I don’t do Black Friday. I’m hideously claustrophobic and large crowds often set off my I’M TRAPPED MUST GET OUT OMG STABBITY reflex, so pretty much from now until Christmas my shopping will be confined to stores in my ‘hood and online.

I figured that there would be stories about Black Friday melees, as shoppers camped out to be first in line as big retailers hyped up specials. I also expected a few stories of violence and frenzy.

Occupy protesters: Frowned upon by the elites, despite largely peaceful nature. Black Friday campers: Welcomed by the elites, despite marked tendencies towards violence and crime. What’s wrong with this picture?

One person was arrested and two others hospitalized after a melee in Rome, New York. Pepper spray was used by police to break up a fight in Kingston, North Carolina. Gunfire was heard in Fayetteville, North Carolina. A shooting at 1 am injured a woman in the leg in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. A fight broke out in San Leandro, California, and a man was shot. And, a woman pepper sprayed a crowd around her injuring twenty people.

This is not an excerpt from a conservative blog post on the latest incidents of violence to occur as a result of the Occupy movement. This is what happened late last night and early this morning when shoppers were pushing their way through crowds to get the best deals from Big Box stores like Best Buy or Walmart.

We just want to make the world dance.

With many encampments still setup around the country, it is to be expected that there will be stories of occupations having Thanksgiving at their camps. Occupy Wall Street is preparing 5,000 meals that will be served on Thanksgiving.

A brief look at what’s happening in the news on the morning after Thanksgiving 2010.

I am so tired of seeing a pair of pants, or a sweater or sweatshirt, or even a passably wearable belt in my closet — only to try to put it on and realize there’s a reason I haven’t worn it in years. I’ve got lots of clothes for a smaller me. Today, they go.

This Friday 134 million American lemmings with credit cards will clog roads, parking lots, and cash registers, scurrying and reaching and inching along together to take hold of dead stuff. Then they’ll all reverse course, dragging the dead objects with them. This Friday 134 million American lemmings with credit cards will clog roads, parking lots, and cash registers, scurrying and reaching and inching along together to take hold of dead stuff. Then they’ll all reverse course, dragging the dead objects with them. Most of the objects they’ll burn lots of carbon to acquire travelled to America in huge ships burning lots of carbon (and toxic bunker fuel): manufacturing these objects burnt more carbon.

How else can we spend this Friday?

How did 43% of America’s population end up doing synchronized Anthropocene fire dances on a dangeously warming planet?

The usual suspects: Freud’s nephew and the Philadelphia Police Department.

A recent U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report found that non-food products and packaging are associated with 37 percent of America’s greenhouse-gas emissions – making it the largest source of greenhouse gases. A similar analysis by PPI puts that number closer to 44 percent when the emissions used to produce imported products are included.