That cognitive assessment

It seems odd that trump is so fixated on the test he took...3 years ago!

As far as anyone can tell it's the "standard" test used to evaluate cognitive decline. It's administered to people with various cognitive disorders, people who experienced head injuries, and for early evaluations of dementia, Parkinson's, and Alzheimer's.

It is not "30 questions" but it typically scores 30 points. Doctors don't say you did great, or the best, it's just a tool for evaluation. And they don't give "extra" points (like giving a seal a fish) because that's not how it works.

The questions don't get harder, it's consistent in its design.

It's not administered at random or to everyone. It's only administered when there's some cause for concern. Perhaps trump took it as part of his medical evaluation when he ascended to the office; it does seem peculiar there hasn't been follow up that we know of.

And why do I know anything about this? Because my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's a few years ago, and during the initial evaluation, he took several variations on the test. It's more or less the same, it's just that the words the ask you to remember and the pictures they ask you about do change.

But what gets missed along the way is that there are no context clues. When trump gave an interview where he listed off some words, and then repeated them, he was picking objects he saw.

The words they give you - like Apple, table, horse - have nothing in common and wouldn't be seen in medical facilities.

But they do also quiz you on things like the date, where you are, and so on.

In my dads case, he had enough awareness to use clues around him to answer most of those questions. And then it got harder.

As for the test itself, it was interesting to watch his mind slip away. He had good days where he could do more of the test, some days he got some answers, other days it was different answers.

I believe he had an awareness of what was happening to him, though he couldn't say anything about it. Early on, he said he felt great and tried hard to stay sharp. When he'd take the test he'd talk about how well he did. IMHO I think he was afraid of what was happening and trying to tell himself that he was okay. Like trump, he sometimes talked about this test. It was a means of coping.

I'd Be curious how trump does on a test today, 3 years later. Is he trying to convince himself that he's okay?

At some point, they stopped administering the test to my dad. He had Alzheimer's. Every test and MRI told us that. There was no reason to conduct it. All it could tell us was generally how fast it was progressing.

But my mom kept giving him the tests. And while it wasn't helpful it was interesting. He kept having good and bad days. And some questions he couldn't answer at all.

Surely trump is cognitive decline, we deserve to know how severe it is and whether it affects his ability to govern.

Carl Sagan destroys creationist in debate

This is what cogent and rational arguments sound like...

Jamónton (Cuban Hamilton Parody)

This is pretty fun. You can read more about the back story here https://www.wlrn.org/post/cuban-sandwich-saga-hialeah-native-stars-popular-hamilton-parody-jam-nton#stream/0

Selma

I hadn't watched this film, and in many ways, shame on me.

But, given where we are today in this country, we decided to make it family movie night.

The movie itself is quite good. You get a sense of what the era was like, and the struggles for social justice.

As I sat there and watched it, all I could think was that this took place about 100 years after the slaves were emancipated. And yes, there was "progress" but in so many ways the blacks were still held back. And so that progress rings a little hollow.

There were strides because of Selma. The voting rights act was big. And the court battles also helped.

...but here we are in 2020 talking about some of the same issues. The black lives matter movement extends on the same topics: all anyone wants is to be treated equally. But there are so many racists still out there who just don't care.

At least Martin Luther King, jr has Johnson's ear. I can't imagine that anyone has trumps ear.

How did Japan crush the coronavirus? Hint: #WearADamnMask

It was quite simple, actually. They got everyone to buy into the idea of wearing a mask.

If only our country could follow suit, even today, I'm sure we could get this virus under control.

But I guess we're too exceptional and too entitled to actually do anything that requires a little sacrifice?

You can read all about Japan's success here (as well as hundreds of other sites around the web).

Japan crushed COVID-19 by masking while Trump mocks masks | Trudy Rubin

https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/masks-coronavirus-japan-trump-pence-shinzo-abe-20200630.html


Short. Sweet. To the point. That's the beauty Dave's iPhone.

On mask wearing

Trump reminded us yet again that masks aren't really necessary because.... and here you can insert any talking point or hyperbole because it doesn't matter.

He goes on to remind us (as many opponents of masks do) that dr. Fauci had said early this year they weren't necessary and so "that is that," and anything he says now must be wrong or because of ... again insert whatever you like.

But here's the thing that he's missing. Scientists, engineers, doctors, and others can and do update their thoughts based on a little something called the scientific method...and while there is no exact, specific definition to this, it's been around for as long as we've been a nation.

The basic premise is that it follows these steps: systematic observation, followed by measurement, and then create a hypothesis and create an experiment to test that hypothesis. Repeat as needed, or as you learn new things.

What that means is that we take in new information, and test it against what we know.

You can have an opinion, like say masks have limited effect in society, but are necessary in some scenarios. And then you get new information, like masks do limit the spread of germs, and other countries have seen a positive effect from their use. So you form a hypothesis "masks would be helpful in society" and you test that.

Several studies were done, showing how mask wearing slows the spread of the virus.

We can accept the hypothesis that we laid out. And then you form a new conclusion. Oh look, masks on everyone would help. We should wear them.

So, in a way, he didn’t change his mind, rather, he updated his position based on new information. Which is what we do.

The challenge is always in presenting these conclusions, or findings. Because people often don’t want to be confronted with anything that sways their long-held beliefs, or contradicts what they know to this point (ie, the rebel flag is a symbol of “heritage” even though it was the battle flag of a losing cause)

So, the discussion about masks falls on many deaf ears because the guy at the top doesn’t care/can’t be bothered/doesn’t understand. If he just said “wear a mask” with some consistency, the conversation would change. And the science might be accepted.

A reminder: voting matters

Back in 2000, W Bush beat Gore to lead the nation. It all came down to a recount in Florida and the vote difference was around 650 ballots. That's it.

If a few more people had voted, things may have worked out differently.

And now, here we are in 2020, looking at our idiot florida governor and wondering if things could be different, and looking at the nitwit named trump and wondering what went wrong...

And here's the thing: in 2018 Bill Nelson was running for re-election against Rick Scott for the senate seat. If Nelson had won, it's possible that he might have been the vote to remove trump from office. And we wouldn't be in this predicament.

And the governor was on that ballot running against Gillum, who seemed to actually, I dunno, actually care about florida... rather than just sucking up.

If deathsantis weren't the governor maybe things would be different, because, you know, maybe there would have been an actual lockdown and a mask order.

....the reality is that both of those races trigged recounts. They were really, really close. I believe the senate seat was within 1,000 votes and the governor was 8,000 or so.

Voter turnout was higher than typical mid-terms, with about 53% coming out. But imagine if it was just 2-3% higher; there would have been 175,000 more ballots in play.

That could have made a difference.

So remember that when the time comes in November! Vote. Vote to remove this asshole from power. Vote to restore common decency. Vote to have your voice heard.

Don't sit home. Your vote can and does matter.