The Pacific, contrary to its name, has violent waves, but the smoothest boat ride I ever had was crossing that ocean to Japan on a freighter loaded with Canadian timber. That’s because the ship had “bottom,” as 18th-century mariners would say, with all that wooden ballast keeping it steady even during high winds and waves. Journalists back then applied the same word to leaders like George Washington who showed steadfastness amid adversity.

Google in 2010 showed bottom when it pulled out of China to avoid complicity in the Communist government’s censorship of information about freedom and democracy. But money talks, and the goal of Google’s new “Dragonfly” project is apparently a return to China, this time as a lap dog for China’s dictators. On Aug. 3 Marco Rubio and five other U.S. senators sent a letter to Google CEO Sundar Pichai requesting Dragonfly details and asking, “What has changed since 2010 to make Google comfortable cooperating with the rigorous censorship regime in China?”

Some on the front lines in China showed more bottom than Google displays, even though the Goliath company has a safe haven in Mountain View, Calif. In Beijing, 34 evangelical churches called on the Chinese government to respect the Chinese Constitution’s clause respecting freedom of religious belief. The largest, Zion Church, refused a government demand for surveillance cameras in the church’s auditorium. Police have shut down Zion’s six satellite sites and its public WeChat site, which posted sermons, devotionals, and church announcements.

Facebook’s office on 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park, Calif., is 170 miles from the 16th Congressional District, which Republican Elizabeth Heng hopes to represent in Washington. August started off with Facebook discriminating against an ad for Heng that honors her parents, who survived the Communist takeover in Cambodia that led to the death of one-fourth of the population. Facebook first said no to the photos of some victims, but the Heng campaign showed bottom by holding firm. After five days of protest, Facebook announced its approval of the ad, since the video “contains historical imagery relevant to the candidate’s story.”

It takes a lot of bottom to stand firm against today’s LGBT+ steamroller, and few politicians seem to qualify. Delaware became the 14th state—the fifth this year—to ban any therapy that offers options for minors struggling with same-sex attraction or gender dysphoria. Its new law says licensed professionals may propel confused children only toward a homosexual identity or a gender transition. The state may yank the license of any professional who thinks that’s not helpful and offers advice based on his beliefs.

But Aug. 9 brought some good news: Don’t cry for Argentina, because members of its Senate displayed surprising bottom as they voted 38-31 against a bill that would have legalized abortion up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. Abortion in Argentina is legal in cases of rape and health risks, but that wasn’t enough for protesters enraged by the vote: They threw firebombs and glass bottles.

Doctors who show bottom by refusing to do abortions are facing a threatening campaign from their pro-abortion peers. Unconscionable: When Providers Deny Abortion Care, a report of a conference in Uruguay with participants from 22 countries, contended that conscientious objection to abortion should be renamed “dishonorable disobedience” and “a violation of medical ethics.” Four new articles in The American Journal of Bioethics suggest that doctors who won’t do abortions “avoid fulfilling their moral duty” because they are purportedly putting their own beliefs ahead of their patients’ welfare. The bioethicists also said religious hospitals that won’t do abortions “can get out of the hospital business.”

Here’s what took no bottom: About 70 news outlets said they would join The Boston Globe on Aug. 16 in editorializing against President Donald Trump’s criticism of liberal press bias. At a rally on Aug. 2 in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Trump had continued his attack on “fake news” by asking, “What ever happened to the free press? What ever happened to honest reporting?”

Those are good questions, but instead of answering them, the Globe’s Marjorie Pritchard wrapped herself in the Constitution: “An attack on the First Amendment is unacceptable.” True, but decades of propagandistic reporting by her newspaper and others has done more to undermine public support for the First Amendment than any recent White House messages.

2018 Hope Awards voting deadline

Voting for the 2018 Hope Awards for Effective Compassion ends on Sept. 8. Please go to wng.org/compassion and vote for whichever of the Final Five moves you the most. To nominate a Christian poverty-fighting group in your own backyard for the 2019 competition, please email Charissa Crotts (ccrotts@wng.org) a brief description of why the ministry impresses you, and include its name, address, and website. To be eligible, groups must offer challenging, personal, and spiritual help, with funding from individuals and churches, not the government.