Dust off your old copy of "1984" and read it again. Orwell's date was a bit early, but his predictions of a future all-seeing all-powerful all-lying state are coming scarily true in our time. Nana showed that brilliantly.

Nana deserves a much bigger audience.

One word: Jail.

Another fact about bureaucrats: They have no mercy on any underling who publicly embarrasses them. If you don't see heads rolling, that is proof positive that the boss was in on the deal.

When the president and members of Congress routinely fart off their oath of office, it should be no surprise when underlings do likewise.

Did higher-ups know what was going on? Damn right they did. Bureaucrats at all levels do not allow any initiative to be taken below them unless it has been blessed higher up the line. All bureaucrats understand perfectly that bosses do not like to be surprised.

The ones selected to take the fall will be those who know nothing, have some personal scandal in their lives, and will make a poor impression on television.

I used to work in DoD and saw many times the importance of knowing which as-ses to kiss and which not to kiss. I was not very good at it, so my career stagnated.

It all depends on who is in favor with the bosses and who is not. The former will get kicked upstairs while the latter will be selected to take the fall.

Overall I think it's a fair comparison. Our regime is not yet to the point of jailing political opponents on trumped up charges, but Putin's regime doesn't lie to the whole world as brazenly and carelessly as ours does. In both cases we have unbounded corruption and thievery. Our media are worse in that they lie and cover for the regime voluntarily while pretending to be journalists, while the Russian mass media are openly government controlled.