Questions

1. Rare earth minerals are a group of 17 metallic elements essential to the manufacture of multiple tech and defense products. They are found in everything from all but which one?
a) video game consoles
b) smartphones
c) incandescent light bulbs
d) electric vehicles

2. The U.S. signed a rare earths deal with Australia last week to:
a) avoid having to mine these minerals in the U.S.
b) help the Australian mining industry
c) use cheap labor to extract and refine the rare earth minerals
d) counter China's dominance of the market

3. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees in a January memo that the company was planning to eliminate 3,600 jobs. Zuckerberg told employees job cuts would be based on:
a) seniority
b) religion
c) race
d) performance

4. Meta told managers in a June memo to give 15% to 20% of employees who are part of large teams “below expectations” performance rating in their mid-year performance reviews to help it:
a) "ax those not pulling their weight"
b) "get rid of the dead wood"
c) "make exit decisions"
d) "blame the managers for employees getting fired"

5. During his weeklong trip to Asia, President Trump visited Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. While meeting with leaders in Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand finalized a peace deal and their prime ministers credited ___________ for establishing peace between their countries.
a) each other
b) President Trump
c) themselves
d) Malaysia's President Anwar Ibrahim

6. During Trump's trip, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan all signed ______________________ with the U.S.
a) rare earths and critical minerals agreements
b) deals to buy large quantities of U.S. soybeans
c) agreements to sell the U.S. nuclear weapons
d) agreements to block fentanyl-related chemicals from being exported to the U.S.

7. The federal government shut down began on October 1 because congressional Democrats blocked the passage of a continuing resolution. Democrats are demanding Republicans agree to include a permanent extension of Biden's enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, as well as remove the cuts Republicans made to Medicaid for:
a) the elderly and people with disabilities
b) children in low income households
c) undocumented immigrants and able-bodied young people who can work
d) seniors with income below the federal poverty level

8. The president of the American Federation of Government Employees union, which has more than 800,000 members, called on Democrats this week to:
a) "pass a clean continuing resolution and end this shutdown today"
b) "hold out until the Republicans give in to your demands"
c) "don't back down"
d) "fight fire with fire"

9. Jack Smith, special counsel to the Biden DOJ, conducted extensive investigations into multiple Republican individuals and groups associated with then-former President Trump, issuing numerous subpoenas for communications, financial records, and testimonies. Republicans are angry because the Biden FBI investigated individuals not involved in criminal activity and said they were solely targeted:
a) due to political affiliations
b) because they didn't vote for Biden for president
c) due to their religious beliefs
d) none of the above

10. Republicans are particularly disturbed by the seizure of phone records, subpoenaing of confidential information, and surveillance of their communications because there was:
a) no evidence that they were involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity
b) overwhelming evidence that they were involved in criminal activity
c) both a) and b)
d) neither a) nor b)