At last night's General Assembly, Occupy Wall Street passed a proposal to set up a $100,000 fund solely for bailing people out of jail. It's the largest chunk of funds that OWS has allocated for one purpose, and represents nearly a third of the budget. The fund is meant to get protesters out of jail following direct actions, which historically have ended in multiple arrests -- or mass arrests, like on the Brooklyn Bridge back in September. 
The latest installment of Gwyneth Paltrow's indispensable GOOP newsletter deals with a topic of immediate interest to those planning to go out on New Year's Eve: hangovers. The surprising part of this is that Paltrow ever allows herself to drink to excess, but the unsurprising part is that her hangover tips are totally as highfalutin as anything else you'd find in GOOP. And there's no mention of Blowfish. Exhibit A: 
Governor Andrew Cuomo, his girlfriend Sandra Lee, and his two daughters are on vacation this week in the Adirondacks. On Monday night, Cuomo was seen buying groceries in Lake Placid at the Price Chopper supermarket. A shopper described Cuomo as "really friendly and seemed thrilled to be in the area." 
Less thrilled: Jon Hochschartner, the man who bagged the governor's groceries. Hochschartner is a former Zuccotti occupier who works at the Price Chopper. He used Cuomo's visit as an opportunity to almost tell him that he disagrees with his stances on the state budget and taxes.
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Last we heard about Violet the NYU hawk mommy, she was in trouble. Her leg was seriously injured and it looked like she wouldn't survive. Luckily, as City Room reports, Violet has been captured and is receiving treatment for her necrotic foot. Violet is described as being in "good spirits."
Little does she know that Bobby, her mate, was seen in Washington Square Park with a different mature female a day after Violet's capture.
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In the post-occupation hangover, a (or the) big question is whether or not and to what extent Occupy Wall Street's message will have managed to translate into actual policy. OWS itself has strenuously refused to get involved in coming up with any legislation, since the movement wants to eschew mainstream politics at large. 
Today we caught wind of the Restore the American Dream for the 99% Act, which is to our knowledge the first piece of legislation inspired by OWS. The act was written by Congressional Progressive Caucus members Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.). Like the OWS movement itself, the proposed legislation is wide-ranging, encompassing job creation measures, new taxes on Wall Street, and Medicare and Social Security protections.
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On his weekly John Gambling radio show appearance, Mayor Bloomberg touched on the issue of young men wearing their pants hanging down, a topic near and dear to old people everywhere. 
A caller named Eddie called in to tell the mayor about an incident on the bus in which a young man with low-hanging pants stood near his young daughter. "There was a gentleman on the bus with his pants down, I mean really grossly down," Eddie said.
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Frequently bombastic New Jersey governor Chris Christie said on Fox News today that it would be "presumptuous" of him to say no to running on Mitt Romney's ticket for vice president if the opportunity was offered to him. Christie endorsed Romney last month. Early in the interview, Politico reports, Christie said that the idea of his running alongside Romney hadn't been brought up. But if it did: 
Occupy Albany, one of the longest-lasting Occupy encampments -- and the only one to issue specific demands -- is currently being evicted, according to Capital Tonight's Twitter feed. 
Dan Robins Protesters have formed a human chain around Occupy Albany's info tent.
The Albany occupiers recently issued a list of demands that include ending corporate personhood and changing the incentives structure for elected officials. They also notably put pressure on Governor Cuomo by focusing early on in their demonstrations on the Millionaire's Tax. Cuomo and state legislative leaders recently agreed to change New York State's income tax code, reducing the tax rate for middleclass taxpayers.
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Please welcome Jordan Zane Weiner, the new baby son of recently-mustachioed Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin. The Post reports that the "wee democrat" was born yesterday 10 days ahead of his due date and weighed in at just over seven pounds. This is happy news for a family that's had some rough times in the last year due to Weiner's inability to not tweet lewd photos of himself to random women on the Internet. 
For a while, Alec Baldwin was doing his damnedest to sow the seeds of a possible mayoral run in New York City. Or at least to drum up enough buzz so it appeared that he was kind of serious about it, which it turns out (to few people's surprise) he's not; Baldwin said on WNYC today that he "doubts" he'll have a political career. As for the mayoral race itself: 
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