The Morning Roar: Donald Sterling Banned From NBA, Millenials Don't Trust Government & Media, and Chase Bank Shuts Down Porn Star Accounts
Welcome to your Wednesday edition of The Morning Roar! Clippers Owner Donald Sterling Banned From NBA For LifeYesterday NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers basketball team, will be banned from the National Basketball League for life for racist comments he made in a conversation recorded by his girlfriend, V.Stiviano. Naturally, a large majority of the population - as well as NBA fans - are outraged over his comments, and are cheering on his swift expulsion from the NBA. And just as naturally, many people are overreacting to the news of his banishment. Deadspin has posted several tweets from people declaring the "1st amendment is dead" over Sterling's harsh punishment stemming from his remarks.I won't address whether or not Sterling is a racist, a relatively subjective term, nor will I address the legality or morality of V. Stivniano's recording of their conversation. What I will address is the idea that Sterling's punishment is somehow signaling the end of free speech as we know it."Free speech" as we call it does not dictate that one has the right to say anything, to anyone, at any time without consequences. It merely makes their speech legal, meaning nobody will face the lethal force that comes with the rule of law in retaliation for something they have said. And in this case, as far as I can tell, Sterling faces no legal threat whatsoever. As an NBA owner, Sterling likely has agreed to certain conditions and bylaws under the NBA constitution, the same constitution which gave commissioner Adam Silver the authority to fine Sterling $2.5 million.As a private entity, the NBA has every right to enforce certain rules and morals of conduct within its boundaries, and if it has deemed that Sterling has violated those rules it has every right to enforce action within those confines. Sterling may have a legal claim of his own, depending on just what those bylaws say, but "free speech" is not an issue here.Poll Shows Millenials Mistrust President, Military, and MediaA new poll shows that millenials - people considered to currently fall between the age of 18-29 - have historically low levels of trust in numerous institutions, including the President, the military, Supreme Court, Congress, and the media. The graphic below details the full breakdown of the poll, as conducted by Harvard University's Institute of Politics.
The extremes of this poll tell us a lot. At one end, we have the military, with the most trust at 47%. This is likely due to the fact the members of the military - particularly new enlistees - largely fall within the 18-29 range that qualifies one as a "millennial." It is probable that people in this age group personally know many people in the military - friends, family, etc. They trust those people, so they may be more inclined to trust the military as a whole. It's much less likely that a millennial would count a member of Congress or the President of the United States as a close, personal friend. The military simply carries out the orders of politicians, so the distrust tends to aim higher on the chain.At the other end of the spectrum, we have "the media." We have to assume that the "media" in this case is the "mainstream media" - CNN, NBC, Fox, The NY Times, etc - which has seen a marked drop in viewership and readership across all age genres in the past decade or so. People are more and more turning to "alternative" news sources.The Internet provides a plethora of options for receiving news and, while there is certainly a lot of nonsense to sort through, allows individuals to choose for themselves which news sources provide the best information.The media's coverage of the Ron Paul campaign and non-coverage of many other events have led the younger generation to seek their information and commentary elsewhere. Hopefully this site is one of those stops!And if you have the time, check out my podcasts with Brian Engelman of The New American Media and Ben Swann of BenSwann.com, just two of the great independent journalists comprising the new media, from the Lions of Liberty Podcast.Chase Bank Shuts Down Porn Star AccountsTrusted news source Perez Hilton has released details regarding letters apparently received by hundreds of adult film starts from Chase Bank stating that their bank accounts would be closed starting March 11, 2014. A copy of one of the letter's is below, courtesy of PerezHilton.com.
This letter does not note any sort of reason for the account closing, and since we don't see the names on the letter we can't even confirm that the person receiving it is is actually an adult film star. However, at least one porn star, Teagan Presley, has come forward confirming that she received a similar letter. Ms. Presley explained what she was told when she further investigated the closure of her account in a story provided by Vice.
When Presley went to the bank in person to ask why, she was told it’s because she’s considered “high risk.”“And then they told me that they canceled my husband’s account too, because our social security numbers are linked,” Presley told VICE News. “They told him that it was because I’m a notorious adult star. Which is funny, because I’m kind of a goody-goody in the business, and I’m not even doing porn anymore.”
The knee-jerk libertarian reaction would be "well, Chase Bank is a private company, so they can do what they want." This is technically true, but doesn't fully represent the intricacies of the situation. Legally speaking, Chase may have every right to terminate a client's account for any reason at all, including no reason. "Legally speaking", I can be held indefinitely without charges by the military if the administration deems me even loosely "associated with terrorists", but that doesn't make it right.Chase Bank is part of the banking cartel that has full control over our financial system via the Federal Reserve.We certainly shouldn't confuse them with any sort of legitimate, mom-and-pop business.Further, it appears that these account closings may even be linked to the U.S. Department of Justice. Vice further details how the the DOJ is influencing bankers through a program known as "Operation Choke Point."
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed Thursday, American Bankers Association CEO Frank Keatingwrote that the Justice Department is “telling bankers to behave like policemen and judges.”“Operation Choke Point is asking banks to identify customers who may be breaking the law or simply doing something government officials don’t like,” Keating wrote. “Banks must then ‘choke off’ those customers’ access to financial services, shutting down their accounts.”Keating said the highly secretive operation was launched in early 2013. That’s when porn stars started to complain to the media that their bank accounts were being shut down without explanation.And while the actors are quick to blame banks like Chase and Bank of America for discrimination, those institutions may in fact have no choice.“If a bank doesn’t shut down a questionable account when directed to do so, Justice slaps the institution with a penalty for wrongdoing that may or may not have happened,” Keating wrote.
Undoubtedly this is somehow loosely justified by the U.S. government in order to "fight terrorism." Quite ironic, from an institution that forces its will upon individuals via the threat of violence, the very definition of terrorism.The government forces us into the Federal Reserve Banking System. It then creates regulations so that only a few, behemoth corporations can compete within that system. And if that all weren't enough, it then uses legal and extralegal threats to deny services to whomever it chooses.Certainly in a free market banking system, banks could choose to discriminate against "risky" clients, including adult film stars if they deemed them an "at-risk" profession for some reason. But libertarians would be wise not to jump to the defense of "the free market" so quickly, especially in situations where the market in question is anything but free.Read The Morning Roar every weekday Monday-Friday!The Lions of Liberty are on Twitter, Facebook & Google+Receive access to ALL of our EXCLUSIVE bonus audio content – including “Conspiracy Corner”, “Degenerate Gamblers” and the “League of Liberty Podcast” by joining the Lions of Liberty Pride and supporting us on Patreon!
