The effort to curtail money-laundering through ethically-challenged businesses upsets the Republicans who profit from these industries.

March 25, 2015

Today's Fox and Friends segment with the Doocy, tries to rile up their gun-crazed audience over the feds cracking down on the banking practices of these unsavory businesses that are often fronts for money-launderers.

"This is a very clever way to get around the Second Amendment,"

claims Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy (R). Remember Pretty Boy Duffy? The guy who bitched and moaned about his paltry $174,000 per annum salary? He's beyond livid that some of the death merchants, a.k.a. "gun dealers" in his district are facing scrutiny by the D.O.J.'s Operation Choke Point.

What is Operation Choke Point? (It) is a federal initiative that aims to crack down on fraud by honing in on banks and payment processors—the companies that serve as middlemen between merchants and banks on credit card transactions. Financial institutions are not supposed to do business with companies they believe might be breaking the law. But Justice Department officials suspect that some payment processors ignore signs of fraud—like high percentages of transactions being rejected as unauthorized—in transactions they process, and banks go along for the ride, earning massive profits.

Here's the real problem. The NRA is against any regulations for anything that might prevent its death merchants from earning a profit, no matter how many lives are put in needless peril. In addition to the unsavory world of gun dealing, the D.O.J. also includes the sketchy business of high interest 'payday loans' or 'title loans.' This scrutiny is exactly what that these shady businesses richly deserve. The party of shady, aka the G.O.P. claims this whole ruse is an attack on guns and the rights of patriotic gun-loving Americans.

industries_impacted
Industries impacted by Operation Choke Point Credit: Fox News

As expected, the NRA-ILA, the legislative arm of the death cult, is none too pleased. They explain:

The purpose of the FDIC is to prevent “runs” on banks, in which people withdraw their money en masse, fearing that the bank is about to collapse. A bank run can be a self-fulfilling prophecy, as rapid withdrawals can drive a weak bank into insolvency.

And what causes “reputational risk”? The FDIC provided some details in a 2011 guidance document for banks: “Managing Risks in Third-Party Payment Processor Relationships.” The document warned banks about “merchant categories that have been associated with high-risk activity.” These include some things that, by their nature, are inherently fraudulent or are illegal under state and federal laws, such as “Cable Box De-scramblers,” “On-line Gambling,” and “Ponzi Schemes.” Some “risk” categories involve gray areas, such as “Fireworks Sales,” which are legal in some states but not others. Or “pornography,” which is protected by the First Amendment unless there is a court determination that the material is legally “obscene.”

emphasis mine

But the large majority of the FDIC’s targets involve activities that are legal everywhere, such as “Ammunition Sales,” “Firearms Sales,” “Coin Dealers,” “Dating Services,” and “Tobacco Sales.”

You'd think the party that claims to represent family values and purity would be all in favor of eliminating the profit from black market activities, but the hypocrisy of the G.O.P. exists on every front.

Meanwhile, some Democrats are mystified that conservatives are up in arms about an anti-fraud program, and the Justice Department is emphasizing this effort has nothing to do with limiting gun-selling.

Operation Choke Point compels banks to take greater steps to prevent fraud and not engage in financial transactions with companies they suspect might be breaking the law. Under Choke Point, the Justice Department has opened civil or criminal investigations into at least 15 banks and payment processors—which serve as the middleman between banks and businesses in credit card transactions—to determine if these firms have enabled fraud.

Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) has taken over Darrell Issa's crusade against Operation Choke Point. Darrell Issa made it known that he firmly believed this was an assault on the Second Amendment, even though it doesn't limit gun sales one iota, it scrutinizes the banking practices of such businesses. Besides, without shady business practices, how could Issa be as rich as he is? Of course he'll oppose tighter scrutiny of the books.

Let's look into the new Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform's home state. In Utah, payday loans are considered a

growing industry • The new state numbers show Utah has 565 payday loan and title loan stores. That is more than the number of Subway, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Arctic Circle restaurants in Utah combined.

It's also no coincidence that Sean Duffy was appointed the Chair of The Oversight & Investigations Subcommittee.

Duffy tells Doocy,

"This is anti-American stuff Steve, and me and the Congress are going to push back on this. One other point I want to make for you is, when the FDIC or the bank regulators put pressure on the bank to say, 'listen, stop doing business with a gun dealer,' you might ask well, why won't the banks come forward and tell America this what the bank regulators are doing? The key is, the banks can't tell you, they're prohibited from telling you what the FDIC is telling them. So they are sworn to secrecy. So, the only way this is going to come out on how the Obama Administration is getting around the Second Amendment and taking out gun dealers and ammunition manufacturers is if us in Congress do our work and we expose it and YOU on Fox tell the story."

The Derpy Doocy replies, "that's what we are doing here today."

We know that banks, often the ones Too Big To Fail, are dealing with the most sleazy element of our society: high interest loan sharks, online pharmacies, gun and ammo dealers and the sex industry that profits from human trafficking. The party of family values sees this as an imposition into their freedom to make money any damned way they please. Hell, the Supreme Court, in addition to sanctioning limitless campaign donation cash from unnamed sources, would likely sanction their illegal activities, so why not? Plus, Fox News will tell their story for them, any way they tell them to portray it. The efforts of Holder's D.O.J. will be contested until the Senate and House reflect the changing demographics of this country, but we won't see the change until roughly 2020. The longer they take to confirm Lynch, the more time Holder has to mess with these creeps, which is not exactly a bad thing.

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