U.S. and The Middle East
In late 2023, the U.S. heavily increased its naval presence in the Mediterranean following the outbreak of war between Israel and this militant group
What is Hamas?
In 2024, President Biden signed a bill that could ban this popular social media app if its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, doesn't sell it
What is TikTok?
The 47th President
Who is Donald J. Trump?
Often seen as the gold standard for unbiased, fact-based reporting, this news cooperative provides wire stories to thousands of publishers and is simply known by the letters "AP."
What is Associated Press?
Launched in late 2022, this is the most famous generative AI chatbot that many students use to brainstorm ideas, summarize texts, or help code.
What is ChatGPT?
Recent U.S. diplomatic efforts in the Middle East have heavily focused on securing a ceasefire and the release of hostages held in this specific Palestinian territory.
What is The Gaza Strip
This term describes cities or states—such as Chicago, New York, or California—that limit local law enforcement's cooperation with federal immigration authorities.
What are Sanctuary Cities?
In 2020, the murder of this man by a police officer in Minneapolis was captured on bystander video, sparking a global movement for racial justice and police reform
Who is George Floyd?
If you want a highly respected, non-U.S. perspective on world events, you might turn to this major British broadcasting network.
What is BBC News
This is the term for the specific text instructions, questions, or parameters you type into an AI in order to get the best possible output.
What is a Prompt?
Before the current conflict, the U.S. was working to broker a historic normalization deal between Israel and this major oil-producing Middle Eastern kingdom
What is Saudi Arabia
Formed in 2003 under the Department of Homeland Security, this federal law enforcement agency is frequently the center of political debate regarding deportations and detentions.
What is ICE?
This billionaire often makes headlines for his controversial management of X (formerly Twitter), his electric car company Tesla, and his space exploration company.
Who is Elon Musk
Headquartered in Doha, Qatar, this major international news network is heavily relied upon for its extensive, on-the-ground coverage of conflicts in the Middle East and the Global South.
What is Al Jazeera
This term refers to highly realistic, AI-generated fake videos or audio recordings of real people saying or doing things they never did. (Hint: Trump made one of these about Obama and other past and present political figures)
What is a Deepfake
In April 2024, the U.S. military helped intercept a massive barrage of drones and missiles fired directly at Israel by this country
What is Iran?
U.S. reproductive rights policy dramatically shifted in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned this landmark 1973 case
What is Roe v. Wade?
In January 2026, the fatal shooting of this 37-year-old intensive care nurse by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis sparked nationwide protests and political scrutiny.
Who is Alex Pretti
Often evaluated by media watchdog groups as having a slight left-leaning bias, this major 24-hour network is the primary cable rival to Fox News and MSNBC.
What is CNN (Cable News Network)
When an AI chatbot confidently invents fake information or cites academic articles that don't actually exist, it is said to be experiencing one of these
What is a hallucination?
The U.S. and U.K. recently launched airstrikes against this rebel group in Yemen to stop them from attacking commercial shipping vessels in the Red Sea
Who are the Houthis?
In 2023, the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration's broad plan to forgive up to $20,000 of this specific type of debt for millions of Americans
What is Student Loan Debt?
In early 2026, this former agency attorney and whistleblower testified before Congress that ICE was drastically slashing its training standards and teaching recruits to bypass the 4th Amendment.
Who is Ryan Schwank?
This popular platform promotes media literacy not by writing articles, but by aggregating stories and displaying the political bias—Left, Center, or Right—of the publications covering them.
What is Ground News
To maintain academic integrity, many professors now use software like Turnitin to check if an essay was written by a student or generated by this kind of model
What is a Large Language Model (LLM) or Generative AI?