Customers hit by pepper spray at Wal-Mart describe scene of chaos  —  Matthew Lopez went to the Wal-Mart in Porter Ranch on Thursday night for the Black Friday sale but instead was caught in a pepper-spray attack by a woman who authorities said was “competitive shopping.”

GQ thinks Ed Schultz is one of ‘The Least Influential People Alive’  —  Wow.  Is it that time of year all ready?  —  Well, yes it is.  When publishers come up with end of the year lists.  Here's one from the December GQ: the magazine's list of “The 25 least Influential People Alive” MSNBC's Ed Schultz comes in at #3.

Death of a currency as eurogeddon approaches  —  It's time to think what hitherto markets have regarded as unthinkable - that the euro really is on its last legs.  —  They need to wake up fast; it's happening before their very eyes.  In its current form, the single currency may always have been doomed …

Villaraigosa, Beck start countdown to Occupy L.A. closure  —  Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa ordered the shutdown of the Occupy L.A. encampment on City Hall grounds at 12:01 a.m. Monday, saying officials can no longer “maintain the public safety of a long-term encampment,” according to a statement issued Friday.

Support Builds for a Plan to Rein In Medicare Costs  —  WASHINGTON — Though it reached no agreement, the special Congressional committee on deficit reduction built a case for major structural changes in Medicare that would limit the government's open-ended financial commitment to the program, lawmakers and health policy experts say.

Not Photoshopped: Beam of Light Shines on Fallen Soldier's Miracle Dog  —  Reported by ABC News' Kimberly Launier:  —  It was an overcast day in Newport, N.H., when a simple “20/20″ shoot turned into something that made me wonder about life after death.

Tom Wicker, Times Journalist, Dies at 85  —  Tom Wicker, one of postwar America's most distinguished journalists, who wrote 20 books, covered the assassination of President John F. Kennedy for The New York Times and became the paper's Washington bureau chief and an iconoclastic political columnist …

Occupy News Bin  —  Though I often disagree with the sentiments I hear by folks at Occupy Wall Street encampments, I strongly support their rights to say them peacefully.  So when I see so much footage of police using heavy handed tactics on non-violent protestors it not only makes me more sympathetic to OWS... it makes me feel sick.

Disparaging tweet about Gov. Sam Brownback lands Kansas teen in principal's office  —  A Kansas teenager is in trouble after mocking Gov. Sam Brownback during a mock legislative assembly for high school students.  —  Emma Sullivan, a senior at Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village …

Driven By Drug War Incentives, Cops Target Pot Smokers, Brush Off Victims Of Violent Crime … Drug War , Crime , SWAT Team , Violent Crime , Asset Forfeiture , Byrne Grants , Chicago , Chicago Pd , Law Enforcement , Leap , Marijuana Possession , Police , Police Abuse , War On Drugs , Politics News

Man arrested for Facebook comment threatening Gov. Haley's life  —  COLUMBIA, SC (WIS) - A South Carolina man is accused of threatening the life of Gov. Nikki Haley on Facebook, but he claims he was only making a point about free speech.  —  When 26-year-old Nathan Shafer heard about the arrests …

Is the end near?  —  I am seeing reports of 7.7 on the Italian ten-year bond, over eight percent on the two-year bond, 6.5 percent on the six-month note, and so on.  Here is one account.  —  Maybe these markets simply will shut down soon.  There is so much talk about what the Germans should do, but I don't see the viable options.

Russian newsreader fired after Obama middle finger insult  —  A top Russian female newsreader who appeared to defiantly show US President Barack Obama her middle finger during a live newscast has been fired.  —  Tatyana Limanova, an award-winning senior newsreader at the channel, can be seen briskly reading out an item about APEC