Disobedience at the Capital

@chaski Said

Exclusive: White House again changes phone policy amid heightened paranoia

That is: ...staffers will not be allowed to leave their phones -- even the government-issued ones -- in lockers in the small entry area outside the Situation Room...

This is actually pretty dumb.

NO not the part about prohibiting the phones near the Situation Room...

What is DUMB is that anyone had a cell phone in or near any briefing rooms in the 1st place. Phones can be hacked (even turned on remotely thus being microphones for someone else), insiders can record sensitive discussions, and there is always some nit wit that forgot to turn of their cell phone's ringer, which then goes of in the middle of the meeting disturbing the meeting... etc...

The fact that "they" have allowed anyone, including senior advisors, to attend meetings with their cell phone on or near them demonstrates how amateur this administration is... in the Pentagon there is (or at least was) a rule regarding sensitive briefings/meetings: NO ELECTRONIC DEVISES OF ANY KIND.

@mrmhead Said

So, I was wondering about that (result from the rumored Omarosa recording)
Are they banned always and forever, permanently? Or just when there is an official meeting in those rooms?

What if Kelly called Omarosa into the room as in "lets find somewhere quiet to talk". - It was the Situation Room, wasn't it?

We do it around here - There's an open room, let's grab it for a few, unofficial minutes.

@chaski Said

I don't know the answer to your questions... though I could guess.

Regardless, Omarosa isn't the 1st to record a conversation and then publish it. If memory serves, Mitt Romney was recorded saying something dumb at a meeting in the run up to the 2012 election... maybe it was someone else like Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio... ... Trump was recorded saying he liked to grab women's pussies... etc... in addition, people are constantly getting caught sending dumb emails that "they" wish they never sent... etc...

Point being it that this sort of thing happens on a regular basis...

What is the lesson?

1. Don't allow any electronic devices in sensitive meetings.
2. Don't say or do or email about stupid stuff... even to your friends and colleagues.

Of all people, Trump should be, and should have been, wary about this sort of stuff... he wouldn't make a good mob boss...

Amateurs...

@mrmhead Said

What I was getting at was did Omorosa break any rules or laws with the recording, like some has wanted to indicate. I think other s*** hit the fan right after, which is why she's a bygone flash .. for now .. again ...

@chaski Said

Yes... Omarosa broke a rule (or a variety of rules, regulations, laws) relative to both recording and then making public communications in the Whitehouse (aka government).

I don't remember D.C.'s laws, but in Maryland it is a crime to record a conversation without permission of the other party or a court order.

(Side note, the woman that recored Monica, and pretty much made public the Clinton-Lewinsky sex thing... that woman broke Maryland state law... I don't think she was prosecuted). It is not a crime in all states and U.S. territories... as always... depends.

Yes.... the odds that Omarosa will ever get prosecuted are slim... but it could happen.

After all, Omarosa is just another actor in the greatest reality show on earth...

@Leon Said

...chuckle...

I don’t live on a plant. I live on a planet, though.

You know, the one that we are destroying. Especially with Trump’s Paris Accord pullout. At least according to data anyways.

Speaking of data, to answer your sole question buried up there in your mini-rant, yes, the GOP is shrinking, as much as you clearly don’t want to believe it:



Notice the huge curve downwards in 2017? Those are the Republicans in our nation decreasing by 5-6% of our voting population since Trump took office. Notice the huge curve upwards in 2017? Those are the number of members of our voting population turning independent since Trump took office, also 5-6%.

So guess where the additional 5-6% of our voting population who are now independents are coming from?

And given that Trump’s net disapproval rating has declined from -6% at the start of his Presidency to -13% among independents and from -9% to -12% overall, it really shouldn’t come as a surprise.




So, what planet are you from?