Pondering Current Affairs

Sometimes I think I’m an old soul – then I realize that actually I’m just plain old. From making those “old people sounds” when getting out of bed to checking how I parked my car (is it straight?), my advanced years have caught my attention.

Another example of my change in attitude was this week when it was announced that the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic was erroneously put in a group chat that discussed the impending bombing of Yemen. The current administration downplayed the faux pas. Not being a political person, in the past I would have given this information no more than a fleeting thought. But now I question: Are these the same people who chastised former presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for using a private server for classified emails when she was former President Obama’s secretary of state? 

“You have got to be kidding me,” Clinton wrote on a social platform this week sharing the eyes emoji along with The Atlantic article.

Now, I’m not a big Clinton fan and I remember how disturbing it was to learn of a possible data breach because of her disregard for protocol; however, having the current administration appear to not take seriously this egregious act of including a non-military, non-White House staff member in a group chat is truly troubling. I mean, think about it: The Atlantic, which President Trump dismissed saying it’s “a magazine that’s going out of business” (what difference does that make?), published the contents of the messages this week that proved that editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was indeed included in the messages that detailed the plans for the impending bombing of Yemen. Holy cow! How dangerous could that be? I mean, if criminals and/or spies got their hands on that information or if that information was shared with let’s say Russia or Rashad Muhammad al-Alimi, the president of Yemen, to me that would be disastrous.

I understand that there is an argument right now between the Trump administration and the Biden administration (again – not a fan), which is accused of approving the use of the Signal app (the app that was used for the conversation among key officials – and Jeffrey Goldberg – regarding the impending bombing of Yemen). Not surprising, the Biden administration denies these charges and surprise! The Trump administration states these allegations are true. 

Yawn. He said, he said. No real surprise there.

I do ponder that the President denies any knowledge of the breach; I mean, does he not talk to his people? After all, vice president JD Vance was part of the conversation on Signal. And I do applaud national security adviser Mike Waltz, who is accused of putting Goldberg on the chat, for taking responsibility for the foul-up.

However, the whole situation doesn’t make me – or probably any other American – feel safe.