FLORIDA WOKE EVERYBODY UP AT 4:45 A.M. TO TEST AN EMERGENCY ALERT SYSTEM

Do you know how sometimes we get an Amber Alert in the middle of the night?  At least that’s for a very good reason…

Florida gets a bad rap sometimes, but it’s not fair to judge an entire state by its endless supply of stupid criminals.  This, however, is dumb.

Last week the authorities in Florida decided to test a mobile emergency alert system, by sending EVERYONE a loud alarm on their smartphones, at 4:45 A.M.  (???)

Millions of people were rudely awakened by a message on their phone saying, “TEST.  This is a TEST of the Emergency Alert System.  No action is required.”

Later, the government apologized and admitted they botched it.  It wasn’t meant to be sent out to phones that early.  It was supposed to play on TV.  (It probably even startled your grandparents in Fort Lauderdale who were waiting for the morning paper.)

A Republican politician says he’s planning to file a bill called the “Stop Wake Act,” to ban the tests from happening between 10:00 PM and 8:00 AM.  (That’s a playful riff on the state’s “Stop Woke Act.”)