Can you imagine the outcry if several of Obama’s appointees had demanded this? Even if they had been threatened by heavily-armed conservatives? There doesn’t seem to be any actual credible threats inspiring these demands, but just their own paranoia and recognition that they’re widely hated.
Yeah, that, too. It’s paranoia and propaganda in one. I rather doubt it helps any of their underlings be more sympathetic to them, though.
So it appears they are prepping for unrest and a potentially revolutionary scenario.
I’m down.
EPA-hating EPA chairman Scott Pruitt wants to spend millions on 24/7 bodyguards
Because he’s a threat to our environment? 
One of my favourite childhood memories comes from being taken round Windsor Castle for the first time by my father, when I was about 6 or 7 years old. My dad walked off to get us drinks and left me staring at the first in-the-flesh Royal Fusilier I had ever seen, with silly bear hat and everything.
I had a toy soldier with exactly the same outfit and I was amazed at the fact that this actual human being could be as still, maintain the exact same pose, and remain as motionless as the figurine. I remember being very impressed.
In front of the sentry boxes that they stand in, there is a yellow line on the ground at just over bayonet range. There is a big sign basically saying “do not cross this line, the guards are armed and will kill you if you threaten them.” Despite this, one slightly-older-than-me child was taking great delight in putting one foot over the line, putting his hands to his ears, blowing a raspberry at the guard and then stepping back over the line to safety.
After about a minute of this, the guard (who had remained motionless and impassive the whole time) finally belted out, in his finest drill sergeant voice:
“IF YOU STEP OVER THAT LINE ONE MORE FUCKING TIME, I WILL SHOOT YOU IN THE FUCKING HEAD.”
And then snapped immediately back into statue mode.
Silence descended on the courtyard. The child looked up at the soldier with a loaded rifle that he had been trying to annoy, realised exactly what was happening, burst into tears and ran away.
There were a lot of muttered sounds of disapproval but I swear I saw the guard crack the briefest of smiles. This was a few decades ago but even then, I heartily approved.
He probably needs it… I doubt anyone working at the EPA thinks he’s worthy of avoiding bodily harm.
These fuckers.
But I repeat myself.
Just gonna leave this here…
I really think it’s relevant 
Oh wow…he didn’t sound like John Cleese by any chance did he?
What a wonderful story - thanks for sharing it!
Like John Cleese but an actual combat veteran with live ammunition and a bayonet who has spent their whole day being wound up by tourists who mistakenly think they are not allowed to react.
Turns out it’s an entire YouTube subgenre:
While I’m on a vaguely tangential subject, this Yeoman at the Tower of London does a brilliant job of being incredibly informative and yet utterly, utterly scathingly sarcastic:
This is LARP, not cosplay… besides, you don’t want to mess with those guys.
Man walks down the street wearing that, you know he’s not afraid of anything.
And, for those guys, with good reason.
24/7 bodyguards
That’s one way to cure your loneliness. Expensive, but a cure nonetheless.
Pssshhh, I’m sure there’s a minimum level of fuckery they’re required to endure.
I’ve heard Pope Francis has been encouraging his troops to lighten up a little, anyway.
That video is so annoying.
"His gun is jammed, can you see the knife on top of it? He can’t shoot."
Sheesh, tourists are the worst.
Unless I’m doing it.
IKR?
Evil =/= stupid
A friend did ceremonial guard duty in Ottawa. He claimed that women would slip bits of paper inside their jackets with phone numbers. I think they wanted to mess with them.
I thought his patron saint was The Once-ler.
Only 10 additional bodyguards? I think he grossly underestimated the level of well-deserved hate people have for him.
