Right as longterm unemployment benefits are set to stop, a new CNN poll shows America thinks this Congress is the worst ever. So, rest easy, last Congress.

I've never seen the rules of the so-called "Knockout Game" myself but I'd imagine this would be high on the list:

Say hello the NYPD's new high-tech squad car, featuring radiation detectors for maximum paranoia.

[Above is a stunning aerial shot of an eruption of the Japanese volcano Sakurajima taken this January from the International Space Station. Wired has more of NASA's best photos of 2013.]

Glenn Greenwald, who famously worked with Edward Snowden this year to publicize the NSA's massive surveillance program, today rejected the idea that his role in the Snowden affair has gone from journalist to cheerleader, calling that criticism "ludicrous" and questioning his MSNBC interviewer's own partisanship.

There are plenty of reasons to live in California (it's warm) and there are plenty reasons to not. For instance, you might get run over by a car and fined for it. Or you might feel as if you're constantly being assaulted by tear gas because you live next to a sriracha plant. Or, even worse, you might pay millions of dollars for a home only to inhale the fumes of sea lion shit.

Happy holidays from Broward County: "Angered after being given the boot from a Davie bar, a man came back to the establishment with Molotov cocktails made out of gasoline-filled beer bottles, and tossed them at the bar owner, police said."

Paul Ciancia, the 23-year-old accused of killing a TSA agent and wounding three others in a rampage at LAX last month, pleaded not guilty to murder and other felony charges today. Ciancia faces the death penalty if convicted.

Since 1968, at least 1.4 million Americans have been killed by guns—more than all the U.S.'s accumulated war dead in that same period. Any way you look at it, 2013 was another killer year for arms manufacturers and armed bullies.

In its obituary yesterday, the Post called 87-year-old Manhattan hedge-funder Robert W. Wilson an "eccentric philanthropist." To me, he sounded cool as hell. And like a very considerate suicide jumper. His last words: "Sell all my stuff."

A swarm of carnivorous fish attacked a group of swimmers at a popular beach in Argentina on Christmas Day, injuring more than 70. Seven children lost part of their toes or fingers in the attack.

If you're driving fast through Melbourne along Florida's Space Coast this holiday season, you're taking a big chance. At thousands of dollars in prizes!

Turns out the Grinch is real, and he's actually a woman. Janice Tully, a woman from Hyannis, Massachusetts, was arrested yesterday for stealing a haul of donated toys meant for her neighbors' five children.

An Iowa State University professor was forced to resign from his post this week after he fudged a clinical trial to make rabbit blood appear to neutralize HIV, with millions in federal research dollars at stake.

Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema has very important news for you. When you dine out at a fine restaurant, the serving staff communicates information about your tastes and needs to the people who cook the food:

Welcome to The 12 Days of Thatz Not Okay, a special holiday edition of a regular column in which I school inquiring readers on what is and is not okay. Check back tomorrow for our next seasonal installment. As always, please send your questions (max: 200 words) to caity.weaver@gawker.com with the subject "Thatz Not Okay."

[Greenpeace International activist Mannes Ubels of Netherlands jumps holding his passport as he celebrates getting permission to leave Russia yesterday. Russian investigators have dropped charges against all of the 30 crew of a Greenpeace ship, who were accused of hooliganism following a protest outside a Russian oil rig in the Arctic. Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky via AP.]

The War on Christmas continues—in Israel. According to the Associated Press, the speaker of Israel’s parliament rejected a request from Hana Sweid, a Christian-Arab Knesset member, to display a Christmas tree at the legislature’s building. The speaker, Yuli Edelstein of the center-right Likud party, initially cited logistical issues, but clarified today that he specifically denied the request because the Christmas tree threatened to offend the country’s majority Jewish population:

When you're a logistics company, you should probably be able to get things done on time. But an uptick in online shopping this year may have been the downfall of FedEx and UPS, both of which are scrambling to deliver Christmas packages that were supposed to have arrived by Tuesday night.

RIP McDonald's "McResource Line" website: After a remarkable stretch during which it offered terrible and tone-deaf advice—along with one actually useful and healthy suggestion—McDonald's finally shut down its internal, employees only website this week.