EXTREME WEATHER

PAGE ONE

Panel 1

Three whalers row a small dinghy with Trump’s head as a figurehead, spitting water. The boat is labeled “HMS Project 2025.” At the back of the boat is a whaler we’ll call MAGA Queequeg, a beefy, bald, bearded man wearing an eyepatch that looks like a pair of sunglasses with only one lens. He’s holding a harpoon in one hand and pointing at the whale with the other. He is covered with tattoos: his forehead reads “Make America Great Again,” and his chest and stomach read “MAGA,” “We The Very Fine People,” and “Stop the Seal.” In front of him, rowing, is a sailor with a striped shirt and a bandanna on his head. At the front of the boat is the Captain in a dark fisherman’s hat and coat. His left hand has been replaced with a hook.Ahead of the boat, a whale surfaces, spout blowing. It is labeled “NOAA.”

MAGA QUEEQUEG: Thar she blows!

SAILOR: ‘Tis the whale we’re here to kill?

CAPTAIN: Yar, she be the one. They call her… NOAA.

Panel 2

The Captain grins at the reader, his remaining hand curled into a fist. To his right is a diagram of a whale, cut up into different sections with dotted lines, like a butcher’s diagram. Each section has a label: National Weather Service, N.E.S.D.I.S. (1), National Ocean Service, OMAO (2), O.A.R, and National Marine Fisheries Service.

CAPTAIN: And we aim to…

CAPTION: “Break up NOAA” – p. 674

Panel 3

The whale has surfaced and looks distressed as a harpoon pierces its tail.

WHALE: YeeOW! My tail!

WHALE: Stop hunting me, you weirdos!

CAPTION: “Downsize the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research…

CAPTION: …The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded.”- p. 676

PAGE TWO

Panel 1

The whale, enormous, sits on top of the water, the harpoon still in its tail. To its left is the boat with the three whalers, who look very small in comparison. To the whale’s right, we see a NOAA research ship, with radio and satellite equipment, and a satellite hovers above the whale.

WHALE: My research ships and satellites provide free data to the public and businesses! The info about hurricanes and heat waves save lives! I’m a main force in tracking how climate change affects everyone–why kill me?

Panel 2

MAGA Queequeg and the Captain glare at the reader. The Captain holds up his hook menacingly.

CAPTAIN: Fer all the reasons ye said, NOAA!

CAPTION: “… a colossal operation that has become one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry and, as such, is harmful to future U.S. prosperity”- p. 675

CAPTAIN: We’ll shrink ye to a guppy, and privatize most of yer departments!

CAPTION: “Because private companies rely on these data, the NWS should fully commercialize its forecasting operations”- p. 675

Panel 3

The whale dives away and the little boat goes after it—but in background to the right, a hurricane is approaching.

WHALE: You guys need to go!

CAPTAIN: Never, we’ll carve ye to blubber!

MAGA Queequeg: Er… I think the whale meant us to see that storm, Cap’n…

Panel 4

The whale swims under the water.

WHALE: I did! Hurricanes are getting stronger and more frequent because of warming oceans! You need the work of NOAA now more than ever!