The reporting on the Disinformation Governance Board (ДГБ) here at Hogewash! began last February when it was still in the planning stage. The first post, Experts Recommend, was fairly brief.

The New York Times reports that experts recommend the Biden administration put together a cross-agency task force to tackle disinformation and domestic extremism, which would be led by something like a “reality czar.”

The Gestapo, Stasi, and KGB were run by experts.

So I was not surprised when the existence of the ДГБ (that’s DGB is the Russian alphabet) leaked last month. My 28 April posts noted It’s A Bad Idea, But Is It Also Illegal? and presented the official portrait of The Central Scrutinizer.It turned out that Congress has authorized the Department of Homeland Security to get involved in the analysis of certain kinds of propaganda attacks, but it’s my opinion the the agency vastly exceeded its authority in creating the ДГБ.

On 29 April, I posted a viral video Nina Jankowicz had created and posted online herself. I did not edit the video. It’s as she originally posted it to TikTok. It’s also cringeworthy, a self-inflicted wound to her credibility.

Also on the 29th and the 30th, I posted a pair of Are You Pondering What I’m Ponderings that took aim at the ДГБ and the reason for its creation.

There was a great deal of blowback concerning the anti-free speech and anti-free press overreach embedded in the very idea of the ДГБ, especially from the right side of the blogosphere. I posted the Quote of the Day for 2 May in support of that theme.

I would never want to see our executive branch have that sort of power.

—Nina Jankowicz

As more information turned up about Ms. Jankowicz’s background, it began to appear she had been more of source of disinformation than an opponent of it. On 5 May, I posted a portion of her resume on LinkedIn which suggested that when she claimed that Hunter Biden’s laptop was “Russian disinformation,” her point of view could have been through The Lens of Experience.

On 12 May, my post When THE Science Follows THE Narrative dealt with how the Biden Administration is itself spreading misinformation. The post quotes the head of the FDA as claiming that misinformation is “the leading cause of death in the US.”

On the 13th, I posted this Dictionary Update—

Effective immediately, all agents, employees, and contractors of the Disinformation Governance Board (ДГБ) shall be referred to as checkists.

Indeed, it seems that those who would check our speech have real philosophical and spiritual connection to the original Chekists.

Yesterday’s post, Democracy Dies in Derpness™, was about Taylor Lorenz’s scoop about the “pausing” of the ДГБ and Ms. Jankowicz’s “resignation.” Part of the spin in Lorenz’s WaPo story is the false narrative—the disinformation—that Nina Jankowiicz was unfairly attacked. Now, it may be true that someone somewhere said something unfair about her, but the overwhelming balance of the coverage of her consisted of accurate reporting of her own statements, publications, and music videos, all reported in proper context. As noted above, her wounds were self-inflicted.

For now the ДГБ is “paused,” a victim of the Xiden Administration’s general incompetence. Its functions will have to move to some other part of the Deep State.