Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, Jack Frost nipping at your nose … oops!

In a federal indictment this week, Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams unveiled an indictment against Nikhil Gupta, an alleged Indian narcotics trafficker who prosecutors say had attempted to hire a hitman— who turned out to be an undercover federal agent — to assassinate Sikh separatist leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a U.S. citizen. The feds say Gupta, who was arrested in the Czech Republic, was directed by a senior Indian government official.

As President Joe Biden founders in the polls, he’s decided to revive a hackneyed progressive standby: The rampant inflation Americans have experienced under his administration is actually the fault of evil corporations.

America’s high schools face a growing crisis: Millions of students who entered ninth grade in the fall of 2020, at the height of the pandemic, are set to graduate this spring, with little hope of recovering from the learning loss incurred while schools were shut. Simply put, they’re running out of time. Since the start of the pandemic, the academic performance of high school students has been abysmal. In 2022, average scores on the ACT exam were the lowest in 30 years; this year’s results were even worse. Barely 20% of students met college-readiness benchmarks in all four areas tested — English, math, reading and science — and 43% met none, up from 35% in 2018. Other data show broad declines in reading and math proficiency, while the number of students receiving failing grades has soared. In Houston, the country’s eighth-largest public school district, as many as half of high school students have flunked at least one course since the start of the pandemic, compared to one-third in 2019.

CIA Director William Burns’ holoholo abroad this year to meet nonintelligence-affiliated leaders, including Egypt’s and Qatar’s presidents just this last, and the White House’s elevation in July of his office to a Cabinet position, has fueled misperceptions of growing CIA power.

In December 1966, the CBS special “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” premiered. At the time, it was “the most expensive half-hour ever put on TV” due to animation costs, music and narration.

At the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP28) this year, decision-makers won’t just talk about change. They’ll taste it. COP28 (Nov. 30–Dec. 12) will offer a predominantly vegan menu, reflecting a growing awareness of how meat, eggs and dairy contribute to the climate catastrophe. Let’s hope this mounting understanding will inspire everyone to go vegan — before it’s too late.

They are not typical diplomatic envoys. They spend their time eating, snoozing, lollygagging in the grass and rolling in the snow. But the giant pandas that have roamed a few select U.S. zoos for the last half century have captivated visitors who flocked to exhibits and lined up to see the debut of panda cubs and marvel at what seemed like plush toys come to life.

New Yorkers were shocked and appalled when some social media personalities rediscovered a 2002 “Letter to America” in which Osama Bin Laden, dripping with antisemitism, criticized U.S. foreign policy, suggesting it painted a more compelling picture of the terrorist. While the rehabilitation of the dead jihadist behind 9/11 may have been overstated, the Guardian, which had hosted a version of the letter, pulled it from its site.