You can’t make this stuff up. The saying “screw up and move up” has never felt more true than it does at this moment in the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency.

As everyone now knows, Hawaii had a mass panic attack – with good reason – when an “incoming missile alert” message was sent out on Saturday morning.

Wouldn’t you take it seriously if you got THIS message on your phone?

Hawaii residents just received a ballistic missile threat via text message pic.twitter.com/VMjgjZPWob

— Honolulu Civil Beat (@CivilBeat) January 13, 2018

Fortunately, as we all now know, it was a false alarm.

Hawaii Emergency Management sends out message saying the missile alert is a false alarm 45 minutes later pic.twitter.com/Y79Phzearz

— Honolulu Civil Beat (@CivilBeat) January 13, 2018

Only 45 minutes of sheer panic. No biggie! Happens to everyone, right?

Naturally, everyone wanted someone to blame for this monumental screw up. The Democrats, along with a few idiot celebrities (but I repeat myself), pointed the finger at President Trump… even after it was pointed out that the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency is a STATE agency, not a federal one.

So, you’d think that whoever pushed the button would be looking for a new job, right?

And you would be wrong.

State officials says this was a "wrong button" situation. There was no redundancy in the system. One person made a mistake. Thousands panicked

— Nick Grube (@nickgrube) January 13, 2018

"It's a human error. There is a screen that says, 'Are you sure you want to do this?'"

And they pushed the "Yes" button anyway

That comes from Vern Miyagi, the administrator of @Hawaii_EMA

— Nick Grube (@nickgrube) January 13, 2018

Wait, WHAT? Someone had to push the wrong button TWICE???

Around 8:05 a.m., the Hawaii emergency employee initiated the internal test, according to a timeline released by the state. From a drop-down menu on a computer program, he saw two options: “Test missile alert” and “Missile alert.” He was supposed to choose the former; as much of the world now knows, he chose the latter, an initiation of a real-life missile alert.

“In this case, the operator selected the wrong menu option,” HEMA spokesman Richard Rapoza told The Washington Post on Sunday.

You think??

Part of what worsened the situation Saturday was that there was no system in place at the state emergency agency for correcting the error, Rapoza said. The state agency had standing permission through FEMA to use civil warning systems to send out the missile alert — but not to send out a subsequent false alarm alert, he said.

Oh, well, that’s great, too.

Though the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency posted a follow-up tweet at 8:20 a.m. saying there was “NO missile threat,” it wouldn’t be until 8:45 a.m. that a subsequent cellphone alert was sent telling people to stand down.

“We had to double back and work with FEMA [to craft and approve the false alarm alert] and that’s what took time,” Rapoza said.

That has since been remedied, he said, with a cancellation option that can be triggered within seconds of a mistake.

“In the past there was no cancellation button. There was no false alarm button at all,” Rapoza said. “Now there is a command to issue a message immediately that goes over on the same system saying ‘It’s a false alarm. Please disregard.’ as soon as the mistake is identified.”

How is this guy not fired?

The Hawaii Emergency worker who “pressed the wrong button” warning of an inbound missile to Hawaii, has been reassigned, but NOT fired, and will return to work as the investigation in to his mistake, continues.

— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) January 14, 2018

The joys and benefits of being a State government employee, takes an act of God to get fired. https://t.co/dHYJQNYP7U

— WRXchad (@WrxChad) January 15, 2018

So, to recap:
This is all Trump’s fault, but the guy who actually screwed up and pushed the button TWICE can’t be fired. He just gets “reassigned” to a new job.

Unless that new job involves cleaning toilets and taking out the trash (and even then, he’s probably paid the same rate), it’s just the latest example of why government can’t get better people to work for them. They keep rewarding failure.