AMERICAN DREAM.....going Going GONE

The American dream. Work hard, study, go to college.....The world is yours! Gone! 

There was a time when parents hoped for their children a better life than they had experienced. The process was known as social mobility. It worked. The children went on to better jobs, educations and enjoyed the excesses of a material world. No more. Gone!

The American dream has been replaced by an American reality. People find themselves stuck in a social status. There is no upward mobility. Sociologists and economists claim what you will be is determined by who you are. Lineage and ancestry come into play. If your father was a carpenter, you will be one. If your father was a ditch digger, you will be one. 

The United States is on the road to becoming a banana republic. We may already be there. There are two reasons. First, bad government policies. Second, systematic crime and manipulation by big banks. Both have little or no consideration for anything but themselves. The rich get richer and the poor poorer.

While  this downward trend has been going on, the United States' reputation has suffered a similar malaise. The United States is on its way to no longer be a leading power and shining city on the hill. 

While the middle class has been disappearing, it has found significant success in other countries. We are going backward while the rest of the world moves forward.

What is replacing the middle class is a form of the feudal system known in the middle ages. The king in a castle on the hill and the serfs working the fields below. Fields owned by the king. Families doing so for generations.

The middle class was born of World War II. Soldiers returned. They wanted a better way. They went to school and worked hard. From 1945 to the mid 1970s, the system worked. As productivity increased, wages increased. A middle class developed. People were earning good wages. They could provide for themselves and their families. Their children went on to a better life.

Since 1973 there has been a downward spiral, however. Productivity has increased 80 percent. Wages, only 10 percent.

The reason obvious. Government first and foremost. Government has been bought by corporate America and the banks. Lobbyists hired by them have great influence. They write laws and have Congressional members introduce them. Congress dances to their tune.Who is doing similar work for the former middle class and other persons not so fortunate?

We have been sold a bill of goods. For example, U.S. corporations claim they cannot pay higher wages. They cannot afford it. If they do, they will not be able to compete globally. A crock. How can Germany be explained? Germany is an industrial nation. Successful by today's standards. Germany has consistently raised the wages of its workers and has a strong middle class. Germany competes in the same world market as the United States.

People are discouraged and despondent. A 2013 CNN poll showed 60 percent of Americans believed the American dream was no longer available. Three reasons were given. Lagging wages, a tough job market, and greater income inequality.

A college education is more expensive than ever. Most students go into extreme debt to obtain a college degree. Purportedly the ticket to success and wealth. Then they cannot get a job upon graduation.

We are told the recession ended in 2009. Tell that to the unemployed or those making low wages. Control by corporations and banks of government power has resulted in the top 1 percent earning significantly more dollars in the past five years. 

The unemployment figures fail to impress me. Yes, under 6 percent is terrific. However, that figure does not include the 92.6 million unemployed that have fallen off the radar and are not counted.

Workers' wages have fallen 36 percent in the last ten years. Seventy six percent of Americans live pay check to pay check. Burgeoning unpaid student loans constitute a big economic threat. Employment growth is only found in the MacDonald's of this world. Twice the number of people are on food stamps today than were in 2008.

There has been no recovery for the working people. Most will work till they die. Forget retirement.

The solution? People have to take back the government. It is not going to happen quickly. Election districts have been gerrymandered under the guidance of the rich. It has to start at a grass root level.The precinct level. People must organize and go door to door to elect people who genuinely have their interests at heart. A tough long term way. However one of the few if the middle class is going to have a chance of recovering.

If not my suggestion or some other workable one, I fear we may experience an Arab Spring. It has happened elsewhere in the world. Why not here? There already are demonstrations nationwide over the race/police issue. Such could grow into a why can't we get a better jobs one. Remember that in the Egyptian demonstrations, college graduates who could not get decent paying jobs were in the forefront.

Our country is in a hole. We have to dig our way out. The road back is long.

VENICE, ITS BEGINNINGS

The past few years have been replete with stories of masses of people moving from Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria to other countries. The mass immigrations the result of peoples seeking to escape the ravages of war.

It is said history repeats itself. A true saying. Another mass movement of people seeking to escape rape and pillage, beheadings, destroyed homes and crops, and bloody corpses, occurred in the 100s AD. The area a portion of northern Italy on the Adriatic Sea.

Germanic and Hun invasions covered a period of five hundred years. First came the Visigoths in 166 AD. Then Attila and the Huns in the early fifth century.

The Roman Empire was in steady decline prior to and during this period. No longer the mighty power it once was.

Refugees from Roman cities and the nearby countryside abandoned their homes. They sought refuge in swamp lands that were a natural part of an area of Northern Italy sitting near the Adriatic. The swamp lands have also been described as marshy lagoons. 

The area was not a nice place to live. However, it did provide protection from the invading hordes. There was nothing of value in the swamp, nothing to steal. The invaders avoided the marshy lagoons.

There were those who lived in the swamp lands before those escaping joined them. They were known as lagoon dwellers. Looked down upon by their city neighbors Until they found it necessary to seek refuge with them. People were running for their lives when they sought protection in the marshy swamps.

To this point there is not yet a Venice.

Came the Middle Ages and those living in the swamps were confronted by a new problem. Flooding. Primarily from the Adriatic. The land became extremely muddy and marshy. It was becoming inhabitable.

The solution devised was to dredge the soil to raise the marshy ground above the tide water lines. Hills and islands were created. The empty earth filled in naturally with water. Canals were born. The people became nautical. They started using the canals for the transport of people and goods. The economy grew.

The people transformed what had initially been inhospitable surroundings into the architectural wonder known as Venice. Built from misfortune, Venice became one of the richest and most beautiful cities in the world.

Venice today consists of 117 small islands, separated by more than 200 canals, connected by 409 bridges. Its population 1.6 million.

There is a saying that big trees from little acorns grow. Venice is a perfect example.

WHY DECAPITATION

Chopping off heads has become routine for ISIS. They kill many. Not all by decapitation, however. Significantly more are shot to death than lose their heads.

It used to be that severing the head from the body was done by a swift swing of a sword or ax. Then there was the guillotine. 

ISIS today uses a small knife. The perpetrator saws through the victim's neck. It is not a swift procedure. Takes about a minute.

We live in a digital age. The terrorists are then able to flash a video of the execution world wide.

Why this method of execution? Why not a shooting? Why not the swift swing of a sword?

Terrorist experts suggest three reasons.

The first is that ISIS wants attention. Prior to head chopping / neck sawing, terrorists relied on plane hijackings, car bombings and suicide bombings. The three events became so commonplace that the world wide media was giving less and less attention to them. Less attention to the act meant less attention to the cause.

The second reason is that the Koran mandates decapitation. This is questionable. However, there are a few brief passages in the Koran to support the position. The most relied on can be found at Sura 47.4.....When you meet unbelievers, smite their necks. Perhaps also the basis for when Christians are captured and given the choice to convert or die.

The third reason is sick. Some of those sawing away at the victim's neck actually relish the act. It is emotionally pleasing. The reaction has been described as an intimate moment.

The United States and the Western Democracies view with horror the decapitations. Middle East societies become more fearful of ISIS.

Certain terrorist experts believe that if decapitation were to become as common place as hijackings, car bombings, and suicide bombings and receive less media attention, that ISIS will be responsible for less and less beheadings.

Let us hope so. May we get there sooner than later.

PUTIN THE WINNER SO FAR

Putin invades Ukraine. He says it is neither him nor Russia. He lies. The world knows he lies. He gets away with it.

I suspect Putin's move into Ukraine was the beginning of a new cold war. What has transpired since suggests it. Recently, former Russian President Gorbachev said the world was on the brink of a new cold war. He even went so far as to say the cold war may already have begun.

The United States and several other nations imposed severe sanctions on Russia for the Ukraine invasion. Russia hurt. Its economy was in trouble. Putin reacted.

In May, Putin announced a signed agreement with China. Russia will build a new gas line from Russia into China. China will buy gas from Russia for 40 years. This agreement came at a time when Putin was being threatened with a cut back in gas purchases from certain European nations.

Putin did not flinch. Even though gas exports make up 75 percent of Russia's exports. He merely went and made a deal with the country no one thought it possible to make such a deal. China.

A major Asian meeting was conducted in China last week. Every one there. Including Putin and Obama. Putin announces a second big gas deal with China. This one a thirty year deal whereby Russia builds a second gas line into China and China agrees to buy $400 billion worth of gas over 30 years. This second agreement will make China Russia's biggest gas customer. Bigger than all the European nations combined that Russia now supplies.

Immediately, Putin was the man of the hour at the Asia meting.

Putin makes another announcement during the time of the meeting.

The sanctions are having a crippling effect on the Russian economy. Russia announced that Chinese lenders have agreed to provide Russia's state     Sberbank $2 billion in financing. The money is intended to make up for the European financing cut off by sanctions.

Now comes another announcement last week. Russia and Iran have signed a new partnership agreement to build eight nuclear reactors for Iran. This announcement came days before the November 24 deadline for an Iranian decision regarding a nuclear pact with the United States and five European countries. While Obama's people were negotiating for a deal to limit Iran's nuclear efforts, Putin arranges to build eight new nuclear reactors for Iran.

Putin is doing well on the world stage. In six months, he has come up with the major deals mentioned.

What has Obama accomplished? Obama came out of the Asisa meetings with an agreement with China to curb fossil fuels. The world two biggest polluters are the United States and China. 

Per the agreement, the United States has to show performance results four years before China. This is not a you show me yours and I will show you mine situation. Additionally from what I have been able to garner, the agreement does not contain binding language. It is phrased in what the parties intend to do. 

Concededly the sanctions are working. However Putin has refused to buckle under. Instead, he has come out swinging and accomplished several big things. Obama has the sanctions and a wishy washy environmental agreement with China to show for his efforts.

If this were a heavy weight championship boxing match, Putin thus far is decidedly the winner. It is time for Obama to get up off the canvas and come out swinging.

GROWING DOPE MAKES SENSE

Two Middle East countries have been part of United States war involvement in recent years. Afghanistan and Syria. Military wars, directly and indirectly. Simultaneously, there has been a second war being fought by the United States in both countries. The war on drugs.

Afghanistan is a country that has generally been overrun by foreign powers. As far back as recorded history takes us. Alexander the Great and then Genghis Khan. In modern times, foreign nations waging war. Most recently, Russia and the United States.

The United States has had boots on the ground in one fashion or another for thirteen years. Billions have been spent in dollars and thousands in lives by the United States. At the same time that the military war was being fought, the United States has waged the war on drugs.

Afghanistan is home to opium. Poppy fields galore. These farms work full time producing opium. Three million Afghanistan citizens are employed. Last year's production was record high. Five thousand five hundred tons of opium grown on 516 acres. The yield $3 billion. A tidy sum.

Opium becomes heroin and finds its way to the streets of the United States. Billions have been spent to eradicate the heroin problem at its source. To no avail.

Billions spent by the United States in the military war and additional billions in the drug war.

 

The United States has been unsuccessful in the drug battle for two reasons. Karzi and the Pentagon. 

Till recently, Karzi was President for many years. He protected the opium growers. Not because he was a nice guy. It has to have been for money. Corruption is rampant in government, even at the highest levels. On the rare occasions a drug dealer has been arrested and convicted, he went in the front door of the jail, paid a bribe and walked out the back door. All in the same day.

Our drug people have been asking for military assistance for years. Not much has been forthcoming. The Pentagon consistently has taken the position that ".....we do not do the drug thing" and ".....not our job.

Ninety percent of the world's heroin originates in the Afghan poppy fields. The money being made is beyond contemplation. Sixteen new banks have opened in recent years.

A partner in the opium trade is the Taliban. Its aggressive activities against the United States and others is funded by the opium production.

Syria is benefiting big time by the drug trade, also. With Syria, it is marijuana. Pot in all its forms, including hashish. Syria has the reputation of growing the best marijuana in the world. Syria also has the distinction of being the leading producer of marijuana world wide.

Historically, Syria has been occupied over the years by one country or another. Its sole distinction is Paul the Apostle. He was converted on the road to Damascus. Today, Syria has an elected government of sorts. The current Assad and his father before him have been President since 1970.

Millions are involved in the marijuana production. Farmers large and small. All protected by corrupt public officials and farmer armies. Many farmers have their own military forces. They have a reputation of shooting first. No questions ever asked. No one attempts to enter upon the fields where the marijuana is grown.

Farmers could grow vegetables. There is a market. It cannot compete with pot revenue, however. It is also cheaper to grow marijuana. The irrigation of 1/4 acre to grow potatoes costs $1,000. To irrigate a 1/4 field for marijuana $400.

Hezbollah is involved big time also. The profits fuel their terrorist activities.

The thrust of this article is not to write about Afghanistan and Syria making billions of dollars off their drug trade. What motivated me was the fact that while devastating wars have been going on in both countries, the opium and marijuana fields are unscathed. The wars do not touch them.

Think about it. We have all seen on television and in the newspapers pictures of the devastation in each country. Buildings demolished. People running to avoid death. Our soldiers being killed, losing legs and arms.

Yet the opium and marijuana fields go untouched.

It has to be money.

It makes me sick.

A NO RETURN POLICY

The federal government has a no return policy. It has to do with military equipment provided local police departments.

Ferguson crystallized the police militarization problem in many ways. One being the return policy.

In 1991, the war on drugs was pushed to another level. Some Washington genius decided that excess military equipment could be of use to local police departments in waging the drug war. Thus was born police militarization.

Eventually, a Department was formed and a program implemented. The Department of Defense Excess Property Program. The program is popularly known as the 1033 Program.

A condition of receiving the equipment was that the local police department had to request it. Ask and you will receive. Departments today with military equipment initially made a request for it.

Local police departments include school districts. More than 20 school districts are presently involved in the program. Overall, 8,000 police departments are participating. Since 1997, Defense has provided $5.1 billion of equipment. $449 million in 2013 alone.

One third of the equipment is new. The balance used military surplus.

After fighting two long wars and a failed Afghanistan drug war, Defense had to dispose of the equipment. Defense did not want it destroyed. Most of the equipment was still usable and could be recalled if needed for another conflict.

Maintaining and storing military equipment is expensive. Deterioration frequently occurs if there is insufficient care. Defense does not give the equipment to local police departments. The equipment is loaned. With the understanding the local police department will maintain, store, and care for the equipment. Saves the federal government a ton of money.

Try to give back the equipment. Impossible. Some local police departments have been trying to return equipment for ten years with no luck.

The rules for returning the equipment reflect a no return policy. Though not stated as such. The return process is slow, mystifying, and nonfunctional.

Return rules are twofold. First, paperwork is required. Proper papers must be used and must be completed. In most instances, an extra certification is required.

The paperwork is never complete nor proper from Defense's perspective. Rejected and returned to be redone. What the extra certification is, no one seems to be certain. So the return is rejected on the additional ground that the extra certification was not provided.

To further confuse the situation, the return rules require the State to be involved. The returns must be processed through the State. A rarely helpful situation.

Since Ferguson, a large number of additional local police departments have tried to return equipment. With no success either.

A federal computer program is involved with the returns. The large volume of requests post Ferguson caused the computer to falter. Defense was overburdened. So much so that Defense halted receiving any return requests for several weeks. Governmental shut down.

In review, the program was first initiated to assist local police departments in the war on drugs. Then to assist generally in any facet. The program was not well intentioned. Its hidden purpose was to shift the cost of maintenance and storage from the federal government to local police departments.

The program is a failure causing unanticipated problems. Nevertheless, the government will not accept a return of the equipment since there is no federal program nor funding in place for maintenance and storage purposes.

The local police departments bear responsibility, also. The first step in the process was a request by a local police department. The local departments asked for the equipment. Now they are stuck with it and the burden of caring for the equipment. In addition to the bad publicity which has developed regarding the equipment.

A mess. A major governmental screw up.

OUR LEGAL SYSTEM IS DISINTEGRATING

In days gone by, the law could be depended upon to do the right thing. No more. As a result, people are losing faith in the legal system.

The legal system is like a dike. It can handle a leak. Cracks are another story. The leaks have turned into cracks and the walls are in danger of collapsing.

There are concrete examples.

First, there is Ferguson, Missouri. More than sixty days have gone by and still no grand jury report. Indictment or no indictment? A whole community awaits the decision. Protests continue. Confrontations between police and citizens commonplace.

Sixty days plus is totally unreasonable.

There is a gentleman living in St. Louis who reads my blog and listens to my blog talk radio show with a degree of frequency. Ferguson is a suburb of St. Louis. He e mailed me that the feeling in the St Louis area is that the grand jury will not indict the police officer. Ferguson not may, but will explode. The community could see itself burned to the ground.

The black people of Ferguson have a right to be upset. Justice delayed is justice denied. There is no reason the prosecutor could not have moved the process along. He is in total control. It is obvious he did not want to.

A crack in the dike.

Now comes Mississippi. A State not unaccustomed to illegalities. Lynchings, beatings, what have you. Mississippi justice never changes.The State is accustomed to doing things its way and continues to do so. Its way not necessarily the right way.

Don't get arrested in Scott County, Mississippi.Once arrested you are tossed in jail and the key thrown away. The Scott County system is to immediately incarcerate a wrongdoer, never take the person before a judge, never provide a bail hearing, never provide counsel, and never have a trial.

I kid you not. Those arrested are kept in jail under such conditions for up to a year. At some point, a Scott County power to be decides the person has done enough time and sets the person free.

There is a Constitutional right to counsel, a speedy trial, and a fair bail hearing. Not in Scott County. Cases are frozen in what might be described as a legal black hole.

Another leak in the dike? Maybe a crack?

You would think that injustice as exists in Mississippi is common only to Mississippi. That such would never occur in the north. Wrong.

New York City is an example. Kalief Browder was arrested on March 15, 2010. He was walking home with a friend. They lived in the Bronx. A high crime area. A police car pulled up with a witness in the back seat saying that is him. The witness/victim claimed a back pack had been stolen. Browder denied the charge. He was 16 at the time.

Bail was set at $3,000. No way his Bronx based family could come up with that kind of money. He had a lawyer. He was frequently brought before a judge. Each time the prosecutor requested more time and the case was adjourned.

It was adjourned for almost 3 years. All this time Browder was in solitary confinement. Can you imagine!

Finally the prosecutor decided the witness' credibility was suspect. Browder had been falsely accused. He dropped the charges.

There is a Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial. What happened to Browder's speedy trial? More importantly, what were his attorney and the various judges doing who permitted these adjournments?

Seems Browder's attorney did a lousy job. The judges, also. The criminal courts in New York City are crowded. Move the cases is the cry! One of the judges or judicial staff should have noticed how long Browder had been sitting around in solitary confinement with out a trial.

Then there is a prosecutor. Called District Attorney in New York. A prosecutor's job is to do Justice. Not just try and convict. It is well recognized innocent people are arrested. Where was the prosecutor's oversight which could have prevented this injustice?

I think the dike cracked here.

Detroit. A poor man's ghetto. Detroit is in bankruptcy. Municipal bankruptcies are rare. Especially one as big as Detroit's.

New grounds, new issues, coming up which were not even contemplated when the laws were passed concerning municipal bankruptcies.

A Bankruptcy Judge is omnipotent. He and he alone is the boss. He makes the decisions.

We are all familiar with Detroit's water problem. The poor cannot pay. As soon as a person's water bill hits $150, the water company turns off the water. The water company insists on being paid. The people do not have the money. Since the first of the year, 50,000 residences have had their water turned off. The water company is turning off water at the rate of 400 homes a day.

Man requires air and water to survive. No question about it. The Detroit residents are mostly black. They are not the only ones who owe the water company. A car manufacturing plant owes hundreds of thousands of dollars. So too does Detroit"s sports arena. For whatever reason, the water company is not pursuing these big guys for payment.

The United Nations got involved a couple of months ago. The UN said the right to water is a fundamental one, Detroit should turn the water of its residents back on. The UN's voice was not heard.

The matter came up before the Bankruptcy Judge two weeks ago. There was a motion to require the water company to stop the mass water shut offs. The Judge decided. He decided for the water company and against the residents. The Judge said there was no fundamental right to water service which in effect means there is no fundamental right to water.

The Judge could have ruled the other way. In order to do so, he would have had to go outside the box. Bankruptcy laws are basically to protect debtors. The Judge followed existing law to the letter. He protected the debtor water company, a department of the City of Detroit.

The decision does not make sense to me. Detroit is so far in the red that the creditors will be lucky to get ten cents on the dollar. That is the way these things go. The overall dollars owed by the residents is minuscule compared to those who owe big dollars. To have found for the residents, the ten cents would have dropped the tiniest of amounts. The creditors would get a wee bit under the ten cents on the dollar. Like $.00001 less. And the residents would have water!

United States' citizens are entitled to ".....life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." The Judge in his opinion found the denial of water violated neither liberty nor the pursuit of happiness. He never mentioned "life."

Decisions like this have to affect the faith people have in the judicial system, an integral part of the legal system.

The United States Supreme Court has been coming up with some weird decisions in recent years. The perfect example is the decision holding corporations are people and therefore can contribute unlimited amounts in an election. Talk about balancing the playing field.

People are becoming increasingly unhappy with Supreme Court decisions. For the simple reason, they do not make sense.

A week ago Monday, the Supreme Court got involved in the same sex marriage issue. The nine person Court did not sit and hear oral argument. They did not entertain the Constitutional issue re same sex marriage so its decision would have nationwide implication. It rendered a one page court order stating it would not hear appeals from five States regarding the issue.

The banning of same sex marriage was the issue in each State. Certain federal appeals courts had ruled the bans unconstitutional. The Supreme Court refused to hear the cases. In effect making those decisions the law in five States. Gay people could marry!

Immediately, the media was replete with same sex advocates claiming a great victory. On my blog talk radio show the next evening, I said the celebration was premature. There were still 20 States out there where same sex marriage was not permitted.

My concern was that the Supreme Court did not solve the entire problem. The Supreme Court is omnipotent. It can do what what it wants. Why did it not hear the cases in open court and render a decision affecting every State? I warned that the opponents of same sex marriage would come out of the wood work. The battle was not over, not yet won. As with abortion, the issue could take another 20 years to totally resolve.

That was Tuesday night. Wednesday,  Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy issued an order that affected two of the States. Nevada and Idaho were stayed from marrying same sex couples. A few hours later, Kennedy issued another order. The new order said his decision only applied to Idaho.

I am writing this column on Thursday, the day after Justice Kennedy's two orders. By the time this column hits the press next Wednesday, more will have happened. I can only comment up to this point.

It is my opinion the Supreme Court was wrong in not hearing all cases involving same sex marriage in mass, considering it is a nationwide issue. People do not understand the intricacies of the law, the many minute rules affecting court procedure. All they will understand is the Supreme Court had an opportunity to act in a complete manner and failed to do so.

The dike walls are starting to give in.

The legal system has lost its way. Somehow, somewhere. The system seems to pay less and less attention to the 99 percent. Rights are violated. Rights not upheld. Rights not recognized. The system is becoming more and more out of control.

A society whose laws fail to protect everyone understandably and fairly cannot survive. If the legal system continues in its present fashion, I fear it will do to the Nation what Katrina did to New Orleans.

BANKS DIVORCE PORN STARS.....HYPOCRISY

Banks are at it again.

Money laundering is big business. Mexican and Latin American drug cartels must clean billions of dollars in order to make their illicit profits usable. Middle East terrorist groups receive billions from all over the world to finance their operations. Donors require the money to be processed to the terrorist groups without notoriety. 

Major banks engage in laundering drug and terrorist dollars. Knowingly. The banks have been arguing for years that they merely provide a service, they are not responsible if their customers' monies are illegally obtained or are to be used for improper/immoral purposes.

Whores. I tell you why.

Recently, major banks have started terminating their relations with certain type customers. A letter is sent to the customer advising an account is being closed effective almost immediately. The process is called de-risking. The bank says we no longer will do business with you.

JP Morgan Chase (Chase) is a perfect example. Chase recently closed the bank accounts of hundreds of porn stars. The silent message was take your dirty business elsewhere.....we are good people and do not do business with the likes of you.

Chase and other banks have not only cut off porn stars, but some in addition dating services, gun sellers. coin dealers, fireworks suppliers, Muslim students, diplomats from third world countries, and casinos.

We live in an age of political correctness. The banks want to be politically correct. Or, so they infer. They de-risk for two reasons.

First, to avoid public embarrassment. Who would want to do business with a bank that handles a checking account for a porn star. The other is to avoid what the banks describe as witch hunting by the federal government. U.S. banks are required to ".....know their customers." That means banks should not do business with bad guys. Otherwise, the government will start investigating, examining the bank's books, etc. All this is a pain to bankers. They do not fear government investigation. They dislike the added cost for attorneys, accountants, and other specialists that must be hired to assist with the investigation which the bank describes as a witch hunt. It is an additional cost of doing business and detracts from profit.

The de-risked customer needs banking services to exist in today's society. A black market in banking is developing to assist these persons. More costly, of course. Also, not subject to government regulation.

The banks' formal position re de-risking is a lot of gobbly gook. It is that the banks are aware of the government's concern that banks may be facilitating payment processing for merchant customers engaged in high risk activities which pose risk to financial institutions.

Money laundering is of major concern. The banks want the government and public to know they do not deal with shady people who might be prone to such activity. The banks are much like little Jack Horner. He sat in the corner eating his pumpkin pie, he stuck in his thumb and pulled out a plum, and said.....Oh, what a good boy am I.

Jennifer Shaskey Calvery, Director of the Treasury Department's Anti-Laundering Unit, recently said that de-risking is problematic when a bank ".....cuts with a machete rather than a scapel."

The problem with this whole de-risking thing is it is a subterfuge. The banks are portraying themselves as cleaner than thou in order to cover doing business with drug dealers and terrorist supporters.

The reason for such bank conduct is simple. Money. Money is everything. The banks are dumping customers who at best only make them millions. In order to keep those making them billions.

If that isn't hypocrisy, what is?

BANK ROBBERS

Yesterday, people robbed banks. To name a few.....

                                           Jesse James

                                           Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

                                           Ma Barker

                                           John Dillinger

                                           Willie Sutton

Today, banks rob people. To name a few.....

                                           Countrywide

                                           Bank of America

                                           Goldman Sachs

                                           Merrill Lynch

Yesterday's bank robbers went to jail or were killed. Today's bank robbers buy their way out.

Today's bank robbers engaged in sleazy mortgage schemes that broke the economy. They were and are white collar criminals who don't carry a gun. They use money and influence instead. Their actions have resulted in thievery on the highest scale to the detriment of millions of Americans.

Today's bank robbers do not go to jail. Again, they buy their way out. An example being Bank of America's recent civil settlement with the U.S. government to the tune of $16.6 billion. A new form of crime and punishment.

Iceland had a similar problem. The government wanted to bail the banks out. The people said no. Bank leaders were arrested, tried and sent to jail. Iceland survived.

Jail is not in the mix as far as our government is concerned. Attorney General Holder said early on that banks were ".....too big to fail." He later added that the banks were ".....too big to prosecute."

American justice today for a sizable portion of the affluent 1 percent. Those who became extremely wealthy because of wrongdoing. Which means if you are rich enough, crime pays.

THE AL QAEDA GANG THAT COULDN'T SHOOT STRAIGHT

It is acceptable American parlance to describe a screw up by a bunch of people as the gang that couldn't shoot straight. An Al Qaeda group appears deserving of the label.

A new Al Qaeda group was recently formed in the Indian Subcontinent. The Indian Subcontinent is not a part of India per se. The area is located in South Asia and its core lands involve India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Note this story is replete with confusion and inconsistencies. Indian Subcontinent being one of them...

The Al Qaeda group was started by Ayman al-Zawahiri. Not a fool. Knowledgeable in the ways of Al Qaeda. He was close to Osama bin Laden and one of his first followers.

Al-Zawahiri has not been pleased with Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and the ISIS organization he heads. Al-Zawahiri started his Al Qaeda group to counter Al-Baghdadi and ISIS.

The Al Qaeda group was in business only ten days when it decided to capture or take down a United States carrier, the USS George Washington. The Washington was in Pakistan's Karachi harbor.

In Karachi harbor also was the Pakistani Navy frigate Zulfiqar. The frigate had been sitting in the same place in the harbor since 2011. Reportedly, the Zulfiqar had no armaments, ordinances and was not seaworthy.

At this point the story becomes confusing. More than one version has been reported.

The first was that ten Al Qaedas went to Karachi harbor with the intent to take over the carrier USS George Washington. They mistakenly boarded the Pakistani frigate Zulfiqar thinking it was the carrier Washington. A battle ensued between the Al Qaeda and Pakistani Naval personnel. Three Al Qaeda died and seven were captured. Two Pakistani were wounded.

How the ten Al Qaeda could have mistaken the frigate for an aircraft carrier is beyond me. The carrier is huge in every respect. The frigate low, sleek and nowhere near as long as a carrier. However, they did. Enter, the gang that couldn't shoot straight..

Other reported news items had the ten Al Qaeda's dressed in Pakistani Naval uniforms. They carried official appearing papers. They approached the Zulfiqar. Several went aboard. A frigate gunner thought something was amiss. Shooting erupted. Four Al Qaedas were killed and six taken prisoner. One of those killed actually took his own life.

The story was these ten Al Qaedas were going to commander the frigate and take it into harbor waters. It was their intent to blow up and destroy the United States carrier the USS George Washington.

Even if the Al Qaeda had been successful in taking control of the frigate, there was no ammunition aboard and the vessel was not even turned on and in a ready to go posture. The engine was cold. Enter again, the gang that couldn't shoot straight.

Whatever the correct version, Ayman al-Zawahiri and his new Al Qaeda organization lost face. They have become the laughing stock of the terror world. One reporter described the attack thusly, ".....a juvenile search for notoriety."

More confusion. The news reports suggested different numbers as to the total  Al Qaeda involved. Four different numbers. All low. The actual number immaterial, except for accuracy purposes.

Even the actual date of the attack has not been agreed upon. Some claim it happened on 9/11 in celebration of that date. Others have it occurring on September 5 or 6.

It was reported that the ten Al Qaeda were not of the same ilk as the masterminds who pulled off 9/11. Otherwise, how could they have confused a frigate for a carrier? Not college graduates and post graduates. Additionally, there does not appear to have been a well  formulated plan for the attack.

I have a couple of reasons for writing about this topic.

First, there have been comments to the effect that a group of ten could not have taken over or badly damaged a carrier. Not enough manpower.

Not true. Think back to the USS Cole in Aden, Yemeni in 1992. Only 2 persons were involved in driving the boat into the Cole. Then there was the World Trade Center underground garage bombing in 1993. A small number involved. The car bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 1995 involved only 4 persons.

9/11 was the biggest attack of all. Four commercial jets taken over by 19 men who ended up taking down the two tallest buildings in the world and leaving dead just under 3,000 persons.

Not many are required to do significant injury and damage.

The additional reason I selected this topic was the decided lack of media coverage. 

The news itself was initially kept from the media. The conflicting accounts and the possible Al Qaeda embarrassment caused some not to talk concerning the event. When the news began to leak out in drips and drabs, several written accounts over several days appeared. Not that many. I do not recall seeing the attack discussed on television. Though I cannot say with certainty that no news show reported the event.

Why the silence? When are the American people going to be made aware regarding what is happening when it happens? Especially a military type attack such as this one. Even for nothing more than the humorous aspect of the attackers mistaking a frigate for a carrier.