This is how nuts things are now: a senator brushes up on Nabokov and Tolstoy (Tolstoy!) to get pumped to expose Vladimir Putin.
Even the bizarre admission by FBI director (and sudden darling of the same Democrats who hated him months ago) James Comey that he didn’t know anything about Russia’s biggest company didn’t seem to trouble Americans very much. Here’s the key exchange, from a House hearing in which Jackie Speier quizzed Comey:
SPEIER: Now, do we know who Gazprom-Media is? Do you know anything about Gazprom, director?
COMEY: I don’t.
SPEIER: Well, it’s a – it’s an oil company.
(Incidentally, Gazprom – primarily a natural-gas giant – is not really an oil company. So both Comey and Speier got it wrong.)
As Leonid Bershidsky of Bloomberg noted, this exchange was terrifying to Russians. The leader of an investigation into Russian espionage not knowing what Gazprom is would be like an FSB chief not having heard of Exxon-Mobil. It’s bizarre, to say the least.
Who are these people, and how did they reach the highest levels of government?
They’re losing the Rolling freaking stones people. The rolling stones is now tired of the muh Russia narrative. Article likely written before Rice was put in the cooker here too.
To be honest, Comey isn’t in the energy business, so really him not knowing what GazProm-Media is isn’t exactly a glaring oversight.
Perhaps his brain is more filled up with trying to remember what is in all 356 volumes of the US Code (takes up about 55 feet of shelf space), and which parts of it is applicable to what he’s investigating.
Realistically, he’s just the face of the organization, he doesn’t do any actual investigating.
Come on, it’s a fact of life that Americans are often ignorant of other countries. We are their next door neighbor and the average American knows little or nothing about us.
“Come on, it’s a fact of life that Americans are often ignorant of other countries. We are their next door neighbor and the average American knows little or nothing about us….”
For example, most of them don’t even know that true Canadians spell neighbor as neighbour.
Neighbour. Heh touché
Snap, sir!
Politicians have to have their hands out, not their heads screwed on properly, so…
The typical American doesn’t know enough about the U.S.A. (The typical Canadian hearing that will agree and feel smug, but shouldn’t.)
If spelling were the test of “true” Canadian-ness. then I’m afraid MANY commenters, pundits, journalists and others in all walks of life would lose theirs — including those who spell “theirs” as “their’s” and “Liberals” (= many of them) as “Liberal’s” (= of, belonging to 1 Liberal).
Mass hysteria, or mass hypnosis?
The experts and practitioners of mesmerism state that only those that want to be hypnotized can be hypnotized. The theory that someone can be subjected to a hypnotic suggestion even if they don’t realize they are only requires those individuals first be open to preconditioning and that the induction take the form of something they are completely familiar and comfortable with.
Ergo, a demographic ready and willing to believe the message and the messenger because its something to their pov is a completely plausible explaination. This is then used as the method of inducing the suggestion.
For democrats and liberals the only plausible explaination for an election loss is that the other guys had to have cheated. So naturally any theory supporting it is readily accepted and any evidence contrary is dismissed. The danger of course is if there is proof someone cheated but it turns out it was their side doing it.
Winning
It’s kind of scary that Matt Taibbi is a voice of reason…
I’m much less concerned about misteakes in gramma and spelung on a blog like SDA than when someone who is professionally publishing can’t get grammar and spelling correct without foolish mistakes.
ahh, good catch Jamie. My ‘neighbor’ was a typo. I normally do use the ‘u’ as in ‘honour’ as another example.
Hey man if pooty poot is in fact in bed with Trump or vice versa and the end game is rounding up every last prog and sending them to Siberia then I’m all for it. BRING. IT. ON.
Comparing the FBI with the FSB is a bit off.
The FSB is more like the CIA, DIA, NSA, NRO, etc, all rolled up onto one.
I bet the head of the RCMP couldn’t tell you what “Jihad” means.
I think it is quite possible that the head of the RCMP does know what “jihad” means, but I am certain that the head of the RCMP knows he had better not say so.
canuckguy – it’s usually easy to tell when you spell it the Canadian way as every English language software package will underscore it is a red squiggly. Damn Americans!!! 🙂 BTW, I do the same thing sometimes as I am constantly chatting via email between the US and Canada using words like colour/color, etc. Stuff happens bud! Cheers.
“I think it is quite possible that the head of the RCMP does know what “jihad” means, but I am certain that the head of the RCMP knows he had better not say so.”
Bingo!
Sid Vicious, careful, you will be accused of being a pooty poot stooge.
“Who are these people, and how did they reach the highest levels of government?” Well, Canadians elected the biggest bozo ever to the office of Prime Minister. Comey is a genius compared to Shiny Pony.
How can you say such a thing when ALL our top Movie and TV stars wear Canada Goose jackets ?
https://www.canadagoose.com/us/en/home-page
We love the great white north frozen climate chic !!
While we are off-topic on the subject of spelling, does anyone know why we use all Oxford spellings except for the tires on our cars – the Brits have tyres?
Most browsers and text processors allow you to select UK English or US English for the spelchecker. US English is the default, and most people are lazy. The choice is yours if it’s important to you.
Who are these people, and how did they reach the highest levels of government?
Many, perhaps most of them, reached the highest levels of government by being lawyers, which I find terrifying.
Speaking of Britspeak, it’s my theory that the British term for a car trunk, boot, lead to the term being applied to the rear end chassis of a woman, as in ‘booty’. I am no Einstein butt I am sure my theory can withstand rigourous examination.
“does anyone know why we use all Oxford spellings except for the tires on our cars”
Because it’s English and from England. Why would we wish to spell it incorrectly?
Alas, part of why democracies always commit suicide is widespread ignorance, much of it self-imposed.
The head of the RCMP would say “Jihad is why we need to kick people’s doors in and take their guns.”