- Welcome to the 700 Club.

Fires are exploding inCalifornia, they talk like

hurricane force, and it's thebiggest, I think, wildfire

in the history of thestate, still burning strong

and people are suffering.

Here in this area, I mightadd, in our wonderful

Virginia Beach, it's gonna be a heat index

of about 103 today.

- We've had a very wet, hot summer.

- Very wet hot summer.

But anyhow, across the nationthere's been terrible heat.

But all the way in Europe,the Europeans are not

used to this, and almostclose to the Arctic,

places like in Norway and Sweden,

are having record heat.

I'm not a fan of globalwarming, but whatever it is,

something's really hitting this planet.

Not only that, but there'ssome earthquakes and tsunami

type things going on,a big one in Indonesia.

Anyhow, we'll talk moreabout it on the program.

But right now, U.S.sanctions hit Iran's economy

today, adding pressureto a regime under attack

from the inside.

Iranians are rising up,furious over a terrible

economy, and the tyrannyof a group of men,

religious leaders called the Ayatollas.

- Well, the actionfollows President Trump's

decision to leave theIranian nuclear agreement.

After signing the executiveorder, the President

sent another warning, tweeting today that

"Anyone doing businesswith Iran will not be

doing business with the United States."

Gary Lane has the details.

- The U.S. sanctions targetIran's technology, automobile,

currency, and precious metal industries.

The punitive measuresare expected to further

damage the country's economy,and exert more pressure

on the regime.

In Iran, Trump's strategyis already having an effect.

A worsening economy has ledto anti-government protests.

A growing number of Iraniansare demanding an end

to the regime.

Israeli Prime Minister,Benjamin Netanyahu, praised

President Trump's decision,calling it an important

moment for Israel and the world.

- I call on the countriesof Europe, who talk about

stopping Iran to join this move.

The time has come to stop talking.

The time has come todo, and that is exactly

what the United Statesis doing, and that is

what Europe should do.

- [Lane] But the EuropeanUnion is unlikely to join in.

It's taking actions to shieldbusinesses from penalties

imposed for violating U.S. sanctions.

They insure lucrative oil,banking and investment

deals with the IslamicRepublic can move forward

when a tougher set of sanctionstakes effect in November.

President Rouhani denouncedthe sanctions, calling them

psychological warfare, buthe opened the door to direct

talks with preconditions,a U.S. apology and payback.

- If the U.S. governmentis ready today to negotiate

about paying compensationto the Iranian nation,

from 1953 until now, overits meddling in the life

of Iranian people, we areready for talks to see

how they are going tocompensate and pay us back.

- [Lane] President Obamaalready returned at least

150 billion dollars froma canceled arms deal.

Middle East analyst Robert Spencer.

- It was the Shah's regimethat had made the arms

deal that was canceled,and so it did not by right

belong to the Islamic Republic.

- [Lane] And even if theU.S. stands alone against

Iran, Spencer says Trump'sapproach may be enough

to make a huge difference.

- He has reversed thepolicies of appeasement

that Obama pursued soindefatigably for eight years,

and this could bringabout the downfall of the

regime, which could begood for the Iranians,

and good for the world.

- [Lane] Gary Lane, CBN News.

- Just think about it folks,those people have been

yakking away for years.

They call us The GreatSatan, they call Israel

The Little Satan, theysay over and over again

that their policy is theutter destruction of Israel.

They say that they wantto bring war against

the United States.

They are fomentingrevolution all over the world

in places that you canimagine, and throughout

the Middle Eastparticularly, their proxies

Hezbollah and others are warring against

Democratically elected governments.

It's time they get reigned in.

Obama, giving them 150billion dollars and what

are they going to do with that money?

They're going to use itto have the Quds Force and

others in action.

And the President is doingthe absolute right thing.

The thing that's importantis, these companies

that are gonna have secondary sanctions if

they deal with Iran.

They've got a choice:

Do you want to do business with Iran,

or do you want to do businesswith the United States?

And most of them realizethat the United States

market is far, far bigger than Iran.

But what's happening isthat inflation is running

rampant in Iran, and it's time...

I remember the formerIsraeli ambassador to Iran

was a friend, and he came on this program.

He said, the most importantthing is, that these

students and these laborleaders get together,

get encouraged and theywill overthrow the regime,

they will do it.

And we need to havesomething in place to come in

and take over.

And it's time for a regime change in Iran,

and it's time for us topush that, and not just

be nice, but to recognizethat that thing has

got to go.

It's been an outrageous blot on...

Iran is a beautiful country,and wonderful people.

The Iranian people loveAmerica, they love freedom.

And these mullahs havecome in, and seized power

and put in a theocratic dictatorship.

It's time for it to go.

Now, in other news,Republicans in Ohio faced

a test that could haveimplications for the elections.

Wendy Griffith has more on that.

- Thanks Pat.

A tight race in an Ohiospecial election could

signal trouble forRepublicans in the midterms.

That's according to one poll.

The Republican candidatein a long-held conservative

district has a one-point leadover the Democrat contender.

Republican Governor JohnKasich says the race

shouldn't even be close, but it is.

Democratic challenger, DannyO'Connor is critical of

both Republicans and Democrats.

His opponent, TroyBalderson, recently hosted

President Trump at a town rally.

Political analysts say the outcome could

be a referendum on thePresident's popularity.

Meanwhile, Democrats arefacing a battle within their

own party, a battle thatcould make a difference

in the midterms, after some

surprising primary results.

Progressives want to takethe party to the far left,

moderates, who want toappeal to the middle, say

not so fast.

CBN's Jenna Browder hasthe story from Washington.

(chanting)

- [Browder] Treason.

- The penalty we are allpaying right now for the

President's treason iswe are losing our allies.

- [Browder] Impeachment.

- We believed that PresidentTrump has violated the

Constitution, and we've introduced five

articles of impeachment.

- [Browser] And getting rid of ICE,

the U.S. Immigrationand Customs Enforcement.

- [Cuomo] You think youshould get rid of the agency?

- [Gillibrand] I believethat it has become

a deportation force.

- [Browder] All ideas pushedby left-leaning members

of the Democratic party.

But are they too extreme?

More moderate Democrats say yes, and want

to reign them in.

- Impeachment of thePresident is not a message

that will resonate beyondthe base of the party.

We need to have a message that resonates

beyond the base, to themiddle, to independents

and others who will make a difference

in this election cycle.

- [Jenna] And recent pollingseems to back up this approach.

According to hill.tv andHarris-X American Barometer,

64% of Democrat voterssay they would not vote

for a Socialist candidate.

Moderate Democrat Matt Bennett agrees.

He and his team at Third Way just hosted

Opportunity 2020, bringing together

middle-of-the-road Democratsto voice their concerns.

They disagree with SenatorBernie Sanders' view

on the economy.

- Guaranteeing a federaljob to everyone in the

workforce is not a good idea.

That might have been a goodidea in 1932 when we had

28% unemployment, in the height of

the Great Depression, but it's not

a particularly good idea now

when we have 3.8% unemployment.

- [Browder] And when itcomes to abolishing ICE...

- Reuniting families wethink, should be the focus

for the Democratic attack

on the Trump Administrationand Immigration.

- [Browder] The one thingnearly all Democrats agree on

is their dislike of President Trump.

- Without a doubt, there has never been

a unifier like Trump.

- [Browder] Bennett's message,heading into November,

is to win and wait.

- We can have these debates about exactly

which direction the party ought to move,

after November, when we start to round the

bend towards 2020, andwe choose a nominee.

And ultimately, we're gonna have

a leader for our party, that nominee,

who's gonna make those choices.

But for now, our messageis, focus on winning

and set aside the things that

are tremendously divisive.

- That's important becausepolls show GOP voters

agree on one thing, their support

for President Trump.

And if that translatesinto a big Republican

turnout this fall, it could spell trouble

for the Democrats.

In Washington, Jenna Browder, CBN News.

- Pat, do you agree with that?

- I certainly do.

I think the Democrats are courting

suicide if they proceed...

We have Nicaragua as anexample of what happens

when a socialist government takes over

and destroys a country.

They are destroyingNicaragua is absolutely being

destroyed by this group of socialists.

And Bernie Sanders wants a guaranteed

income for everybody.

It's absurd, you can't do that.

Guaranteed health care for everybody.

We can't afford that,it'd bankrupt the country.

That bankruptcy means thatthere'll be poverty all

over this land if it's put into effect.

Socialism does not work.

Free enterprise is the growth engine,

and it must be maintained.

And these people, you'retalking about you're

gonna have open bordersand let everybody who

wants to come into thiscountry, and then have

health care and haveguaranteed incomes, that's what

they want, abolish ICE.

People don't want that, they don't want

this country to be flooded by people from

every country on earth, especially radical

Muslims who want to come in and destroy

our nation, and that's what they're

advocating, and it's nota winning election theme.

And the idea of impeachingthe President, it's absurd.

I had a leading expertyesterday on this program

talking about why youcan't impeach a president,

it's just too hard, andit's a failed thing.

They tried to impeachClinton, and they couldn't

get it through the Senate.

So you bring articles ofimpeachment in the House,

and maybe they vote onthem, but the Senate has

got to go two-thirdsto ratify impeachment,

and it just won't happen.

It's not gonna happen.

So why would they yak about, whether we're

gonna impeach the president?

It's absurd.

That's not a political program to run

to the American people on.

The people like Trump, he'sgot a, at least right now,

he's got a 50% approval rating.

Half the people think he's great.

Why would any party whodoesn't have a death wish

keep going with it?

That's what they want.

And if the pied piper is Bernie Sanders,

if he wants to lead them off the cliff,

that's their business.

Wendy.

- Thanks, Pat.

A sign of the times inSouthern California.

A real estate companyhas forced evangelist

Greg Laurie to remove billboards

advertising his crusade.

Pictures of Laurieholding a bible reportedly

created the backlash.

The company decided to take action.

The company says thereligious imagery of the bible

provoked multiple complaints, including,

what it called a serious threat.

Harvest Evangelismsubmitted a new version,

but the company decided to take them down

completely, after the complaints.

A Harvest spokesman says, they don't

blame the company, they blame the culture.

- It's sad that our cultureis, we're at this degree

of intolerance, there's such intolerance

against the message of Christianity, that

we aren't allowed to state that, or to

publicly advertise this eventthat is going to encourage--

- Billboards or not, theHarvest Crusade will take

place August 17th through the 19th

at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.

Well, this type ofcensorship is also spreading

across the digital world, where Christians

and conservative messagesare being targeted.

One weapon even carriesthe sinister-sounding

term, called Shadow Banning.

As Caitlin Burke reports,one of the latest

victims, is a church.

- [Burke] Pastor JamesMacDonald admits he wasn't

a big fan of Donald Trump the candidate.

Mainly skeptical of policypromises, and concerned

over his moral history.

But now, MacDonald sayshe's been impressed

with President Trump.

Recently on Facebook,the Harvest Church pastor

asked his viewers to pray forand support President Trump,

as he considered his secondSupreme Court nominee.

That's when something suspicious happened.

MacDonald's podcast, Walkin the Word, a favorite

on iTunes, vanished from the charts.

The podcast, which had neverdipped below the top 40,

wasn't even making the top 200.

- The only thing we couldreally conclude was,

it was within 24 hours of us posting about

praying for Donald Trump and the new

Supreme Court election.

- [Burke] Walk in the Wordsuspects it's become part

of a growing number ofprominent conservative

and Christian groups shadow banned by

tech giants like Facebook,Twitter, and now Apple.

That means the user and their content have

been blocked by an online community

without their knowledge.

- Not surprising, I meanlook at what Facebook

stock has done, I mean they've taken

a nosedive this week.

Twitter losing significantly as well.

People are tired of thisleft-wing initiative effort

to silence conservatives.

And I think that's why yousee more and more people

coming to, more and moreevangelicals in particular,

coming to CBN and otheroutlets that they can trust

who know they're gonnatell them the truth.

- [Burke] Twitter hasbeen accused of limiting

the visibility of prominentRepublicans in search results.

The company respondedwith a blog post, saying,

it does not shadow ban.

However, Twitter did seemto admit that it makes

certain users posts harder to find.

Walk in the Word says it can't come up

with any other explanation for the sudden

drop from iTunes charts.

- We haven't gottenanything more than really

a form letter response.

We want to believe the best, but at this

point, we can't seem to come to any other

conclusion than somethingis either technically

going wrong, or there's a censorship going

on here because of thecorrelation with that post,

and all of the metricsthat we have that show

that we should still beranking in the top 20 to 50.

- [Burke] The ministry's legal council,

The National Center for Life and Liberty,

sent a formal letter to Apple inquiring

about the disappearance, andrequesting an explanation.

CBN News has also reachedout to the tech giant,

and so far, no response to either request.

Caitlin Burke, CBN News.

- Thanks Caitlin.

Pat, this is really seriously concerning.

- Those big tech companiesare so enormously powerful.

Amazon is unbelievable.

It's like this giant that isjust gobbling up everything.

I just heard about thepossibility of the procurement

by the federal government,they want to put

some of it throughApple, and I think you're

gonna put the procurementof the entire government

in the hands of this giant?

With the fact that Bezosowns the Washington Post,

and they're the enemy,they're absolute enemies

of Trump, you just wonder.

And Apple is so big,it's the first company

that's gone over atrillion dollars in market

value, and there'sseveral big companies, and

they're really huge, that are dominating

the markets these days.

And to see them being swayed by this

shadow crew, I don'tknow exactly what it is

that's going silentlyto shut up the voices

of the conservatives, wecan't have that going on.

I read something today about China.

They banned Winnie the Pooh.

- Wow.

- Well it is threatening.

- Because they said the bearlooks like President Xi.

(laughing)

Seriously, they'rebanning Winnie the Pooh.

You never can tell what'sgonna happen, but if these

companies hear a phraseand all of a sudden they

limit the speech, this is an outrageous

invasion of privacy.

Now you say the First Amendmentreplaces the government,

it does, but nevertheless,these companies are so big

they almost take on therole of government because

they are so huge.

If they continue that,they've got to be reigned in,

and I hate to even considersomething like that.

They ought to policethemselves, we hope so.