News for Youse: Occupy Wall Street gets evicted, Rob Ford shows his solidarity, Putin gets a peace prize, NBA enters "nuclear winter"

Well, they finally did it.

The NYPD launched a stunning early morning raid at the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Zuccotti Park in New York City today. Around 1 a.m. EST, members of the NYPD distributed a notice announcing the "temporary" eviction for cleaning purposes, as the letter claimed the site was unsanitary. The notification indicated that protesters would be permitted to re-enter the park to claim their belongings; however, sanitation crews set to work removing protesters’ belongings from the site in Dumpsters while the NYPD set up a perimeter and didn't allow anyone back in.

Sound familiar? It should. The NYPD tried the same thing back in October. However, October's eviction failed as the police let the protesters know a cleanup was imminent, and the occupiers were joined by thousands of people in a show of solidarity. This time, the NYPD simply went in with no notice during the middle of the night. That doesn't make them sound like sneaky, bullying thugs at all, now does it?

Mayor Bloomberg's justification for the early morning raid? Well, obviously it was "to reduce the risk of confrontation in the park, and to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighbourhood," he told a press conference this morning.

Anyway, you know the drill. Protesters peacefully resisted by linking arms and sitting down, the police completely proportionally responded by pepper spraying members of the group and shutting off access to the park to the media, reportedly removing press credentials from journalists, and eventually rounding them up and sticking them in a pen. Oh, and the airspace over Liberty Plaza was closed to prevent press helicopters from capturing the event. Oh, and they arrested a reporter from the New York Times. Oh, and they managed to nearly concuss a city councilor. Oh, and they shut down the Brooklyn Bridge and some of the subway lines. Oh, and they came this close to martial law when doormen from nearby buildings were ordered to lock their doors so residents couldn't come down to gawk at the erosion of civil liberties.

Eh, freedom of speech is overrated anyway, right?

Since even the shittiest of landlords has to serve you a reasonable amount of notice before evicting you from whatever crappy, unheated, unfit for human habitation hellhole they rent you, lawyers for the occupiers at Liberty Plaza have filed a temporary restraining order against the city, Mayor Bloomberg, the NYPD, the New York Fire Department, which should allow them to return to the freshly powerwashed concrete plaza.

In a stunning show of solidarity, the City of Toronto issued its own eviction notice to occupy protesters this morning. There's no word on whether mayor Rob Ford is dancing around his office right now in an orgiastic frenzy of delight, or simply cackling while stroking a cat.

In a press conference on Monday (November 14), Ford indicated that protesters would be asked to leave St. James Park in Toronto "soon". Ford, who has not been to the encampment and refuses to go, instead invited occupiers to City Hall. "I do my job here. If anyone wants to come here, I don’t mind meeting anyone,” Ford stated.

Guys, it's an open offer. And it's indoors! I suggest bringing your own snacks, though. Ford doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who'll put out finger sandwiches.

So, does protesting ever do any good? Well, chalk one point up for dissention: TransCanada has announced that Nebraskans will help decide how to reroute the massive Keystone XL pipeline that'll be inevitably tearing through the continent. The Obama administration ruled last week that yes, citizens of a state should have some say about a massive infrastructure project coming to their hometown, and that the project would be delayed. Meanwhile, up here in the socialist land of milk and honey, Stephen Harper is gleefully rubbing his hands together in anticipation of the crazy money that'll be pouring into Harper's Canada in hopes of getting that Northern Gateway pipeline pushed through northern B.C. sooner.

Really, all I hear is a bunch of rich dudes arguing over laying some pipe.

Russian prime minister Vladmir Putin has been has been awarded the Confucian peace prize for criticizing NATO's intervention in Libya. Criticism is now being rewarded with peace prizes? Someone ought to nominate the occupy movement for every award ever.

Putin beat out other several other contenders for the obscure award that even China's ministry of culture doesn't really want to be associated with.

And the overstatement of the day award goes to NBA commissioner David Stern, who told ESPN that, "It's really a tragedy." The NBA lockout and what looks like the end of hope for a 2011-2012 basketball season, that is. Yes, it's tragic that millionaires aren't able to add to their gigantic piles of money while the environment and freedom of speech are being destroyed. Says Stern: "We are about to go into the nuclear winter of the NBA."

Well, when you put it like that, I'm terrified.

Thank goodness the NHL continues to provide us with more drama than any sport fan could ever hope for.

Follow Miranda Nelson on Twitter at @charenton_.