“Year-End Update – News that Matters” is a weekly feature that offers brief overviews of important news that might have been overlooked over the course of a busy week. Here’s what you may have missed in the period December 27, 2024 through January 1, 2025.
@BARTLEBY
AN D THE 2025 WORD OF THE YEAR IS…
SOME READERS MAY CONSIDER IT a bit smug to. – on the very first day of the new year – anoint that year’s official word. After all, these things take time and one most see how the year shapes up, so to speak.
I see this as a bit of pre-nostalgia, a term I borrow (with permission) from the great musical satirist and mathematics teacher Tom Lehrer. Maestro Lehrer once said that, by creating his song “So Long, Mom” for the Third World War, he was engaging in a bit of pre-nostalgia.
Without any further ado, allow me to announce that the 2025 Word of the Year is “Demos,” the Greek root for “people.”
In his meeting at the Malta Summit in December 1989 with President George Bush, Mikhail S. Gorbachev was said to have suggested that the American stop using the phrase “Western values,” as in “triumph of Western values.” The implication in the phrase that the West had won appeared to the other aside as a form of gloating.
[Editor’s Note: The summit, incidentally, took place just weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it was there that the United States and the United Socialist Soviet Republic declared an end to the cold war. A few days later, European Community leaders met to shape a single integrated Europe.]
A hall in the Grand Kremlin Palace
Bush, who was not one to engage in excessive exultation over his successes,, agreed to change the rhetoric; he and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice immediately switched to the phrase “democratic values, a concept that Gorbachev also professed to support.
In was in vogue during the Cold War for nations behind the Iron Curtain (which was, it turns out, not iron and not even a real curtain) to style their countries’ formal names the “Democratic Peoples’ Republic of …” or something along those lines. It was here that a classical education might have prevented a linguistic accident, or series thereof, from taking place, as the phrase “democratic people’s” is redundant given that “demos” is the Greek root for “people.” [Editor’s Note: Incidentally, “kratos” means “strength” or “power.” Moreover, a democracy is a system of government in which the power comes directly from the people.”]
So start spreading the news, because the 2025 Word of the Year is “Desmos” and anyone who doesn’t like it can lump it, but those who lump it will be lumped in with anti-desmos groups and be henceforth known as an antidesmosian.
–Jonathan Spira
January 1, 2025
Two Tesla Cybertrucks. A Cybertruck was used to execute the terror attack in front of the Trump International Hotel
@IN BRIEF
New Year’s Day violence in New Orleans, Las Vegas, and New York City rattled the United States on Wednesday. The attacks in New Orleans left at least 15 people dead. Hours later, the deadly explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck outside the Trump International Hotel killed the driver and left seven others wounded. Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla, strongly supported former President Trump’s 2024 presidential bid and has remained a close reminder.
Finally, a mass shooting in Jamaica, Queens, New York injured at least 11 people, mainly teenagers. A group of four men fired what authorities said had been at least 30 bullets into a crowd hat gathered near the Amazura nightclub in Jamaica just before 11:20 p.m. after a private event there.
Dangerous blast of Arctic air to hit much of U.S. Half of the United States will see a return to winter as a dangerous blast of arctic air comes down from Canada. Two areas of high pressure are responsible for driving the bitter cold south from Canada and into the eastern half of the U.S. Temperatures east of the Rocky Mountains will sink nearly everywhere and the Northeast and Great Lakes regions will experience greater chances of snow.
The National Weather Service issued winter weather advisories the Mikdwest starting Thursday morning. The affected areas include parts of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Nebraska. In some areas up to 14“ (35,5 cm) of the white stuff were expected. “Heavy snow will continue downwind of the Great Lakes through this weekend and over parts of the Appalachians and interior Northeast through Friday along with gusty winds,” the NWS said. Snowfall totals could reach significant levels, potentially disrupting travel and causing power outages.
A sign for the Broadway musical “Phantom of the Opera” at the Majestic Theater
SIGNIFICANT ANNIVERSARIES AND COMMERMORATIONS IN 2025
FILMS CELEBRATING 100 YEAR MILESTONES
“The Big Parade” – A young American soldier, portrayed by John Gilbert, witnesses the horrors of the Great War. The film was groundbreaking for not glorifying the war or ignoring its human aspects.
100 years “Phantom of the Opera” – The silent horror film masterpiece adaptation of Gaston Leroux’ novel of the same name, starring Lon Chaney in the title role of the deformed Phantom who haunts the Paris Opera House causing murder and mayhem in an attempt to make the woman he loves a star.
THE WORLD
100 Years. The introduction of Art Deco at the Paris World Exhibition’s International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts
80 Years. Liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp Auschwitz
80 Years. The Fall of Berlin. The Red Army attack on Berlin began on April 16, 1945. About 3.5 million soldiers fought on both sides.
75 Years. The First VW Microbus, as it was known in the United States, and worldwide as the VW Transporter. Internally it was designated VW Typ 2 T1. The Transporter continues to be the best-selling van in history with over 12 million units sold worldwide. It comprises a gamut of variants including vans, minivans, minibuses, campervans, chassis cab, and pickup trucks.
10 Years. The Charlie Hebdo terror attack on January 7, 2015 followed the controversial publication of an editorial cartoon depicting the prophet, Mohammed. Two Muslim terrorists stormed the magazine’s offices shouting “Allahu Akbar,” or “God is great.” Twelve people were killed, including publishing director Stéphane Jean-Abel Michel Charbonnier, better known as Charb, and several other prominent staff cartoonists. In the aftermath, Charlie Hebdo and the publication became internationally recognized as symbols of free speech. This culminated in the «Je Suis Charlie» movement.
Timothy Perry, Jesse Sokolow, Jonathan Spira, Kurt Stolz, and Paul Riegler contributed to this issue of Year-End Update.
(Photos: Accura Media Group)
