What do the son of a Black Panther released after 27 years of false imprisonment, a young activist who traveled over a thousand miles to demonstrate against NATO, a mother with young children who is an Iraq war resister, three young radicals jailed for refusing to talk to a witch-hunting grand jury, a single mom with a teenage daughter fired for spearheading a unionization campaign at Walmart, and a refugee father fleeing from torture in Africa have in common?   They and/or their families were all welcomed into the RFC community of support this fall.

Under the headline, "Cuba pushes swap: its spies jailed in US for American contractor held in Havana," NBC News reporter Michael Isikoff wrote on December 3rd, “It seems straight out of a Cold War spy movie.  A group of Cuban undercover agents sneak into the U.S.

Earlier this week I read that Bradley Manning’s lawyers have moved that the charges against him be dismissed on the grounds that he has been subjected to “unlawful pretrial punishment” and “unduly onerous confinement conditions.”  Manning provided testimony in court on Tuesday in support of this motion.  (http://usnews.nbcnews.com/bradley-manning)

A confession – I love Thanksgiving.  My wife and I, plus our children and grandchildren, celebrate on Cape Cod with my brother and his family.  It is such a warm and cozy break from what is often the most frenetic time of the year at the Rosenberg Fund for Children.  I often joke – my family will say much too often – that I give thanks on Thanksgiving for surviving until Thanksgiving.

A few days ago The New York Times published an article entitled:  "Occupy Sandy: A Movement Moves to Relief."  I read a similar story two days later published by the Associated Press.

The gist of the stories was that veterans of the Occupy Wall Street movement acted quickly to fill the void left by traditional and governmental relief agencies for those in the areas of Nassau County, Staten Island, Brooklyn and Queens most devastated by Sandy.

As the article reported: