Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 12/12

[SVPete]

OCC Fingers Big Banks That De-Banked ‘Controversial’ Businesses Like Gun Makers, Retailers

https://www.shootingnewsweekly.com/business/occ-fingers-big-banks-that-debanked-controversial-business-like-gun-makers-retailers/

“It is unfortunate that the nation’s largest banks thought these harmful debanking policies were an appropriate use of their government-granted charter and market power. While many of these policies were undertaken in plain sight and even announced publicly, certain banks have continued to insist that they did not engage in debanking,” Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan Gould said in a statement.

“Going forward, the OCC will hold banks accountable for these actions and ensure unlawful debanking does not continue,” Gould said.

The agency said its review remains ongoing and that it plans to hold the banks “accountable,” including potential referrals to the Justice Department.

Since banks have the means to fight in court, this could drag out for years.

Comptroller Finds Banks Did Discriminate in Debanking

https://pjmedia.com/catherinesalgado/2025/12/11/comptroller-finds-banks-did-discriminate-in-debanking-n4946975

The OCC issued a press release yesterday announcing the results of its preliminary investigation into nine banks regarding their practices of restricting, cutting off, or imposing extra burdens on certain customers. Donald Trump and many of his prominent supporters have suffered financial censorship in recent years, as have companies and whole industries despised by leftists.

The banks under investigation are U.S. Bank, JPMorgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo Bank, Bank of America, Citibank, Capital One, PNC Bank, TD Bank, and BMO Bank. They are the largest banks under OCC supervision, according to the press release.

Comptroller of the Currency Jonathan V. Gould said, “The OCC is committed to ending efforts – whether instigated by regulators or banks – that would weaponize finance. Although our work continues, the OCC is today providing visibility into the debanking actions against customers and lawful businesses taken by the nation’s largest banks to ensure public awareness, and to halt these harmful and unfair practices.”
...
At least one bank, of which the name was not provided, restricted certain industries because they allegedly represented “activities that, while not illegal, are contrary to [the bank’s] values.” This included firearms, oil and gas, tobacco, coal mining, private prisons, and digital assets. In other words, the bank actually admitted to rejecting the customers because of ideological differences.
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Donald Trump, his family, his attorney John Eastman, and MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell are among the famous victims of debanking. Holding the banks accountable is a free speech effort.

[SVPete]

JBS to close California beef plant over low US cattle supply

https://srnnews.com/jbs-to-close-california-beef-plant-over-low-us-cattle-supply/

CHICAGO, Dec 12 (Reuters) – JBS will permanently close a facility outside Los Angeles that prepares beef for sale at U.S. grocery stores, the world’s largest meat company said on Friday, as tight cattle supplies have raised costs for meatpackers.

JBS will shut its Swift Beef Company facility in Riverside, California, on February 2, eliminating 374 jobs, according to a notice from the state’s Employment Development Department.

Beef prices set record highs this year after ranchers slashed the U.S. cattle herd to its lowest level in decades due to a persistent drought that dried up pasture lands. A halt on U.S. imports of Mexican cattle tightened supplies further, as Washington seeks to keep out a flesh-eating parasite.

The increase of beef prices due to a long-term drought and USDA efforts to keep out a parasite are Trump's fault somehow? As usual, Dems and their MSM mouthpieces are lying be omission.

[SVPete]

Colorado Schools Score Huge Victory in Battle to Protect Girls Sports

https://pjmedia.com/michaelcantrell/2025/12/11/colorado-schools-score-huge-victory-in-battle-to-protect-girls-sports-n4946960

Colorado currently enforces a law that allows transgender-identifying males to participate in female sports—an indulgence of a young person’s delusions and an egregious encouragement of mental illness. However, this could soon change.

Colorado School District 49, located just outside Colorado Springs, now leads a coalition of seven other districts in challenging the law. The districts filed a lawsuit in May against the Colorado Civil Rights Division, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the Colorado Attorney General, and the Colorado High School Activities Association.
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Last week, however, the Colorado High School Activities Association settled with the plaintiffs, delivering a huge win for girls’ sports.

District 49 pursued the lawsuit after officials adopted rules last year requiring all school sports teams to divide athletes by biological sex. Superintendent Peter Hilts stated that he set clear rules concerning biology after he noticed more men trying to compete as women around the country. District 49 filed its lawsuit on May 9 to prevent the district from facing penalties that the governing body of Colorado sports might impose.

[SVPete]

Victory for Free Speech and the Unborn: 11th Circuit Overturns Buffer Zone at Clearwater Abortion Clinic

https://nrlc.org/nrlnewstoday/2025/12/victory-for-free-speech-and-the-unborn-11th-circuit-overturns-buffer-zone-at-clearwater-abortion-clinic/

In a wisely decided, 2-1 decision that champions the First Amendment rights of pro-life advocates and underscores the ongoing battle to protect innocent lives, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals has struck down a restrictive buffer zone ordinance outside a Florida abortion clinic.

The 11th Circuit panel reversed a lower district court’s decision and issued a preliminary injunction to block the ordinance.

The ordinance was clearly designed to stop pro-life advocates from talking to abortion-vulnerable women and girls.
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The case centers on the city of Clearwater’s ordinance enacted in 2023, which prohibited pedestrians—including pro-life activists—from entering the driveway entrance to the Bread and Roses Women’s Health Center or standing on the five feet of sidewalk on either side of it.

Framed by city officials as a measure for vehicle safety, the rule effectively created a “no-speech zone” that silenced the free speech voices of sidewalk advocates. Pro-lifers who have long used peaceful conversations to inform women about resources like adoption and options other than abortion, argued that this restriction violated their constitutional rights to free expression.