” out here in reality it is quite simply NOT going to happen”
It actually might happen, and with nuclear proliferation is getting more likely every day. A widespread EMP requires a detonation at some altitude in the vicinity of 50km (more or less) this is not outside of the realm of, for instance, Iran - what Iran has not (yet) done is miniaturize a warhead that can be carried by one of it’s launchers. They’ve been working with N. Korea - and presumably have a decent chance of creating a working warhead (Kerry’s heroic application of the “Obama Surrender Strategy” over Iran notwithstanding).
If it happens we know it will do something likely significant - we don’t know exactly how significant. Complex systems - like telecom, power, water, sewer are likely to be impacted - go down - but how long to get them back running is a subject of great interest.
The military takes this very seriously. They are making efforts to be able to continue operations without the civilian grid.
It’s certainly not silly. It’s a threat - we have lots of them, it is one that must be considered.
It actually won’t happen. Most of the countries that have nukes don’t have any serious launch vehicles. 50km is actually pretty far up in the air, and is actually outside of the realm for Iran.
Part of the military’s job is to take EVERYTHING seriously. They’ve got plans on how to invade every state in the union in case another civil war starts there.
It is silly. It is not a threat. People have been banging this gong since the 80s and it hasn’t happened yet. It’s global warming.