* BP to pay $4.5 billion in Deepwater Horizon oil spill settlement and plead guilty to 11 counts of felony misconduct. * Romney bookends his campaign with an apology to donors, blames the 47% for his loss. * Playboy talks with Stephen Colbert about staying alive and being funny, despite everything. * Kurt
These days, everyone seems to enjoy tending chickens and eating local. But lifestyles are rarely ways of life, and the grain that goes into our daily bread is still easiest to obtain from giant operations. Visiting a dying small farm shows why.
* Chuck Klosterman explains why some people believe he accidentally forced the resignation of the head of the CIA. * Petraeus's mistress's email password hacked in 17 hours with publicly available tools. * Three Israelis killed by rocket-fire from Gaza, where 11 Palestinians have died in air strikes.
* In upcoming fiscal talks, President Obama reaffirms campaign promise that he'll fight for the middle class. * When your boss is Obama—who doesn't relinquish big decisions—it doesn't matter who the next secretary of state is. * RedState addresses its readers: "Too many people
North Korea's prison camps are roundly condemned as heinous, but remain untouched. When an idealistic young reporter takes on a mission to help shut them down—bearing Hemingway and Vollmann in mind—he winds up on the doorstep of the Embassy of the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.
* CIA publishes new informational brochure, “How to Tell if You’re Involved in the Petraeus Scandal.” * Handy flowchart guide to the Petraeus affair. * In Texas, 77,000 sign petition to secede from the union. * France's Hollande now bringing in a massive corporate tax rebate, warning the state will
(One clue to get you started: The map doesn’t represent gross national anything.) {image-6} [Answer]
* U.S. to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer by about 2017. * Overview of what's happening at the BBC. * Newspaper reactions from 1909 when the English Channel was crossed in an aircraft for the very first time. * Berlusconi's latest showgirl gunning for
* Two weeks after Sandy, pockets of misery. * For those displaced by war, refugee camps are a recurring way of life—and worry for the young is constant. * What could save us from the fiscal cliff: Mitt Romney's plan to limit overall tax deductions. * Q&A with Al
* Fuel-efficiency rules and fracking will make the U.S. the world's largest oil exporter by 2020. * Horrific images from Syria in ruins—a reminder of how the civil war's brutality is worsening in places. * Another way to support Sandy victims: Donate your vacation time. * With
