Senate approves John Ratcliffe as top U.S. spy

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/05/21/senate-approves-john-ratcliffe.html

Trump’s pick follows 9/11 truther and QAnon conspiracies

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Like Steve Carell but deeply, deeply creepy.

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Thus continuing Trump’s longstanding policy to put people in charge of departments who can best be described as the opposite of the department.

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Who didn’t show up to vote?

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Anyone out of town or in quarantine, for starters.

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Well they voted to made his job easier last week so maybe that will help?

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He’ll fire everyone in US intelegence and put Clearview AI on the job.

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Secret agent man, secret agent man…

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His first point of business will be to change the DNI title to the the Director of National Idiocracy.

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Obviously they accidentally appointed the wrong one, right?

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Well, OK. But I meant which 7 senators weren’t willing or able to go on record with a vote. I couldn’t find the names in any of the articles I looked at, and was hoping someone else had seen an easy link with the information.

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https://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=116&session=2&vote=00101

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Thanks, that’s the thing I was too lazy to look up.

Senators not voting:
Alexander (R-TN), Burr (R-NC), Markey (D-MA), Murkowski (R-AK), Murray (D-WA), Rounds (R-SD), Sanders (I-VT)

Alexander and Murkowski I’m not surprised. Bernie?

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It’s good to know that, should one fail to get a job for “creatively embellishing” one’s CV, it’ll all be fine the next time you are interviewed for that same job.

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Clearly unfit, but following something doesn’t necessarily imply endorsement. Plenty of people follow Trump just for entertainment or morbid curiousity.

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Well his cover’s already blown.

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It will be known as the age of ISIS. Named for the fictional for profit intelligence agency in the TV show “Archer”.

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The age of the half wit is more like it.

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Well, he’s skipped important votes before.

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Ratcliffe’s verified Twitter account follows a number of right-wing fringe accounts, including 9/11 Truthers, and a handful promoting a QAnon conspiracy theory the FBI has labeled as terrorism. This should be disqualifying, but nothing matters.

What are Ratcliffe’s qualifications? Well, the willingness to do whatever the impeached and manifestly unfit president tells him to.

“Blind loyalty,”

The USA is now officially a Banana Republic. And no, I’d really rather not look at it.

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