DOJs Operation Choke Point Choked Off Business for Gun Sellers: Congress Defunded

The U.S. House determined that the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Operation Choke Point was cutting off "legitimate businesses from their banking lines." Rather than acting as an anti-fraud program, Holder was using Choke Point to keep programs "objectionable" to the administration, from receiving ordinary banking services. Steps to defund the program, through an amendment to the DOJ appropriations bill, passed in the House. Among the main targets of Operation Choke Point are gun and ammo merchants. Nothing is more "objectionable" to the DOJ than the Second Amendment, unless it's white males.

Rep. Darrell Issa said Operation Choke Point is the DOJ's "newest abuse of power:"

“If the administration believes some businesses should be out of business, they should prosecute them before a judge and jury. By forcibly conscripting banks to do their bidding, the Justice Department has avoided any review and any check on their power.” Source: Washington Times

The owner of Powderhorn Outfitters in Massachusetts says after 20 years of perfect financial dealings with TD Bank, they were denied a loan, "not because of our credit...just because we sell guns -- and they said that to us specifically...."

Powderhorn Outfitters, which sells firearms, archery gear and fishing equipment in Hyannis, Massachusetts, posted in an online forum this week that its longtime bank — TD Bank — had suddenly dropped its account. 

“TD Bank does not support the Second Amendment and has contacted us here at the Powderhorn to say that due to our involvement in firearms sales, we as a business are no longer welcome to have an account at their bank,” the sporting goods store posted on northeastshooters.com, an online forum for shooting enthusiasts in New England states. “They classify us in the same gray area as the local weed shops sprouting up on the Cape.” Source: Washington Times 

The United States Consumer Coalition was formed to fight Operation Choke Point.

“They’re targeting various industries, using banks as the weapon of choice.”

“They’re targeting various industries, using banks as the weapon of choice.” 

In January 2014, in the same article linked, is a portion of letter from Issa and Congressman Jim Jordan:

“extraordinary breadth of the [Justice] Department’s dragnet prompts concern that the true goal of Operation Choke Point is not to cut off actual fraudsters’ access to the financial system but rather to eliminate legal financial services to which the Department objects,”..

"Defunding" government is a constitutional weapon the House should should have put to use at least three years ago.

Originally Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

FOR OUR COUNTRY

Stolen From Texas Fred

Sent to Texas Fred (One of the finest patriots I have the pleasure to know.) this scared me.  It should scare you into action.  Feel free to pass it on.

***********************************************************************************
From: John Porter
To: Americans everywhere

I was sitting at my keyboard halfway through my writing a letter to you about how Barack Obama was fulfilling his pledge to “Transform America” by “Changing the fundamentals of America”, so that our government would become the plantation, he the owner, and we the slaves, when this article by Steve McCann appeared in my in box. After checking it for accuracy, and finding it so, I put my writing on hold and here present it to you, for I could not say it better.

…Is it already too late?

Obama’s Second Term Transformation Plans

The 2012 election has often been described as the most pivotal since 1860. This statement is not hyperbole. If Barack Obama is re-elected the United States will never be the same, nor will it be able to re-capture its once lofty status as the most dominant nation in the history of mankind.

The overwhelming majority of Americans do not understand that Obama’s first term was dedicated to putting in place executive power to enable him and the administration to fulfill the campaign promise of “transforming America ” in his second term regardless of which political party controls Congress. That is why his re-election team is virtually ignoring the plight of incumbent or prospective Democratic Party office holders.

The most significant accomplishment of Obama’s first term is to make Congress irrelevant. Under the myopic and blindly loyal leadership of Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, the Democrats have succeeded in creating an imperial and, in a second term, a potential dictatorial presidency.

During the first two years of the Obama administration when the Democrats overwhelmingly controlled both Houses of Congress and the media was in an Obama-worshiping stupor, a myriad of laws were passed and actions taken which transferred virtually unlimited power to the executive branch.

The birth of multi-thousand page laws was not an aberration. This tactic was adopted so the bureaucracy controlled by Obama appointees would have sole discretion in interpreting vaguely written laws and enforcing thousands of pages of regulations they and not Congress would subsequently write.

For example, in the 2,700 pages of ObamaCare there are more than 2,500 references to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. There are more than 700 instances when he or she is instructed that they “shall” do something and more than 200 times when they “may” take at their sole discretion some form of regulatory action. On 139 occasions, the law mentions that the “Secretary determines.” In essence one person, appointed by and reporting to the president, will be in charge of the health care of 310 million Americans once ObamaCare is fully operational in 2014.

The same is true in the 2,319 pages of the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act which confers nearly unlimited power on various agencies to control by fiat the nation’s financial, banking and investment sectors. The bill also creates new agencies, such as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, not subject to any oversight by Congress. This overall process was repeated numerous times with other legislation all with the intent of granting unfettered power to the executive branch controlled Barack Obama and his radical associates.

Additionally, the Obama administration has, through its unilaterally determined rule making and regulatory powers, created laws out of whole cloth. The Environmental Protection Agency on a near daily basis issues new regulations clearly out of their purview in order to modify and change environmental laws previously passed and to impose a radical green agenda never approved by Congress. The same is true of the Energy and Interior Departments among many others.

None of these extra-constitutional actions have been challenged by Congress. The left in America knows this usurpation of power is nearly impossible to reverse unless stopped in its early stages.

It is clearly the mindset of this administration and its appointees that Congress is merely a nuisance and can be ignored after they were able to take full advantage of the useful idiots in the Democrat controlled House and Senate in 2009-2010 and the Democrat Senate in the current Congress.

Additionally, Barack Obama knows after his re-election a Republican controlled House and Senate will not be able to enact any legislation to roll back the power previously granted to the Executive Branch or usurped by them. His veto will not be overridden as there will always be at least 145 Democratic members of the House or 34 in the Senate in agreement with or intimidated by an administration more than willing to use Chicago- style political tactics.

The stalemate between the Executive and Legislative Branches will inure to the benefit of Barack Obama and his fellow leftists.

The most significant power Congress has is the control of the purse-strings as all spending must be approved by them. However, once re-elected, Barack Obama, as confirmed by his willingness to do or say anything and his unscrupulous re-election tactics, would not only threaten government shutdowns but would deliberately withhold payments to those dependent on government support as a means of intimidating and forcing a Republican controlled Congress to surrender to his demands, thus neutering their ability to control the administration through spending constraints.

Further, this administration has shown contempt for the courts by ignoring various court orders, e.g., the Gulf of Mexico oil drilling moratorium, as well as stonewalling subpoenas and requests issued by Congress. The Eric Holder Justice Department (DoJ) has become the epitome of corruption as part of the most dishonest and deceitful administration in American history. In a second term the arrogance of Barack Obama and his minions will become more blatant as he will not have to be concerned with re-election.

Who will be there to enforce the rule of law, a Supreme Court ruling or the Constitution? No one. Barack Obama and his fellow-travelers will be unchallenged as they run roughshod over the American people.

Many Republicans and conservatives dissatisfied with the prospect of Mitt Romney as the nominee for president are instead focused on re-taking the House and Senate. That goal, while worthy and necessary, is meaningless unless Barack Obama is defeated. The nation is not dealing with a person of character and integrity but someone of single-minded purpose and overwhelming narcissism. Judging by his actions, words and deeds during his first term, he does not intend to work with Congress either Republican or Democrat in his second term, but rather to force his radical agenda on the American people through the power he has usurped or been granted.

The governmental structure of the United States was set up by the Founders in the hope that over the years only those people of high moral character and integrity would assume the reins of power. However, knowing that was not always possible, they dispersed power over three distinct and independent branches as a check on each other.

What they could not imagine is the surrender and abdication of its constitutional duty by the preeminent governmental branch, the Congress, to a chief executive devoid of any character or integrity coupled with a judiciary essentially powerless to enforce the law when the chief executive ignores them.

Conservatives, Libertarians, the Republican Party and Mitt Romney must come to grips with this moment in time and their historical role in denying Barack Obama and his minions their ultimate goal. All resources must be directed at that end-game and not merely controlling Congress and the various committee chairmanships

*************************************************************************************

This election is too important to ignore, to be complacent, to "forget" to vote.  We need everyone to go out to the polls.  If you know of a person who needs a ride to the polls, give it to him or her.

Feel free to "Steal" this from me.  Pass this warning along.

Channeling His Inner Nixon

I am now fully convinced that Barack Hussein Obama, the 44th President of the United States, has discovered a way to reverse the flow of time.  Last summer we re-experienced the protests of the 1960s with a twist of the disgusting by Occupy Wall Street.  A group that now advocates pedophilia and sexual slavery.  We show the unwashed masses gather in OUR public parks chanting, defecating on police cars, raping every woman they could find, anti-Semitism, theft and the destruction of business.  Yes my gentle Truth Seekers, we have once again experienced the 1960's.

Now we are once again experiencing the 1970's.  And President Barack Hussein Obama is channeling his inner Nixon.  Richard Nixon used the IRS to harass his political opponents.  Barack Obama is using the IRS to harass his political opponents.  Nixon had an Enemies List, Obama has an Enemies List.  Nixon had a corrupt Attorney General, so does Obama.  Nixon claimed Executive Privilege on items dealing with the Watergate Cover-up, and Obama is doing the same for Fast and Furious.  Nixon tried to rule by Executive Orders (His was known as the Imperial Presidency.) and Obama is trying to do the same.  All we need now is a John Dean saying:  "There is a cancer on the Presidency."

Yes, there is a great cancer on the Presidency today.  A cancer that is destroying this nation.  A cancer that is destroying our honor.  A cancer that must be cut from the body politic and destroyed.  For if we don't, this nation will no longer survive as a Free and Independent Republic.  It will have become an Absolute Monarchy ruled by King Barack Hussein Obama the First and his Queen Michelle.

I Know Nothing!

We do not have adults running our nation.  We have children who blame others for their mistakes, their infractions.  It is the old "I didn't do it.  It was someone else."  I didn't allow or accept that from my children when they were young.  And I will not accept this from an adult.  Especially an adult who is suppose to the be the top lawman in the nation, Eric Holder.

The head of the U.S. Justice Department launched his strongest personal defense yet in the growing furor over Operation Fast and Furious, the controversial sting targeting Mexican drug cartels and American gunrunners.

On Wednesday, Attorney General Eric Holder said for the first time that not only he but also other higher-ups at the Justice Department were not aware of the operation as it was being carried out. Holder also suggested politics could be a driving force behind Republican lawmakers' forceful inquiries into the matter.

"The notion that somehow or other this thing reaches into the upper levels of the Justice Department is something that. ... I don't think is supported by the facts," Holder told reporters at an unrelated press conference in Washington. "It's kind of something I think certain members of Congress would like to see, the notion that somehow or other high-level people in the department were involved. As I said, I don't think that is going to be shown to be the case -- which doesn't mean that the mistakes were not serious."

A spokeswoman for the Republican leading a congressional investigation described Holder's comments as baseless "whining," and earlier Wednesday the House Republican himself said the issue is about more than who knew what, when.

"Whenever you talk about human mistakes, you have to say, 'What was in the system that allowed that human mistake to go on and perpetuate itself?'" Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House Oversight Committee, said on Fox News Channel.

At issue is an Arizona operation launched in late 2009 by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which planned to follow gun purchasers in hopes that suspects would lead investigators to the heads of Mexican cartels. But hundreds of high-powered rifles and other guns ended up in Mexico, and many now accuse ATF and the Justice Department of letting the guns "walk" even after safety concerns were raised.

Weapons linked to the program were used in a December attack along the Southwest Border that killed U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. Months later, Issa launched his committee's investigation, as the Justice Department's inspector general also opened an inquiry, at Holder's direction.

"Our committee is the Government [Oversight and] Reform Committee," Issa said Wednesday. "We are about making sure that there is a system to prevent this in the future. When we have assurances that system is in place then our job is done."

But Holder seemed to question whether that is all Issa and other Republican critics are after.

"My hope would be that Congress will conduct an investigation that is factually based and not marred with politics," Holder said.

Holder has said repeatedly he was not aware of the operation as it was unfolding, and others have said no one at the Justice Department in Washington was informed of it, but Issa insists Holder at least "should have known."

"I believe it was his obligation to know, " Issa told Fox News in June. "The fact that there was a 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy in Eric Holder's office is to say really he wasn't doing his job."

Holder, however, noted he leads a massive department with all sorts of functions and obligations

"There are an awful lot of things that go on in the Justice Department," he said. "There's Operation Fast and Furious, [and] I'm sure there's Operation 'Fill In The Blank' going on right now that the people here in the department are not aware of."

Holder said he, as head of the department, has tried to "place in the field the responsibility and the discretion for enforcement activities," while setting "broad parameters here in the department" that he expects to be followed outside of Washington.

Holder has repeatedly denounced the tactics used in Operation Fast and Furious, calling the operation Wednesday a "flawed enforcement effort."

Recently, the man who headed ATF in the midst of it, Ken Melson, was reassigned, and U.S. attorney Dennis Burke, who oversaw the prosecution of cases coming out of the operation, abruptly resigned.

Nevertheless, at least three men have been charged in connection with the murder of agent Terry, though only one is in U.S. custody. And the Justice Department recently informed lawmakers that cases coming out of Operation Fast and Furious will now be led by prosecutors from outside Arizona.

Source

This reminds me of Sgt. Schultz on Hogan's Heroes:



I think Sgt. Schultz did it better and it was definitely more believable.

I remember the Watergate Hearings and scandal.  I remember it started with a 3rd rate burglary and ended up with the resignation of President Richard Nixon.  Nixon and his cohorts cried they didn't know about it.  Yet in the end the nation discovered the truth.  Our President was a crook.  And they will discover this truth again with Obama and his cronies.

New Black Panthers are Eric Holder's "People"

Republican Congressman John Culberson (TX) accused Attorney General Eric Holder of "failing to cooperate" in the infamous case of the The New Black Panthers intimidating voters at a Philadelphia polling place in the 2008 presidential elections. Holder was offended when Culberson cited Democrat activist and Civil Rights icon, Bartle Bull's testimony about the kind of intimidation he saw that day at the polls. Holder said the comparison was an affront to "his" people who sacrificed in the 60"s. Apparently Bartle Bull, who is White and who took part in many protests during that time, doesn't have the right to an opinion because he is White and obviously not one of Holder's "people." See a related video below.

In a series of questions and comments earlier in the hearing, Culberson insisted that race had infected the decision-making process.

Politico:

"There’s clearly evidence, overwhelming evidence, that your Department of Justice refuses to protect the rights of anybody other than African Americans to vote," the Texas Republican said. "There's a pattern of a double standard here."

Holder's reply was that he disagreed - vehemently - that there is any such evidence. But there is such evidence. There is the testimony of two people who were integral parts of the Department of Justice and the handling of the case until the social justice agenda commenced. One was transferred to the hinterlands, and the second quit because the Department was so lacking in integrity. The one who quit, J. Christian Adams said a DOJ department head stated there would be no attempt to prosecute Black wrongdoers for any kind of voter fraud or intimidation, but there was no plan to also exempt Whites for doing the same - or any other ethnicity.

In the first place, the New Black Panthers (three of them) refused to show up to court - over and over for a five month period. A default judgment was handed down. Holder refused to honor it and ordered the case dismissed. Some inside Justice were outraged, not to mention those inside Congress. One of the Black Panthers wielding a nightstick that day in Philadelphia said this:

i has waited all my life for the day that Strong Black men could stand outside a voting poll in a Honk neighborhood and beat republiKKKan voters with a baseball bat to keep the motherfu**ers from voting for they racist candidate and walk away scott free and be a hero in the black community,,,,,,,,,,and that day finally here

The New Black Panthers are Eric Holder's "people," and he will have his brand of justice for them. The lawlessness of this administration, and this so-called Justice Department is despicable.

Megyn Kelly Bartle Bull - New Black Panthers Voter Intimidation (video)

Posted by Maggie@MaggiesNotebook

God Save Arizona

This time Ray Stevens shouts out about the hypocrisy over Arizona Bill 1070.

The Future For The FBI

After Eric Holder and Barack Obama get through with their reforms of the FBI, this will be the result:

I do believe J. Edgar Hoover is rolling in his grave!