Much of the western United States will face potentially record-high temperatures late this week and into the weekend while northern Florida and the Gulf Coast endure more waves of heavy rain, forecasters said Thursday. ... Read full Story
Colt Gray, the 14-year-old Georgia school shooting suspect, is charged with four counts of murder, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. His first hearing is set for Friday in Barrow County Superior Court. ... Read full Story
A Florida man was sentenced on Tuesday to 45 months in prison and another 36 months of supervised release for assaulting a police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021 invasion of the U.S. Capitol by supporters of former Presi ... Read full Story
Attorneys for Hunter Biden, the son of President joe Biden, offered to settle a range of federal tax charges against him with an "Alford plea" during a court appearance Thursday in Los Angeles. ... Read full Story
The number of people filing for unemployment benefits for the first time last week fell by 5,000 for its lowest total in two months and the survey continues to recover from its highest filing of the year. ... Read full Story
The U.S. economy created 99,000 private non-farm jobs in August, the weakest jobs growth since the pandemic era while significantly missing what Wall Street economists expected. ... Read full Story
President Joe Biden will announce $7.3 billion in spending for clean energy in rural Wisconsin on Thursday as part of its investments created by the Inflation Reduction Act. ... Read full Story
A day after a federal judge denied his request to move his state hush-money and election-interference case to a federal court, Donald Trump asked for the denial to be put on hold amid appeal. ... Read full Story
Federal prosecutors have launched an investigation into two California women's prisons following allegations that staff members sexually abuse the inmates they were hired to protect. ... Read full Story
Former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming announced Wednesday that she plans to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in November, as she warned about "the danger that Donald Trump poses." ... Read full Story
Meta's oversight board ruled Wednesday that the phrase "From the river to the sea" on its social media platforms is not hate speech, despite critics' claims that it calls for the abolishment of the Israeli state. ... Read full Story
Special prosecutor Kari Morrissey asked a New Mexico court Wednesday to reinstate an involuntary manslaughter charge against actor Alec Baldwin after a judge dismissed the case in July. ... Read full Story
Nikki Haley, who challenged former President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination before dropping out and endorsing him, is joining public relations consulting giant Edelman as vice chair. ... Read full Story
A new visa-restriction policy will help protect the integrity of U.S. elections against Russian interference designed to undermine the nation's democratic institutions. ... Read full Story
A Florida man died after catching fire Tuesday afternoon in a Port Charlotte shopping center parking lot. The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office said the man had cardiac arrest as a medical helicopter was landing. ... Read full Story
The nation's military personnel can enjoy watching a full season of NFL games on the American Forces Network after getting the okay from the professional sports league. ... Read full Story
An "awards gala" fundraiser for jailed defendants who took part in the deadly Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol riot scheduled to be held at former President Donald Trump's New Jersey golf club has been postponed until further notice. ... Read full Story
U.S. job openings in July were 7.7 million, according to a Wednesday Bureau of Labor Statistics report. Openings were at three and a half year low and were significantly fewer than expected by Dow Jones economists. ... Read full Story
A 35-year-old New York City man was sentenced to more than a year in prison for threatening to kill a Congressional staffer and harassing members of Congress, the Justice Department said on Tuesday. ... Read full Story
“The eagerness to vilify ‘the other side’—usually on social media—complicates the less reactionary work that defines our mission.” — Jerry Brewer, The Washington Post, 11 June 2024
Did you know?
It seems reasonable to assume that the words vilify and villain come from the same source; after all, to vilify someone is—in some ways—to make them out to be a villain. Such is not the case, however. Although the origin stories of both vilify and villain involve Latin, their roots are quite different. Vilify came to English (via Middle English and Late Latin) from the Latin adjective vilis, meaning “cheap” or “vile.” Someone who has been vilified, accordingly, has had their reputation tarnished or cheapened in such a way that they’re viewed as morally reprehensible. Villain on the other hand, comes from the Medieval Latin word villanus, meaning “villager,” and ultimately from the Latin noun villa, meaning “house.” The Middle English descendent of villanus developed the meaning of “a person of uncouth mind and manners” due to the vilifying influence of the aristocracy of the time, and the connotations worsened from there until villain came to refer to (among other things), a deliberate scoundrel.