DOJ Targets Legal Businesses for Extinction

In a story that has been developing for some time, the lid may have finally been blown off on a secretive DOJ program known as Operation Choke Point in which Federal regulators and investigators decide to target and summarily destroy perfectly legal business ventures by "choking off" their access to the country's banking system and its associated financial services.

The victims of this legally dubious DOJ persecution are typically targeted on the basis of their social acceptability or moral purity, as determined by the regulators and investigators at the DOJ.

Victims include, but are not limited to:

• Non-depository lenders
• Ammunition vendors
• Online gambling sites
• Individuals associated with the porn industry

Again, every business that is being targeted by the DOJ is a perfectly legal one. They are simply targeting them because some unelected bureaucrats at the DOJ have decided these enterprises are not acceptable for whatever reason and must be run out of business.

How can the DOJ engage in such nefarious and brazen assaults on the basic liberties and legality of American free enterprise? Regardless of what you may think of these various industries, they are perfectly legal. If following the law doesn't protect you from the wrath of Federal officials, then what the hell are we supposed to do? Aside from hiring an army of lobbyists and lawyers, there doesn't seem to be any other option.

 

I did some looking into this. It's beyond the pale, utterly unconstitutional. Anyone wondering why we are in economic malaise, look to illicit executive programs like this that burden the private sector unduly at the behest of a PERMANENT, UNELECTED bureaucrat class. Disgraceful, outrageous. I have always thought the impeachment bandwagon was alarmist, but after seeing this in combination with other factors? Holder should be impeached yesterday.

 

Former Chairman of the FDIC blasts DOJ's Operation Choke Point.

 

I often complain about the dictatorship of unelected judges but the bureaucrats are just as bad in their own way.

 

If they dig a little deeper they'll find firearms manufacturers also. Even manufacturers that produce weaponry for the military have been targeted. There's nothing more dangerous than big government.

 

I would ask, did this happen under Dubya Bush?

Or is this something that could only happen under Obama and Eric Holder?

I am seriously asking the question! Did this START under the Bush era, or only start in 2007, when the Dems took control?

( Yes, I do mean 2007, not in the year 2008 )

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Taxcutter says:
Judging from the posted links this started with the Hussein Obama junta.

 

It is a good concept with apparently poor implementation. They are supposed to be targeting specific accounts/people to curb debit card fraud when those accounts/people are associated with high rates of fraud/cancelled charges. As someone who has had financial fraud done in their name, I support the intent. They just need to tweak things a little (or a lot, whichever is required)

 

How long before Holder targets all Republicans? Or Christians?

 

When the Democrat Leftists came for the Small Businesses,
I remained silent;
I was not a small businessman.

When they locked up the online poker sites and small banks,
I remained silent;
I was not a gambler or small banker.

When they came for the gun manufacturers and ammo makers,
I did not speak out;
I do not own a gun.

When they came for the TEA Party,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a TEA Party Member.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

 

Here is the 'high risk' list, according to the FDIC:

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

Who else is the Federal government going to classify as 'high risk'? What gives them the authority or the right to discriminate against legal businesses? This seems like a violation of civil and constitutional rights.

 

Is anyone surprised? Team Obama are enlisted to "reward friends & punished the enemy" and they'll use any means at their disposal to do it.

 

Taxcutter says:
Very applicable.

 

Just more nails in the coffins of self-reliance, accountability, personal due diligence, not to mention the states as sovereign within their borders. Pursuit and prosecution of frauds should never extend to entire business classes, only to individual wrongdoers.

Notice some exclusions from the list. fortune-telling and astrology, new age type businesses, home shopping networks. Why aren't those there too? Don't want to PO the coveted female voting bloc that skews heavily left and without which the left couldn't exist. Notice also the heavy focus on businesses with mostly male customers. Besides being offensive to the Constitution and state sovereignty, this initiative is also identity politics in practice.

Good news is that there will be lots more coverage of this, and it will hurt the left as much as race-baiting and voter suppression/disenfranchisement. These things will not and do not gain traction in the center, and IMO the left is making some very poor issue choices.

 

If these adult film actors and actresses can prove that the DOJ ordered their bank accounts terminated without due process, they could sue for a violation of their civil rights. Just imagine if they had done this to an ethnic minority or a religious group instead.

 

They've reached a level of hubris that is very dangerous to our economic and civil liberties. If they can do this to payday lenders and adult film stars, they can do it to anyone.

 

A DoJ that will not prosecute Ms.Lerner is capable of any abuse.

 

That was like 6 years ago....

 

This is clearly government overstepping its authority. What a band of thugs! Why aren't there more responses? Where is the outrage?

 

They've cast a very wide net over the US economy. The most disturbing targets are definitely the arms and ammunition industries. Just another front on which the "progressive" elite are attacking our right to keep and bear arms.

 

Actually, the online gambling ban was due to Congressional legislation. The Unlawful Internet Gaming Enforcement Act (UIGEA) was a hastily put together piece of crap legislation thrown together in the 11th hour and tacked onto the Safe Port Act of 2006, rushed through Congress without deliberation and forced upon Congresspeople who didn't want to vote against Safe Ports.

Now, if what the OP has reported is true, I have to ask myself why Holder has already deemed that the Wire Act does not impinge upon online gambling.

 

Well the problem then becomes good luck getting a lawyer to take the case, and leftist organizations like the ACLU will probably duck and cover. In a rational world, groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center would be raising hell about this. That they aren't or won't or will raise token resistance demonstrates the true nature of such organizations.

 

The 60s left would be up in arms. The left today though is the "bureaucrat-dependent" left, so won't be making a peep on this. Means more business for them. None of the targets are unionized, so the left's main propaganda engine doesn't care either.

 

Actually they probably have since the porn industry is an equal opportunity employer -- providing, that is, that the actor or actress has an exceptional body.

 

Wow! Not a single solitary Obama supporter has dared address this topic. The crickets chirping coming from the Left is . . . deafening . . .