Test your news I.Q.
Test your news I.Q.
If, like me, you’ve decided to ignore much of the real world in 2025, you might not be up for an early summer “Test Your News I.Q.” So I’ll give you a pass if you score a 0 this time around. Bear in mind that there will always be at least one correct answer to each question. Lay on, Macduff!
1.) After U.S. forces attacked Iran on June 21, what did President Donald Trump claim had been “completely and totally obliterated?”
a. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, at a recent Mar-a-Lago cocktail party
b. Joe Biden, after Trump ordered all traces of his predecessor eliminated from the White House
c. The Fordo, Isfahan and Natanz Iranian nuclear enrichment sites
d. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who testified before Congress that Iran is not close to developing a nuclear weapon
e. The English language, when spoken by Trump
2.) Who is Zohran Mamdani?
a. The new supervillain in the upcoming Marvel film, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps”
b. The Pittsburgh Steelers new quarterback, after Aaron Rodgers decided to retire because “it’s too hot here”
c. The newest member of Korean K-Pop band BTS
d. A Democratic Socialist candidate who took first place in the New York mayoral primary last week
e. The designer of a new, skimpy men’s “swim brief” that makes a Speedo look large
3.) Last week Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pulled support from the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the organization has “ignored the science.” Why is this statement notable?
a. Because while campaigning in 2024, President Trump said, “If I listened totally to the scientists, we would right now have a country that would be in a massive depression.”
b. Because video closeups of Kennedy as he made the announcement clearly show that Kennedy’s brain worm was actually the one speaking
c.) Because Trump has proposed 50% cuts to funding for the National Science Foundation in the areas for “climate; clean energy; woke social, behavioral, and economic sciences”
d.) Because “environment friendly” lightbulbs can cause cancer
e.) Because … Yeah, Mr. White! Science!”
4.) According to an NPR story, Gen Alpha members (those born from the early 2010s to the mid-2020s) have adopted the term “bruh,” a derivative of the familiar term “bro,” to refer to their “parents, or express sadness, frustration, happiness and seemingly everything under the sun.” When was the term “bro” first uttered?
a. By Sean Penn as surfer Jeff Spicoli in the 1982 film “Fast Times at Ridgemont High”
b) By author Joel Chandler Harris, whose collection of folklore tales included the character
“Br-er Rabbit”
c. According to Jesse Sheidlower, former editor-at-large of the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “bro” was first used in the 16th century as a term of respect.
d. By Pete Hegseth, when saying that U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear sites was, “Like, totally awesome, bruh!”
e. By playwright William Shakespeare, whose original draft of “Romeo and Juliet” includes this short scene, which was stricken from the finished play:
Romeo: “But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!”
Juliet: “Bruh, I just washed my hair, that’s all!”
5.) We’ve all heard the acronym FOMO, which means “Fear of Missing Out.” But there’s a new acronym being used, according to psychologist Michael Gervais. What is it?
a. FOPO — Fear of People’s Opinions
b. FRODO — Fear of being a Hobbit
c. FORK -Fear of Robert Kennedy Jr.
d. FOAR- Fear of Aaron Rodgers
e. FOUTMA — Fear of using too many acronyms