Be informed in the new year by taking our latest Week to Week news quiz.
Here are some random but real hints: Tell it to the judge; it shows the dangers of design by committee; Syriza has big hopes; and if Obama did this, the opposition would howl. Answers are below the quiz.
1. Former New York Governor Mario Cuomo -- father of current New York Governor Andrew Cuomo -- died this week. Which of the following is not a quote of Mario Cuomo's?
a. "He knows the tax code as thoroughly as the pope knows the Lord's Prayer."
b. "You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose."
c. "I have no plans, and no plans to plan."
d. "The price of seeking to force our beliefs on others is that someday they might force their beliefs on us."
2. After it lost a vote in the UN Security Council, what did Palestinian leaders do next?
a. Demanded the United States abstain from the next vote
b. Applied to join the International Criminal Court
c. Announced plans to seek a merger with the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
d. Ordered UN peacekeepers to leave its territory
3. What was the route of the AirAsia plane that went missing this week?
a. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Sydney, Australia
b. Jakarta, Indonesia, to Kiev, Ukraine
c. Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore
d. Singapore to Tokyo, Japan
4. Who invoked Jesus in a controversial tweet supporting @BlackLivesMatter this week?
a. Pope Francis
b. California Gov. Jerry Brown
c. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
d. Cornel West
5. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) said he regretted speaking to whom in 2002?
a. Planned Parenthood of Greater New Orleans
b. Planned Parenthood of Suburban New Orleans
c. The United Methodist Church
d. A white-supremacist organization founded by a former Ku Klux Klan leader
6. What has reportedly reduced members of the European Parliament to tears and made them miss appointments?
a. Each country's representatives uses their own local time zone for making appointments
b. Dealing with Germans
c. The futility of life in the face of the certainty of entropy
d. The confusing design of the Parliament's buildings, complete with secret elevators and stairways that twist into each other
7. What did an Episcopal bishop admit this week?
a. She was the driver in a hit-and-run accident that killed a bicyclist
b. She is converting to Roman Catholicism
c. She doesn't believe in anything
d. She has embezzled more than $4.6 million during her 13 years in office
8. Talk of a eurozone breakup is back in the headlines after snap elections were called where?
a. Germany
b. Greece
c. Spain
d. United Kingdom
9. What did a South Korean activist say he will do to try to change North Korea?
a. Use balloons to drop 100,000 video copies of the movie The Interview into North Korea
b. Legally adopt Dennis Rodman and make him a citizen of South Korea
c. Lead a private army across the DMZ and create a new "unified Korean state"
d. Infect North Korean computers with a "love bug"
10. Why was U.S. Senator Harry Reid sent to the hospital New Years Day?
a. He got into a fight with incoming Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
b. He injured himself while exercising at home
c. He strained a leg muscle while trying to spin his party's performance in the November election blowout
d. He broke three ribs after being jostled by shoppers at the Reno ValuMall
BONUS. Which one of the following is a real headline from this past week?
a. Argentina's President 'Adopts' Boy to End Werewolf Curse
b. China to USA: Card Declined
c. Rush Limbaugh to Pen Own Spy Novel Series
d. First Exorcism Held in U.S. Capitol Since 1949
Want the live news quiz experience? Join us Wednesday, January 14 in downtown San Francisco for our next live Week to Week political roundtable with a news quiz and a social hour at The Commonwealth Club of California. In this special edition of Week to Week, we'll have the exclusive unveiling of a new Hoover poll of California residents. Panelists include Lanhee J. Chen, Carson Bruno, and Bill Whalen.
ANSWERS:
1) a (that's actually from the late U.S. Senator William Proxmire).
2) b.
3) c.
4) c.
5) d.
6) d.
7) a.
8) b.
9) a.
10) b.
BONUS) a (in all fairness, this NBC News headline turned out to be sort of wrong, but not quite as crazily wrong as you would hope).
Explanations of the hints: Tell it to the judge: the Palestinians applied to join the ICC, which sets up a clash with Israel over war crimes charges; it shows the dangers of design by committee: the building is apparently so bewilderingly confusing, parliamentarians complain about being late for meetings and getting lost; Syriza has big hopes: the left-wing radical party Syriza is expected to perform well in the snap elections, possibly even winning the most seats; and if Obama did this, the opposition would howl: it is actually a long tradition of the Argentine president "adopting" the seventh son in families and providing scholarship help, and it was (erroneously) connected by some media reports with the belief that the seventh son was susceptible to becoming a werewolf.