Uncle Ruslan is awesome.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

I feel for him and his family. I think he really tried to convey his sympathies to the victims.

[Gravitycollapse]

1. Is this the guy in the truck? I was about to post about him.

[snagglepuss]

4. No that is a different uncle.

[Barack_America]

6. No. Anderson Cooper just said that guy had nothing useful to say...

...right after he gave us the only insight we've gotten to date into those boys' family life. This media, I swear.

[randome]

2. Hm. I thought 'Uncle Tsarni' might gain meme status.

But either one works.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

7. Either does work. He's definitely a character.

I'm betting he owns an electronics and wi-fi depot. What do you think?

(stole that from the Bob and Dan Show on 1310 The Ticket)

[Poll_Blind]

3. From what I saw, he is deeply, deeply shamed that any member of his family, even extended family...

...would have any part in this. The events recently have thrown his family's honor into question and he is a man who clearly is not going for that. I don't know if you caught his answer about what he thought of America, but it was a great description of why people want to come to America since America began.

Worse, for whatever reason (he said it was personal), he'd always tried to distance his family from his brother's family- and that should tell you something right there. I'm not insinuating anything nefarious, I'm just saying he clearly didn't want his family to be part of his brother's family's life.

PB

[Fantastic Anarchist]

8. Yeah, I caught that.

I inferred that it was something personal, nothing nefarious.

Did you like the reporter asking if the kids received military training after he was told that he hadn't spoken to them since 2005, like when they would have been 11 years old?!?!? Supidest. Question. Ever.

[Poll_Blind]

10. Funniest thing- I think his news conference really set the tone: That there are horrible events...

...that happen in America, and sweet Jesus if that bombing wasn't horrible I don't know what is, and we grasp desperately to find meaning in those events, to interpret them, at least to give ourselves some comfort in a world that seemingly doesn't make sense at all.

And even then, our best guesses can be flat...totally flat...wrong.

PB

[Fantastic Anarchist]

16. And it doesn't help when reporters ask extremely stupid questions.

It's as if they didn't even listen.

That bugs me.

[randome]

11. Or asking him what he thought about America. Another stupid question.

But Uncle Ruslan handled it all perfectly!

[geomon666]

12. How about them asking him how he feels about America?

What a stupid question. Even if he hated America, did he honestly think the Uncle would say so?

[Johonny]

14. how is it appropriate to ask the uncle how he feels about America?

I was like who the * asked that. or the are you ashamed question. These journalist suck. The uncle did a good job in the face of some really really dumb reporters.

[Poll_Blind]

5. Check this out:

PB

[Fantastic Anarchist]

9. Love it!

I know that it's a really tragic and sad time. But I needed some levity. I think this is a great outlet.

Thanks for posting.

[Poll_Blind]

13. I think Uncle Ruslan, whether the bombers were related to him or not, would...

...have always tried to pull the heads off the perpetrators if he caught them.

That's just my gut feeling about the guy. That Muslim characterizes more that's decent about America that the whole tribe of fucking teabagger show-up-with-a-gun-to-a-healthcare-rallies..

He's got more America in his pinky nail that the whole lot of those useless shitbags.

And that's one of the best things about America. People can be born in America and they're Americans. But there are also people all over the world who are born Americans and just don't know it. They know they want to be Free and when freedom isn't afforded them, they seek out that will offer it to them. More often than not, that place turns out to be America.

It's also a dichotomy about nature of immigrants that America always grapples with: Are we letting in good guys or bad guys? The answer is yes. And that's not always an easy answer for Americans to stomach.

PB

[Fantastic Anarchist]

15. Yeah, he seems like a standup guy.

Really pissed.