane Irene has killed nine people already, including a young boy. It’s safe to say without the National Weather Service, the death toll would be higher.
Typical conservatives, Murray and Bier suggest that because the NWS doesn’t have the best record in weather prediction, it should be scrapped. How about, we should push it to be better?
By their standards, Fox News, cited again and again for being the number one news agency most likely to misinform its viewers, should be scrapped.
On second thought, perhaps Murray and Bier’s thesis is correct, just directed at the wrong target.
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President Donald Trump tried to backpedal on last week’s promise to release full video of a second boat strike some are calling unlawful, when cornered by a reporter he subsequently denounced as “obnoxious” and “terrible.”
Video shows that Trump did promise to release the full video, telling reporters last Wednesday, “whatever they have, we’d certainly release.”
On Monday, ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott said to Trump, “Mr. President, you said you would have no problem with releasing the full video of that strike on September 2nd off the coast of Venezuela.”
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“I didn’t say that,” Trump replied. “You said that, I didn’t say that.”
“This is ABC fake news,” the president added.
“You said that you would have no problem releasing the full — okay, well, Secretary Hegseth —” Scott continued.
“Whatever Hegseth wants to do is okay with me,” Trump said.
“He now says it’s under review,” she explained. “Are you ordering the secretary to release that full video?”
“Whatever he decides is okay with me,” Trump responded.
After the president claimed that every boat the U.S. military destroys saves 25,000 American lives, the reporter pressed him to confirm his position on releasing the video.
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“Didn’t I just tell you that?” he charged.
“You said that it was up to the secretary,” she responded.
“You are an obnoxious reporter in the whole place,” Trump said, attacking Scott. “Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious, a terrible, actually a terrible reporter, and it’s always the same thing with you.”
Reporter: You said he would have no problem with releasing the full video of that strike on September 2nd
Trump: I didn’t say that. This is ABC fake news. Whatever Hegseth decides is ok with me… Let me just tell you, you are an obnoxious reporter. Actually, a terrible reporter. pic.twitter.com/xyTyP08GIj
— Acyn (@Acyn) December 8, 2025
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Image via Reuters
Republicans are taking heat on two fronts as they struggle to win the affordability messaging battle while killing affordability legislation.
“Republican lawmakers, aides and strategists tell NBC News they worry that high prices and their party’s poor messaging on affordability could cost them in the midterms,” the news network reported over the weekend.
Politico reported on Monday that “Republicans are divided over how to address growing cost-of-living concerns over health care, housing, student debt and more.”
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As President Donald Trump calls affordability a “hoax” and a “con job,” recent polls show his approval rating is underwater, and some say Republicans have not made the affordability crisis a central legislative focus.
Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune appeared to suggest affordability is an issue to tackle down the road.
“We haven’t probably messaged as effectively as we should,” Leader Thune said in an interview, Politico noted. “I think we’ll have lots of opportunities now that we’re getting into an election year to talk about the things we’ve done and how they are going to lead to things being more affordable for the American people, probably starting with tax relief next year.”
One of the things Senate Republicans did was join with Democrats to pass out of committee — unanimously, some Democrats noted — a bill to improve housing availability and affordability.
House Republicans killed the legislation, known as the ROAD to Housing Act.
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“Just this weekend, congressional leaders released a compromise version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act without housing legislation sought by Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), after House Financial Services Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and other key House Republicans objected.”
Senate Democrats expressed outrage.
“Leave it to House Republicans to fumble a comprehensive, bipartisan housing package that passed out of the Senate committee UNANIMOUSLY!” decried U.S. Senator Tina Smith (D-MN).
“Unbelievable,” lamented U.S. Senator Mark Warner (D-VA). “House Republicans just killed our broadly bipartisan housing affordability bill, which would have been a great first step towards lowering skyrocketing rents & mortgages. Republicans are actively torpedoing progress towards lowering your rent.”
“Trump claims he wants to lower housing costs, but his allies in the House just axed a bipartisan bill that UNANIMOUSLY passed the Senate to do just that,” noted U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). “If Republicans keep blocking legislation to cut housing costs, Democrats will pass it ourselves when we take back Congress.”
The communications director for U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), James Singer, summed it up: “It’s not the message, it’s the policies.”
Economist and economics professor Justin Wolfers told CNN, “When we talk about affordability, so much of what’s going on with prices is in fact a direct result of public policy. We’ve seen tariffs that have raised costs. We’ve seen a big rise in deportations, which are making it difficult for farmers to bring in their crops. We’ve seen health insurance premiums rise as Congress has fiddled with Obamacare subsidies.”
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Image via Reuters
On Sunday, President Donald Trump declared that he will “be involved” in the federal government’s decision on whether to allow the streaming service Netflix to buy mass media and entertainment conglomerate Warner Brothers Discovery. On Monday, Paramount Skydance, another mass media and entertainment conglomerate, announced a hostile takeover bid for WBD — with news soon following that Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s private equity firm is part of the Paramount offer.
“Paramount is telling WBD shareholders that it has a smoother path to regulatory approval than does Netflix, and Kushner’s involvement only strengthens that case,” Axios reported. “Paramount is led by David Ellison, whose billionaire father Larry is a major supporter of President Trump.”
Axios added that Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, “was not mentioned in Paramount’s press release on Monday morning about its $108 billion bid, nor were participating sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar.”
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Fortune reported that “Affinity and the other outside financing partners have agreed to forgo any governance rights, which Paramount said means the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States would have no jurisdiction over the transaction.”
But Axios’ Sarah Fischer wrote on social media: “Ask yourself, why would anyone want to put money into an investment of this caliber and have no governance rights or board seats?”
“Essentially,” she added, “people want to have control/access/political power behind the scenes.”
“Reality is,” Fischer explained, this hostile takeover is a good explanation “of how capitalism/democracy can be exploited for political gain,” with “Paramount essentially betting our open system incentivizes shareholders to take [the] best financial deal even if it means giving soft power” to three sovereign wealth funds, the President, and his son-in-law.
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Critics are blasting Kushner’s and Trump’s involvement.
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) remarked, “Donald Trump said he’ll ‘be involved in’ deciding if Netflix can buy Warner Bros. Is that an open invite for CEOs to curry favor with Trump in exchange for merger approvals? It should be an independent decision by the Department of Justice based on the law and facts.”
Award-winning journalist Sophia A. Nelson, responding to trump’s remarks, observed: “This is ridiculous. Corrupt. And NOT what a President gets involved in.”
Professor, investor, and marketing executive Adam Cochran wrote: “Trump is talking about him personally being involved in deciding the fate of the Netflix-Warner Brothers deal, and how it’s ‘bad.’ Meanwhile his son-in-law is financing the competing offer. There has truly never been a more corrupt administration in US history!”
Alexander Vindman, former Director of European Affairs for the United States National Security Council (NSC), wrote: “F– NO to another corrupt Trump deal. Nepobaby, Jared’s, involvement would deliver CNN to MAGA.”
NewsNation’s Kurt Bardella, a communications advisor and media relations consultant, asked: “Alexa, what is a ‘conflict-of-interest’?”
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Image via Reuters
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