“If We Knew He Would Win, We Would Have Stopped Him”

This was the comment made by the lead reporter covering Joe Miller and his upstart race for senate, for the then little known, and financially unviable Alaska Dispatch, the night of the primary when Miller pulled off the biggest upset in the history of Alaskan politics, in Trumpian style, back in 2010.

The power, and sheer hubris of the media – had never been more on display – for those attuned to it, than in that race. To be clear- All the powers that be, the media, the left, the establishment GOP, the “deep state” – as it’s now referred to (those sitting in the bureaucracy taking an active hand against a populist or independent minded candidate), all had been taken off guard, and reacted with the full might of their power, doing all they could to sink his campaign in the general election. And, with some help from his own missteps and those of his well meaning staff of honest novices-none of whom, admittedly, had ever been on such a stage, against such seasoned foes- it worked.

It is fair to say, never had Alaskan politics experienced such an upset- and never had that upset been followed by such an assault, from all quarters. Page one lies, followed a week later by page seven retractions. Over an 8 week period of the general election, a count was done of the published articles on each candidate; 26 negative on Miller, 3 on McAdams (the Democrat) and 5, all favorable, on Murkowski, running as a write-in. The myriad of laws broken by state and federal election officials, the slanders by the media, and the betrayals by the party whose primary he won, are legion – too many to list here – but needless to say, the fix was in, and it was heaped on all sides, by all sides.

Fast forward 6 years – and on a much grander stage – a similar event takes place. An unprecedented and more importantly, unpredicted win takes place, and the pillars of power shake.

The response was immediate. The strategy predictable: discredit the win, disavow the mandate.

Never, in the recorded history of our national political scene, has the media, the left wing, the establishment right, and the “deep state” lifelong bureaucrats, all coordinated such a prolonged attack against a sitting president, over.. in realty, nothing..and yet, in a battle, essentially for everything. Make no mistake, the country’s soul is what is up for grabs, and if you do not think so, please take a moment to consider the stage that is set, and where we find ourselves.

A concocted narrative, with no facts, no evidence, and no proof, has dominated the last 8 months of American politics, and is all but insuring the failing of a legislative and executive agenda, which puts as it’s primarily goals, restoring peace and security to the nation and its peoples, and returning freedom and prosperity to the American body, and the individuals of which it’s made, as it’s central goals.

And that, is exactly the problem.

And that, is exactly the point.

The powers that be, on all sides, may not be “colluding” as is the new en vogue phraseology- but they all may as well be. They have a common goal, status quo- and thus- a common enemy: the President. More importantly – his agenda – but there’s more to it than that. A visceral hate, on all sides, because he is beholden to none of them, and this is key; none of them ordained him. In essence- his affront to their sensibilities is three-fold; his goals are in opposition to theirs (no matter what they say in the GOP), they did not create him, thus they cannot control him, and thirdly- they did not predict him, thus he disapproves their all knowing omnipotence.

The last, is the greatest sin.

You can never underestimate the sheer insult it is to the ruling class, when someone they don’t own, and didn’t create, beats their expectations. By extension their lackeys and sycophants in the media and academia are likewise injured, after all- they are the keepers of knowledge and the “knowers of all that is and shall be”, far be it from any citizen, be he small town judge, father of eight and decorated veteran, or billionaire New York real estate magnate and pop culture icon. If they don’t approve you, you don’t get in. If they don’t control you, you don’t get to make decisions. And most importantly – if your basic existence refutes the premise that they know all..

..you must be destroyed.

It’s that simple.

As we watch good men, like former Senator and now Attorney General Jeff Session, get drug thru the mud and have to defend baseless accusations that he should not be subject to…as we watch a media hate cycle feed itself it’s own stories 24 hours a day seven days a week…as we watch craven political operatives and elected politicians shiver with fear in the corner of inaction and cowardice- we may ask ourselves “Why?” And “How did this come to be?” To be be frank, the answer is really not that hard to discern.

For certain, there is money, lots of money at stake. Power, mainline power, the kind that money can’t buy- that is there, to be sure, all of that as well..and all of that has contributed to the decline of nobility of service and replaced it with the utter sleaziness of “job security”, but if you want to know what is really driving all of this, in a word, it is simply this:

Arrogance.

Not just any arrogance.

The kind of arrogance that believes a story shouldn’t be a story unless it was thought of or predicted in the minds of the journalists writing it weeks, months or years before.

The kind of arrogance that thinks the citizen works for the government, and not the other way around.

The kind of arrogance that thinks the powers that be should brook no insolence from the serfs and slaves that tend the fields.

And finally, the kind of arrogance that corrupts a man when he wakes up one day and thinks, not only does he know better than his neighbor how his neighbor should live his life, but that he should be entitled to compel his neighbor- thru force- to live his life accordingly.

At best, this arrogance is giving in to a weakness in all men and women- a failure to discipline oneself against base instincts and poor character temptation that tests us all– at worst, it is the embodiment of evil, and a desire to control ones fellow man, and see them all as merely extras, in the grand Play of ones life, to be moved about to for purposes other than their own, and not deserving of power over their own lives, instead of individuals, with thoughts and opinions and hopes and dreams, and as the only true masters over their own destinies.

It is this arrogance that we are, those of us who hold these beliefs the founders annunciated so well, have been fighting for for centuries. It is this arrogance that we confront now, in the face of the farce that are these hearings and investigations, innuendos and insults, and the attack on our intelligence that is the daily media and pop culture assault, on anyone who dare challenge this arrogance, and those who hold to its self centered axiom, and it is why we must continue to persevere.

This is the world when they have no true power. Full of lies, rumor, slurs, defamation, and character assassination. They are losing right now, thru the grace of God alone.

Imagine the world in which they win?

In the midst of all this, now more than ever, we cannot waiver. We cannot relinquish our freedom and our intellect. We cannot fail to resist. We cannot afford to lose.

______________________________________________

Dr Walter Campbell is a lifelong Alaskan, former Marine, and physician.

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Standing Together Against Evil

As long as the media, entertainers, and other public figures blatantly mock God, authority and laws, we will continue to witness horrific manifestations of evil like we saw in the attack on GOP representatives and senators in Alexandria, Virginia. If Americans continue to cast aside the principles upon which freedom stands, the blessings freedom offers will be lost. There is no substitute for the power of transforming truth that sets us free and keeps us free.

This latest senseless and evil act was not caused by the election of President Trump, his administration, or what he is trying to accomplish for America. The worthy goals he seeks to fulfill are, in fact, necessary to help bring such evil action under control.

It is perfectly appropriate and essential for our nation’s leaders to call for prayer and divine guidance. This call from President Trump, Senator Schumer, Speaker Paul Ryan and others is the right immediate step. Do not accept the foolishness of any individuals or media personalities who attack these calls as somehow unconstitutional or out of place. Prayer is in perfect harmony with the heart of our founding fathers, the spirit of our Constitution, and that which is essential for the future of freedom.

Evil is a Present Reality

Every one of us is distracted by evil, often defeated by evil, divided by evil and, tragically, sometimes destroyed by evil. Evil is a present reality; and calling good evil, or evil good, or light darkness does not solve the problem. Evil affects every one of us on the planet in this present age and will until we are in the kingdom to come, where there will be no evil. Although we are all distracted by it, often deceived, and defeated by it, this individual shooter at the baseball field was sold out to and controlled by evil.

Many of the active forces we witness around the world are acts perpetrated by people who have sold out to evil, and those forces must be resisted and destroyed. This is the rule of God-ordained authority and government of the people, by the people and for the people. (Read Romans 13:1-4.)

A Return to Righteousness and Unity

Right now, it is critically important that everyone who has a relationship with God the Father and Creator pray fervently for a supernatural awakening and a return to true righteousness and unity that only truth can make possible. The invitation from God, “Come now, and let us reason together,” is an invitation to the entire nation to come and reason together. Though our “sins be as scarlet they will become as white as snow.”

There is no substitute for repentance and a return to God. “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Isaiah 59:19).

The heated rhetoric must cease on all sides. Instead of name-calling we must be calling on the name.

God still promises, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chron. 7:14). There is hope for the healing God freely offers to those who follow that glorious pathway. (For more from the author of “Standing Together Against Evil” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Why Conservatives Put Trust in Trey Gowdy as House’s Corruption Fighter

Conservative leaders say they’re confident the new chairman of a House of Representatives panel that targets corruption will dedicate himself to reviewing executive branch actions, including during the Obama administration.

Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., assumed the chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee after his confirmation Tuesday. He takes the reins from Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, who will leave Congress on June 30.

The oversight committee, which works to expose abuse, waste, and fraud, seeks to ensure the “efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability of the federal government and all its agencies,” according to the panel’s website.

“I think there are opportunities for accountability for misconduct in the Obama administration that should be taken advantage of,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, a conservative legal oversight organization, said of Gowdy in an interview with The Daily Signal.

Gowdy, 52, first elected to Congress in 2010, was chairman of the House Select Committee on Benghazi, which investigated and produced a report on the 2012 terror attacks in Benghazi, Libya.

Prior to joining Congress, Gowdy worked as a federal prosecutor in South Carolina on cases that included narcotics trafficking rings, child pornography, and the murder of a federal witness. He also held the post of 7th Circuit solicitor, directing 25 attorneys and 40 other employees in an office that represents South Carolina in certain local criminal cases.

Fitton said he hopes Gowdy will investigate corruption that occurred during Barack Obama’s presidency.

“I think he should work to get the attention of the White House to expose what went on during the Obama administration, even on things that everyone thinks are over, such as Benghazi and the IRS and, you know, even Fast and Furious,” Fitton said.

Besides the terrorist attacks in Benghazi that left U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three others dead, Fitton was referring to the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of tea party groups under IRS division chief Lois Lerner before the 2012 elections. Lawmakers recently asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to re-examine the Lerner case.

Fast and Furious, a secret operation of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives authorized by the Obama Justice Department, funneled guns to illegal buyers close to the Mexican border because agency officials wanted to follow them back to Mexican drug gangs.

Weapons from the Fast and Furious program were found on Dec.14, 2010 at the scene of Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s slaying, The Daily Signal previously reported.

Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the American Center for Law and Justice, a legal group, said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal that Gowdy will be an unbiased chairman.

“Congressman Gowdy brings valuable prosecutorial skills to this critical role,” Sekulow said. “He understands as well as anyone in Congress how to gather evidence, question witnesses, and separate truth from spin. He is an excellent choice for the position.”

Hans von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an email that Gowdy could use his position to probe illegal payments to third-party organizations.

On June 7, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that the federal government no longer will make settlement agreements with any person or organization not directly involved in a legal dispute.

Von Spakovsky said of Gowdy:

I think one of the first things he could look at, in conjunction with AG Sessions having just ended the DOJ practice of having settlement funds in litigation being paid to third-party groups, is using his oversight powers to compile a list of all of the organizations that were paid off by the Obama Justice Department, with the amounts they received.

Chaffetz, first elected to Congress in 2008, announced April 19 that he would not seek re-election in 2018. He officially resigned Tuesday as chairman of the oversight committee, and said his last day in Congress would be June 30.

As committee chairman, Chaffetz, 50, became known for his investigation into Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email account and server to conduct official business when she was secretary of state during Obama’s first term.

Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative lawmakers, said in a statement provided to The Daily Signal that he is confident that Gowdy will be a competent watchdog.

“Having worked with him on the Oversight Committee since I arrived in Congress, I can tell you there are few men in Washington more dedicated to holding government accountable than Trey Gowdy,” Meadows said, adding:

He is an honest broker who has consistently demonstrated a commitment to truth and integrity above partisan politics. He’ll make an outstanding chairman and I look forward to working with him.

Anthony L. François, a senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an interview that he expects Gowdy will hold the executive branch accountable.

“There is an overarching purpose to what the committee does, and especially Mr. Gowdy’s responsibility [in] the chair, in making sure that the government that American citizens get is the one that their elected representatives have enacted, not a different one that unaccountable bureaucrats would prefer to impose,” François said.

Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., chairman of the Republican Study Committee, the largest caucus of GOP lawmakers in the House, told The Daily Signal in an interview that he hopes Gowdy will use his oversight position to ensure government accountability.

Walker said:

As far as specific areas that we hope that he will look into, when it comes to government accountability I think there is a lot of room. Some of the agencies that have run amok, that have operated in some of the careless behavior, I believe that is part of his goal and part of his heart to continue to peel back some of the abuse, the overspending. And I think he’s the guy to do that, and I support this decision 100 percent.

(For more from the author of “Why Conservatives Put Trust in Trey Gowdy as House’s Corruption Fighter” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Trump Will Be Impeached If Republicans Lose the House

The 1998 midterm election was a debacle for Republicans, particularly then-Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. Since Reconstruction, no president had seen his party gain seats in the House in a midterm election six years into his presidency. Gingrich, who made the election a referendum on impeaching President Bill Clinton, resigned after the loss. Clearly, voters had sent the signal, “Don’t do it” . . .

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi has cautioned against making the midterms a referendum on impeachment. But that is an electoral strategy, not a plan for when she gets the speaker’s gavel. And even if she declines to go straight to impeachment hearings on Day 1, a Democratic-controlled House would still be a nightmare for the White House. Any hope of passing a conservative agenda would die instantaneously. Worse, once Democrats gained the power to subpoena documents and compel testimony from members of the administration, the Hobbesian internal politics of today’s White House would look like a company picnic by comparison.

In short, the only hope for the Trump presidency is for the GOP to maintain control of the House.

According to various reports, the GOP thinks it can hold on by running “against the media” in 2018. As pathetic as that would be, it might work. Though I doubt it. A better strategy would be to actually get things done.

And the only way for that to happen is for both houses of Congress to get their act together. Voting bills out of the House may be enough to justify a Rose Garden party, but it will do little to sway voters who’ve been told for years that the GOP needs control of all three branches to do big things. Trump won’t be on the ballot in 2018, but his presidency will hang in the balance. (Read more from “Trump Will Be Impeached If Republicans Lose the House” HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

The Last Argument Over Immigration You’ll Ever Need to Have

Worried Christian conservatives have fought for decades against the hijack of Gospel compassion on the subject of immigration. We rarely lose on the arguments. That’s not because we’re geniuses. It’s because our opponents hardly make any. They don’t rebut our assertions, dispute our facts, or even address what we’ve said.

Instead of engaging logic, history, precedent, church tradition, or even (for Catholics) the binding teaching of their own Church’s Catechism, open borders advocates tend to do something else.

They strike elaborate postures that seem to them Christ-like. They weave emotional word pictures, play on the sentiments, and in general fuss and preen to attain one focused outcome: They seem like better people.

So even when champions of open borders don’t make sense or get the facts wrong, too many Christians think that their statements are “coming from a good place.” From a fuzzy, blurry, purple Jesusy-kind of place. So open-borders fans lose the argument on points but win the battle for persuasion.

It’s exhausting. It’s like entering a fencing tournament, and learning that your opponent is armed with a bowl of spaghetti. He gets points every time that sauce splatters your suit.

So let’s change the rules. Here’s a model conversation between a defender of the classical Christian position on patriotism and sovereignty, and a proponent of what I call “promiscuous citizenship.” The speakers are named (not randomly) “Augustine” and “Pollyanna.”

Fencing Against Spaghetti

POLLYANNA: I saw on Facebook that you shared that nasty article going after immigrant-friendly Christians, because some of them accept financial support from a progressive foundation.

AUGUSTINE: You mean the foundation run by anti-Christian, anti-family, pro-abortion globalist socialist George Soros? Yes I shared that. I hope you read it.

POLLYANNA: Well, of course as a Christian I don’t believe all those other things. But at least he’s trying to help people. Helpless, vulnerable, marginalized people. People like Jesus.

AUGUSTINE: How is it exactly that people leaving their native countries to go make more money somewhere else are like Jesus? Did He leave Israel to find better paying carpentry work in Athens?

POLLYANNA: No, but he was an illegal immigrant and a refugee. He crossed borders to flee oppression.

AUGUSTINE: Actually, his parents were more like fugitive members of a royal family. (They were both descended from David.) When they heard that Herod was looking for Jesus, they temporarily moved from one province of the Roman empire to another. There were no borders. They didn’t break Roman law. They went to the “first safe country,” Egypt. Where Joseph worked for a living. And then when it was safe, they went back home. So how exactly is that like Somalis flying over 10 Muslim countries to go on welfare in the U.S., attend Islamist mosques, and refuse to go home, ever?

POLLYANNA: You’re just being legalistic now. Focusing in on details and missing the bigger picture.

AUGUSTINE: A picture is made up of details. Get them wrong, and you change the picture. So we’ve established that Jesus had little in common with beneficiaries of America’s lavish, self-destructive refugee program. What else have you got?

POLLYANNA: Did you know that no American has ever died as a result of a terrorist attack by a refugee? I read that in Christianity Today.

AUGUSTINE: What about the Boston Marathon bombers? They came here from Chechnya.

POLLYANNA: I looked that up on Snopes.com. And you’re wrong. They weren’t admitted under the Refugee Act, but the Asylum Act.

AUGUSTINE: I see. I’m sure that’s a great comfort to the families of their victims. How about the Ohio State attack, where a Somali “refugee” admitted under the correct Congressional statute attacked American students with a machete? You know, to avenge the abuse of Muslims in … Burma.

POLLYANNA: None of those people died, did they?

AUGUSTINE: You’re right. They are slowly recovering. So forget them. And we should also forget all the children of refugees who commit acts of terror in Europe. People whose parents Western countries welcomed in and supported, while their kids drank in poison at Islamist madrasas. And we should forget their victims — except when we pause to celebrate how very diverse those victims are. The London police chief is mighty proud that the dead from the last terrorist attack came from eight separate countries.

POLLYANNA: Well, our diversity is our strength.

AUGUSTINE: So multiculturalism is a contest. The country whose civilian corpses are the most diverse … wins.

POLLYANNA: You are just so morbid and negative. That is not a Gospel attitude.

AUGUSTINE: You mean the same Gospel that introduced the idea of eternal hellfire — which wasn’t canonical in Judaism before Jesus? That Gospel? Or maybe you’re thinking Godspell, that 70s musical.

POLLYANNA: Again, you’re just channeling some angry white male antipathy that you must have picked up from Donald Trump or Breitbart. Are you part of the Alt-Right?

AUGUSTINE: Quite the contrary. Alt-Right racists hate Christians. They think that Christianity is a civilizational suicide cult. I’m afraid that you do, too. It’s just you want to embrace that act of self-annihilation. Jesus never asked us to nail up our children and grandchildren on a cross.

POLLYANNA: So now you speak for Jesus? Please. …

AUGUSTINE: No, but I can quote Him. He told the Pharisees “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s,” right?

POLLYANNA: Yes …

AUGUSTINE: So let’s try to see what is Caesar’s, shall we? On the most literal level, it clearly includes minting coinage, and levying taxes, yes?

POLLYANNA: Right. Progressive taxes!

AUGUSTINE: What else would have to be Caesar’s? What else belongs to the State and not the Church? Maybe, controlling the police and army? You’d agree that the Church shouldn’t have its own militias, wouldn’t you?

POLLYANNA: No, of course not. That’s like … the Inquisition.

AUGUSTINE: So what’s another thing that Caesar and not the Church should control? Should the Church control our national borders and grant or withhold citizenship? If so, which Church? The Catholics? The Baptists?

POLLYANNA: No, obviously not.

AUGUSTINE: Okay, so then it’s the State. The State controls the movement of peoples across our borders.

POLLYANNA: Yeah, but the Church can tell us that we need to welcome everyone. Then as Christians we have to honor that.

AUGUSTINE: And impose it on our fellow citizens, who aren’t even Christians? Why not impose the whole Bible on them, then? Why not force them to convert?

POLLYANNA: Because that violates the separation of Church and State.

AUGUSTINE: And the Church setting immigration policy based not on reason, prudence, the common good or the natural law — but on our readings of the Gospel? That’s not a problem? Should the Church censor movies too? Maybe run all our state universities?

POLLYANNA: But this is different. You know a lot of those immigrants you want to turn away are Christians. Most are Catholics just like you.

AUGUSTINE: So I should bias my opinion about what’s best for my fellow citizens, to benefit strangers from another country because they belong to my church? I should try to fill up the emptying pews of my denomination, because our leaders can’t catechize or evangelize?

POLLYANNA: I just think you should “welcome the stranger.” It says that in Exodus (22:21), and that is unconditional.

AUGUSTINE: Three verses earlier, in Exodus 22:18, the Bible demands the death penalty for witches. No exceptions. Should we implement that, too? Or maybe we shouldn’t cherry-pick the Old Testament for proof-texts to impose on our fellow citizens. How about that?

POLLYANNA: I believe in an absolute embrace of the Other. And that’s what the Gospel means to me.

AUGUSTINE: Okay. But you know that virtually no Christians ever believed that, right? Many of the first Christians to emerge from the Catacombs after Constantine joined the Roman army to fight the barbarians. The saint I’m named for, Augustine, prayed that Rome could stop those armies of immigrants from entering the empire. Because he thought they were bad for the common good.

POLLYANNA: Well plenty of Christians have perverted the Gospel over the centuries.

AUGUSTINE: Did every Christian country in history, up until the 1980s or so? Are your generation of believers the best Christians in history?

POLLYANNA: I don’t make any great claims. But on this, I know I stand with the immigrant.

AUGUSTINE: How many of them will you stand with? All of them?

POLLYANNA: Yes. It’s a principled stand.

AUGUSTINE: Okay, so in that column which upset you so much, some facts appeared. According to the Gallup Poll, “Nearly 710 million adults worldwide want to migrate to another country and 147 million of those specifically want to come to the United States.”

POLLYANNA: Wow. Okay.

AUGUSTINE: So do you favor allowing all 147 million of those people to come to the United States, and receive the same social support as citizens?

POLLYANNA: Well, that’s a little extreme.

AUGUSTINE: Ah, so you do favor immigration restriction.

POLLYANNA: I mean, there have to be limits of some kind.

AUGUSTINE: Finally! We agree. You and I both think that the government has the right to say “no” to immigrants. We’re just arguing over how many we should accept, and under what conditions. Right?

POLLYANNA: Er, okay.

AUGUSTINE: Or you could take all 147 million. Regardless of their effect on the American poor, on the environment, on jobs and wages, and civic order — because a lot of them will want to impose sharia, you know. A lot of them. So you want to take all of them?

POLLYANNA: Okay, no.

AUGUSTINE: Great! We’re on the same side. I’m glad we could reason together. Now, why don’t you come with me. I could use some help building a wall…

(For more from the author of “The Last Argument Over Immigration You’ll Ever Need to Have” please click HERE)

Follow Joe Miller on Twitter HERE and Facebook HERE.

Google’s Power to Censor the World

Google, as the world’s predominant online search engine and conduit for online advertising, possesses tremendous power to dictate what information people are exposed to on a daily basis.

Last summer, it was widely reported that the auto-complete function in Google seemed to suppress negative stories about Hillary Clinton.

Robert Epstein, writing for U.S. News in a piece titled “The New Censorship,” noted that last summer during the presidential campaign when a Google searcher typed “lying T…” Google would auto-complete “lying Ted,” while a similar search for “crooked Hillary” by going even farther, typing “crooked Hill …”, would not bring up any negative results. Meanwhile both Yahoo and Bing searches would immediately call up “Crooked Hillary.” A search on Google currently will generate Crooked Hillary.

Epstein explained that the auto-complete “blacklist” is just one of nine ways Google can censor and suppress information.

Another is through its Adwords and Adsense programs. Many political (and non-political) websites derive a significant portion of their revenue from working with Google to use key words in their content for ad placement.

Epstein explained, “The way it works is simple: Businesses worldwide bid on the right to use certain keywords in short text ads that link to their websites (those text ads are the AdWords); when people click on the links, those businesses pay Google.”

Google then turns around and pays a portion of that revenue to the host site on which the business ad was placed. Western Journalism and its sister site Conservative Tribune generate revenue this way.

As the one-stop and dominant shop for placing online ads, Google can in effect blacklist views it does not support by cutting off a company’s revenue stream. It can do this for specific stories or ban an entire website from generating ad revenue through Google, if it determines the policy violations to be egregious or consistent enough.

Examples of prohibited material include dangerous or derogatory content (threatens or advocates harm to oneself or others or promotes hatred or discrimination against people based on race, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, etc.), adult content (pornography, etc.), illicit drug use, irresponsible alcohol use, the sale of weapons, and violent content.

Western Journalism and Conservative Tribune both recently received notices about stories not being in compliance with Google Publisher Policy, due to violent content. In both cases the stories were about ISIS.

The Western Journalism piece flagged was about ISIS releasing an execution video. The story–published over two years ago, in March 2015–contained a warning to readers that the descriptions and images in it were graphic.

The full video was not included in the story, only an edited version, which did not show the moment the terrorists blew up 10 captive victims whose crime was “apostasy” or the aftermath of the blast. The article also pointed out that ISIS has released multiple videos of gruesome killings including the drowning of their victims in a cage, beheading them using explosive cord, and firing an RPG into a group of them locked in a car.

Another story by Conservative Tribune from Feb. 2016 was also flagged by Google as being in violation of its content policy. The story dealt with ISIS beheading a 15-year-old Iraqi boy for listening to Western-style pop music.

Western Journalism contacted Google for comment on its decision to pull its ads from the articles.

Suzanne Blackburn, with Google’s public affairs office, stated the company adopted its publishing policies with an eye to balancing the needs of all interested parties.

“We have to consider the impact on the advertiser, the user and the publisher,” Blackburn said. “So we’re considering those three groups and how we can protect each one in terms of our policy. So policy and policy enforcement is always a balancing act.”

She said Google’s decision to pull ads from a story is not a comment on the quality of the journalism.

“We’re just saying it is not appropriate to be monetized. We don’t want to make money on it, and we don’t feel our advertisers want to appear on it.”

When asked why the stories were just being flagged now, given that they were published a year or more ago, Blackburn could not comment directly, but stated that Google relies heavily on users to report potential content violations to the company. Judging by this information, it would seem likely in these instances that a third party contacted Google, which then decided to pull the ads down.

Liftable Media CEO Patrick Brown expressed concern that Google’s enforcement against ISIS articles disincentivizes covering the group’s true nature.

“If Google is automatically removing ads from any article or video that mentions ISIS or their atrocities, I find this very troubling,” he said.

Brown added, “Of course they are free to remove their ads from any news source they like. But my concern is that if publishers don’t get paid to write or create videos about ISIS, the financial incentive to cover news about them is removed, which in turn could mean less journalism and less awareness of their crimes.”

Brown further promised that Western Journalism and Conservative Tribune would continue to report on ISIS even if there is little or no financial return.

YouTube, which is owned by Google, also demonetizes content it finds objectionable, meaning the video creator’s revenue stream is cut off.

Joe Miller — publisher of the most popular political site in Alaska, Restoring Liberty — told Western Journalism that YouTube demonetized a number of his videos that included experts in the field discussing Islamic extremism, and that Google pulled ads from his site entirely last month.

“I think this is a lesson to anti-establishment sites that they have to develop a means of support from outside of these establishment-controlled internet giants,” he said.

As reported by Western Journalism, conservative commentator Steven Crowder claims YouTube is trying to silence conservative viewpoints by both restricting who can watch the content and by shutting down providers’ revenue streams.

In March, the host of Louder With Crowder — which airs via YouTube, podcast and Conservative Review’s CRTV online streaming service — noted on his program the different treatment his program receives from YouTube versus that given the liberal The Young Turks show.

Some of the Louder With Crowder programs that were restricted included subjects like socialism and the history of single-payer health care which, the host argued, would be informative for younger and older viewers alike.

Crowder said his programs are all FCC-compliant, with any foul language bleeped out, unlike the liberal political show The Young Turks, which he described as “far more profane” and which would be designated an R-rated film.

YouTube was also charged with unfairly targeting conservative views last fall when it put 21 of Prager University’s videos in restricted mode. The organization was founded by radio talk show host Dennis Prager and seeks to promote “the principles that have made America great.”

The organization responded to YouTube’s decision by saying, “There is no excuse for Google and YouTube censoring and restricting any PragerU videos, which are produced with the sole intent of educating people of all ages about America’s founding values.”

Blackburn admitted Google does not always get it right when deciding whether to pull ads from articles or videos.

“Every now and then we make mistakes. These are human reviewers. There are channels both for Adsense publishers or content creators on YouTube to push back if they feel their videos have been unfairly demonetized,” she said. (For more from the author of “Google’s Power to Censor the World” please click HERE)

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Lefties: Get Used to Your Daughters Losing to Mustached ‘Girls’

Romans 1.

That’s where we live now. No one forced us to set up camp there; we actually bought tickets and went voluntarily.

We even let our children be the canaries in that ghastly and demonic coal mine.

I know it’s all the rage to complain about helicopter parents hovering over their children’s every move, but we could have used a little more hovering in Connecticut recently. There, a troubled mustached 15-year-old boy who feels pretty won the state 100- and 200-meter dash titles, as a freshman.

Heck, hovering doesn’t even begin to describe what I would have done if my daughter had earned a place to run in that race. I would have gone all Gandalf: “You shall not pass!” I would have made them arrest me out in the middle of that track.

But doing nothing but mindlessly cheering while your daughter’s dreams are being shattered is pretty close to that, I guess. Any word if this dude hit the showers after the race with these girls against their will?

Oh, CNN’s Chris Cuomo called and told them to get over themselves if they don’t want to see any naked roosters in the hen house. Because men who like their Wonder Woman without hairy armpits are the real threat to women’s equality, we’re told. (Certainly not men who enjoy diminishing women’s physical triumphs, before disrobing in front of them and demanding they smile.)

What in God’s name is wrong with us?

This is actually happening. I actually am writing this column. And I am left with the cold, hard truth that if we won’t fight on something as elemental and obvious as boys-can’t-be-girls, we sadly deserve the cultural annihilation to come.

The same feminists who once sang “I am woman, hear me roar” are now strangely silent as opportunities are taken from our daughters — not to mention their hopes and dreams of being the next Mia Hamm, Serena Williams, or a host of other women who paved the way for the next generation’s moment in the sun.

Who needs the heteronormative patriarchy when you’ve got transgender, SJW madness … and the tyranny that comes along with a culture drunk on its own decadence?

My editor, Todd Erzen, has a middle school daughter who is one of the fastest distance runners in the entire country for her age category. Yet, at a recent event that she won handily, the majority of the boys who performed after her beat her time. Why? It’s called testosterone — boys and girls. And knowing that it is called testosterone — and not “patriarchy” — is called “brains.”

Indeed, Connecticut’s boy “girls’ champion” would’ve finished dead last in his rightful categories.

Yet not even almighty science can save us; it will be cast aside by progressives faster than you can say “Christianity” when it doesn’t provide a free pass to the dystopian fever swamp. Just as one example, an old episode of “Bill Nye the Science Guy” was recently edited in order to conveniently conform scientific fact about gender and sex to our current politically correct delusion.

Speaking of brains, here’s more inconvenient science from Dr. Larry Cahill, professor of neurobiology and behavior at UC Irvine. Neuroscience literature shows that the human brain is a sex-typed organ, says Dr. Cahill, with distinct anatomical differences in neural structures and accompanying physiological differences in function. Now that’s some “born this way” you can take to the bank, Lady Gaga.

This Connecticut fiasco is an affront to reason. For, on one hand, progressives say if we believe marriage is between a man and a woman we’re bigots. But then if men steal gold medals from women, they’re a new-age Rosa Parks or something. You have to be devoid of any and all discernment to assert such moral anarchy simultaneously.

Our girls are being told that they don’t matter as much as the boy who dresses up like a girl and beats them. It’s his word against hers. Just keep your mouth shut, and nobody gets hurt … supposedly.

Old and busted are the movies made about the real-life heroines who refused to accept such terms; the new hotness is enjoying the heavy bedazzled hand of your male transgendered oppressors, and their lackluster “feminist” enablers.

Gone are the days when Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, or Sissy Spacek would play the “she stood alone” role; enter the era of Bruce Jenner trading in his decathlon gold for “Tales of Social Justice Dumbassery.” Such as what it’s like to trade in the cover of a Wheaties box for an endorsement deal with CoverGirl.

One size – so to speak – fits all, ladies. Hope you enjoy your participation ribbons, because the medal stand is now reserved for those “women” whose necks must be shaved on the regular. (For more from the author of “Lefties: Get Used to Your Daughters Losing to Mustached ‘Girls'” please click HERE)

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Pat Buchanan: Are We Nearing Civil War?

President Trump may be chief of state, head of government and commander in chief, but his administration is shot through with disloyalists plotting to bring him down.

We are approaching something of a civil war where the capital city seeks the overthrow of the sovereign and its own restoration.

Thus far, it is a nonviolent struggle, though street clashes between pro- and anti-Trump forces are increasingly marked by fistfights and brawls. Police are having difficulty keeping people apart. A few have been arrested carrying concealed weapons . . .

Last week, fired Director of the FBI James Comey, a successor to J. Edgar Hoover, admitted under oath that he used a cutout to leak to The New York Times an Oval Office conversation with the president.

Goal: have the Times story trigger the appointment of a special prosecutor to bring down the president. (Read more from “Are We Nearing Civil War?” HERE)

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The True Bradley ‘Chelsea’ Manning Story Is Stranger Than Fiction

Imagine this scenario for a moment. You are a budding novelist, and you present a new proposal to your agent. The agent looks it over and sends it back, assuring you no publisher would ever go for it. “It’s just too far-fetched,” you are told. “Best to go back to the drawing board.”

What was the scenario you concocted? It went like this.

The Plot

There was a gay private in the army who gained access to a cachet of nearly one million secret military documents. When his gay lover broke up with him, he was depressed. So he decided to download and release these documents, likely costing the lives of our men and women on the field.

He was tried and convicted of crimes against the state and sentenced to 35 years in prison. However, while in prison, he insisted he was actually a woman, not a man. Eventually, the government paid for his sex-change surgery, after which the president decided to commute his sentence. After which he was hailed as a national hero and did his first TV interview, now as a woman.

Well, I could see why a publisher would reject such a story. Who would ever believe a narrative like this? It strains credulity — especially the part about this guy becoming a national hero. But, as the saying proves true once again, truth is stranger than fiction.

The Truth of Bradley Manning

As you realized from the opening lines of this article, this is the true story of Bradley “Chelsea” Manning, not the plot of some far-fetched fiction novel.

Welcome to America, 2017, the country that generates headlines like this: “Transgender man and father-of-two adopted children happily announces he is pregnant with his gay husband, a year after suffering a miscarriage.”

Try to wrap your brain around that one for a while. A transgender man is pregnant. He has a gay husband. He previously suffered a miscarriage.

In other words, this is a woman who identifies as a man, who is “married” to a man who is attracted to men (even if they have female private parts and woman), and “he” is now pregnant after having a miscarriage.

It reminds me of another story I read some years ago in the Village Voice, originally published in 2000 (yes, 17 years ago). It was titled, “Two Dads with a Difference: Neither of Us Was Born Male.” As the article, written by one of the “Dads” explained, “We are transgendered men (female-to-male, or FTM). My boyfriend is the mother of my child.”

So, in this case, two women, apparently attracted to men, chose to identify as gay men. But at least one of them still had her female organs and so could conceive and give birth to a child. (I wonder what happened to that precious child?)

Against backdrops like this, I guess the Bradley-Chelsea Manning story isn’t that unbelievable at all, if not for the political intrigue.

According to reports in 2010, “The US Army intelligence analyst, who is half British and went to school in Wales, appeared to sink into depression after a relationship break-up, saying he didn’t ‘have anything left’ and was ‘beyond frustrated.’

“In an apparent swipe at the army, he also wrote: ‘Bradley Manning is not a piece of equipment,’ and quoted a joke about ‘military intelligence’ being an oxymoron.”

Manning claims that he released the documents to Wikileaks because “I have a responsibility to the public.” Our military, he argues, was covering up atrocities we committed against our enemies. So with little or no thought to the consequences of his actions, he decided to play the hero.

Not Everyone in the LGBT Community is Applauding

Interestingly, although Manning has become an LGBT icon, not everyone in the LGBT community has celebrated his actions.

Writing for Out.com in 2012, James Kirchick declared, “Bradley Manning is No Gay Hero.” He felt Manning disgraced the names of gays who had served with distinction in the military, writing, “Rather than claim Bradley Manning as a hero of the gay community and campaign for his release, we should be the ones advocating most loudly that he face the strictest possible punishment for his treachery.”

But now that Bradley is Chelsea, how could he not be an LGBT hero? Being “courageous” enough to transition from male to female (or vice versa) as a public figure is the instant path to fame. Then, getting pardoned by the president — what more could you ask for?

I seriously doubt that Bradley Manning would have been pardoned by the president if he had been a conservative, heterosexual Christian. And I seriously doubt that he would have been hailed as a hero by other conservatives, even if felt it his duty to expose alleged military abuses.

But because he was: 1) gay; 2) upset with the military; and 3) transgender, his cause proved irresistible.

A Surprise Twist?

So, maybe you can write that novel after all.

Or better still, how about adding a surprise ending to the plot, a real twist? Chelsea Manning has a radical encounter with God, resulting in a dramatic conversion, after which he goes back to being Bradley, marries a fine Christian woman, and spends the rest of the years undoing the damage he did.

I would buy that book. (For more from the author of “The True Bradley ‘Chelsea’ Manning Story Is Stranger Than Fiction” please click HERE)

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US Senators: Christian Beliefs Make You Unfit for Public Office

Earlier this week, Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Van Hollen attacked Trump’s nominee for the White House Office of Budget and Management, Russ Vought. I met Russ when he and Sen. Mia Costello (R-Anchorage) and I went through the Claremont Institute’s Lincoln Fellowship together, back in 2011. His wife is from the Mat-Su. She worked for Vice President Mike Pence when he served in Congress, and had the audacity as a woman to defend him—and in the Washington Post no less.

In short, Russ is exactly the kind of person you would expect to see appointed by a Republican President to a White House staff position, and therefore the kind of person that progressive politicians love to hate. So what do they do when faced with a man with impeccable conservative credentials? They attack him for being a Christian.

Now, wait, you say: “We live in America. We have the U.S. Constitution, which forbids public officials from attacking a presidential appointee for their religious beliefs.” Yes, of course we do. And for 229 years, at least this portion of that Constitution, was largely respected.

But we live in different times today. In 2017, no portion of that Constitution is sacrosanct from attack by progressive politicians, not even the portion that guarantees Americans the right to hold whatever religious belief they choose. As Albert Einstein predicted long ago:

“The strength of the Constitution lies entirely in the determination of each citizen to defend it. Only if every single citizen feels duty bound to do his share in this defense are the constitutional rights secure.”

And if progressive Democrats and their friends could prevent Trump from nominating 41% of Americans to office simply because of their Christian beliefs, that would certainly be a political victory that would move forward their progressive agenda. In Sanders’ America, there is no need for religious freedom. Progressives in government will let you know what you are permitted to believe, by attacking those who hold any religious beliefs that don’t support their agenda.

If criticizing Christian or Jewish beliefs supports the progressive agenda, loyal progressives will be there to defend the right to criticize. If criticizing Islamic dogmas hurts the progressive agenda, loyal progressives will condemn the “haters” for their “hate speech”. Just remember, hate speech is whatever opposes their agenda. And whatever supports their agenda is wildflowers and rainbows—I mean, “worthy of tolerance.”

Let’s not kid ourselves about what the world just saw this week in the Vought confirmation hearing. A man was told that he has a disease, that he is “Islamophobic” and unworthy of holding public office; that Senator Sanders would vote to reject his appointment to the White House, because he actually believes what Jesus said, and supported the right of the Christian college that he graduated from to continue to teach that Christianity is true. It’s the “Christianity is true” part that has the progressives in a tizzy. It’s not PC to believe in truth. It’s not PC to believe what’s in the Bible. And even if it was, it’s certainly not PC to admit to it in public. Silence is what is demanded. And if you aren’t silent, you will be attacked, just like Russ Vought.

Which leads me to conclude that Albert Einstein is right, and that we each have an important part to play in doing our share to defend the constitutional rights of Americans. Letting politicians and judges do it for us was never an option. Letting progressives do it for us is simply suicidal.

Rep. David Eastman is a conservative legislator in Alaska, representing the rural Mat-Su Valley (House District 10); He ran on a platform of fighting for genuine conservative reform, fiscally and socially, and remains committed to delivering on that promise.

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