If you invited Bill Maher, Angela Merkel, and Saxby Chambliss to dinner, your table conversation would put you in good stead for passing this week's news quiz (assuming you speak some German). Take our Week to Week quiz and satisfy your news hunger. Here are some random hints: Ted and David are probably Washington-bound; Angie wants to get closer; loose lips sync bipartisanships; and they wouldn't allow that in a Greek version of The View. That help at all?
Put those hints to good use and take the test. Answers are at the bottom of the quiz.
1. On Thursday, who said they would do "whatever necessary" if the crisis in the eurozone spreads?
a) The Chinese government
b) House Republicans
c) Deutsche Bank
d) Ben Bernanke and the Federal Reserve
2. Famed fantasy author Ray Bradbury passed away at the age of 91. Which of the following works was not authored by this legendary writer?
a) Fahrenheit 451
b) The Martian Chronicles
c) The Foundation Trilogy
d) Dandelion Wine
3. On Tuesday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a plea for an "en banc" review of the court's rejection of Proposition 8. What does that mean?
a) The court will instead do an "a la carte" review of the ruling
b) Gay marriages performed in the state are officially annulled
c) Gay marriage is now legal in California
d) The case is being appealed next to the U.S. Supreme Court
4. Who won in Tuesday's voting in Wisconsin?
a) Governor Scott Walker was reelected and the Democrats took control of the state assembly
b) Governor Scott Walker was reelected and his party retained control of the state senate
c) Governor Scott Walker was reelected and the Democrats took control of the state senate
d) The Koch brothers
5. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, under pressure from her allies to change her approach to the European debt crisis, announced a plan this week. What was it?
a) Lower the age of retirement to 60 for all European countries
b) Force Greece out of the eurozone
c) Germany agrees to some sharing of eurozone debts in return for closer political coordination between the nations there, even if that means a "two-speed Europe"
d) Force German banks to buy Greece's outstanding debt, and work with the International Monetary Fund to set up continent-wide "bad banks" to handle the bad loans
6. The Clinton political machine is sniping about political gaffes that have undermined President Obama's campaign message this week. Who made the gaffes?
a) Joe Biden
b) Bill Maher
c) Michelle Obama
d) Bill Clinton
7. Democrats and Republicans stopped fighting each other this week in time to unite against a common enemy. Whom did Democrat Dianne Feinstein, Republican Saxby Chambliss, and others criticize?
a) Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
b) The White House for intelligence leaks
c) Rush Limbaugh
d) Filmmaker Michael Moore
8. Rudy Eugene, the man shot dead by police after biting off most of a homeless man's face in Florida last week, might have been under the influence of a new drug called "Cloud Nine," according to police. Eugene's girlfriend offered one other possibility; what was it?
a) Eugene was trying to help the homeless man, who had been attacked by someone else
b) The homeless man had actually attacked Eugene
c) Someone put a voodoo curse on Eugene
d) He was set up by the police
9. Comedian and political commentator Bill Maher has been breaking out the checkbook a lot this year. He gave $1 million to the Obama reelection campaign. And now it's been announced that he has purchased a minority interest in what?
a) HBO
b) The New York Mets baseball team
c) Playboy
d) Crossroads GPS
10. What did Ilias Kasidaris, member of the extremist right-wing Golden Dawn party in Greece, do this week on live TV?
a) He performed the Nazi salute
b) He claimed that President Obama makes people gay
c) He threw a glass of water at a leftwing guest on the talk show and repeatedly slapped another
d) He defected to Spain
BONUS QUESTION: In Brazil, a family holding a funeral for its 2-year-old son was surprised when what happened?
a) The boy sat up and asked for a drink of water
b) They videotaped the child's spirit rise out of his body and ascend to heaven
c) Most of the funeral attendees died from food poisoning
d) They discovered that the morgue had switched corpses, replacing their son with a girl
Is that still not enough news for you? Join us for each of our Week to Week news commentary programs at The Commonwealth Club's San Francisco auditorium. See the Week to Week website for our June 29 program, additional event dates, audio, and more.
ANSWERS: 1) d. 2) c. 3) d. 4) c (though d is understandable). 5) c. 6) d. (more than a little forehead-smacking among the Clinton team). 7) b. 8) c. 9) b. 10) c. (he then fled the studio, and police issued a warrant for his arrest). BONUS: a (yep; then the boy lay back down and died; the hospital had mistakenly pronounced him dead earlier and given the body to his family).