Cybersecurity CEO Gets Fired After Threatening To Kill Trump On Facebook (mashable.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Mashable: A San Diego CEO was fired after saying on Facebook that he would get a "sniper rifle" and "kill the president-elect." Matt Harrigan, CEO of the cybersecurity firm PacketSled, posted the comments on his personal Facebook page, but they ended up on Reddit where Trump supporters found the comments and mobilized to contact law enforcement. "I'm going to kill the president. Elect," Harrigan wrote. "Bring it Secret Service." PacketSled said in a statement that it had accepted Harrigan's resignation. "The PacketSled Board of Directors accepted the resignation of President and CEO Matthew Harrigan, effective immediately," the company said. "We want to be very clear, PacketSled does not condone the comments made by Mr. Harrigan, which do not reflect the views or opinions of the company, its employees, investors or partners." In a previous statement, the company said it reported the information to the Secret Service and placed Harrigan on administrative leave. According to The Next Web, Harrigan apologized for his remarks and said the threats were meant to be a joke: "My recent Facebook comment was intended to be a joke, in the context of a larger conversation, and only privately shared as such. Anyone who knows me, knows that I do not engage in this form of rhetoric with any level of seriousness and the comment most certainly does not represent my real personal views in any regard. I apologize if anything that I said was either taken seriously, was offensive, or caused any legitimate concern."

Comments

Re:Finding myself more saddened than passionate no

[DarkOx]

I agree except for the 'deteriorated' part. Honestly we are not far removed from Jacksonian politics. Burr and Hamilton hated each other so much they fought a duel before that. After Jackson we moved to race baiting, and then to muckraker journalism. We took a little timeout to fight WWII and had a little second era of good feelings post war where things were somewhat more civil for 16ish years. We next promptly returned to race baiting, from their we segwayed into fear and nationalism. Which brings us to today. Where economic fears are pretty much the order of the day and the opposition party is trying to 'trump' the fear by resorting to race baiting and identity politic.

Frankly I don't think much of anything has changed at all, other than in relatively superficial ways.

Re:Not very smart

[ogdenk]

"I am going stuff Trump feet first through a woodchipper" = not cool

Would stuffing him head first be cooler?

A.) It wouldn't hurt as much. B.) It's still a direct threat that's hard to write off as just fantasizing.

The first example isn't even really incitement because I'm not attempting to convince a group or individual to do the deed. Just saying I wouldn't be unpleased if it happened. I'm not a cult leader nor am I ordering or provoking anyone to do it. Direct threats of violence are bad. Wishing a violent act would happen to someone isn't a crime. Not saying it can't get you a talking to by some mean-looking SS and FBI agents. By now, I'm pretty sure the NSA knows I'm not actually going to hurt anyone. If they could send me a backup so I can restore some lost e-mails I'd appreciate it though.

Re:Not very smart

[rthille]

Dance like there's no one watching.
Email like it'll be read on the national news.

Re: Not very smart

[Adriax]

It's not a threat. Trump could just stick his tiny hands between the wood chipper blades and disassemble it.