In the latest of a flurry of under-the-wire lawsuits that seem to conflict with an imminent foreclosure fraud settlement, Eric Schneiderman, the Attorney General of New York and a co-chair of the federal task force looking into the residential mortgage-backed securities market, sued three banks for their use of the MERS electronic registry, which resulted in fraudulent foreclosure filings.

In these hard times — caused by Wall Street bubbles and unregulated greed — it’s more than a little bile-inducing to see of the worst perps not only skate on jail time or even paying to fix the messes they helped create, but to steal some more money out of the till, money that could have gone to schools, highways, libraries, and actual job creation the way Franklin Delano Roosevelt did it lo these many years ago.

That’s why Minnesotans for a Fair Economy and several other local groups are staging a Rally and March for the 99% this coming Tuesday, January 24.

It’s the Rose Parade, and that means the after parade of protest groups that this year will also include floats and marchers from the Occupy movement.

Today, after the floats and the marching bands and Grand Marshals and all the other pomp and circumstance crosses Colorado Avenue in Pasadena, California, marking the end of another Tournament of Roses Parade, over 1,000 activists will stage their own march. The protesters even have their own floats, including a massive 250-foot rendering of the Constitution of the United States, and a 70-foot octopus made out of plastic bags, symbolizing the predatory nature of the financial industry and the tentacles they use to strangle the nation’s economy and take the riches for themselves. At the end, 99 activists representing the 99% will carry one member sitting on a throne, representing the 1%.

The Backbone Campaign, longtime source of witty direct action protests, partnered up with the Other 98%, the Seattle Labor Chorus and the Washington Community Action Network to produce a Christmas caroling event at Bank of America and at Wells Fargo. Donned in their Santa hats and other gay apparel, including a Ghost of Christmas Present, the 99% Choir serenaded the staff and customers at branches in Seattle area.

While Occupy Oakland has the support of a liberal community and national outrage on its side, and Occupy Los Angeles is basking in the shade at City Hall, Occupy San Diego is small and struggling against the conservative citizenry and lack of community support. Last week, in the wake of Oakland’s violent riots, the San Diego police and sheriffs broke up Occupy San Diego and arrested 53 people.

Many observers have noted that one of the few bright spots in the Justice Department under Barack Obama has been the Civil Rights division, under the direction of Thomas Perez. They have restored that division to its core mission of protecting minorities. So it’s no surprise that they, not the new financial fraud task force, not any of the other enforcement and regulatory bodies, would be the ones to pursue an investigation into the banksters.

We don’t really have real debates on much of anything in America anymore, so it’s worth questioning whether this will be the effect. But for what it’s worth, Bernie Sanders’ office has released the major investigation coming out of that amendment – a GAO audit of the emergency lending programs carried out by the Fed in the wake of the financial crisis. These programs – not TARP, which mostly put the Congress on the hook for the bailout politically – represented the bulk of the federal government’s support for the banking sector. And they were carried out largely in secret. This GAO audit provides a window into just what the Fed did.

Almost as astonishing is that it took them a year to determine the settlement terms. Now that we see it for what it is, you’re talking about hundreds of dollars per borrower, not thousands, on systemic abuses. Remember, Countrywide’s CEO Angelo Mozilo isn’t going to jail for any of this.

I wrote yesterday that nothing seemed to be changing in the foreclosure crisis. Regulators were still trying to enforce the law with inadequate information (perhaps deliberately), and the banks were still abusing their customers. But late yesterday we got word of federal audits from HUD showing violations by the top five banks of the False Claims Act.