New York "foreclosure mill" mocks homeless at halloween party

Speaking of offensive halloween costumes....

For the full story and images, visit the New York Times

A former employee of the largest foreclosure firm in New York City, Steven J. Baum, has shared some photos taken at last years office party, revealing what she describes as 'an accurate representation of the firm's mind-set.'

"There is this really cavalier attitude," she said. "It doesn't matter that people are going to lose their homes." Nor does the firm try to help people get mortgage modifications; the pressure, always, is to foreclose.

From the author of the article:

Let me describe a few of the photos. In one, two Baum employees are dressed like homeless people. One is holding a bottle of liquor. The other has a sign around her neck that reads: "3rd party squatter. I lost my home and I was never served." My source said that "I was never served" is meant to mock "the typical excuse" of the homeowner trying to evade a foreclosure proceeding.

A second picture shows a coffin with a picture of a woman whose eyes have been cut out. A sign on the coffin reads: "Rest in Peace. Crazy Susie." The reference is to Susan Chana Lask, a lawyer who had filed a class-action suit against Steven J. Baum - and had posted a YouTube video denouncing the firm's foreclosure practices. "She was a thorn in their side," said my source.

These pictures are hardly the first piece of evidence that the Baum firm treats homeowners shabbily - or that it uses dubious legal practices to do so. It is under investigation by the New York attorney general, Eric Schneiderman. It recently agreed to pay $2 million to resolve an investigation by the Department of Justice into whether the firm had "filed misleading pleadings, affidavits, and mortgage assignments in the state and federal courts in New York." (In the press release announcing the settlement, Baum acknowledged only that "it occasionally made inadvertent errors.")

The firms reaction to the Times piece?

"It has been suggested that some employees dress in ... attire that mocks or attempts to belittle the plight of those who have lost their homes," the statement read. "Nothing could be further from the truth." It described this column as "another attempt by The New York Times to attack our firm and our work."

Yes, those images aren't mocking anyone! Those employees dressing up to portray those who have lost their homes as whining, lying, alcoholic losers, is just their way of showing empathy.

Assholes!

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Marine to NYPD:"this is not a war zone, it doesn't make you tough, to hurt these people! It doesn't! If you want to go fight, go to Iraq and Afghanistan"

Inspiring video.

U.S Marine Corps. Sgt. Shamar Thomas challenged a large number of New York City police officer's at a Times Square OWS gathering just over a week ago. The young veteran was outraged with the acts of intimidation and outright police brutality directed at unarmed, non threatening protesters. Thomas confronted the police, face to face, asking cops, "why you all doing this to these people? I've been to Iraq for fourteen months for my people! You come over and hurt them, they don’t have guns. They don’t have guns. They don’t — why are you hurting these people?" And the cops are stunned. They don't know what to do. My opinions on what the men in blue were thinking, aside, the 24 year old continued reprimanding.

"This is America"
"nobody is trying to hurt you guys"
"There are no bullets flying out here, there are no bullets flying, how tuff are you"
"There is no honor in hurting unarmed civilians"
"There is no reason for this"
"There is no honor in hurting unarmed civilians, I won't let it happen, have a good night"

Now some have criticized the good sergeant's demeanor, and I admit there were a couple of times during the incident where it became a repetitive rant, but it was an intense situation which could have backfired on the young man, and because of that I'm am dismissing the critics objections as mere nit picking.

It was full of win, as they say. When the confrontation came to an end and Thomas walked away, random protesters reached out in a show of support.



More on Sgt. Shamar Thomas

Marine's dressing down of cops sparks OccupyMARINES

Thomas on Olbermann

Interview with Russia Today

h/t Daily Kos

update
Shamar Thomas's youtube channel.

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herman cain disputes he's flavor of the week by naming himself after flavor out of production

I know, I know. But if one is gonna use the same metaphor over and over and over again, shouldn't he or she at least make sure the thing being compared to, actually exists?!.........just sayin

Cain regarding Chris Christie's possible run for the wingnut nomination:

~ “He’ll get a lot of attention, suck up a lot of oxygen for a while, and at the same time, you’ll see ‘black walnut’ moving up the charts!”

In response to criticism from the Queen of Quit:

~ “I can eat black walnut all the time – it’s not a flavor of the week! It’s not that heavy. You can eat it on the cone or in a cup.”
(Not sure why, but that bolded part is giving me a good chuckle.)

On Conan's Leno's show:

~ “I happen to believe there’s iced milk, and then there’s Haagen-Dazs black walnut. Substance, that’s the difference. I got the substance. I’m the black walnut! It lasts longer than a week.”

Anyway, ABC News actually did a fact check on this.

Here’s the problem: Haagen Dazs no longer makes black walnut ice cream. It was a limited edition, and is no longer available.

When contacted by ABC News, Hazel, at the Haagen-Daz customer service line, said, “We don’t sell black walnut. The sales nationally did not meet our expectations, unfortunately. It did not behoove us to continue with the product.”

Hey,laughing at stupid things, is still laughing!

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toronto star: Liberals best choice for Ontario’s future

And I agree. My short explanation is this. I would never vote for a right wing conservative such as Tim Hudak. And after observing Andrea Horwath in the spotlight for the first time, I'm not impressed with her either.

The Star has a more legitimate breakdown. Some points.

Tim Hudak’s Progressive Conservatives and Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats both claim to offer the “change” they feel voters want. While they have worked hard to relate to voters’ insecurities and fears about jobs and rising costs, neither has put forward credible plans that would address those concerns.

Under the Liberals, Ontario’s education system has become a world leader. They brought in full-day kindergarten. High-school graduation rates have gone up sharply. And more students than ever are going on to college and university. The government invested heavily in hospitals, doctors and nurses and, more recently, has begun to implement important cost-saving measures in health care. It stabilized our electricity system; the blackout of 2003 is a bad memory and we no longer have to wonder whether the lights will go out again.

McGuinty has proven he is willing to make politically difficult but necessary decisions. Indeed, that’s where much of his unpopularity comes from.

On energy, McGuinty would have been more popular if he continued the game that previous premiers played — under-investing in our electricity system and hiding rising costs within the provincial budget. Instead, he made the right decision for Ontario’s future. Hydro bills are higher, but despite the claims by Hudak and Horwath that has little to do with the Liberals’ green energy policies. It has far more to do with investments in new power supply (nuclear, natural gas and hydroelectric), transmission lines and paying down debt left over from previous governments. The suggestion by Hudak and Horwath that electricity will be much cheaper if they win isn’t credible.

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