Minnesota’s 99%, OccupyMN, came to start the occupation of the Hennepin County Government Plaza, now also known as The People’s Plaza, in downtown Minneapolis. They’re going to stay there for at least the next three months — yes, deep into the famed Minnesota winter. (Hey, if the Madison folks could camp outside without tents in mid-winter, we can too. Quality sleeping bags are a must.) You can watch the occupation live here and see what’s going on at any given moment.

One of the bits of local background noise you’ll be hearing during your Netroots Nation 11 weekend in Minneapolis will be on the looming state government shutdown. There are at least a couple of ways one could fight back against this sort of asshattery: March on down to the State Capitol and make yourself heard, or show your support for two groups that Republicans seem to hate more than anyone else: poor people and brown-skinned people. Luckily, there’s a really easy way for you netrootsers to do the latter (and tweak the noses of some corporatist Dems as well)…