Gun Control Advocates May Want to Boycott Wells Fargo

While numerous national corporations have ended relationships with the NRA - a front organization for gun manufacturers - there has been far less publicity of those who are in the pockets of the NRA's puppet masters. As case in point, according to a piece in Bloomberg, is Wells Fargo, the financier of choice of many gun manufactures which hide behind the visage of the NRA. The Bloomberg piece also identifies other leading lenders who have, by default in the eyes of many,  blood on their hands.  Some of these lenders include Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, JP Morgan, US Bancorp, BB&T, and PNC Bank.    If readers who do business with these banks find these relationships distasteful at best, call them and voice your displeasure.  Better yet, close you accounts and move them elsewhere and let the offending bank know why they have lost your business.  Here are highlights from the Bloomberg piece:

Wells Fargo & Co. has emerged as the preferred financier for the U.S. gun industry.

The bank has helped two of the biggest U.S. firearm and ammunition companies access $431.1 million in loans and bonds since December 2012, when the gun control debate gained steam after the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That puts it on the top of the list of banks arranging funding for gunmakers.

Wells Fargo also has a long relationship with the National Rifle Association, inherited from banks that Wells took over. The San Francisco-based Wells Fargo created a $28 million line of credit for the NRA and operates the primary accounts for the pro-Second Amendment group, financial documents show.

Following the Feb. 14 shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high-school that left 17 dead, retailers such as Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. have implemented stricter gun rules, such as increasing the age necessary to buy one, and some companies, like Delta Air Lines Inc., have cut ties with the NRA’s member-benefits program. Those changes were largely driven by boycott movements on social media. Banks, which have made millions financing the NRA and firearms manufacturers, haven’t been a focus in the same way.

Other banks are active as bookrunners for gunmakers, sometimes jointly. Morgan Stanley helped arrange $350 million in debt and TD Securities $332.5 million, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. and two other banks each arranged $273.6 million. That’s counting loans and bonds to gun and ammunition manufacturers American Outdoor Brands Corp. and Vista Outdoor Inc. since the day of the Sandy Hook bloodshed. Another gunmaker, Sturm Ruger & Co., currently has no public debt. Remington Outdoor Inc. has debt outstanding, but it was issued before December 2012. The NRA paid $9.9 million in banking fees in 2015 and 2016, according to annual reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service. The NRA didn’t respond to requests for comment. The [Wells Fargo] bank’s involvement with the NRA stemmed from its 2008 purchase of Wachovia Corp. Wachovia’s relationship with the NRA, in turn, came from its takeover of First Union National Bank.

The NRA and Wells Fargo amended its longstanding financial arrangement in 2014, according to public records, when the lobbying group agreed to borrow $22.6 million in exchange for pledging its Fairfax, Virginia, headquarters as collateral. The building was assessed at $40.4 million last year, according to Fairfax County records, down from $57.9 million a decade ago.

It’s been a profitable relationship for Wells Fargo. The variable-rate loan of as much as $28 million carries an interest rate of 6.08 percent, according to the NRA’s most recent financial statement. That’s higher than typical commercial-mortgage rates. Based on year-end 2016 figures, Wells Fargo would make an estimated $1.2 million annually from the loan. The NRA owed Wells Fargo $19.8 million as of Dec. 31, 2016. 
The NRA and its Freedom Action Foundation bank only with Wells Fargo, according to documents filed with state regulators. The group’s Civil Rights Defense Fund had bank and investment accounts at Wells Fargo and an investment account at Morgan Stanley. The NRA Foundation also had bank and investment accounts at Wells Fargo, and a separate investment account at Charles Schwab.

The NRA’s political action committee, the Political Victory Fund, also banks with Wells Fargo, Federal Election Commission records show. Over the last three years, the political action committee has paid Wells Fargo nearly $71,000 in various banking fees.

Franklin Graham: Religious Crackpot and Second-Generation Swindler

Whether deliberate or not, as noted in a previous post, Franklin Graham has thrust himself into the media spotlight and underscored the anti-gay animus and general bigotry that are increasingly synonymous with "conservative Christians."  In moving his snake oil ministries accounts from Wells Fargo, Graham accused the banking giant of furthering the "gay agenda" when in fact Wells Fargo was only doing what any company in the business of making money would do: advertising to and courting a customer demographic that might use it goods and/or services.  With almost every auto maker advertising to the LGBT market, is Graham going back to using horse and buggies?  The man is a bigoted ass and an idiot (like Jeb Bush who condemns single mothers).  A piece in Salon rightfully skewers Graham.  Here are highlights:

Franklin Graham, the religious crackpot and second-generation swindler, is in the news again. This time he’s taking a triumphant stand against the banking giant Wells Fargo. Why Wells Fargo, you ask? According to Graham, one of their recent ads “went beyond being gay-friendly to being a public advocate.” The ad itself is hardly provocative. It features a lesbian couple learning sign language as they prepare to adopt a deaf child. Apparently, that was too much sin for Graham to bear.

Of the many injustices done by Wells Fargo, it’s illustrative that Graham disowned the banking institution for one of the few things they’ve gotten right; it really highlights just how distorted his moral compass is. The world is awash in actual evil, and he’s indignant about an ad celebrating a couple’s commitment to adopting an orphaned child. What an egregious waste of human energy, and what a thoroughly stupid thing to be exercised about.

Graham wrote: “Have you ever asked yourself – how can we fight the tide of moral decay that is being crammed down our throats by big business, the media, and the gay and lesbian community?” That sentence was almost interesting until he casually associated gay people with the moral decline of America – something unthinking evangelicals love to do. This is Graham’s shtick, though. He’s not interested in real problems and real suffering; he’s interested in being seen, in finding a stage for his self-aggrandizement.

Like his father, Billy Graham, Franklin is a very rich and fatuous firebrand. Also like his father, his preachments are bigoted and totally devoid of moral logic. You may recall that last year he earnestly praised Vladimir Putin for his archaic anti-gay laws  . . . . Anyone who fancies Vladimir Putin a moral visionary has disqualified himself from adult conversations about ethics. 

Graham, like so many of his ilk, insists that he’s not full of hate, that he actually loves gay people. That’s bullshit. It’s obscene to say you love someone right before condemning him or her to an eternity of hell. This is the move too many Christians try to make in moral discourse today: They say it’s God’s business to judge, but they condemn; they say they hate sin but love the sinner, but they embrace laws that demean and punish those who don’t share their values; Graham’s virulent anti-gay rhetoric is a particularly disgusting example of this.

It’s no accident that Graham uses words like “lifestyle” and “choice” when denouncing homosexuals. He wants you to think he’s attacking gay people for what they do rather than for who they are, but that’s a ruse, because that’s exactly what he’s doing. Dismissing homosexuality as a choice makes it easier to judge and discriminate against, and it ignores the simple truth that gay people no more chose to be gay than I choose to be right-handed. But Graham doesn’t want to deal with this truth, because it runs counter to his religious ideology.

Herein lies one of the worst, most unethical teachings I know: to tell someone that they’re born broken, sick, and unworthy; such nonsense is pitilessly peddled by people like Graham, and much suffering results because of it.Religious entrepreneurs like Graham are perfunctorily treated like moral authorities in this country, and that’s a shame. Graham has a very high opinion of himself, but he deserves our ridicule; he’s a faith-based huckster and an organ of hate.

Very well said!!   It is conservative Christians who make a "choice," not gays.  We are born gay, while the choose to embrace ignorance and bigotry in order to provide their sick psyche's with a sense of superiority over others.  They DO deserve ridicule ans scorn. .

"Evangelical" Franklin Graham Changes Banks and Proves He's an Idiot

Franklin "I'm an Idiot" Graham

I've never had much use for Franklin Graham who, but for his famous father would likely be a nobody.  Even in his doddering old age, however, Billy Graham likely isn't as stupid as his son.  Like many in the professional snake oil merchant Christian set, Franklin Graham is jumping on the bandwagon of "godly folks" claiming the world is about to end if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down all state same sex marriage bans. Seeking to set an example for his cretinous sheep like followers, Graham closed his "ministry's" bank accounts with Wells Fargo since it was too gay friendly.  So, where did he open his new accounts?  With BB&T which chance would have it is a sponsor of Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade, along with the chief sponsor of Miami Beach Gay Pride’s “Legacy Couples” program.  Graham clearly wins the "I'm an idiot" award for the week.  Right Wing Watch looks at Graham's stupidity.  Here are excerpts:

Upset that Wells Fargo is running an ad which includes the story of a lesbian couple learning sign language before adopting a child who is deaf, Franklin Graham announced last week that the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association will no longer do business with the bank.

Graham spoke with Craig James of the Family Research Council, which is cheering on Graham’s announcement, on yesterday’s edition of “Washington Watch,” where he explained that he will be switching to BB&T, another North Carolina-based bank.

Graham may not have done much research, as BB&T has received an 80 percent score in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and this year is the sponsor of the Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade, along with the chief sponsor of Miami Beach Gay Pride’s “Legacy Couples” program, which celebrates same-sex couples in “committed relationships of 10 years or longer.”

A bank spokesman said the company hopes to “support the individuals and organizations that broaden our perspectives and strengthen the diverse fabric of our communities. That’s why BB&T is proud to be a part of this day of pride and celebration of the 2015 Legacy Couples.”

In fact, BB&T hosted a same-sex couple’s wedding reception earlier this year “in a makeshift chapel at event sponsor BB&T Bank South Beach branch.”

Graham added that anti-LGBT Christians should also boycott Starbucks, Tiffany’s and Nike since they “promote the gay lifestyle.”

The Franklin Grahams of the far right need to be mocked and ridiculed.  They are bigots who embrace ignorance - and encourage others to do so as well -  even as they confirm that they are stupid idiots themselves.  They have no place in polite and decent society.