The Week to Week News Quiz for 11/1/13

: The new number is $1.40 per meal; if he were a cat like that Alaskan mayor, this would be cool; and then a couple days later, another court reversed it; and it's less than half of the 2009 peak.
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Now that the government is back up and running, people might wish it weren't. Take our Week to Week news quiz and learn why.

Here are some random but real hints: The new number is $1.40 per meal; if he were a cat like that Alaskan mayor, this would be cool; and then a couple days later, another court reversed it; and it's less than half of the 2009 peak. Answers are at the bottom of the quiz.

1. What major change came to the food stamp program starting today?
a. A 2.3% cost-of-living increase
b. It was abolished as part of the government shutdown compromise
c. $5 billion was cut from the program
d. It is now being administered by the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that domestic terrorists don't take advantage of the program

2. What did Toronto police report having in their possession?
a. A bomb planted by terrorists
b. An abandoned iPhone 6 prototype, left in a Toronto coffee shop
c. The French ambassador
d. Video showing their mayor smoking crack

3. On Monday, a federal judge struck down what controversial law?
a. Texas' anti-abortion law
b. The Affordable Care Act
c. The Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act
d. Gauss's Law for Magnetism

4. What is Russia accused of doing at last month's G20 summit?
a. Giving out free USB sticks that were actually trojan horse surveillance tools
b. Blocking gay and lesbian delegates from attending the summit
c. Translating the German delegates' speeches into the Klingon language
d. Briefly kidnapping a UK delegate and interrogating her about an international oil deal that went bad, only releasing her after Britain and the U.S. made private inquiries

5. According to data released by the Treasury Department this week, what is the 2013 federal budget deficit?
a. $1 trillion
b. $1.3 trillion
c. $680 billion
d. $50 billion

6. Who took the top spot in Forbes' latest list of the world's most powerful people?
a. Barack Obama
b. Vladimir Putin
c. Pope Francis
d. Angela Merkel

7. Why did a Southern California driver who was pulled over for speeding receive an extra ticket?
a. She says the officer was angered by her "Tea Party for America" bumper sticker
b. She was wearing the Google Glass internet eyeglasses
c. She slapped the officer because she was angry he didn't recognize she was Lindsay Lohan
d. Her car was dragging a portable hot dog stand she had stolen

8. From whom did The New York Times reject an op-ed criticizing the new World Trade Center building?
a. President Barack Obama
b. Bill O'Reilly
c. Bansky
d. Ann Coulter

9. What punishment for a group of alleged rapists brought protestors to the streets of Nairobi, Kenya?
a. Death sentence
b. Castration
c. Life imprisonment
d. They had to mow the lawn of the police station

10. Though denied by the White House, what does the new book Double Down: Game Change 2012 claim about the Obama 2012 reelection campaign?
a. It received hundreds of millions of dollars from the Chinese government
b. It conducted polls to test the idea of replacing Joe Biden with Hillary Clinton on the ticket
c. Obama seriously considered replacing Joe Biden with Chuck Hagel to attract cross-party support
d. After his disastrous first debate, Obama cried for an hour

BONUS. Which of the following is a theory being bandied about as to the identity and use of an unknown floating structure in San Francisco Bay?
a. It holds overflow landfill waste
b. It will be a floating retail store for Google Glass
c. It is where Apple is hiding all of its unsold iPhone 5C devices
d. It is George Lucas' latest plan to offer mobile affordable housing

The news and the quizzes don't stop there! Join us Friday, November 8 in San Francisco for our live Week to Week political roundtable with a news quiz and a social hour at The Commonwealth Club. Panelists include Joe Garofoli, Debra J. Saunders, and Larry Gerston.

ANSWERS: 1) c. 2) d. 3) a. 4) a. 5) c. 6) b. 7) b. 8) c. 9) d. 10) b. BONUS) b.

Explanations of the hints The new number is $1.40 per meal: the $5 billion cut reduces the per-meal benefit from $1.50 to $1.40; if he were a cat like that Alaskan mayor, this would be cool: sorry to make light of a crack-smoking mayor, but cat videos are all the rage; and then a couple days later, another court reversed it: it's been courtroom ping pong for Texas' abortion law; and it's less than half of the 2009 peak: Treasury reported a $680 billion deficit, down from 2009's $1.4 trillion.

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