Category Archives: News

Word of the Week – March 26, 2022

Enchiridion [eng-kə-RID-ee-ən]

Noun

Greek, 16th century

A book containing essential information on a subject.  The ancient Greek ἐγχειρίδιος means “fitting in the hand”.  An “enchiridion” came into English in the 16th century as a portable, hand-sized guidebook.  The modern handbook has its roots in the enchiridion (related to the Greek word for “hand”), traditionally a small, portable manual widely used from early Greece through to the 19th century. Enchiridons were designed to keep useful information near at hand, including religious teachings, ethical advice, the rules of poetry, guidance for soldiers, and means of understanding the law.

Example: My decades of personal journals comprise an enchiridion of my ambitions, hopes and fears.

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Tweet of the Week – March 26, 2022

Kim Mangone, a 2020 California congressional candidate, is sponsoring a number of billboards in Florida to counteract the state legislature’s HB 1557, Parental Rights in Education.  Known colloquially as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, its primary purpose is to eliminate discussion of sexuality in schools.

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Worst Quotes of the Week – March 26, 2022

“Do you agree…that babies are racist?”

Sen. Ted Cruz, to Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, repeatedly asking about her views on racism, children’s books and critical race theory (CRT)

He specifically asked if she agrees with a children’s book called “Anti-Racist Baby,” by Ibram X. Kendi, which is in the library at Georgetown Day School, a private school in Washington, D.C., at which Jackson was a board member.  Cruz held up a copy of the book and described it as one of the “most stunning” taught at the school.  He claimed it teaches children that babies are taught to be racist, not born racist, and that they are encouraged to admit if they have been racist and to talk about it.

In response, Jackson noted, “Georgetown Day School, just like the religious school that Justice [Amy Coney] Barrett was on the board of, is a private school.”

“On a scale of 1 to 10, how faithful would you say you are?  Do you attend church regularly?”

Sen. Lindsey Graham, inquiring about Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s faith and how important it was to her

Jackson replied that, although faith played a big role in her life, she was reluctant to talk about it in detail because “I want the public to have confidence in my ability to separate out my personal views.”  Jackson noted she is “Protestant, non-denominational”.

Graham conceded that judges could separate their religious beliefs with the way they rule.  It must be highlighted, though, that Graham voted to confirm Jackson three times to other posts: her current seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a court considered second only to the U.S. Supreme Court; her previous seat on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia; and her previous seat on the U.S. Sentencing Commission.

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Best Quotes of the Week – March 26, 2022

“You are worthy. You are a great American. I know what it’s taken for you to sit in that seat.”

Sen. Cory Booker, during Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Senate confirmation hearing

Booker chose to praise Jackson instead of asking her questions.  Booker also railed against his Republican colleagues who highlighted specific cases from Jackson’s past. The senator referenced abolitionist Harriet Tubman and Constance Baker Motley, the first Black woman to serve as a federal judge in 1966, as role models in his life and who paved the way for Jackson’s historic path.

“That is the nature of a right.  When there is a right, it means that there are limitations on regulation.”

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, in response to Sen. John Cornyn’s question whether a 2015 Supreme Court ruling establishing a right to same-sex marriage conflicts with the beliefs of some religions

Cornyn was referring to the High Court’s ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, which compels states to recognize same-gender marriage under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

“At some point, you have to follow the rules!”

Sen. Dick Durbin, to Sen. Ted Cruz, as the latter went beyond his time limit during the Jackson confirmation hearing

Frustrated with Durbin’s repeated gavel-banging, Cruz shouted, “You can bang it as loud as you want!”

“It shows considerable effort when somebody goes to that much trouble to create that many organizations to hide how much money they’ve spent to control the nominations process to the court.”

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, comparing the efforts of some conservative groups to the Republican Party’s recent attacks on progressive groups, such as Demand Justice, as well as Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson

Demand Justice supports Jackson’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Whitehouse also specifically named The Federalist Society and Judicial Crisis Network among the conservative groups he claims encompass a vast network of secretive “dark money” groups that have played a major covert role in seating five of the Supreme Court’s current justices.

All told, he said, these groups have spent at least $400 million to help select and confirm Justices John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett.

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Happy Saint Patrick’s Day 2022

St. Patrick

Image: Christiann MacAuley

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Word of the Week – March 12, 2022

Corybantic

Adjective

Latin, 17th century

Wild; frenzied. Cybele, a goddess of nature from Greco-Roman mythology, had priests and attendants called “Corybants.” The term comes from the Greek “Korubantes.”

Example: Some of my stories appear corybantic upon initial reading, but there’s a reason behind the chaos.

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Video of the Week – March 12, 2022

On March 10, disgraced actor Jussie Smollett was sentenced to 30 months felony probation and a USD 25,000 fine for his 2019 hate crime hoax.  After Judge James Linn announced the ruling, Smollett went on a tirade proclaiming his innocence and trying – again – to play the victim.

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Tweet of the Week – March 12, 2022

Rep. Liz Cheney reacting to Rep. Madison Cawthorn

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Most Frightening Quote of the Week – March 12, 2022

“If Vladimir Putin comes to the conclusion that he has no future he may well decide nobody else should have a future either.”

BCA Research, a Montreal-based independent research provider, in a report about the potential for Russia to launch nuclear weapons during the Ukraine War

The report also states: “Although there is a huge margin of error around any estimate, subjectively, we would assign an uncomfortably high 10% chance of a civilization-ending global nuclear war over the next 12 months.”

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Worst Quotes of the Week – March 12, 2022

“Remember that Zelensky is a thug. Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”

Rep. Madison Cawthorn, about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during a recent gathering of Trump supporters

“The United States of America and the European States must not marginalize Russia but build an alliance with it, not only to restart trade for the prosperity of all, but in lieu of the reconstruction of a Christian Civilization, which will be the only one able to save the world from the transhuman and medical-technical globalist monster.”

Roman Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, in a March 7 letter about the Ukraine-Russia crisis

A former Vatican envoy and outspoken papal critic, Viganò blamed “deep state” forces in the United States, the European Union and NATO for triggering the current war and demonizing Russia.

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