US Embassy Guard Suspended After Anti-Obama Comments

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An American working as a security guard at the US embassy in London has been fired following comments he made on his website about President-elect Obama. Those comments, according to the Guardian, included:

“… ideals that are the very cornerstone of American liberty and democracy could very well become an ephemeral memory of American history under the socialist leadership of the incumbent Barrack Obama.

“… The real question of concern, now that Obama is the president-elect, is what promises have Obama’s camp given in return to these socialist, communist, fascist and terrorist supporting nations and special interest groups? Such accolades and endorsements do not come easy in this nuclear age.”

The decision to let the guard go appears to have been made jointly by the American diplomats at the embassy and the Wales-based company that employed him. Not sure how I feel about this. Employees of the federal government don’t owe their fealty to the president, they just have to work their hardest for him. I understand how high-level civil servants and political appointees would be let go if they weren’t on the same page as the president. They exist to implement his vision. But low-level employees, in my opinion anyway, should be allowed to have a wide range of opinions on their leadership, just as everyday Americans do.

The difference here may be that the man works in security, and his comments call into question whether or not he can be trusted to keep the American embassy, which is functionally on extension of Barack Obama on foreign soil, safe.

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From the desk of Mother Jones CEO, Monika Bauerlein...

Newsrooms can be funded in many ways. One of the most controversial (and volatile) ways is by a for-profit corporation or a billionaire owner. We see it across the headlines on a weekly basis: the claw backs in public media, the gutting of The Washington Post, the bending over backwards to appeal to Trump and his allies.

But not here.

When Mother Jones first started publishing 50 years ago, our founders made a critical decision: to be a reader-supported nonprofit. They knew that no corporate owner would be interested in a muckraking newsroom; they also knew that no muckraking newsroom would be interested in following the agenda of a corporate owner.

And so, we’ve been reader-funded for half a century. We rely on contributions from our readers—readers like you—whether it’s $50, or $15 a month, or whatever fits your budget. People give what they can, and every donation makes a difference for our newsroom, which has grown tremendously—in size and reach and renown—since its inception in 1976.

You may be wondering: What does it take to publish an investigation? And what does my donation actually fund? The answers are one and the same: It takes people, resources, and time. And that’s what your donation funds directly.

Every donation Mother Jones receives from readers fortifies our newsroom, whether we’re covering underreported scandals out of Washington, DC, or the most important news of the day. And right now, each donation will be doubled because of our $50,000 match. So when you make a donation—$5, $50, any amount—it’ll go twice as far.

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