Matt Weidner – Fighting With The American People

Posts Tagged ‘pinellas foreclosure’

Not a single other American should be thrown into the street given the vast corruption that exists in our nation’s financial and legal processes.

Americans now understand that their government has turned against them.

Billions of dollars of our tax money has been shoveled into the coffers of the banks, Wall Street and their benefactors in Congress and in state houses all across this country.

Martin Luther King Jr. taught us all that it was unjust to follow immoral laws or laws which were repugnant to more important legal or Constitutional principles.  We have arrived at another epoch in American history where it has become apparent that the Will of The People has been subsumed by The Power of The Corporations.

The corporations are fighting back, and they are winning….taking away more of our freedoms, passing laws to silence dissent and punish those that speak out.  CISPA and NDAA and a whole host of other state, local and federal laws establish more and more a corporate fascist police state.

The story below illustrates two important points.  First, we as taxpayers shoveled billions at banks who refuse to make humane decisions.  What sense does it make to throw a disabled woman into the street?  As a taxpayer with a vested interest in the nationalized institutions that wield so much power…and do so because the have the benefits and protections of the federal government and my taxpayer dollars…I demand that no institution or investor take precedence over the welfare of individuals and families.  This family stays in this home, making mortgage payments that reflect the investment we all made in the banks and institutions.

Second, no law that restricts or impedes the right of Americans to protest or speak out should be respected.  The local ordinance described in this story is a perfect example of this.  The rich and powerful made their money off the backs of the American people.  They should not be permitted to suck the very life away from the citizens of this nation, then hide away inside the enclaves they’ve built for themselves.  Neither should they be sheltered and protected from the inconvenient consequences of their destruction by the civil servants who likewise have suffered, and will continue to suffer under the misery they have wrought upon this nation.

These industries that are effectively nationalized cannot accept all of the benefits of nationalization without likewise accepting the very real consequences, all of the consequences, that flow from this elevated status.  They are no longer responsible and accountable only to their own boards and shareholders, they are equally accountable to every single taxpayer who, as a result of extraordinary government intervention, now have a very real, vested and personal stake in every business decision.

SAY HELLO TO YOUR NEW SHAREHOLDER, THE AMERICAN PEOPLE!

Make no mistake, and it bears repeating every single time.  We must all honor the principles of non violent protest, and execute all expressions of protest through peaceful and organized methods.  In the context of foreclosure, this must principally be expressed through the exhaustion of all legal processes that are available before, during and after any other form of protest.  Every case must be defended and every motion, every paper, every step forward must be met with a measured and appropriate response.  Every loss must be carefully examined and brought for rehearing, then appeal where warranted.  Never again are we to permit a bank to take a home the easy way.  In today’s legal, ethical, moral, economic and social environment, laying down and allowing a home to be ripped away by a nationalized institution is a violation of fundamental Constitutional rights.  The American people can simply no longer ignore the linear connection between the benefits we have provided to our oppressors and the tyranny they continue to visit upon their benefactors.

There comes a time when the tide must turn and that time is surely now.

Think about that as you read the story of a woman arrested for protesting her forced removal from her home, Wells Fargo

Okay, before you get started on this article, there is a special and disturbing twist that comes at the end…..Here’s the article…..

Some people are dismissing troubled homeowners’ complaints that they were lied to about the terms of their mortgages. After all, the borrowers should have read what they were signing. But when it comes to the so-called robo-signers at the banks or Lender Processing Services (LPS), the same critique should be equally valid: By signing documents without reading them, the mortgage processors were lying under oath.

But the people who deserve the greatest scorn for their behavior in the foreclosure document scandal are the robo-signing lawyers and their colleagues who submitted robo-signed documents to the courts. These attorneys should be facing discipline and perhaps disbarment for their actions. After all, when we talk of homeowners and robo-signers at banks, we speak of people who should have known better — and that’s the lawyers’ job.

Just how aware some lawyers are of how far wrong the foreclosure business has gone — and the professional risks they run by participating in it — is revealed by the deposition of Tammie Lou Kapusta, a former paralegal at the Law Offices of David J. Stern. Amid all the depressing details of precisely how that foreclosure mill abused the rule of law are lots of comments about how the attorneys, generally inexperienced, were terrified of being disbarred or disciplined for what they were doing, but were also terrified of losing their jobs, given the terrible legal job market.

Now, when you click here for the rest of the story, see  if you can catch what the real issue is…and just to help you out, the real disgusting this is how long this whole mess has slogged out…..nothing’s changed, nothing has happened…..just the long, slow, decline of our nation’s legal system, the biggest scar on a once proud and noble idea here in the entire State of Florida.

Look, we all need to wake up and smell the bodies burning.  This nation we live in today is not the country they told us about in school. I want to focus especially on the fact that the corporations  and banks own both our government and the media and together they work to enslave and persecute the  people of this formerly free nation.

Too Big Too Fail is the precursor to the nationalization of industries.  And today, the entire banking and real estate finance sector is effectively nationalized.  Yes, Shawn Dononovan, they are “your” servicers, bag men for Fannie and Freddie who in turn are adjuncts of the federal government.

And we must all sit back and allow these industries to continue their mad rush across this entire nation, musn’t we?  We cannot force them to follow the rules or to obey our laws.  We cannot insist that courts hold them accountable.  And our good local judges, our neighbors, are mindful of the fact that taxpayers are ultimately paying for the misdeeds of the foreclosing plaintiffs, so we must push these foreclosure cases through, musn’t we?

In trial courts, appellate courts and in federal courts, you see a near total disregard for consideration of the important issue of who actually owns the debt in question…what would America think if Fannie/Freddie were listed as the Plaintiff on all their foreclosures?  What would America think if we all understood that our neighbors were being thrown into the street on behalf of the federal government?  And that the ultimate plan was to sell that very same home to George Soros and Warren Buffet for cents on the dollar?  Is all of this really so different from the way Jews were stripped of their property and businesses…..For The Good of The State?

As you consider what is happening in courtrooms and in the media and in the public space regarding foreclosures, please consider this survey of fascist regimes.  Consider just how closely aligned are the interests of “our” government and the businesses they now serve.  Now that corporations are people, we must all ask whether they are granted superior protections and rights than we, the serfs.  We must ask whether the corporate campaign contributions and corruption buy those “people” a different and better form of representative democracy….it certainly seems that way to me.

I don’t get to engage in nationwide crime sprees that destroy families and entire communities, then meet with the prosecutors, flip them off then flip them a quick tip then hop back in my jet so that I can get back to my ongoing crime spree.  I don’t get to hire teams of lawyers to harass and persecute the whistleblowers, knowing that I have the consent and the support of a civil court system that holds the targets of my persecution in contempt. (Persecutions funded by the target’s taxpayer dollars.) The expression of contempt is not hidden or subtle,

“You’re not paying your mortgage are you?”

“Well, no your honor, but they shipped my job offshore and by the way, the Plaintiff took my taxpayer dollars and promised they would make this right. They did not, they committed fraud on this court with fabricated documents and twisted legal logic. I did what I was supposed to do but still they kicked down my front door and ransacked my home”

“You’re not paying your mortgage are you?”

Kafka’s dark terrors have nothing on legal persecutions in today’s Amerika.  We fell asleep, but the nightmare is all too real.  And as I watch judges marshalling their way through the court files that are stacked up to their ears, I wonder whether they see this reality too. Oh, I know that some do…the black robe is not a cloak of inhumanity.  But the butcher becomes numb to the cries and the blood, those are after all just by products of the otherwise worthy labor.  I have to wonder, does a judge wake up one morning and in a time of quiet reflection recognize that his sacred role has been circumscribed?  And might that judge wonder aloud, “Oh, dear God what am I doing?”

Our legal system is de-humanizing vast swaths of our nation’s population.  Next to food and family, no element is more core to our basic humanity than home. The collective national psyche is wounded and we have stripped away the protective cave it should expect to return to to convalesce. And so this wounded psyche wanders our streets. Unemployed. Hungry. Maligned….The Unifying Cause.

Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism
By Dr. Lawrence Britt
Source Free Inquiry.co
5-28-3

Dr. Lawrence Britt has examined the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia) and several Latin American regimes. Britt found 14 defining characteristics common to each:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism – Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

(How do we allow Bank of America to co-opt our very national identity?  The flag. The Logos. The Name.)

 

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights – Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of “need.” The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

 

(NDAA, Paramilitary Forces, Bank Break Ins, Court sanctioned Bank Break Ins, Abusive Litigation, Whistleblower persecutions)

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause – The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

 

(You’re Not Paying Your Mortgage Are You?)

4. Supremacy of the Military – Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

(How many homes could be paid for with the money spent to bomb homes across the planet?  How much student loan debt could be retired if not for military spending?)

 

5. Rampant Sexism – The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Divorce, abortion and homosexuality are suppressed and the state is represented as the ultimate guardian of the family institution.

 

(The War on Women?)

6. Controlled Mass Media – Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

(If you need help with this one, you’re in the wrong place.)

7. Obsession with National Security – Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

(Homeland Security Purchases 450 Million Bullets)

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined – Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government’s policies or actions.

(All of our religion is co-opted, all arguments are tinged with social/religious policy.)

 

9. Corporate Power is Protected – The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

 

(Abusive litigation, persecution of whistleblowers, the 49 State AG Sellout….need more?)

10. Labor Power is Suppressed – Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed.

(Working on that, but better yet, just put everyone unemployed…make an end run around labor entirely…hard to organize if you’ve got no job at all.)

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts – Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts and letters is openly attacked.

 

(Whistleblowers attacked, bloggers sued, activists tortured and persecuted…done openly and with the full support and assistance of “our” courts.)

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment – Undr fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

(The First Amendment is a Felony, NDAA, Prison Privatization)

 

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption – Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

 

(If you need help here, you’re on the wrong channel…Rick Scott, Pam Bondi, Florida’s Republican party and the 2012 Legislative Session, The Persecution of Senator Mike Fasano.)

14. Fraudulent Elections – Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to

manipulate or control elections.

 

(Beckstrom v. Vogel begat Bush v. Gore begat the 2012 Repubican Primaries begat…….)

From Liberty Forum

 

Foreclosure represents the very worst in America…and things are only getting much, much worse.  I had hoped that judges  might wake up and recognize they could help lessen the blow of this catastrophe, and while some are looking carefully and approaching their jobs with a more sophisticated analysis, far too many are still stuck in the rut of, “If you haven’t paid your mortgage, you’re out.”

Well there are real costs that come with abandoning the guiding principles of the Rule of Law.  Our nation’s once proud legal system is a caricature, a sad Greek tragedy, a poorly produced Mob Flick….but again, I must apologize to the Mob for comparing them to this mess.  At the very least they have values and they uphold the oath they took.  Our nation’s legal system and the lawyers and judges who work in it, all of whom took serious oaths long ago abandoned fulfilling those oaths.

As we’ve seen here in Florida for years now, bank lawyers are permitted to build systems of lies and ignore fundamental rules and laws….and get away with it with no consequence at all.  I’m talking primarily about the Verified Complaint Rule and the failure of courts across this state to do a very simple thing….just dismiss complaints and allow the banks to resubmit them properly.  A similar situation occurred in New Jersey, but there too, the courts just let them all slide with no penalty.  And then just this week, the 49 State Attorney General Sellout has been signed by a federal judge.  No hearings, no input, no feedback from the investors who will pay for the misdeeds of the banks.  The deal was cut in secret back rooms, the propaganda has been released, the press releases were cut and pasted then fed to the news outlets and the deal is wrapped up and delivered to the American people in a nice little bow.

But make no mistake, what we are getting with all of this is a hastening of our nation’s decline.  Our legal system no longer functions to sanction illegal and improper conduct. Judges no longer mete out punishments that fit crimes. Our nation’s courts are largely the playground of the wrongdoers, crucibles where the fanciful notions of justice for The People are pulverized, where rights are snuffed out and the dying flicker of the light of liberty exists merely as a faint wisp of smoke trailing upwards from the extinguished torch.

When Americans can be thrown into the street with files full of “evidence” that everyone knows is false and fraudulent, when lawyers are permitted to develop and implement entire systems that are predicated on lies and fraud and when judges confirm and ratify this conduct over and over, millions of times can it not be said that our courts have in fact become criminal enterprises?  Violation of notary laws are crimes. Fraud and forgery are crimes.  Allowing thieves to enforce notes should indeed be crimes. Our courts, fully aware of all of this sing off on this, encourage all of this, support, promote and defend all of this.

Shall we just export all of this into the other areas of law.  Let’s just allow all of this to occur in criminal courts. In family law courts. In tax and immigration courts.  Because after all, everyone is guilty of something…..right?  And yet no one it seems cares.  And those that do are attacked with intense fury.  Bullying. Threats. Intimidation. Teams of lawyers. On attack. Depositions. Of pool boys. And plumbers. Bar complaints. Lawsuits. Indictments.

The crimes?  Daring to stand up and say what I’ve just written.  And when they are done with all of us, what next?  Will the capos and the dons and the godfathers of Americas new disOrganized crime syndicates simply stop?  No, of course not.  They will become more emboldened….they will come after the rest of America with a savage fury and bloodthirsty intensity.  But this is what we are all supporting and encouraging by our complacent participation is a corrupt and unjust system.

The flag should fly low. We are all in peril.

But I hadn’t intended to go there for so long. I intended a short post that talks about the economic impact of this disorganized crime spree:

From the Study:

The Costs of the Foreclosure Crisis in California (2008-2012):
1. Homeowner Cost: Home value losses to foreclosed homes and neighboring
homes total minimum $632 billion and up to $1 trillion – at least
a $337,379 value loss per foreclosure to the surrounding community.
– Decline in value of foreclosed homes –$207 billion value loss
– Decline in value of neighboring homes – $424 billion value loss
2. Property Tax Cost: As housing values decline, property tax revenue losses
are estimated to be $3.8 billion – $2,058 property tax loss for every
foreclosure.
3. Local Government Cost: Foreclosure-related costs for multiple agencies and
multiple levels of government for maintenance of blighted properties, sheriff
evictions, inspections, public safety, trash removal, and other costs are estimated
to be $17.4 billion – $19,229 cost for every foreclosure.
The Foreclosure Crisis Continues:
• One in five U.S. foreclosures is in California.i
• California is the hardest hit of all states with the highest number
of foreclosures.ii
• There have been 1.2 million foreclosures since 2008 in California and that
number is expected to climb to 2 million through 2012.iii
• Foreclosures in 2011 are expected to exceed 2010 levels.iv
• More than a third of California homeowners with a mortgage already owe
more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.v

In the 1930’s, 25 states enacted moratoriums on foreclosures.  The Michigan Moratorium Act meant that anyone facing foreclosure got an automatic 5 year stay on the foreclosure, with a judge ordering a reasonable payment based on the homeowner’s ability to pay.  These laws were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Home Building & Loan Building Association v Blaisdell, which held that the people’s right to survive during an economic emergency superseded the contract clause of the U.S. constitution.  The moratoriums were not a result of the generosity of the legislatures or the courts, but were a direct result of the actions of workers and communities flooding the streets and preventing the foreclosures that were being carried out.  The legislatures and courts essentially ratified the moratoriums that were won in the streets.

The demand for a Moratorium on Foreclosures has never been more timely.  Today, with the federal government owning or backing 75% of mortgage loans through Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and HUD, and paying the banks full value for the inflated, fraudulent and predatory loans, the President has the absolute authority to implement a two year moratorium on foreclosures and foreclosure-related evictions through executive order.  And the President could immediately authorize a reduction of the principal to actual market values on all mortgages owned by the federal government.

National Moratorium

From The Decision:

A Minnesota statute, approved April 18, 1933, declares the existence of an emergency demanding an exercise of the police power for the protection of the public and to promote the general welfare of the people, by temporarily extending the time allowed by existing law for redeeming real property from foreclosure and sale under existing mortgages. In support of this proposition, it recites: that a severe financial and economic depression has existed for several years, resulting in extremely low prices for the products of farms and factories, in much unemployment, in almost complete lack of credit for farmers, business men and property owners, and in extreme stagnation of business, agriculture and industry; that many owners of real property, by reason of these conditions, are unable and, it is believed, for some time will be unable, to meet all payments as they come due, of taxes, interest [p400]and principal of mortgages, and are, therefore, threatened with the loss of their property through foreclosure sale; that much property has been bid in on foreclosure for prices much below what it is believed was its real value, and often for much less than the mortgage indebtedness, resulting in deficiency judgments; that, under the existing conditions, foreclosure of many real estate mortgages by advertisement would prevent fair, open and competitive bidding in the manner contemplated by law.

The Act then provides, inter alia, as to foreclosure sales, that, where the period for redemption has not already expired, the mortgagor or owner in possession, by applying to a state court before its expiration, may obtain an extension for such time as the court may deem just and equitable, but in no case beyond May 1, 1935. The application is to be made on notice to the mortgagee. The court is to find the reasonable income or rental value of the property, and, as a condition to any extension allowed, is to order the applicant to pay all, or a reasonable part, of that value, in or towards the payment of taxes, insurance, interest and mortgage indebtedness, at such times and in such manner as to the court, under all the circumstances, shall appear just and equitable. If the applicant default in any payment so ordered, his right to redeem shall terminate in 30 days. The court is empowered to alter the terms of extensions as change of conditions may require. The Act automatically extends, to 30 days from its date, redemption periods which otherwise would expire within that time. It is to remain in effect only during the emergency, and in no event beyond May 1, 1935. Prior to that date, no action shall be maintained for a deficiency judgment until the period of redemption, as allowed by existing law or as extended under the Act, shall have expired.

The appeal below is from my friend Kenneth Trent.  He’s a warrior, a fighter.  He’s not afraid to walk into a gunfight.  What I find most disturbing is just how disturbing a picture his appeal paints of what’s happening in the trial courts.  And for every one appeal that lays out the acid trip-like facts of a court system gone completely mad, tens of thousands of other cases just get thrown through the meat grinder with no one willing to document the wrong or to tell the story.

Those of us who are stuck in this hell, this hell of watching a system of justice be dismantled case by case, day by day, every single day are like shell shocked soldiers. If a crew showed up at the steps of the Statute of Liberty with wrenches and cutting torches and proceeded to start dismantling her, do you think someone would stop them and say….HEY GUYS….WHADDYA THINK YOU’RE DOING?

Well, in today’s environment, if the people who were standing up to try and stop them were you and I, normal people, we would be attacked, persecuted, attacked.

No one cares anymore….and there’s not much we can do to stop this slide into madness and tyranny.  Our courts were our last hope before bullets, riots, fires.

Oh, and did you hear that unemployment for soldiers 18-24 is 29%?  You don’t hear about that in the media….but it’s real. Real scary.

This case presents multiple issues of great public importance. Defendants
and their undersigned attorney believe, and respectfully submit, that this Court’s
decisionmaking process should take into consideration the extraordinary times in
which we as Americans find ourselves. The questions raised in this case, and in the
numerous authorities cited in this Brief, will have a great impact on the parties before
the courts both now and for many years into the uncertain future before us. While in
usual times, the decisions herein attacked and critiqued, including the one below, may
be in certain respects defensible, in light of current affairs they are simply unjust. The
matters presented implicate heavily the most fundamental of all judicial precepts:
jurisdiction.
It is the abiding hope of Defendants and their advocate that this Court will have
the wisdom to reverse the decision of the court below. While this hope is of course
motivated in good part by their own interests, Defendants also urge reversal for the
collective Good of the People of the United States of America.
Luckily the precedents are with us.

amended initial brief