1) At a hearing last week, Congress grilled the outgoing commissioner of what agency?
b) IRS
The questions related to the IRS’ handling of applications for tax exempt status filed by various Tea Party-related groups. The commissioner, Steven Miller, was forced to resign earlier in the week.
https://www.cnn.com/2013/05/17/politics/camp-irs-hearing
2) Last week, ABC News did a story on the White House’s handling of the Benghazi attacks. The story was based on several leaked White House emails, but it turns out that the emails leaked to ABC were doctored. What group leaked the doctored emails?
d) Congressional Republicans
After the report, the White House voluntarily released the original emails which proved that the leaked emails were doctored.
3) The Justice Department is currently being criticized for subpoenaing the telephone records of what news agency?
b) Associated Press
The Justice Department apparently wanted the records to determine the source of a government leak. Critics claim that the Justice Department’s subpoena violates the First Amendment.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/05/13/justice-department-secretly-obtains-ap-phone-records/
4) The Congressional Budget Office made a surprising announcement last week. What was it?
d) The deficit is shrinking much faster than expected.
The CBO now projects the 2013 deficit to be $200 billion less than it projected two months ago. It also projects that the annual deficit will shrink to about 2.1% of GDP by 2015, down over 10% in 2009. The CBO’s projection changed because of increased government revenue over the last two months, which is the result of more taxes being paid by individuals and businesses and loan repayments from bailed-out mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/15/business/cbo-cuts-2013-deficit-estimate-by-24-percent.html?_r=0
5) Former Governor Mark Sanford recently defeated Stephen Colbert’s sister – Elizabeth Colbert Busch - in a special election for a seat in the House of Representatives. Sanford was elected from (and was formerly governor of) what state?
d) South Carolina
The married Sanford was forced to resign as governor when it was learned that he was visiting his girlfriend in Argentina while he was supposedly hiking the Appalachian Trail.
6) What state became the twelfth state to legalize gay marriage last week?
a) Minnesota
Some have speculated that Illinois will also legalize gay marriage this year.
https://www.worldmag.com/2013/05/minnesota_legalizes_gay_marriage
7) According to a Thursday announcement, what country has been supplying missiles to Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad?
c) Russia
The missiles will make it for difficult for foreign forces to supply the Syrian rebels by sea.
8) Whom did Forbes magazine recently rank as the richest man in the world?
d) Bill Gates
Gates retook the position from Mexican telecommunications entrepreneur Carlos Slim.
9) What professional athlete retired last week?
c) David Beckham
Beckham finished his career by helping Paris Saint-German win the French championship.
10) What actress announced last week that she recently had a double mastectomy?
a) Angelina Jolie
Jolie underwent the procedure because she was told by doctors that she had a mutated BRCA1 gene which gave her an 87 percent chance of contracting breast cancer. https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/14/double-mastectomy-angelina-jolie-_n_3270390.html#slide=1583994