Barbwire: X-Rated Amex

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005
Remember her laughter

On January 16, 1959, two babies were born.
They became sisters in both life and death.

Larry Barbano, Frater Mei
12-18-1947 / 10-18-2023

Under construxion / Please stay tuned. / More links,updates & references shortly.

Grandma files action vs. Amex horsethieves
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-29-2026 Sparks Tribune [Expansions in blue]

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The Dean's List

The Dean of Reno Bloggers could very well be Andrew Barbano, self-described "fighter of public demons," who started putting his "Barbwire" columns online in 1996 and now runs 10 sites.

RENO NEWS & REVIEW, 11-9-2006

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Last week, I reported the story of a Reno grandmother whose Social Security money proved less than secure in the hands of American Express.

For a long time, she had her funds directly deposited into her Amex Bluebird debit card account. It featured no service charges and was especially popular with people who could not afford the monthly service charges of bank checking accounts. Alas, Amex and the lower 90 percent don't get along so well.

Holders of Bluebird and Serve debit cards have been notified of their discontinuation. Amex came up with lots of reasons, but I think it's the usual -- the cards were not making them enough money.

Amex is a past master of the OPM method of maximizing profits -- using Other Peoples' Money. Back when Amex on-paper travelers checks were accepted worldwide, the float on the pre-paid instruments was estimated at $2 billion a day. (Amex does not disclose float income these days.) Big outfits invest excess cash in average-daily-balance interest-bearing accounts.

I wonder what a single day of interest on their OPM float would bring these days. Enough for an average lout to retire on, perhaps.

Knowing her card would soon be scrubbed, Reno Grandma "Kayse" opened an account at a credit union. When she tried to transfer the remaining $1162.00 from her Bluebird card, Amex flipped her the bird. Her account was frozen even though Amex said Bluebird and Serve cards could be used thru June 3.

The credit union informed Grandma Kayse that they could not access her funds because the card was not bank-based.

However, "American Express (Amex) is a bank holding company and operates an FDIC-insured national bank...It operates entirely online with no physical bank branches," according to Wikipedia.

In her complaint to the Nevada Attorney General's Consumer Protection Bureau, Grandma states "I am desperate trying to feed my family. I have no other income source. I found out that they froze Amex Bluebird card accounts when I tried to pay a bill. The Internet is filled with similar complaints. Some people have waited a year. (See Reddit.com and Yelp.com)"

The AG complaint form asks "What are you hoping the Attorney General's office can do for you?"

Grandma demands filing "for emergency relief in federal court asserting irreparable harm (food, utilities, gas, Rx, medical); involve other states, the Social Security Administration and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau."

The latter is a nice touch, but our Mad King has gutted that office. 'Twas not always so.

In 2012, CFPB found three Amex subsidiaries guilty of a truckload of financial crimes and ordered the crooks to "refund an estimated $85 million to approximately 250,000 customers for illegal card practices." The office, originally sparked by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass, tacked on "civil monetary penalty of $27.5 million."

According to CFPB, Amex agreed to "End illegal practices. (HarHarHardyHarHar!) American Express Centurion Bank will not deceive consumers with marketing for the Blue Sky credit card, or any other card, by falsely promising a rebate or points feature." Perhaps Blue Sky was the father of Bluebird, both fanciful terms worthy of fairy tales. (Full decision linked at the expanded web editon of this column at NevadaLabor.com)

FEDS SCHMEDZ. For a long time, MAGA Moonhowlers filed actions in front of a T-Rump judge in Amarillo Texas federal district court. He always ruled for the Gestapo.

Turnabout is fair play. When dirty commie liberals starting using such creative judge shopping, T-Rump's Supremes slapped them down.

"In a 6-3 decision on June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court restricted the authority of lower federal courts to issue nationwide injunctions, prohibiting 'universal' orders that block federal policies for everyone, not just the specific plaintiffs in a case. This ruling, written by Justice Amy Coney Barrett, largely limits equitable relief to the parties involved. It marks a major victory for the Trump administration in overturning lower court rulings that had frequently paused executive orders on a national scale," reported San Francisco's KTVU TV.

"While nationwide injunctions are restricted, the court suggested that class-action lawsuits could potentially serve as a mechanism for broader relief in certain situations."

THANX A LOT! Class actions take forever. Grandma Kayse needs food on the table in Reno, Nevada NOW.

NAME CALLING. President Bulsha Tartist sorta-renamed the Gulf of Mexico and the Department of Defense. Google caved for the latter and calling Pete Hegseth's store the "War Department" has at least been accurate advertising.

But I draw the line at PTSD. As wiseman George Carlin once noted, war apologists have slowly softened the perfectly descriptive World War I noun "shell shock" to meaninglessness. It morphed into "combat fatigue," then "traumatic stress sydrome," and finally "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder." (Beware when they add syllables.) Carlin correctly stated that "shell shock" was perfectly descriptive to describe the terror of those in fear for their lives.

I am now a victim of PTSD -- Post T-Rump Stress Disorder. I have been so shell-shocked by that psycho that only PTSD applies. So the military will have to come up with a new monicker to describe the psychological damage of war.

T-Rump likes naming things after himself. He can now claim branding a worldwide mental illness, which he now inflicts daily.

The fabled Fake News Media were onto something years ago when they started using "Trump fatigue."

Life imitates art.

MELT ICE —> Mask up! Get the latest boosters, protect yourself and your family, mask yourself up to melt ICE, and continue praying for the oppressed, unenlightened and unvaccinated as well as Popes Leo and Francis, the Dalai Lama, Sarah Mullally (the new Archbishop of Canterbury), and the world's more than 160 currently war-torn lands, including ours. May we survive WW3.

¡Sí se puede! Or, as they say in Poland, SOLIDARNOSC!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.) Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)

Andrew Quarantino Barbano is a 57-year Nevadan and editor of NevadaLabor.com, SenJoeNeal.org, DoctorLawyerWatch.com, BallotBoxing.US,ConsumerCoalitionv.org,ChantalCoalition.org, Rentvolution.org and MississippiWestNV.org among others. He is a longtime member and former vice-president of the Reno-Sparks NAACP and a member of Sparks-based Communications Workers of America Local 9413/AFL-CIO. As always, his comments are entirely his own. Barbwire by Barbano has originated in the Sparks Tribune since August 12, 1988. His firstbyline in the paper came in 1973.

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into the Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024. For all the news you never knew you needed to know, head for BallotBoxing.US and vote for "Pope Leo on Colbert" while there.

Breaking News —> Masks work!

And the plague is rampant once again. Be very afraid.

Trump Victory Would Be a Public Health Disaster
By Whistleblower Rick Bright/New York Times/10-10-2024

Under construxion / Please stay tuned.
More links,updates & references shortly

X-Rated Amex flips the bird to customers
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-22-2026 Sparks Tribune [Expansions in blue]

Dear Non-Rich People: American Express does not want you, but I do.

If you've had your Amex Bluebird Card cancelled and can't get your money, I want to know.

According to the Better Business Bureau national website, "American Express Bluebird Card is NOT a BBB Accredited Business. To become accredited, a business must agree to BBB Standards for Trust and pass BBB's vetting process." No surprise there.

The Amex Bluebird and Serve card programs have been terminated. Here's the official explanation:

• Shifting Strategic Focus: American Express shifted its focus toward premium cardholders rather than budget-friendly, prepaid customers.
• End of Manufactured Spending: The programs were heavily used to meet credit card spending requirements for bonuses. Stricter bank controls over loading prepaid cards with credit cards reduced their popularity.
• Low Profitability: The cards, initially a joint venture with Walmart, did not perform up to financial expectations for Amex.

FLOATING ON YOUR MONEY. I think the latter explanation says it best. American Express has long been masterful at making money on other people's money. Several decades back when Amex travelers checks were on paper, the average daily "float" -- funds held but not yet demanded -- was $2 billion a day. Upon which Amex earned average-daily-balance interest. You or I could retire on just one day of such proceeds.

HUNGER GAMES. I got into this issue when I received a distress call from a Reno grandmother and an old friend. Her Amex Bluebird card has been frozen. She had her monthly Social Security payment sent there because the bird extracted no service charge. She cannot afford a bank account.

She became a victim of the Amex marketing department that most probably hatched the Bird as a way to float on Social Security money. Alas, lower income people must spend their funds quickly. Bluebird apparently did not float Amex profits high enough.

Years ago, I wrote about the death of a brilliant idea of mine. I went to a small bank where I had an account and asked about starting a new program for lower-income people who could not afford monthly charges and had no other recourse but payday loansharks.

In other words, a low service-charge account with overdraft fees much lower than the big boys. A great PR opportunity, a little bank looking out for average folks.
The look on that banker's face sent a cold chill down my spine. His told me that if he proposed such a program to his superiors, it would likely be the end of his career.

"This bank makes a third of its profits off overdraft charges," he growled. Silly me, looking out for the po-folk.

Back when the Trib was a daily, I sent ace reporter Angela Curtis and photographer Debra Reid to see another Reno grandma. Her story needed front page coverage, not just a column.

Her daughter had taken a job in Oregon and wanted mom to have a debit/credit card just in case. So, she got one. After she paid all her bills one month, she had a dollar left and change left over. So she decided to try the card and bought a $1 soda at 7-11. Big mistake.

The store didn't tell her that any card use came with a 50-cent service charge. Her account was thus overdrawn by about 37 cents. When she went to use the next month's SSA payment, she found her account had been drained by daily overdraft fees. She was in the red, desperate and broke.

Now you know why I call U.S. Bank "Useless Bank." That story will be linked to the Barbwire expanded web edition at NevadaLabor.com/

Today's Reno grandma is stuck with a Bluebird card with $1,162.00 she can't access. Her family may go hungry. I contacted Attorney General Aaron Ford and Consumer Advocate Ernesto Figueroa. The AG got right back to me. They await her formal complaint filing.

Grandma is also contacting Social Security. (Good luck with that after all the T-Rump/MuskOx budget cuts.) It hasn't gotten much attention because of his manufactured war, but our Mad King actually said, in defense of his proposed 2026-2027 $1.5 trillion war budget (a 40 percent increase), that Social Security and Medicare should be sent back to the states. Zounds! Mayday!

I did a websearch and found many complaints about Amex Bluebird freezing peoples' money, some alleged for as long as a year. Check reddit.com/

If you've been ripped off by Amex, I want to hear from you. Officially, Bluebird is still operating thru June 2. The truth is otherwise. Just ask that harried Reno grandmother trying to feed her family.

I hope AG Ford kicks some serious Amex ass. Stay tuned.

THE STARS ALIGN. April 20-24 is National Work Zone Awareness Week. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of Reno-based Laborers' Union Local 169 being honored with the top prize in the inaugural road construction zone safety competition from the National Safety Council and the American Road & Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). The union's trophy case holds the memento for my "Flagger Moms of Orange Cone Hell" multi-media campaign. ARTBA is a major sponsor of this year's national awareness effort.

Road construction is one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. Flaggers are on the front line and basically targets. Local 169 has had members injured and killed on the job. Today's high-rider SUVs with dashboard media centers make things worse. Former union business manager Dan Rusnak put me on the case in the late 1990s, a campaign continued by his successor, now State Sen. Skip Daly, D-Sparks.

You might monitor KOLO TV-8 for a story. [[UPDATE: AIRED 4-26-2026]]

¡Sí se puede! Or, as they say in Poland, SOLIDARNOSC!

Be well. Raise hell. / Esté bien. Haga infierno. (Pardon my Spanglish.)
être bien, élever l'enfer (Pardon my French.) Stammi bene. Scatenare l'inferno. (And Italian.)

Breaking News —> Masks work!

And the plague is rampant once again. Be very afraid.

Trump Victory Would Be a Public Health Disaster
By Whistleblower Rick Bright/New York Times/10-10-2024

The Pope and Rope-A-Dope
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-15-2026 Sparks Tribune [Expansions in blue]

How to Live Forever
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-8-2026 Sparks Tribune [Expansions in blue]

My Golden Girl
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 4-1-2026 Sparks Tribune [Expansions in blue]
"Each life touches so many others" — Henry Travers as Clarence the Guardian Angel in Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946)
Happy Anniversary, Betty.
Exactly 50 years ago today, I met the lady I would marry. We always laughed that April Fools' Day was actually our anniversary.

UPDATE: WORLDWIDE LEADER? ACT OF GOD OR JUST A GARDEN-VARIETY IMPOSSIBLE DREAMER? ALL OF THE ABOVE? VERY POSSIBLY. Was Andrew Barbano the only advocate for an American pope? Google apparently says YES! At minimum, the Barbwire stumped and broke Google trying to find out. See for yourself. And please lemme know what you think.

Big news. Prayers answered: Pope takes on T-Rump head-to-head.
Thank heaven he's openly a counterweight to the Orange Crusher, as I hoped on 4-23-2025

From the den of iniquity to the holy of holies
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 3-25-2026 Sparks Tribune [Expansions in blue]

GET POPE LEO ON COLBERT'S SHOW! VOTE NOW —> YES OR NO

Pope Leo hits T-Rump and WarHog on Palm Sunday
By Amelia Benavides-Colón | NOTUS / Salt Lake Tribune / 3-31-2026

Welcome to FantasyLand boys and girls
Barbwire by Andrew Barbano / Expanded from the 3-11-2026 Sparks Tribune

Let it Be: An American Pope Francis2
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-23-2025, uploaded 4-22-2025

Pinky & the Brain taking over the world
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-2-2025

Ain't we a pair?
Dennis Myers & Andrew Barbano inducted into César Chávez Nevada Labor Hall of Fame
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 4-10-2024

Betty J. Barbano
2-7-1941 / 12-27-2005
Remember her laughter

On January 16, 1959, two babies were born.
They became sisters in both life and death.

Larry Barbano, Frater Mei
12-18-1947 / 10-18-2023

To Die For
My daughters were born 65 years ago yesterday. Alas, their youth was cut in twain.
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 1-17-2024

Web Xtras & Smoking Guns—>

Why the science is clear that masks work
By Zeynep Tufecki / The New York Times / 3-10-2023

Breaking News —> Masks work!

And the plague is rampant once again. Be very afraid.

Trump Victory Would Be a Public Health Disaster
By Whistleblower Rick Bright/New York Times/10-10-2024

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Barbwire dark foreshadowings unfortunately have a way of becoming reality. I thus suggest inoculation by signing onto the HushHush! list at BallotBoxing.US/ It's cheap as well as enlightening entertainment. Thank you kindly for your support.

$75 dead or alive: Still crazy after all these years
A mass murderer becomes famous on TV a century later
How come nobody noticed 'til now?
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 2-21-2018 Sparks Tribune

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory owners Max Blank and Isaac Harris. Is not Mr. Harris eerily familiar to television junkies?

From the Emmy-winning opening slate of the blockbuster "Cheers" television series. Combined with its "Frasier" spinoff, it lasted 20 years.

The "shirtwaist kings" immigrated from Russia and made a fortune manufacturing "Gibson Girl"-style blouses. (Photo, "The American Experience"/PBS)

The Emmy-winning opening slate of the "Cheers" television series before the "slate" of creators is superimposed. Looks like Mr. Harris' dead ringer (at left) is having a bloody good time.

"Who ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?" — Chico Marx disguised as Groucho Marx in "Duck Soup" (1933)
Back to the story of the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist holocaust

Triangle tragedy recalled as requiem
"The Fire in My Mouth," a new oratorio by Pulitzer honoree Julia Wolfe, premiered with the New York Philharmonic Jan. 24
By Michael Cooper / The New York Times 1-23-2019

Wasting workers where everybody knows your name
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 10-18-2023

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Andrew Barbano is a 56-year Nevadan, editor of NevadaLabor.com and SenJoeNeal.org; and former chair of the City of Reno's Citizens Cable Compliance Committee. He was the longtime executive producer of Nevada's annual César Chávez Day celebration and has been a quarter-century member and 10- year officer of the Reno-Sparks NAACP. As always, his opinions are strictly his own. E-mail barbano@frontpage.reno.nv.us.

The Northern Nevada Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO inducted him into Nevada Labor Hall of Fame on April 5, 2024.

Barbwire by Barbano moved to Nevada's Daily Sparks Tribune on Aug. 12, 1988, and has originated in them parts ever since. His first byline in the paper came in 1973.
Whom to blame: How a hall-of-famer's hunch birthed the Barbwire in August of 1987
Tempus fugit.

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