Cruz: A vote for cloture is a vote for Obamacare  —  Sen. Ted Cruz on Sunday reiterated his commitment to blocking a procedural Senate vote on a House-approved spending bill, saying that Senate Democrats would have too much leeway to add in funding for Obamacare.

Conflicting reports emerge about exact role Israelis are playing; Kenya attack death toll rises to 59, as standoff with Qaida-linked group continues.  —  Israeli advisers are helping Kenya formulate a strategy to end a siege at a Nairobi shopping mall where Islamist militants have killed …

Pelosi says ‘the cupboard is bare’  —  House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says that while deficit reduction is a laudable goal, there are precious few spending cuts left to negotiate in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.  —  “The cupboard is bare,” the California Democrat …

Hillary in Midair  —  She's learned from her mistakes.  Three years before November 8, 2016, she's working hard to be relaxed, calm, easy.  But, all the while, the old Clinton gears are whirring.  —  For four years, Hillary Rodham Clinton flew around the world as President Barack Obama's secretary …

America's Billionaire  —  WASHINGTON — WHEN you're trapped in a city with House Republican gargoyles who don't understand math or history, much less reality, sometimes you crave a dose of grandfatherly wisdom.  —  Speaker John Boehner, trapped under the thumb of Tea Party anarchists …

Obama: Negotiating with Republicans over debt ceiling ‘is not going to happen’  —  President Obama gave a rousing speech at the annual Congressional Black Caucus dinner on Saturday, pledging not to negotiate with Republicans over raising the debt ceiling.  —  Obama said Republicans in Congress …

Snowden leaks help NSA critics in government surveillance lawsuits  —  For years, the government has successfully suppressed lawsuits by civil liberties groups challenging the constitutionality of its surveillance programs.  —  But the leaks by Edward Snowden have eroded the government's key legal defense …

Pakistan church blast kills dozens  —  A bomb blast outside a church in the Pakistani city of Peshawar has killed at least 60 people and injured more than 100 others, officials say.  —  They say two suicide bombers blew themselves up as people were coming out after Sunday Mass.

Connecticut School Takes Children on Field Trip to Reenact Slavery and Called Them the N-Word  —  It was revealed this week that a school from Connecticut took their students on a field trip last November where the students reenacted slavery and had their teachers call them the N-word.

The food stamps program  —  In an ideal policy world, would food stamps exist as a program separate from cash transfers?  Probably not.  But as it stands today, they are still one of the more efficient programs of the welfare state and the means-testing seems to work relatively well.