I have some unfortunate news for some government workers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: It appears you might be getting fired, and a career in the arts is probably not in the cards, either.
According to CBS News, NOAA is undergoing “mass layoffs” at the hands of the Department of Government Efficiency. This amounts to, um, about “800 weather professionals” so far, according to WISC-TV. (You also know these aren’t devastating cuts when WISC went with a punny headline: “Meteorologists to weather a storm of mass NOAA layoffs.”) The Associated Press, meanwhile, said that the layoffs “appeared to be happening in two rounds, one of 500 and one of 800.”
Either way, this is apparently unacceptable for government employees, who are fighting back — by subjecting us all to, um, singing.
Huge crowd outside @NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, MD.
This is one of several rallies in the DC area today in support of federal employees @nbcwashington pic.twitter.com/DDp3RNePkz— Joseph Olmo (@ReporterJoseph) March 3, 2025
Laid-off NOAA employees have gathered to sing in protest against DOGE and Elon Musk.
🤦♂️ pic.twitter.com/CnuNsmC8OR
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) March 3, 2025
Tell you what: I’ll pay you to stop singing, OK? Not like, a full day’s pay or anything, but at least $20 each. It’ll maybe cover the cost of printing those “Hands Off Our NOAA” signs.
Just to be clear, this ersatz choir does not appear to be fully comprised of people laid off by DOGE, as @WesternLensman claimed, or even partially. WRC-TV described the rally outside the NOAA headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland on Monday as “[a] crowd of federal workers, supporters and lawmakers.”
Should more federal government jobs be cut?
This included Maryland Democratic Reps. Jamie Raskin and Glenn Ivey.
“We don’t know the exact number, but we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of people who’ve gotten the pink slip, and you know, if you add in the probationary firings, you know, we’re looking at thousands of people who they’re trying to kick out of work,” Raskin told the crowd.
“It’s a totally vindictive and senseless policy that they’ve embarked upon here.”
“They are firing people for doing their job,” Raskin added, per CBS. “They want to fire the climate scientists for doing their job. They want to fire the weather experts for doing their job because they want to privatize that, too.”
Basically, any time you hear about DOGE getting involved in firing a government worker, this is going to be the response: These jobs were so absolutely vital that the whole world is going to collapse without them, and they also want to shift it into the evil private sector, which can occasionally get things done efficiently. And efficiency is bad. Why, it’s part of the DOGE name, and we all know DOGE is bad!
And how bad are these firings? This bad:
Protests have broken out in front of NOAA Headquarters over Trump laying off 800 individuals.
‘Without a strong NOAA, the world will be flying blind into the growing perils of global climate change’ pic.twitter.com/wUeNcidZ5X
— Trending Politics (@tpbreaking) March 3, 2025
Protests outside #NOAA today… pic.twitter.com/q3aamdV8ZN
— Rob Marciano (@RobMarciano) March 3, 2025
Again, I’d like to reiterate: Nothing that can be described with puns, save for New York Post headlines (“Headless Body in Topless Bar” is what comes immediately to mind, and I doubt anyone could get away with it today), is likely to be too dire, particularly if it involves someone’s livelihood.
This is doubly true if, again, you have a choir singing poorly in pink vests. (I’m clueless about the meaning behind them, and I’m pretty sure if I found out it wouldn’t be worth knowing, anyway.) Not since “Emilia Perez” has a musical event moved me less, politically — and sad to say, the songs from the pro-trans Netflix awards-show darling were actually better, slightly.
However, there is one upside to this, which was pointed out by one respondent on X:
Why do they continually think this resonates with the American public?
It just falls flat when U.S. taxpayers realize the waste that the government was doing with their money.
— Eric Pistey (@shawnpisteySC) March 3, 2025
This is the pallid face of what remains of #TheResistance this time around. Remember antifa riots and knit-cap feminist uprisings and RINO revolts and the “squad” the first time Trump got elected? This time, we have a definitive victory, a relatively healthy level of support for his agenda, and … a bunch of dorks outside of NOAA headquarters with a few Democratic lawmakers, singing badly in roseate vests for no apparent reason.
And to the extent that any of us care, it all reinforces the fact that these people oughtn’t have jobs, period.
Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.
