A 7.2 earthquake hit 85 miles off the coast of Northern California this evening at 7:50 p.m.  A tsunami warning was issued for the west coast from Vancouver to the Mexican border.  Then the warning was promptly canceled ten minutes later.

In summary, there was no tsunami.  There was no threat of a tsunami, and there is no future tsunami.

Can you guess what the top 11pm news story was on 4 out of 4 bay area television channels?  Correct, the top story was that no tsunami occurred this evening.  Great, I needed an investigative reporter to tell me that?  All I need to do is look down at my feet and notice the lack of water coursing through my abode.

Look, it's not like we were in the middle of the tsunami warning, either.  By 11pm, we had known for 2 hours that there was no tsunami.  They chose to report a non-story.  And in other news, there were no hurricanes in Oregon today.

You know what this is about?  It's about fear.  It's geological experts fearing the next tsunami will come without a warning, just like last time.  It's news desks fearing they will miss a news story.  It's the general tradition of Americans not knowing what to do with themselves if they aren't fearing something.  That's why every bullshit oceanic earthquake is going to generate a tsunami bulletin of some kind for the rest of our lives.  It will walk down the aisle with the constant "elevated" terror level we live under.  It's CYA time fellas, because nobody wants to be blamed for not warning of the next disaster.

When the terrorists strike next, the government can say, "we warned you."  When the next tsunami or tornado hits, they can say, "we warned you."  Which is very nice, but what about all those days you warned us and nothing happened?  Remember when we were being advised to stock up on bottled water and to have plastic sheets and duct tape on hand to seal our homes?  Ever heard of the boy who cried wolf?

Fuck this.  Anybody who lives in fear, or makes decisions based on fear is a fucking pussy.