Operation Choke Point 2.0 is Emerging

Posted on February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 by Denise Simon

I was just thinking about this old Obama administration program this week as it is a web tag it used years ago. Additionally, there was a time that Congressman Darryl Issa came to Clearwater to speak, an event I attended and he spoke on this disgusting program among other topics.

Well, Kelsy Bolar is on the case and a big hat tip to her for the alarm she is sounding. Let’s keep in mind the moves that Bank of America made in partnership with the FBI to report their own customers’ banking records for that they asserted went to Washington DC to begin a revolution at the Capitol on January 6. You can imagine that this program is quite the top in the halls of Congress by progressives.

Operation Choke Point: The Government's Covert War on ...

Here goes:

Amongst the record-breaking number of executive actions taken by President Joe Biden was one related to a little-known, frightening Obama-era program called Operation Choke Point. The program, dubbed so under former Attorney General Eric Holder, uses the power of the federal government to target legal yet leftist-disfavored businesses. These include gun sellers, pawnshops, and short-term money lenders.

The Trump administration did its best to end this blatantly unconstitutional program that sought to discriminate against legal industries. In 2017, the Justice Department declared the program “formally over.” At the end of Trump’s term, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency established the Fair Access rule to solidify its culmination.

Operation Choke Point... DOJ Cuts Businesses From Banks

But on Jan. 28, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency under President Biden announced it would pause the Trump-era rule intended to prevent another Operation Choke Point from happening again.

The Backstory of Operation Choke Point

The Trump administration rule appeared innocuous enough, instructing banks to “conduct risk assessments of individual customers, rather than make broad-based decisions affecting whole categories or classes of customers when providing access to services, capital, and credit.”

Under Operation Choke Point, federal regulators instructed banks to do the opposite — to openly discriminate against entire industries the Obama administration found objectionable. Weaponizing the power of banking regulators at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and the Office of Comptroller of the Currency, the Obama administration realized it could block entire industries from the banking system that it didn’t like. This made it difficult — if not impossible — for politically unfavored businesses such as gun sellers and short-term lenders to operate.

Essentially, by using the power of federal banking regulators to intimidate banks from providing their services to these industries, the administration choked off their access to the financial system, leaving them paying more for essential banking services, or unable to use a bank at all.

The Obama administration claimed the program was intended to root out fraud by cutting off “high risk” industries from the banking system. But the administration didn’t make any differentiation between legal and illegal “high risk” industries, intentionally grouping lawful industries such as firearms sellers with patently illegal activities like Ponzi and credit-card schemes.

Different agencies within the Obama administration denied wrongdoing in various ways. At least one bank, however, admitted to choking off three legal enterprises at the government’s behest. Dozens of business owners — many of them gun sellers and short-term lenders — said their bank accounts and access to credit card processing platforms were suddenly stymied or shut down with no explanation and no opportunity for recourse.

Given its stained reputation, we shouldn’t expect the Biden administration to bring back Operation Choke Point under the same shameless name. But the return of the larger strategy behind Operation Choke Point appears here to stay.

Whereas seven years ago the idea of using the powers of the federal government to choke certain Americans from public life was controversial enough for the Obama administration to deny wrongdoing, in today’s era of social justice and cancel culture, it’s applauded.

Build Your Own Banks

Within corporate America, an employee was run out of Boeing over an article he published 33 years beforehand arguing women shouldn’t serve in combat (a position many Americans hold today). In the media, a Jewish, pro-Israel, pro-choice, bisexual writer was choked from The New York Times for not being leftist enough.

In Hollywood, a conservative actress was choked from Disney for expressing politically incorrect views on her private social media account. In the beauty blogging world, a conservative blogger was ousted from her role as a Sephora representative.

For all intents and purposes, Operation Choke Point is happening every day on a massive scale. Yet instead of “just” choking off access to capital and banking services, we’re witnessing a stranglehold on information, speech, and the broader marketplace of ideas. Concerningly, the government is now playing an active role.

As exemplified by Parler and the recent Twitter purge, Big Tech is choking conservatives off their social media platforms while Democrats cheer it on. In an attempt to choke conservatives out of entire industries of employment, critical race theory training and pledges are being forced on schools, government workplaces, and the armed forces.

This Dynamic Is Now Worse

Signs of Operation Choke Point’s formal resurrection are symbolic of the larger attempt by government actors to choke politically disfavored industries and individuals from the mainstream. While cancel culture has led to a politicized economy, the federal government’s arbitrarily targeting of individuals, groups, and entire companies will increase the politicization of the country, where the only acceptable views are from those in power.

Operating in the dark corners of the federal bureaucracy, Operation Choke Point bypasses public input and the legislative process, leaving politically unpopular individuals and businesses to fend for themselves. If the Biden administration’s rule reversal is any sign, the next four years won’t be about unifying the country to “Build Back Better.”

After being choked from essential services in the economy, conservatives and right-of-center businesses will have no choice but to Build Your Own — if that’s even still tolerated or allowed. Build your own banks, build your own credit card processing companies, build your own web hosting platforms, build your own social media platforms, build your own companies, build your own media, build your own schools, and build your own country — because you’re choked from “ours.”

Of course, all this will do nothing to further the causes of bipartisanship, unity, and healing President Biden claims to desire. Capitalizing on the trend of cancel culture, a return of Operation Choke Point would devastate an already damaged country. By abusing the powers of federal regulators, Operation Choke Point 2.0 would solidify what most right-of-center Americans already know: Instead of unity, Democrats want you choked from everyday life.

Three years ago, former President Obama infamously claimed his administration “didn’t have a scandal that embarrassed us.” While it’s tempting to point to Operation Choke Point to refute this, perhaps Obama was right. With Biden sitting by Obama’s side, the Obama administration wasn’t the least bit embarrassed about using its powers to choke legal businesses from existence. Indeed, it was the entire goal and they appear poised to do it again.

Biden Ends Remain in Mexico, 25,000 Migrants Coming to U.S.

Posted on February 19, 2021February 19, 2021 by Denise Simon

The plan offers one of the fastest pathways to citizenship of any proposed measure in recent years, it does so without offering any enhanced border security, which past immigration negotiations have used as a way to win Republican votes. Without enhanced security, it faces tough odds in a closely divided Congress.

The migrants are first in line to receive the Covid vaccine and the Biden immigration plan has no real chance to pass but in a comprehensive form but the president’s Executive Orders on immigration are forcing other other measures. ICE is not prepared and neither is Border Patrol. Further, schools, the medical systems along with housing, transportation, general employment are not prepared either. So, big taxpayer money will go to refugee resettlement along with free legal assistance to the migrant population. The plan includes $4 billion spread over four years to try to boost economic development and tackle corruption in Latin American countries.

Joe Biden's immigration reform plans must address enforcement

While the number of 11 million illegals has been broadcasted for years, that is hardly the real number. No one really knows how many are here, but various estimates from studies and agency reviews report the real number is closer to 20 million and could be as high as 30 million.

Meanwhile, there is no foreign policy discussions or plans to solve the issues in the failing countries such as Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico or Guatemala to list a few, just throwing money at those countries.

Biden's work cut out for him in plan to undo Trump ...

The first real mission is to challenge the exact number of how many illegals are in the United States and what the cost will be to taxpayers before any immigration legislation can move through Congress.

Biden’s plan includes the following:

An 8 year pathway to citizenship
Immediate green cards for agriculture workers
Green cards for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
No additional money for Border Patrol
$ billion over 4 years to confront corruption and foster prosperity (whatever that is)
Three 3 years to apply for citizenship
Re-unify children separated from parents (about 400 and most entered with mules and not parents as proven by DNA)
Reduce the time for citizenship from 13 years to 8 years.
For domestic arrests of illegals for criminal activity will require a phone call to Washington to get approval before the arrest.
Green cards for family members, how far within the family unit is unclear.
Changing word use including no more applying ‘alien’.
No consideration for visa over-stays or for E-Verify.
Increase diversity visas.

The Biden White House has posted a Immigration Bill Fact sheet

In part it includes:

Promote immigrant and refugee integration and citizenship. The bill provides new funding to state and local governments, private organizations, educational institutions, community-based organizations, and not-for-profit organizations to expand programs to promote integration and inclusion, increase English-language instruction, and provide assistance to individuals seeking to become citizens.

Grow our economy. This bill clears employment-based visa backlogs, recaptures unused visas, reduces lengthy wait times, and eliminates per-country visa caps. The bill makes it easier for graduates of U.S. universities with advanced STEM degrees to stay in the United States; improves access to green cards for workers in lower-wage sectors; and eliminates other unnecessary hurdles for employment-based green cards. The bill provides dependents of H-1B visa holders work authorization, and children are prevented from “aging out” of the system. The bill also creates a pilot program to stimulate regional economic development, gives DHS the authority to adjust green cards based on macroeconomic conditions, and incentivizes higher wages for non-immigrant, high-skilled visas to prevent unfair competition with American workers.

Grow the economy? Overload schools where many of them are not open?

Manage the border and protect border communities. The bill provides funding for training and continuing education to promote agent and officer safety and professionalism. It also creates a Border Community Stakeholder Advisory Committee, provides more special agents at the DHS Office of Professional Responsibility to investigate criminal and administrative misconduct, and requires the issuance of department-wide policies governing the use of force. The bill directs the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to study the impact of DHS’s authority to waive environmental and state and federal laws to expedite the construction of barriers and roads near U.S. borders and provides for additional rescue beacons to prevent needless deaths along the border. The bill authorizes and provides funding for DHS, in coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and nongovernmental experts, to develop guidelines and protocols for standards of care for individuals, families, and children in CBP custody.

Manage Border Patrol? The real brain trust is already in the Border Patrol. Has President Joe even visited the border?

US Seeks Forfeiture of the Oil from IRGC Tanker

Posted on February 3, 2021February 3, 2021 by Denise Simon

A civil forfeiture complaint is merely an allegation. The United States bears the burden of proving that the oil in question is subject to forfeiture in a civil forfeiture proceeding. Funds successfully forfeited with a connection to a state sponsor of terrorism may in whole or in part be directed to the United States Victims of State Sponsored Terrorism Fund (http://www.usvsst.com/) after the conclusion of the case.

NEW YORK – The United States filed a forfeiture complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia alleging that all oil aboard a Liberian-flagged vessel, the M/T Achilleas (Achilleas), is subject to forfeiture based on U.S. terrorism forfeiture laws. This investigation was led by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York and the FBI’s Minneapolis office.

U.S. Looks to Courts to Seize 2 Million Barrels of Alleged ...

The complaint alleges a scheme involving multiple entities affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the IRGC-Qods Force (IRGC-QF) to covertly ship Iranian oil to a customer abroad. Participants in the scheme attempted to disguise the origin of the oil using ship-to-ship transfers, falsified documents and other means, and provided a fraudulent bill of lading to deceive the owners of the Achilleas into loading the oil in question.

The complaint alleges in part that the oil constitutes the property of, or a “source of influence” over, the IRGC and the IRGC-QF, both of which have been designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations. The documents allege that profits from oil sales support the IRGC’s full range of nefarious activities, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery, support for terrorism, and a variety of human rights abuses, at home and abroad.

“This latest civil forfeiture action exemplifies the remarkable work of this multi-agency task force that works tirelessly toward furthering our shared goal of protecting the homeland from regimes that threaten our national security,” said Special Agent in Charge Peter C. Fitzhugh for HSI New York. “This investigation sends a message that the attempted circumvention of U.S. sanctions by the IRGC-QF will not be tolerated. HSI will continue to work with our partners and utilize the full scope of our authorities to disrupt the attempts of hostile countries and regimes to generate profits from oil sales used to support terrorism and the proliferation and delivery of weapons of mass destruction.”

“Iran uses profits from its petroleum sector to fund the malign activities of the IRGC-QF, a designated terrorist group,” said Special Agent in Charge Michael F. Paul of the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office. “The FBI will continue to prioritize the enforcement of sanctions, and we applaud the efforts of our agents and partners on this investigation.”

“The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia will continue working with our law enforcement partners to stem the flow of illicit oil from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Qods Force,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin. “We will use all available tools, including our jurisdiction to seize and forfeit assets located abroad, to combat funding for terrorists and those who would do harm to the United States.”

“The forfeiture complaint filed today serves as a reminder that the IRGC and IRGC-QF continue to exert significant control over the sale of Iranian oil,” said Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers for the National Security Division. “As we have demonstrated in the past, the department will deploy all tools at its disposal to ensure that the IRGC and IRGC-QF cannot use profits from the sale of Iranian oil to fund terrorism and other activities that threaten the safety and security of all Americans.”

HSI New York and the FBI’s Minneapolis Field Office are leading the investigation of Iranian petroleum shipments. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael P. Grady and Brian P. Hudak of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and Trial Attorney David Lim of the Counterintelligence and Export Control Section of the National Security Division are prosecuting the case, with support from Paralegal Specialist Brian Rickers and Legal Assistant Jessica McCormick of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section’s Program Operations Staff of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division has provided extensive assistance throughout the investigation.

Child Pornography Raid Leaves 2 FBI Agents Dead

Posted on February 2, 2021February 2, 2021 by Denise Simon

According to emergency radio dispatches, the incident began to unfold as law enforcement gathered at the scene before dawn.

Sometime past 6 a.m., fire rescue personnel got a report of shots being fired with multiple victims. Two minutes later, someone at the scene got on a police radio to report five shooting victims, including an agent shot in the leg.

Two FBI agents were killed being in dutie in Sunrise and ...

SUNRISE, Florida—Two FBI agents were killed Tuesday morning while serving a warrant at the home of a South Florida man suspected of possessing child pornography.

The officers killed were Special Agent Daniel Alfin, 36, and Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger, 43, the FBI said on Tuesday afternoon. They died while “executing a federal court-ordered search warrant in a crimes against children investigation in Sunrise, Florida,” the feds said.

Three other agents were wounded, including two who were transported to a hospital in stable condition. The third agent did not need hospitalization, FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. The suspect also died.

It’s the FBI’s deadliest day since 1994, when two agents were killed by a gunman inside Washington, D.C. police headquarters, according to the FBI’s Wall of Honor.

Special Agent Laura Schwartzenberger.

CBS12

“Every day, the FBI Special Agents put themselves in harm’s way to keep American people safe,” Wray said, adding that the two agents “exemplified heroism today in defense of their country,” and that the “FBI will always honor their ultimate sacrifice and will be forever grateful for their bravery.”

FBI Agents Association President Brian O’Hare said in a statement to The Daily Beast, “These Agents were working to protect the most vulnerable in our society.”

The incident began at the Water Terrace apartment complex at around 6 a.m., a Sunrise Police spokesperson told The Daily Beast. When agents arrived, the suspect barricaded himself inside a unit.

Tiffany Walters, a 37-year-old resident at the apartment complex, told The Daily Beast she woke up around that time to a “loud bang” she initially thought was a car accident.

“After I heard sirens and eventually helicopters,” Walters said, adding that when she looked outside her window, she saw a helicopter fly away with what she believes was the FBI agent who was taken to the hospital.

By 9:04 a.m., authorities said the scene was deemed safe, but residents were still being asked to stay in their homes. Walters said at 9:15 a.m. she heard another loud bang, which she believes was associated with the suspect’s death.

“We’re still getting more information on what happened and we’ll have more to say, at a later date. We express our condolences,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press briefing.

A review of federal court records shows Schwartzenberger, who joined the FBI in 2005, had worked on several cases involving child exploitation, sextortion, and the internet. In 2013, she was a member of the FBI’s South Florida Violent Crimes Fugitive Task Force and appears to have worked on cases involving armored car heists and bank robberies, among others.

News clips show she was active in raising awareness about cybersecurity and the threat of online sex crimes. She commented to local news outlets about sextortion scams and last February gave a lecture on cyber crimes at Rockaway Middle School.

Special Agent Dan Alfin, who joined the FBI in 2009, was a member of the bureau’s Violent Crimes Against Children division.

He was involved in Operation Pacifier, which took down Playpen, one of the largest child pornography networks on the dark web. Site operators masked Playpen’s location, users, and ownership using the Tor anonymity network. FBI agents managed to unmask the site and its visitors with an unknown hacking technique, leading to 350 arrests in the U.S., 548 arrests abroad, and the rescue and identification of nearly 350 children exploited as part of the dark web ring.

Court documents show that Alfin was one of a few FBI agents responsible for monitoring Playpen after the bureau was able to sidestep the Tor anonymity network’s encryption and identify the IP addresses of individual Playpen users. Prosecutors used Alfin’s testimony about the FBI’s hack of Playpen in several cases linked to the investigation.

“It’s the same with any criminal violation: As they get smarter, we adapt, we find them,” Alfin said in a 2017 FBI news release announcing the sentencing of the site’s founder. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game, except it’s not a game. Kids are being abused, and it’s our job to stop that.”

Last year, Alfin authored the criminal affidavit against former Miami mayoral aide Rene Pedrosa, who allegedly groped a teenage boy at City Hall and exchanged lewd photos.

John Young, a 74-year-old who lived close to Schwartzenberger in Coral Springs, said he always said hello to Schwartzenberger’s husband, Jason, and their two kids in the mornings on their way to school.

Young, who’s lived in the neighborhood for 33 years, said two months ago Schwartzenberger organized a block party for a homeowner who moved away. She also showered the new neighbor who moved in with warm greetings.

“Laura was a sharp lady and very friendly,” Young told The Daily Beast as he stood outside his two-story gray-brick home, among six houses with American flags in the front. “The lady who just moved in told me Laura came over with a bottle of wine and welcomed her.”

He thought Schwartzenberger was having a get together when he saw several cars parked in her driveway on Tuesday—then he turned on the news.

“For her to be killed serving a search warrant is a shock. It’s sickening,” he said. “I don’t understand why people say ‘defund the police.’ Law enforcement is a tough job. Now, you have a mom who’s not coming home tonight to see her kids.”

Police cars blocked the family’s cul-de-sac on Tuesday and a Coral Springs cop said, “The street is closed. Given it just happened, her family wants privacy at this time.”

According to its website, the Water Terrace apartment complex is an upscale gated community that houses a fitness center, spa, tennis courts, and a pool.

Andrew Solomon, a 31-year-old who just moved into the Water Terrace apartment complex, told The Daily Beast he woke up early for work on Tuesday morning to see “a helicopter flying over” the building. When he tried to leave, two Sunrise police officers were stopping residents, asking them to open their trunks.

Solomon said he was asleep when the shooting happened on the northwest side of the complex. Property managers sent around a “stay at home order” for all residents and he planned to leave work early to comply with the police order, he said.

“It is a real nice neighborhood [and] well kept around a pretty lake,” he added. “So it is surprising to hear something [like this] happened.”

Walters said the neighborhood, where she has lived for four years, is quiet. At first, her family thought the police presence might have been related to “folks from January 6th,” referring to the U.S. Capitol riot.

“Once I heard it was a police raid I knew it would be handled,” she said.

The FBI’s Inspection Division said the shooting is under investigation by the FBI’s Inspection Division.

Twitter Being Sued for Refusing to Remove Child Pornography

Posted on February 1, 2021February 1, 2021 by Denise Simon

In short, child pornography does not violate their terms of use policies. While you’re at it…check out Facebook Messenger or any of the other platforms that are encrypted.

The 70 page lawsuit is found here.

source and TwitterGate

NYP:

Twitter refused to take down widely shared pornographic images and videos of a teenage sex trafficking victim because an investigation “didn’t find a violation” of the company’s “policies,” a scathing lawsuit alleges.

The federal suit, filed Wednesday by the victim and his mother in the Northern District of California, alleges Twitter made money off the clips, which showed a 13-year-old engaged in sex acts and are a form of child sexual abuse material, or child porn, the suit states.

The teen — who is now 17 and lives in Florida — is identified only as John Doe and was between 13 and 14 years old when sex traffickers, posing as a 16-year-old female classmate, started chatting with him on Snapchat, the suit alleges.

Doe and the traffickers allegedly exchanged nude photos before the conversation turned to blackmail: If the teen didn’t share more sexually graphic photos and videos, the explicit material he’d already sent would be shared with his “parents, coach, pastor” and others, the suit states.

Doe, acting under duress, initially complied and sent videos of himself performing sex acts and was also told to include another child in his videos, which he did, the suit claims.

Eventually, Doe blocked the traffickers and they stopped harassing him, but at some point in 2019, the videos surfaced on Twitter under two accounts that were known to share child sexual abuse material, court papers allege.

Over the next month, the videos would be reported to Twitter at least three times — first on Dec. 25, 2019 — but the tech giant failed to do anything about it until a federal law enforcement officer got involved, the suit states.

Doe became aware of the tweets in January 2020 because they’d been viewed widely by his classmates, which subjected him to “teasing, harassment, vicious bullying” and led him to become “suicidal,” court records show.

While Doe’s parents contacted the school and made police reports, he filed a complaint with Twitter, saying there were two tweets depicting child pornography of himself and they needed to be removed because they were illegal, harmful and were in violation of the site’s policies.

A support agent followed up and asked for a copy of Doe’s ID so they could prove it was him and after the teen complied, there was no response for a week, the family claims.

Around the same time, Doe’s mother filed two complaints to Twitter reporting the same material and for a week, she also received no response, the suit states.

Finally on Jan. 28, Twitter replied to Doe and said they wouldn’t be taking down the material, which had already racked up over 167,000 views and 2,223 retweets, the suit states.

“Thanks for reaching out. We’ve reviewed the content, and didn’t find a violation of our policies, so no action will be taken at this time,” the response reads, according to the lawsuit.

“If you believe there’s a potential copyright infringement, please start a new report. If the content is hosted on a third-party website, you’ll need to contact that website’s support team to report it. Your safety is the most important thing, and if you believe you are in danger, we encourage you to contact your local authorities.”

In his response, published in the complaint, Doe appeared shocked.

“What do you mean you don’t see a problem? We both are minors right now and were minors at the time these videos were taken. We both were 13 years of age. We were baited, harassed, and threatened to take these videos that are now being posted without our permission. We did not authorize these videos AT ALL and they need to be taken down,” the teen wrote back to Twitter.

He even included his case number from a local law enforcement agency, but still the tech giant allegedly ignored him and refused to do anything about the illegal child sexual abuse material — as it continued to rack up more and more views.

Two days later, Doe’s mom was connected with an agent from the Department of Homeland Security through a mutual contact who successfully had the videos removed on Jan. 30, the suit states.

“Only after this take-down demand from a federal agent did Twitter suspend the user accounts that were distributing the CSAM and report the CSAM to the National Center on Missing and Exploited Children,” states the suit, filed by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation and two law firms.

“This is directly in contrast to what their automated reply message and User Agreement state they will do to protect children.”

The disturbing lawsuit goes on to allege Twitter knowingly hosts creeps who use the platform to exchange child porn material and profits from it by including ads interspersed between tweets advertising or requesting the material.

Early Thursday, Twitter declined comment to The Post but later in the day, reversed course and sent a statement by email.

“Twitter has zero-tolerance for any material that features or promotes child sexual exploitation. We aggressively fight online child sexual abuse and have heavily invested in technology and tools to enforce our policy, a Twitter spokesperson wrote.

“Our dedicated teams work to stay ahead of bad-faith actors and to ensure we’re doing everything we can to remove content, facilitate investigations, and protect minors from harm — both on and offline.”