Stuff I don't want suddenly on my Start page

In my Settings, I have only shortcuts to web sites I've visited. For a long time, that's all I've had. Since yesterday I suddenly have a bunch of stupid suggested news stories and articles that I have NO interest in. No matter how many of them I say I want to block, more come up. There's nothing in the Settings that allows me to turn them off. I DON'T WANT THIS CRAP ON MY HOME PAGE!!!!!! I have no idea who came up with this idea and thought it was good, but I will be forced to move to a different browser if this crap continues to appear on my home page. This has completely violated my trust in Firefox to be an unobtrusive, privacy focused browser. I'll say it again for those in the back... I ONLY WANT THE SHORTCUTS TO MY VISITED SITES NOT A BUNCH OF STUPID RECOMMENDATIONS!!!