No nuclear attack today

The most alarming thing about the ballistic missile attack on Hawaii that never actually happened is that one individual, at the press of a button, can cause total panic and chaos. Why wouldn't the people of Hawaii take it seriously? They are, as it were, on the frontline between the United States and North Korea. Trump and Kim Jong-un had boasted about their respective nuclear buttons. So a warning that a ballistic missile strike, perhaps nuclear, was on its way, could not be ignored. So what is the set-up in the Hawaii missile-warning centre? Does one individual sit in front of two buttons, perhaps one red and one blue? And does he or she have the power to press one or the other whenever he or she sees fit? Was this person a madman who thought it would be fun to cause a stir on a Saturday morning? Was it a joke? Was it an intern who hadn't been told about the difference between red and blue? There are a million questions. The statement that it was done in error hardly covers it, does it?! Why press either button? Was they're supposed to have been a test that morning? Or did someone else see something in the sky which he thought might be a delivery from North Korea and then shouted to the Button Man/Woman, "Press press press attack attack attack!" There was I thinking that the only command centre in the US with the responsibility of deciding whether the country was under attack or not was the mighty North American Aerospace Defence Command (Norad), buried in a mountain in Colorado. But, no, little old Hawaii has its own warning centre which appears to have taken precedence over Norad. I got a comforting email eventually from the Pentagon which said there was no attack alert. But by then hundreds of people who had spotted the ALERT on their mobiles were scurrying off the streets, heading for shelters or basements or the bath - in one reported case. But, strangely, tourists sunbathing on the beach seemed blissfully unaware of the approaching Armageddon and just carried on enjoying their holiday. Very wise as it turned out. Although it does open up the awkward question for the Hawaiian authorities: if there had been an attack, when would they have cleared the beaches? The "don't worry it was human error expanation" won't cut it, I'm afraid. We, and especially the Hawaiians, need to know the full story. I loved the snippet that said President Trump had been informed. Did he blink and carry on with whatever he was doing or did he summon the chairman of the Joint Chiefs to the phone and demand a retaliatory strike? Perhaps it was a UFO!!! FOOTNOTE: after a passenger plane skidded off the runway at Trazbon in Turkey, then slid down a steep earth embankment and ended up with its nose nearly touching the ocean, the explanation from the carrier, Pegasus Airlines, was that there had been "a runway excursion incident". Not exactly an apt remark for those few minutes of sheer panic and terror on board the aircraft. But congratulations to the airline's customer relations department who thought up that wonderful damage-limitation statement.