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Choking American Businesses

4/18/2016

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Choking American Businesses

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                                                      By Susan Steffen-Kraft
I was surprised how many have not heard of Operation Chokepoint or understand it's effects, so I decided to write a blog about it.
​The investigation that Justice Department officials have dubbed "Operation Choke Point" came to light in March 2013.  The Justice Department claims to have instituted the program in 2012 to “attack Internet, telemarketing, mail, and other mass market fraud against consumers, by choking fraudsters’ access to the banking system." This probe was to stop the fraudsters from accessing consumer bank accounts by as they termed it, choking off their access to the payments system. The effects have been felt by banks, payment processors and companies that tend to make short-term consumer loans over the Internet.  Industry officials argued that at least some of the affected online lenders are legitimate businesses and this causes problems of course. Operation Chokepoint is sending out a flood of subpoenas, civil investigative demands and burdensome and costly legal demands to companies that supply processing services. They have also threatened bank officials with increased scrutiny and administrative subpoenas unless they  completely sever banking relationships with the companies in these industries.

This operation believes if you ​
increase the legal and compliance costs of serving certain disfavored merchant categories, and payments companies there will be a stoppage to providing service to those kind of merchants.  And it’s working. Because of this the payments companies across the country are cutting off service to certain types of merchants that in all actuality are legal and providing legal services.  It seems that payday lenders have been the most frequent target, and although there are merits to payday lending plus valid arguments on both sides; it is legal in 36 states. It is not as if the payment industry is not trying to investigate fraud itself.

​The Electronics Transactions Association or ETA has seen the opportunity to educate all participants in the payments ecosystem about how to identify and remove fraudulent merchants from our networks.  The ETA’s newly published Guidelines which is a  100 page document and educational curriculum developed by a task force of forty payments companies, is being sent out for benefit of all "ecosystem participants" and in particular to smaller companies many of whom do not have significant in-house resources.  This begs the question that if payday lenders are today’s target– what category will be next and who makes that decision?
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In answer to the above question they are going after people who sell guns. The owner of TomKat Ammunition is a gal by the name of Kat O'Conner. Her business is in Maryland and her bank’s payment processing service cut her off and then her third-party payment processor dumped her because she sold ammunition. Take not that this was even though she and her business partner are licensed to sell ammunition by the state. Wisconsin resident Mike Schuetz who is the owner of Hawkins Guns was told by Heritage Credit Union that they do not service businesses that sell guns. Schuetz got mad and proceeded to take a recorder down to Heritage Credit Union in Hawkins. He then began asking questions and recording the answers he got. The regional manager confirmed that the NCUA forced him to close Shuetz’s account:
"The examiners from NCUA — that’s who governs us, it’s a federal government agency — came in and did an exam on everything. There [were] about a dozen [examiners] crawling around the building. They were just hammering us. They came in, looked at our books, looked at everything and said: “Here are some accounts that we feel that we’re going to regulate you on.” So they kind of put the screws to us as far as what we could and couldn’t do….We’re not really anti-gun as a company, but our hands are tied."
 

Brennan Appel of North Carolina-based Global Hookah Distributors lost his bank and payment processor. When asked why Choke Point would target the tobacco industry he said "They don't like us!"  His business legally operates in 19 states so he is above board and should have no problems.  
Under the government’s Operation Choke Point,  some payday lending businesses lost their access to their long-term bank accounts and because of this they were forced to downsize or close.

Allison Deguisne, owner of Westshore Cash and Loan in Calif. happened to be one of them. 
She stated last week before a congressional hearing on Operation Choke Point that, “My retirement is gone. It’s taken my life savings. I am out of business in the next couple weeks.”  “If we continue to shut down these industries, they won’t have anywhere to go to get loans themselves,” she said. She also told reporters that after Wells Fargo choked off her line of credit, she was not able to find a bank that would accept her business.
http://dailysignal.com/2014/08/12/meet-four-business-owners-squeezed-by-operation-choke-point/
  Bank officials are being threatened with increased scrutiny and administrative subpoenas if they do not completely sever banking relationships with companies in these industries.

Mr. Sprandel, an 18-year police veteran had to retire in 2011 after being hit by a drunk driver while on duty in his patrol car. Sprandel, who is married and has two children, opened an online firearms and tactical business. Since his retirement pension is not 100 % of his pay he decided to take the step of opening a business which was a tactical and firearms endeavor; of course he was hoping to supplement his retirement. 
Unfotunately it came back denied and the bank by voicemail informed him as to why. The message said, “They said they no longer lend to firearms dealers, so that’s a new thing for us.”  This is the second time he has been denied financial services because of selling firearms. Now the retired police officer has called on supporters of gun rights to boycott People’s United Bank. I don't blame him one bit.
http://dailysignal.com/2016/04/02/in-voicemail-bank-says-it-no-longer-lends-to-firearms-dealers/?utm_source=TDS_Email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign

​​In 2011, FDIC released an internal of 30 “high-risk” industries that it later advised financial institutions to avoid. Among these businesses were those who sold " surveillance equipment, dating services, payday loans, firearms and ammunition, and tobacco!" This list was intended to influence the banks decisions. Later the FDIC issued a statement that this was to be a case by case decision and they only did this due to mounting rage by the public and by congress. A slight problem happens however due to this list because it means “doubling-down” on the program according to Brian Wise, a U.S. Consumer Coalition senior adviser.  Now financial services do not know who they can and cannot do business with without incurring the government’s wrath. 


The conservatives on Capitol Hill are awakening to Choke Point’s larger role and they are not just picking winners and losers in the marketplace, but also attacking competitors to the Center for Responsible Lending, which is very similar to an ACORN type financial organization. "The CRL builds its relationships in economically-distressed communities, collecting favors and distributing favors, and this includes collecting federal grants and distributing grants and loans 
as well as political contributions and hefty lobbying fees". This is government chicanery at it's finest. 
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The FDIC’s list of 30 high-risk merchant categories that are currently being pursued by the DOJ.

Ammunition Sales

Cable Box De-scramblers
Coin Dealers
Credit Card Schemes
Credit Repair Services
Dating Services
Debt Consolidation Scams
Drug Paraphernalia
Escort Services
Firearms Sales
Fireworks Sales
Get Rich Products
Government Grants
Home-Based Charities
Life-Time Guarantees
Life-Time Memberships
Lottery Sales
Mailing Lists/Personal Info
Money Transfer Networks
On-line Gambling
PayDay Loans
Pharmaceutical Sales
Ponzi Schemes
Pornography
Pyramid-Type Sales
Racist Materials
Surveillance Equipment
Telemarketing
Tobacco Sales
Travel Clubs
​Reports that even porn stars have had their bank accounts terminated for “moral” reasons are related to the “reputation risk” of banking individuals in the porn industry. The IRS is probably salivating about ways to apply Operation Choke Point to conservative and tea party groups thus the logic of Operation Choke Point could be extended to groups not currently targeted.  Notably absent from the FDIC’s hit list are abortion clinics, radical environmental groups, or, well, marijuana shops, for that matter. Well, it seems they appear to be picking and choosing according to what they feel is right or wrong in their own minds.
 The Daily Signal on Mar. 18, 2015 exclusively learned that Sen. Mike Crapo will offer an amendment Thursday to the Senate’s budget proposal that would defund the Justice Department’s controversial program known as Operation Choke Point.  Thank you Senator Crapo from the state of Idaho.

“The Department of Justice must not politicize its enforcement policies, and we must not let Operation Choke Point become an end run around the Second Amendment by threatening the financial security of gun and ammunition manufacturers,” said Crapo, R-Idaho, in a statement to The Daily Signal.
The introduction of Sen. Crapo’s measure before the Senate Budget Committee will mark the first time since the start of Operation Choke Point that committee members will be forced to go on the record regarding their stance on the program.

The Washington Examiner on Feb. 2016 reported that the House voted Thursday to end Operation Choke Point, the Department of Justice initiative involving banks to crack down on fraud and money laundering. Republicans, who have described Operation Choke Point as a violation of due process, voted in favor of the bill, as did 10 Democrats.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said on the House floor before the vote that it was an "outrage" for "legally constituted businesses to have to fear that in the dark of night they're going to be shut down by the awesome power of the Obama administration."

Current updated news from the New American April 16, 2016 states that, 

"Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah, both Republicans, have introduced a bill that is an attempt to curtail Operation Choke Point. Lee has a 91 percent cumulative score in The New American Freedom Index while Cruz has a score of 89 percent, making them the second- and third-ranked senators in the Index, which rates the fidelity of those in Congress to constitutional principles as measured by their voting records.
Cruz explained his purpose in attempting to shut down Choke Point:

Under President Obama’s reign, the DOJ has abandoned its longstanding tradition of staying out of politics and has instead become a partisan arm of the White House. The Obama Administration initiated Operation Choke Point to punish law-abiding small businesses that don’t align with the president’s political leanings. The DOJ should not be abusing its power by trying to bankrupt American citizens for exercising their constitutional rights.
Lee added,
​"Our right to bear arms — a right granted by God and protected by the Constitution — is fundamental to the protection of all our other rights. An executive branch bent on taking away this right, through any administrative means necessary, is a danger to all Americans. That is why I am proud to co-sponsor the Financial Institution Customer Protection Act, which would end the federal government’s ability to abuse financial regulations to target firearm proprietors like they did during Operation Choke Point."

We must stop the choking of American businesses.


http://usconsumers.org/operationchokepoint/,
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/204174-operation-choke-point-harmful-to-flow-of-commerce,
​http://humanevents.com/2014/07/14/beyond-guns-operation-choke-point-targets-coin-dealers-tobacco-and-pay-day-lenders/,
http://www.electran.org/eta-advances-fraud-prevention-with-voluntary-industry-best-practices-2/,
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/20002-small-victory-in-congressional-war-against-operation-chokepoint,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2014/05/24/operation-choke-point/
http://thefederalist.com/2015/03/30/put-the-squeeze-on-operation-choke-point/,
http://dailysignal.com/2015/04/03/already-a-target-of-operation-choke-point-payday-lending-industry-faces-more-government-scrutiny/,
http://dailysignal.com/2015/03/18/exclusive-senator-aims-to-use-budget-process-to-end-operation-choke-point/,
=MorningBell&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTlRVMVlXVXdNR1F5WmpJNSIsInQiOiJWUzZ4UnVHNldYUWtvOWdqbHk3T2ZLQnJOdnVzRFdjUmUzdTNpd29FdTVYZnpwMzc0
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/house-votes-to-end-operation-choke-point/article/2582422,
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/constitution/item/22985-cruz-lee-bill-would-curtail-anti-gun-operation-choke-point
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War Drums in the USA

4/5/2016

0 Comments

 

War Drums in the USA

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                                                  By Susan Steffen-Kraft


War according to the Constitution is misunderstood by both the left and right. "The President has the power to initiate hostilities without consulting Congress!" Of course what many do not understand is once war is declared, the President has the power to direct the war. By definition he is the Commander in Chief. The President should have the power to repel sudden attacks but he cannot declare war. 

John Adams made war on France according to many without Congressional authority. But Congress passed a series of acts that allowed for "an imperfect war!" So declared the Supreme Court.  Presidential orders including those issued as Commander in Chief have to be subject to restrictions imposed by Congress.



But when one of his Captains, on the Presidents orders, seized a Dutch ship sailing from a French port the Captain was sued for damages. Chief Justice John Marshall upheld that the suit was legal. The captain did this because Adams had ordered that any ship be seized sailing into or out of the French ports. Unfortunately for him, President Adam's military actions were subject to Congressional restrictions so the suit was allowed.

Studying in Liberty Classroom on Presidential War Powers surely opened my eyes even more. The classes in school surely do not present this if anything at all on the Constitution. Most times the Constitution is presented in a wrong light or how they wish to interpret it according to their personal political beliefs and what they are spoon fed by the media or others of little knowledge.

​
George Washington in his farewell address advised us to avoid long term friendly relations and or rivalries with nations. He felt our government  would become muddled and we would be drawn into wars which would not benefit our country and certainly would not be justified.  We would surely be drawn into unnecessary wars with countries who are not our friends over minor things. In other words they might be blown out of proportion.

 Washington predicted that foreign propaganda would operate inside and outside our Government. He warned that 'foreign influence' in our Government would even trick Americans about whom we can trust. He said in his Farewell Address:

"Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests."


"Washington knew that European nations had been constantly involved in one war after another. He knew that their political and economic interests were not the same as ours. He knew also that various foreign nations would try constantly to extend their influence over the American Government and people. Washington believed that the only way for the United States to grow strong and keep her hard-won independence was to remain free from European wars, problems, and influence. 

He also warned that  giving favors to other nations in the hope of receiving favors in return would lead to reproach from those nations we will be " for not giving them more"  so in other words they would have no gratitude for what we did for them.  We will have to "pay with a portion of our independence" for placing ourselves in such a position. 

"There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard."
The sad thing is that we constantly give favors all the time and get nothing in return!


Now all of this did not mean he was against free trade which involves other nations. It also means that when established naturally we would be protecting America's merchants by defending their rights. Seems little is done about that in this day and age. Our government should be insuring the conventional rules of trade. Anymore our government does nothing conventional!

To be sure policies whether foreign or domestic, were a learning experience for this new country and for the forefathers. Disagreements and discussions were not uncommon and it would be natural for this to happen as this was a new experience for all.
 ​
Thomas Jefferson  said "Having seen the people of other nations bowed down to the earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have cherished their opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of public debt, believing that these were the high road to public as well as private prosperity and happiness.” 

Jefferson also said "I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind! You can see that many who helped establish this nation were not warmongers. I say thank God for that! However many Presidents in bending to the New World Order seem to not care and will do whatever it takes!


The Monroe Doctrine warns the nations of Europe to stay out of Western Hemisphere business. It would be considered an act of aggression but at the same time noted that the United States would not interfere with European countries.


Please note that in 1962 the Monroe Doctrine was invoked symbolically when the Soviet Union began to build missile launching sites in Cuba. With the support of Organization of United States President John F. Kennedy threw a naval and air quarantine around the island. 
After several tense days the Soviet Union agreed to withdraw the missiles and dismantle the sites. Subsequently the United States dismantled several of its obsolete air and missile bases in Turkey. 

We need to bring our troops home and have them guard our borders and our country here. Should anyone attack we blow them out of the sea and skies. Oct. 11, 2007 in an interview with The Washington Post, Ron Paul said, 
"There's nobody in this world that could attack us today, we could defend this country with a few good submarines. If anybody dared touch us we could wipe any country off the face of the earth within a few hours."
Paul further compared the United States to a
schoolyard bully and said the country has no reason to flex its muscles overseas".


 Our administrations over the years knew we should defend our borders and they received warnings, but choose to ignore them. As an example President Roosevelt knew that Pearl Harbor was going to be attacked but choose to ignore it. He wanted to have an excuse to be in World War II. 

 I fear our country loves to be in and at war. Did I say war?  More like Police Actions which are non formal declarations of war. What the heck are we doing in a war that is not an officially declared war. We are not the police of the world nor should we be. 


Again from the lips of Thomas Jefferson:
"Reason and usage have established that when two nations go to war, those who choose to live in peace retain their natural right to pursue their agriculture, manufactures, and other ordinary vocations, to carry the produce of their industry for exchange to all nations, belligerent or neutral, as usual, to go and come freely without injury or molestation, and in short, that the war among others shall be, for them, as if it did not exist. One restriction on their natural rights has been submitted to by nations at peace, that is to say, that of not furnishing to either party implements merely of war for the annoyance of the other, nor anything whatever to a place blockaded by its enemy." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Pinckney, 1793. ME 9:221

"War between two nations cannot diminish the rights of the rest of the world remaining at peace. The doctrine that the rights of nations remaining quietly in the exercise of moral and social duties, are to give way to the convenience of those who prefer plundering and murdering one another, is a monstrous doctrine, and ought to yield to the more rational law, that "the wrong which two nations endeavor to inflict on each other must not infringe on the rights or conveniences of those remaining at peace." --Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 1801.



And why should we be. We should be a shining example of what Freedom is about.

"Man may die, and nations rise and fall, but an idea lives on".  John F. Kennedy
Speaking of ideas, the pen is and has always been mightier then the sword. I believe ideas are also. 

'The pen is mightier than the sword' was coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton in for his play Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy, 1839:

True, This! -

Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanters wand! - itself a nothing! - 
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Caesars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! - Take away the sword - 
States can be saved without it!


(From meanings of the pen is mightier then the sword)

In fact Thomas Jefferson said in a letter to Thomas Paine,  "Go on doing with your pen what in other times was done with the sword!" "A world in arms and trampling on all those moral principles which have heretofore been deemed sacred in the intercourse between nations, could not suffer us to remain insensible of all agitation. During such a course of lawless violence, it was certainly wise to withdraw ourselves from all intercourse with the belligerent nations, to avoid its pernicious effects on manners and morals and the dangers it threatens to free governments, and to cultivate our own resources until our natural and progressive growth should leave us nothing to fear from foreign enterprise." --Thomas Jefferson to Messrs. Bloodgood and Hammond, 1809. ME 12:317 

Thank you Thomas Jefferson for the wisdom you imparted to us and which apparently only a few politicians and people today know and understand. It is the truth. We need to sign petitions, call and vote. We show our true freedom in this way. War drums in America is not the way! 
However, always, and I mean always, be prepared to defend tooth and nail this wonderful country should an attack come to our shore. And let us make sure to avoid all entanglements and alliances on a permanent basis to avoid many of these problems.

 "You want to know why we are at war just listen to the video (that is below) which explains the reason we are at war. We were in WWI for that reason, WWII for that reason, the Korean war for that reason, the Vietnam war for that reason, the Afghanistan war for that reason, the Iraq war for that reason, and the Libyan war for that reason. 
What happened during each of those wars? The state was greatly expanded under Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman, Johnson, Bush, and Obama". 

Of course that is not the only reason as it is also profitable and helps to advance their agenda. But every time we are at war they greatly expand the size and scope of the state then declare those in opposition to their ideas are somehow un-American. We saw this happen under Bush; if you didn't support the Iraq war then you were sympathetic with the terrorists and thus un-American".
 

,,http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/t/thomasjeff169577.html,
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101101555.html,
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-20-02-0076-0014, 
http://interestingliterature.com/2015/01/15/who-said-the-pen-is-mightier-than-the-sword/, 
http://famguardian.org/subjects/politics/thomasjefferson/jeff1470.htm,
http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=23
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/11/AR2007101101555.html,
https://www.conservativeusa.org/issues/only-congress-can-make-decision-go-war,
https://www.libertyclassroom.com/warpowers/,
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread693361/pg1,
http://www.eagleforum.org/educate/washington/advice.html


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    I am " Professor Granny Susan. I brook no foolishness in my classroom so sit down and pay attention. HEY you in the back put the damn spit balls away.

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