Forget Black Friday and Cyber Monday; it's time for News Quiz Everyday, which doesn't make much sense, but take our latest Week to Week news quiz and it will help you make more sense of the world.
Here are some random but real hints: Trump is tougher on his contestants; our gain is their pain; liberal Democrats then needed complete transplants; and the hype is strong with this one. Answers are below the quiz.
1. At least 35 people were killed and 150 injured in an attack where?
a. Ferguson, Missouri
b. Austin, Texas
c. Nako, Nigeria
d. Kiev, Ukraine
2. When Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced his resignation plans, who said it is the "appropriate time for him to complete his service"?
a. Senator John McCain
b. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
c. Former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta
d. President Barack Obama
3. What is costing Russia up to $100 billion a year?
a. Military assistance to Ukrainian rebels
b. Personal security costs for Russian President Vladimir Putin
c. The falling price of oil
d. Funding cyber-warfare attacks on Western governments and businesses
4. Who used a speech to the European Parliament to complain that Europe was like a "grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant" and risked "slowly losing its own soul"?
a. Pope Francis
b. German Chancellor Angela Merkel
c. Conservative commentator George Will
d. British Prime Minister David Cameron
5. Who commented on the events in Ferguson by saying "Racial discrimination, racial and ethnic tensions are major challenges to the American democracy, to stability and integrity of the American society"?
a. President Barack Obama
b. Televangelist Pat Robertson
c. Russian human rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov
d. California Governor Jerry Brown
6. Who told a meeting on women and justice that "You cannot put women and men on an equal footing. It is against nature. They were created differently. Their nature is different. Their constitution is different"?
a. Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan
b. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
c. Hugh Hefner
d. Senator Rand Paul
7. Who underwent surgery Wednesday to place a stent in their heart?
a. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg
b. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
c. Conservative commentator Bill O'Reilly
d. Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej
8. How does DNA pioneer James Watson expect to pay for new scientific projects?
a. He is the first-ever Facebook Chair of Applied Physics at Stanford University
b. He expects to raise $3.5 million by selling his Nobel Prize
c. He made an agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin to give that country priority on all discoveries from the projects
d. He has made $16.4 million in stock trading since the Great Recession
9. The European Parliament is considering a proposal to force the breakup of what?
a. The European Union
b. Ukraine
c. Greece
d. Google
10. A gunman was captured after he fired at the Mexican Consulate in what city?
a. Ferguson, Missouri
b. Austin, Texas
c. Nako, Nigeria
d. Kiev, Ukraine
BONUS. On Friday, people around the world were looking for details by studying every second of what short film?
a. Authorities in Texas released a newly discovered film showing the JFK assassination from a hitherto unseen angle
b. The first trailer for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens
c. Tea party activists released a YouTube video purporting to show Barack Obama's father celebrating his son's birth in Kenya
d. The U.S. government shared a video showing dozens of Russian troop transports crossing the Ukrainian border
Want the live news quiz experience? Join me Monday, December 1 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. Panelists include the San Francisco Chronicle's Carla Marinucci, KQED's Scott Shafer, and Hoover Institution's Bill Whalen.
ANSWERS:
1) c.
2) d.
3) c.
4) a (He added that "The great ideas which once inspired Europe seem to have lost their attraction, only to be replaced by the bureaucratic technicalities of its institutions").
5) c.
6) a.
7) a.
8) b.
9) d.
10) b.
BONUS) b.
Explanations of the hints: Trump is tougher on his contestants: When Barack Obama fired his defense secretary, he did so with official kind words; our gain is their pain: the fall in oil prices has greatly aided Western economies, but it is compounding the economic problems in Russia, which is already hurting from Western sanctions; liberal Democrats then needed complete transplants: the news of Ginsburg's surgery was not welcomed by liberals who have fretted about her ability to survive until Democrats retake the Senate and regain control over Supreme Court nominations; and the hype is strong with this one: not even a new Zapruder film would be as eagerly anticipated as the next Star Wars feature.