Seriously, Democrat senator Jeanne Shaheen apparently wants to spend actual taxpayer money in search of an answer to the mighty mystery of whether RT News is...Russian.

According to the New Hampshire Democrat's website:

Senator Shaheen's Foreign Agents Registration Modernization and Enforcement Act gives the Department of Justice new authority to compel organizations like RT America to produce documentation on funding sources and foreign connections.

Do people like this really exist?

Apparently, the "R" in the RT News title wasn't sufficient enough of a clue for her.  And paying a visit to the RT News network's website, going to the "About RT" page to see who they say owns them never occurred to her.  And Googling to pay a visit to Wikipedia to find out who finances RT was simply a trip too far.

So millions and millions in taxpayer money will have to be shelled out to find out whether the former Russia Today, owned* by the holding company of RIA-Novosti Press Agency (remember them?) as an independent entity, might have something to do with...Russia.  As the BBC is U.K. state-owned.  As France24 is French state-owned.  As Deutsche Welle is German state-owned.  The truth is out there – Shaheen just knows it.

And like a good Democrat, her solution is to throw money at it.  And you thought the Soviet central planners were inefficient?  One can only wonder what the Russians must be thinking as they read of this from a pinhead like Shaheen.

Based on this item from RT News itself, the reaction apparently was "shoot me!"

*an emailer identifying himself as from the RT Press office states:

Please note that RIA Novosti (now Rossiya Segodnya international news agency) and RT are entirely separate organizations, and RT isn’t part of the aforementioned holding.