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NRA
an American nonprofit organization that advocates for gun rights -
WMD’s
A weapon of mass destruction is a nuclear, radiological, chemical, biological or other weapon that can kill and bring significant harm to a large number of humans or cause great damage to human-made structures, natural structures, or the biosphere -
Abu Ghraib Prison
Abu Ghraib prison now known as The Baghdad Central Prison, was a prison complex in Abu Ghraib, an Iraqi city 32 km west of Baghdad that operated from its construction in the 1950s until its closure in the 2010s. -
Ross Perot
an American business magnate and former politician. As the founder of Electronic Data Systems, he became a billionaire -
yasser afrat
the Palestinian statesman who was the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. -
PLO
Palestinian Liberation Organization, was formed in 1964 with the purpose of creating a homeland for Palestinians in Israel. -
West Bank and the Gaza Strip
Palestinian territories and occupied Palestinian territories -
Nuclear Proliferation
he spread of nuclear weapons, fissionable material, and weapons-applicable nuclear technology and information to nations not recognized as "Nuclear Weapon States" by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT -
AIDS
started with gay men and was labeled the "gay plague," but soon began to affect drug users, hemophiliacs, and minorities -
California V Bakke
Supreme Court case ruled that a university's use of racial "quotas" in its admissions process was unconstitutional -
Sandinistas
members of a leftist coalition that overthrew the Nicaraguan dictatorship of Anastasia Somoza in 1979 and attempted to install a socialist economy. -
Religious Fundamentalism
characterized by a return to fundamental principles, by rigid adherence to those principles, and often by intolerance of other views and opposition to secularism -
Moral Majority
political group made up of fundamentalist Christians -
Saddam Hussein
Iraq's tyrant leader at the time of the War on Terror -
Walter Mondale
Walter Frederick "Fritz" Mondale is an American politician, diplomat and lawyer who served as the 42nd Vice President of the United States -
PACTO Strike
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization or PATCO was a United States trade union that operated from 1968 until its decertification in 1981 following a strike that was declared illegal and broken by the Reagan Administration -
Economic Recovery Tax Act
"Kemp–Roth Tax Cut", was a federal law enacted in the United States -
Trickle-Down Economics
theory that advocates reducing taxes on businesses and the wealthy in society as a means to stimulate business investment in the short term and benefit society at large in the long term -
Beirut Bombings
a suicide attack that occurred on October 23, 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War -
Failure of Health Reform (1990’s)
plan by clinton that failed -
Boland Amendment
a term describing three U.S. legislative amendments between 1982 and 1984, all aimed at limiting U.S. government assistance to the Contras in Nicaragua -
SDI
The Strategic Defense Initiative was a proposed missile defense system intended to protect the United States from attack by ballistic strategic nuclear weapons -
Enron
Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas -
John Kerry
John Forbes Kerry is an American politician who served as the 68th United States Secretary of State -
Glasnost & Perestroika
Perestroika refers to the reconstruction of the political and economic system established by the Communist Party -
Immigration Act of 1986
The law criminalized the act of engaging in a "pattern or practice" of knowingly hiring an "unauthorized alien" and established financial and other penalties for those employing illegal immigrants under the theory that low prospects for employment would reduce undocumented immigration. -
William Rehnquist
an American lawyer and jurist who served on the Supreme Court of the United States for 33 years -
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Arizona, a seat he was first elected to in 1986. -
“Tear down this wall”
called to break down the Berlin wall -
Iran-Contra Affair
a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan Administration -
Citizens United
the organization won a U.S. Supreme Court case which struck down as unconstitutional a federal law prohibiting corporations and unions from making expenditures in connection with federal elections -
Al-Qaeda
Al-Qaeda is a militant Sunni Islamist multi-national organization founded in 1988 by Osama bin Laden -
INF Agreement
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is the abbreviated name of the Treaty Between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics -
Bosnia and Kosovo
he Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started in late February 1998 -
“Read my lips, no new taxes.”
a phrase spoken by then-American presidential candidate George H. W. Bush at the 1988 Republican National Convention as he accepted the nomination on August 18 -
Panama Invasion
attempt to overthrow military dictator Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges and was accused of suppressing democracy in Panama and endangering U.S. nationals -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
On November 9, 1989, as the Cold War began to thaw across Eastern Europe, the spokesman for East Berlin's Communist Party announced a change in his city's relations with the West. Starting at midnight that day, he said, citizens of the GDR were free to cross the country's borders. -
Tiananmen Square
commonly known in mainland China as the June Fourth Incident, were student-led demonstrations in Beijing, the capital of the People's Republic of China -
Ronald Reagan
40th president -
Breakup of the Soviet Union
The dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred on December 26, 1991, officially granting self-governing independence to the Republics of the Soviet Union. -
Lech Walesa
Won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983, and served as President of Poland from 1990 to 1995 -
Internet
the “network of networks” became the modern Internet -
Americans with Disabilities Act
a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability -
Persian Gulf War
brief but consequential conflict involving an international coalition of forces led by the United States -
Mikhail Gorbachev
He was the eighth and last leader of the Soviet Union, having been General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union -
Clarence Thomas
an American judge, lawyer, and government official who currently serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States -
Kyoto Accord
The Kyoto Protocol is an international treaty which extends the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change -
EU
a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe -
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is an American politician and diplomat who was First Lady of the United States from 1993 to 2001 -
George H.W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President -
“Ethnic Cleansing”
the systematic forced removal of ethnic or racial groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group -
Start I and II
was a bilateral treaty between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics on the reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms -
Taliban
The Taliban, alternatively spelled Taleban, which refers to itself as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. -
Contract with America
he Contract with America was a document released by the United States Republican Party during the 1994 Congressional election campaign -
NAFTA
North American Free Trade Agreement is an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States, creating a trilateral trade bloc in North America -
“Don’t ask, don’t tell”
the official United States policy on military service by gays, bisexuals, and lesbians, -
WTO
an intergovernmental organization that regulates international trade -
Oklahoma City Bombing
he Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City -
Bob Dole
a retired American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in Congress from 1961 to 1996 and served as the Republican Leader of the United States Senate -
Welfare Reform
The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is a United States federal law considered to be a major welfare reform -
G-8
The G8, reformatted as G7 from 2014 due to Russia's exclusion, was an inter-governmental political forum from 1997 until 2014, with the participation of the major industrialized countries in the world, that viewed themselves as democracies -
Clinton Impeachment
The impeachment of Bill Clinton was initiated in December 1998 by the House of Representatives and led to a trial in the Senate for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, on two charges, one of perjury and one of obstruction of justice -
Boris Yeltsin
Soviet and Russian politician and the first President of the Russian Federation -
Newt Gingrich
ewton Leroy Gingrich is an American politician and author, born in Pennsylvania, later representing Georgia in Congress, and ultimately serving as 50th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives -
Bush v Gore
decision of the United States Supreme Court that settled a recount dispute in Florida's 2000 presidential election -
No Child Left Behind
a federal law that provides money for extra educational assistance for poor children in return for improvements in their academic progress -
Bush Tax Cuts
changes to the United States tax code passed originally during the presidency of George W. Bush -
Al Gore
American politician and environmentalist who served as the 45th Vice President of the United States from 1993 to 2001 -
9/11
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday morning -
Osama bin Laden
Usama ibn Mohammed ibn Awad ibn Ladin, often anglicized as Osama bin Laden, was a founder of al-Qaeda, the organization responsible for the September 11 attacks -
Madeleine Albright
the first woman to have become the United States Secretary of State -
Deficit Reduction Budget
Deficits are projected to grow as a % GDP as the country ages and healthcare cost rise faster than the economy. U.S. federal budget deficits and surpluses -
Bill Clinton
42nd president, impeached -
Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government with responsibilities in public security -
“Axis of Evil”
The phrase axis of evil was first used by U.S. President George W. Bush in his State of the Union address on January 29, 2002 -
Mitt Romney
70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and was the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election. -
Operation Iraqi Freedom
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq by a United States-led coalition that overthrew the government of Saddam Hussein -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was an extremely destructive and deadly Category 5 hurricane that caused catastrophic damage along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge and levee failure -
Housing Bubble
The United States housing bubble was a real estate bubble affecting over half of the U.S. states. -
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality, who served as the ninth Governor of Alaska -
Sandra Day O’Connor
first woman on the supreme court -
Great Recession
a period of general economic decline observed in world markets during the late 2000s and early 2010s -
DC v Heller
held that the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia for traditionally lawful purposes -
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was the placing into conservatorship of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) by the U.S. Treasury -
Supply-Side Economics
macroeconomic theory arguing that economic growth can be most effectively created by lowering taxes and decreasing regulation -
Tea Party
Members of the movement have called for a reduction of the national debt -
Sonya Sotomayor
first justice of Hispanic descent and the first Latina -
George W Bush
43rd president -
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who served as the 44th President of the United States -
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring, also referred to as Arab Revolutions, was a revolutionary wave of both violent and non-violent demonstrations, protests, riots, coups, and foreign intervention. -
Affordable Care Act
expand Medicaid coverage to millions of low-income Americans -
Dodd-Frank Act
a massive piece of financial reform legislation passed by the Obama administration in 2010 as a response to the financial crisis of 2008 -
Syrian Civil War
multi-sided armed conflict in Syria fought primarily between the Ba'athist Syrian Arab Republic led by President Bashar al-Assad -
Geraldine Ferraro
Geraldine Anne "Gerry" Ferraro was an American attorney and Democratic Party politician who served in the United States House of Representatives -
Shelby County v. Holder
Supreme Court case regarding the constitutionality of two provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 -
Boston Marathon Bombing
During the annual Boston Marathon on April 15, 2013, two homemade bombs detonated 12 seconds and 210 yards apart at 2:49 p.m., near the finish line of the race. -
Debt Ceiling
an upper limit set on the amount of money that a government may borrow -
Brady Bill
a provision of US federal law that requires a waiting period for handgun purchases and background checks on those who wish to purchase handguns -
Same Sex Marriage
Same-sex marriage is the marriage of a same-sex couple, entered into in a civil or religious ceremony
