Professional Darwinism: Update to OP on p.74

[BB-VA]

Do they? Can they really not just say "Obviously a whack job" and leave it at that? Still, I come from a country where the only Prime Minister to die in office did so while having a swim at the beach  so we tend to be a bit more relaxed about things. I believe I've told the story of the time that the Prime Minister was (unexpectedly) walking past and my brother and I were having an idle (and entirely joking) chat about running over and poking him in the eye and discussing the difficulties that his glasses would pose and wondering if that's why he wore glasses - to avoid eye-pokes. We looked up and realised that a very senior police officer was well within ear-shot of us and indeed holding back giggles, whether at our conversation or amusing double take I will never know.

But we have had 4 sitting Presidents assassinated (Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, Kennedy), 1 sitting President injured (Reagan), 1 former President injured (Teddy Roosevelt. while campaigning as a 3rd party candidate for President), and  at least 14 attempted assassinations that did not result  in serious injury. Of the last 10 US Presidents only LBJ did not have someone try to kill him in office.


Kennedy - Killed, also a man named Richard Paul Pavlick planned to car bomb him


Nixon One person smuggled a gun into an event, another was going to crash a plane into the White House


Ford (who by the way is the only person so far to be President w/out being elected as President or VP - was appointed to VP after Agnew resigned became President after Nixon Resigned)  Lynett Fromme (of Manson Family) and Sara Jane More both tried to kill him


Carter - Raymond Lee Harvey mentally ill claimed to be part of a 4 man team.


Ronald Reagan Shot by John Hinckley Jr.


George H. W. Bush - attempted bombing Kuwait University


Bill Clinton - Frank Eugene Corder Tried to hit the White House with a single engine Cessna, Francisco Martin Duran fired 28 shots at the White House. Attempted bombing at APEC Forum in 1996,


George W Bush Robert Picket shot at the White House. Tbilisi, Georgia Vladimir Arutyunia threw a live grenade towards the President during a speech,


Obama - Oscar Ortega-Hernandez shot 7 times at the White House cracking a window.

Don't forget that Flight 93 was thought to be meant for the White House.

And presidential candidate Senator Robert Kennedy, murdered at the end of the California primary in 1968.

PS.  This is why presidential candidates now get secret service protection.


eta - PS

[Elfmama]

Posting racial slurs and hopes for assassination about the US President on Facebook, and then telling a TV interviewer that "I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," might not be a good career move.

Obama threat gets Turlock woman fired, reported to Secret Service

Am I the only one who noticed that she is not a registered voter?  I know, she could be from Canada or England, but I really think the article would have mentioned that, so yeah, if she feels that strongly about it, why didn't she do something about it?

Sorry, I'm the one who cheered when the daughter of some friends of mine who hold the oppositive political point of view from me told me she voted for the first time; she was surprised because I had to know she was voting for her parents' candidate and not mine, but I told her I was still excited she'd voted!

At my polling place this week, the entire table full of check-in staff cheered and clapped when a first-time voter came up and got their ballot.

[RegionMom]

I was a kid when Reagan was shot, but I distinctly remember hearing a story of a curse of some sort, that every twenty years or so, an attempt would occur, and sometimes actual death, of apresident's life.

I can almost see a chart in my mind, but as a child, I did not ask, and as I got older, I thought it was silly, and too much time had passed so it could not be true, right?

So, does anyone else remember the same thing? 

Was there some sort of formula to the curse, like numbers instead of years, or was it just sensationalist journalism that scared a little girl?

[mbbored]

Posting racial slurs and hopes for assassination about the US President on Facebook, and then telling a TV interviewer that "I didn't think it would be that big of a deal," might not be a good career move.

Obama threat gets Turlock woman fired, reported to Secret Service

But the mainstream press couldn't be bothered to report on the thousands of threats to assassinate his opponent and/or start riots should the opponent win.

It's unfortunate, since disgusting behavior and attitudes occur on both sides. However, it's a case of the "winners write the history:" it's more interesting to see who threatens the winner.

[Bramble]

I was a kid when Reagan was shot, but I distinctly remember hearing a story of a curse of some sort, that every twenty years or so, an attempt would occur, and sometimes actual death, of apresident's life.

I can almost see a chart in my mind, but as a child, I did not ask, and as I got older, I thought it was silly, and too much time had passed so it could not be true, right?

So, does anyone else remember the same thing? 

Was there some sort of formula to the curse, like numbers instead of years, or was it just sensationalist journalism that scared a little girl?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_Curse

From 1840 to 1960, every president who was elected in a year divisible by 20 died in office.  That's 7 out of the 8 Presidents who've died in office.  The pattern was well known by 1980, enough that Jimmy Carter was asked about while he was campaigning for reelection.  Since both Reagan and Bush have survived their presidencies, I think its a "curse" that can be put to bed.

[cass2591]

Back on track please.  Discussions of presidential assassinations and/or natural deaths every 20 years is totally off topic and rather unpleasant no matter whose side you're on, I hope.

So move on.

[JadeAngel]

Do they? Can they really not just say "Obviously a whack job" and leave it at that? Still, I come from a country where the only Prime Minister to die in office did so while having a swim at the beach  so we tend to be a bit more relaxed about things. I believe I've told the story of the time that the Prime Minister was (unexpectedly) walking past and my brother and I were having an idle (and entirely joking) chat about running over and poking him in the eye and discussing the difficulties that his glasses would pose and wondering if that's why he wore glasses - to avoid eye-pokes. We looked up and realised that a very senior police officer was well within ear-shot of us and indeed holding back giggles, whether at our conversation or amusing double take I will never know.

My favorite was a story about the same Prime Minister (I believe), who, when out on his morning walk went past a young rowing crew and one of the young men decided to spontaneously run up and give the PM a hug. Forgetting completely in the excitement of the moment that he was in the middle of attaching the struts to the boat, he ran up and hugged the PM with a screwdriver in his hand.

No harm done, he apologised profusely and everyone went on their merry way. I shudder to imagine what would happen if he tried the same thing on President Obama though...

[jedikaiti]

He'd be in a pile of black suits & sunglasses, and the POTUS would be half a mile away in nothing flat.

[StarFaerie]

Do they? Can they really not just say "Obviously a whack job" and leave it at that? Still, I come from a country where the only Prime Minister to die in office did so while having a swim at the beach 

This isn't true unfortunately.

Other PMs to die in office were:
Joseph Lyons (1939) (Heart Attack)
John Curtin (1945) (Heart Disease, died in the Lodge)

[JonGirl]

Do they? Can they really not just say "Obviously a whack job" and leave it at that? Still, I come from a country where the only Prime Minister to die in office did so while having a swim at the beach 

This isn't true unfortunately.

Other PMs to die in office were:
Joseph Lyons (1939) (Heart Attack)
John Curtin (1945) (Heart Disease, died in the Lodge)

And get a swimming pool named after him. Lol. 

[MissRose]

Back to PD:

At the Golden Arches many years, knew of many workers who rather stand around and talk compared to work.  It was mainly the teenaged workers, and I admit back then I did tell them off sometimes even if it wasn't my job to do so.  I was never pulled aside by a boss for what I did, and I am sure they would have told me off too.

[littlelauraj]

My middle daughter may have encountered some PD over the course of the last few months.  It came to a head yesterday. 

She and her younger sister participate in a local children's theater group.  Middle daughter, Gretchen, has now "aged out", but they encourage the older kids to continue to be involved by running lighting, learning assistant directing, etc.  For the fall show this year they had four applicants for internships, Gretchen being one of them.  It's an inclusive program so all four girls were "hired" and given discrete tasks.  These are all teenage girls we're talking about.

By the time we were halfway through it was clear to Gretchen that the other girls were dead set on excluding her from group decisions.  They all go to school together, and were getting together there to split up fun tasks and assign my daughter the crap work.  They also all three tried out for the school play, and dropped the ball on some of their responsibilities as a result.  She was frustrated, but I advised her that if she just continued to do her job well and pick up any slack when asked that it would pay off for her.

Sure enough, all season long they dumped crap jobs on her, which she finished on time and did them well.  Opening night was Friday and the other girls had *not* completed their tasks.  There is a long list of egregious behaviors during the weekend shows and cast party that were extraordinary, to the point that even my clueless dad pointed out that it really looked like one kid was doing all of the work.

Well, the joke is going to be on them because the way the program works is the board members decide how it's going to run and who will be hired, and I heard from multiple board members how impressed they were with my daughter and then long rants about the other girls.  I managed to keep my mouth shut and just say thank you to any compliments, but those girls are *not* going to be asked back next year.  And they all think they are guaranteed positions.

[dawbs]

Do they? Can they really not just say "Obviously a whack job" and leave it at that?

They have to look into it enough to verify that it's just someone mouthing off (which is protected speech under the First Amendment to the US constitution), not someone actually planning or inciting something. Might not take too long ot investigate, but still takes resources.

"Protected speech" applies to the government restricting what people can say. A private employer can indeed proclaim "you do not reflect our company's values. Goodbye."

There's also the added complication of "well, she was just spouting off, but now that she's been fired, she's decided to be a more active *insert adjective and noun of choice here*"

[Twik]

There's also the added complication of "well, she was just spouting off, but now that she's been fired, she's decided to be a more active *insert adjective and noun of choice here*"

There may also be a concern about whether this was her being a spontaneous idiot, or whether she's got contacts with people who are feeding her this stuff, and may themselves be more dangerous.

[kherbert05]

Do they? Can they really not just say "Obviously a whack job" and leave it at that? Still, I come from a country where the only Prime Minister to die in office did so while having a swim at the beach 

This isn't true unfortunately.

Other PMs to die in office were:
Joseph Lyons (1939) (Heart Attack)
John Curtin (1945) (Heart Disease, died in the Lodge)

And get a swimming pool named after him. Lol. 

Houston named an air terminal after a member of the Federal House, who died in a plane crash.