Late-night comics feast on Hawaii’s false alarm

Hawaii’s missile-attack false alarm was no laughing matter, especially while it was unfolding Saturday. Still, a little comic relief can go a long way. And boy, did the late-night comics make the most of it Monday night. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah all had wicked laughs at Hawaii’s expense.

Colbert, for instance, did a cold opening using a grainy Don Ho 1967 concert, interrupted by an alert reading: “Ballistic missile inbound, seek shelter” followed shortly by more warnings, including, “By the way, when we say seek shelter we mean dig a grave because there’s nowhere to hide” then “Wait, hold on. Get ready to laugh. It turns out the wrong button was pushed.” Glad we can laugh about it now. Sort of.

Disturbing death threats have no place here

One of the most dispiriting aspects of the historic missile scare inflicted by the state’s emergency management personnel — besides the realization of the state’s ineptitude — was the spate of venomous death threats against the one who made the error. As appalled as every resident can rightfully feel about the way this was mishandled … death threats? Really?

There was a time when such a response would be infrequent, even rare, here in Hawaii. Besides, attention should be focused on the agency and others developing a better protocol for these things. Note to those threathening death: Get a life.