A highly negative presidential campaign
This was the most negative presidential campaign in modern history. A full 86 percent of President Obama’s television ads and 79 percent of Mitt Romney’s were negative. By comparison, Obama and John McCain spent an average of 69 percent of their TV budgets on negative ads in 2008, and George W. Bush and John Kerry spent 58 percent in 2004.
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The rich leave China
China is facing an exodus of its richest citizens to Australia, Canada, and the U.S. A recent survey found that 16 percent of Chinese citizens worth more than $1.6 million have obtained foreign residency, and an additional 44 percent are planning to emigrate. They cited pollution, endemic corruption, and poor medical care among their reasons for wanting out.
Los Angeles Times
FEMA program owes billions
The National Flood Insurance Program, administered by FEMA because private insurers want no part of it, has been unable to collect enough premiums to cover the destruction of coastal homes and businesses since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The program is $18 billion in debt to the U.S. Treasury.
Pacific Standard
Obama's presidential pardons
President Obama has been very stingy in dispensing presidential pardons, pardoning just 22 individuals while denying 1,019. He has granted pardons to roughly 1 of every 50 applications. At this point in their presidencies, Ronald Reagan had pardoned 1 of every 3 applicants, George H.W. Bush had pardoned 1 in 16, Bill Clinton had pardoned 1 in 8, and George W. Bush had pardoned 1 in 33.
ProPublica.org
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One great cookbook: Joshua McFadden’s ‘Six Seasons of Pasta’the week recommends The pasta you know and love. But ever so much better.
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Scientists are worried about amoebasUnder the radar Small and very mighty
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Buddhist monks’ US walk for peaceUnder the Radar Crowds have turned out on the roads from California to Washington and ‘millions are finding hope in their journey’
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The billionaires’ wealth tax: a catastrophe for California?Talking Point Peter Thiel and Larry Page preparing to change state residency
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Bari Weiss’ ‘60 Minutes’ scandal is about more than one reportIN THE SPOTLIGHT By blocking an approved segment on a controversial prison holding US deportees in El Salvador, the editor-in-chief of CBS News has become the main story
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Has Zohran Mamdani shown the Democrats how to win again?Today’s Big Question New York City mayoral election touted as victory for left-wing populists but moderate centrist wins elsewhere present more complex path for Democratic Party
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Millions turn out for anti-Trump ‘No Kings’ ralliesSpeed Read An estimated 7 million people participated, 2 million more than at the first ‘No Kings’ protest in June
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Ghislaine Maxwell: angling for a Trump pardonTalking Point Convicted sex trafficker's testimony could shed new light on president's links to Jeffrey Epstein
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The last words and final moments of 40 presidentsThe Explainer Some are eloquent quotes worthy of the holders of the highest office in the nation, and others... aren't
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The JFK files: the truth at last?In The Spotlight More than 64,000 previously classified documents relating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy have been released by the Trump administration
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'Seriously, not literally': how should the world take Donald Trump?Today's big question White House rhetoric and reality look likely to become increasingly blurred
