New in PJ Media:
The bad news is that the Biden administration’s notorious Disinformation Governance Board, a flagrantly unconstitutional effort to restrict the freedom of speech that was “paused” in May after an avalanche of criticism, is back (although its Orwellian name is still on ice). The good news is that heading up Biden’s handlers’ new foray into authoritarianism is none other than Vice President Kamala Harris. This is good news because Harris has handled the previous jobs she has been given with spectacular ineptitude. If she stays true to form this time, she may end up actually strengthening speech protections, rather than destroying them as she has been tasked to do.
The new incarnation of the Disinformation Governance Board, announced Thursday, will, according to the New York Post, be focused on “developing programs and policies” that will protect “political figures” from “disinformation,” “abuse” and “harassment.” This is already treading dangerous ground in terms of the First Amendment, as “abuse” and “harassment,” to say nothing of “disinformation,” are subjective terms. What is to prevent the person who is charged with judging what constitutes them — Kamala Harris, evidently — from considering sharp criticism, or even any criticism at all, no matter how accurate or justified, to be abuse or harassment?
But the new Task Force is being presented solely as a safeguard against the mistreatment of prominent women and gays online. It was established by a presidential memorandum that explained: “In the United States and around the world, women and LGBTQI+ political leaders, public figures, activists, and journalists are especially targeted by sexualized forms of online harassment and abuse, undermining their ability to exercise their human rights and participate in democracy, governance, and civic life. Online abuse and harassment, which aim to preclude women from political decision-making about their own lives and communities, undermine the functioning of democracy.” So do government restrictions on speech.
This tactic of introducing speech restrictions on the pretext of combating online abuse is a hangover from the original Disinformation Governance Board, whose chief, Nina Jankowicz, on Jan. 28, 2021 published a lengthy article in Wired entitled “Online Harassment Toward Women Is Getting Even More Insidious: From coded memes to deepfake porn, abusive disinformation campaigns are sliding past moderation tools. Platforms, Congress, and employers need to help women fight back.”
On the same day, Jankowicz tweeted: “For @WIRED, I wrote about the online gendered abuse I experienced, and the attacks we tracked against @KamalaHarris, @AOC, @IlhanMN, & more. Platforms and governments aren’t doing enough. It’s time to act. Our national security and democracy are at stake.” Apparently conservative women don’t experience any online harassment; that’s only for Leftist women.
Ominously, Jankowicz declared in her article that “Congress should reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) and include provisions against online gender-based harassment.” If the definition of “violence” is to be redefined to include certain types of speech, the door is opened to all manner of censorship.
There is more. Read the rest here.
CheckBurry says
So more & more “Monty Python”
Infidel says
Past VPs had a main job of attending funerals of other world leaders. VPs Cheney and Pence were the first to have prominent roles in their administrations, but now Que Mala is even more useless than the past funeral attendees
Walter Sieruk says
That Communist VP heading “The Ministry of Truth,” So this must be “1984” and not really 2022 !
Remember that novel by George Orwell ?
tim gallagher says
OUt here in Australia, along with video clips of Biden displaying his dementia, Sky News often show clips of this Kamala Harris character seeming to be utterly stupid. She seems to talk as if she is talking to children in a kindergarten class. It is very bizarre. And then she follows up with the cackling laugh. I guess that the idea with Vice Presidents is often to pick a very mediocre person so that the President looks great in comparison. Biden would have been like that for Obama. I recall that, years ago, Dan Quayle was seen as a fool. But I guess, mainly, Harris is woman with dark skin and therefore ticks the right boxes for this age of identity politics even though, on straight out ability, she seems to be hopeless. Talk about a person who has risen way above her actual level of competence.
somehistory says
she is “utterly stupid.” She actually gives “stupid” a bad rep.
I have yet to hear her make a completed paragraph of speech that has made any sense. She’ll waggle her hands and grin big and say the same words over and over as if she has made a complete and coherent thought by the repetition, and nodding approval of whatever she believes she said, and the points made.
Yes, stupid is she..
tim gallagher says
From what I have seen, somehistory, I agree with what you say. To me, the big question is, how the hell did she manage to reach this high up position. Her manner of talking is bizarre and even a class of kindergarten children would probably think to themselves, hey, this woman is an idiot and her style of talking is cringe worthy. I am surprised that her career ever got off the ground and that she advanced so far. She just doesn’t seem to display much ability at all.
somehistory says
I would wonder that too if everything else was in normal mode, but since ‘bo’ came riding in on his arrogance, the world has turned upside down. he is an idiot, too, needing a prompter or he rambled and, when reading, said things like “corpse” for “corps.”
he had a stupid grin and she has a stupid cackle…like the h. clinton fool. As others have said, it’s “bizzarro world.” And an evil one.
Infidel says
Yeah, there is that famous video of her describing the Ukraine Russia war as though she’s talking to third graders: “Ukraine is a country in Europe. Russia is another country in Europe. Russia decided to invade Ukraine, which is a smaller country in Europe. That is wrong”
This was the response to a question to describe this war for laymen. She described it for third graders
somehistory says
I remember third grade. I had my own reading group, where I was in the position of teacher. I would have thought her an idiot if she had “explained” anything the way she did the “war.” Third graders can be more intelligent than she is.
I’d say she was explaining he only way she knew.
tim gallagher says
Yeah, thanks for reminding me of that piece of intellectual brilliance from Harris, Infidel. They did show that on Sky News. It was excruciatingly embarrassing. If she has always been such an idiot, I truly do wonder how she has climbed so high up the greasy pole. Biden and Harris are an embarrassing double act for the USA. There obviously must be some bright people around them, but those two are really an embarrassment.
Infidel says
She used to be the District Attorney of San Francisco, responsible for booking criminals. The way she got that job is said to be that she had an affair w/ then San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, who was very powerful in the city and the state – he later became Assembly Speaker. So she became DA of San Francisco, later became state senator and then ran for president, not getting more than 3% of the vote. I was actually surprised that she was picked ahead of Susan Rice
tim gallagher says
Thanks for the information, Infidel. Harris does not seem to be capable of being District Attorney of any large city, but, anyway, maybe harris has a bit more ability than I am giving her credit for. I only see a few video clips of her in action and she certainly is not impressive. As I said I find her style of talking really is somewhat bizarre and it does seem like a person talking to young kids. You could say it certainly lacks any sense of authority or intellectual ability..
gravenimage says
I guess that the idea with Vice Presidents is often to pick a very mediocre person so that the President looks great in comparison.
…………….
Tim, traditionally vice presidential running mates were often chosen to “cover bases” the presidential candidate didn’t–most notably, John Kennedy, who was from Massachusetts, picked Lyndon Johnson to garner the Southern vote, even though he didn’t much personally like him. Bush 41 was considered older and rather stodgy and picked Dan Quail because he was young and good looking.
To be fair, sometimes the reasons involve genuine respect.
Presumably Biden picked Harris because she was female and POC. Certainly no other good reasons, except perhaps the California vote–but sadly Biden would have gotten most of that in any case.
tim gallagher says
Thanks for the information, gravenimage. That certainly makes sense that Kennedy would choose a Southerner to widen their appeal. I can only vaguely remember Quail (couldn’t remember how to spell his name – my spelling comes from a Rugby League footballer down here many years ago) but I do remember that he was supposed to be somewhat dopey from some reports out here in Australia. Harris would definitely be for identity political reasons, as outlined by you, I’m sure.I presume that many Americans feel pretty embarrassed by both Biden and Harris.
gravenimage says
I’m sorry, Tim–his name is Dan Quayle–now *I* feel like an idiot because of my poor spelling! Anyway, he with all his shortcomings was a *far* better VP than is Harris. At least he was patriotic.
tgusa says
In semi-related news, criminal street gangs will be charged with providing security for neighborhoods and neighborhood businesses.
somehistory says
Soon to be true, for sure. Much like the Babylon Bee now has competition from the *real* headlines.
gravenimage says
You can’t make this stuff up, tgusa. I forget the details, but some city did “rehabilitate” street gangs and set them patrolling neighborhoods some years back, with absolutely predictable results. I’ll see if I can find that story.
tgusa says
Yes, please do that. The unbelievable is now believable.
gravenimage says
tgusa, even though this article is generally rosy about the model, it lets the truth out in places:
“Many cities are putting hopes in violence interrupters, but few understand their challenges”
“…After having spent 30 years going in and out of jail with the Black Disciple gang in Chicago, Rodney Phillips found violence interruption work as a way to help the people he still considered family to walk away from violence.
*But being thrown into the work without stable funding and with trauma that was constant, Phillips ended up relapsing back into the gang* before he came back out again. He is now a field coordinator with the Metropolitan Peace Academy, a program that trains violence interrupters in Chicago.
You begin to put a lot of stress on yourself, the type of stress that leads to alcohol abuse, substance abuse, or if you lose someone that’s close to you, it could lead to you getting back on the street, because you may want to retaliate,” he said. “You have a whole lot of triggers, because you have to remember you’re not that far removed from that community…”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/many-cities-are-putting-hopes-violence-interrupters-understand-challen-rcna28118
[emphasis mine–GI]
Even though they blame everyone but the gang member for his returning to gang-banging, it is obvious what happened here.
So even though he *went back into the gang*, they have let him into another such program, further endangering the public. How many more are there like him?
tgusa says
“*real* headlines”
Oh boy, that’s a good one.
They represent the lollypop guild. And in the name of the lollypop guild they want to welcome us to la la land.
gravenimage says
Good News! Harris to Head New Biden Disinformation Task Force
…………..
Oh, Geez. I knew this agency was just “paused”, but I’d hoped it would be “paused” for a bit longer. But I guess this Orwellian agency is a real priority with the current occupant of the White House.
wpm says
After being “in charge” for fixing the border between Mexico and America last year Harris has been given another job she can F up. Will the Nazi Mary Poppins Jankowicz come back as her second in command ?
gravenimage says
Good question, wpm.
OLD GUY says
It can’t get any worse, can it? I wonder if the rise of fools and idiots like these caused the fall of the Roman Empire? And if so does that mean that man is always destine too fail?
gravenimage says
I wouldn’t be that cynical, OLD GUY–but no doubt there are always stupid and destructive people.
David Leek says
The presidential memorandum is an example of disinformation.