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It looks like the banks are getting fussy over who they allow to have accounts with them. More than a few porn stars have been shut out...bank accounts frozen...all because of the depositor's "unsavory" way of making money. Funny they should be so picky after all they launder dirty money from drug dealers. But then most of those banksters probably snort cocaine anyway and most likely watch those porn movies...how else would they know that their customer's real name equates to the fake porn names.
http://www.businessinsider.com/porn-star-chase-bank-accounts-2014-4
Maybe Chic-Fil-A members sit on the board of Chase?
But here is another possibility....have you ever heard of a government program called Operation Choke Point?
"...the latest is that this may be a part of the US Department of Justice's "Operation Choke Point" program, in which the government has apparently decided that some extremely legal businesses don't get to exist anymore, but since they can't just disappear companies and industries in good standing, they've decided to route around the whole "freedom" thing and get the financial industry to act as contract hitmen."
"Operation Choke Point is asking banks to identify customers who may be breaking the law or simply doing something government officials don't like," Keating wrote. "Banks must then "choke off" those customers' access to financial services, shutting down their accounts."
"Keating said the highly secretive operation was launched in early 2013. That's when porn stars started to complain to the media that their bank accounts were being shut down without explanation. "
"Let's not mince words: a program that was built upon the goals of stopping financial fraud has devolved into a massive government overreach into private businesses that are operating within the law. "
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140430/12191027079/chase-bank-slutsha...
I know, I'm bad!
Thanks Marc.
On his radio show recently, Thom said these "checkpoints" are not only illegitimate; they're illegal. So why haven't these militia bullies been arrested, then?!
Even the so-called "legit" ones infuriate me. Years ago when we were travelling musicians touring the country, we got stuck in a long line of bumper-to-bumper traffic, behind what turned out to be some sort of drug-enforcement checkpoint bullshit with cops and sniffer dogs. (Sieg heil!) Just so happened we had pot on us, although we managed to get through the ordeal unscathed. But this sort of shit really sticks in my craw. Warrantless searches are bloody unconstitutional. - Aliceinwonderland
As well they should be, Palin! This is creepy, disgusting shit.
That's what I call "the smoking tongue"! "..they were refusing to participate!" I know a lot of librarians were really ticked off over it as well.
Hah-HAH! Couldn't resist could ya.... ya fink! - AIW
Palin, I'm certain that bookstores as well as libraries were pressured to keep records of what people were reading. I remember asking about this point-blank at a local bookstore I occasionally patronize. The woman I asked told me they were refusing to participate. She seemed sincere and I believed her. But my point is that if bookstores weren't being pressured, I would have gotten a different response. - AIW
♬ Imagine there's no ...... ♫
johnbest: Former President Jimmy Carter has said: "America has no functioning democracy."--quote from the book 'Behold A Pale Farce'.
Thank you, Aliceinwonderland, for your kind words of support. Just after that incident at the book store, I was thinking about how the government had leaned on the librarians to give them lists of what people were reading and was wondering if they were doing the same thing at the book stores...not so far-fetched. If they are going to be so darn snoopy at book stores, I might as well buy all my books on-line like I normally do anyway. I bought this book at the bookstore because it wasn't that expensive and I wouldn't have saved much on it anyway had I ordered it on-line. They are so much cheaper..and waiting a few days for Fed Ex to deliver is not a problem. However, the threat that a FedEx truck follower will steal packages from my front door is always in my mind. I don't feel like I can go anywhere when I am expecting a delivery. And I watch for people approaching my front door through my surveillance cameras. I've already caught people trying to open my car doors at night and trying to steal out of my mail box.
[qoute=ChicagoMatt]
And, as I think we have established, the entire idea that a better world for everyone is the goal doesn't jive with the thinking of many of us younger folks. A better world for myself, my family, and my immediate neighborhood, yes. The rest of the world? Not my problem.
[/quote]
I don't know Matt, quite a lot of young people I've met at Occupy and elsewhere are as idealistic as we were - and as many of us still are. They all want to help everybody and make the world better for all and sundry. They certainly don't have the "don't give a shit" attitude you seem to have.
I don't believe that's true - unless you try to decide for people what's good for them. But if you just don't care then you just don't care.
Anyway, nothing could be worse than leaving the world to its own device or to the nefarious.
Hypocritical they were not, in my view, rather, they exposed the hypocrisy of conventional society which the neocon cultural counter revolution of the '80s then, once again, embraced. I don't doubt that you mock them, as I said before, your materialistic, avaricious and superficial values are antithetical to theirs.
You are correct that there is no mass media anymore, everything is "subscriber only" now and nobody is hearing the same thing. We are atomized, separated and isolated and are hardly a society anymore, hardly have a common culture. Can you, for example, name last summer's big hit popular song? There is no such thing anymore. I remember when the Beatles released a new single it was big news. Everybody was listening to it and talking about it. You'd be be bopping down the street listening to it with your transistor radio to your ear and somebody would drive by with their window rolled down and you'd hear the same song because they were listening to the same station.
Shit doesn't hit the fan like it used to, you couldn't have a Watergate scandal today, for example, like you could then. The conservatives are listening to conservative media and lefties are listening to lefty media and each are getting a different angle to the exclusion of all others. The lefties and conservatives are each getting a different spin on everything,and even different facts. Someone who listens only to either lefty or righty media is likely completely unaware of certain facts or occurances that the other side hears and is talking about. We're all in our own little worlds now with fear and distrust of everybody else.. Now we just need everybody to have a gun and what could possibly go wrong?
WOW Palin, that was pretty amazing what you experienced at the bookstore. That blows my mind! Thanks for sharing. From now on, I'll pay more attention to any situation where I'm being prodded for such information. Good for you, standing your ground like you did! You handled it very well. That little twerp picked the wrong guy to mess with. He had no right to harass you and his behavior was inappropriate. We can pay for our purchases any way we bloody choose to pay for them!
For a long time I have resented being coerced into submitting my social security number to medical clinics, banks and other businesses that have nothing whatsoever to do with the government. That was not the original purpose of these social security numbers. Whenever I can get away with it, I submit just the last four digits. With identity theft such a pervasive problem and on the rise, we might as well be giving these folks our house & car keys.
Anyway I've generally been pretty picky about where to disclose personal information. Your experience makes me want to get even pickier. The nerve of these people! Yeah it's the employer who's ultimately at fault… but that cashier didn't have to be so goddam pushy. Remember Baby Bush's policy of spying on everyone's reading preferences, requiring bookstores and libraries to take lists for that purpose? I bet that policy is still in effect. I suspect this may have been what was behind the bookstore's efforts to identify you as the purchaser of a politically controversial book. Maybe you should go back there sometime and buy an item less controversial, like The Joy Of Cooking or a book about gardening, just to see if they treat you differently. - Aliceinwonderland
Aliceinwonderland ~ I think you did answered your own question... That is, they are a bunch of "Goddamn gestapo pigs." Possibly more like a bunch of vendictive, racist, neonazis who want to save the country from that 'colored' President.
If this standoff could possibly represent anything more Mr. Bundy would never have made such an ass out of himself with his racist diatribe and this entire matter would be pending a court date and flying way under the radar. That's my two cents.
Apropos to #18 ~ The definition of "mammon" is as follows:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammon
ChicagoMatt ~ Oh, really!! Maybe then you should ponder this little tidbit...
They're lucky they haven't encountered someone like me driving towards one of their little "checkpoints". I'd put pedal-to-metal and go blazing through there so hard & fast, they'd have to jump aside or get creamed. Just the thought of encountering such a thing is enough to raise my blood pressure a few notches. Goddam gestapo pigs... just who do they think they are?!!! - AIW
Just like them, they say they're against government, want freedom but then they remove democratic government and establish a private tyranny where everybody has to show their papers at regular check points.
;-}
Whoa, that's a close one. I managed to beat Matt on submitting a post by just a second. We both submitted at virtually the same time. I know, little things like that amuse me! ;-}
Matt, I don't think DAnneMarc considers himself an atheist..I'm the atheist...and damn proud of it too. ;-} But I'm too worn out from the last bout of discussions on that subject that I won't go any farther than that. But, you are correct...arguing religion or atheism is just not going to convince anyone, one way or the other, just spinning our wheels.
I don't think I am really defending them - just pointing out a hypocracy. I know corporations don't give a damn about me. But I feel the same way about the government as well. Part of me wants to just drop out of both - stop buying gas, but also stop paying into Social Security and other government programs. Then the other part of me - the really right-wing part, thinks to itself, "I should invest in some Exxon stock..."
Religion helps keep me positive about the future. I think I read in another one of your posts that you are Atheist. And we both know neither one of us are going to change the other one's mind, so let's not waste our cyber "breath". But, the thought that there is something much better waiting for me on the other side of this life helps me not worry so much about the future.
I can feel the collective condemnation of the nonreligious people who just read that. I know, "opiate of the masses" and all that Jazz.
I read some of his stuff in college. Couldn't get into it. But perhaps I should try it again, now that I have those extra 12 years of "real world" experience. A lot of things I read in the past mean different things to me now. "The Giving Tree", for example.DAnneMarc: Coincidence? I don't know, maybe.
That's puny compared to the 10,000 acres on Mormons Mesa near Bundy's ranch. Except, the technology is different. The Mormons Mesa solar farm will not be solar cells but will be an array of mirrors that direct the suns rays to a collector unit at the top of a tower.
Some tidbits of information about who's behind that Indiana solar farm....
So, who is Hanwha Q Cells USA?
And so, while I'd much rather see these large companies manufacture solar cells than weapons of destruction, they will still tend to destroy anyone who gets in their way. They have the power to buy off politicians and to manipulate what people believe. Just like that solar farm they want to put on the BLM land where Bundy grazes his cattle, on the Mormon Mesa, those with all the money and power will get their way. That solar farm will be built by Bright Source Energy Solar Partners and they consist of these companies: Alstom, Google, Bechtel, Chevron, and NRG. And GE just bought the French company Alstom.
So, somehow, I don't think it is a solar energy against fossil fuel energy...as much as it is who controls it and who will end up paying for it. The oligarchs own it and we have to pay for it no matter whether it is solar or fossil fuels or nuclear. And, as Matt pointed out...it was going to cost him $8,000 plus take up a lot of room for the batteries and other equipment in his basement. And you have to add to that cost of insurance after initial warranties expire or risk having wind damage or hail destroy the solar cells and those batteries don't last forever either. You have to pay big bucks up front and hope that you come out ahead eventually vs paying the energy companies those relatively smaller amounts every month (that will continue to increase as well).
And just wait, someone will figure out how to tax us on the sun one day.
You guys forgot to mention some early examples of the oil barons forcing us to use their products. In the late 1800's. Mr. Diesel came up with this great engine that would burn far less fuel. He showed his great invention to John D. Rockfeller on a cruise from the US to London. 10 days later Mr. Diesel was found floating face down and dead in the ocean.
Then in the 1920's, LA county had a street car line running from the city to Santa Monica Beach. The line was called the Red Line. General Motors and Standard Oil told the LA City they would take over the Red Line and the city would not have to pay for it anymore. Those carbon corps then ran the line such that driving a car to the beach seemed like the far better choice. To see how much it helped the carbon corps bottom, you should be driving on the 405 where it intersects Interstate 10 at 8:30 AM.
ChicagoMatt ~ Yes they did! They affected not only everyone who dispises racism in this country, they also affected everyone on his team and all of their fans. Are you insinuating that antibigotry is a liberal characteristic? If so, then you are ultimately claiming that bigoty and the acceptance of it is a Reich Wing characteristic. Personally I think the media covered it so much simply because it was so outrageous and unbelievable that anyone who's carreer involves so much racial diversity would ever be so cold, calous, hypocitical and offensive to stick his foot in his mouth that far without the slightest thought as to what he was saying. You say he just had a typical, "old man's views." Where do you get your mind set that those views are typical of old people. You won't find one "old man" on this blog who shares that idea; or any of those twisted views. One of the things I hate about the Right is their total acceptance and embracement of racism and their total hypocritical denial of it.
Son, if you haven't been paying attention, and obviously you haven't, the media downplays and distorts all of our leaders war activities abroad--especially the illegal ones. They flat out refuse to even entertain the idea that 911 was an inside job. In that respect you are right. However, in concluding that this is a "Liberal Media" plan is naive at best.
Are you even remotely serious? Fine. Here's a bombshell for you. Every white Presidential candidate before Obama shared 100% of the white vote. What does that mean? Duh! Absolutely nothing!
My conclusion so far is that you are a first class bigot. You have just proven that fact by showing your true colors. Here's another bombshell. I'm a white guy who voted twice for Obama. Do you think my vote was racially motivated or motivated to keep McCain and Romney the hell out of the White House? Was my vote and all the votes of all the other white people who voted for Obama racially motivated? Only a first class bigot believes that race alone is the only reason for doing something.
Benghazi? Please go on about Benghazi! What a perfect example of why you are so so wrong. Benghazi was nothing other than a media stunt perpetrated by the Right Wing Media. It was pure propaganda BS. How does that story in any way support your "claim?"
Finally you said something we can all agree on.
Matt, there is nothing "trivial" about a public figure spewing racist hate speech over the public airwaves. Only one who has (knowingly or unknowingly) enjoyed the benefits of white privilege his entire life would characterize such a thing as "trivial". The lack of class consciousness and the warped social values of your privileged pupils is a direct consequence of a media that is anything but "liberal". You bet racist rhetoric affects people, as Trayvon Martin's family (and other families like them) could easily attest to. It feeds into a status quo that makes it okay to use unarmed black teenagers for target practice.
You paint black voters with mighty broad strokes, Matt. I seriously doubt you have enough contact with black people to make such an assertion with any authority. And please, give us just one reason why anyone of African American descent would want to vote for someone like McCain or Romney! I'm listening…
You're damn right Bush's "victory" was a funeral… for DEMOCRACY. Because the American people did not elect George W. Bush. That was a stolen election, stolen by those black-robed neocons of the Extreme Court. By contrast, Obama's victory (at least initially) seemed like the triumph of the people over the oligarchs. And electing our first black president was an event of great significance. (As to Obama's performance since then…. well, that's a whole other discussion.)
The people who watch FOX "news" have been determined to be even less informed than those who watch no news at all, so pervasive are FOX's lies and distortions. You think it's to their credit that they've exploited the ignorance of the public with their toxic drivel?! I think it's criminal.
I'm glad you're listening to progressive talk radio now. Maybe you'll learn a thing or two. Judging from your posts, you've got a helluva lot more to learn. - Aliceinwonderland