On Wednesday, the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System sent a test message to everyone using a cellphone in the US that runs on a network operated by a carrier participating in the Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) system. This is administered by FEMA.
The WEA, launched in 2012, can be traced back to the 2006 Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act passed by Congress to fund a new emergency alert system called for by President George W. Bush. The moves came after criticism of the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This week's alert marks the first time the system has been tested nationwide. For those of us who recall the dates... Legislation in 2006 for public law and funding, to 2018 and its first public inaugural test. Can you smell the aroma of 12 year old pork? Isn't that the picture of American resolve?
Since that test (I received an alert notice) I've read in social media all manner of responses that make me weep for this country and our future.
Naturally, volumes of complaints from the radical left asserting that this is another scheme dreamed up by President Trump to invade their privacy to even greater whack-jobs who believe they have just been telephonically "raped" by President Trump.
Equally disturbing is the number of people who have no idea what it was for and why it might be important. Or, the other extreme of panic and frantic searching for what is happening. Or, completely ignoring the bulletin altogether. Still more see it as a complete waste of time and money. There were even several lawsuits brought against the Federal government protesting this test as an invasion of privacy.
But I'm doing my part. I'm careful to explain to those of the clueless persuasion that it was merely an alert to the date and time of the new Federal program known as the, "National Purge."
Actually, now that I think about it, there may be some merit to a National Purge...
The WEA, launched in 2012, can be traced back to the 2006 Warning, Alert, and Response Network Act passed by Congress to fund a new emergency alert system called for by President George W. Bush. The moves came after criticism of the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. This week's alert marks the first time the system has been tested nationwide. For those of us who recall the dates... Legislation in 2006 for public law and funding, to 2018 and its first public inaugural test. Can you smell the aroma of 12 year old pork? Isn't that the picture of American resolve?
Since that test (I received an alert notice) I've read in social media all manner of responses that make me weep for this country and our future.
Naturally, volumes of complaints from the radical left asserting that this is another scheme dreamed up by President Trump to invade their privacy to even greater whack-jobs who believe they have just been telephonically "raped" by President Trump.
Equally disturbing is the number of people who have no idea what it was for and why it might be important. Or, the other extreme of panic and frantic searching for what is happening. Or, completely ignoring the bulletin altogether. Still more see it as a complete waste of time and money. There were even several lawsuits brought against the Federal government protesting this test as an invasion of privacy.
But I'm doing my part. I'm careful to explain to those of the clueless persuasion that it was merely an alert to the date and time of the new Federal program known as the, "National Purge."
Actually, now that I think about it, there may be some merit to a National Purge...
