ICBM INBOUND…Oops, Never mind

Good day all. It seems that there was a bit of excitement in Hawaii yesterday. Someone apparently pushed the wrong button and sent out a text alert to everyone on the island that a North Korean ICBM had been launched and was heading for Hawaii.

Fortunately, it was a false alarm. However, there was nothing false regarding the panic generated by the erroneous message. The news coverage regarding the alert was not to helpful for those seeking information. The alert message was certainly not helpful for people looking to not become radioactive fallout. Here’s some of what happened from Fox News:

An emergency alert that warned of a ballistic missile heading directly for Hawaii on Saturday, which was mistakenly sent out, caused panic and outrage among celebrities, politicians, vacationers and locals.

Sent from the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency at 8:07 a.m. local time, the alert read: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” It took the agency 38 minutes to send a follow-up alert correcting the error.

If I recall correctly, a ballistic missile fired from North Korea would take 37 minutes to reach Honolulu. So Hawaii sent out the all clear one minute after the expected mushroom cloud didn’t appear. Good timing there guys.

It has yet to be determined what moron triggered the alert, but this hasn’t stopped the usual suspects from demonstrating their usual level of stupidity.

Actress Jamie Lee Curtis tweeted as well, but in a more political, less philosophical vein. She attributed the false alert to President Trump, tweeting: “The real FEAR that mothers & fathers & children felt is on YOU. It is on YOUR ARROGANCE. HUBRIS. NARCISSISM. RAGE. EGO. IMMATURITY and your UNSTABLE IDIOCY.”

From witness reports, the only alert message that went out was via text message sent to people’s phones, similar to an amber alert. However, nothing was broadcast over radio or television, and no air raid sirens went off.

Jane Bartlett Pappas, whose brother Alex Pappas is a reporter with Fox News, is on the island of Oahu and while she received an alert on her phone, no alarm system actually went off on the island. Pappas added she didn’t receive a notification that it was false “until 30-40 minutes after the initial alert. I saw people getting into their cars and running across the street.” She also added that the beach is now “crowded with people swimming and enjoying the beautiful day!”

One person in congress who is annoyed at President Trump, is annoyed for a very different reason then Jamie Lee Curtis. Representative Tusli Gabbard, (D-Why?)

“Our leaders have failed us for decades” Gabbard noted, and added that Trump “is taking too long, needs to take North Korea’s “threat seriously,” and that “we have to talk to North Korea and find a peaceful path to get rid of this nuclear threat.”

Once again Representative Gabbard has strayed far from the Progressive Plantation. Unlike most of the Democrats, she seems to be all in for a preemptive strike on “Rocket Boy” and his nukes. (Would someone please explain to me why this seemingly rational woman is a Democrat?) Of course, President Trump has been taking this mess left to him by the three previous administrations very seriously. He’s been doing his usual shtick of waving a squirrel puppet around on one hand, while quietly doing things with the other.

Now, in the aftermath of this mess, the federal government, along with the state government of Hawaii is looking into what happened and how to make sure it doesn’t again. If the message that had gone out had said “THIS IS A TEST!” or “THIS IS A DRILL” most people would have ignored it. What this mess did show was just how unprepared Hawaii actually is.

Now if this had been real attack, the easiest way to know would have been the response by the navy. Every single warship in port would have activated their battle management radars, (And probably fried ever single electronic device for miles), gotten under way and started firing interceptor missiles. It seems pretty obvious to me that no one actually bothered to call the navy base and find out what was going on.

If anything good comes from this fiasco, it will be the development of an actual plan to both warn the public, tell them where the missile is heading, and most importantly, what the hell to do. Running around outside is exactly the worst thing you could do in the case of a nuclear attack. The heat pulse and flash from the blast will blind and then cook anyone not under cover. Meanwhile, it’s time for some heads to begin rolling.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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