banks

Guns in Banks

Gun-toting bank manager fired from job at Oldsmar bank

TAMPA — 

Single mother Ivette Ros doesn’t go anywhere without her gun.

But the 37-year-old lost her job as a bank manager for bringing her gun to work at a Wells Fargo branch in Oldsmar.

“When we take our course for concealed weapons licenses, they do state the bank is a place we can take your weapon to, so I never thought otherwise until I was being questioned,” she said.

Ros doesn’t know who found out she was packing or how they found out, but she says bank security questioned her about the gun she was carrying. She says she was fired three days later.  …   (John Lott)

The courts, or at least lawyers, will fight this one out.

When I worked in the financial industry, the company was VERY clear there were to be no firearms on the premises.  Period.  Or in the parking lot; in our personal cars.  Or at company-sponsored functions – even if we weren’t being paid or after-hours.

Over-reaching a bit, I think.

Thankfully, the Arizona State Legislature addressed the parking lot issue positively.  And, as above, I suspect the other issues will be/or have been addressed in the courts or by lawyers.

Not exactly the same, but similarly…

I had a ‘friend’ some years back named Chip.  I’ve written about him in these pages.  He was a friend to me when I needed one, but was probably a sociopath.  He was, at the very least passive-aggressive.  We are no longer friends.

He was paranoid about being caught carrying a concealed weapon (before such a law existed in Arizona) so he did carry, openly.  A lot.  Now, as there was no CCW back then, the culture was different, and people were much more accepting of such behavior.

Back then banks were not off limits to gun carriers.  They still are not, unless, of course the dreaded statutory sign is portrayed (in AZ.).  But Chip would go to his bank regularly with his Colt Combat Commander in a belt holster for all to see.

I’m guessing some new clerk from a hoplophobic State saw it and freaked out.  Nothing happened in the bank.  He had done nothing wrong.

But, one Saturday morning about 0800, there was a knock on Chip’s apartment door.  Two large suited individuals stood there, imposing.  Chip used the pejorative word jamokes to describe them.

One spoke.  “We don’ wan’ chuz carrying yor gun in da bank anymore.”  (I’m certain his mimicking of the bank employee’s statement was slightly inaccurate in it’s portrayal.)

Chip nodded in the affirmative, and closed the door.  Then, on Monday morning, he tracked down the bank president and called him.  Such was his nature.

And he proceeded to dress down the bank, the bank president, his employees, his policies, and his lack of legal knowledge.

Then he moved his banking elsewhere.  I’m certain THAT told the bank president!

I’m all about every able-bodied, legally-able citizen to be able to carry.  Openly, concealed…I don’t care.  ANYWHERE.  Banks, schools, shopping malls, hospitals, where we work – anyplace bad stuff might happen.

Because bad stuff DOES happen.  And we cannot predict where or when.

But, let’s not be dicks about it.

I really didn’t want to do this…

but threedonia reminded me how dire things have become.

In REAL terms:

On December 23, 2013, the Federal Reserve System will celebrate 100 years of centralized banking and printing funny money. The creation of the Fed marked the beginning of America’s rampant inflation rate. For the first 125 years of American independence, inflation of any significance did not occur. What $1.00 purchased in 1789 could be had for a very reasonable $1.08 by 1913. Measure that against what it costs today for the same amount of goods; roughly $25.00. This means the current value of today’s dollar is about .04 cents of what it was in 1913.

Ostensibly, the Federal Reserve System was put in place to prevent “bank panic,” stabilize the dollar and resist inflation. Democrat President Woodrow Wilson was convinced that “central planning” by the federal government could replace incremental market forces. He’d been influenced by a work of fiction called Phillip Dru: The Administrator, which glorified intrusive governmental intervention into every aspect of American life. In it, Colonel House – the book’s author and “adviser” to President Wilson – weaves a tale of “enlightened” central planning as a means to achieve “social justice.” So Wilson believed a Federal Reserve System would end poverty and cure all manner of imagined market woes. In a novel, even the most implausible concepts don’t have to be impossible.

It is important to note that the Great Depression did not happen until nearly two decades after the Federal Reserve System came to be. Socialist thinkers and Keynesian economists seem to believe that Capitalism itself was responsible for the market collapse. An interesting position to hold, considering that the 1929 stock market crash happened 15 years into the Fed’s command & control doctrine. The very same policies which were put into practice as a means to eliminate even the possibility of anything like that occurring can be directly linked to the Crash. They are also responsible for the Great Depression lasting 15 years longer that it should have. America should remember that, as the nation celebrates 100 years of the Federal Reserve System pumping trillions in virtually counterfeit funny money, into the economy.

Kinda makes one think, doesn’t it?

AUDIT THE FED.  DISENFRANCHISE IT.  AND IMPRISON THE CRIMINALS.  IS THAT CLEAR ENOUGH?

h/t Floyd

The Dutchman Always Rings Once…

Mike Vanderboegh (The Dutchman) brings us some intel that might be of interest…

Chase Bank Initiates Capital Controls, Limits Cash Withdrawals & Bans International Bank Wires

Nothing to see here – move along.  Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain…

AND THIS JUST IN – From Drudge:

Chinese Downgrades U.S. Credit Rating

h/t Sipsey Street Irregulars

It’s ALL About The Benjamins, Baby!

Say GOODBYE.

Effective today, the Federal Reserve is rolling out the new high-tech one hundred dollar Federal Reserve Notes.

This makes those stacks of banded 100 Gold notes you have in your freezer worth even more!

Wait?  You don’t?  Me, either.

sigh

VISA Doesn’t Want the Gun Business?

The Silicon Graybeard, connected us to The Daily Sheeple, who informs us of more skullduggery in the realm of the financial world.

Authorize.Net LLC (“Authorize.Net”) has determined that the nature of your business constitutes a violation of Section 2.xiv of the Authorize.Net Acceptable Use Guidelines and Sections 3.3 and 11.3 of the Authorize.Net Service Agreement (the “Agreement”).

These sections include, but are not limited to, the sale of firearms or any similar product.  (emphasis Guffaw)

Accordingly, pursuant to Section 4 of the Acceptable Use Guidelines, your ability to access and use the Authorize.NetServices will be terminated on September 30, 2013.

(from a letter posted to a gun store in business four years, using ‘Authorize.net’ (aka VISA) services)

Reminded of my ‘days of yore’ in the credit card industry.  When I began @ TMCCC (That Major Credit Card Company) in the late 80s, they said if we determined a business was of a ‘questionable’ nature, we could have their account canceled.  Their focus was more on so-called ‘adult’ businesses, like porn shops and strip clubs.

Of course, after they determined they were ‘losing their shirts’ not taking business from strip clubs (e.g. irony), the policy was quietly discontinued.

If we all stopped using VISA, not just for purchasing firearms and equipment, but for EVERYTHING, do you think they would also reconsider their policy?

Remember Goldfinger?

Goldfinger (Gert Frobe)

OathKeepers copied an article in Zero Hedge which caught my interest…

After all, I’m interested in MONEY (even though I have none and am in serious debt), and in my mind GOLD equals money.  I’ve no gold, either.

JPMorgan Is Selling The Building That Houses Its Gold Vault

On the surface, there is nothing spectacular about the weekend news that JPMorgan is seeking to sell its 1 Chase Manhattan Plaza office building. After all, the former headquarters of Chase Manhattan Bank, located deep in the heart of the financial district and which was built by its then chairman David Rockefeller, is a remnant to another time – a time when banking was about providing loans, not about managing and trading assets which has become the realm of Midtown New York, and since JPM already has extensive Midtown exposure with its offices at 270, 270 and 245 Park, the 1 CMP building always stood out as a bit of a sore thumb. Of course, as Zero Hedge readers first learned, the big surprise is literally below the surface, some 90 feet below street level to be exact, where the formerly secret JPM gold vault is located, which also happens to be the biggest commercial gold vault in the world.

It was only a month ago when we learned that JPM was planning to exit the physical commodity business, ….

Further down the page…

That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, as a result of our cursory examination, we have learned that the world’s largest private, and commercial, gold vault, that belonging once upon a time to Chase Manhattan, and now to JPMorgan Chase, is located, right across the street, and at the same level underground, resting just on top of the Manhattan bedrock, as the vault belonging to the New York Federal Reserve, which according to folklore is the official location of the biggest collection of sovereign, public gold in the world.

At this point we would hate to be self-referential, and point out what one of our own commentators noted on the topic of the Fed’s vault a year ago, namely that:

Chase Plaza (now the Property of JPM) is linked to the facility via tunnel… I have seen it.  The elevators on the Chase side are incredible. They could lift a tank.

… but we won’t, and instead we will let readers make up their own mind why the the thousands of tons of sovereign gold in the possession of the New York Fed, have to be literally inches across, if not directly connected, to the largest private gold vault in the world.

You should go and read the whole article.  

Now, I know little about the economy, but I do know that we are no longer on the gold standard, and that the government keeps printing fiat capital to pay it’s debts (Federal Reserve), and that the PRC is making serious moves to get the rest of the World off the American Dollar standard, and we owe them and Japan boo-koo monies and the Federal Reserve is a privately-held bank which has never been audited, and people Worldwide have been buying gold and silver at an alarming rate, and hoarding it for if when the Dollar collapses.  whew!

After you read the article, go and read the Ian Fleming classic Goldfinger.

Then figure out who is planning on becoming the richest man in the World.  Hint:  It’s not Soros or the Koch brothers.

Cui bono?  (Who Benefits?)

NO! I’m not PARANOID!

I love my new (to me) cellular telephone.  Smart?  Hell, she’s brilliant!  Me, not so much…

One of the many things I’ve programmed into her is a function to my credit union.  To see when a deposit appears.  And when it does, my cell phone instantly alerts me.  It’s nice to know when I’ve a little more money.  Or any money.

So, the other morning, I’m working on the blog, and she makes noise.  I investigate.  A deposit for a small amount has appeared in my account!  Cool.

Wait a minute?

I wasn’t expecting any money.  And, it’s not my usual payday, and it’s a small amount…hmmm.  Maybe some kind person hit my PayPal link on the blog sidebar? (hint-hint)  (It has been known to happen!)  So, I check my PayPal account, no dice.  No money either.  Hmmm.

Then it hit’s me – what if someone compromised my account number and was testing it, waiting for my next disability check to post, then WHOOSH – siphons it all away?  Crap.

Next, I contemplate calling my Credit Onion to determine the source of the deposit.  But first I need to get worked up and worried.  (Remember When in Danger or in Doubt?)  There are protocols for such things.

Suddenly it occurs to me.  The State of Arizona owed me $25.00 from my income tax filing last month!  That’s it!

Whew.

Nope, not paranoid.  Just neurotic.

Peter Speaks the Truth

Bayou Renaissance Man shares with us the latest from the meme:  “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help you!”

Just a heads-up to those who may have missed it:  the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation changed its rules as of the end of last year.  For the past two years it provided ‘unlimited insurance coverage of noninterest-bearing transaction accounts‘.  If you had ten accounts with seven different institutions, all of them were covered for the full amount deposited in them.

As of December 31st, 2012, that changed.  ‘Deposits held in noninterest-bearing transaction account[s] are now aggregated with any interest-bearing deposits the owner may hold in the same ownership category, and the combined total insured up to at least $250,000.‘  The display header on the FDIC’s Web site currently indicates that this coverage applies to an individual’s accounts at each insured institution:

The scary thing is, far too many people actually believe that this insurance will protect them.  As Ann Barnhardt pointed out in her blog entry for February 8th:

… remember, total bank deposits in the U.S. are somewhere around TEN TRILLION DOLLARS and the FDIC deposit insurance fund as of March 31, 2012 had a whopping $15 BILLION.

Bottom line: if you think your bank deposits are “insured” or “safe” because of FDIC protection, you’re totally irrational.

Bank of America Does It Again!

The Daley Gator pointed us to recent events surrounding a local firearms business, American Spirit Arms.  They’ve been producing AR15 rifles and parts (in Arizona) for some years now, with good success, largely due to their customer service and attention to detail.

Recently, Bank of America ((in)famous for giving bank accounts to illegal aliens) decided to freeze this legally licensed manufacturer’s funds as they were engaged in the wholly legal business of making and selling guns and gun parts.

They did so, because they mistakenly assumed that ASA were selling guns illegally over the Internet!

Go and read about the whole sordid affair.

I’m already thankful I don’t do my banking there.  (Although my C.U. does cater to illegal aliens, too.)

Buycotts?

The latest thing that’s ‘all the rage’ is the dust-up over the fast food chain Chic-fil-A.  It seems the company president, in an interview, professed to follow some Biblical tenets regarding homosexuality, with respect to his feelings regarding gay marriage.  (A Secret – he didn’t like it.)

Of course, this should be of no surprise to anyone.  It has been well-established that he has outed himself as a Christian, and that as such believes such things.  He has his company closed on Sunday, for religious reasons.  It’s been this way for years.  And reportedly his company complies with all Federal and State Laws with regard to employment and customer service.  You may buy chicken there or even work there if you disagree with the company president!

The Left and anti-Christian folks have had a cow regarding his opinion, and have not only threatened a buycott of Chil-fil-A, but violence has been threatened.

Why does the Left always seem to threaten violence?  I thought they were all First Amendment and such?  Oh, I get it, as long as it’s something with which they agree, then they like the First Amendment.  The company Chik-fil-A shouldn’t have such a vile opinion.

Of course, the company doesn’t have the opinion, just the CEO.

I did link to Tam’s buycott suggestion the other day.  I’m not against buycotts, it’s a legitimate way to express one’s feelings.  Don’t buy XXX’s product or service.  Show your disagreement with your feet, not with violence.

If you don’t want to support Chik-fil-A, or Tactical Firearms of Katy Texas, or the LGBT movement, these are your choices.  Or not.  This is still a free country.  Last time I checked.

I wonder if the people protesting Chik-fil-A also protest Muslim-owned businesses, because the Koran states homosexuals should be killed?  Probably not – protesting Muslim-owned businesses is politically-incorrect.

And I’m certain all those new customers going to Chik-fil-A (lines ’round the block) are all hate-filled cretins who deserve some horrible death.

NO, they might just be supporting that First Amendment right of the company president.  They may even disagree with him.

THIS is what The United States is supposed to embody.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
— The Friends of Voltaire, Beatrice Hall, 1906

h/t Tamara Keel, Voltaire