The Week of January 18, 2026 by CoenM

Description


Instructions

Answer the questions below to the best of your ability without using outside resources. Outside references include (but certainly are not limited to) searching for an answer on the internet, looking at maps, using a calculator, or asking a friend (or foe) if they know the answer. Basically, you are relying on your brain (and maybe a pencil and paper).

For each correct answer, you will receive 15 points. You must also mark 5 questions as "money" questions. For each money question that you answer correctly, you will receive bonus points equal to the percent of players who answered incorrectly. (That is, if 25% of players got a question right, its money bonus would be worth 75 points.) You still don't get any points for a wrong answer, though, so try to select the hardest questions you think you have answered correctly. (Note: You can't use outside resources to help pick your money questions either.)

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Questions

Question 1

The killing of VA nurse Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis led several Senate Democrats to threaten a partial government shutdown by not voting to approve an appropriations bill that includes funding for what CABINET DEPARTMENT?


Question 2

A whistleblower revealed details of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement memo approving the forceable entry of homes with an administrative warrant, which is not signed by a judge. This was argued by Constitutional scholars to be a violation of what CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT that bans unlawful search and seizures?


Question 3

Over 600,000 people were displaced or otherwise affected by flooding in what AFRICAN COUNTRY, where the Gaza and Maputo provinces were inundated when the Limpopo and other rivers rose over their banks?


Question 4

The US completed its withdrawal from what INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION, one year after Donald Trump announced it? The US cited organizational failures during the Covid-19 pandemic and that no American had ever led the organization as reasons for the withdrawal.


Question 5

Donald Trump found time this week to file a $5 billion lawsuit against what LARGEST BANK IN THE US for allegedly dropping him as a client in the wake of the January 6 riots? The suit also names bank CEO Jamie Dimon as a defendant.


Question 6

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called for a snap parliamentary election in what COUNTRY, where she hopes the public will return her Liberal Democratic Party to power so she can institute planned economic reforms?


Question 7

TikTok finalized the deal that sold a majority of its US operations to a group of investors, including what COMPANY owned by Larry Ellison that has been storing TikTok's US data since 2022?


Question 8

What MOVIE earned a record 16 nominations for the 98th Academy Awards? Ryan Coogler may win three of them for writing, directing, and producing the film.


Question 9

Your MaxiMini-Theme of the Week: Snow Go. Donald Trump used the World Economic Forum at Davos to announce that 59 countries have signed on to what BODY originally created to oversee the cease fire in Gaza but now being positioned for a broader conflict resolution role?


Question 10

What WORLD LEADER rebutted Donald Trump's long and meandering speech at Davos by noting that the current rules-based international order is being replaced by "great powers," and that middle powers need to work together? The speech led Trump to disinvite Canada from joining the organization from the previous question.


Question 11

Leaders in several NATO-member nations strongly rebuked comments made by Trump in an interview from Davos where he suggested that non-US troops "stayed a little back" during post-9/11 fighting in what ASIAN COUNTRY?


Question 12

Trump also announced a "framework for a future deal" on Greenland, negotiated not with Danish leadership but with what NATO SECRETARY GENERAL and former prime minister of the Netherlands?