What will America do without Joe?

Does it seem to you that your phone–or TV, or fridge–is listening to you, and feeding into your search results? Everything is becoming part of a worldwide network called the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Search gets to pick what goes into algorithms that determine what you see, and report to who-knows (the government?) what you do every minute. Big Brother anyone? A federal judge ruled, after a 10-week trial held last year, that Google is a monopoly, and uses its sheer size and weight to squash other companies. The Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission, led by an anti-corporate all-star list (Attorney General Merrick Garland and FTC chief Lina Khan), have, in their Javertian quest to dismantle all of America’s top businesses, inadvertently uncovered that Big Search is really in collusion with the Harris campaign, and works not-so-subtly against former President Donald Trump. Over 80% of search engine requests go to Google, which increases to over 90% on mobile devices. This is because most browsers (and Google’s Chrome is the leader with 65%) automatically send anything typed in the URL bar that is not a web address to Google. Apple iPhones using Safari default to Google. Pretty much anything you type into a browser URL bar–when you begin typing–goes to Google for autocomplete. So when you start typing, for instance “Trump,” you might get a news story, or you might get something you didn’t want. Elon Musk noted that he searched for “Trump rally” on July 31st, after Kamala Harris held a rally in Atlanta, and above the actual search results, Google displayed news “top stories” about Harris’ rally. Just did a search for “Trump rally” on Google and Kamala was the top result! pic.twitter.com/WuklbVytq2— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 31, 2024 Further on down the page were the actual search results including “Trump” but that’s not what Google chose to show on top. I did a similar search just now and got a whole bunch of negative stories as the result and literally had to scroll down to see the link to Trump events. Google chooses what stories to show, and in what order. The search engine, which processes 9 out of 10 requests in the U.S., and sees in real time just about everything you type, along with all kinds of other data about you (watch a YouTube video? Listen to music? Use Nest thermostats? Navigate with Waze?), is determining what you see, and how you see it. That search engine was built by people, who now extend and maintain its grip on our tech-obsessed nation. Alphabet (Google’s parent company) employees donate to Democrat congressional candidates, 81.69% to 17.01% for Republicans, according to Open Secrets. In just the last few weeks since President Joe Biden stepped out of the race, Alphabet workers have given over a half million to Kamala Harris, and nearly $900,000 to the DNC. They’ve only given $38,964 to Trump. This is pretty typical for Silicon Valley. The folks who make the search engines know what they want, and they serve it to you daily. Now a federal court has determined that Google is a monopoly and will likely be forced to break up its search engine from its other holdings, so that your IOT-enabled devices will no longer be used to feed the algorithm, and not every browser will pass every keystroke to the leviathan Google. Will it matter? I think not. Elon Musk had to fire the majority of the woke-mind-virus infected staff at Twitter, now X, in order to even begin to steer the tech stack away from such behavior. And doing so put the company in peril, costing him billions. Do you think for a moment that breaking Alphabet and Google apart will change how data is being collected and used to promote the narrow political beliefs of far-left progressives in San Francisco? The fix is in for Big Search. From now until November, Kamala Harris can do no wrong, and when you search for Donald Trump, you’ll generally get the most negative coverage. It’s how the algorithm works. If you point this out, you’ll be accused of promoting the Big Lie. It’s not election fraud to program people’s minds, but it should be. The GOP picked Trump. I would not have picked him, because there are better candidates. But those who believe leftist talking points wanted the GOP to pick Trump, so then they could focus on all the reasons he shouldn’t be president, instead of focusing on the real issues they want to force feed America, whether we like them or not. Big Search is on Team Harris. A federal court is not going to fix this. That solution is going to have to come from you and me. Follow Steve on Twitter @stevengberman. The First TV contributor network is a place for vibrant thought and ideas. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of The First or The First TV. We want to foster dialogue, create conversation, and debate ideas. See something you like or don’t like? Reach out to the author or to us at ideas@thefirsttv.com. 

Opeth’s leader was approached to help celebrate 50 years of Abba’s 1974 Eurovision win, but turned the chance down

Secretary of State Antony Blinken drew a false equivalence in remarks that he made on Monday between Iranian-backed terrorism and Israel engaging in self-defense. Blinken’s remarks come as intelligence officials believe that an attack on Israel from Iran and its terrorist proxy groups in the region is imminent after Israel killed two top terrorists last week who were responsible for carrying out attacks against Israel. “We are engaged in intense diplomacy, pretty much round the clock, with a very simple message, all parties must refrain from escalation,” Blinken said. “All parties must take steps to ease tensions. Escalation is not in anyone’s interest. It will only lead to more conflict, more violence, more insecurity.” Blinken said that it was “critical that we break this cycle by reaching a ceasefire in Gaza,” which is a demand that Israel cease military operations against Hamas — an Iranian-backed Islamic terrorist group that killed 1,200 people during the October 7 attack on Israel. WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI “That in turn will unlock possibilities for more enduring calm, not only in Gaza itself, but in other areas where the conflict could spread,” he claimed. “So for the United States, for many other countries, both in the region and beyond, this is our focus, and what it comes down to, really, is all parties finding ways to come to an agreement, not look for reasons to delay or to say no. It is urgent that all parties make the right choices in the hours and days ahead.” Blinken made the remarks after Iranian-backed terrorists attacked U.S. forces at Al-Asad airbase in Iraq on Monday, injuring at least five U.S. personnel who were stationed there. Blinken told his counterparts from G7 countries that Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed terrorist group in Lebanon, could launch an attack against Israel at any time. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has deployed reinforcements to central towns in Israel in recent days adjacent to Judea and Samaria after receiving intelligence that Iran may direct Hamas terrorist attacks from Judea and Samaria against civilian communities.

House Administration Committee Chairman Bryan Steil (R-WI) urged the Federal Election Commission (FEC) this week to immediately initiate a rule that would close a “serious loophole” that is allowing Democrats’ ActBlue fundraising platform to potentially raise money from illegal campaign contributions. The formal request comes as ActBlue has helped to give Democrats a fundraising advantage over Republicans in recent years and helped Vice President Kamala Harris raise tens of millions of dollars overnight for her presidential campaign. The rule would force political campaigns to verify the card verification value (CVV) of donors who contribute online using a credit or debit card and prohibit them from accepting online contributions from gift cards or other prepaid credit cards. WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI Steil said in a letter to the FEC that his formal request follows “widespread allegations of fraudulent donations being reported to the FEC by ActBlue, one of the largest fundraising platforms in the country, this emergency rulemaking is necessary to reassure the American people that ActBlue is taking the necessary steps to protect its donors.” ActBlue confirmed to the Committee “that it does not require a CVV to donate,” the letter said. “However, the vast majority of online transactions, including a donation to most political campaigns and to other large fundraising platforms, require a CVV number to reduce fraud and prevent unlawful foreign transactions. ActBlue’s donor procedures are painfully outside the norm, and an emergency rulemaking is required to address them.” “ActBlue’s practices invite the possibility of foreign donations, and allowing political committees to accept donations from gift cards or other prepaid credit cards promote the appearance and the very real possibility that straw donors are making campaign donations with funds provided by another person or an unlawful donor including a foreign national,” the letter concluded. “These issues present a serious loophole to the transparency and integrity of the campaign donation process, and an emergency rulemaking is required to rectify these issues.”

The U.S. military was forced out of its sprawling base in Niger’s northern desert this week in what is yet another foreign policy disaster for the Biden-Harris administration. The U.S. has been trying for months to get the country turned around after its military overthrew its democratically elected government last year. The withdrawal upends U.S. counterterrorism efforts and security policy in the politically unstable Sahel region of Africa, which stretches across the northern central part of the continent and includes Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Sudan, and Eritrea. The region is one of the most dangerous in the world and is a hotbed for multiple major Islamic terrorist groups — including ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and more — and the threat is growing, as is Russia’s influence and footprint in the region. “The security of the region is a grave concern,” Air Force Major Gen. Kenneth Ekman, who is leading the U.S. withdrawal from Niger, told The Washington Post. “The threat has become worse — it has spread and become more acute. … And from a U.S. perspective, our access has been reduced even though our objectives have not changed.” The U.S. reportedly was able to remove a lot of its equipment from the base, including drones used by special forces to target terrorists, generators, and other sensitive equipment. However, the Biden-Harris administration reportedly left behind “dozens of vehicles.” Multiple security experts who spoke to the newspaper said that the Biden-Harris administration capitulating the region to hostile forces was a national security disaster that could destabilize the entire region. Daniel Eizenga, a researcher focused on the Sahel at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, said that the terrorist attacks have rapidly increased along Africa’s coastal countries. WATCH THE TRAILER FOR ‘AM I RACIST?’ — A MATT WALSH COMEDY ON DEI “It’s like a five-alarm fire for coastal West Africa, with all the red lights flashing,” Eizenga said. “The security threat has arrived.” The situation in Niger is part of a pattern in the region where countries are breaking ties with Western nations and forming alliances with Russia, whose criminal paramilitary forces have been increasing their footprint in recent years. Russia is now providing the country with military resources and personnel, and the highly impoverished country is considering giving “Iran a possible deal on its uranium reserves.” The country has also strengthened economic ties with China in recent years, and with Biden being forced out of the country, China could again increase its footprint.