squashed:

This one is important. I’d like to spread the word on this particular issue as widely and as quickly as possible. Reblogs are hugely appreciated. This is something where we can change something with a bit of advocacy.

The Short Version

As a U.S. citizen you are now a majority shareholder of Freddie Mac. Congratulations. Freddie Mac is one of a number of entities that bears substantial blame for both the recession and the foreclosure crisis. This crisis has caused a lot of blighted, empty houses in some extremely vulnerable neighborhoods. In many cases, the only person who wants to live in that house is the former owner. Because the house isn’t worth a whole lot, people with modest income can afford to buy back the house, provided somebody is willing to provide financing.

This is the situation with the DeCaro family, who live in their post-foreclosure home after Bank of America retracted its loan modification offer because it kept losing documents and started rejecting their mortgage payments. They recieved financing through a great non-profit called Boston Community Capital to purchase the home for more than its current value. Freddie Mac, by policy, won’t sell. So Boston Community Capital says, “Sell us the home instead.” Freddie Mac says, “No. We will only sell you the property on the condition that you agree to evict the DeCaro family.” Freddie Mac has agreed to a price—but is refusing to sell except on the condition that BCC evict the DeCaros.

In other words, Freddie Mac wants you, the tax payer, to take a financial loss so it can make the DeCaro family suffer. The DeCaro family isn’t the only victim of this state-sponsored sadism. This is Freddie Mac’s policy. Considering that Freddie Mac is in recievership after accepting a massive government bailout, Freddie Mac is in no position to lecture anybody about moral hazard on debt. Even Fannie Mae and the megabanks have rejected this policy.

What you can do

Please call Freddie Mac’s PR director Brad German at (703)903-2437. You will likely have to leave a message.

Say something like this:

My name is ___. As a U.S. taxpayer I am a majority shareholder of Freddie Mac.

I am calling to ask Freddie Mac to reconsider its sadistic “must evict” policy. Freddie Mac has taken the position that it will not sell the residence of John and Linda DeCaro at 152 Lucerne Rd in Springfield, MA to Boston Community Capital, if BCC agrees to evict the family, is a ridiculous position.

I am calling to demand that you accept BCC’s offer without conditions and institute a new policy permitting families who can afford it to buy back their homes at market value after foreclosure. This will protect both my financial interest as a tax payer and ensure that my tax dollars are not supporting such abhorrent policies.

Contact information for Freddie Mac’s other offices is here.

Second, it might help to contact your U.S. Senator or Representatative to let them know that you are extremely concerned about Freddie Mac’s cavalier attitude toward blighted neighborhoods, suffering families, and tax payer interests.

Third, help spread the word on this one. This is a ridiculous and harmful policy—and if people know what Freddie is doing with taxpayer money, the policy will change. I know the Tumblr community can do wonders with this sort of thing. Getting policies like this removed can create the sort of tangible and systemic change that turns around lives and communities.

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More on Freddie Mac’s “must evict” policy

Earlier today I asked a few thousand of my closest friends on the Internet to help me ask Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Finance Agency to change an abhorrent policy requiring that non-profits assisting families to buy their homes back after foreclosure evict the family.. A lot of you stepped to the plate—and I would love to keep the ball rolling on this one until the policy is well-and-truly gone. I feel a bit awkward pleading for reblogs and so on—but if you ever truly loved me, you will help me raise a ruckus here. (If it would help, I can offer to donate money to a charity that helps abandoned puppies find children who love them.)

Previously, Freddie Mac returned my phone call. Freddie suggested that I contact the FHFA. While it’s probably not fair of Freddie to blame FHFA for this policy, Freddie is right that FHFA might be more receptive to public pressure and could make them change the policy. So I called FHFA (and asked a few thousand of my closest friends to call FHFA and ask all their closest friends to do the same thing.) The Freddie Mac rep seemed to know the situation pretty well and wondered whether there had been some additional bad press. That can probably be arranged. (Or avoided—if they just change their policy.)

So FHFA just returned my call. They suggest that I write out my concerns and send them to ConsumerHelp@fhfa.gov. If you’re willing to do the same thing so they know I’m not the only crazy person who cares about this, I have a sample of what you might write here.). I will put a slightly-redacted version of the (more exhaustive) version I’m sending. Because why not. You’re helping me out with this. And I might as well offer a peek with what I deal with on a daily basis.¹

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cognitivedissonance:

The photo above, taken by Jay Finneburgh, shows Iraq War veteran Scott Olsen being carried away after he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister thrown by Oakland police during last night’s raid on Occupy Oakland.

Video shot at the scene shows police throwing a flash grenade into the crowd as other protesters rush to help him:

Olsen did two tours of duty in Iraq and is a current member of Veterans for Peace. He’s now listed in critical but stable condition with swelling of the brain and a skull fracture. He is also on a respirator due to the doctors sedating him in order to evaluate the possible injury to his brain.

From The Guardian:

Keith Shannon, who served with Olsen in Iraq, arrived at the hospital after protesters contacted him through Facebook. He confirmed Olsen had a fractured skull, and said he had been told by a doctor Olsen also had brain swelling. A neurosurgeon was due to assess Olsen to determine if he needed surgery, Shannon said.

“It’s really hard,” Shannon said. “I really wish I had gone out with him instead of staying home last night.”

Shannon, who is also 24, said he had seen the video footage showing Olsen lying on the floor as a police officer throws an explosive device near him. “It’s terrible to go over to Iraq twice and come back injured, and then get injured by the police that are supposed to be protecting us,” he said.

This is utter brutality. Scott Olsen enlisted in the military, fought for the U.S. in combat, and is thanked for it with a severe head injury while defending his fellow citizens from police action at home. Veterans for Peace have stood with numerous camps, including Boston, where elderly members were beaten by police.

In Oakland, despite police using multiple rounds of tear gas, flash grenades, rubber bullets and beanbag projectiles on protesters, they remained peaceful. Police denied the use of tear gas initially, but confirmed it at a press conference today. It was also claimed this started because a protester threw a rock at police, while Oakland Mayor Jean Quan stated the raid was because of “unsanitary conditions” and “ongoing vandalism” happening because of Occupy Oakland.

As for police denying the use of flash grenades and rubber bullets, the video above shows use of the flash grenade, and here’s a rubber bullet picked up by a demonstrator:

How long will this police aggression against unarmed, peaceful protest be allowed to continue? Scott Olsen is merely one of its victims. We, as citizens, must demand an end to the vicious crackdown at occupy protests across the nation. Remember, be peaceful, but stand resolute.

The tides are moving in favor of occupy movements. For example, Occupy Cleveland just won the right in federal court to occupy a city park around the clock. The judge wrote the demonstrators of Occupy Cleveland had their First Amendment rights violated and ordered the city to grant the protesters a permit.

Solidarity forever, my friends. Do not let the police scare you away.

mohandasgandhi:

cognitivedissonance:

Video of veterans being arrested at #OccupyBoston for surrounding the camp.

This is America, folks.

Oh, come on. And this is after beating members of Veterans for Peace?

Good for these protesters for not backing down. Gandhi and King both spent a significant amount of time in jail. If you’re going to get arrested for something (unjustly or not) it should be for this.

Who’s next? They can’t put everyone in jail.

cognitivedissonance:

This video shows a senior NYPD officer swinging his baton, beating protesters at tonight’s Occupy Wall Street march in New York City. Onlookers chant, “The whole world is watching!” The protesters were also reportedly pepper-sprayed. You can hear people screaming at others to cover their eyes, so I don’t see this as outside the realm of possibility.

Reporters at The Guardian UK wrote:

Questions are once again being asked about police tactics – video footage shows officers beating some protesters with batons. Despite the march having a permit, and the roads being closed, police funnelled protesters onto the sidewarks and into tightly-penned areas. This appears to have led to the frustration: police say they made about 12 arrests, mostly for disorderly conduct when a group of protesters tried to push through a barrier.
…
Many protesters are asking why the actions of the police seem to lead to confrontational situations, which the organisers of the Occupy Wall Street movement are so desperate to avoid.

The footage is horrifying. I know people will argue the officer was justified because he may have thought the situation was out of control. However, this was a permitted march. The roads were closed. The NYPD kettled protesters into tight spaces for no reason.

This resembles the purposeful leading and kettling of protesters onto the Brooklyn Bridge by the police - the same bridge police protested on in 1992. That protest was described as a “beer-swilling melee” by The New York Times. And lest we forget Tony Bologna’s brutality towards kettled protesters, here’s video of him pepper-spraying penned-up demonstrators.

The NYPD cannot be allowed to get away with this any longer. Several of those arrested on the Brooklyn Bridge Oct. 1 filed civil rights complaints in federal court. In the complaint, protesters seek to have their arrests nullified and state:

“After escorting and leading a group of demonstrators and others well out onto the Brooklyn Bridge roadway, the NYPD suddenly and without warning curtailed further forward movement, blocked the ability of persons to leave the bridge from the rear, and arrested hundreds of protesters in the absence of probable cause.”

They also seek to have the city barred from using such tactics in the future.

I stand in solidarity with Occupy Wall Street and I urge them to stand their ground. I hope these abuses of the U.S. Constitution do not dissuade people from further joining the movement. If you’re like me and can’t get to New York, find an event here. 

An Open Letter to Wall Street, by William Rivers Pitt on Truthout

Read the whole letter here. This is the one of the best summaries of the Occupy Wall Street protests I’ve seen.

Tax rich more, Patriotic Millionaires urge

The Patriotic Millionaires contend that Americans with incomes over $1 million should shoulder a larger share of the tax burden to pay for Pell Grants, road improvements and training programs “that made it possible for me to get to where I am,” as [Doug] Edwards told Obama during the president’s appearance last week at the Mountain View, Calif., social networking company LinkedIn.

(Source: tartantambourine)

38,000 NYC Transit Workers To Join Occupy Wall Street Next Friday

cognitivedissonance:

Up until this announcement, the Occupy Wall Street movement has been unwieldy and somewhat lacking in a coherent voice, but that’s all about the change. New York City labor unions have decided to descend upon the streets of Lower Manhattan on Friday.

The leadership of the Transit Workers Union Local 100—comprised of subway and bus workers—voted unanimously to support the protestors. With a membership of 38,000, 5 Oct. will easily be the largest day yet in the protest. On 12 Oct., SEIU 32BJ, representing doormen, security guards, and maintenance workers around the city, is also staging a rally in support of the cause.

It’s unclear for now whether the transit system will be completely shut down while the 38,000 workers are participating in the protest. If it is, the Occupy Wall Street movement will definitely make its mark in history. And either way, it now has a substantial footing to make a real statement about American economy policy.

Jackie DiSalvo, an #OccupyWallStreet organizer, summarized the movement’s policy as such: “Occupy Wall Street will not negotiate watering down its own message.”

You have no idea how excited I am to see this. 

Income inequality is more severe in the U.S. than it is in nearly all of West Africa, North Africa, Europe, and Asia. We’re on par with some of the world’s most troubled countries, and not far from the perpetual conflict zones of Latin American and Sub-Saharan Africa. Our income gap is also getting worse, having widened both in absolute and relative terms since the 1980s.