Biden’s new Disinformation Governance Board

The Biden Administration has created a Disinformation Governance Board, whose mission is to monitor political speech in the United States.

“Disinformation” is covert intelligence jargon for propaganda (not necessarily false) that helps the enemy.  So the board’s name in a way is even more ominous that if it were called a Ministry of Truth, because the criterion is not truth or falsehood, but who benefits from the message.

This is a good idea only if you trust others to decide in advance what you should be allowed to hear about and read about.

Meanwhile self-described liberals are panicking because they fear Elon Musk may restore traditional free speech standards to Twitter.  If only!

[Update 05/29/2022].  Evidently the disinformation board idea is dead—for now.  I expect it will pop up again in a different form.

LINKS

Homeland Security’s Disinformation Board Is Even More Pernicious Than It Seems by Glenn Greenwald.  [Added 05/05/2022]

Video of Nina Jankowicz, the head of the new Disinformation Governance Board.

Disinformation Governance Board to tackle spread of misinformation in U.S., focusing on Russia and U.S.-Mexican border by Caitlin O’Kane for CBS News.

The Sweet Sound of Censorship: the Biden Administration Seeks the Perfect Pitch for Disinformation Governance by Jonathan Turley.

Oh, God, It’s Going to Get So Much Worse by Caitlin Johnstone.

Paypal’s IndyMedia Wipeout by Matt Taibbi on TK News.

Twitter accepts Elon Musk’s $44B acquisition offer by Ingrid Lundgren and Taylor Hatmaker for TechCrunch.

Twitter’s Chickens Come Home to Roost by Matt Taibbi on TK News.

Savor the Great Musk Panic by Matt Taibbi on TK News.

Elon Musk Isn’t a Threat to Society’s Health | All Billionaires Are by Jonathan Cook for Mint Press News.

An Intellectual No-Fly Zone: Online Censorship of Ukraine Dissent Is Becoming the New Norm by Alan MacLeod for Mint Press News.

Former Intelligence Officials, Citing Russia, Say Big Tech Monopoly Power Is Vital to National Security by Glenn Greenwald.

American Commissars by Chris Hedges for The Chris Hedges Report.

Biden’s censors want Russian-style speech controls and they haven’t given up yet by Sen. Rand Paul for Fox News.  [Added 05/29/2022]

Sanders victory would spark a political crisis

Bernie Sanders

If Bernie Sanders actually were elected President in 2020, it would ignite a major and continuing political crisis.

Neither the Wall Street financial establishment nor the pro-war intelligence establishment (aka the “deep state”) would accept his victory as legitimate.

The Washington press corps would be against him.  Nor could he count on the support of leaders of his own party.  He threatens their sources of wealth and power by showing it is possible to be elected without big donations from rich and powerful interests.

We saw a taste of what could happen with the election of Donald Trump in 2016.  Democrats and liberals refused to accept his victory as legitimate.  A few of them proposed a silly plan to have the Electoral College disregard the instructions of voters.  I think we could expect a revival of this idea, this time on a bipartisan basis.

Then Democratic leaders and their sympathizers in the CIA put forth the idea that Trump’s victory was due to Russian agents hacking the Democratic National Committee and manipulating the voters via the Internet—the so-called Russiagate conspiracy.  Democrats still haven’t given up on using this to drive Trump from office.

(I think Donald Trump is a bad president, but I think he should be attacked for the things he actually did and I don’t think it is possible to undo the 2016 election.)

Some Russiagaters said the Russians also backed Bernie Sanders.  We’ll hear a lot more of this if Sanders ia nominated, and we’d probably get a new Russiagate investigation if he is elected.

The Wall Street banking establishment has their own method of dealing with populist presidents.  It is to “lose confidence” in the administration, which pushes up bond interest rates, which in turn pushes the federal government budget out of balance.

Bill Clinton complained about being subject to the will of bond traders.  His friend and adviser, James Carville, said that if he died, he would like to be reincarnated as the bond market, because he would be all powerful.

Going further back in American history, Nicholas Biddle, president of the then Bank of the United States, deliberately induced a financial crisis by tightening credit in order to discredit his enemy, President Andrew Jackson.

Barack Obama was thwarted in enacting his very moderate political program by the intransigent opposition of Republicans in Congress.  In a Sanders presidency, we could expect the same thing not only from Republicans, but also from pro-corporate Democrats.

Maybe you think I’m alarmist.  I hope I am.  But I’m not predicting anything that hasn’t happened before.