A Year to Skip

One of the smartest people I know is my friend Louis.  He is not involved in politics, (you knew that because I said he was one of the smartest people I know).  We were, however discussing politics. Louis always wants to find a reason for why things happens.  So today, he told me that all those Republican candidates were going crazy.  He said the real problem is that there is no smoke filled back room where the party thugs make all the decisions.  He feels very strongly that the real problem is that nobody smokes anymore - let alone stogies - so it follows that there can’t be anymore smoke filled rooms where the business of politics is decided.

Now that makes more sense than Donald Trump going after a perfectly wonderful and talented Hillary aide.  He knows, like he knows everything, that Huma will share top secret information with her husband, who Trump calls a pervert.  That is beside the point.  When did politics get so ugly that there is open season on political aides.  It maybe that Trump’s many wives shared everything with him. But let’s be real. What could they all possibly have known that couldn’t be shared on the world wide web.  It’s part of “there’s no there, there.”  Mr. Trump should be ashamed of himself. We all know he’s a bully, and we also know that he has diathermia of the mouth. But this is what stand up attack comedians do. It is certainly not how someone who wants to be president and expects to be taken seriously behaves.  Here is the reason that Hillary calls the Republicans terrorists when it comes to women. Maybe terrorists is a little strong, but Neanderthal works.

Moving on to the neat things that happen in the world of politics.  Today I purchased a “Bernie” pin from a very serious Bernie supporter.  He didn’t ask for money but I know what these things cost so I gave him a buck.  It made him smile… and that was nice.  A few minutes later I went to a new place for ice coffee, I think it’s called Grumpy Coffee.  Anyway, the barista saw the “Bernie” pin and gave me the coffee gratus.  She also shared the why.  “I can relate to what he says. He doesn’t talk around the issues. He makes sense.”  Do you think you will vote? I asked. “Absolutely and so will all my friends”  Statistically, young people don’t vote.  But this year is a wait and see.

I am often asked if I’m sorry I am not involved in politics anymore.  Well, it’s hard not to be involved but I sure am happy I am not working on a Presidential campaign.  This election year is not one in which I want to be involved.  We’re just sayin’…Iris

Security and State

There is no way I am going to defend what Hillary did by having a private eMail server, but if you work at the State Department, they are insistent that you separate all your personal correspondence from your official business.  We can all imagine what is on her personal server, but you can imagine that it was Foundation business or conversations about Presidential campaigning.  If not, what could she have been taling about?  Oh, there is Chelsea’s baby and grandmas never stop talking about their grandkids, especially the first one.  But that’s not what I  wanted to blob about.

There is a story I wanted to relate about my experience as a senior political appointee during the Carter Administration.  And by the way,  while I did not approve of that President’s micromanagement style,  I loved his commitment to human rights, to Roslyn and the fact that they included all the Carter appointees at the White House for every holiday.

Anyway,  when I got to the State Department I didn’t know the difference between a Foreign Service Officer and the Foreign Legion.

So, during the first week in my State Department adventure I received a TOP SECRET document.  My office was at an annex across the Potomac River. The woman who was the Deputy in my office was a cvil servant who knew everything.  She was at a meeting at “Main State” back across the Potomac.  But what to do? You are not supposed to take any TOP SECRET documents anywhere but where they were delivered.

I decided to put the documents  in my underpants, (my mother had instilled the “always wear clean underwear in case you, God Forbid are in an accident and are rushed to the hospital.”) The trip only took 5 minutes but it was a nerve wracking 5 minutes.  When I arrived at State I searched the structure for Pauline and her meeting.  State - the building -  is huge and it’s not easy to find anything contained within its walls.

When I finally located Pauline, I insisted she leave the meeting and come to the women’s room, where I exposed the secret document, and we finally opened it.  The contents might have been TOP SECRET, but neither of us had any idea about the contents because it was delivered to me by mistake.

Geez, the State Gepartment was a mess then and remains so today.  Secuity is a mess.  The job of the civil servant and the Foreign Service officers is to keep the Secretary on the road so they cannot reorganize this complicated mess.  They managed to do that with Madeline and Hillary. And now they will savage a woman who was, by all accounts an excellent appointee. Go for it guys, and my guess is you’ll learn how to diaper a baby. We’re just sayin’… Iris