Occupy Wall Street’s May 1 New York City protest extravaganza was filled with incredible speeches, drum circles, short and sweet performances and, best of all, wacky characters with incredible signs.

Occupy protesters, along with labor unions and immigrants rights groups, are taking to the streets in New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago and more than 100 cities across the country on this “day without the 99 Percent.”

Like John McCain before him, Mitt needs a game change, a shattering disruption in his storyline that erases the gaffes and changes his trajectory in an irreversible way. What Romney needs is Ron Paul on his ticket.

Welcome to Pepper Spray 2.0: The Scary, Long-Range Version. There’s a new “electrically charged vortex gun.” What can it do? Watch this. Pay attention, Occupy Wall Street and protesters around the world. This could be your future.

Apparently students at the University of Massachusetts Amherst aren’t happy for alumnus Victor Cruz, who just won his first Super Bowl in a 21-17 nail-biter against the hometown New England Patriots. They took to the streets and tempted riot police.

The 99% here in the United States has done a good job of protesting the actions of the nation’s biggest banks. But something tells us the new “top bank” in Italy won’t be hearing from the huddled masses. That’s because it’s the mafia.

In a year jam-packed full of news, here’s what you really went for in 2011: pepper spray, public sex, nude leaks, criminal vaginas, Burger King break-ups and much more.

Occupy Wall Street live streamer Tim Pool has invested his time and (someone’s) money into building an unmanned surveillance drone to use when police don’t allow media access to protest incidents. The future is now.

Okay, so “Pepper Spray” didn’t beat out “The Protester” for TIME’s Person of the Year like we hoped. But it was still a busy year for everyone’s favorite “food product, essentially.” So just how bad is this product? For that, we turn to this handy infographic.

Even though we lobbied hard for the nonhuman, nonlethal “pepper spray” to be awarded TIME’s coveted “Person of the Year” distinction, we begrudgingly admit the magazine got it right. And Shepard Fairey’s cover art was a nice touch.

The Occupy movement is a genie that can’t be put back in its bottle. While it has gone through growing pains, the adversity faced has only forced the movement to adapt and re-focus. So what’s next? Dustin Slaughter, who’s been in it from the start, explains.

NBC’s Law & Order franchise has always been inspired by real events, episode plots “ripped from the headlines.” It should come as no surprise, then, that SVU began filming in the fictional world of Occupy Wall Street. Then it got occupied. Meta!

Many signatures being added to this at UC Davis: “We, the undersigned UC Davis faculty are compelled by evidence available now to publicly state we have no confidence in the ability of Chancellor Linda Katehi to lead us forward.”

“Let us fight for a world of reason.” Given the era in which we live, there’s something very fitting in that Charlie Chaplin’s first true talkie produced a voice that still resonates now more than ever.

Tracy Postert had been out of work for a while, so she decided to team up with the Occupy Wall Street movement for about two weeks…until she got a job with a Wall Street brokerage firm. OMN’s Mackinley Greenlaw breaks down the twist of fate.

On Thursday night, Occupy Wall Street protested at the Lincoln Center during a performance of Philip Glass’ opera, Satyagraha. At the end, Glass himself joined the protesters in an amazing moment.

Thought they love the Constitution down there in Tejas…

Right-wingers love the U.S. military. But what does our author’s crazy brother say about the two Marines severely injured by Oakland police at Occupy protests? By aligning “with anti-American losers, he deserves what he got if not worse,” he says.

Two more incidents: 14-year-old sprays classmates & Phoenix protest…

Up to two million public sector workers in Britain went on strike Wednesday over changes to their pensions. They claim the British government is making them work longer for less money.