Taibbi began as a freelance reporter working in the former Soviet Union.

Oh, did Taibbi catch Orc cooties for having been a reporter in the Soviet Union in the 1990s? This “guilty by association” garbage is what Russiagate conspiracy theorists live by, so I shouldn’t be surprised you might think so.

Such US corporate leftist stuff indeed.

Did you miss the part where I said, “US independent left- to centrist-liberal sources”? Taibbi is an independent civil-liberties focused liberal investigative journalist.