Needless to say, Mitt Romney will get no bounce from this.

The Occupation, about 70 ‘sleepers’ strong, has been there since October 6^th. Some sleepers are currently being forced to Occupy the Island in the intersection of Cesar Chavez St. and S. 1^st St. This is directly across the street from the Occupation. These Occupiers, or ‘Exiles’, are stuck on the Island due to a 1 year ban from City Hall property levied by the City after their arrests on October 30^th. The National Lawyers Guild is working with the Exiles to contest this ban. The solidarity they’ve shown by continuing to Occupy the Island is amazing.

This was our 2^nd trip in our capacity as #OccupySupply liaisons and the goal was to drop off our first large shipment for distribution. Armed with hats, socks, long johns, sweaters, face masks and more, we waited for the arrival of our primary contact, who we’ll call Kate.

Who was Santa Claus? And who are all those Santas in malls and parades? Becoming Santa traces the history of Santa Claus and explores the phenomenon of the full-bearded Santas who work the holiday.

When Jack Sanderson–full disclosure, someone I have know for almost a decade– looses his holiday spirit after the deaths of his mother and father, he discovers a photo of his father dressed as Santa for a neighborhood party, and decides to maybe try being Santa for a season. He already has the build and beard, when a pair of kids came up to him in a store and called him Santa, so why not? One thing Jack learns at Santa school: Never call children “kids.”

As a top tier candidate for most of the Republican primary race Mitt Romney has always been a logical target for the opposing political party to discredit. That is the natural, expected response to any front runner. With barely more than a month until the first votes are cast in GOP primaries, the Democratic party now has strong incentives to dramatically escalate their attacks on Romney.

I spoke with Seth and Brian from the donations committee. They were delighted with the preliminary delivery of hats, socks and face masks. They were also impressed with the fact the items were made in the US by union workers. Seth mentioned they use space in the basement of the Grace Temple to store some of their donations. They get a lot of donations of clothing, but much of it is unusable due to condition or sizes. Seth and Brian will be working along with Storm to determine the needs of Occupy Chicago and Firedoglake’s Occupy Supply Fund will be there to help.

The world is better off because the contents of the cables are known, but the United States policy is not. Its recoil and refusal to confront and apologize for the majority of what became known has put it on a path of further disgrace and shame. It remains committed to prosecuting accused whistleblower Pfc. Bradley Manning, even though he may have played a role in exposing Tunisians, Egyptians and others to details on corruption in their countries.

The incident in Pakistan over the weekend, where NATO forces shot and killed two dozen Pakistani military forces, is an example of why the notion of a “successful” foreign policy from the Obama Administration leaves a lot out.

Rep. Barney Frank plans to retire, which means by next year, both lead co-sponsors of Dodd-Frank will be out of Congress, having secured a legacy of sorts through attaching their names to that legislation. So who might replace Frank as ranking member or Chair of the House Financial Services Committee?

Judge Jed Rakoff delivered a final blow to the enforcement paradigm followed by the Securities and Exchange Commission today by rejecting their $285 million settlement with Citigroup on an illegal mortgage backed securities deal, calling it “neither fair, nor reasonable, nor in the public interest.”

The threat of LAPD evicting Occupy LA in the wee hours brought out about a 1000 protestors and the media, but the feared confrontation hardly occurred. Protestors mostly obeyed LAPD orders to remain on sidewalks, and only a few arrests were made.