Patrick Joseph Leahy (/ˈleɪhiː/; born March 31, 1940) is the senior United States Senator from Vermont and member of the Democratic Party. He is the first and only elected Democratic Senator in Vermont's history. He is the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Leahy is the second most senior U.S. Senator, and second longest-serving Democrat in the U.S. Senate having served since 1975.

Leahy was born in Montpelier, Vermont, the son of Alba (née Zambon) and Howard Francis Leahy, a printer. His grandparents came to Vermont from Ireland and Italy during the 19th century to work at quarries.

Leahy graduated from Saint Michael's College in 1961 and received his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1964. He practiced as a lawyer until he was elected as State's Attorney of Chittenden County in 1966 and re-elected in 1970. Leahy was elected to the United States Senate for the first time in 1974 (at 34, he was the youngest U.S. Senator ever to be elected by Vermont). Leahy was the first and remains the only Democrat elected to the Senate from Vermont. He was also the first non-Republican Senator from Vermont since 1856.

The Dalai Lama is a high lama in the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" branch of Tibetan Buddhism. The name is a combination of the Sino-Mongolian word далай (dalai) meaning "Ocean" and the Tibetan word བླ་མ་ bla-ma (with a silent "b") meaning "chief, high priest".

In religious terms, the Dalai Lama is believed by his devotees to be the rebirth of a long line of tulkus who are considered to be manifestations of the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteśvara. Traditionally, the Dalai Lama is thought of as the latest reincarnation of a series of spiritual leaders who have chosen to be reborn in order to enlighten others. The Dalai Lama is often thought to be the leader of the Gelug School, but this position belongs officially to the Ganden Tripa, which is a temporary position appointed by the Dalai Lama who, in practice, exerts much influence. The line of Dalai Lamas began as a lineage of spiritual teachers; the 5th Dalai Lama assumed political authority over Tibet.

For certain periods between the 17th century and 1959, the Dalai Lamas sometimes directed the Tibetan government, which administered portions of Tibet from Lhasa. The 14th Dalai Lama remained the head of state for the Central Tibetan Administration ("Tibetan government in exile") until his retirement on March 14, 2011. He has indicated that the institution of the Dalai Lama may be abolished in the future, and also that the next Dalai Lama may be found outside Tibet and may be female. The Chinese government was very quick to reject this and claimed that only it has the authority to select the next Dalai Lama.

Wayne LaPierre (born November 8, 1948), is an American author and Second Amendment advocate. He is best known for his position as the Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Association.

LaPierre graduated from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, VA in 1967. He received his BA in Education from Siena College in Loudonville, NY and his MA in Government from Boston College. He has been a government activist and lobbyist ever since finishing his MA, including positions on the Board of Directors of the American Association of Political Consultants, the American Conservative Union, and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Since 1991, he has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Rifle Association, the largest American gun rights organization. LaPierre joined the NRA in 1977 after working as a legislative aide to a Democratic Virginia Delegate Vic Thomas.

LaPierre has authored several books on weaponry topics, ranging from shooting practices to terrorism to gun safety to crime. He also makes appearances promoting the NRA at gun shows and political events. Citing Democratic candidate John Kerry's history of authoring and supporting gun control legislation, LaPierre actively campaigned against the senator in the 2004 Presidential elections.

Rajiv “Raj” Shah (born March 9, 1973) is an American politician who is the currently the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). He was confirmed by the Senate on December 24, 2009, replacing acting chief Alonzo Fulgham. In this capacity, he has led USAID in efforts to provide relief to the earthquake victims in Haiti and to flood victims in Pakistan.

Prior to his appointment at USAID, Shah worked in a range of leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation including Director of Agricultural Development, Director of Financial Services, leader of the Strategic Opportunities initiative and manager of the Foundation’s $1.5 billion commitment to the Vaccine Fund. He also came up with the idea for the International Finance Facility for Immunization to transform the global system of vaccine financing, and worked to secure donor commitments of more than $5 billion for this facility. Before joining the Gates Foundation, Shah was a health care policy advisor on the Al Gore presidential campaign, 2000 and a member of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell's transition committee on health.

Spin City is an American television sitcom that aired from September 17, 1996 until April 30, 2002 on the ABC network. Created by Gary David Goldberg and Bill Lawrence, the show was based on a fictional local government running New York City, and originally starred Michael J. Fox as Mike Flaherty, the Deputy Mayor of New York. The show was cancelled in 2002 due to low ratings from the 2001–2002 season and a change in target demographics.

In 2000, Paramount Domestic Television (which produced Michael J. Fox's earlier sitcom, Family Ties later began syndicating the series to local stations (Paramount parent Viacom would later buy the show's producer DreamWorks). It and successor companies owned distribution rights until 2009, when DreamWorks became independent again. The syndication rights are held by ABC's syndication arm, Disney-ABC Domestic Television, as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures began distributing DreamWorks live-action films in 2009.