The World Today P.E.T.'s

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

2009 bill that put together a $787 billion stimulus package designed to create or save jobs in the wake of mass layoffs brought about by the Great Recession.

Cryptocurrency

A digital currency that can be used to buy goods and services but uses an online ledger with strong cryptography to secure online transactions.

ISIS

A powerful terrorist militant group that has seized control of large areas of the Middle East. Infamous for its brutal violence and murderous assaults on civilians.

Benghazi

A series of assaults on a U.S. diplomatic compound in Libya, on Sept. 11th - 12th, 2012, which resulted in the deaths of four Americans and this incident ignited a political firestorm in the United States.

The Paris Climate Agreement

A sweeping international pledge to dramatically reduce carbon emissions, the agreement remains a potential turning point in the history of human relations with the Earth's climate.

Famine

A widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, inflation, crop failure, population imbalance, or government policies.

Hillary Clinton

After a failed bid for the White House in 2008, she was named U.S. Secretary of State by President Obama in January 2009. In 2016, she ran again for President and was the first woman to accept the nomination of a major political party.

Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

This was the biggest gross tax cut in American history, cutting over $5.5 trillion in taxes over ten years signed in 2017 by President Trump.

Joe Biden

He served 36 years as a U.S. senator and went on to serve as Vice President of the United States with President Barack Obama from 2009 - 2017. He later became the 46th President of the United States in 2021.

Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Health care reform law signed in 2010, which required most individuals to secure health insurance or pay fines, made coverage easier and less costly, cracked down on abusive insurance practices, and attempted to rein in the rising costs of health care.

John McCain

In 1986, he began his tenure as the U.S. senator from Arizona. McCain ran for president on the Republican ticket in 2008 against Obama.

Keystone XL Pipeline

In 2008, TC Energy announced plans to build a pipeline that would carry 830,000 barrels of crude oil daily from Alberta to refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast. The project became an issue for climate activists and Indigenous people in Canada and the U.S.

Minimum Wage

In 2014, President Obama signed an executive order to raise the hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 for federal contract workers.

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission

In Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission (FEC), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2010 that political spending is a form of free speech that's protected under the First Amendment. The controversial 5-4 decision effectively opened the door for corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts of money to support their chosen political candidates, provided they were technically independent of the campaigns themselves.

Biotechnology

The use of biology to solve problems and make useful products.

Deforestation

The permanent removal of trees to make room for something besides forest which can include clearing the land for agriculture or grazing, or using the timber for fuel, construction or manufacturing.

National Security Agency (NSA)

An Intelligence-gathering organization within the U.S. government that was founded in 1952. In 2013, Edward Snowden exposed the agency for collecting a massive amount of information from Americans' computers and phones.

Drones

An unmanned aircraft or ship that can navigate autonomously, without human control or beyond lone of sight to spy or be used as a weapon.

Deepwater Horizon

April 20, 2010: An explosion and fire aboard the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, approximately 50 miles off the Louisiana coast, kills 11 people and triggers the largest offshore oil spill in American history.

Barack Obama

Democrat; 44th POTUS and the 1st African American President that served from 2009 to 2017. Nobel Peace Prize winner, passed the Affordable Care Act, Osama bin Laden was killed under his leadership, created the Iran Nuclear Deal, and supported the legalization of gay marriage.

Vladimir Putin

Former KGB intelligence officer and totalitarian ruler that has led Russia since 1999. He has jailed opposition leaders, backed Syria's use of chemical weapons on its own people, and invaded Crimea and Ukraine to assert Russian dominance on the world stage.

Donald Trump

New York City real estate developer and reality TV star Donald Trump (1946- ) served as America's 45th president from January 2017-January 2021. The billionaire businessman ran as a Republican and scored an upset victory over his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, in the 2016 election.

Koreas-U.S. DMZ Summit

North and South Korea have been divided for more than 70 years, ever since the Korean Peninsula became an unexpected casualty of the escalating Cold War between two rival superpowers: the Soviet Union and the United States.

Sandy Hook

On December 14, 2012, at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Adam Lanza kills 20 first graders and six school employees before turning a gun on himself. Earlier that day, he killed his mother at the home they shared.

Tea Party Movement

Republican movement that railed against President Obama's healthcare reform proposals, federal spending, taxes, and support for women's reproductive rights.

International Space Station (ISS)

The International Space Station is a large spacecraft in orbit around Earth that several nations worked together to build and use.

US Space Command

The U.S. Space Force was established in 2019, when the National Defense Authorization Act became law, creating the first new branch of the armed services in 73 years. U.S. Space Force was created to integrate military space power to deter aggression and defend national interests.

Artificial Intelligence

The ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings.

Genetic Engineering

The artificial manipulation, modification, and recombination of DNA or other nucleic acid molecules in order to modify an organism or population of organisms.

COVID-19 Pandemic

The outbreak of this infectious respiratory disease triggered one of the deadliest pandemics in modern history. It claimed nearly 7 million lives worldwide and over 1.1 million lives in the U.S. as it also took a heavy toll economically, politically and psychologically on Americans.