Saturday, September 7, 2019

Hurricane forecast manipulation creates air of distrust

 By now most of us have seen some form of this photo. The administration
altered it by drawing a line including Alabama. Trump appointees in one 
agency defended him. You have to wonder what the folks in Alabama felt
hearing that. Fortunately the local Weather Service forecasters went on Twitter 
with the correct information. And their union official has openly criticized the
politicians who made the decision to support the #fakepresident. (Snopes photo)

     "I get all the news I need on the weather report…" — Paul Simon

       Well, this is a fine kettle of fish. The #fakepresident says a storm will hit Alabama when all the official agencies say not a chance. So he keeps claiming it, even breaking a federal law by doctoring an official Weather Service map, drawing a line extending a forecast to include Alabama. Caught, he blames the media. But here comes the kicker, NOAA, the parent agency of the Weather Service which is led by political appointees defends the president refuting the professionals in their own agencies. So stepping back, what has happened here?
     Once again the general public has been victimized by the #fakepresident's manipulations, that have now extended to his appointees changing a weather forecast to fit one of his lies.
     We love to complain about the weather report, but think, in reality is there a government agency we trust more than the Weather Service? This action has driven a wedge between the service and the people it serves. Can we ever trust a forecast again if they are going to be written to satisfy political demands.
      In the future when the Weather Service says evacuate ahead of a storm, will we, or will we hesitate, try to figure out if it's true or not? On the other side of that, if we are told there's no danger are we going to wait to see what the political motivation is for the report? When they say mudslides or floods whether this is a serious threat or an all-clear, do we wonder how this benefits some donor to a political cause? Any hesitation in some circumstances can be dangerous.
      As I have been there often, what happens on the big ocean when a forecaster gives storm warnings and you can keep to your course or steer well around the danger? Even an hour in the wrong direction can mean the difference. Does the forecast serve some political purpose or is it valid?
     The point is, the #fakepresident's actions have created a measure of distrust in reports vital to us all and once trust is broken it does not heal easily. And, what have we come to when we can't trust the word of an acting president in something as straightforward as a weather forecast?

NOAA staff told not to contradict Trump

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Memorable quotations

The best way to know you are having an adventure is when you wish you were home talking about it." — a mechanic on the Alaska State Ferry System. Or as in my own case planning how I will be writing it on this blog.

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"It was like the aftermath of an orgasm with the wrong partner." – David Lagercrants “The Girl in the Spider’s Web.”

Why worry about dying, you aren't going to live to regret it.

Never debate with someone who gets ink by the barrel" — George Hayes, former Alaska Attorney General who died recently

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Normal is how somebody else thinks you should act.

"The mark of a great shiphandler is never getting into situations that require great shiphandling," Adm. Ernest King, USN

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My friend Gail: All waitresses are cute when you're hungry.

I'm not a writer, but sometimes I push around words to see what happens. – Scott Berry

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A non-writing writer is a monster courting insanity. – Franz Kafka

We are all immortal until the one day we are not. – me again

If the muse is late, start without her – Peter S. Beagle

Substitute ‘damn’ every time you’re inclined to write ‘very;’ your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. ~Mark Twain Actually you could do the same thing with the word "really" as in "really cold."

If you are looking for an experience that will temper your vanity, this is it. There's no one to impress when you're alone on the trap line. – Michael Carey quoting his father's journal

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You know that I always just wanted to have a small ship to take stuff from a place that had a lot of that stuff to a place that did not have a lot of that stuff and so prosper.—Jackie Faber, “The Wake of the Lorelei Lee”

If you attack the arguer instead of the argument, you lose both

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It is a very simple mind that only knows how to spell a word one way.—Andrew Jackson

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As Republicans go further back in the conception process to define when life actually begins, I am beginning to think the eventual definition will be life begins in the beer I was drinking when I met her.—me again

Hunting is a “critical element for the long-term conservation of wood bison.”—a state department of Fish and Game official explaining why the state would not go along with a federal plan to reintroduce wood bison in Alaska because the agreement did not specifically allow hunting

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