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 …

For Janet Yellen, nomination may be easy part  —  President Barack Obama will likely nominate Janet Yellen soon as the next chairman of the Federal Reserve.  Yellen, the current vice chairman of the central bank, should enjoy uniform Democratic support and will almost certainly pick …

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.

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 …

More SNAP Judgments  —  Thanks to the commenter who suggested this title.  I want to say some more about the SNAP program, and how utterly unjustified the attack on the program really is.  —  First, another look at trends in the program over time, this time in terms of spending as a share of GDP:

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.