Are you ready for your Presidential Alert?

You all should turn off your phones for the day.

Hopefully someone will make an app to block these drumpy intrusions by the Orange Führer.

I plan to be walking my dog miles away from my cell at that time.

My local emergency alert providers are more timely and give more comprehensive info than any “presidential alert” could.

Can you imagine the collective uproar and mouth-foaming rage from conservatives, if Obama had pulled this shit?

@ragingloli Didn’t Obama already do it though? I got a FEMA alert when he was still president in November a few days after Trump won the election. Maybe I’m wrong, not trying to incite stuff. I got it on my phone that can’t receive texts (its out of service.)

Is it going to sound like the amber and silver alerts? Or, are they going to use a different tone?

and @ everyone
It’s not a text from Donald Trump. It’s literally just going to say something like “This is a test” blah blah blah
Also, it is important. It’ll warn us in case of a national crisis. Why would you not want that?
They said it’ll be the same tone in one of the articles I read. Can’t find it now. @JLeslie

”“Now you know you say presidential alert and some people are thinking, ‘Aw man, I see President Trump sending out Twitter messages all day long. Does this mean I’m going to get whatever message President Trump wants to send out through this alert system now?’” Werner said.

“No, not at all. One thing that we need make very clear is that there are laws, policies and procedures that are in place, other protocols to assure that the system is used in accordance with its intended use as defined by the law,” Johnson responded.””
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/presidential-alert-test-fema-national-crises/

”“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”” That’s what it will say

Despite the facts, you can bet that police phone lines will be full of calls from people who are oblivious to what is happening.

It will be very disruptive. I work on a trading floor, it’s bad enough when there is a local amber alert.

We were debating whether it will eb funnier to be on the floor when it happens, or outside just as people in the financial district are getting lunch.

Would demand a gong bashing & maybe even a fanfare.

I don’t think so, but will see…

Are you sure you can’t opt out ever? Maybe after the first test? I no longer get the amber alerts on my phone I don’t think. I might have opted out somehow, I’m not sure. Or, is it something you have to opt into if you want the amber alerts?

It seems like local government already alerts us, I’m not sure if it’s that different that the fed will do it now.

Once I sat in on a lecture about the supposed inevitably of the Singularity, and I guess this is just another step towards that sort of thing. It is going to be more and more difficult to keep our privacy, and to keep government at arms length.

“Don’t worry: The government isn’t spamming you,” says a news story. Isn’t that exactly what a spammer would say?

I regard this as a highly offensive co-opting of systems that we provide for our own use, at our own expense. Is there anyone who thinks Trump wouldn’t grab it if he has something he’s just got to say? We see more.plainly every day how much that crooked low-life bully-in-chief thinks of our laws.

It’ll be 11:18 a.m. on the West Coast. I hope I’m not driving at the time. Wonder how many accidents large and small will follow from this blatant exhibit of Big-Brotherism.

I can see this turning into another “War of the Worlds” panic.

“The sky is falling! The sky is falling!”

The one thing they kept repeating on our local news that the alert will be preceded by a “very loud” tone which could create panic & accidents without a doubt.

@Jeruba I hate that when I’m driving. I also think it should be illegal to put emergency vehicle sirens in songs.

So then at 2:19 we’ll have a lot of crying babies and startled toddlers and disoriented seniors along with millions of adrenaline-pumped able-bodied partisans. Good idea, government folks.

Timely reminder: It’s Chicken Licken.

Oh, get over yourself @kritiper, the sky is NOT falling!!! I’m just excited that the anonymous oped author was smart enough to get this set up to where Trump himself isn’t invading my space!!! I receive alerts ALL the time. Of course, most of those are Amber or Silver Alerts. You know, I’ve NEVER seen a missing child nor elderly adult even with the alerts!!! They also do NOT produce an ear piercing shrill pitch…it’s a sound that’s different from most of my notifications so I know to check my phone.

My TV had a standard alert every Wednesday late afternoon in TN. It was crazy loud. It might have only been during tornado season, I don’t remember.

I have this picture of ten alerts a day in the future between missing children (God forbid) lost older adults (another God forbid) weather alerts, and government test alerts from four levels of government. More anxiety for the citizenry.

^^ I HATE those too!!! The difference…the one on my TV just wakes me up from my nap. The one on my phone will be distracting & could easily cause me to crash. IF I’m NOT smart enough to drive while talking on my phone, I should NOT be distracted by an unexpected noise!!!

@JLeslie, “I also think it should be illegal to put emergency vehicle sirens in songs.”

Yes, and in news reports and radio ads. Honking horns also. I have been so startled by those sudden phony alerts (not just broadcasting from an accident or crisis scene but trying to get my attention for some product advertisement) that I have nearly run into something myself.

@Jeruba Honking horns in songs too! Yes!

@LadyMarissa I think I have the option on my phone to just receive an alert with no sound in my state.

^^ With my Amber/Silver alerts, we can change the tone to whatever we prefer. I think mine is now a “whistle”...NOT enough to be distracting; yet, just enough to know to check the alert at my earliest convenience. I keep my notifications volume at about 50% so I’m aware that it’s gone off but it’s NOT loud enough to disturb those standing/sitting near me.

Supposedly this has been in the works since Bush authorized them in 2006 but nothing has been done with it until now. A law passed in 2016 required a test at least every three years; this is the first.

Expect another once the Mueller investigation issues its findings.

“PRESIDENTIAL ALERT!! FAKE NEWS IN THE MAKING! Do not believe what you are seeing or hearing.”

You can’t opt out of this because the whole point of testing this is to make sure it works so that if there is ever an actual national emergency, you get notified right away. Not everyone has access to TVs 24/7 so some people might not find out right away VS if it was sent to their phone (which is better because most people have phones.

Do you not want to be notified of an emergency? Jeez. Y’all are reaching for shit to say about Trump. All y’all need to chill and realize that Trump is acting on something put in place by Obama. If he wasn’t doing it you’d have an issue with it. If Obama was doing it your mouths would be shut.

Amazingly @SergeantQueen I have managed to survive without it for 63 plus years. It makes no difference to me, just another tool to be misused by the powers that be.

And, you are wrong again. Obama did not implement it, Bush did in 2006. But had we had it in place when Benghazi happened maybe we could have found out about where Clinton stashed the emails after having Foster killed and giving the Russians Obsidian or radioactive spiders or whatever she did.

I will chill out however, now quit brown-nosing for that Chump Trump.

Obama gets blamed for a LOT of things Bush did. Still he was gracious enough to let the blame rest on his shoulders. My Q had NOTHING to do with Trump & it had NOTHING to do with Obama!!! Although, many people now carry a cell phone, NOT everybody has one. I prefer my notification by TV & NOT on my phone NO matter who instigated the idea!!!

Think back to 9/11…when the tower went down, the main cell tower on the top went with it & we had NO cell service until that problem could be fixed. WHY not have more than one way to be alerted???

@SergeantQueen: it’s a pretty fair bet that all of us here know as well as (likely better than) you what an emergency alert is supposed to be, and what this entails. We have no need for a “presidential” alert system. That is just posturing.

Obama also got blamed for sunspot activity.

“The sun has spots! The sun has spots!”

Oh, that’s bull about the sun spots. Everyone knows that the sunspot activity is due to the CIA and who was in charge of the CIA once? That’s right! Bush Sr.!

No message arrived here.

But that’s ok because the other day I installed the Nuclear Siren app, which lets me play a fake nuclear attack siren whenever I want.

Three more minutes! Three more minutes!

Whoooweee! It worked. Do I feel safer already.

One question though… my phone was set to ring. Why did it only vibrate? Because Trump keeps his in his front pocket?

My phone was turned off so I didn’t hear it, nor did it vibrate.

I was driving back to our hotel in heavy traffic. It scared the shit out of me. I had forgotten all about this.

Nothing like the Republicans instilling fear. ugh

Oh, I did get mine, eventually (11:17am PDT). However I can’t read it without re-configuring my phone. I use a 3rd party message reader, and apparently it doesn’t get broadcast drunk dials from fools, so I can only see the first few words as an announcement without reverting my whole phone to using the default messaging app. :-P

I had turned the sound off in the movies yesterday, no noise from my phone! I’m glad it didn’t override and yell at me.
Gotta wonder how many coronaries were caused by this?

@canidmajor – or car accidents

I received it.

They blame Obama for doing TARP. That was Bush.

@rojo LOL. I always thought it was the CIA! ~

There was a message on the TV but no calls on the phone.

Now that I’ve experienced it, I’m considering suing!!! Since I have to use 1 hand for everything, I wear a Bluetooth earpiece so when my phone rings it announces who’s calling & I just say accept or reject to talk or not talk to whoever’s calling. Even though I had my sound at 50% strength, the alert blasted my ear & I may be permanently deaf thanks to it!!! I know they said a shrill sound but I didn’t take into account that it was going to blast my eardrum like that!!! I was on my way out to eat & my neighbor stopped me to tell me about her grand kids. I forgot about the time & I was stunned when it first started happening. I was holding several packages in my good arm so I couldn’t get to it to remove it from my ear in a timely fashion!!! It scared the crap out of my neighbor because she was unaware since she doesn’t have a cell, she didn’t understand the news report.

It’s NOT going to be pretty when it’s an UNEXPECTED alert!!!

@LadyMarissa, someone in NY is ahead of you, citing the unlawful forced intrusion of the government.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/lawsuit-seeks-to-stop-femas-presidential-alert-system-to-cell-phones-citing-first-amendment/

Oh. There you go. The literal 3 seconds you had to spend clicking “Ok” to make the message go away are over. Was that so hard?

@SergeantQueen, I appreciate that you’re very young, but think for a moment about how not being able to opt out of government messages on personal devices can escalate. It’s yet another erosion of our autonomy.
I would like the option to choose to be informed beyond the regular methods.
And can you be sure that this won’t be used in a manner inconsistent with its original intent?
You can’t. None of us can.

If you would feel safer being tuned in at all times, there are methods and devices already in place for that.

@canidmajor There are methods and devices, but adding one more isn’t bad.
This isn’t an invasion of privacy, this isn’t anything more than a simple safety measure.
It’s only going to be used in case of a national emergency such as a missile or nuke heading for America. Which should hopefully never happen so you don’t even have to worry about the off chance you get a text.
By the way, if you did get that text (Not the test one sent today, a real one), your concern should be on the people impacted by whatever threat, if its not the whole country. Or, you should be focused on your safety if it impacts you directly.
If getting an emergency alert on your phone bothers you more than an actual emergency then you are selfish.
Trump doesn’t send these out.
And don’t use my age as a way to discredit me or tell me I don’t know what I’m saying. I stand by my beliefs no matter what, and my age means nothing @canidmajor

Your experience is what I question here, @SergeantQueen, or rather your lack thereof. You are way over simplifying the situation, again, probably because of a lack of experience.

I’m “oversimplifying” because it doesn’t need to be complicated. It’s a fucking alert system that will only be used in national emergencies. NOTHING complicated.

My God, I hate when I’m watching a TV program and it gets interrupted just so it can tell me there’s a tornado warning. Let’s ban that BS why don’t we. No use of it other than to warn people of a disaster so they can evacuate/ go for cover (and prevent themselves from dying)

@SergeantQueen: You are missing the point. It is a communication that we can’t opt out of. That is important. Today they say it will only be used in XYZ circumstances. Well, then maybe in a little while they’ll expand that to UVW circumstances. Then, at some point they’ll expand that to carefully curated news reports. Then thinly veiled propaganda.
If you hate having your TV program interrupted, then would you ignore the warn8ng on your phone? They won’t be suspending the TV and radio Emergency Alert systems any time soon.

Your faith is touching. And naïve. And displaced.

OK no it isn’t

^^ The last time I said that I was defending Richard Nixon because he “wasn’t a crook” & then he resigned admitting it was because he “WAS a crook”!!! I blindly followed our government UNTIL I worked for them & saw first hand the lies & deceit they spewed forth daily!!! HOW do you KNOW that it will be only used for emergencies??? Trump LIES daily…NO hourly & changes his mind even MORE often!!! You’re whining because your TV show gets interrupted in order to SAVE your life. I find that as silly as you seem to think our concerns are. I’d love to live long enough to come back here when you’re my age & see what your saying!!! There is SOOOO MUCH that you just don’t understand…YET!!!

What you going to do when the government disables your cell phone because they THINK you’re a subversive??? Happened in California not that long ago!!!

Trump doesn’t“t lie daily. I’m not blindly following anything

Even I wasn’t that gullible!!!

“Trump doesn’t lie daily” best laugh of the day!
Thanks @SergeantQueen!

You guys are literal cancer.

^^ “Literal” used figuratively.

I don’t care. I’m not this terrible, retarded person just because I don’t have the same views as you guys. I’m smart, not naive, and I know what I’m talking about. So if you guys want to shut up and leave me alone instead of trying to act like I am less than a good person because of my views I’d really appreciate it.

@SergeantQueen, your post right there ^^^ has you acting like a petulant child. Did you bother to read the article that I linked? You are blindly defending Trump. Do your own research, counter our discussions with the results of that research. Learn about the Constitution and its Amendments so you can understand our concerns. Do you know what the 4th Amendment is? Quick, go google it and think about what it means.

Look up the word “naïve”, it does not mean “stupid”.

”When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years.”

This quote is often attributed to Mark Twain, but can’t be verified. However, the point stands.

@sergentqueen. If you are as intelligent as you say you are, you would not use the word retard. It’s offensive

I can use whichever word I want @chyna Has nothing to do with my intelligence, thank you very much

I guess I didn’t receive any message. Maybe I’m not important enough….

@SergeantQueen: Of course you can. But that assertion alone destroys your credibility. “I can say what I want, it’s a free country!” is a schoolyard defense, usually accompanied by a stamp of a little foot. You want people to treat you like an intelligent adult? Act like one. Don’t tell us you are smart, post well thought out cogent responses here instead of whiny ones.

Calling us a “literal cancer” will not dispose us to taking you seriously. Making statements without even citing examples (let alone providing corroboratory links) will not dispose us to taking you seriously.

Step up your adult game and we will appreciate your responses.

@SergeantQueen Nobody said you were a “terrible, retarded person”!!! NOBODY said that you are “less than a good person”!!! Those are YOUR words!!! I often find you to be very intelligent for your age. I even admire your faithfulness to Trump although I find it extremely misguided!!! I DON’T expect any Trump supporter to agree with me; however, I do expect them to treat my dislike of him with some decorum of respect…NOT call me “literal cancer”. By throwing your little hissy fit, your immaturity is showing!!!

I can see you growing into a wise adult; but, you have A LOT TO LEARN before you’ll get there!!! I’ll even give you credit for knowing what you’re talking about; but your knowledge is somewhat limited to your current life lessons & you will be SHOCKED at what changes your belief system will go through before you leave this earth!!! As I’ve said more than once, I was a LOT like you when I was your age. Since then I’ve eaten a LOT of crow because I’ve learned that what I believed to be my truth in my youth was a truth built on my limited knowledge of life at the time!!!

In place of being so damn arrogant, open your mind to realize that being naive & gullible does NOT make you a “bad person”...it means that you are “still learning & growing as a person”!!! NEVER STOP GROWING…I don’t care how old you are!!! I’m old enough to be your grandmother & I learn something NEW every single day of my life!!!

It’s a LIE that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks…this old dog is still learning!!!

stepping off my soap box

I got the message as expected and it was no big deal. There used to be tests on TV and radio and I did not find those objectionable. We have National weather service alerts when tornadoes are expected and sirens when they are on the ground.
If it is used as intended it is probably a good thing.
BUT if our tweeter-in-chief ever used it to announce a supreme court appointment or other political brain fart, that would be the end of the system. Thousands of hackers would be inspired to work out countermeasures. And I’m betting they would be successful .

Here it is, 10/4/2018. Still no Presidential Alert for me. Sounds like either a hoax or a potential random test.

Or it just wasn’t configured properly to reach every phone through every carrier.

@seawulf575 You just proved there is a need for testing.

I received it on my little $10 TracFone.

From what I read yesterday, it was the carriers who were sending out the test alert to make sure it went to every available phone!!! I would be willing to pay extra to opt out of the service!!!

I can see how it can be a good thing by forewarning us of impending doom. At the same time, I can also see how easily it can be abused!!! When I posted the Q, I didn’t really have much of an opinion as I was taking a wait & see attitude. Today I am less enthused!!!

For my personal situation, it was a lot more disturbing than I was expecting…yet I understand that NOBODY asked me what I thought before initiating it & NOBODY cares if I go deaf from it. It is what it is & the best I can hope for is that it won’t be used nor abused often!!!

I do see how it can be abused. We already have the majority of the country in freak out mode.

Michael Moore warned that Trump will create or capitalize a catastrophe to further take away our rights. He didn’t even mention this alert system when he was talking about it. He compared it to something similar that Hitler had done. All I could think when Moore said it was what happened after 9/11.

On the opposite end, when 9/11 happened my sister called me after the first building was hit. I had the news on, but my eyes were still half closed while I was still lying in bed barely awake. She called me upset, and I focused more on the TV, the sound wasn’t up so I could here it. Then as she talked to me and I watched the TV, the second plane hit. I knew in that instant it was an attack. I hung up with her and called my dad to see if my mom was in a government building in/near DC. I just knew that could be a target.

I knew, because my sister got me to focus on the TV and because the second plane hit while they were recording.

Other people didn’t know right away, because they were working.

My mom was not in a government building that day, but if she had been I would have told her to leave, that’s why I called.

A blanket alert would take care of it better than relying on friends and family trying to earn each other.