by James C. Sherlock
This blog, while proudly based in individual research, often offers controversial ideas.
Uniform agreement is not expected. Debate is encouraged. We learn from one another and even occasionally change a few minds on both sides.
Yesterday the Biden administration announced the establishment of a federal “Disinformation Governance Board” in the Department of Homeland Security to “combat online disinformation in the 2022 midterms.”
Seriously. It was disclosed yesterday afternoon by Secretary Mayorkas in his testimony on Capitol Hill.
You will not be shocked to learn that neither The Washington Post nor The New York Times has yet covered the story. I just checked. Yet it represents a bigger threat to our nation than Russia and China. And it lives within the Department of Homeland Security.
Who is Nina Jankowitz? Politico reported that one Nina Jankowicz will head the board as executive director. She reportedly was a “a disinformation fellow at the Wilson Center.” Excuse me, but what is a disinformation fellow? Was she for it or against it?
I note that before this appointment Jankowicz managed democracy assistance programs (was that disinformation?) for Russia and Belarus at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs.
Fresh from that triumph, she will bring truth to the masses in America.
She will get to set the tone. Only problem there: Jankowitzism doesn’t roll easily off the tongue.
The initiative was said by Secretary Mayorkas to be focused on the spread of disinformation to minority communities. OK, so Ms. Jankowitz will bring truth to minority communities in America.
Her MA in Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies from Georgetown and successes in bringing democratic ideas to Russia and Belarus are the perfect preparation.
So much to unpack here.
First, I am seldom surprised by the left these days, but this made that tough cut. George Orwell predicted such, but I still did not expect it.
The left has done its proselytizing up to now with a combination of tax-exempt non-profits and the vast majority of America’s media outlets. The Musk purchase of Twitter apparently kicked this up to the federal level.
It reeks of panic.
Second,
- who gets to define what content is “disinformation”?
- what does “combatting” mean in this context?
- under what constitutional authority does the federal government find defining and then “combatting” “disinformation” to be among the enumerated powers of the executive branch?
Third, the Secretary reports this effort is to be focused on the spread of disinformation to “minority communities.”
I would like to ask Mayorkas to explain exactly how he considers minority communities to be uniquely vulnerable. His appointment would not survive the telling.
Finally, I find this unexpectedly dystopian even from this mob. It offers a real and present threat to constitutional government.
This blog is a platform for the free exchange of ideas — at least for as long as conflicting ideas on the internet remain legal.
Ms. Jankowitz is I am sure very busy. So much to do, so little time. If there is anyone who can answer the questions I have posed in a way that he or she thinks can define this new Ministry of Truth as a good thing for the federal government to do, please get to it.
We are waiting.
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