DIPLOPUNDIT: Flagship of Foreign Service Blogs
The following is a recast of a previous appeal --
There are three media mainstays of the U.S. Foreign Service and State Department: State Magazine, Foreign Service Journal and DiploPundit. State Mag is the in-house publication that provides the usual official stuff on management issues, appointments, obits, etc. The Foreign Service Journal, published by State's quasi-union, the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), addresses salient management and policy issues from employees' perspective. In contrast to the other two, DiploPundit is a completely independent outlet managed by a single private citizen, writing under the pseudonym "Domani Spero," self-described as "an obsessive compulsive observer, diplomatic watcher, and opinionator who monitors the goings on at ‘Foggy-Bottom’ (i.e. the State Department) and the 'worldwide available' universe from Albania to Zimbabwe." And while the other two publications are monthly productions, DiploPundit is a daily.
DiploPundit, quite simply, is the Bob Woodward/Tom Paine/Upton Sinclair/H.L. Mencken for the Foreign Service/State Department community and fellow travelers. It sheds the proverbial cleansing sunlight on bureaucratic goings-on that Department officialdom may not want revealed, or union types feel constrained to raise. And it is the Flagship to us small craft other bloggers. This writer, for one, is inspired by DiploPundit's comprehensive coverage of issues at Foggy Bottom, something no other blogger does. And Domani Spero does it with wit and aplomb. How D.S. does it is awesome, relying on a network of insiders and tipsters of which small fry like me are jealous. I particularly relish "Hall of Shame," where D.S. exposes official and human follies ranging from sexual misconduct to visa fraud to the selling of ambassadorships. In the cold, Dickensian halls of the State Department, a frequent topic of water cooler conversation is, (sotto voce) "Hey, did you read DiploPundit this morning? Holy shit, did Domani Spero nail that a--hole, or what?" Hence, a "conversation" has started, sometimes picked up by the Washington Post and other media.
In short, DiploPundit is indispensable and we're so lucky this one individual has devoted so much of their life to putting it out. But it's so comprehensive that writing and managing the popular blog is akin to publishing a daily newspaper - a full-time job. Trouble is, Domani Spero is engaged in an opportunity cost: publish DiploPundit while foregoing outside employment. Like the rest of us, D.S. needs to pay the bills. That means the necessity of engaging in outside employment and dropping DiploPundit. And this is where you come in, dear readers. D.S. has announced that DiploPundit will cease as of the end of next month:
Thank you so very much for keeping us around. That may sound cliché but as a reader-supported blog, this is the reason we are still doing this. As long as enough people continue to support this blog, we will continue writing about the good, the bad, and occasionally, the ugly, from the watch house. It’s as simple as that.
Our goal has always been to locate enough direct ads to make the blog self-supporting. Unfortunately, we are not there yet, but work is ongoing. For now, we rely on your kindness to help sustain our work.
Following is the link for contributions:
Keep Diplopundit Going
The goal is to raise $34,000 through this effort. Folks, that's like a thousand rounds of rotary cannon ammo in an A-10 Warthog, or, the representation allowance for the ambassador to Brussels, or, Ted Cruz's annual haircut budget. If you enjoy and benefit from DiploPundit, cough up a few bucks.
The alternative is an extended Dark Age dominated by plutocrats buying ambassadorships, pay freezes, IG inspection cover-ups, unrevealed Foggy Bottom sexual predators, rampant Seventh Floor incompetence. I could go on and on. (In fact, I think I will.)