they're kidding with this weather report crap

Question

The following passage is from “The Midnight Sun”. I don’t quite understand the structure of the sentence I underlined. Could anyone please paraphrase it for me?
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The sound of whispered voices came from the radio. “I don’t care,” the announcer said clearly. “Who the hell do they think they’re kidding with this weather report ***?...Ladies and gentlemen,” he went on, a strange kind of laughter in his voice, “tomorrow you can fry eggs on sidewalks, heat up soup in the ocean, and get yourselves the sunburn of your lives just by standing in the Goddamn shade!” This time the whispered voices were more urgent and intense, and the announcer was obviously reacting to them. “What do you mean, panic?” he blurted out. “Who the hell is there left to panic?” There came the sound of grim laughter.
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Thank you in advance.
ladybird

Ladybird25 · Accepted Answer

Hi,
My post above shows something strange.
***? should read "***?"

Thank you.

Ladybird25 · Answer

Hello,
One of the words in the passage I quoted above did not show as I posted. It was replaced by asterisks. I have a feeling that it happened because the word was improper. In that case, may I post my question again changing the word slightly?
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The sound of whispered voices came from the radio. “I don’t care,” the announcer said clearly. “Who the **** do they think they’re kidding with this weather report rubbish?...Ladies and gentlemen,” he went on, a strange kind of laughter in his voice,…
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I don’t quite understand the underlined part.
Especially, the two 'they' are confusing.
Any help would be appreciated.
ladybird

CalifJim · Answer

ladybird25One of the words in the passage I quoted above did not show as I posted. It was replaced by asterisks. I have a feeling that it happened because the word was improper.

Correct. The system censor does that. However, it seems it's not checking the headers, so the word did come out there.

In any case, the 'they's are a reference to the people who wrote the report that the announcer is supposed to read.

Who the **** is a more vulgar way of saying something like Who in the world or just Who.

weather report rubbish is the announcer's assessment that the weather report he is supposed to read is filled with nonsense.

kidding in this case is like 'trying to deceive', but in a joking way.

Who in the world do the authors (of this report) believe they can deceive into believing the nonsense in this weather report that I am going to read?

It's a rhetorical question, and the answer is "Nobody. The authors don't think anyone will believe it because it is just a joke".

CJ

Ladybird25 · Answer

Thank you very much CalifJim for your explanation.
Now I understand the underlined part as follows: Am I correct?
“Who(m) (do they think) they’re kidding with this weather report (which is) rubbish…?”

Does “rubbish” here modify “weather report” in front?

Thanks again,

CalifJim · Answer

ladybird25Now I understand the underlined part as follows: Am I correct?“Who(m) (do they think) they’re kidding with this weather report (which is) rubbish…?”

Correct, though you may not have the rubbish part parsed exactly right. See below.

ladybird25Does “rubbish” here modify “weather report” in front?

No. Native speakers will understand it differently. They will say that 'weather report' modifies 'rubbish', i.e. this rubbish which is in the weather report.

Here you have a compound noun with three nouns. The last noun is nearly always the main noun; the preceding nouns are the modifiers.

telephone call data ~ data concerning telephone calls
television broadcast ratings ~ ratings of television broadcasts
juvenile court proceedings ~ proceedings of the court for juveniles

CJ

Ladybird25 · Answer

Hi, CalifJim,
Ah, I see...
Now everything is clear!
Your examples helped me a lot.
Thank you very much for your patience and great help.
ladybird

they're kidding with this weather report crap

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