Ripped from the Headlines: May 2020: This Week In Words: May 24–30, 2020

China moved to impose a new, highly restrictive law on Hong Kong, drawing fierce criticism from the territory's residents and other countries around the world. The law would limit individual rights, allow China to install its own security forces, and diminish the power of Hong Kong's own government. In Middle French, a bastion is a fort, a structure built to defend against enemy forces.

The total confirmed deaths in the U.S. from Covid-19 passed 100,000. This stunning number is made much more difficult since most of these people died alone and won't have funerals attended by loved ones. A fathom is six feet; originally it was the distance between an adult's outstretched hands. Weighted ropes were knotted every six feet, and hung off boats to determine the depth of water, so to fathom something is to descend into the depths of it and return with understanding.

The total number of unemployment claims in the U.S. rose to over 40 million. Although the 2.1 million people who filed last week represent a drop from the peak of 6.6 million in a week back in April, the total is staggering and brings the unemployment rate to levels not seen since the great depression. Grim comes from the Old Germanic root grem-, meaning "ugly," "harsh," or "fierce."

North Korea has been trying to get around sanctions imposed by the U.S. government, using a state-owned bank to work with other banks and individuals to launder at least $2.5 billion, some of which was used to fund its nuclear weapons program. Possibly from a Germanic root, the origin of hamper is unclear.

Tensions along the Indian-Chinese border have increased dramatically, with Chinese forces crossing in some areas, destroying Indian bridges and military outposts, and digging in. The border has never been precisely agreed upon, and India has been making infrastructure improvements in the area, so China is pushing back. Indian leaders have so far refrained from a severe response.

Herd immunity refers to the way in which populations develop resistance to diseases. When a high percentage of the population has developed antibodies to a particular bacterium or virus, that pathogen cannot spread easily among those people. This is how vaccines work. Researchers have shown that even in the areas hardest hit by Covid-19, the number or immune people falls way below what's needed for herd immunity.

After Twitter attached fact checks to two of his false claims about mail-in ballots, President Trump signed an executive order ordering federal agencies to consider removing protections that social media companies have from lawsuits over false, criminal, or otherwise damaging content posted on their platforms. Rail comes from the Middle French railler, which in turn comes from the Latin ragere: "to bellow or howl," which is the root of our rage.

After a police officer killed George Floyd by kneeling on his neck while three other officers stood around and watched, violent protests continued in Minneapolis. The video of the killing sparked national outrage, and federal authorities have promised a thorough investigation. The Mayor of Minneapolis said that anger is justified, and is working to restore order. Police say that Floyd resisted arrest, but video shows them pulling him from his car.

The National Security Agency announced that Russian hackers have compromised a widely used email program and have been exploiting it for nearly a year. The people behind the hack are the same government-affiliated group that actively interfered in the 2016 election. The Exim Mail Transfer Agent is widely used, and authorities likely made the announcement so that any company or organization that hasn't patched the software will do so.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats are outraged that a member of the State House of Representatives who tested positive for Covid-19 kept that diagnosis secret and continued to work among his peers without informing them. The state Republican leadership was aware of his test results and did not inform anyone. Verus is Latin for "true," and it gives us such words as verify, aver, verity, and veritable: all words having to do with the truth.