Thanksgiving is a day to give thanks for family, friends, and the bounty of food that this good Earth pushes out of its belly each year for us. It’s also a day, for hundreds of thousands in the country’s most populous city, to stand beneath gigantic 450-pound balloons, hoping the wind doesn’t blow the wrong way.

Yesterday, Breitbart Tech published a story claiming to debunk earlier reports that “white student union” pages that had popped up on Facebook over the weekend were a hoax. “People held out to talk to Breitbart because we knew that they are a respectable organization that would protect the privacy of the individuals involved,” the administrator of the NYU page wrote to me in a Facebook message.

The United Arab Emirates has begun to deploy its secret army of Colombian mercenaries, assembled in the desert over the past five years (initially under the tacit direction of Blackwater founder Erik Prince), to Yemen, where it is fighting a proxy war with Iran.

On Wednesday, seven members of the Word of Life Christian Church plead not-guilty in the beating death of Lucas Leonard and the assault of his younger brother Christopher Leonard in New Hartford, New York last month.

A group of psychotic, heavily armed Islamophobes in north Texas, who call themselves the Bureau of American Islamic Relations, have posted names and addresses of Muslims and “Muslim sympathizers” to their Facebook page, reports The Guardian.

If you had “mocking another human’s physical handicap” as the next foot to go in Donald Trump’s mouth—congratulations. You have unfortunately won.

Derek Medina, who posted a photo of his wife’s bloody body to Facebook after shooting her eight times, has been convicted of second-degree murder, reports the Associated Press.

Here’s a big ol’ shocker: Martin Shkreli’s Turing Pharmaceuticals is reportedly reneging on its pledge to reduce the price of Daraprim, the parasitic infection medication whose price they hiked to $750 per tablet back in August.

Several soldiers and airmen have been removed from duty, the Associated Press reports, after making preventable errors and violating U.S. rules of engagement in the airstrike that killed 31 civilians at a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan last month.

So you’re having an office party. Good luck with the next morning. Because wherever you wake up—be it in bed, draped over your toilet, or even, like one Gawker writer who will remain unnamed, still riding the subway—here’s the hard truth: It’s going to be a struggle.

I know this much is true: Kristin Cavallari loves her Hoover® Cordless Vacuum. She’s said it herself:

Hours after the release of a dash cam video showing Chicago police officer Jason Van Dyke killing 17-year-old Laquan McDonald with 16 bullets from a semi-automatic gun, hours after prosecutors charged Van Dyke with first degree murder (over a year after the shooting, during which Van Dyke continued to work for the Chicago Police Department), hundreds of people gathered near the University of Illinois-Chicago campus and started to march.

Looking for something to buy a teen this holiday season? Look no further than this very gift guide, a gift guide that is for teens and by teens.

Were you a cool guy who smoked but now you’re an old guy who, instead of quitting altogether, prefers to inhale smoke-like material from a machine that glows? Or are you a pothead looking for a new way to smoke weed? Great. Let me help you pick out some Christmas gifts for yourself.

“[Our daughter] is only 19 months old and is the most amazing person you’ll ever meet.” Doubt that. “I know all parents would say this about their children, but we are told this by people every single day.” Come on.

Li Hongjun did not usually take selfies. But out in the orange grove, he was not in his usual state of mind. It was early February, and the lunar New Year was approaching. It’s considered good luck to set out a bowl of oranges during the Chinese holiday, so Li, figuring he could use some luck, decided to buy some for his restaurant, the Jade Tea Farmhouse, located on a dusty road in little-known Wuhua County, population 1.3 million, in Guangdong Province.

The Sheldon Silver corruption case finally went to the jury this week, and at least one of the jurors would very much like to send it back. The others are busy chatting up NBC reporters, but definitely not about the case!

Minneapolis police have named the three suspects in custody for an alleged shooting at a Black Lives Matter protest Monday night. They are Allen “Lance” Scarsella, 23, of Lakeville; Nathan Gustavsson, 21, of Hermantown; and Daniel Macey, 26, of Pine City.

As hundreds of activists took to the streets of Chicago yesterday to protest the homicide of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald, one protestor took an usual but phenomenally effective route: He had a staring contest with a cop.