It’s always a challenge upon returning home from an unexpectedly long trip to determine which foodstuffs are edible, and which need to be thrown out. This is the process whereby I had a Pecan Log for breakfast. But here are some items from the news pantry:

* Never having watched Game of Thrones, I am unsure about the deeper significance of the decapitated-head-of-W. scene. But it will clearly occupy a permanent niche in the Liberal Media Bias Museum.

* Confessore totes up Adelson spending: $35 million and counting.

* Gallup reports Americans still assign more blame to Bush than Obama for economic problems. No wonder Obama still brings up his predecessor.

* Malkin and Williams slug it out on Hannity show.

* Scott Walker admits individual mandate might be necessary for state-based health reform. More about this later.

And in non-political news:

* $241 million Powerball ticket sold at Hy-Vee in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Back in a bit.

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Ed Kilgore is a political columnist for New York and managing editor at the Democratic Strategist website. He was a contributing writer at the Washington Monthly from January 2012 until November 2015, and was the principal contributor to the Political Animal blog.