Just wondering

Are the media reports about our terrible north American weather fair? After all, it is the winter.

Are the media reports about the engineering problems on the ISS, the International Space Station, fair? After all, we citizens have spent billions of dollars on the equipment which is supposed to work out of the box.

Now we hear that heavy seas may hamper the shoot down attempt of the American errant spy satellite. Just what are we getting for our American money, to include basic embarrassment if this most difficult shot fails?