(Nina Jankowicz, noted information theoretician who identified the Steele Dossier as “true” and the Hunter Laptop “false.” She is in the news this morning.)

There was a moment of chaos at Refuge Farm yesterday. That was the product of several streams of activity. At the personal level, the Writer’s Section scrambled to find sweaters and even jackets to deal with the chill winds under brilliant sunny skies.

It was still cold this morning, and everyone looked a little bulky compared with the first 80-degree-day of the seasonal transition. So that accounted for the personal end of things, but the business part was equally active.

There also was publishing news from the Socotra concern as well- the new book about Admiral Mac Showers has been published with generally favorable reviews, and the second book in that series is nearing publication.

So, the Chairman was personally involved in some of it, and he asked DeMille to give him a few moments to in the production meeting to talk about his vision for where things are going in the “thinking space” that surrounds the Fire Ring and leads downslope on the South pastures to the mostly gentle flow that drains the highlands.

And then there was that strange announcement from Washington which could affect all of us. That was the item in which the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security testified to a House committee on his genuine attempt to suspend dissemination of Mal-Dis-Mis.

The group had talked about it before, and even incorporated the pre-fix to those words about something called “information” to a French-sounding new word called “Maldismis.” DHS Secretary Mayaorkas was impressive-looking ion the screen, his shaven head gleaming as he spoke in earnest tones about the matter.

“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.”

Thankfully, Secretary Mayaorkas has an answer. He announced the creation of a new office in his department that “addresses disinformation that imperils the safety and security of our homeland. And one of the primary areas that we are focused on is the dissemination of disinformation and its potential connectivity…to violence.”

What is this new organization? Since most of us are under Article 88 restrictions regarding commentary of officials appointed to positions of high authority in the Department of Defense, we took respectful note at the abbreviated report on the flat-screen. It is hard to keep up with who and what we are supposed to respect from moment to moment. Compliance is necessary for most of us in self defense.

Our local economist Buck is not under such just and necessary restrictions regarding people who were still in college when we were in positions of lesser authority in the same government. Or something that now at least shares the same name. He rose amid the confused babel of respectful conversation. “The answer is Nina Jankowicz.”

That solved the question, and the group moved on to talk about the Chairman’s vision for the next writing project. Melissa was married to a fellow who was subject to Article 88 restrictions, but swore no personal oath. At least at the moment. She asked “Who is this Ms Jankowicz and under what authority is she going to control Maldismis?”

The Old Salts component had been in government when DHS was created from a jumble of loosely associated organizations generally associated with public sector emergency response. “We all signed off on the idea that DHS ought to have a central role in coordinating response to jihadi attacks on the US homeland.”

“That did not include targeting US citizens for not agreeing with the government. When did that vast conspiracy of non-melanin citizens become the number one target of an organization supposed to combat overseas terrorists?”

“You forget. The new story is that the bad guys are actually us.”
Amanda, or young attorney charged with keeping the organization out of trouble, let that one slide past, so long as the actual speaker was not identified as uttering non-compliant sentiments.

Buck clarified, since he is not under restriction. Or at least thinks he is not. “Nina Jankowicz is newly appointed as the new executive director for Disinformation Governance Board in the DHS Office of Policy.”
“Isn’t she the one who said the Steel Dossier was real and the Hunter Biden laptop story was false?” Melissa looked a little confused, since the sharing of information was the only way we had a clue that there was something strange with the last election, and there is another one coming up.
“You guys aren’t keeping up very well. I saw Nina do a Facebook post in which she sang a funny blurb about people telling false stories and we have to stop it. She wrote a book, too. It was called How to Lose the Information War.”

“The open discussion of her qualifications and assertion of authority would be a traditional process in our government, wouldn’t it?”

“Think back for a moment. Remember when the Chairman was so pissed off when the Facebook account he had disappeared?”

Loma frowned. “He tasked me with trying to find out what happened to it, and how he could get all those pictures of family and friends back. There was no response from Facebook.”

“I remember when we ran that picture of the poster about the 1/6 demonstration and the distribution got kicked back by Google who said we couldn’t do that.”

“I thought the point of that story was a recommendation to stay away from the demonstration on the Mall.”

“It was. But that doesn’t matter. This has been going on for a while, and we didn’t know who was doing it or why.”

“That would be apparent if you read Nina’s book. The enemy in the war is anyone she doesn’t agree with.”

There was a nearly unanimous circle of blank faces around the circle. The idea that the Bill of Rights would now be subject to the judgment of a relatively minor official at a department that didn’t exist until our collective dates of retirement was sort of astonishing.

DeMille made an announcement that he and Amanda had compiled. “We are a compliant bunch and won’t raise a stink about something that has apparently been going on for a while. And has been done to us. If you are not under such restraint, you might want to look at the First Amendment and find out what the heck is going on.”

Rocket laughed. “You can’t even use the word you wanted to use instead of ‘heck.’ This is going to be interesting.”

What was even more interesting was the fact that the back door to the Great House opened and the Chairman stepped out to the deck that looms upslope over the Fire Ring. It looked like he was going to tell us something about the future. We will have to review that with Amanda to see if we can say anything about it.

Manana.

Copyright 2022 Vic Socotra
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