My paternal grandfather was from Kyiv. His last name was Yanofsky. But he was embarrassed, and despite his conspicuous accent, he wanted to be more American. He wanted to hide from himself.
He saw a sign on a store called Jonas and Brown. He liked Jonas. I have no idea if he ever legally changed it. His brother up in Massachusetts changed his name to Jaffee. Funny enough, when I went to college, he told me never to let anyone know the family name had been Yanofsky. He was still embarrassed. A girl in my class happened to be Faye Yanofsky. I never met her, but it was a funny thing.
You remind me of stories from a year or two or three ago about how Aldi supermarkets was going out of business in this country in three months, and Putin's health was dangerously bad. Like he might die soon. Neither happened.
No wonder Donnie likes Vlad so much. They both lie with liberal abandon. As you say, "up is down," and "water is dry."
Great article! With Fox being the Trump Regime propaganda machine, I wonder what kind of bullshit they are going to pull to try to justify Trump's military parade for his 79 birthday ....
And thanks for standing up for Canada ! No kings 🚫🫅
"Bullshit?" It's his 79th birthday. (Maybe. So he alleges.) Who doesn't spend $100M+ on their birthday?
I remember taking my son to some little girl's fourth birthday party when they were in preschool. It was quite overdone. I mentioned to the girl's father about how impressive (extravagant) the party was. Ponies, rides, buffet, etc. He said "you only turn four once." I admit the party didn't cost $100M, but it was 40 years ago. She was a young child. Donnie's a child. You gotta do this stuff for children.
I certainly didn't mean that to sound like I don't necessarily believe every word that comes out of his mouth. That would be very uncivilized of me. And completely unreasonable, since I've never known him to lie about anything.
I like the idea of him "alleging " to be 79. If only that could be true and he was, say 83. The closer he gets to him being senile and impotent the better !!!
It's like Jack Benny and the other people who endlessly claim to be 39.
He can get closer to this to being senile? His power, or potency, is false. It's supported by other people's fear of him. Did you ever used to watch "Happy Days?" Henry {Fonzi; "the Fonz") Winkler was always feared by everyone. But in the run of the show, he never got in a fight. He just gave the impression of being a tough guy.
Thank you for this valuable and extremely informative discussion.
One particular "takeaway" that I will take away is your observation as to Russia's leader, and my concern that Putin's Puppet, Benedict Donald, would try to emulate: 'The “official position” won, because in Russia, the opposite of lies is not truth – it’s prison.'
It resonated with the observation that Steve Schmidt made in conjunction with V-E Day last week in his Substack "The Warning with Steve Schmidt" about Avner Less, the Israeli prosecutor who had interrogated Adolf Eichmann extensively and had concluded as his career continued that "we are surrounded by Eichmanns. He said they are everywhere. ... He said that they are harmless in a democracy, but turn deadly in an instant in a dictatorship." And Schmidt highlighted three "Little Eichmanns" in the Trump regime, chief among them Stephen Miller.
We already have far more than enough "Little Eichmanns" and ignorers of reality and history. Deniers are bad enough. As you suggest, ignorers can be even greater threats.
Sounds like Donnies playbook was written in the Russian language. I don't speak Russia and don't intend to follow it. Fight for our country and we will. Down with tRump and his regime.
This was very informative and very creepy. I remember my parents saying that the Russian government lies to their people but did not understand how that happens. This essay helps me see the detail and expansiveness of the lies. With what we r seeing happen here in the states these past few years the tactics are looking way too familiar. So very happy that so many of us are doing all we can to push back. We know this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people and we will not give it up. Thanks for being in the fight!
Well that has been the course sense the communests took power so many years ago. But What can you do? I may have thought the people and the Army just might have got sick of this. Yes Gorby closed the books, but he never closed the corruption. Oh it seems to me he is still a communist, even though he has fooled thousands in America. They think and so Trump that he has become a free trading capitalist. Funny, but free trading capitalist do not threaten countries with nuclear weapons!!!!
Thanks Adam. I have grandparents from what was, or is today, inside Ukraine. But that's not the point. Zelenskyy will be seen as a hero, as do all those who resist the murderous Lie Machine in its many forms. I see Ukrainian flags hanging from some windows and on cars' bumper stickers, and I smile. Navalny was a martyr.
I have a couple of books to suggest if anyone wants to read more about how the Soviets were actually masters of the Big Lie a full decade before Hitler/Goebbels, and the mindset of the Russian people who have never, ever had a free society.
1) "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin" by Timothy Snyder; exposes the lies behind the Holodomor and Katya massacres, to name just two...
2) "Midnight in Chernobyl" by Adam Higginbotham, which details the lies upon lies that not only led to the Chernobyl disaster itself but resulted in thousands more deaths due to unchecked radiation exposure. People in the area went on like nothing was wrong because they were told nothing was wrong despite their eyes and ears; the fact was they couldn't get a true answer from anyone.
My paternal grandfather was from Kyiv. His last name was Yanofsky. But he was embarrassed, and despite his conspicuous accent, he wanted to be more American. He wanted to hide from himself.
He saw a sign on a store called Jonas and Brown. He liked Jonas. I have no idea if he ever legally changed it. His brother up in Massachusetts changed his name to Jaffee. Funny enough, when I went to college, he told me never to let anyone know the family name had been Yanofsky. He was still embarrassed. A girl in my class happened to be Faye Yanofsky. I never met her, but it was a funny thing.
You remind me of stories from a year or two or three ago about how Aldi supermarkets was going out of business in this country in three months, and Putin's health was dangerously bad. Like he might die soon. Neither happened.
No wonder Donnie likes Vlad so much. They both lie with liberal abandon. As you say, "up is down," and "water is dry."
Great article! With Fox being the Trump Regime propaganda machine, I wonder what kind of bullshit they are going to pull to try to justify Trump's military parade for his 79 birthday ....
And thanks for standing up for Canada ! No kings 🚫🫅
"Bullshit?" It's his 79th birthday. (Maybe. So he alleges.) Who doesn't spend $100M+ on their birthday?
I remember taking my son to some little girl's fourth birthday party when they were in preschool. It was quite overdone. I mentioned to the girl's father about how impressive (extravagant) the party was. Ponies, rides, buffet, etc. He said "you only turn four once." I admit the party didn't cost $100M, but it was 40 years ago. She was a young child. Donnie's a child. You gotta do this stuff for children.
"So he alleges " 🤣🤣
I certainly didn't mean that to sound like I don't necessarily believe every word that comes out of his mouth. That would be very uncivilized of me. And completely unreasonable, since I've never known him to lie about anything.
I like the idea of him "alleging " to be 79. If only that could be true and he was, say 83. The closer he gets to him being senile and impotent the better !!!
It's like Jack Benny and the other people who endlessly claim to be 39.
He can get closer to this to being senile? His power, or potency, is false. It's supported by other people's fear of him. Did you ever used to watch "Happy Days?" Henry {Fonzi; "the Fonz") Winkler was always feared by everyone. But in the run of the show, he never got in a fight. He just gave the impression of being a tough guy.
Nope sorry, I don't know that show. But Trump's definitely's got the Emmy for shitshow of the last decade. 😭😭
Thank you for this valuable and extremely informative discussion.
One particular "takeaway" that I will take away is your observation as to Russia's leader, and my concern that Putin's Puppet, Benedict Donald, would try to emulate: 'The “official position” won, because in Russia, the opposite of lies is not truth – it’s prison.'
It resonated with the observation that Steve Schmidt made in conjunction with V-E Day last week in his Substack "The Warning with Steve Schmidt" about Avner Less, the Israeli prosecutor who had interrogated Adolf Eichmann extensively and had concluded as his career continued that "we are surrounded by Eichmanns. He said they are everywhere. ... He said that they are harmless in a democracy, but turn deadly in an instant in a dictatorship." And Schmidt highlighted three "Little Eichmanns" in the Trump regime, chief among them Stephen Miller.
https://steveschmidt.substack.com/p/v-e-day
We already have far more than enough "Little Eichmanns" and ignorers of reality and history. Deniers are bad enough. As you suggest, ignorers can be even greater threats.
Thank you.
Sometimes, the opposite of lies is death by poisoning.
Great one calling out this autocratic tactic of perverting history for the sake of a narrative of control & power.
It’s one of my primary motivations in starting my history of Ukraine series on here: https://open.substack.com/pub/rue1b225/p/a-history-of-ukraine-5d3?r=1x7pap&utm_medium=ios
Sounds like Donnies playbook was written in the Russian language. I don't speak Russia and don't intend to follow it. Fight for our country and we will. Down with tRump and his regime.
This was very informative and very creepy. I remember my parents saying that the Russian government lies to their people but did not understand how that happens. This essay helps me see the detail and expansiveness of the lies. With what we r seeing happen here in the states these past few years the tactics are looking way too familiar. So very happy that so many of us are doing all we can to push back. We know this is a government of the people, by the people and for the people and we will not give it up. Thanks for being in the fight!
This is a brilliantly important article. Bravo. Great thanks. Please, please, keep doing the work and keeping the faith.
Heartfelt. Good work.
Bravo Adam! We resist therefore Ukrainians exist. From a fellow Ukrainian American.
Thanks for the truth!
Well that has been the course sense the communests took power so many years ago. But What can you do? I may have thought the people and the Army just might have got sick of this. Yes Gorby closed the books, but he never closed the corruption. Oh it seems to me he is still a communist, even though he has fooled thousands in America. They think and so Trump that he has become a free trading capitalist. Funny, but free trading capitalist do not threaten countries with nuclear weapons!!!!
Thanks Adam. I have grandparents from what was, or is today, inside Ukraine. But that's not the point. Zelenskyy will be seen as a hero, as do all those who resist the murderous Lie Machine in its many forms. I see Ukrainian flags hanging from some windows and on cars' bumper stickers, and I smile. Navalny was a martyr.
💙💙🇺🇸🇺🇸✊🏽✊🏽
Thank you for a wonderful article, Adam.
I have a couple of books to suggest if anyone wants to read more about how the Soviets were actually masters of the Big Lie a full decade before Hitler/Goebbels, and the mindset of the Russian people who have never, ever had a free society.
1) "Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin" by Timothy Snyder; exposes the lies behind the Holodomor and Katya massacres, to name just two...
2) "Midnight in Chernobyl" by Adam Higginbotham, which details the lies upon lies that not only led to the Chernobyl disaster itself but resulted in thousands more deaths due to unchecked radiation exposure. People in the area went on like nothing was wrong because they were told nothing was wrong despite their eyes and ears; the fact was they couldn't get a true answer from anyone.
Powerful. Interesting how little this is discussed when talking about Russia's war against Ukraine. Just another failure of the media here in the US.
Great article!