Ripped from the Headlines: October 2020: This Week In Words: Current Events Vocab for October 10–16, 2020

Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett sat before the Senate Judiciary Committee, giving testimony about her views on the constitution and a number of cases and laws. She declined to answer a number of questions, including whether the President can pardon himself, whether he can postpone the election, and whether she would recuse herself from a case involving a contested election outcome.

The woman who gained instant notoriety for calling 911 to falsely report that a Black birdwatcher was harassing her was back in the news. She actually made two such calls, and in the second one she claimed he was threatening her and had tried to assault her. She did not enter a plea to the charge of falsely reporting an incident; the crime carries a sentence of up to one year in jail but it's unclear whether prosecutors will ask for that or come to a settlement.

The conflict in and around the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh continued, with Turkey playing a prominent role in supporting the Azerbaijani side against the Armenians. Turkey has sent Syrian mercenaries to the fight, and Azerbaijan has a fleet of drones that it's using against Armenian assets. Exhortari is a Latin verb meaning "to strongly encourage."

With unrest in Belarus, Azerbaijan, and Kyrgyzstan, observers are questioning whether Russia has the same power over its neighbors that it has exercised in the past. China is moving to form alliances with many countries in the region, and with the pandemic out of control inside Russia it's not clear how much of the current instability is a temporary result of these factors or a sign that Putin's power is waning.

In states that allow early voting, turnout has been heavy. In some states, lines have been hours long as voters wait patiently to cast their ballots. Computer issues and legal challenges have also complicated the matter. Praecinctus means "outskirts" or "surrounding area" in Latin.

Facebook and Twitter imposed restrictions on a New York Post story about Joe Biden's son Hunter, saying that because it may not be true it cannot be shared on their platforms. This is a response by tech companies to the widespread criticism they received for allowing misinformation to spread during the 2016 campaign.

A high-profile Justice Department probe into Obama administration conduct towards the Trump campaign ended with no finding of wrongdoing. The President said that he's not happy with Attorney General William Barr, saying in an interview that Barr needed to work harder to bring charges against the President's opponents, including Joe Biden.

The Trump campaign responded to the Taliban's endorsement of the President by saying that they reject the support. The Taliban said that they want President Trump to win reelection because he has pledged to remove all U.S. troops from Afghanistan. There are currently under 5,000 troops deployed in the country, and that number is scheduled to shrink by about half next year.

The Saint Louis couple who waved guns at protestors pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawful use of a weapon and tampering with evidence. The weapons charge stems from their brandishing guns at the marchers, and the grand jury that indicted the couple added the evidence tampering charge although it's unclear what that specifically refers to.