The Ponder: 08/21/17

by Shonda Ponder, editor
The Ponder News

During the 1990's we witnessed a number of events that were eye-openers for those who were versed in history and The Constitution. After Waco and Ruby Ridge, and after a soldier named Michael New became a household name, there was a swelling of what became deemed as "hate groups" all across the nation by the main stream media. "Unorganized" militia groups grew in numbers and size as the left secured their foothold in our government and attempted to change and quieten those of us who were demanding answers for what had occurred.

Like today, many of the people of the nation looked on with disbelief and minor inquisitiveness, reluctant to "get involved". Many others were afraid of being labeled by the government in a negative way. No one wants to be involved in a "hate group".

Because the stigma was so well placed, the left kept growing, and more and more things seemed less likely to make sense to many of us. We became weary of the lies the left-controlled media were telling in order to get their agendas in place. We did not know how to stop the giant snowball that was rolling downhill, threatening to avalanche us all beneath it's cold icy weight. We became concerned.

There were a few people out there who wrote books. The internet was fairly new, and many of us created web sites. Some of us had cable access television shows. A few of us decided to start radio programs. Some of us even wrote newsletters and started organizations for the conservative thinking people who felt disenfranchised. We were all over the United States, and the government didn't take us seriously when we screamed, because we weren't ABC, NBC or CBS news. If there was a problem, after all, wouldn't you hear it on the news? And, if the news channel said it, it must be true!

The people of the United States of America were complacent and content. They had grown to depend on the public broadcasting media of the day. Many of them didn't question what they heard. But, soon, the voices began to be to heard -- in pockets.

Suddenly, anyone who spoke out against the establishment became labeled as having a mental problem. My own mother questioned my sanity when I tried to explain to her that the OKC bombing was not the result of one man's hate. It was the result of planning and was set up by more than just one person.

At the time I lived in Austin, Texas. I had already been introduced to the discrimination of Christians in educational institutions, and I had started homeschooling my children. When I got arrested at the age of twenty-seven simply for failing to ID a man who bought a six pack of beer at a convenience store where I worked, it became clear that the establishment was out of control, and something had to be done. I got this nagging feeling that I had to do something, but I didn't know what.

I became more and more depressed, until one day, as I was flipping through the channels, I came across a young man (Alex Jones...as much as I dislike him, I have to admit that he was very instrumental in me getting "involved", finally) who was beating on his desk, yelling about the atrocious actions of the government, and why weren't more people standing up? I found myself standing up on my feet, shaking my fist at the television and yelling, "YOU PREACH IT, BROTHER!"

At the end of the show, he talked about a group of people who met every month in a hotel banquet hall. It was a group started by a man named Wes Curtis. It was called "Texas Best Seminars", and everyone was welcome to come and meet different media personalities, and talk to them one on one, and all our questions were welcome!

I decided to attend. I'm glad I did. It changed my life.

Wes's idea was to go around and talk to every conservative-minded or disenfranchised group he could find. With the rise of e-mail and the internet, that wasn't too hard to do. He invited them to attend the Seminar, to speak about their organization, and to take questions from the audience, in order that the people of Austin could understand them better, and maybe decide to get involved.

My pastor today has been known to say, "I don't care which church you go to, as long as you are serving somewhere where the Lord is present." We, at Texas Best Seminars preached that we didn't care what you stood up for, as long as you were standing for something.
We encouraged people to get involved in the cause of their choice, and to work for what they wanted.

I didn't know what cause to join, so I just decided that since journalism was my dream, I'd start my own newspaper. It was called "Freedom-Lovers International", until I had to change the name because the search engines on the internet kept mistaking it for a pornographic organization. Then it became "Friends of Liberty, International".

As I was just beginning, I used my platform to promote Texas Best Seminars with press releases of meeting dates. I created an email list of every conservative and freedom-loving organization and media personality I could find. I had at least 3000 people, groups and organizations on my contact list. With-in a couple of months, Texas Best Seminars quadrupled in size, and people were calling us from as far away as Washington, D.C. -- and the establishment hated us, saying, "Those people in Texas are doing their job way too well."

Texas Best Seminars outgrew Texas and went nationwide. We had to create a new name for what we were doing. America's Media Alliance was born, and yours truly (who had no idea what she was doing, but then she was assured that no one else did, either) became the President by a unanimous vote. All I knew was how to get the word out. I knew that the idea that Wes had could be utilized for a greater purpose. I just had to figure out how to do it.

There were about 500 people, groups and organizations who were members of the alliance. When there was a stand-off in West Texas, it was my job to make sure all of the members (and all of my contacts) got the press release. It was the member's job to make sure all of THEIR contacts got notified. And, if they were close enough, they were called on to go check the story out and report back to the alliance so that every radio host could tell the truth before the main stream media twisted it out of proportion.

It was great. And, it needs to happen today, again. We need such an alliance so that news organizations that are on our side can tell the truth with accuracy before the main stream news destroys the news-maker. We need to ask the hard questions and let the establishment know that we are making them accountable. That was the purpose of the first conservative media organizations, and we have lost that focus, it seems.

Now, the news sites out there are content to rehash and opinionate, and debate, rather than report what is happening and why that is not covered by the main stream. This has got to change. The press release needs to make a come-back. It needs to be utilized heavily. People need to start writing letters to the editor, calling in on radio shows again, writing editorials and submitting them to any paper that will publish it. People need to start collecting contact information and utilizing their own email lists.

So, the next time you have an event, send out a press release to ALL of your contacts, and to ALL the media you can find. Everywhere. In this press release make sure you tell who you are, what you are about -- or trying to accomplish, when the event is taking place, where it is occurring, and why you feel the need to take action. Make sure you include a disclaimer (i.e., "we are not white supremacists. The KKK and anyone like them is not welcome at our event. We do not support hate"), so that when the main stream media reports about you, you have proof in black and white that they are reporting untruths, and then you can get a lawyer and sue for slander.

Finally, people need to stop being selfish. If there is one thing I've learned, its that the best way to promote my own group or organization is to help another group or organization. I was number 23 in Alexa Website rankings in the Conservative genre. I helped Sierra Times become number 1 in less than two months of its existence. We gain a lot when we stand together. We gain no ground if we stand alone.

And, the pen, indeed, IS mightier than the sword! And, a hundred pens writing about the same subject is unbeatable!

Monday, August 21, 2017

How we fought the establishment and WON in the early years of the 21st Century

Civil War II: It's already here.