This week marks the end of the public comment period on the Volcker rule. The usual suspects have all delivered their comments. The huge finance lobby delivered their mass of comments, in particular calls for multiple exemptions and waivers. But a new group, Occupy the SEC, a collection of experts in finance which sprung out of the Occupy Wall Street movement, delivered a 325 page letter to the SEC about the rule reminding the SEC about their obligations to the public.

The FDL community has voted to award five occupations with a command post tent from Occupy Supply for their outstanding community activism. Three others will receive computers, while 12 runners up will get gift certificates to the OccupySupply store. Dan Choi will help deliver the tents. Check out the winners!

You wouldn’t think handling a notebook or a camera could be a hazardous line of work. But according to the latest global Press Freedom Index, abuse and oppression of reporters has made journalism an increasingly risky job in many countries. The past year has even left a notable taint on the U.S. press, despite the country’s mythos as a beacon of free expression.

Every day at Occupy Supply we talk with occupations across the country who are doing amazing work. When we hear that “occupy is dead,” we know that someone is seriously ill-informed. So if you see a journalist repeating the “occupy is dead” meme, be sure to forward them this list to let them know that reports of Occupy’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. Still time to vote for your favorite Occupy action!

These are the nominations for Outstanding Local Activism by an Occupation. The Occupy Supply contest was announced last week, and anyone could nominate an occupation for its local activism. Nominations closed at midnight last night, and the preliminary round of voting will be open until this Wednesday, February 1 at 12 midnight. Vote your top [...]

If the US fought for the post-carbon economy the way it fights for nebulous state-building goals in foreign wars, the future would be brighter, cleaner, safer and cheaper, with more jobs and perhaps – because it would need to secure less of that foreign oil -fewer wars. If the country built new classrooms with the same urgency it built armored vehicles, more American teens could be choosing between colleges instead of choosing between minimum and sub-minimum wage jobs – and fewer would eventually need public assistance. If the government spent more on blackboards and less on bullets, it would create more jobs today and more innovation in the future.

Reporters Without Borders conducts an annual ranking comparing each nation’s level of press freedom, and they’ve just dropped the U.S. rating by 27 places. The dramatic drop came as a result of the many arrests and efforts to harass reporters trying to cover the Occupy movement. In the 2010 ratings, America was ranked 20th in press freedom, but we have now dropped to 47th this year.

I postponed my visit to Occupy Detroit and drove out to see this camp.

I arrived at the site where I immediately noticed there were two campers and one large shelter. I then saw a few tents that were next to this large shelter. The few tents had bales of hay surrounding them.

I walked around to a dirt pathway that led into the door of this large shelter and saw a few occupiers standing outside the shelter. A few of them were wearing camouflage pants. I told them I had hats and gloves from Occupy Supply to deliver.

Firedoglake’s premier live blog on Occupy Wall Street & all things “Occupy” continues.

We’ve received some excellent Occupy related diaries these last few days that are a joy to read. They span the country, including some of the more conservative areas, and even up into Canada.