I just fired off the following letter to Washington via democracy.io. The issue is self-explanatory. If you want to help, feel free to copy (or improve!) my hastily written letter, but do change “Colorado” to your state’s name.
I just heard that staff members from Musk’s DOGE department entered NOAA headquarters on Tuesday demanding access to NOAA’s IT systems. This has raised considerable alarm about possible staff cuts or worse at NOAA, per Project 2025’s assertion that NOAA is “harmful to US prosperity” because of its role in climate science and should be “broken up and downsized.”
NOAA and the NWS are critical to accurate weather forecasts and warnings here in Colorado. Our weather changes rapidly and can be severe, posing threats to human life and property.
Please act immediately to protect NOAA!
Thank you.
Respectfully,
Susan Richards
is there nothing he won’t interfere with? i just heard that rump has installed himself as president of the kennedy center fired everyone because they made fun of him and he will be ‘taking an aggressive approach to the arts.’
He is drunk with power — not to mention old age and dementia. Of course that doesn’t lessen the damage he is doing or the pain and hardship he is inflicting on thousands, if not millions of people. Subtle he ain’t. Aggressive is the only approach he knows. What’s even scarier is that Musk and/or Vance are waiting — not in the wings but in the very next room.
perhaps sitting at a desk nearby and he’s not noticing…
And I thought Vance was vice-president. I wonder how he feels about all this.
he’s just waiting….
Thanks for the template!
Thanks for your interest!
This is almost worse than we expected …
Worse than I expected in that it’s so blatant, widespread, and came so fast. Of course, all that shock and awe on Day One made clear what was in store. By the time Congress gets off its butt, it could be way too late.
Scientists at NOAA must be feeling like Galileo felt when he was forced to deny reality.
I am furious that Musk would turn his operatives (ages 19-25) loose to invade/dismantle a bunch of government operations. I can’t imagine how those NOAA scientists must feel. Meantime, they’ve got WORK to do. Get out of their way.
Oops, just caught a typo in my comment above. I had mistyped “ages 10-25” and it should have been, as it is now, “ages 19-25”
johnthecook…it is my understanding that President Trump is going hard after Government Agencies that have been funded with Taxpayers money and are spending it like drunken sailors with very little Government oversite. Where is it all going and who is getting it and just how is it being accounted for? Please look at the National Debt from the previous 4 Presidents as they left office. The American people are being “fleeced” by the very people they elected to run our Country. As our Founding Fathers said, “it’s a Republic if you can keep it” We lost that Republic a long time ago, and I for one want it back.! There is not one politician in America who doesn’t refer to our Constitution as a Democracy.
There’s no waste in corporate America? Only the government is overspending? Look where that government’s money (our money) is being spent … Just a few examples that come to mind: NOAA, so we can have accurate weather and climate forecasts and warnings to keep us safe. FBI, CIA, the Armed Forces, to keep us safe and protected at home and abroad, and to ensure there’s actually a country here for us to live in. Trump wants to defund the NIH, responsible for, among other things, Anschutz Medical Center here in Denver, where their research and treatment got rid of my cancer. And countless other medical research and treatment facilities all over the country. All the vaccines and medical research that keep you and your loved ones healthy. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that protects us from financial frauds, scams, cheats, etc. The FAA that keeps thousands of planes in the air every day so you can get where you want to go, and the goods you want can get to you. Ditto our highways, railroads and everything else that brings goods and services to your front door or local merchant. How do you think your Social Security check gets to you? The technology you’re looking at to read this. The freedom you have to read this. Oh, and how about the tax breaks the government gives to places of worship, all religions, yours included. How well would they manage if they had to pay those taxes?
“Democracy” and “republic” are very similar and often used interchangeably. Both are governments where the people elect their leaders and representatives. What we are not and never want to be is a “monarchy” ruled by one person (we fought a war to be free of that) or a “theocracy” (something like today’s Iran, where everyone has to abide by the religious tenets of one person).
I did read in Project 2025 that they wanted to disband NOAA. The reasoning shows that there is limited understanding of the absolute necessity of this public service. I have spent many an afternoon with the NWS radar active on my computer as huge thunderstorms barreled down on Aurora, and the early warning of the last major polar vortex event allowed me to wrap the windows and get essential prep done before it happened. I plan trips out of the house around the weather forecast. We have time to declare “red flag” days because of the services of NOAA and the weather service. This along with dismantling the CDC have been a couple of my biggest concerns… I tell myself that people won’t appreciate all the things that the government does that we take for granted until it is well and truly broken, but I’m afraid that there will be too much damage for recovery.
Who did you address your letter to? I’ve been wearing out ResistBot sending letters to my congressmen.
Been writing to Bennett, Hickenlooper, and Gabe Evens. I write via democracy.io. I’m sure they just have staff counting pros and cons, but at least I can feel like I went down fighting. I should get a list of the entire Congress and write to all of them. I heard Jason Crow might run for governor. That’s about the only good news I heard this week.
johnthecook…A Democracy and a Republic are very different. One is a rule by law while the other is a rule by a Majority. Our Founding Fathers knew the difference!
America needs all the Government Agencies you named, but the way they are spending our taxpayer money to run them is insane, and the transparent Government accountability of those monies is nonexistent. They have effectively bankrupted our Country.
I/we are not allowed to run our households/businesses like our Government is running our Country. We are forced to follow the laws that are enforce or pay the consequences.
Please tell me who is going to do what needs to be done? Biden and Harris did not do it, and many people do not like what Trump and Vance ore doing either, but somebody needs to stir the cauldron that America is seething in, or we won’t have a Country worth living in.
Yes, of course a democracy and a republic are different, but I get to vote either way. And our laws were made by representatives elected by the people. (I do think it’s past time to ditch the Electoral College.) The nation is not bankrupt; it is still functioning. Perhaps not for long given the current leadership … or lack thereof.
But it’s not what Trump and Vance are doing. It’s what Trump and Musk are doing. Musk is unelected, unvetted, has no security clearance and no political experience, and has a clear and unacceptable conflict of interests. And he and his employees (also unelected, unvetted, lacking security clearances and having no political experience) have been given free rein to gut our government agencies, the workings of which they know nothing. I object strenuously to this rampant destruction of government agencies. And I’m furious that Congress is not raising a hand to stop it.