Category Archives: News

Word of the Week – June 11, 2022

Eudaemonism

[yoo-DEE-mə-niz-əm]

Noun

Greek, early 19th century

A system of ethics that bases moral value on the likelihood of actions producing happiness.

“Eudaemonism” entered English in the 19th century from the Greek “εὐδαιμονία,” meaning happiness, with the suffix “-ism” to indicate a system of belief or practice.  “Eudaemonism” is based on the Greek term “eudaemonia,” introduced by Aristotle.  Aristotle’s “eudaemonia” described the positive condition of doing and living well.  It was not, in fact, a synonym for happiness, but rather it described a greater state of positive existence, which combined wisdom, contemplation, virtue, and other beneficial attributes for personal success.

Example: Through all the anxiety and drama, I detected a true sense of eudaemonism in viewing the opening session of the January 6 Committee hearings.

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Political Cartoon of the Week – June 11, 2022

Khalil Bendib

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Most Frightening Quote of the Week – June 11, 2022

“In the coming months, we expect the threat environment to become more dynamic as several high-profile events could be exploited to justify acts of violence against a range of possible targets.”

U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in a bulletin released June 8, warning about a potential increase in extremist violence fueled by recent mass shootings, including the massacre in Uvalde last month; an expected Supreme Court ruling on abortion rights; and November’s midterm elections

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Worst Quotes of the Week – June 11, 2022

“I vote to make sure that those parents be held for child abuse.  There is no such thing as trans kids, there are only abusive parents who are pushing that evil, evil sexual orientation onto their child’s mind. I want to make sure that those parents have been held accountable.  We should start putting some of those parents in jail for abusing their child’s minds. Especially in the school system, any teacher that is teaching that LGBT, transgenderism, furries, the groomers, any sexual orientation communication in the school system should be immediately terminated but [teachers should also] be held for abusing young children.”

Mark Burns, self-described pastor running for the U.S. Congress from South Carolina

Burns, who lied about his military service, declared that – if he’s elected – will reinstate the House Un-American Activities Committee so the government can “start executing people” guilty of treason.

“And of course, above all, they lie about the reason that January 6 happened in the first place. And you know what it is – the entire country watched Joe Biden get what they claimed was 10 million more votes than Barack Obama himself. Joe Biden got 10 million more votes than Barack Obama got. And a lot of those votes arrived after the election.  In a lot of places, voting was stopped in the middle of the night. Why? In the biggest states in the country, voter ID was optional. Why is that okay? A lot of the protesters on January 6 were very upset about that, and they should have been. All of us should be. But the January 6 committee ignored all of that completely. Instead, on the basis of zero evidence, no evidence whatsoever, they blame the entire riot on white supremacy.”

Tucker Carlson, about the January 6 Committee

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Best Quotes of the Week – June 11, 2022

“Tonight, I say this to my Republican colleagues who are defending the indefensible: There will come a day when Donald Trump is gone, but your dishonor will remain.”

Rep. Liz Cheney, in her opening remarks to the January 6 Committee

“Gun violence is an epidemic that is tearing our country apart. Thoughts and prayers won’t fix this, but taking strong action will.”

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, after signing legislation to strengthen gun laws in the state of New York

“There is not a Democratic or Republican value in one single act of these shooters.  But people in power have failed to act. So we’re asking you and I’m asking you … can both sides rise above? Can both sides see beyond the political problem at hand and admit that we have a life-preservation problem on our hands? We got a chance right now to reach for and to grasp a higher ground above our political affiliations.”

Matt McConaughey, actor and native of Uvalde, Texas, in a speech at the White House Press Room

“Because of the part she played in Roe, everybody wanted a piece of her, they didn’t really want her to say what she wanted to, but they wanted something from her.”

Melissa Mills, daughter of Norma McCorvey, the Jane Roe in the landmark Roe vs. Wade abortion case

Mills is the only one of McCorvey’s three daughters who had a relationship with her biological mother.

“Despite their alleged fealty to the Constitution, the founding document that lethalists enshrine and claim to be “original,” they rejoice in the shredding of longstanding precedents in order to enforce their parochial views. Decades of thoughtful, settled Second Amendment rulings have crumbled like eighteenth-century parchment, transforming an obligation to the community into the sanctification of each individual’s right to brandish automatic weapons and flaunt their capacity to kill. Rather than act to ban or seize the assault rifles that can kill schoolchildren and innocent Americans trying to intervene, the lethalists post photos of themselves, their spouses, and their own indoctrinated offspring bearing the same kind of weapon – trigger fingers impatiently on pause, more a warning than a precaution – until they, too, will have to fight off the battalions of replacement Americans who will violate their suburban lawns.”

John Willingham, in an editorial for the San Antonio Review

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Word of the Week – June 4, 2022

Conspectus

[kən-SPEK-təs]

Noun

Latin, 1830s

A summary or overview of a subject.

This word stems from the Latin “conspectus,” meaning a “looking at, sight, view; range or power of vision.” It is the noun use of the past participle of “conspicere,” meaning “to look at”, which originates from “specere,” meaning “to look at”.  “Conspectus” sounds like another word that’s more common in modern English: “prospectus.” They also share a Latin root, “specere,” which means “to look at.” But while “conspectus” means an overview of a particular subject, a “prospectus” is “a printed document that advertises or describes a school, commercial enterprise, forthcoming book, etc., in order to attract or inform clients, members, buyers, or investors.”

Example: A conspectus of my work experience helped solidify my credentials for the engineering company.

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Political Cartoons of the Week – June 4, 2022

Donkey Hotey

Khalil Bendib

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Worst Quotes of the Week – June 4, 2022

“Unfortunately, they’re trying to blame inanimate objects for all of these tragedies.  When I was growing up in Springfield, you had one or two murders a year. Now we have two, three, four a week in Springfield, Missouri, so something has happened to our society and I go back to abortion. When we decided it was okay to murder kids in their mother’s wombs, life has no value to a lot of these folks.”

Rep. Billy Long, on what he thinks is one cause of the scourge of mass shootings in the U.S.

“Salvador Ramos, who is Hispanic, clearly had a lot of mental issues going on, as was shown with him wearing eyeliner, cross-dressing.  I think some of the most dangerous people in America are trans-terrorists because these are the people who want to groom your children and talk them into changing you gender.”

Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, opining about the Uvalde shooter

There is no evidence Ramos was transgender or had engaged in cross-dressing.

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Best Quotes of the Week – June 4, 2022

“This bullshit you get from this guy about mental health and evil.  The only evil that exists is when the leader of this state has a problem and is a problem of epic proportions.”

Texas State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, criticizing Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for citing mental illness as a key factor in mass shootings, but thwarting funding for mental health care

“How many children have to die before you start to care?”

Jamiee Roeschke, in a statement to the National Rifle Association

Jaimee and her sister survived a shooting at Saugus High School in Santa Clarita, California, in 2019, in which two students died after a gunman opened fire on the school’s quad.

“No online platform, website, or newspaper should be directed by government officials to carry certain speech. This has been a key tenet of our democracy for more than 200 years and the Supreme Court has upheld that.”

Matt Schruers, President of Computer & Communications Industry Association, after the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling temporarily blocking the State of Texas House Bill 20 from being enforced

A lower court will resolve a preliminary First Amendment challenge to the statute, also known as Texas’ “social media law”.

“No online platform, website, or newspaper should be directed by government officials to carry certain speech. This has been a key tenet of our democracy for more than 200 years and the Supreme Court has upheld that.”

Matt Schruers, President of Computer & Communications Industry Association, after the U.S. Supreme Court issued an emergency ruling temporarily blocking Texas’ HB 20 from being enforced

A lower court will resolve a preliminary First Amendment challenge to the statute, also known as Texas’ “social media law”.

Schruers added, “We are encouraged that this attack on First Amendment rights has been halted until a court can fully evaluate the repercussions of Texas’s ill-conceived statute.  This ruling means that private American companies will have an opportunity to be heard in court before they are forced to disseminate vile, abusive or extremist content under this Texas law. We appreciate the Supreme Court ensuring First Amendment protections, including the right not to be compelled to speak, will be upheld during the legal challenge to Texas’s social media law.”

Schruers added, “We are encouraged that this attack on First Amendment rights has been halted until a court can fully evaluate the repercussions of Texas’s ill-conceived statute.  This ruling means that private American companies will have an opportunity to be heard in court before they are forced to disseminate vile, abusive or extremist content under this Texas law. We appreciate the Supreme Court ensuring First Amendment protections, including the right not to be compelled to speak, will be upheld during the legal challenge to Texas’s social media law.”

“This is not an academic conversation. This is a very real conversation where people’s lives could be destroyed by these criminal prosecutions.  In Texas, you’re an adult at 17. We are looking at the prospect of a 17-year-old girl who has an unplanned pregnancy and is seeking an abortion [being] subjected to first-degree felony charges — up to 99 years in jail — and that’s just absolutely unacceptable.”

Austin City Councilman José Vela, on how the city will attempt to shield its residents from prosecution under a Texas law that will criminalize abortion, if Roe vs. Wade is overturned

Vela is proposing a resolution that would direct the city’s police department to make criminal enforcement, arrest and investigation of abortions its lowest priority and restrict city funds and city staff from being used to investigate, catalogue or report suspected abortions.

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June 2022 Literary Calendar

Events in the month of June for writers and readers

Audiobook Appreciation Month

GLBT Book Month

  • June 1 – Global Day of Parents; Global Running Day; National Pen Pal Day; National Say Something Nice Day; World Reef Awareness Day
  • June 3 – National Egg Day
  • June 4 – National Cheese Day; National Hug Your Cat Day
  • June 5 – National Cancer Survivor’s Day; National Donut Day; National Gingerbread Day; World Environment Day
  • June 8 – National Best Friend’s Day; World Oceans Day
  • June 10 – Ball Point Pen Day
  • June 11 – Global Wellness Day
  • June 12 – Anne Frank’s Birthday
  • June 14 – Bourbon Day; World Blood Donor Day
  • June 15 – National Photography Day; World Elder Abuse Awareness Day
  • June 16 – Bloomsday (celebration of Irish writer James Joyce’s life); National Fudge Day
  • June 17 –  World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought
  • June 19 – Father’s Day (U.S.)
  • June 20 – World Refugee Day
  • June 21 – Summer Solstice (Northern Hemisphere); Winter Solstice (Southern Hemisphere)
  • June 22 – Octavia Butler’s Birthday; World Rainforest Day
  • June 23 – National Hydration Day; Typewriter patent awarded (1868)
  • June 25 – Eric Carle’s Birthday
  • June 27 – Helen Keller’s Birthday; National PTSD Awareness Day
  • June 29 – Hug Holiday; National Camera Day
  • June 30 – National Handshake Day; National Work from Home Day; World Social Media Day

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