Pun Salad

The talking point is worth revisiting as presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden seeks the nation's highest office while denying a sexual assault charge made by former Senate aide Tara Reade.

The "Believe Women" slogan that was so popular just a couple years ago is said to be obsolete now that Democrats need to support a handsy old man with dementia. So, the movement quietly updated its slogan, replacing it with the updated, more accurate "Believe Creepy Old Men With Dementia."

"If a handsy old guy who likes to sniff women's hair in broad daylight says he didn't do something inappropriate, then he didn't," said Alyssa Milano. "It's that simple. We hear you, Joe, and we believe you. Don't let the accusers get you down. You do you." Milano then attacked women who don't believe Joe as "Trump enablers" and "science deniers."

This bizarre shutdown season has prompted a wave of internet memes, including some related to a commencement season favorite from Dr. Seuss. Reader Rebecca Vogel was kind enough to share her recent composition, which is excerpted below:

Oh, the Places You Can’t Go!

Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You can’t go many places,
But you will… someday.
You have soap on your hands,
And a mask on your face.
But you have been banned
From almost every place.
Now you are grown. And you know what you know,
But others decide where it is you can go.

The report, “Grading Our Governors: A Report Card on Reopening States’ Economies,” was issued by the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, founded by economists Art Laffer and Stephen Moore, and publisher Steve Forbes.

“The premise of this report is that — with a few exceptions in some metropolitan areas — the time is long past for every state to reopen safely, smartly, and judiciously so as to end the economic destruction and despair from lockdown,” according to the executive summary. “In this report, we assess how the governors have handled the shutdowns in terms of measuring how restrictive and damaging governors’ edicts have been when it comes to their state’s economy.”

Should you take vitamin D pills during the coronavirus crisis just in case? Vitamin D is clearly not a panacea and is most likely useful only in deficiency.

However, because vitamin D is very affordable and the risk/benefit ratio seems to be favorable, supplements might be reasonable for most people to consider. This is especially so if you are black or brown, are elderly or fully isolating at home.

“Given [vitamin D’s] rare side effects and its relatively wide safety margin, it may be an important, inexpensive, and safe adjuvant therapy for many diseases,” say the authors of a recent narrative review of the nutrient in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Until future large and well-designed studies are completed we just don’t know what the impact of vitamin D might be in COVID-19 specifically. But upping your intake is certainly the least crackpot of all the nutrition ideas out there.