News Quiz: 2015’s Major Events

1. President Obama will send additional forces to Iraq to fight ISIS:

a) Within 100 days of his State of the Union message

b) Only in some neoconservatives’ wildest dreams

c) Covertly

d) Before Jeb Bush officially kicks off his campaign for the GOP nomination on his father’s 91st birthday, in mid-June

2. By year’s end, who will have the upper hand in Iraq?

a) The U.S. Army

b) The Kurdish peshmerga

c) Iran-backed Shi’ite militias

d) The Iraqi army

e) None of the above

3. This aging Monarch will finally give up the throne in 2015:

a) The U.K.’s Queen Elizabeth II

b) Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah

c) Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant

d) Malaysia’s Abdul Halim

4. Pope Francis’ visit to Philadelphia in September will be remembered most for:

a) The million-person crowd on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway

b) A private audience with victims of pedophile priests

c) The long list of 2016 presidential candidates jockeying to appear close to the Holy Father

d) His stirring homily about Net neutrality

5. Which of the following will prove to be the premium commodity of 2015?

a) Billboard space in Silicon Valley

b) Shale-oil-carrying railroad tank cars

c) 3-D printers

d) Land and condos in Miami

6. In July, NASA’s New Horizons probe will:

a) Lift off

b) Arrive at Jupiter’s moon Europa

c) Begin its exploration of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt

d) Continue its study of comet 67P while in elliptical orbit

7. Hillary Clinton’s Chief Antagonist in the Democratic party in 2015 will be:

a) Jerry Brown

b) James Webb

c) Bill Clinton

d) Elizabeth Warren

8. Republicans in Congress will:

a) Prove just as unable to pass legislation in the majority as they were in the minority

b) Vote to curtail tax breaks for wind and solar energy under pressure from the Koch brothers

c) Appoint a special committee to investigate evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors by Barack Obama

d) Fail to repeal Obamacare or overturn Obama’s immigration orders

9. The Apple Watch, which goes on sale in 2015, will:

a) Be the biggest new technology launch since the iPad

b) Fail, crippling CEO Tim Cook’s ability to lead the company into new areas

c) Lead to a wave of distracted-driver, distracted-walker and distracted-spouse accidents

d) Finally kick-start the wearable-tech revolution

10. The surprise in Star Wars: The force awakens will be:

a) The whole thing is shot in Instagram with a Sierra filter

b) The cantina band is still playing the same damn song

c) No actor is harmed by that new three-prong lightsaber

d) Galaxy is revealed to be “in the near future” and “not too far away”

Editors’ predictions: 1. a; 2. e; 3. c; 4. c; 5. d; 6. c; 7. d; 8. b; 9. d; 10. c