In their criticism of the Department of Homeland Security’s newly-created Disinformation Governance Board, Republicans have one thing right. It’s a stupid name. Maybe the agency thought that “governance” would explain the anti-disinformation part, but they failed to take into account that Republicans don’t do well with the comprehension of things. And it’s not like they want to comprehend anything anyway when they have a new talking point or red meat to throw out to their rabid base.

So, what is this disinformation board stuff? I had the same question when I saw a conservative cartoon on it, and then another and another and another, etc, etc, which meant Fox News must be all over it. If you want to know what Fox News is talking about, just read the conservative political cartoons at GoComics. It’ll save you a lot of time and you’ll get a huge laugh out of it as conservative cartoons are hilarious, though that’s inadvertent.

The Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas testified in multiple Congressional hearings last week where he mentioned the Disinformation Governance Board. Yeah, it’s a stupid name. Mayorkas said the board was created to combat misinformation from human smugglers and to counter Russian cyber and election misinformation.

Mayorkas said, “We have just established a mis- and disinformation governance board in the Department of Homeland Security to more effectively combat this threat, not only to election security but to our homeland security.”

Why, golly gee willikers, that sounds like a good idea. Who doesn’t want to fight coyotes smuggling humans in from the southern border and Russian attacks on our country? Republicans, that’s who.

Elon Musk said the creation of the board was “messed up.” Elon might as well be a Republican now because as the GOP became more racist, tried to overturn a Democratic election to install an Oompa-Loompa fascist dictator, defended Russia for attacking our nation’s elections, banned abortion by stealing Supreme Court seats, created new laws to stop black people from voting, and is now at war with a cartoon mouse, has found the Democratic Party too extreme.

Republicans also have issues with the board’s executive director, Nina Jankowicz, because she’s praised efforts to combat coronavirus misinformation on social media and expressed skepticism about the relevance of Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Republicans are also comparing this to the “Ministry of Truth” in George Orwell’s novel, “1984.”

Senator and white nationalist terrorist power-fister Josh Hawley said, “Rather than police our border, Homeland Security has decided to make policing Americans’ speech its top priority.”

Senator Rob Portman said, “I do not believe that the United States government should turn the tools that we have used to assist our allies counter foreign adversaries onto the American people. Our focus should be on bad actors like Russia and China, not our own citizens.”

But the board isn’t policing speech from citizens of this nation. Its focus is on foreign actors like Russian election meddlers and human smugglers from south of the border. Was the Mayorkas’ microphone not turned on during the hearings? Actually, Republicans didn’t ask a lot of questions about the board during those hearings choosing to instead express anger and gaslight it. And there’s the irony.

The Republicans are lying about a board created to combat lies. Republicans don’t get irony.

And just like the way Republicans were angrier with the FBI for going after suspected Russian spies than they were angry with the actual Russian spies, they’re more upset at a board created to combat lies than they are with the lies. Republicans are more upset with this board than they were with Pizzagate.

Republicans are way off base here and are claiming (another lie) that the board is going to have some sort of authority or ability to shut Americans up. Yeah, I wish. It’s more of that typical Republican doomsday shit where they tell their base, “They’re coming to getcha. Vote Republican.”

Mayorkas has explained, “The board does not have any operational authority or capability,” he said. “What it will do is gather together best practices in addressing the threat of disinformation from foreign state adversaries, from the cartels, and disseminate those best practices to the operators that have been executing in addressing this threat for years.”

Mayorkas said the board was part of an effort whose “goal is to bring the resources of the department together to address this threat,” specifically citing misinformation disseminated to Spanish speakers. 

As I said, Republicans weren’t listening. Jim Jordan asked the director if the board would look into “misinformation” spread by Dr. Anthony Fauci and…wait for it…Hunter Biden’s laptop. Seriously. You can’t talk about shit in Washington without a Republican bringing up Hunter Biden’s laptop.

Jordan is especially opposed to Jankowicz leading the board as she once tweeted that Hunter Biden’s laptop should be viewed as a “Trump campaign product” because of top Trump allies’ role in pushing it. Again, this Republican was missing the irony that during his questioning, he was a Trump ally pushing Hunter Biden’s laptop as a campaign product.

Jankowica tweeted last week, “one of the key reasons the Board was established, is to maintain the [DHS’s] commitment to protecting free speech, privacy, civil rights, & civil liberties.” So, pushing right-wing bullshit is NOT part of the board’s agenda?

Republicans don’t understand free speech. They don’t understand that no one owes them a platform to lie. They don’t understand that organizing a terrorist attack to topple our government isn’t free speech or protected in the Constitution. They don’t comprehend that accusing a political opponent of a crime, like raping children, isn’t freedom of speech and is actually libelous.

Republicans are the party of lies, conspiracy theories, and bullshit. They tell us that Russia didn’t attack our nation to help Donald Trump win an election, except Russia did exactly that. They tell us there are millions of incidents of voter fraud in the 2020 election, which is another lie. They’re changing voting laws based on the election fraud lie. They lie that public schools are teaching Critical Race Theory and are indoctrinating elementary students into becoming gay. It has become impossible for a Republican to talk about any issue without lying. Don’t believe me? Then why don’t you have a nice tall glass of bleach?

Let’s not even look at the lunatics in the party like Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, or Madison Cawthorn. Ignore Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, and Rand Paul for a minute. Let’s look at the leaders. Mitch McConnell lied about Supreme Court seats as he was stealing them. He’s currently lying about the filibuster because he’s going to destroy that after the GOP takes the Senate in order to ban abortion. Kevin McCarthy lies about telling Trump he’s responsible for the January 6 attack, despite there being tapes of him saying that. And speaking of Trump, he told over 30,000 while he was president (sic).

If there’s a new agency created to go after liars, then why are Republicans so afraid? Oh, yeah. Because they’re liars. Republicans are the enemies of truth.

Music Note: Today’s cartooning music was Better Than Ezra which might be some more disinformation because I don’t know if they’re actually better than someone named Ezra.

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