The New Republic

You might not know it from the sleepy diagonal avenues of Washington, DC, but today is election day in several places around the country. Here are the battles to watch: MISSISSIPPI Ballot Referenda Personhood READ MORE >>

Have any plans for this Saturday? The nearly 100,000 people who have pledged to take part in Bank Transfer Day certainly do: closing their bank accounts. The idea is to punish “Too Big to Fail” banks by instigating a mass exodus to smaller credit unions and community banks. Though not technically affiliated with Occupy Wall Street, it’s a practical expression of the anti-bank anger the movement has wrought. READ MORE >>

Will and Kate they are not. After an all-too-brief 72 days, Kim Kardashian’s latest marriage has ended, irreparably broken. Alas, what began as a fairy-tale affair between the reality television princess and NBA “star” Kris Humphries appears now to be little more than a “kash” transfer. According to several reports, the marriage ruptured because Kardashian felt Humphries was mooching off her family’s $65 million 2010 income. READ MORE >>

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On Wednesday a divided Congress agreed to sign free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea that are meant to boost U.S. exports and investment in foreign business by reducing tariffs and other protectionist barriers. While business leaders and some trade unions—auto manufacturers, in particular—are united in support of the deals, many think they will hamper U.S. employment by opening up workers to competition from cheap foreign jobs. READ MORE >>

On Tuesday night, the American Jobs Act (AJA) died—the Senate voted 50-49 in favor of President Obama’s jobs bill, leaving it well short of the filibuster-proof majority it would have needed to pass. Individual parts of the bill may yet be voted into law, but it’s safe to say that none of them will involve large spending measures. That outcome will please Republicans and some centrist Democrats, but also an unlikely set of traditional Obama allies: education reformers. READ MORE >>

[Guest post by Simon van Zuylen-Wood]  READ MORE >>

[Guest Post by Simon van Zuylen-Wood] Well, we can’t ignore him any longer. Lost in the flurry of Ponzi schemes and shotgun HPV testing, Herman Cain has quietly crept onto the leaderboard of the GOP presidential field with an upset in last week’s Florida Straw Poll and a strong third-place showing in a recent Fox News survey. READ MORE >>

[Guest post by Simon van Zuylen-Wood] READ MORE >>