WASHINGTON/MOSCOW — U.S. President Joe Biden told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday the West is concerned Russia will invade Ukraine and warned of “strong economic and other measures” as punishment should Moscow start a military conflict, the White House said.

A federal judge on Nov. 29 halted the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers, although the ruling only applies to 10 states.

The perennial fight to raise the debt limit and avoid an economic calamity is once again on lawmakers’ docket, and this time things could get messy. Debt ceiling negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and his GOP counterpart, Mitch McConnell, have been slightly more friendly recently.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) is urging the Department of Justice to charge Kyle Rittenhouse after he was found not guilty by Wisconsin jurors on Friday on all five counts in the deaths of two men during Black Lives Matter protests and riots in Kenosha in August 2020.

SAN FRANCISCO — Another mob of looters targeted several San Francisco Bay Area retailers on Sunday night, marking the third such incident in as many days. Police told CBS San Francisco that they responded to the multiple calls of smash-and-grab looting incidents at the Southland Mall in Hayward, located south of Oakland and north of San Jose.

The first Thanksgiving on American soil probably occurred in May 1541 near Canyon, Texas, where Father Juan de Padilla said Mass for an army of 1,500 soldiers under conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado. Or it may have occurred on September 8, 1565, when Father Francisco Lopez said a Mass for the 800 newly-arrived Spanish colonists in St. Augustine, Florida. Or among the English, the leader of the settlers who landed at Berkeley Hundred (in present-day Henrico County, Virginia) on December 4, 1619, commanded that: “We ordain that this day of our ships’ arrival, at the place assigned for plantation, in the land of Virginia, shall be yearly and perpetually kept holy as a day of Thanksgiving for Almighty God.”

Thanksgiving is much more than a big meal with family and friends. It’s a time to reflect on, and be thankful for, all of the good things you have. It’s important to be grateful, not just on Thanksgiving, but each and every day. Rather than lamenting what you feel is lacking in your life, begin each new day by developing an attitude of gratitude. Take inventory of your blessings and you will be surprised at just how much you have to be thankful for.