I agree, the scariest thing about this is that people thought it was reasonably likely to be true.

I hope the missile message had "You may begin the rioting." in it.

One thing did blow up... My Facebook feed!

I'm getting Cuban missile flashbacks.

Now let me recommend Matinee (1993) with John Goodman.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107529/

I mean why not do it baby? We are all going to die when the bomb hits.
- or we need to repopulate the world.

Too young for Cuban missile crisis... but I do remember the Orange/Red/Purple/Fuscia Alerts of the Bush Administration. All of that turned out to be just as pointless.

The point of the color alerts was to conveniently scare US citizenry into obedience.

You probably won't die, unless you live in a targeted city. Or within about 20 miles of one.

At least not right away. So, I guess that's better?

No, you probably want to die right away. If you miss out on the initial bombardment you'll be trapped in a radioactive wasteland fighting cannibals for shelf-stable food and medical supplies. But with no save game options, pizza delivery, or Netflix breaks.

Exactly my point.

So people actually believe NK has a viable nuke launchable by ICBM?

Why is that hard to believe? They have nukes. They have ICBMs. Their resources are limited but this is literally 50 year old technology they are replicating.

I have a rude awakening for you.

NK can get to orbit. Which means they can get to anywhere, at all.

I have some basic electronics for you.

Getting into orbit is (relatively speaking) fairly easy. Getting back down again without melting or shaking your circuit boards to destruction is (relatively speaking) fairly hard.

This is the part I'm inferring about. NK may have a device that can induce fission, that may fit into a cargo container and weigh tons. I do not believe they have a warhead miniaturized to fit into a properly designed re-entry fairing with tested avionics, and the hardened electronics to give the ability at bringing a warhead down in one piece. Perhaps they should of practiced like the rest of us by sending monkeys into space.

There are pictures of Fearless Leader with a missile sized warhead. Almost assuredly at this point they have the ability to strike US mainland with a nuclear weapon.

For instance - https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2016/03/21/42-82553647_custom-96a79958320dea6f57093deec9d95ab2ef58aff0-s1600-c85.jpg

People a decade ago were saying NK was a decade away from a viable weapon... well here we are. And they are on schedule.

Yeah I saw that picture too from the Atlantic where it stated he was standing next to the alleged miniaturized weapon. I can also prove Elvis is alive because off all the picture proof online.

This is not...a good arguement.

Our first ICBMs which could launch to space and re-enter as directed ran on hardware that your current cellphone would out compete. And yes, we have in fact put satellites into space running Android on cellphone processors openly available on the free market.

Beyond that, you don't need the electronics to survive entirely. Point, shoot, and only the firing mechanism for collapsing the nuclear material have to survive. Maybe a barometer if you plan to have it go off at a certain height rather than in atmo... which still going to devastate a huge area and also give a nice EMP shock across a huge range.

The question is only if their warhead is light enough for their rocket to carry to space or not.

On a day when 1.5 million people thought they needed to say goodbye forever to their loved one, our president has nothing to say about it.

Instead, apparently, all Trump has to say is that the person who said Trump's losing his mind is crazy.

Really? That's what we need to hear now?

norok I am curious if this has any effect on your opinion of his competence?

Anything he said would be talked shit about. Staying quiet about a state government mistake in a state that doesn't support you and whose judges block your immigration policies at every turn; smart.

That is the opposite of smart. He is all of our president, and that was over a million people that thought they were going to die because of his rhetoric about NK and nukes.

Imagine if Kennedy said "The stories of my infidelity are massively overblown!" the night of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

You think Kennedy would still be considered a great man?

I blame Truman. McArthur is rolling over in his grave because he requested nukes to finish off NK and was denied.

I know it's convenient and ideologically correct to blame Trump but it's not an honest assessment. Everything that happens the media will blame on Trump but try to have a little objectivity.

North Korea is not going to instigate a nuclear conflict; it's suicide and everyone in the world (including North Korea) knows it. Kim got them and keeps them to avoid the fate of Saddam, Gadafi, and all the other regimes we saw fit to change.

I am not talking about NK specifically, Norok. I am talking about the non-response from our head of state to 1.5 million terrified civilians. Regardless of who or what threatened us, that's absolutely something a president should be responding to, to help set people at ease.

That is a fair criticism if you want to make it of a head of state... but that is not how you framed your question. Framing it as a question of his competency, apropos of our last dialogue about invoking the 25th, come across as flippant... so I gave a flippant answer. Which I stand by.

If he had made a speech, said some words, made a tweet... honestly, is there anything he could have written or said that would draw your praise? Or would any combination of words from Trump be taken as another opportunity for you and the media to further question his 'competency.' We both know the answer. So why even act like it is such a big deal?

It is a question of basic competency, norok. Is he not the head of state, a should a competent head of state not have something to say to his terrified citizens, regardless if those citizens are in a state that went for him?

If you think that's flippant, you're crazy.

Yes, he could have said simply "thank god we are all safe, and we will be investigating the cause of this false alarm and taking steps to de-escalate the situation."

Boom, simple.

Why is it a big deal? Because I have fucking family that called in me tears telling me goodbye, thinking they were going to fucking die, norok. Because they have a reasonable fear that such a warning wasn't a fluke, due to the geopolitical atmosphere nurtured by Trump and Kim Jong Un.

A sign that at least one of those people isn't a callous madman would have been nice after the fact.

So are we questioning if he should be impeached/removed from power over this or are you expressing a genuine concern for how the President should respond to crises? I really can't tell. I think you want both.

I'm sorry that you want to inject something very emotional but you make it very clear that you'd blame Trump no matter what he said or didn't say.

I am saying both, yes. I am saying this is added to the mounting evidence that he is not competent for the job. If his non-response is due to his mental state slipping, then that's all the more. And if instead it is because he is distracted by his own controversies... THEN THAT'S ALL THE MORE TOO.

It really is a case of having your cake and eating it to. Regardless which reason he decided to keep playing golf rather than lead, you still have an (possibly purposefully) absentee leader at a moment of crisis.

As far as the emotional appeal, it's because you, sir, suggested that he should not respond to people terrified for their lives if those people are from a state that doesn't support him. I think you needed a reminder those are in fact, people.

"Anything he said would be talked shit about."
That's his own damn fault for saying so goddamn much stupid shit -- he doesn't get to use it as a defense whenever something he should actually talk about comes up (you know, non-Fox & Friends material), and he doesn't.

I don't think he was using it as a defense. That was my analysis.

It would be nice if he could make a speech, push an agenda, or even have a photo op without the media using it as a chance to ridicule. Or if when Trump made a gaff the media would cover it but give a two sided account so as to not make the President look so bad.

But we don't live in that world anymore. Choosing to not play a rigged game is the only way to win.

If he wants to be ridiculed less, he should do fewer completely ridiculous things.

And I'm sorry, but Trump of all people gets absolutely no room to complain about being treated unfairly -- or anyone on his behalf, for that matter. Get back to us when he's had to deal with anything within an order of magnitude as stupid as the Birther bullshit for years on end.

Care to parse out specifically which part of Russia's involvement you consider a Conspiracy Theory? The facebook spam that the company itself corroborated? The currently ongoing grand jury investigation? So far the only real similarity between the two seems to be "something Trump has loudly and repeatedly opined about in public".

Incoherent Alex Jones babbling vs. subpoenas. Yeah, still not seeing the connection there.

Jesus Christ, did you just state that a president should ignore the people in states that didn't support his policies and presidential bid? I don't really play the politics game on SE like y'all do - I don't really give a fuck what you comment, so long as you post funny shit and porn - but you need to take a long damn look at yourself, son.

You may be confusing your "do the right thing" with norok's suggested "do the right political thing"

Perfect time for NK to launch one aimed at Hawaii....

*cough Puerto Rico cough*