For all the talk of “post-COVID life” or anything like it, the coronavirus pandemic remains very much with us. Talk of its end is premature. But we do know something about how our lives have already changed, and maybe a sense of what new or continuing changes we can plan for once the pandemic is really over.

That can be enormous or tiny. Too many of us have been very sick, or have lost loved ones, or both.

As we celebrate Pride Month and center the LGBTQ community, many people are happy to post statuses identifying themselves as allies, buying rainbow merchandise, and appearing at the local (this year, most likely virtual) Pride parade. Those are all great actions, of course. Another way to support LGBTQ people and communities is supporting media by and about LGBTQ folks.

Against the recommendation of an independent advisory committee, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new therapy for Alzheimer’s disease earlier this month. The drug, aducanumab, will be sold by Massachusetts-based company Biogen under the name Aduhelm. The drug will be sold at an expected annual cost of $56,000—Per. Patient.

Late Night Snark: Over Here and Over There Edition

“President Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act, making Juneteenth a federal holiday. But 14 members of the House voted against it. They look like the white paint sample section at Home Depot. Whaddya think, honey—should we paint the bathroom Mike Rogers or Thomas Massie?”
—Jimmy Fallon

“Joe Biden spent the day in Geneva for a much anticipated summit with Vladimir Putin.

Tucker Carlson has become a relentless promoter of his twisted-bowtie version of the white nationalist “replacement theory” of immigration—namely, that Democrats are deliberately opening the national gates to a floodtide of brown immigrants whose primary purpose is to displace and dispossess Republican white voters.