“You Don’t Want to Be the Domino”: Reporters Inside the NBA’s COVID-Free Bubble Are Hoping It Doesn’t Burst | Vanity Fair

Dystopian, indeed!

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/07/inside-the-nbas-covid-free-bubble


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

A reminder from lil marco



The reality is, without our Senate majority you can expect Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi to go full throttle with their radical socialist agenda. We'll get a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and skyrocketing taxes on you to pay for it. This isn't the American way and we know this isn't what you stand for. 

This was an a fundraising email. It reminds us of exactly why Democrats should take back the senate. Finally we could take action on things that actually matter. 

And as for his "taxes will skyrocket" ummm, that's hyperbole. Our medical cost today is about equal to what Medicare-for-all would cost over the course of a decade. 

So this is absolutely what we stand for. 

Don't listen to the noise. Vote them out and let's lead the world as a nation that takes care of its people and is progressive!

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.