Obama DOJ initiative became political de-banking scheme, Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen tells Joe Rogan



Brexiteer Nigel Farage was de-banked last year for political reasons. While acknowledging he was a commercially viable customer, Coutts bank, part of the NatWest Group, dropped the British politician because of his comparison of Black Lives Matter rioters to the Taliban; his criticism of climate alarmism and his suggestion that "net zero is net stupid"; his "endorsements of Donald Trump"; and other expressions thought unpalatable by the powers that be.

Although Britain has done its best in recent months to clamp down on perceived wrong think, including silent prayer, it is hardly exceptional when it comes to the practice of de-banking.

Marc Andreessen, co-founder of Netscape and general partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, recently told Joe Rogan that scores of tech founders have been de-banked under the Biden administration through a coordinated and politically motivated effort he referred to as "Operation Choke Point 2.0," an apparent update on a scandalous Obama Department of Justice initiative. In the days since the interview, numerous crypto entrepreneurs have gone online with their own de-banking tales.

The 'wrong politics'

After explaining that "de-banking is when you, as either a person or your company, are literally kicked out of the banking system," Andreessen told Rogan that it has hit close to home — his business partner's father was de-banked.

When asked why David Horowitz, a critic of Islamic and leftist extremism, would have been de-banked, Andreessen said, "For having the wrong politics. For saying unacceptable things."

"I mean, David Horowitz is, you know — he's pro-Trump," said Andreessen. "I mean, he's said all kinds of things. You know, he's been very anti-Islamic terrorism. He's been very worried about immigration, all these things."

Other individuals and groups who have been de-banked in recent years were similarly on the right, which may explain why the Southern Poverty Law Center has defended the practice.

'There's no constitutional amendment that says the government can't de-bank you.'

In September 2023, Bank of America de-banked John Eastman, founding director of the Claremont Institute's Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence and one of the attorneys also targeted by the 65 Project for his work with President-elect Donald Trump. Two months later, USAAA Federal Saving Bank similarly de-banked him.

Former Nebraska state Treasurer John Murante (R) noted in an op-ed last year that Chase had de-banked multiple individuals and organizations — including the Arkansas Family Council, Defense of Liberty, and retired general Michael Flynn Jr. — over "mainstream American views."

Months after JPMorgan Chase canceled the checking account for former Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback's faith-based nonprofit National Committee for Religious Freedom, Brownback reportedly received an email from Chase indicating that he was a "politically exposed person."

"Under current banking regulations, after all the reforms of the last 20 years, there's now a category called a 'politically exposed person,' PEP," Andreessen told Rogan. "You are required by financial regulators to kick them off, to kick them out of your bank. You're not allowed to have them."

According to a 2021 Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council document, the "term PEP is commonly used in the financial industry to refer to foreign individuals who are or have been entrusted with a prominent public function, as well as to their immediate family members and close associates." The term has also been applied to domestic individuals similarly entrusted with prominent public functions.

The Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, an international outfit hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, noted in its own definition that due to their position and influence, many PEPs "are in positions that potentially can be abused for the purpose of committing money laundering offences and related predicate offenses, including corruption and bribery, as well as conducting activity related to terrorist financing."

Andreessen suggested that the de-banking of domestic PEPs tends to go only one way, noting, "I have not heard of a single instance of anyone on the left getting de-banked."

A private-public scheme

The tech entrepreneur explained that this politically unidirectional mechanism is wielded by a combination of governmental and private forces.

"There's a constitutional amendment that says the government can't restrict your speech, but there's no constitutional amendment that says the government can't de-bank you," said Andreessen.

The government leans on private banking institutions to do its dirty work, which gives it the benefit of distance, such that "the government gets to say, 'We didn't do it. It was the private company that did it, and of course, JPMorgan can decide who they want to have as customers.'"

Andreessen characterized the political persecution scheme as a "privatized sanctions regime that lets bureaucrats do to American citizens the same thing that we do to Iran: Just kick you out of the financial system."

According to Andreessen, this "regime" has been targeting numerous crypto entrepreneurs since President Joe Biden took office.

'It's just raw administrative power.'

"This has been happening to a lot of the fin-tech entrepreneurs, anybody trying to start any kind of new banking service, because they're trying to protect the big banks," said Andreessen. "This has been happening, by the way, also in legal fields of economic activity that they don't like."

Thanks, Obama

Andreessen suggested that this coordinated effort to crush perceived political adversaries through monetary pressures kicked off in earnest "about 15 years ago with this thing called Operation Choke Point."

Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel and senior vice president of corporate engagement at the Alliance Defending Freedom, told members of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government in March:

In the now infamous Operation Choke Point, President Obama's DOJ and FDIC spearheaded a multi-agency initiative to target legal industries like firearms dealers, tobacco sellers, dating services, coin dealers, and payday lenders. After a group of payday lenders sued the FDIC, litigation filings and subsequent federal oversight offered a rare look into the world of financial regulation. The FDIC expanded "reputational risk" to include "any negative publicity involving the third party." It then worked in conjunction with the DOJ and other agencies to pressure financial institutions to deny service to disfavored industries. The DOJ issued over 60 subpoenas; the FDIC and OCC issued related guidance on the reputation risk presented by payment processing for these entities; and the FDIC listed the above businesses as "high-risk businesses," all with the intent to cut off banking access to these industries.

Andreessen suggested that the Biden administration extended the concept to apply to political opponents as well as to crypto and tech entrepreneurs.

"Choke Point 2.0 is primarily against their political enemies and then to their disfavored tech startups," said Andreessen. "And it's hit the tech world hard. We've had like 30 founders de-banked in the last four years."

According to the tech entrepreneur, those he knows who have been de-banked effectively had to reinvent themselves or get creative with where they put their money to "try to get away from the eye of Sauron."

Tyler Winklevoss, co-founder of Gemini, noted after Elon Musk highlighted Andreessen's comments that he was de-banked and suggested that there have likely been far more than 30 individuals de-banked in the burgeoning industry.

"Totally unlawful, evil behavior," said Winklevoss.

Brian Armstrong, co-founder and CEO of Coinbase, responded to Andreessen's claims, noting, "Can confirm this is true. It was one one of the most unethical and un-American things that happened in the Biden administration, and my guess is we'll find Elizabeth Warren's fingerprints all over it (Biden himself was probably unaware). We're still collecting documents via FOIA requests, so hopefully the full story emerges of who was involved and whether they broke any laws."

Konstantin Richter, CEO of Blockdaemon, claimed that Bank of America similarly cut his organization loose.

The nature of de-banking leaves victims with few or no means to seek remedy.

"You can't go sue a regulator to fix this. It's not through any kind of court judgment. It's just raw power. It's just raw administrative power," said Andreessen. "It's the government or politicians just deciding that things are going to be a certain way, and then they just apply pressure until they get it."

To make matters worse, "There are no fingerprints," said Andreessen. Those behind the de-banking are virtually untouchable.

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Democratic Sen. Mark Warner is reviving the Russian collusion narrative just in time for another election



Democratic Sen. Mark Warner (Va.), was one of the leading exponents of the Russian collusion hoax. In 2019, for instance, he claimed, "There's no one that could factually say there's not plenty of evidence of collaboration or communications between Trump Organization and Russians."

Special counsels Robert Mueller and John Durham ultimately proved him wrong, revealing there was no substantive evidence of Russian collusion in the 2016 election.

Subsequent analysis revealed that to the extent there was foreign interference, it was likely inconsequential — not including the foreign-sourced Steele dossier collected for the Clinton campaign, which Democrats used to great effect. For instance, the Washington Post, whose journalists were awarded for peddling the debunked "Russia hoax" narrative, admitted that so-called Russian trolls "had no measurable impact in changing minds or influencing voter behavior" ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Before Durham could take some of the wind out of Warner's sails, the senator claimed ahead of the 2020 election, "the Russians who attacked us in 2016 are still attacking us."

The Virginia senator is apparently at it again, pre-emptively characterizing Nigel Farage's gains in Britain's July 4 election as the Kremlin's preferred outcome. According to Politico, Farage's Reform U.K. party could pick up as many as 17 seats in the British Parliament, including five from the Conservatives.

The Telegraph reported Tuesday that while Warner admitted that U.S. intelligence agencies "have not seen much [Russian] activity" around the British election, he has suggested "the chances are, as we saw in the past, this activity ramps up dramatically the closer it gets to the election."

According to the Telegraph, Warner "singled out Nigel Farage as he described Vladimir Putin's potential efforts to exploit different attitudes among British politicians towards defending Kyiv's frontlines."

Conservative party establishmentarians like Rishi Sunak, Boris Johnson, and Liz Truss are reportedly in agreement that Ukraine can succeed militarily so long as it keeps receiving weapons and funding.

Farage, alternatively, recently said, "I'm not saying we shouldn't support Ukraine at all. Not for one minute. But at the end of the day most wars end in negotiation and I fear, if we don't find some way of at least sitting down and talking, that we're going to finish up with a war that goes on for year after year after year."

Warner apparently regards a difference of opinion amongst British politicians on the country's foreign policy — in this case, regarding a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine — as position capture by Russia.

"Clearly, Russia does not like the fact that the UK has been as stalwart as they have been in terms of defense on Ukraine," said Warner. "It clearly meets Putin's plans if he can lessen the British or the Americans' resolve for supporting Ukraine, he can save some money on his tanks, guns, ships and planes if he can diminish support."

In a recent BBC interview, which has been grossly mischaracterized by the English press, Farage noted that Putin has "gone from prime minister, to president, he's a clever political operator. He kills journalists. I don't like him as a human being in any way at all."

"You can recognize the fact that some people are good at what they do even if they have evil intent," continued Farage.

When asked what he'd say to Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy if in a position of influence, Farage said, "I'd say to Zelensky, 'Look, the West have been supporting you, they will go on supporting you, but the percentage of your young manhood that you're losing is so bad, isn't it time we at least tried to have a negotiation?' He couldn’t say no."

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

'Like the old Soviet Union': Socialist shutdown of National Conservatism event featuring Orbán and Farage backfires



Police stormed the National Conservatism conference in Brussels Tuesday and barricaded the doors on the orders of a leftist mayor. The clampdown was demanded and celebrated by Antifa and other extremists who sought to make clear to the world leaders, lawmakers, and intellectuals inside that they were not welcome to openly discuss the conservation of their respective nation-states.

The shutdown backfired greatly, not only confirming attendees' suspicions that leftists are animated by totalitarian energies and that post-national liberals will become increasingly authoritarian as their influence wanes, but causing a significant international stir.

In the face of immense backlash over the socialist clampdown on free speech, Belgium's supreme administrative court and the Belgian prime minister intervened in the conservatives' favor.

Prime Minister Alexander De Croo noted on X, "What happened at the Claridge today is unacceptable. Municipal autonomy is a cornerstone of our democracy but can never overrule the Belgian constitution guaranteeing the freedom of speech and peaceful assembly since 1830. Banning political meetings is unconstitutional. Full stop."

Meanwhile, foreign leaders — including the British and Italian prime ministers — and multitudes of critics worldwide blasted the attempt to thwart the efforts of patriots to prevent their respective nations from becoming pseudo-states like Belgium.

Times of London columnist Melanie Phillips, who took the stage upon the defiant resumption of the event Wednesday, summarized the scandal thusly: "I feel a bit of history has been made here in the last day or so. What's happened here at this conference is that this process of silencing us has been dramatized in such a spectacular fashion that even the Belgian prime minister has denounced it along with [Prime Minister] Rishi Sunak in Britain, various German politicians, and a chorus of condemnation condemnation across the board and across continents."

"Talk about an own-goal," continued Phillips. "At a stroke, ideological enemies have shown that it is in fact the left that is intolerant and oppressive and a threat to democracy and a dictatorial risk to freedom and national cosnervativism is now the resistance."

"At a stroke, our ideological enemies have shown that it is, in fact, the Left that is intolerant and oppressive and a threat to democracy and a dictatorial risk to freedom. And National Conservatism is now the resistance."\n-@MelanieLatest #NatConBrussels2
— (@)

Background

The NatCon conference is a project of the Edmund Burke Foundation and is chaired by Israeli-American philosopher Yoram Hazony.

The project defines "National Conservatism" as "a movement of public figures, journalists, scholars, and students who understand that the past and future of conservatism are inextricably tied to the idea of the nation, to the principle of national independence, and to the revival of the unique national traditions that alone have the power to bind a people together and bring about their flourishing."

Past conferences have taken place across what was once regarded as the free world, in cities such as Orlando, Washington, D.C., London, and Rome. Past guests and speakers included Republican Sens. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Marco Rubio (Fla.); Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; elements of Blaze Media; and a host of international leaders of various political stripes.

This year, the conference — which counts former British Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Catholic Cardinal Gerhard Müller, Brexiteer Nigel Farage, and French politician Eric Zemmour among its speakers — had difficulty finding a venue in Brussels hosted by someone with the requisite intestinal fortitude to support free speech.

Politico reported that the conference, this year focused on the theme of "Preserving the Nation-State in Europe," initially secured the Concert Noble, but the host venue pulled out just days ahead of the conference.

Frank Füredi, the executive director of MCC Brussels, the think tank helping organize the event, said, "What has happened in these last few days represents nothing less than a crisis for free speech and political expression for all of Europe."

According to the Brussels Times, communists and other radicals pressured the venue to axe the event to preclude people from discussing and hearing about the fallout of mass migration, climate alarmism, LGBT imperialism, and the erosion of the nation-state.

Another venue caved to leftist pressure, canceling the conference's booking just 20 hours before the event was set to begin, prompting organizers to accuse Brussels' socialist mayor, Philippe Close, of trying to cancel the event for ideological reasons.

Neighboring municipalities also made clear that the conference would not be welcome.

The NatCon conference ultimately found a venue in the Claridge events hall reportedly run by a Tunisian man "who believes in free speech and who did not surrender to the tremendous political pressure to cancel a conservative conference."

Extra to receiving a standing ovation Wednesday, the host was personally thanked by Orbán.

Farage similarly lauded the Tunisian for standing up to the "bullyboys."

The socialist reflex

While the conference overcame the initial cancellation efforts, it still had to deal with the local authorities.

Emir Kir, the socialist mayor of the Brussels suburb Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, announced Tuesday morning that he had "issued an order from the Mayor to ban the 'National Conservatism Conference' event to guarantee public safety. In Etterbeek, Brussels City and Saint-Josse, the far-right is not welcome."

Kir previously indicated he would "immediately take measures to ban" the event.

Police dutifully stormed the event and sealed the entrances, ensuring attendees could not enter.

Here is the police presence outside not letting anybody in and if we leave not letting anybody back in! Insane!
— (@)
Police enter venue of Nat Con conference in Brussels to serve a request to close down event. Farage on stage
— (@)

Politico indicated that police informed organizers the event was being shut down hours before Nigel Farage's keynote speech.

"It's really something out of a tin-pot dictatorship" Füredi told Politico. "They're trying to use a technical reason to make a political point. They told the owner that if it doesn't get shut down they're gonna cut the electricity."

Farage noted that the socialist mayor's efforts to shut down conservative speech and appease the leftist mob were "like the old Soviet union. No alternative view allowed."

A second wave of officers came by at 12:45 p.m. to hand Anthony Gilland, the event's local organizer, the official shutdown order.

"One of the reasons that we've been given, it's not the only reason, is that there will be a counterprotest this afternoon around about 5 p.m. and the idea is that the police are not able to protect free speech at this event," said Gilland.

An apparent English translation of the shutdown order claims the the event "is likely to cause a serious disturbance of the public peace due to its provocative and discriminatory nature" and that some of the attendees "are reputed to be traditionalists, homophobes, and disrespectful of human rights and minorities; we can also cite an author of controversial works on political Islam."

Hazony announced the event would be "gradually" wound down Tuesday.

NatCon organiser Yoram Hazony announcing the conference would be closed gradually... Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman allowed to speak
— (@)

The backlash and conservative triumph

Orbán said in a statement, "The Belgian police decided to shut down the @NatConTalk conference in #Brussels, just two hours after it started. I guess they couldn't take free speech any longer. The last time they wanted to silence me with the police was when the Communists set them on me in '88. We didn't give up then and we will not give up this time either!"

The Guardian reported that Farage told those gathered outside the venue, "I've experienced cancel culture personally here … but what has happened in there on the stage with global media, we can see that legally held opinions from people who are going to win national elections is not longer acceptable here in Brussels, the home of globalism."

"This is the complete old communist style where if you don't agree with me, you've got to be banned, you've got to be shut down," added Farage, who was de-banked last year over his political views.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni condemned the shutdown, saying, "What is happening in Brussels leaves us in disbelief and dismay. The mayor of one of the Belgian capital's municipalities has banned a conference, which is scheduled to be attended by heads of government, national and European parliamentarians."

"Following the order, police physically prevented guests and speakers from entering the conference," continued Meloni. "I immediately asked Prime Minister Alexander De Croo of Belgium to follow up on what was happening, and I thank him for his timely and clear stance against the hateful oppression of freedom of expression taking place in Brussels."

A spokesman for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, "Speaking more broadly to the principle of such events, he is very clear that canceling events or preventing attendance and no-platforming speakers is damaging to free speech and to democracy as a result."

British parliamentarian and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman tweeted, "It's laughable that the Brussels thought police were sent out to shut down a conference of democratically elected politicians representing the views of millions of people. They clearly didn't want to hear about how we can secure our borders & protect our citizens."

Proponents of the conference challenged the mayoral order with the help of the Christian advocacy group ADF International. Belgium's supreme administrative court said in an emergency session Tuesday that the conference could resume.

ADF International executive director Paul Coleman said in a statement, "While common sense and justice have prevailed, what happened yesterday is a dark mark on European democracy. No official should have the power to shut down free and peaceful assembly merely because he disagrees with what is being said."

Farage posted a video Wednesday morning wherein he gleefully noted he was on his way to the conference.

"It's still happening!" said Farage, who elsewhere penned an editorial suggesting the scandalous shutdown proved Brexit was a good call for Britons. "The local mayor has had his comeuppance. It's going to be a full house, a load of fun. It's a victory for free speech."

Nigel Farage | Return of the Nation State | NatCon Brussels 2youtu.be

Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Massive cargo ship gets wedged in Suez Canal and brings one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world to a standstill



A massive cargo ship got wedged in the Suez Canal and halted all traffic in one of the busiest and most important shipping lanes in the world.

The Ever Given is one of the largest shipping container ships in the world, capable of transporting 20,000 containers at one time, and it's stuck about 94 miles into the 120-mile man-made waterway connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea.

The ship ran aground after being battered by strong winds from a dust storm, which also caused low visibility.

Eight tugboats were sent to try to maneuver the enormous ship, which is operated by Evergreen Marine Corp., out of its predicament.

The crew reported no injuries nor was there any damage to the cargo, which was being shipped from Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The ship is about as long as the Empire State Building is tall, and sails under the Panamanian flag.

It "could not happen in a worse place, and the timing's pretty bad, too," opined Capt. John Konrad of a shipping news website to the New York Times.

The Times reported that 100 ships were stuck on either side of the Ever Given on Wednesday. About 30% of the world's daily container ship traffic flows through the Suez Canal and an alternate route around the African cape would make the trip a full week longer.

The incident became popular fodder for social media and jokes.

Live from the Suez Canal. #Suez https://t.co/UW4McQGAmI
— Farage’s Amazon Echo (@Farage’s Amazon Echo)1616592579.0

Richard Mead, the managing editor of Lloyd's List, told CNN that if the ship were dislodged and shipping return to normal within a few days, the financial damage could be absorbed. But if it took longer than a few days, it could mean disaster for many companies.

Here's more about the bizarre incident:

Suez Canal Blocked by Stuck Container Shipwww.youtube.com