It is indicative of how the movement has evolved and strengthened. Occupy Wall Street has ordered 27 military tents and, as most of the media is reporting, they are being setup in Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park) so that Occupy Wall Street can remain in the park through the winter.

Based on the photos, it looks like they are purchasing “Rapid Deployable Shelters” (RDS). The specifications do not list what type of temperatures the tent can withstand during winter but they do indicate the tent can hold 10 pounds of snow per square foot.

Not only are these shelters expected to help prevent hypothermia, but they will help create “safe havens” for women, who increasingly fear men that are lurking in the camp waiting for an opportunity to touch them sexually. In personal tents, it is very easy to violate someone. In a military tent, anyone trying to cop a feel is sure to be wary of the fact that any person could walk into the tent at any time.

That Occupy Wall Street was able to construct a few military tents overnight is remarkable. When the medical tent in the camp went up, I noted how tarps had provoked forceful arrests by the NYPD of occupiers. They would not have even dared to try and erect tents because that would have been stopped instantly. But now the occupiers have great power and leverage and can civilly disobey codes and guidelines in the park. They know that if the NYPD or city tried to shut them down for putting up the tents thousands of people would be down at Liberty Square instantly to provide support.

It may be near impossible for other occupations to achieve what Occupy Wall Street has achieved. Each occupation must strive for the kind of invincibility that the Liberty Square occupation now enjoys. It is how an occupation can move beyond focusing on the right of the occupation to exist to how the camp can garner wider support from the community and not just be a stop for tourists passing through the city.

Firedoglake’s premier live blog continues now. Here is a Twitter list to follow for the latest updates.

10:25 PM Crosby & Nash appear on “Countdown w/ Keith Olbermann”

10:10 PM Ohio voters soundly reject restricting collective bargaining rights. They vote “no” on Issue 2. Occupy Columbus was using their occupation to urge people to vote “no.” When I was there, a police officer said when SB 5 was repealed (what Issue 2 will do) he would donate a banner to Occupy Columbus. If the bold people of Columbus are still out there braving the cold weather, they should be getting a new banner soon.

10:07 PM Occupy Omaha will keep on keepin’ on.

9:57 PM Another dead person found in a tent at an occupation: the man was found dead at Occupy New Orleans.

8:46 PM Update on Occupy Sacramento – it’s expanded into City Hall grounds.

8:44 PM Ben & Jerry’s distributes free ice cream at Occupy DC

7:30 PM New occupation: Occupy Park City in Utah. The occupiers secured a permit.

7:14 PM Mounted police are preventing Occupy Mobile from returning to park where they were occupying.  (via @TheOther99)

6:50 PM ICYMI: WikiLeaks Truck guy interviewed. (He’s kind of badass.)

6:36 PM Socialist Worker has report from someone arrested in Portland, Oregon on October 30 and November 1 (two separate police raids).

6:14 PM The situation with Occupy Vancouver continues to be interesting. Tensions are high. Now, police reporting that there are a few violent members of the occupation that punched, kicked and pit officers in recent meeting. The police also claim an ammunition clip was stolen.

5:22 PM Heartening story of a police officer, who was facing home foreclosure. He reached out to Occupy Atlanta, which the city had evicted from Woodruff Park. Many of the police were being used by the city to prevent them from occupying. Now, Occupy Atlanta has tents on his front lawn to prevent the sheriff from evicting his family from their home.

5:19 PM David Crosby & Graham Nash play Occupy Wall Street

4:48 PM H/t to FDLer TarheelDem, who has posted two important updates in the comments thread:

1) Occupy Mobile in Alabama was just pushed out of the park they were occupying. To contact the Mobile mayor and protest the eviction e-mail mayor@cityofmobile.org or call 251-208-7395 or send a fax to 251-208-7548

2) In South Carolina, Occupy Columbia is seeing the groundwork laid for their eviction. They are pushing back against charges that camping out is not constitutionally protected speech. (For more, go here.)

4:37 PM Occupy Wall Street gets its generators back, The Atlantic reports. And, as if that wasn’t sweet enough, what picked them up from the Fire Department? The WikiLeaks Truck.

4:11 PM Andrew Katz has an interesting report here on members of the Occupy Wall Street media team. On one hand, it makes me think of WikiLeaks because the members are operating a location off-site that no person is to know about (that especially goes for members of the press). On the other hand, the report is cheapened by Katz’s feeble attempt to show there is “hierarchy” here in a movement that is supposed to be “leaderless.” I don’t know if Katz gets it but I will just paraphrase something Michael Moore likes to say: “Everyone is a leader.” And, additionally, some people have roles to play in the movement and play them well so that the movement can continue to be organized.

4:09 PM Big rally at Occupy Providence. Firefighters are participating. The rally is at the statehouse and for defending pensions that are under attack.

4:07 PM Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films have a new project: “Who Are the 1%?” They put together this video for the campaign. People like you are to make videos that help to uncover who the members of the 1% are that are working against the 99%. This is all about not letting them live comfortably rich anymore. Afflict the hell out of them. Because fact is they have afflicted the lower classes for far too long.

2:25 PM Earlier today there was a “bomb scare” in Liberty Square. The police cleared the park steps in their effort to “secure” the area. A few occupiers were reasonably suspicious of this and wondered if there really was a bomb scare or not. One occupier, Hero, who has been arrested multiple times, was handcuffed at the top of the steps and arrested. Barriers were moved in to block off the area for inspection. The police reopened the “threatened” area of the park later. All seems to be back to normal. The big question is, how credible was the threat? Did they figure out who was behind the “bomb scare”? Or is the NYPD just keeping occupiers on their toes?

2:13 PM Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire (who was part of Obama’s Inauguration) on “The Rachel Maddow Show.” He has been to Liberty Square and finds “people are mourning the fact that we have become a society that is every man, woman and child for themselves.” He thinks “this is huge.” He went to Occupy New Hampshire and thinks it is very important for people to get involved.

Watch here.

1:17 PM 9 more Occupy Fresno protesters were arrested last night. It is the third night in a row that police have made arrests as Occupy Fresno tries to re-establish a permanent camp.

1:13 PM “Golden parachutes” for CEOs can top $100 million. “These things can come back and bite you when the economy is down and you’ve got Occupy Wall Street…” says a compensation consultant.

1:12 PM City of Vancouver pursues a court injunction to remove Occupy Vancouver

1:10 PM Occupy Salt Lake is still occupying even though city wants them removed from the privately owned vacant lot, where they are located.

12:36 PM A thank you to the city and police in Birmingham, Alabama for letting Occupy Bham peaceably assemble.

12:34 PM Occupy Minnesota is coming together to support Monique White, who is fighting the foreclosure of her home. They put together a slick video and have rallies planned against US Bank CEO Richard Davis.

12:25 PM ICYMI: Comedian and “Real Time” host Bill Maher at Occupy LA: ”Don’t let them convince you to come inside, put on a suit and hire a lobbyist. That’s how you lose. This is how you win.” Video here.

11:23 AM Mayor Francis Slay of St. Louis issued a list of violations he believed Occupy St. Louis had committed. He told them they had to leave. Now, in response, the occupiers release a list of violations they believe Slay has committed as mayor.

11:03 AM Occupy DC has released this video showing a police officer putting his hand on the throat of a protester. This happened during a sit-in at the Metropolitan Police Department:

The DCist adds some context:

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Cathy Lanier said that the Occupy DC protests had gotten “increasingly confrontational and violent.” This morning, the Occupy DC media team has struck back, releasing the above footage of “a man that available witnesses have identified as a police officer” putting his hands around the throat of a protester on Friday night.

11:00 AM Occupy the Highway: A few occupiers from Occupy Wall Street will be marching from New York to Washington. Details here.

10:57 AM In These Times‘ Jeremy Gantz has this article in the magazine with perspectives on the movement from four occupiers from four different occupations.

10:55 AM Rural farmers help to feed the Occupy Wall Street demonstrators