The ping utility returned a general failure.
General failure is the most common error message when a computer fails to connect to a web server and cannot retrieve a resource, or when a web page cannot be loaded at all. These errors are usually accompanied by a nondescript error code, often just a number or a string of letters that does not describe what the problem is.
The most common elements of a URL are the scheme (like HTTP or its unsecured version, SSL), the domain (like a name or an IP address), and the path (usually ending with a slug) which contains the information that identifies the resource that should be loaded into the browser. The first part of the URL, called the 'protocol' is probably one of the easiest elements to forget about, since it tells your browser how to communicate with the website's server.
A general who is known for utter failure in the military may be an example of this trope, although this sort of thing does not happen very often in real life because competent officers rarely get promoted beyond Captain (Lieutenant in the Navy) level. This is an example of The Peter Principle, and may be a variation on the Kicked Upstairs or The Uriah Gambit tropes.