How the hell could the Americans make this mistake?!

[brizzledrizzle]

They announced an incoming missile alert for Hawaii which is in range for North Korean missiles. The mistake wasn't corrected for nearly 20 minutes according to the BBC.

Will probably never really know what happened.

Oprah the chat show host.

I think the next American president should be someone with experience in politics and governance. And someone who's not a billionaire. But I do think it's a bit disingenuous (and sneering) to refer to Oprah as a 'chat show host'. She hasn't been a mere 'chat show host' in a long time. She's one of the wealthiest and most influential figures in American society.

I live in Japan and have personally received a few missile emergency alerts. The first time was quite alarming and I was glued to the tv. Subsequent times I couldn’t really be bothered. We were initially told to evacuate to a basement or sturdy building but I wasn’t sure where that would be. We were then told to close curtains but not go near the windows. Now we are told to crouch down with our bums facing the window. I think the point is there’s not a huge amount you can do.

We also received a mistaken emergency alert for an earthquake recently. Apparently 2 earthquakes occurred at the same time and they confused which area to send the alert to.

Not sure if the UK has emergency alert system set up. Basically every smart phone here is automatically registered. We get the alerts usually for things like earthquakes and flooding but obviously the government has the potential to send them out for other things too.

Laughed so hard at your post I almost fell off my chair here in N.E. Illinois, Charolais.

Doris -

But I do think it's a bit disingenuous (and sneering) to refer to Oprah as a 'chat show host'. She hasn't been a mere 'chat show host' in a long time. She's one of the wealthiest and most influential figures in American society.

Yup. If you're going to categorise Oprah as a "chat show host", you need to be consistent and categorise Trump as a "reality TV host".

Oprah is a media mogul worth $2.8billion compared to Trump's $3.1billion. She's eight years younger than him, so by the time she's his age, I suspected she'll have closed that 1 percent gap. And she made all that money herself (no kickstart from a wealthy father) ... while being black, and a woman.*

*This should not be considered an endorsement of Oprah for president.

How does making a lot of money / being a celebrity equate to being the president though? Not sure how the US system works? Assuming its like England where there are civil servants advising?

And 99 Luft Balloons float by....

It's not like the UK where there are civil servants advising.

Top officials at all the departments are appointed by the incoming President. In the case of Trump, a few tiers of the State Department's professionals were let go when Trump arrived. Some top officials are reappointed (James Comey, for instance, and Robert Mueller) but usually there are new secretaries of the different departments and they usually bring with them their own team to replace the previous administration's people. The displaced officials join lobbying firms and wait for the tide to turn.

The UK is becoming more like the American model, with teams like Nick Timothy and Fiona Hill (and similar under Blair) taking the place of senior civil servants.

As robotic as Theresa May is, she has worked herself up within the civil service and takes advice. Both her and Corbyn would be better than Trump

How does making a lot of money / being a celebrity equate to being the president though?

The American Dream is all about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps from poverty to wealth. So many people they will think that someone who achieved this has qualified themselves for the position of President.

You have to be able to distinguish good advice from bad. If she took someone's advice about her Tory arty conference speeches, it was bad advice. Ditto the advice to hold a General Election, and all of her decisions while in office both as Home Secretary and PM, including the decision to ally with the DUP.

The American Dream is all about pulling yourself up by the bootstraps from poverty to wealth. So many people they will think that someone who achieved this has qualified themselves for the position of President.

The flaw in this reasoning however is that by and large “pulling yourself up by the bootstraps” to make a huge amount of money is achieved by stomping on anyone or anything that gets in your way and prioritizing the success of the few over the success of the many.

By contrast, the role of the president is essentially one of pastoral care for a vast number of people, and to succeed in it you must prioritize the success of the many over the success of the few.

The US will get rid of Trump in no more than seven years. Brexit will probably be permanent.

I bet that was a memorable and fun twenty minutes for Hawaiians. Bloody hell.

vwlphb I think the 'pull yourself up by the bootstraps' ideology is complete bullshit. The whole system is geared in favour of those who are born into wealth. The idea that someone who is wealthy is someone who should be revered is utter nonsense.

Of course it's ok to say "How can the Americans make this mistake?"

They know mistakes. They have the best mistakes. They've had a beautiful, flawless mistake. You'll be writing books about this mistake. Eventually, they'll make a mistake and it's going to be really, really good.

Hopefully Trump will get re-elected in 2020.

Hopefully Trump will be toast by 2020.