Book banners and news controllers

Rep. Keith Ellison, D. Minn., is the deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee, ostensibly the No. 2 person in the party nationally and a candidate for attorney general of his state.

Last week he called on Amazon.com to ban the sale of books by all authors associated with "hate groups" as defined by the extremist left-wing wackos at the Southern Poverty Law Center.

While his letter to Jeff Bezos, the founder of the largest online retailer in the world, was later scrubbed from Ellison's own website, it was hardly an idle threat, since Amazon already partners with the SPLC, as do Google, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, as "expert" consultants on the definition of "hate speech."

Also last week, Facebook put on a dog-and-pony show for the entertainment media in Beverly Hills to unveil its new video platform. Top execs were there to answer questions from the press, but the reporters weren't as interested in the new video platform as they were in why Facebook was not completely banning certain media from the largest social media enterprise in the world.

First, they mentioned Alex Jones' Infowars, which the Facebook execs admitted stifling if not outright banning. Then, just like that, a reporter demanded to know why Fox News, the No. 1 cable TV news channel in America, was permitted on Facebook. When the execs dodged the question for lack of time, other reporters demanded: "Answer the question!" and "We'll give you more time!"

It's worth noting that Infowars videos have already been dropped by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. It's also worth noting that the No. 1 search engine in the world admits using its algorithms to give preference to news sources like the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC and Huffington Post at the expense of independent media, thereby strangling the reach of news sources with a more centrist or right-leaning perspective.

While so-called "progressives" like to think of themselves as defenders of the First Amendment's guarantees of free speech, the free press and freedom of religion, it is simply no longer the case. In fact, we are approaching a very dangerous time in America in which the left-wing news controllers are in positions of influence – within government and within the boardrooms of corporate power – to become book burners. They are already controlling the news through what I call the "Internet Cartel" – the five anti-American corporate crime families of Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Amazon.

As I've been telling anyone willing to listen since January 2018, these monopolistic, ideological thugs are transforming America's foundational "first freedom" of an open society into an Orwellian nightmare world in which independent media and publishers face overwhelming disadvantages and an unlevel playing field in the arena of news and commentary.

Something must be done – soon. There have been a few congressional hearings. Most people, if they are really paying attention, know what's going on. But for those who get their news and information from the Internet Cartel's favored sources, they are completely in the dark. And that's the goal – to set the agenda for control of news and information by only companies with the stamp of approval of the SPLC terrorists. Don't think the Fox News alternative will be No. 1 for long if this continues.

I know something personally about this war on free expression as the founder of the very first independent online news organization in the world 21 years ago. I started WND because the Internet offered a more level playing field. WND thrived and grew for nearly all that time. It all changed after the 2016 election – one influenced by the emerging influence of independent media. Since then, the media blessed with the Internet Cartel's preferential algorithms and the blacklisting tactics of their partners in the SPLC have been at war with Trump and anyone in the press who didn't join in that political hate fest.

WND and the rest of the independent media are feeling the heat from the Internet Cartel, which controls traffic, revenue, search power, hosting and distribution of news and information through social media, not to mention retail sales of all books.

It's a scary time of rapidly shrinking traffic and revenues. WND, for instance, has seen drops in revenue from more than $10 million in 2016 to $6 million last year to perhaps as little as $4 million in 2018.

This is unsustainable, of course. And that's what the Internet Cartel knows and is aiming for – the extinction of voices of dissent and debate, what they think of as "hate speech."

There is only one way out for WND – support from users. We can no longer make the money necessary to do serious reporting without the direct support of those who appreciate what we do – and lots of it right now.

Give us a chance to survive, regroup, expose the fascistic thuggery of the left-wing zealots in control of communications and fight another day.

It won't be cheap. We need at least $100,000 to bridge the gap we expect in August. But we will be grateful for contributions in any amount. Your children and grandchildren will be indebted to you for helping to save free expression.

Your tax-deductible contributions to support WND's new breakthrough Christian book, "The Gospel in Every Book of the Old Testament," already messed with repeatedly by Amazon, will also help us with printing and marketing expenses necessary to our immediate recovery.

Previous columns in this series:

Save free speech, free press, freedom of religion

Help us fight back against the Google-Facebook machine