In a commentary published at The Federalist, columnist Rachel Bovard summed up the sentiment of many: The frightening dystopian novel “1984” is a political allegory about government power. But it appears, she writes, the Biden administration views George Orwell’s fiction as a “handbook" for controlling the facts.
That is because the Dept. of Homeland Security really is setting up what it calls a Disinformation Governance Board with the stated goal of advising DHS about information board members rule is false and deserves to be challenged by DHS, which is the third-largest agency in the federal government.
Alejandro Mayorkas (pictured at right), the current DHS secretary, confirmed the newly-formed Governance Board last week when he made several appearances before several House committees regarding the new fiscal year budget and the role of DHS.
The irony of Mayorkas announcing a “disinformation” board last week is he announced it with nakedly political theatre. Democrat lawmakers addressed “concerns” they have with “misinformation,” such as Russia influencing U.S. elections, which allowed Mayorkas to reassure them steps are being taken to address those concerns including, coincidentally, a newly-formed Disinformation Governance Board.
In front of the House Appropriations Committee, Mayorkas waited for Rep. Lauren Underwood to read from a full minute of prepared notes in which she finally got to the meat of her accusation: Hispanic-speaking voters are being influenced by “misinformation” as midterm elections approach.
“The goal,” the DHS secretary told Underwood, “is to bring the resources of (DHS) together to address this threat.”
Numerous polls are already predicting Democrats are heading toward a political bloodbath on Election Day, now six months away, but the congresswoman’s concern about deceived Hispanic voters comes at the same time polls show the Republican Party is gaining among Hispanic voters, especially among women.
Another topic mentioned last week by Democrat lawmakers is Russia's war in Ukraine, where Russia recently claimed U.S. troops were killed during fighting there. Somehow, according to Mayorkas, the Governance Board will work to help DHS refute such claims.
That war, now in its third month, has been plagued with accusations of propaganda from both sides in an attempt to influence public opinion, and to urge NATO members and European countries to defend Ukraine from Russia's invasion.
Reacting to the new Governance Board, Gary Bauer of American Values tells AFN there is no way Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer are looking at the election polls and will simply shrug off losing power in the midterm elections.
“There are all sorts of things possible in the next five or six months,” he warns, “including coming up with some new emergency that would justify changing the voting rules in America at the last minute.”
If that theory seems far-fetched, consider the Left is collectively freaking out over billionaire Elon Musk acquiring Twitter in what is really a cultural fight over what statement is allowed, or is blocked from public view, on the popular social media platform.
“You cannot let these guys control discourse in this country or we are headed to hell,” David Zurawik, a media professor, warned on CNN regarding the federal government’s role. “We are there. Trump opened the gates of hell and now they’re chasing us down.”
It was on Twitter, in fact, that Republican lawmakers blasted news of the Governance Board.
"Nothing else we are working on will matter," tweeted Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), "if we don’t put an end to the Biden’s Ministry of Truth."
"The same party that spent years promoting the Russia collusion hoax, suppressed the Hunter Biden laptop story, & equated parents to terrorists believes it has credibility to control your speech," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy stated on Twitter.
It is also Twitter, run by shadowy conservative-hating censors, that banned The New York Post story about the Hunter Biden laptop and where Donald Trump remains banned from the platform today.
Back in the Federalist story, Bovard points out the director of the Governance Board, Nina Jankowicz, is on record repeatedly dismissing the Hunter Biden laptop as right-wing talking points and also defending the now-discredited Steele dossier that was used to obtain a spy warrant for the Trump presidential campaign.
President Biden himself called the damning contents “Russian disinformation” only for the national media to recently admit that is not true.
Bovard and other Internet sleuths have also pointed out Jankowicz, in an April interview with NPR, suggested law enforcement should play a role in what she called “free speech absolutism” on social media.
Jankowicz is also being mocked on social media -- the same social media she will police for truth and facts -- for publishing TikTok videos in which she sings bizarre, childish, and vulgar songs. The "spectacle" she is making of herself and the Governance Board, Bovard writes, should not distract from the serious issue of free speech that is now a target of the Biden administration.
Reacting to the Governance Board, Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness tells AFN Mayorkas himself was caught in his own lies when he recently testified to Congress the U.S.-Mexico border is secure. That is obviously not true and is easily disproven, she says, and that is the point: DHS is now giving authority to the Governance Board to decide what is true, which is frightening.
"The definition of misinformation," she says, "is, of course, wide open to interpretation."
“It's beyond sickening. It's deeply disturbing,” Bauer says of the Governance Board. “If there's an American still sleeping about what's happening in our country, this should be a slap in the face to wake up.”
