[fblike]
Here is this week’s Extemp Central news quiz. Good luck!
To access a list of all our old quizzes, click here.
1. Last week, this state’s attorney general announced that they would not defend the state’s constitutional amendment that prohibits gay marriage in court.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Virginia. Its new attorney general, Mark Herring, announced that he would side with plantiffs that are challenging the state’s 2006 constitutional amendment, called the Marshall-Newman Amendment, that prohibits gay marriage. Herring, who voted for the amendment while serving in the Virginia State Senate, has justified his move by saying that he does not want Virginia “to be on the wrong side of history.”[/toggle]
2. How many executive orders has President Obama in his first five years in office?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]167. By comparison, his predecessor George W. Bush had used 165 executive orders. For a great article on this subject from The Christian Science Monitor, click here.[/toggle]
3. What percentage of the Egyptian population that voted endorsed the country’s new constitution?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]98%. The election saw 38% of eligible voters turn out. The low turnout was due to the Muslim Brotherhood boycotting the election, which it argues is illegitimate.[/toggle]
4. According to former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican presidential nominee, this world leader is a better president than Barack Obama.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Vladimir Putin. Romney has argued that Putin has done better than President Obama regarding foreign affairs.[/toggle]
5. House and Senate Republicans are centering an inquiry about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeting conservatives on how this prospective 2010 Senate candidate’s tax records were improperly accessed.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Christine O’Donnell. O’Donnell was the Republican candidate for Delaware’s vacant Senate seat in 2010, which she lost to Democrat Chris Coons by sixteen points. During her 2010 campaign, the IRS placed a lien on a home that O’Donnell no longer owned and her opponents used this against her in the campaign. The IRS later blamed the lien on a computer glitch.[/toggle]
6. This company is under fire from gay rights advocates after its social media campaign banned the word “gay.”
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Coca-Cola. Gay rights groups argue that when someone entered the word “gay” on the company’s social media website, which allows users to see a message on a virtual can of Coke, the message “Oops. Let’s pretend you didn’t just type that,” appears. However, those entering the word “straight” saw no such message.[/toggle]
7. The former mayor of this city is facing bribery and corruption charges.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]New Orleans. Mayor Ray Nagin, who governed the city from May 2002-May 2010, is accused of taking bribes in office and tieing contracts for work in the city to political favors and gifts.[/toggle]
8. This recent suggestion by Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the status of Jewish settlers in the West Bank was condemned by his Israeli political opponents and Palestinian leadership.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Netanyahu suggested last week that Israeli settlers that wished to stay in the West Bank could live under Palestinian rule. The Palestinians argue all settlers must be removed from the West Bank because the settlements are illegal under international law. However, some think Netanyahu’s suggestion was mere rhetoric in trying to illustrate that Palestinians should allow Jews in their territory since Israel allows Palestinians in its territory.[/toggle]
9. What is the name of Tunisia’s moderate Islamist political party that governed the country in the aftermath of the Arab Spring?
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]The Ennahda Movement. It is the largest political party in Tunisia and recently worked to pass a new constitution with the help of secular and liberal opponents. It stepped down in January 2013 to create a new national constitution after opponents alleged it was trying to make Tunisia an Islamic state.[/toggle]
10. Ukrainian President Viktor Yaukovich offered this to opposition leaders to get them to call off protests against his rule.
[toggle title_open=”Close Me” title_closed=”Open Me” hide=”yes” border=”yes” style=”default” excerpt_length=”0″ read_more_text=”Read More” read_less_text=”Read Less” include_excerpt_html=”no”]Yanukovich reportedly offered opposition leaders important government positions, including the office of prime minister. However, opposition leaders say they will not accept concessions from Yanukovich that do not include early elections. Ukraine has been suffering from a two-month political standoff that has produced the worst violence since it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.[/toggle]