I wasn't supposed to cover the Hofstra debate, or even the protests outside. But a family emergency recently summoned me back to my native Long Island, so I broke away for about five hours yesterday to sample the madness. It felt good to be home; despite all of the warranted abuse that the Gold Coast gets for harboring guidos, the place really is a magical bourgeois paradise, and a phenomenal place to people watch.

While Democrats were masturbating one another last night, pretending that America is not at war and that the current administration is a friend to all immigrants, about 100 wet and wild protesters hit the concrete despite rain by the bucketload and a tough day in the streets. By Tuesday evening, more than a dozen activists had been arrested outside of the convention, including some immigrants' rights picketers who caused a scene as delegates filed inside.

On Tuesday, the Occupy Wall Street movement saw its largest resurgence of energy since most encampments were evicted last fall. In New York and worldwide, Occupy activists fueled an international day of action for May Day.

This weekend, ROFLcon comes back to Boston. ROFLcon is an annual Internet meme conference (yes, a meme conference) that started in Boston in 2008.