The Week to Week News Quiz for Friday, May 17, 2013

Scandals real and imagined rocked Washington this week. See how good of a muckraker you are by taking our news quiz.
This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. Contributors control their own work and posted freely to our site. If you need to flag this entry as abusive, send us an email.

Scandals real and imagined rocked Washington this week. See how good of a muckraker you are by taking our news quiz.

Here are some random but real hints: That would make it bankers 0, IRS employees 1; at least it was kicked off the front pages by the real scandals; if he actually succeeded, then this would be a great cover; and maybe each hour is like two hours. Answers are at the bottom of the quiz.

1. Journalists reacted in outrage that the FBI had snooped on what news organization?
a. United Press International
b. The New York Times
c. Fox News
d. Associated Press

2. Attorney General Eric Holder announced a criminal investigation into charges that the IRS had targeted whom for extra scrutiny?
a. Mitt Romney's family
b. Right-wing organizations seeking tax-exempt status
c. Manufacturers of pressure cookers
d. Muslim organizations seeking tax-exempt status

3. Who reacted to the IRS by asking, "Who's going to jail over this scandal?"
a. President Barack Obama
b. IRS Commissioner Steven Miller
c. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder
d. House Speaker John Boehner

4. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blamed anti-government forces for the shortage of what in his country?
a. Oil
b. Smartphones
c. Toilet paper
d. Missile technology

5. What did President Obama on Monday call "a sideshow"?
a. GOP criticism of IRS scrutiny of conservative groups
b. GOP criticism of Obamacare
c. GOP criticism of his administration's handling of the Benghazi attack
d. GOP criticism of Michelle Obama's bangs

6. According to estimates from Goldman Sachs, the U.S. federal budget deficit has changed from 13% of GDP in 2009 to what today?
a. 4.5%
b. 8%
c. 14%
d. 22%

7. According to a survey by Public Policy Polling, what percentage of Republicans who say Benghazi is the worst political scandal of all time don't know what country Bengahzi is in?
a. 39
b. 5
c. 10
d. 19

8. Why did Russia expel a U.S. diplomat on Tuesday?
a. It was retaliation for the U.S. expulsion last week of a Russian for spying
b. Russia was signaling its discontent with Western policy toward the Syria conflict
c. The diplomat allegedly was trying to recruit a Russian to spy for the U.S.
d. The U.S. levied $44 billion in duties on Russian goods

9. What did actress and filmmaker Angelina Jolie reveal in The New York Times this week?
a. She will direct a film based on the life of Hillary Clinton
b. She has not spoken to her father, Jon Voight, in 29 years
c. She and Brad Pitt are moving from their summer home in Africa due to the encroaching civil war there
d. She had a pre-emptive double mastectomy after she learned she carried a very high probability for breast cancer

10. Dr. Joyce Brothers died at the age of 85 this week. Before she became a popular public psychologist, on what game show did she make a name for herself?
a. The Gong Show
b. The $64,000 Question
c. Jeopardy
d. Family Feud

BONUS. What former TV series is getting a relaunch on Fox?
a. Star Trek
b. 24
c. Golden Girls
d. Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader?

If you like politics and news, join us this Friday, May 17, for our next live Week to Week political commentary program with a news quiz at The Commonwealth Club in downtown San Francisco, featuring Huffington Post's Aaron Sankin, San Francisco Examiner's Melissa Griffin, and San Francisco Chronicle's C.W. Nevius.

ANSWERS: 1) d. 2) b. 3) d. 4) c. 5) c. 6) a. 7) a. 8) c. 9) d. 10) b. BONUS) b.

EXPLANATIONS OF THE HINTS: In Washington, IRS criminals are treated more harshly than the people who collapsed the global economy; the IRS and FBI/AP scandals grabbed the headline space that had been used for the Benghazi flap; if the U.S. diplomat actually succeeded in turning the Russian agent into a double agent, but they made it look like he'd failed -- someone should call John le Carré; and 24 used to have each hour of the program represent one hour in the day, but only 12 episodes are to be shot of this revival series.

Popular in the Community

Close

What's Hot