Ripped from the Headlines: June 2020: This Week In Words: June 20–26, 2020

New satellite imagery shows that China has constructed tents, bunkers, and storage facilities on its contested border with India. Talks are underway to lower tensions between the two countries, neither of which recognizes the other's claims to the disputed territory in the Himalayas. Lateral comes from the Latin lateralis, relating to the side of the body, so bilateral refers to something with two sides.

The Democratic convention will be an almost entirely online event. Joe Biden will accept the nomination in person in Milwaukee, but it will not take place in a crowded arena as in past years. Democrats chose Wisconsin because it was one of the three states that helped give President Trump a victory in the Electoral College.

A Federal appeals court ordered the judge in the Michael Flynn case to dismiss the case, causing widespread protest that the Justice Department's move to drop the case was intended to protect a political ally of the President. The judge may still appeal this decision. Onus is Latin for "burden," so to exonerate someone is to relieve them of a burden, in this case a guilty plea for lying to the FBI.

The President's rally in Tulsa was about one-third full, causing him to become furious with campaign staff. Many people appear to have stayed home out of concern that being indoors with a large group of unmasked people would expose them to Covid-19, and six campaign staffers tested positive before the event. A couple of Secret Service agents tested positive afterward, causing a number of agents to be quarantined.

The CDC has estimated that Covid-19 infection rates could be ten times higher than official totals say, meaning that over 20 million Americans may have contracted the virus since winter. This new estimate is based on serological testing that detects antibodies in the blood. If accurate, this means that the death rate is lower than previously thought but the infection and transmissibility rates are much higher.

Though fears of catching the virus kept most Tulsans at home during the President's rally, the huge attendance numbers that the campaign boasted about beforehand were largely the result of teenagers using TikTok to encourage their friends to sign up for tickets using fake names and numbers. Besides embarrassing the President, all the fake names and numbers mean that the data the campaign gathered — very important for fundraising and get-out-the-vote efforts — is mostly useless.

The Arctic Russian town of Verkhoyansk set a record temperature of 100.4˚Fahrenheit, causing climate scientists to worry that global warming is becoming increasingly severe. Warm weather, combined with much more widespread forest fires, cause permafrost to melt faster, releasing tons of carbon previously trapped in the frozen ground. To ramify is to form into branches, like a tree, a river delta, or blood vessels. Ramifications are the complex results of an action or decision.

As Europe begins to reopen, the E.U. is putting America on a list of countries whose residents will be barred from entering. The U.S. is currently the epicenter of the pandemic, with cases continuing to rise, so European officials say that in order to reopen safely they need to prevent travelers from entering. Other countries on the list include China, Russia, and Brazil.

As Covid-19 cases skyrocket in many states, the White House announced that it was cutting funding for testing sites in some of the worst-hit states. Politicians from both parties expressed outrage, calling the decision "harmful and irresponsible." Seven of the thirteen sites slated for cuts are in Texas, which is seeing record high levels of infection.

The Marine Corps and Navy have already banned Confederate imagery, and now the Pentagon is considering a ban that will include all of the U.S. armed forces. High-ranking officials have also expressed openness to renaming military bases that are named for Confederate figures. Upheaval originated as a geological term, describing the way mountains are formed by tectonic activity. Now it describes any major shift, disruption, or transformation, especially in society.