Podcasts about Stonewall

Tourmaline's work spotlighting the life of Marsha P. Johnson began with collecting a popular archive online, then a film, and now a biography that's out May 20. In the book, you learn about the notorious Black, trans heroine who moved to New York when she was thirteen, rioted at Stonewall, protected the dolls with Sylvia Rivera and their group Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries/STAR, performed in and around the Village, and left the door open behind her for future queer and trans people, and everyone who believes we should be allowed to self-determine our destinies. Marsha: The Joy and Defiance of Marsha P. Johnson https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/677583/marsha-by-tourmaline/ Happy Birthday Marsha - Tourmaline and Sasha Wortzel's movie about Marsha (free with a library card on Kanopy) https://www.kanopy.com/en/product/happy-birthday-marsha The Personal Things - animated short film Tourmaline made about Miss Major (with Micah Bazant, Pamela Chavez, and Hope Dector) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzafzVv2G2E

John Murray, Ian Dennis & Ali Bruce-Ball talk football, travel & language. What's it like commentating on an FA Cup Final? Ali reveals more about last week's Arctic expedition. The guys have their say on Goodison Park dodging the wrecking ball. Is the commentator's blessing now a thing? Clash of the Commentators does stadia and which terms will be added to the Great Glossary of Football Commentary?WhatsApp voicenotes to 08000 289 369 Emails to TCV@bbc.co.uk01:00 Commentating on the FA Cup Final 08:00 Ali's Arctic expedition 14:00 John disappointed by guard of honour ‘disrespect' 18:00 Nothing beats a Norwegian romance 19:25 Goodison Park lives to fight another day 23:55 5 Live commentaries this weekend 27:30 Is the ‘commentator's blessing' now a thing? 31:15 Clash of the Commentators 39:35 Great Glossary of Football CommentaryBBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries next weekend: Sat 1630 FA Cup Final Crystal Palace v Man City on 5 Live Sun 1330 Women's FA Cup Final Chelsea v Man Utd on Sports Extra 3, Sun 1415 West Ham v Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on 5 Live, Sun 1500 Brentford v Fulham in the Premier League on Sports Extra 2, Sun 1630 Arsenal v Newcastle in the Premier League on 5 Live.Glossary so far: 2-0 is a dangerous score, After you Claude, All-Premier League affair, Aplomb, Brace, Brandished, Breaking the deadlock, Champions elect / champions apparent, Clinical finish, Commentator's curse, Coupon buster, Cultured/Educated left foot, Denied by the woodwork, Draught excluder, Elimination line, Fellow countryman, Foot race, Formerly of this parish, Fox in the box, Free hit, Good touch for a big man, Honeymoon Period, In and around, In the shop window, Languishing, Loitering with intent, Marching orders, Nestle in the bottom corner, Numbered derbies, Nutmeg, Opening their account, Opposite number, Park the bus, PK for penalty-kick, Postage stamp, Rasping shot, Red wine not white wine, Relegation six-pointer, Rooted at the bottom, Roy of the Rovers stuff, Sending the goalkeeper the wrong way, Sleeping giants, Slide rule pass, Small matter of, Spiders web, Stayed hit, Steepling, Stinging the palms, Stonewall penalty, Straight off the training ground, Stramash, Struck with venom, Throw their cap on it, Turning into a basketball match, Turning into a cricket score, Walking a disciplinary tightrope, Wand of a left foot, We've got a cup tie on our hands, Where the owl sleeps, Wrap foot around it, Your De Bruynes, your Gundogans etc.

Down to our last beer as Tom Nickel from Nickel Beer and O'Brien's fumbled the ball at the one yard line and forgot the chocolate pairing! He did bring the most important part of the evening, a inspired Serrano pepper infused version on Nickel Beer's Stonewall Stout.

Send us a textStonewall Jackson In this episode of The Figures of the American Civil War Podcast, I am joined by self-confessed Stonewall Jackson fan Chris Mackowski to discuss the life of Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson. Born on January 21, 1824, in Clarksburg, Virginia, Jackson graduated from West Point in 1846 and began his career in the artillery. He fought in the Mexican-American War, but in 1852, he resigned his military commission to accept a teaching position at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, where he served as a Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy. Throughout his life, Jackson faced several tragedies, but his devotion to his faith helped him persevere. When the Civil War began, he accepted a position in the Confederate Army. During the Battle of First Bull Run, he earned one of the most famous nicknames in American Civil War history: "Stonewall." JacksonOther Confederate Figures.Confederate Figures. The Figures of the American Civil War Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLq4wzArTJ9uSWdMiDqA71aAuov88XNRvMThe music used in this podcast is courtesy of author Cody C. Engdahl, who has written a series of novels set during the American Civil War.You can find more information at the following links: Amazon: http://author.to/CodyCEngdahlChris Mackowski's Emerging Civil War Series book The last days of Stonewall Jackson https://emergingcivilwar.com/publication/ecw-series-the-last-days-of-stonewall-jackson-by-chris-mackowski-and-kristopher-d-white/ACW & UK History's Website.https://darrenscivilwarpag8.wixsite.com/acwandukhistoryACW & UK History's Pages.https://linktr.ee/ACWandUKHISTORYSupport the show

In this special hour long episode of The HIV Podcast, Sarah sits down with the unstoppable Lisa Power, co-founder of Stonewall, policy powerhouse, and a lifelong thorn in the side of complacency. From the early days of HIV activism to shaping national policy with wit, wisdom, and just the right amount of righteous rage. Lisa brings receipts, resilience, and razor-sharp insight. Buckle up for a history lesson, a call to arms, and a good laugh. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Garrett Glaser came out as gay to his mother at age fourteen, she said, “You are going to a psychiatrist right now, young man! We are going to nip this in the bud.” Fortunately, she came around to accept her son's orientation, and Garrett used his psychiatric sessions to address the challenges of finding a boyfriend.It was 1967, and Garrett was a tenth grader at the prestigious Dalton School in New York City. When he graduated, the headmaster was heard to say of Garrett and his friend, “We just graduated our first fags.” Such was the world before the Stonewall rebellion. It was a time before rainbow flags, when very few gay people were able to live honestly and openly.Garrett was an unusually adventurous and self-assured teenager. In FAIRYBOY, readers will follow as he explores the hidden world of gay New York, from the infamous “trucks” along the West Side Highway to the Continental Baths in its opening weeks.Garrett grew up to become an Emmy Award-winning TV news correspondent, with stints at CNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and Entertainment Tonight. During his thirty-year career, he interviewed the biggest stars and notables of the era, from Elizabeth Taylor and President George H.W. Bush to Oprah Winfrey and even Charles Manson.In FAIRYBOY, Garrett muses on changes in gay politics over the decades and weaves stories demonstrating the importance of mentors—and of remaining true to oneself.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.

Trent Brownlee from Stonewall is in St. Peter's Square, awaiting the announcement of a new Pope. Plus, Dr. Daniel McLeod joins Hal, and Trent hops back on once the white smoke appears!

Head-On with Roxanne Kincaid – May 5, 2025 “America's only liberal transbilly elitist” is back with fiery commentary, fundraising updates, listener calls, and blistering takedowns of Trump-world. Health & Travel: Roxanne shares an emotional update on her recovery from facial surgery, with an early CT scan scheduled at Duke. Facing a possible second surgery, she details her solo travel plans and worries — and underscores why listener support is vital. Fundraising: May's goal is $550. Cat in Ohio kicks off a $50 matching challenge, joined by Jeremy and Jude. Funds cover show costs and essential travel for medical care. Stalker Alert: Roxanne reveals disturbing threats from a cisgender woman spewing transphobic vitriol and death wishes. The host, no stranger to hate since her transition, took legal action — now involving the WV State Police. The incident is a raw look at how hate and misogyny collide. The MAGAT Menagerie: Trump, aka “Nitwit Nero,” comes under sharp attack for a string of bizarre moments: An AI image of himself as the Pope, Confusing Harvard with Harlem, Misrepresenting Supreme Court rulings, Suggesting American kids only need 2 dolls, Flubbing Civil Rights Act history, Praising his own wall that doesn't exist. Roxanne and listeners shred MAGAT lies, from calling Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett “low IQ” to defunding general officers in a Stalinist purge. Also on blast: Marjorie Taylor Greene (the “Trailer Queen”), Pam Bondi (“Pam Blondie”), and their dangerous rhetoric toward judges and migrants. Ryan Goodman joins via clip to analyze the twisted legal maneuvers. Economy & Reality Check: Clarence, a trucker and long-time listener, calls in with real-world insight: freight is down, MAGAT hats are disappearing, UPS is laying off workers, and the economy is cracking — especially for small owner-operators. He rips Trump's empty promises on manufacturing and salutes Kamala Harris for pension protections. Law, Cops & Queer Bars: Coverage of a disturbing raid on Ptown Bar in Pittsburgh during a drag show links today's police overreach to Stonewall and Compton's Cafeteria. Roxanne sees echoes of the past — but also resilience. The mayor pledges a review, and the queens didn't back down. Immigration & Lies: The administration's plan to pay undocumented migrants $1,000 to leave is mocked. Rep. Crockett claps back with real data. MAGAT disinfo from Steven Miller gets dismantled. Pop Culture & Sarcasm: A Met Gala mention. Snarky reading of People magazine's puff piece on Caroline Levitt's May-December marriage. Trump's “human battery” theory of exercise sparks laughs and concern. A literary quote from The Great Gatsby becomes this month's challenge. Bottom Line: Resilience, reality, and resistance. Roxanne faces medical hurdles and real threats, but refuses to back down. MAGATs get exposed, listeners show up, and the truth gets a mic.

AC systems won't keep their breakdowns on a reasonable schedule. That's why you need repair services at all hours, and AccuTemp Cooling and Heating delivers. Dial (318) 861-2255 for prompt support in Shreveport, Bossier City, Benton, and Stonewall.Go to https://accutemp.biz AccuTemp Cooling and Heating City: Shreveport Address: 8540 Box Rd Website: https://accutemp.biz Phone: +1-318-861-2255

We've got another great episode with a returning guest. And another big screw up by a returning screw up. That's right, the Hegseth hits keep coming and at this point it's a little hard to tell which one is the worst. From Signalgate to the briefing of Elon on our China war plans (remember that one?!) to a latest Signal chat group which includes his wife in briefings of the most top secret nature possible. It's another day, another fiasco for the world's worst SECDEF. Trump's first hundred days have seen countless terrible days for Pete Hegseth. And therefore, for all of us.  And Paul's gonna take you on a walk through midtown Manhattan and into Central Park on a beautiful spring evening to tear into all of. Including the latest on Ukraine, why the DOJ is being weaponized in a whole new way, why Saquon Barkley is off our Christmas card list and why conspiracy peddling Laura Loomer decided to attack Paul on Twitter/X/Elon's demented digital playpen.  And we've got a fantastic returning guest to break it all down. The vigilant reporter that's tracking all scandals down for the Washington Post. Dan Lamothe (@DanLamothe) is back and he's one of the best military and Pentagon reporters in America. He has written about the US Armed Forces for more than a decade, traveling extensively, embedding with each service, and covering combat in Afghanistan numerous times. He's the real deal and if you've heard him on the show before you know why we're always so happy to have him back on. Nobody stays on top of all things military more than Dan and you can only go this deep with a host with the chops to dig into all of it. Every episode of Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff breaks down the most important news stories–and offers light to contrast the heat of other politics and news shows. It's content for the 49% of Americans that proudly call themselves independent. Always with a unique focus on national security, foreign affairs and military and veterans issues. Independent content for independent Americans. The podcast that helps you stay ahead of the curve–and stay vigilant.  Past appearances by Dan Lamothe: Episode 96, Episode 154, Episode 185, Episode 206, Episode 245 and Episode 318. Be sure to check out the show now on our YouTube page here. -Watch the full episode here. -Watch the interview here. -Join the movement. Sign up to get our regular breakdowns of the independent news you need to know.  -Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -Check the hashtag #LookForTheHelpers. And share yours.  -Find us on social media or www.IndependentAmericans.us. And get a cool, new IA hoodie sweatshirt just in time for the start of the cold season.  -Check out other Righteous podcasts like The Firefighters Podcast with Rob Serra, Uncle Montel - The OG of Weed and B Dorm.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. America's next great independent media company. Ways to listen: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F1lzdRbTB0XYen8kyEqXe Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff/id1457899667 Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/49a684c3-68e1-4a85-8d93-d95027a8ec64/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff TuneIn Radio: https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Independent-Americans-p1214607/ Ways to watch: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@independentamericans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Social channels: X/Twitter: https://x.com/indy_americans BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/indyamericans.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Five years later and we're still standing on business. We're celebrating with Queer Urban Dictionary lessons (Gender Cues + Ponk), in Category is we discuss then vs. now moments, the moments that made us and discussing our queer hair experiences in Hair-apy. Of course, we share your messy Am I A Bad Queer? dilemmas, and take a stroll down Bad Queer Opinions memory lane. Cheers to 5 years of Bad Queers!Shoutouts: Kris: UK Black Pride - celebrating their 20th year in August. Founded by Lady Phyll, UK Black Pride is the world's largest celebration for LGBTQI+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American and Middle Eastern-descent. Follow on IG @ukblackprideShana: @Slipp3rywhenwet for introducing me to Salsa Soul Sisters which is the oldest Black lesbian organization in the US. Existing from 1974-1993, in the aftermath of Stonewall to particularly focus on issues of racism impacting lesbians of color. Read more about the Salsa Soul Sisters @Slipp3rywhenwetEpisode Notes: 2:23 - Queer Urban Dictionary4:09 - Category is: Then vs. Now Topics 18:38 - Category is: The Moments that Made us 24:57 - Category is: Hair-apy41:24 - Am I a Bad Queer?55:50 - Bad Queer Opinions1:02:09 - ShoutoutsShare your Am I A Bad Queer? hereSupport the showWe are on Patreon!! patreon.com/BadQueersPodcast Subscribe to our Youtubehttps://www.youtube.com/@BadQueersPodcastSend your Am I A Bad Queer questions to us on our website at https://badqueers.com/ or at badqueers@badqueers.com Follow us @badqueerspod on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram & Tik TokOpening song by Siena Liggins: @sienaligginsLike us? Love us? Leave a review The opinions expressed during this podcast are conversational in nature and expressed only for comedic purposes. Not all of the facts will be correct but we attempt to be as accurate as possible. BQ Media LLC, the hosts, nor any guest host(s) hold no liability over the conversations on this podcast and by using this podcast you understand that it is solely for entertainment purposes. Copyright Disclaimer: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, parody, scholarship and research.

When Garrett Glaser came out as gay to his mother at age fourteen, she said, “You are going to a psychiatrist right now, young man! We are going to nip this in the bud.” Fortunately, she came around to accept her son's orientation, and Garrett used his psychiatric sessions to address the challenges of finding a boyfriend.It was 1967, and Garrett was a tenth grader at the prestigious Dalton School in New York City. When he graduated, the headmaster was heard to say of Garrett and his friend, “We just graduated our first fags.” Such was the world before the Stonewall rebellion. It was a time before rainbow flags, when very few gay people were able to live honestly and openly.Garrett was an unusually adventurous and self-assured teenager. In FAIRYBOY, readers will follow as he explores the hidden world of gay New York, from the infamous “trucks” along the West Side Highway to the Continental Baths in its opening weeks.Garrett grew up to become an Emmy Award-winning TV news correspondent, with stints at CNBC, NBC, ABC, CBS and Entertainment Tonight. During his thirty-year career, he interviewed the biggest stars and notables of the era, from Elizabeth Taylor and President George H.W. Bush to Oprah Winfrey and even Charles Manson.In FAIRYBOY, Garrett muses on changes in gay politics over the decades and weaves stories demonstrating the importance of mentors—and of remaining true to oneself.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.

What does the law say about who counts as a woman - and who gets to decide? Unpacking the UK Supreme Court's recent ruling on the definition of “woman” under the Equality Act 2010 and Gender Recognition Act is guest Karon Monaghan KC, one of the UK's leading employment and discrimination law barristers.  See here for a link to the judgment. The discussion of this high-profile legal case tackles the legal system's treatment of trans rights, women's rights, and single-sex spaces, revealing the tensions at the heart of UK politics, human rights and equality  law.  Alongside hosts Ken Macdonald KC and Tim Owen KC, Karon explores the wider political issues in Britain, including the role of the EHRC and Stonewall in misrepresenting the law, the responsibilities of public institutions, and the rule of law in a polarised landscape. They also examine recent CPS guidance on consent and deception in sexual offences, raising crucial questions about the legal boundaries of sex, identity, and freedom of expression. With sharp analysis and expert legal commentary, this episode offers key legal system insights into the definitions of sex and gender in UK equality law, the balance of rights between different protected groups, and the future of politics and law in Britain.-----Covering the critical intersections of law and politics in the UK with expert commentary on high-profile legal cases, political controversies, prisons and sentencing, human rights law, current political events and the shifting landscape of justice and democracy. With in-depth discussions and influential guests, Double Jeopardy is the podcast that uncovers the forces shaping Britain's legal and political future. What happens when law and politics collide? How do politics shape the law - and when does the law push back? What happens when judicial independence is tested, human rights come under attack, or freedom of expression is challenged? And who really holds power in Britain's legal and political system? Get answers to questions like these weekly on Wednesdays at 6am GMT. Double Jeopardy is presented by Ken Macdonald KC, former Director of Public Prosecutions, and Tim Owen KC, as they break down the legal and political issues in Britain. From high-profile legal cases to the evolving state of British democracy, Double Jeopardy offers expert legal commentary on the most pressing topics in UK law, politics, and human rights. Ken Macdonald KC served as Director of Public Prosecutions from 2003-2008, shaping modern prosecutorial policy and advocating for the rule of law. He is a former Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, a crossbench member of the House of Lords, and a leading writer, commentator and broadcaster on politics and the rule of law. Tim Owen KC has been involved in many of the most significant public, criminal and human rights law cases over the past four decades. Both bring unparalleled experience from the frontline of Britain's legal and political landscape.If you like The Rest Is Politics, Talking Politics, Law Pod UK and Today in Focus, you'll love Double Jeopardy.

In this episode of Beers with Queers, hosts Brad and Jordi discuss the impact of a viral video from a local drag show, leading into a deeper exploration of queer history, specifically the Compton's Cafeteria Riot of 1966. This event marked a significant moment in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights, predating the more widely known Stonewall riots. The conversation highlights the struggles faced by the queer community, the importance of activism, and the ongoing fight for equality.Beers With Queers: A True Crime Podcast

It's time for another walk. Through the chaos of the last couple of weeks and the signs of spring fighting to break through winter's icy grip. The markets on fire, the world is outraged and our enemies are celebrating. And with so many questions looming about the economy, Trump's decisions and what's next for Ukraine, there might not be a better guest to get a gauge of where things stand. He's maybe the most reasonable Republican in the house, and as a result he's butted heads with everyone. From Laura Loomer all of the way to the Oval Office, Republican Congressman and retired Air Force General Don Bacon is the perfect guest for this episode. He represents the maverick spirit we've seen from so many of the good folk from Nebraska we've profiled on the show. I'm not sure what's in the water out there, but we should bottle it and send it to Washington ASAP. They need it bad. And so do we all. It's a great conversation with an influential decision maker at a critical time in our country's history. Welcome to Independent Americans, Episode 328. Be sure to check it out on our YouTube page here. -Get extra content, connect with guests, attend exclusive events, get merch discounts and support this critical show that speaks truth to power by joining our IA community on Patreon.  -NEW! Watch the video version of the entire podcast here. -Find us on social media and www.IndependentAmericans.us. Where you can also get some very cool IA merch in time for Easter, Mother's Day or Father's Day.  -Wanna advertise on the show and support the independent movement? Hit us up! -Also check out new episodes of other Righteous Media podcasts including the B Dorm Podcast, The Firefighters Podcast with Rob Serra and Uncle Montel - The OG of Weed.  Ways to listen: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F1lzdRbTB0XYen8kyEqXe Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff/id1457899667 Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/49a684c3-68e1-4a85-8d93-d95027a8ec64/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff Ways to watch: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@independentamericans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Social channels: X/Twitter: https://x.com/indy_americans BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/indyamericans.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode explores the 2009 police raid on the Atlanta Eagle, a significant event in queer history that highlighted issues of police misconduct and community resilience. The conversation delves into the history of the Atlanta Eagle as a safe haven for the LGBTQ+ community, the details of the raid, the community's response, the subsequent legal battles, and the reforms that followed. It emphasizes the importance of activism and accountability in the fight for justice and the ongoing struggles faced by queer spaces.Beers With Queers: A True Crime Podcast

John Murray, Ian Dennis & Ali Bruce-Ball talk commentary life. From Ian's penchant for pies at Celtic to whether the ‘dull' Premier League should have play-offs to make it more interesting. One listener sets a new record for clubs with a slash in their names, and there's a whole heap of controversy in a Clash of the Commentators basement battle. Plus, BBC Sport chief football writer Phil McNulty joins for the Great Glossary of Football Commentary.02:55 Who ate all the pies? 05:40 Would Arsenal fans rather have Saka or Gabriel? 11:35 5 Live's weekend commentaries 14:10 Should the ‘dull' Premier League have play-offs? 20:35 A new record for clubs with a slash in their names 28:10 Controversy in Clash of the Commentators 37:20 Phil McNulty joins for the Great GlossaryBBC Sounds / 5 Live commentaries this weekend: Fri 2000 England women v Belgium in the UEFA Women's Nations League, Fri 1915 Wales women v Denmark on the BBC Sport website, Sat 1500 Crystal Palace v Brighton in the Premier League, Sat 1730 Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest in the Premier League, Sun 1400 Fulham v Liverpool in the Premier League, Sun 1400 Brentford v Chelsea on Radio 5 Sports Extra, Sun 1400 Tottenham v Southampton on the BBC Sport website, Sun 1630 Man Utd v Man City in the Premier League.

This week we are joined by the fastest rising star in WWA history, Stonewall! Stonewall has been WWA Champion, Hardcore Champion, National Champion, Kentucky' Biggest Battle Royal, Winner and Match of the year Winner on two occasions! We discuss his life, wrestling, fatherhood, and so much more! 

As you might've heard, I have a new video up on YouTube about the film Dog Day Afternoon, and a queer bank robber who stunned New York way back in the 1970s. For this week's episode, we're diving into the Sewers of Paris archives to explore queer life (and, occasionally, crime) in New York of the ‘70s. Back in the spring of 2020 I spoke with a man who remembered that era well; he earned the nickname Tree thanks to his six-foot-five stature, and he's been a part of New York's gay community going back to the fifties, when he didn't even know a community existed. Tree's been a member of Brooklyn street gangs, worked with the mob, and counted among his friends Buddy Holly, Bea Arthur, and Rock Hudson.

This week's guest, Steve from Stonewall Recovery Centre here in Calgary stops by and shares portions of his journey. He talks about not only his life in active addiction, but through his coming out as a queer man in a fuller recovery for himself. I won't share too much, we have a great conversation and it is always lovely sitting down with members of the queer communityWe are full of love for Steve and of course Stonewall Recovery Centre as the first 2SLGBTQi+ treatment centre in Canada. We at Freedom's Path Recovery Society are so pleased to announce that we have been working closely with Steve and could not be more excited about the present and future.

Listen in as the hosts explore the inspiring journey of Dr. Mary Jo Ondrechen, a trailblazing gay two-spirit computational chemist, whose career spans from the post-Stonewall era of the 1970s to today. The hosts delve into Dr. Ondrechen's innovative approaches to building connections in a challenging and often hostile environment. They also discuss the detrimental effects of poor leadership on both morale and progress, and the critical importance of resilience, self-belief, and finding alternative paths during difficult times. The episode highlights the power of community, meaningful connections, and knowledge sharing in overcoming adversity and achieving success.EPISODE CHAPTERS:00:31 Surviving in an Adversarial Environment01:00 The Impact of Leadership on Progress03:11 Navigating Bad Leadership05:27 Believing in Yourself Through Difficult Times06:38 Conclusion and GratitudeCREDITS: This episode is produced and edited by Maribel Quezada Smith. Production Coordinator, Marissa Alcantar. A Diferente Creative Production. Special thanks to Dr. Mary Jo Ondrechen.

The queens super-gay it up with Stephanie Burt, the editor of the new poetry anthology, SUPER GAY POEMS.Please Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.NOTES:Check out SUPER GAY POEMS: LGBTQIA+ Poetry after Stonewall, edited by Stephanie Burt, out on April 1, 2025. Read Hera Lindsay Bird's "Bisexuality"Check out Best New Zealand Poets and 20 Contemporary New Zealand Poets.Read JD McClatchy's "My Mammogram" The article we reference by the founders of AALR is "The World Doesn't Stop for Derek Walcott, or: An Exchange between Coeditors." Gerald Maa and Lawrence-Minh Bùi Davis.Here's a link, if you haven't listened to our episode "We Can Shift the Canon"Vendler's final book is called Inhabit the Poem: Last Essays, out from Penguin on September 2, 2025.Read "Breakfast with Miss Bishop"--Helen Vendler on Elizabeth Bishop.Read here for more about Essex Hemphill.Stephanie wrote about teaching the Taylor Swift course at Harvard for Vanity Fair.Read Stephanie's "Taylor's Version: The Poetic and Musical Genius of Taylor Swift"The Tay Learning Podcast that Stephanie mentions can be found here.Read Christina Rossetti's "Goblin Market"

In this powerful episode of Queer Storytime, we dive deep into the urgent and historical topic of mutual aid within the LGBTQIA+ community. From the Stonewall era to the HIV/AIDS crisis and today's escalating attacks on gender and sexually affirming health care, mutual aid has been a lifeline for queer and trans folks.Stevie lays out the distinction between charity and solidarity, highlighting why institutional approaches often fall short. As mainstream LGBTQIA+ organizations amass wealth, the most vulnerable in our community — Black and Brown trans folks, unhoused queer youth, disabled queer individuals, and those living under oppressive legal systems — are left behind.This episode announces a groundbreaking new initiative: A Mutual Aid Collective for LGBTQIA+ Health & Wellbeing. This network will provide access to holistic health resources, guidance, and sliding-scale services for queer and trans individuals, especially those living in states where affirming healthcare is under attack.Listen now to learn about our community's resilience, why we need to reclaim the true spirit of mutual aid, and how you can support this collective effort. Remember, our survival is the ultimate act of resistance.Key Topics Covered:The historical precedent of mutual aid within the LGBTQIA+ community.The distinction between charity and solidarity.Criticism of mainstream LGBTQIA+ organizations hoarding wealth.Introduction of the Mutual Aid Collective for LGBTQIA+ Health & Wellbeing.How listeners can support or access this new initiative.Calls for community-based, nonhierarchical, direct aid over bureaucratic charity models.Call to Action:✨ Get Involved: If you're in a position to contribute financially, share skills, or simply spread the word, support the Mutual Aid Collective by visiting here - https://opencollective.com/queer-trans-thriving 

Before Pride, before Stonewall, before RuPaul's Drag Race—there was William Dorsey Swann. Born into slavery in 1860, Swann became the first self-proclaimed drag queen in American history and led a radical movement of joy, defiance, and survival in the heart of post-Civil War Washington D.C. In this episode, we dive into the miraculous story of America's first queer freedom fighter—a man who threw drag balls when the world threw chains. Inspired by Bob the Drag Queen's Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, this is a powerful exploration of identity, resistance, and the hidden legacies of Black queer liberation.

In New York, there were the Stonewall riots. In the Bible Belt, there was steer roping. We'll hear the secret history of gay rodeo. Plus, the Washington Post's new managing editor on how his childhood in Phoenix shaped his journalism.

Order The Memory Palace book now, dear listener. On Bookshop.org, on Amazon.com, on Barnes & Noble, or directly from Random House. Or order the audiobook at places like Libro.fm.The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. Radiotopia is a collective of independently owned and operated podcasts that's a part of PRX, a not-for-profit public media company. If you'd like to directly support this show, you can make a donation at Radiotopia.fm/donate. I have recently launched a newsletter. You can subscribe to it at thememorypalacepodcast.substack.com. Music Pockets of Light by Ludomyr Melnyk All in Circles and Janvie by Shida Shahabi Between Trees by Akria Kosemura NotesThere are a million things to read about Stonewall, but the thing that I feel like deepened my understanding enough was The New York Public Library's The Stonewall Reader. Particularly the audiobook. Couldn't recommend it enough. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

New Utah law would allow for Nazi and Confederate flags to be shown in schools but not Pride flag NewsBreakNewsBreak, By The Independent, on February 14, 2025https://www.newsbreak.com/share/3812118394569-new-utah-law-would-allow-for-nazi-and-confederate-flags-to-be-shown-in-schools-but-not-pride-flagThis proposed bill in Utah, which bans the display of Pride Flags while allowing the display of Nazi and Confederate flags under certain educational circumstances, has ignited strong criticism. Lawmakers argue that banning Pride Flags maintains a neutral space, while allowing the historical display of Nazi and Confederate flags could aid in teaching about World War II and the Civil War. Many, particularly from the LGBTQ+ community, have condemned the proposal as discriminatory and harmful. The situation highlights the ongoing struggles surrounding LGBTQ+ rights, as some people push back against displaying any symbols that represent marginalized identities.The bill's controversial nature extends beyond flags, revealing deeper concerns about ideology control and the suppression of certain groups. Critics point out that such policies perpetuate a dangerous narrative that harms the LGBTQ+ community, especially those already facing high rates of discrimination and suicide. The discussion then shifts to broader concerns about the government's role in controlling public symbols and speech, with some arguing that the true agenda is to reinforce conformity and suppress those whose existence challenges entrenched worldviews.The impact on LGBTQ+ students, particularly those from transgender communities, is seen as potentially devastating. With suicide rates higher among these groups due to discrimination, critics argue that such bills could exacerbate an already harmful environment. Moreover, the narrative around biological sex versus gender identity is being distorted in public policies, as seen in recent executive orders attempting to define gender in simplistic, scientifically inaccurate terms.In response, community members are encouraged to actively resist such policies, engage in public discourse, and stand against the normalization of oppressive ideologies. By demanding that LGBTQ+ history, such as the Stonewall riots, be included in education, they hope to challenge the selective suppression of identities while holding space for the celebration of all cultures, including those historically marginalized.The Non-Prophets, Episode 24.9.2 featuring Cynthia McDonald, Infidel64, Aaron Jensen and AJBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-non-prophets--3254964/support.

Dr. Gary Null provides a commentary on "Universal  Healthcare"       Universal Healthcare is the Solution to a Broken Medical System Gary Null, PhD Progressive Radio Network, March 3, 2025 For over 50 years, there has been no concerted or successful effort to bring down medical costs in the American healthcare system. Nor are the federal health agencies making disease prevention a priority. Regardless whether the political left or right sponsors proposals for reform, such measures are repeatedly defeated by both parties in Congress. As a result, the nation's healthcare system remains one of the most expensive and least efficient in the developed world. For the past 30 years, medical bills contributing to personal debt regularly rank among the top three causes of personal bankruptcy. This is a reality that reflects not only the financial strain on ordinary Americans but the systemic failure of the healthcare system itself. The urgent question is: If President Trump and his administration are truly seeking to reduce the nation's $36 trillion deficit, why is there no serious effort to reform the most bloated and corrupt sector of the economy? A key obstacle is the widespread misinformation campaign that falsely claims universal health care would cost an additional $2 trillion annually and further balloon the national debt. However, a more honest assessment reveals the opposite. If the US adopted a universal single-payer system, the nation could actually save up to $20 trillion over the next 10 years rather than add to the deficit. Even with the most ambitious efforts by people like Elon Musk to rein in federal spending or optimize government efficiency, the estimated savings would only amount to $500 billion. This is only a fraction of what could be achieved through comprehensive healthcare reform alone. Healthcare is the largest single expenditure of the federal budget. A careful examination of where the $5 trillion spent annually on healthcare actually goes reveals massive systemic fraud and inefficiency. Aside from emergency medicine, which accounts for only 10-12 percent of total healthcare expenditures, the bulk of this spending does not deliver better health outcomes nor reduce trends in physical and mental illness. Applying Ockham's Razor, the principle that the simplest solution is often the best, the obvious conclusion is that America's astronomical healthcare costs are the direct result of price gouging on an unimaginable scale. For example, in most small businesses, profit margins range between 1.6 and 2.5 percent, such as in grocery retail. Yet the pharmaceutical industrial complex routinely operates on markup rates as high as 150,000 percent for many prescription drugs. The chart below highlights the astronomical gap between the retail price of some top-selling patented pharmaceutical medications and their generic equivalents. Drug Condition Patent Price (per unit) Generic Price Estimated Manufacture Cost Markup Source Insulin (Humalog) Diabetes $300 $30 $3 10,000% Rand (2021) EpiPen Allergic reactions $600 $30 $10 6,000% BMJ (2022) Daraprim Toxoplasmosis $750/pill $2 $0.50 150,000% JAMA (2019) Harvoni Hepatitis C $94,500 (12 weeks) $30,000 $200 47,000% WHO Report (2018) Lipitor Cholesterol $150 $10 $0.50 29,900% Health Affairs (2020) Xarelto Blood Thinner $450 $25 $1.50 30,000% NEJM (2020) Abilify Schizophrenia $800 (30 tablets) $15 $2 39,900% AJMC (2019) Revlimid Cancer $16,000/mo $450 $150 10,500% Kaiser Health News (2021) Humira Arthritis $2,984/dose $400 $50 5,868% Rand (2021) Sovaldi Hepatitis C $1,000/pill $10 $2 49,900% JAMA (2021) Xolair Asthma $2,400/dose $300 $50 4,800% NEJM (2020) Gleevec Leukemia $10,000/mo $350 $200 4,900% Harvard Public Health Review (2020) OxyContin Pain Relief $600 (30 tablets) $15 $0.50 119,900% BMJ (2022) Remdesivir Covid-19 $3,120 (5 doses) N/A $10 31,100% The Lancet (2020) The corruption extends far beyond price gouging. Many pharmaceutical companies convince federal health agencies to fund their basic research and drug development with taxpayer dollars. Yet when these companies bring successful products to market, the profits are kept entirely by the corporations or shared with the agencies or groups of government scientists. On the other hand, the public, who funded the research, receives no financial return. This amounts to a systemic betrayal of the public trust on a scale of hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Another significant contributor to rising healthcare costs is the widespread practice of defensive medicine that is driven by the constant threat of litigation. Over the past 40 years, defensive medicine has become a cottage industry. Physicians order excessive diagnostic tests and unnecessary treatments simply to protect themselves from lawsuits. Study after study has shown that these over-performed procedures not only inflate costs but lead to iatrogenesis or medical injury and death caused by the medical  system and practices itself. The solution is simple: adopting no-fault healthcare coverage for everyone where patients receive care without needing to sue and thereby freeing doctors from the burden of excessive malpractice insurance. A single-payer universal healthcare system could fundamentally transform the entire industry by capping profits at every level — from drug manufacturers to hospitals to medical equipment suppliers. The Department of Health and Human Services would have the authority to set profit margins for medical procedures. This would ensure that healthcare is determined by outcomes, not profits. Additionally, the growing influence of private equity firms and vulture capitalists buying up hospitals and medical clinics across America must be reined in. These equity firms prioritize profit extraction over improving the quality of care. They often slash staff, raise prices, and dictate medical procedures based on what will yield the highest returns. Another vital reform would be to provide free medical education for doctors and nurses in exchange for five years of service under the universal system. Medical professionals would earn a realistic salary cap to prevent them from being lured into equity partnerships or charging exorbitant rates. The biggest single expense in the current system, however, is the private health insurance industry, which consumes 33 percent of the $5 trillion healthcare budget. Health insurance CEOs consistently rank among the highest-paid executives in the country. Their companies, who are nothing more than bean counters, decide what procedures and drugs will be covered, partially covered, or denied altogether. This entire industry is designed to place profits above patients' lives. If the US dismantled its existing insurance-based system and replaced it with a fully reformed national healthcare model, the country could save $2.7 trillion annually while simultaneously improving health outcomes. Over the course of 10 years, those savings would amount to $27 trillion. This could wipe out nearly the entire national debt in a short time. This solution has been available for decades but has been systematically blocked by corporate lobbying and bipartisan corruption in Washington. The path forward is clear but only if American citizens demand a system where healthcare is valued as a public service and not a commodity. The national healthcare crisis is not just a fiscal issue. It is a crucial moral failure of the highest order. With the right reforms, the nation could simultaneously restore its financial health and deliver the kind of healthcare system its citizens have long deserved. American Healthcare: Corrupt, Broken and Lethal Richard Gale and Gary Null Progressive Radio Network, March 3, 2025 For a nation that prides itself on being the world's wealthiest, most innovative and technologically advanced, the US' healthcare system is nothing less than a disaster and disgrace. Not only are Americans the least healthy among the most developed nations, but the US' health system ranks dead last among high-income countries. Despite rising costs and our unshakeable faith in American medical exceptionalism, average life expectancy in the US has remained lower than other OECD nations for many years and continues to decline. The United Nations recognizes healthcare as a human right. In 2018, former UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon denounced the American healthcare system as "politically and morally wrong." During the pandemic it is estimated that two to three years was lost on average life expectancy. On the other hand, before the Covid-19 pandemic, countries with universal healthcare coverage found their average life expectancy stable or slowly increasing. The fundamental problem in the U.S. is that politics have been far too beholden to the pharmaceutical, HMO and private insurance industries. Neither party has made any concerted effort to reign in the corruption of corporate campaign funding and do what is sensible, financially feasible and morally correct to improve Americans' quality of health and well-being.   The fact that our healthcare system is horribly broken is proof that moneyed interests have become so powerful to keep single-payer debate out of the media spotlight and censored. Poll after poll shows that the American public favors the expansion of public health coverage. Other incremental proposals, including Medicare and Medicaid buy-in plans, are also widely preferred to the Affordable Care Act or Obamacare mess we are currently stuck with.   It is not difficult to understand how the dismal state of American medicine is the result of a system that has been sold out to the free-market and the bottom line interests of drug makers and an inflated private insurance industry. How advanced and ethically sound can a healthcare system be if tens of millions of people have no access to medical care because it is financially out of their reach?  The figures speak for themselves. The U.S. is burdened with a $41 trillion Medicare liability. The number of uninsured has declined during the past several years but still lingers around 25 million. An additional 30-35 million are underinsured. There are currently 65 million Medicare enrollees and 89 million Medicaid recipients. This is an extremely unhealthy snapshot of the country's ability to provide affordable healthcare and it is certainly unsustainable. The system is a public economic failure, benefiting no one except the large and increasingly consolidated insurance and pharmaceutical firms at the top that supervise the racket.   Our political parties have wrestled with single-payer or universal healthcare for decades. Obama ran his first 2008 presidential campaign on a single-payer platform. Since 1985, his campaign health adviser, the late Dr. Quentin Young from the University of Illinois Medical School, was one of the nation's leading voices calling for universal health coverage.  During a private conversation with Dr. Young shortly before his passing in 2016, he conveyed his sense of betrayal at the hands of the Obama administration. Dr. Young was in his 80s when he joined the Obama campaign team to help lead the young Senator to victory on a promise that America would finally catch up with other nations. The doctor sounded defeated. He shared how he was manipulated, and that Obama held no sincere intention to make universal healthcare a part of his administration's agenda. During the closed-door negotiations, which spawned the weak and compromised Affordable Care Act, Dr. Young was neither consulted nor invited to participate. In fact, he told us that he never heard from Obama again after his White House victory.   Past efforts to even raise the issue have been viciously attacked. A huge army of private interests is determined to keep the public enslaved to private insurers and high medical costs. The failure of our healthcare is in no small measure due to it being a fully for-profit operation. Last year, private health insurance accounted for 65 percent of coverage. Consider that there are over 900 private insurance companies in the US. National Health Expenditures (NHE) grew to $4.5 trillion in 2022, which was 17.3 percent of GDP. Older corporate rank-and-file Democrats and Republicans argue that a single-payer or socialized medical program is unaffordable. However, not only is single-payer affordable, it will end bankruptcies due to unpayable medical debt. In addition, universal healthcare, structured on a preventative model, will reduce disease rates at the outset.    Corporate Democrats argue that Obama's Affordable Care Act (ACA) was a positive step inching the country towards complete public coverage. However, aside from providing coverage to the poorest of Americans, Obamacare turned into another financial anchor around the necks of millions more. According to the health policy research group KFF, the average annual health insurance premium for single coverage is $8,400 and almost $24,000 for a family. In addition, patient out-of-pocket costs continue to increase, a 6.6% increase to $471 billion in 2022. Rather than healthcare spending falling, it has exploded, and the Trump and Biden administrations made matters worse.    Clearly, a universal healthcare program will require flipping the script on the entire private insurance industry, which employed over half a million people last year.  Obviously, the most volatile debate concerning a national universal healthcare system concerns cost. Although there is already a socialized healthcare system in place -- every federal legislator, bureaucrat, government employee and veteran benefits from it -- fiscal Republican conservatives and groups such as the Koch Brothers network are single-mindedly dedicated to preventing the expansion of Medicare and Medicaid. A Koch-funded Mercatus analysis made the outrageous claim that a single-payer system would increase federal health spending by $32 trillion in ten years. However, analyses and reviews by the Congressional Budget Office in the early 1990s concluded that such a system would only increase spending at the start; enormous savings would quickly offset it as the years pass. In one analysis, "the savings in administrative costs [10 percent of health spending] would be more than enough to offset the expense of universal coverage."    Defenders of those advocating for funding a National Health Program argue this can primarily be accomplished by raising taxes to levels comparable to other developed nations. This was a platform Senator Bernie Sanders and some of the younger progressive Democrats in the House campaigned on. The strategy was to tax the highest multimillion-dollar earners 60-70 percent. Despite the outrage of its critics, including old rank-and-file multi-millionaire Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, this is still far less than in the past. During the Korean War, the top tax rate was 91 percent; it declined to 70 percent in the late 1960s. Throughout most of the 1970s, those in the lowest income bracket were taxed at 14 percent. We are not advocating for this strategy because it ignores where the funding is going, and the corruption in the system that is contributing to exorbitant waste.    But Democratic supporters of the ACA who oppose a universal healthcare plan ignore the additional taxes Obama levied to pay for the program. These included surtaxes on investment income, Medicare taxes from those earning over $200,000, taxes on tanning services, an excise tax on medical equipment, and a 40 percent tax on health coverage for costs over the designated cap that applied to flexible savings and health savings accounts. The entire ACA was reckless, sloppy and unnecessarily complicated from the start.    The fact that Obamacare further strengthened the distinctions between two parallel systems -- federal and private -- with entirely different economic structures created a labyrinth of red tape, rules, and wasteful bureaucracy. Since the ACA went into effect, over 150 new boards, agencies and programs have had to be established to monitor its 2,700 pages of gibberish. A federal single-payer system would easily eliminate this bureaucracy and waste.    A medical New Deal to establish universal healthcare coverage is a decisive step in the correct direction. But we must look at the crisis holistically and in a systematic way. Simply shuffling private insurance into a federal Medicare-for-all or buy-in program, funded by taxing the wealthiest of citizens, would only temporarily reduce costs. It will neither curtail nor slash escalating disease rates e. Any effective healthcare reform must also tackle the underlying reasons for Americans' poor state of health. We cannot shy away from examining the social illnesses infecting our entire free-market capitalist culture and its addiction to deregulation. A viable healthcare model would have to structurally transform how the medical economy operates. Finally, a successful medical New Deal must honestly evaluate the best and most reliable scientific evidence in order to effectively redirect public health spending.    For example, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former Obama healthcare adviser, observed that AIDS-HIV measures consume the most public health spending, even though the disease "ranked 75th on the list of diseases by personal health expenditures." On the other hand, according to the American Medical Association, a large percentage of the nation's $3.4 trillion healthcare spending goes towards treating preventable diseases, notably diabetes, common forms of heart disease, and back and neck pain conditions. In 2016, these three conditions were the most costly and accounted for approximately $277 billion in spending. Last year, the CDC announced the autism rate is now 1 in 36 children compared to 1 in 44 two years ago. A retracted study by Mark Blaxill, an autism activist at the Holland Center and a friend of the authors, estimates that ASD costs will reach $589 billion annually by 2030. There are no signs that this alarming trend will reverse and decline; and yet, our entire federal health system has failed to conscientiously investigate the underlying causes of this epidemic. All explanations that might interfere with the pharmaceutical industry's unchecked growth, such as over-vaccination, are ignored and viciously discredited without any sound scientific evidence. Therefore, a proper medical New Deal will require a systemic overhaul and reform of our federal health agencies, especially the HHS, CDC and FDA. Only the Robert Kennedy Jr presidential campaign is even addressing the crisis and has an inexpensive and comprehensive plan to deal with it. For any medical revolution to succeed in advancing universal healthcare, the plan must prioritize spending in a manner that serves public health and not private interests. It will also require reshuffling private corporate interests and their lobbyists to the sidelines, away from any strategic planning, in order to break up the private interests' control over federal agencies and its revolving door policies. Aside from those who benefit from this medical corruption, the overwhelming majority of Americans would agree with this criticism. However, there is a complete lack of national trust that our legislators, including the so-called progressives, would be willing to undertake such actions.    In addition, America's healthcare system ignores the single most critical initiative to reduce costs - that is, preventative efforts and programs instead of deregulation and closing loopholes designed to protect the drug and insurance industries' bottom line. Prevention can begin with banning toxic chemicals that are proven health hazards associated with current disease epidemics, and it can begin by removing a 1,000-plus toxins already banned in Europe. This should be a no-brainer for any legislator who cares for public health. For example, Stacy Malkan, co-founder of the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics, notes that "the policy approach in the US and Europe is dramatically different" when it comes to chemical allowances in cosmetic products. Whereas the EU has banned 1,328 toxic substances from the cosmetic industry alone, the US has banned only 11. The US continues to allow carcinogenic formaldehyde, petroleum, forever chemicals, many parabens (an estrogen mimicker and endocrine hormone destroyer), the highly allergenic p-phenylenediamine or PBD, triclosan, which has been associated with the rise in antibiotic resistant bacteria, avobenzone, and many others to be used in cosmetics, sunscreens, shampoo and hair dyes.   Next, the food Americans consume can be reevaluated for its health benefits. There should be no hesitation to tax the unhealthiest foods, such as commercial junk food, sodas and candy relying on high fructose corn syrup, products that contain ingredients proven to be toxic, and meat products laden with dangerous chemicals including growth hormones and antibiotics. The scientific evidence that the average American diet is contributing to rising disease trends is indisputable. We could also implement additional taxes on the public advertising of these demonstrably unhealthy products. All such tax revenue would accrue to a national universal health program to offset medical expenditures associated with the very illnesses linked to these products. Although such tax measures would help pay for a new medical New Deal, it may be combined with programs to educate the public about healthy nutrition if it is to produce a reduction in the most common preventable diseases. In fact, comprehensive nutrition courses in medical schools should be mandatory because the average physician receives no education in this crucial subject.  In addition, preventative health education should be mandatory throughout public school systems.   Private insurers force hospitals, clinics and private physicians into financial corners, and this is contributing to prodigious waste in money and resources. Annually, healthcare spending towards medical liability insurance costs tens of billions of dollars. In particular, this economic burden has taxed small clinics and physicians. It is well past the time that physician liability insurance is replaced with no-fault options. Today's doctors are spending an inordinate amount of money to protect themselves. Legions of liability and trial lawyers seek big paydays for themselves stemming from physician error. This has created a culture of fear among doctors and hospitals, resulting in the overly cautious practice of defensive medicine, driving up costs and insurance premiums just to avoid lawsuits. Doctors are forced to order unnecessary tests and prescribe more medications and medical procedures just to cover their backsides. No-fault insurance is a common-sense plan that enables physicians to pursue their profession in a manner that will reduce iatrogenic injuries and costs. Individual cases requiring additional medical intervention and loss of income would still be compensated. This would generate huge savings.    No other nation suffers from the scourge of excessive drug price gouging like the US. After many years of haggling to lower prices and increase access to generic drugs, only a minute amount of progress has been made in recent years. A 60 Minutes feature about the Affordable Care Act reported an "orgy of lobbying and backroom deals in which just about everyone with a stake in the $3-trillion-a-year health industry came out ahead—except the taxpayers.” For example, Life Extension magazine reported that an antiviral cream (acyclovir), which had lost its patent protection, "was being sold to pharmacies for 7,500% over the active ingredient cost. The active ingredient (acyclovir) costs only 8 pennies, yet pharmacies are paying a generic maker $600 for this drug and selling it to consumers for around $700." Other examples include the antibiotic Doxycycline. The price per pill averages 7 cents to $3.36 but has a 5,300 percent markup when it reaches the consumer. The antidepressant Clomipramine is marked up 3,780 percent, and the anti-hypertensive drug Captopril's mark-up is 2,850 percent. And these are generic drugs!    Medication costs need to be dramatically cut to allow drug manufacturers a reasonable but not obscene profit margin. By capping profits approximately 100 percent above all costs, we would save our system hundreds of billions of dollars. Such a measure would also extirpate the growing corporate misdemeanors of pricing fraud, which forces patients to pay out-of-pocket in order to make up for the costs insurers are unwilling to pay.    Finally, we can acknowledge that our healthcare is fundamentally a despotic rationing system based upon high insurance costs vis-a-vis a toss of the dice to determine where a person sits on the economic ladder. For the past three decades it has contributed to inequality. The present insurance-based economic metrics cast millions of Americans out of coverage because private insurance costs are beyond their means. Uwe Reinhardt, a Princeton University political economist, has called our system "brutal" because it "rations [people] out of the system." He defined rationing as "withholding something from someone that is beneficial." Discriminatory healthcare rationing now affects upwards to 60 million people who have been either priced out of the system or under insured. They make too much to qualify for Medicare under Obamacare, yet earn far too little to afford private insurance costs and premiums. In the final analysis, the entire system is discriminatory and predatory.    However, we must be realistic. Almost every member of Congress has benefited from Big Pharma and private insurance lobbyists. The only way to begin to bring our healthcare program up to the level of a truly developed nation is to remove the drug industry's rampant and unnecessary profiteering from the equation.     How did Fauci memory-hole a cure for AIDS and get away with it?   By Helen Buyniski   Over 700,000 Americans have died of AIDS since 1981, with the disease claiming some 42.3 million victims worldwide. While an HIV diagnosis is no longer considered a certain death sentence, the disease looms large in the public imagination and in public health funding, with contemporary treatments running into thousands of dollars per patient annually.   But was there a cure for AIDS all this time - an affordable and safe treatment that was ruthlessly suppressed and attacked by the US public health bureaucracy and its agents? Could this have saved millions of lives and billions of dollars spent on AZT, ddI and failed HIV vaccine trials? What could possibly justify the decision to disappear a safe and effective approach down the memory hole?   The inventor of the cure, Gary Null, already had several decades of experience creating healing protocols for physicians to help patients not responding well to conventional treatments by the time AIDS was officially defined in 1981. Null, a registered dietitian and board-certified nutritionist with a PhD in human nutrition and public health science, was a senior research fellow and Director of Anti-Aging Medicine at the Institute of Applied Biology for 36 years and has published over 950 papers, conducting groundbreaking experiments in reversing biological aging as confirmed with DNA methylation testing. Additionally, Null is a multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker, bestselling author, and investigative journalist whose work exposing crimes against humanity over the last 50 years has highlighted abuses by Big Pharma, the military-industrial complex, the financial industry, and the permanent government stay-behind networks that have come to be known as the Deep State.   Null was contacted in 1974 by Dr. Stephen Caiazza, a physician working with a subculture of gay men in New York living the so-called “fast track” lifestyle, an extreme manifestation of the gay liberation movement that began with the Stonewall riots. Defined by rampant sexual promiscuity and copious use of illegal and prescription drugs, including heavy antibiotic use for a cornucopia of sexually-transmitted diseases, the fast-track never included more than about two percent of gay men, though these dominated many of the bathhouses and clubs that defined gay nightlife in the era. These patients had become seriously ill as a result of their indulgence, generally arriving at the clinic with multiple STDs including cytomegalovirus and several types of herpes and hepatitis, along with candida overgrowth, nutritional deficiencies, gut issues, and recurring pneumonia. Every week for the next 10 years, Null would counsel two or three of these men - a total of 800 patients - on how to detoxify their bodies and de-stress their lives, tracking their progress with Caiazza and the other providers at weekly feedback meetings that he credits with allowing the team to quickly evaluate which treatments were most effective. He observed that it only took about two years on the “fast track” for a healthy young person to begin seeing muscle loss and the recurrent, lingering opportunistic infections that would later come to be associated with AIDS - while those willing to commit to a healthier lifestyle could regain their health in about a year.    It was with this background that Null established the Tri-State Healing Center in Manhattan in 1980, staffing the facility with what would eventually run to 22 certified health professionals to offer safe, natural, and effective low- and no-cost treatments to thousands of patients with HIV and AIDS-defining conditions. Null and his staff used variations of the protocols he had perfected with Caiazza's patients, a multifactorial patient-tailored approach that included high-dose vitamin C drips, intravenous ozone therapy, juicing and nutritional improvements and supplementation, aspects of homeopathy and naturopathy with some Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic practices. Additional services offered on-site included acupuncture and holistic dentistry, while peer support groups were also held at the facility so that patients could find community and a positive environment, healing their minds and spirits while they healed their bodies.   “Instead of trying to kill the virus with antiretroviral pharmaceuticals designed to stop viral replication before it kills patients, we focused on what benefits could be gained by building up the patients' natural immunity and restoring biochemical integrity so the body could fight for itself,” Null wrote in a 2014 article describing the philosophy behind the Center's approach, which was wholly at odds with the pharmaceutical model.1   Patients were comprehensively tested every week, with any “recovery” defined solely by the labs, which documented AIDS patient after patient - 1,200 of them - returning to good health and reversing their debilitating conditions. Null claims to have never lost an AIDS patient in the Center's care, even as the death toll for the disease - and its pharmaceutical standard of care AZT - reached an all-time high in the early 1990s. Eight patients who had opted for a more intensive course of treatment - visiting the Center six days a week rather than one - actually sero-deconverted, with repeated subsequent testing showing no trace of HIV in their bodies.   As an experienced clinical researcher himself, Null recognized that any claims made by the Center would be massively scrutinized, challenging as they did the prevailing scientific consensus that AIDS was an incurable, terminal illness. He freely gave his protocols to any medical practitioner who asked, understanding that his own work could be considered scientifically valid only if others could replicate it under the same conditions. After weeks of daily observational visits to the Center, Dr. Robert Cathcart took the protocols back to San Francisco, where he excitedly reported that patients were no longer dying in his care.    Null's own colleague at the Institute of Applied Biology, senior research fellow Elana Avram, set up IV drip rooms at the Institute and used his intensive protocols to sero-deconvert 10 patients over a two-year period. While the experiment had been conducted in secret, as the Institute had been funded by Big Pharma since its inception half a century earlier, Avram had hoped she would be able to publish a journal article to further publicize Null's protocols and potentially help AIDS patients, who were still dying at incredibly high rates thanks to Burroughs Wellcome's noxious but profitable AZT. But as she would later explain in a 2019 letter to Null, their groundbreaking research never made it into print - despite meticulous documentation of their successes - because the Institute's director and board feared their pharmaceutical benefactors would withdraw the funding on which they depended, given that Null's protocols did not involve any patentable or otherwise profitable drugs. When Avram approached them about publication, the board vetoed the idea, arguing that it would “draw negative attention because [the work] was contrary to standard drug treatments.” With no real point in continuing experiments along those lines without institutional support and no hope of obtaining funding from elsewhere, the department she had created specifically for these experiments shut down after a two-year followup with her test subjects - all of whom remained alive and healthy - was completed.2   While the Center was receiving regular visits by this time from medical professionals and, increasingly, black celebrities like Stokely Carmichael and Isaac Hayes, who would occasionally perform for the patients, the news was spreading by word of mouth alone - not a single media outlet had dared to document the clinic that was curing AIDS patients for free. Instead, they gave airtime to Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases, who had for years been spreading baseless, hysteria-fueling claims about HIV and AIDS to any news outlet that would put him on. His claim that children could contract the virus from “ordinary household conduct” with an infected relative proved so outrageous he had to walk it back,3 and he never really stopped insisting the deadly plague associated with gays and drug users was about to explode like a nuclear bomb among the law-abiding heterosexual population. Fauci by this time controlled all government science funding through NIAID, and his zero-tolerance approach to dissent on the HIV/AIDS front had already seen prominent scientists like virologist Peter Duesberg stripped of the resources they needed for their work because they had dared to question his commandment: There is no cause of AIDS but HIV, and AZT is its treatment. Even the AIDS activist groups, which by then had been coopted by Big Pharma and essentially reduced to astroturfing for the toxic failed chemotherapy drug AZT backed by the institutional might of Fauci's NIAID,4 didn't seem to want to hear that there was a cure. Unconcerned with the irrationality of denouncing the man touting his free AIDS cure as an  “AIDS denier,” they warned journalists that platforming Null or anyone else rejecting the mainstream medical line would be met with organized demands for their firing.    Determined to breach the institutional iron curtain and get his message to the masses, Null and his team staged a press conference in New York, inviting scientists and doctors from around the world to share their research on alternative approaches to HIV and AIDS in 1993. To emphasize the sound scientific basis of the Center's protocols and encourage guests to adopt them into their own practices, Null printed out thousands of abstracts in support of each nutrient and treatment being used. However, despite over 7,000 invitations sent three times to major media, government figures, scientists, and activists, almost none of the intended audience members showed up. Over 100 AIDS patients and their doctors, whose charts exhaustively documented their improvements using natural and nontoxic modalities over the preceding 12 months, gave filmed testimonials, declaring that the feared disease was no longer a death sentence, but the conference had effectively been silenced. Bill Tatum, publisher of the Amsterdam News, suggested Null and his patients would find a more welcoming audience in his home neighborhood of Harlem - specifically, its iconic Apollo Theatre. For three nights, the theater was packed to capacity. Hit especially hard by the epidemic and distrustful of a medical system that had only recently stopped being openly racist (the Tuskegee syphilis experiment only ended in 1972), black Americans, at least, did not seem to care what Anthony Fauci would do if he found out they were investigating alternatives to AZT and death.    PBS journalist Tony Brown, having obtained a copy of the video of patient testimonials from the failed press conference, was among a handful of black journalists who began visiting the Center to investigate the legitimacy of Null's claims. Satisfied they had something significant to offer his audience, Brown invited eight patients - along with Null himself - onto his program over the course of several episodes to discuss the work. It was the first time these protocols had received any attention in the media, despite Null having released nearly two dozen articles and multiple documentaries on the subject by that time. A typical patient on one program, Al, a recovered IV drug user who was diagnosed with AIDS at age 32, described how he “panicked,” saw a doctor and started taking AZT despite his misgivings - only to be forced to discontinue the drug after just a few weeks due to his condition deteriorating rapidly. Researching alternatives brought him to Null, and after six months of “detoxing [his] lifestyle,” he observed his initial symptoms - swollen lymph nodes and weight loss - begin to reverse, culminating with sero-deconversion. On Bill McCreary's Channel 5 program, a married couple diagnosed with HIV described how they watched their T-cell counts increase as they cut out sugar, caffeine, smoking, and drinking and began eating a healthy diet. They also saw the virus leave their bodies.   For HIV-positive viewers surrounded by fear and negativity, watching healthy-looking, cheerful “AIDS patients” detail their recovery while Null backed up their claims with charts must have been balm for the soul. But the TV programs were also a form of outreach to the medical community, with patients' charts always on hand to convince skeptics the cure was scientifically valid. Null brought patients' charts to every program, urging them to keep an open mind: “Other physicians and public health officials should know that there's good science in the alternative perspective. It may not be a therapy that they're familiar with, because they're just not trained in it, but if the results are positive, and you can document them…” He challenged doubters to send in charts from their own sero-deconverted patients on AZT, and volunteered to debate proponents of the orthodox treatment paradigm - though the NIH and WHO both refused to participate in such a debate on Tony Brown's Journal, following Fauci's directive prohibiting engagement with forbidden ideas.    Aside from those few TV programs and Null's own films, suppression of Null's AIDS cure beyond word of mouth was total. The 2021 documentary The Cost of Denial, produced by the Society for Independent Journalists, tells the story of the Tri-State Healing Center and the medical paradigm that sought to destroy it, lamenting the loss of the lives that might have been saved in a more enlightened society. Nurse practitioner Luanne Pennesi, who treated many of the AIDS patients at the Center, speculated in the film that the refusal by the scientific establishment and AIDS activists to accept their successes was financially motivated. “It was as if they didn't want this information to get out. Understand that our healthcare system as we know it is a corporation, it's a corporate model, and it's about generating revenue. My concern was that maybe they couldn't generate enough revenue from these natural approaches.”5   Funding was certainly the main disciplinary tool Fauci's NIAID used to keep the scientific community in line. Despite the massive community interest in the work being done at the Center, no foundation or institution would defy Fauci and risk getting itself blacklisted, leaving Null to continue funding the operation out of his pocket with the profits from book sales. After 15 years, he left the Center in 1995, convinced the mainstream model had so thoroughly been institutionalized that there was no chance of overthrowing it. He has continued to counsel patients and advocate for a reappraisal of the HIV=AIDS hypothesis and its pharmaceutical treatments, highlighting the deeply flawed science underpinning the model of the disease espoused by the scientific establishment in 39 articles, six documentaries and a 700-page textbook on AIDS, but the Center's achievements have been effectively memory-holed by Fauci's multi-billion-dollar propaganda apparatus.     FRUIT OF THE POISONOUS TREE   To understand just how much of a threat Null's work was to the HIV/AIDS establishment, it is instructive to revisit the 1984 paper, published by Dr. Robert Gallo of the National Cancer Institute, that established HIV as the sole cause of AIDS. The CDC's official recognition of AIDS in 1981 had done little to quell the mounting public panic over the mysterious illness afflicting gay men in the US, as the agency had effectively admitted it had no idea what was causing them to sicken and die. As years passed with no progress determining the causative agent of the plague, activist groups like Gay Men's Health Crisis disrupted public events and threatened further mass civil disobedience as they excoriated the NIH for its sluggish allocation of government science funding to uncovering the cause of the “gay cancer.”6 When Gallo published his paper declaring that the retrovirus we now know as HIV was the sole “probable” cause of AIDS, its simple, single-factor hypothesis was the answer to the scientific establishment's prayers. This was particularly true for Fauci, as the NIAID chief was able to claim the hot new disease as his agency's own domain in what has been described as a “dramatic confrontation” with his rival Sam Broder at the National Cancer Institute. After all, Fauci pointed out, Gallo's findings - presented by Health and Human Services Secretary Margaret Heckler as if they were gospel truth before any other scientists had had a chance to inspect them, never mind conduct a full peer review - clearly classified AIDS as an infectious disease, and not a cancer like the Kaposi's sarcoma which was at the time its most visible manifestation. Money and media attention began pouring in, even as funding for the investigation of other potential causes of AIDS dried up. Having already patented a diagnostic test for “his” retrovirus before introducing it to the world, Gallo was poised for a financial windfall, while Fauci was busily leveraging the discovery into full bureaucratic empire of the US scientific apparatus.   While it would serve as the sole basis for all US government-backed AIDS research to follow - quickly turning Gallo into the most-cited scientist in the world during the 1980s,7 Gallo's “discovery” of HIV was deeply problematic. The sample that yielded the momentous discovery actually belonged to Prof. Luc Montagnier of the French Institut Pasteur, a fact Gallo finally admitted in 1991, four years after a lawsuit from the French government challenged his patent on the HIV antibody test, forcing the US government to negotiate a hasty profit-sharing agreement between Gallo's and Montagnier's labs. That lawsuit triggered a cascade of official investigations into scientific misconduct by Gallo, and evidence submitted during one of these probes, unearthed in 2008 by journalist Janine Roberts, revealed a much deeper problem with the seminal “discovery.” While Gallo's co-author, Mikulas Popovic, had concluded after numerous experiments with the French samples that the virus they contained was not the cause of AIDS, Gallo had drastically altered the paper's conclusion, scribbling his notes in the margins, and submitted it for publication to the journal Science without informing his co-author.   After Roberts shared her discovery with contacts in the scientific community, 37 scientific experts wrote to the journal demanding that Gallo's career-defining HIV paper be retracted from Science for lacking scientific integrity.8 Their call, backed by an endorsement from the 2,600-member scientific organization Rethinking AIDS, was ignored by the publication and by the rest of mainstream science despite - or perhaps because of - its profound implications.   That 2008 letter, addressed to Science editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts and copied to American Association for the Advancement of Science CEO Alan Leshner, is worth reproducing here in its entirety, as it utterly dismantles Gallo's hypothesis - and with them the entire HIV is the sole cause of AIDS dogma upon which the contemporary medical model of the disease rests:   On May 4, 1984 your journal published four papers by a group led by Dr. Robert Gallo. We are writing to express our serious concerns with regard to the integrity and veracity of the lead paper among these four of which Dr. Mikulas Popovic is the lead author.[1] The other three are also of concern because they rely upon the conclusions of the lead paper .[2][3][4]  In the early 1990s, several highly critical reports on the research underlying these papers were produced as a result of governmental inquiries working under the supervision of scientists nominated by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. The Office of Research Integrity of the US Department of Health and Human Services concluded that the lead paper was “fraught with false and erroneous statements,” and that the “ORI believes that the careless and unacceptable keeping of research records...reflects irresponsible laboratory management that has permanently impaired the ability to retrace the important steps taken.”[5] Further, a Congressional Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations led by US Representative John D. Dingell of Michigan produced a staff report on the papers which contains scathing criticisms of their integrity.[6]  Despite the publically available record of challenges to their veracity, these papers have remained uncorrected and continue to be part of the scientific record.  What prompts our communication today is the recent revelation of an astonishing number of previously unreported deletions and unjustified alterations made by Gallo to the lead paper. There are several documents originating from Gallo's laboratory that, while available for some time, have only recently been fully analyzed. These include a draft of the lead paper typewritten by Popovic which contains handwritten changes made to it by Gallo.[7] This draft was the key evidence used in the above described inquiries to establish that Gallo had concealed his laboratory's use of a cell culture sample (known as LAV) which it received from the Institut Pasteur.  These earlier inquiries verified that the typed manuscript draft was produced by Popovic who had carried out the recorded experiment while his laboratory chief, Gallo, was in Europe and that, upon his return, Gallo changed the document by hand a few days before it was submitted to Science on March 30, 1984. According to the ORI investigation, “Dr. Gallo systematically rewrote the manuscript for what would become a renowned LTCB [Gallo's laboratory at the National Cancer Institute] paper.”[5]  This document provided the important evidence that established the basis for awarding Dr. Luc Montagnier and Dr. Francoise Barré-Sinoussi the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the AIDS virus by proving it was their samples of LAV that Popovic used in his key experiment. The draft reveals that Popovic had forthrightly admitted using the French samples of LAV renamed as Gallo's virus, HTLV-III, and that Gallo had deleted this admission, concealing their use of LAV.  However, it has not been previously reported that on page three of this same document Gallo had also deleted Popovic's unambiguous statement that, "Despite intensive research efforts, the causative agent of AIDS has not yet been identified,” replacing it in the published paper with a statement that said practically the opposite, namely, “That a retrovirus of the HTLV family might be an etiologic agent of AIDS was suggested by the findings.”  It is clear that the rest of Popovic's typed paper is entirely consistent with his statement that the cause of AIDS had not been found, despite his use of the French LAV. Popovic's final conclusion was that the culture he produced “provides the possibility” for detailed studies. He claimed to have achieved nothing more. At no point in his paper did Popovic attempt to prove that any virus caused AIDS, and it is evident that Gallo concealed these key elements in Popovic's experimental findings.  It is astonishing now to discover these unreported changes to such a seminal document. We can only assume that Gallo's alterations of Popovic's conclusions were not highlighted by earlier inquiries because the focus at the time was on establishing that the sample used by Gallo's lab came from Montagnier and was not independently collected by Gallo. In fact, the only attention paid to the deletions made by Gallo pertains to his effort to hide the identity of the sample. The questions of whether Gallo and Popovic's research proved that LAV or any other virus was the cause of AIDS were clearly not considered.  Related to these questions are other long overlooked documents that merit your attention. One of these is a letter from Dr. Matthew A. Gonda, then Head of the Electron Microscopy Laboratory at the National Cancer Institute, which is addressed to Popovic, copied to Gallo and dated just four days prior to Gallo's submission to Science.[8] In this letter, Gonda remarks on samples he had been sent for imaging because “Dr Gallo wanted these micrographs for publication because they contain HTLV.” He states, “I do not believe any of the particles photographed are of HTLV-I, II or III.” According to Gonda, one sample contained cellular debris, while another had no particles near the size of a retrovirus. Despite Gonda's clearly worded statement, Science published on May 4, 1984 papers attributed to Gallo et al with micrographs attributed to Gonda and described unequivocally as HTLV-III.  In another letter by Gallo, dated one day before he submitted his papers to Science, Gallo states, “It's extremely rare to find fresh cells [from AIDS patients] expressing the virus... cell culture seems to be necessary to induce virus,” a statement which raises the possibility he was working with a laboratory artifact. [9]  Included here are copies of these documents and links to the same. The very serious flaws they reveal in the preparation of the lead paper published in your journal in 1984 prompts our request that this paper be withdrawn. It appears that key experimental findings have been concealed. We further request that the three associated papers published on the same date also be withdrawn as they depend on the accuracy of this paper.  For the scientific record to be reliable, it is vital that papers shown to be flawed, or falsified be retracted. Because a very public record now exists showing that the Gallo papers drew unjustified conclusions, their withdrawal from Science is all the more important to maintain integrity. Future researchers must also understand they cannot rely on the 1984 Gallo papers for statements about HIV and AIDS, and all authors of papers that previously relied on this set of four papers should have the opportunity to consider whether their own conclusions are weakened by these revelations.      Gallo's handwritten revision, submitted without his colleague's knowledge despite multiple experiments that failed to support the new conclusion, was the sole foundation for the HIV=AIDS hypothesis. Had Science published the manuscript the way Popovic had typed it, there would be no AIDS “pandemic” - merely small clusters of people with AIDS. Without a viral hypothesis backing the development of expensive and deadly pharmaceuticals, would Fauci have allowed these patients to learn about the cure that existed all along?   Faced with a potential rebellion, Fauci marshaled the full resources under his control to squelch the publication of the investigations into Gallo and restrict any discussion of competing hypotheses in the scientific and mainstream press, which had been running virus-scare stories full-time since 1984. The effect was total, according to biochemist Dr. Kary Mullis, inventor of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) procedure. In a 2009 interview, Mullis recalled his own shock when he attempted to unearth the experimental basis for the HIV=AIDS hypothesis. Despite his extensive inquiry into the literature, “there wasn't a scientific reference…[that] said ‘here's how come we know that HIV is the probable cause of AIDS.' There was nothing out there like that.”9 This yawning void at the core of HIV/AIDS “science" turned him into a strident critic of AIDS dogma - and those views made him persona non grata where the scientific press was concerned, suddenly unable to publish a single paper despite having won the Nobel Prize for his invention of the PCR test just weeks before.  10   DISSENT BECOMES “DENIAL”   While many of those who dissent from the orthodox HIV=AIDS view believe HIV plays a role in the development of AIDS, they point to lifestyle and other co-factors as being equally if not more important. Individuals who test positive for HIV can live for decades in perfect health - so long as they don't take AZT or the other toxic antivirals fast-tracked by Fauci's NIAID - but those who developed full-blown AIDS generally engaged in highly risky behaviors like extreme promiscuity and prodigious drug abuse, contracting STDs they took large quantities of antibiotics to treat, further running down their immune systems. While AIDS was largely portrayed as a “gay disease,” it was only the “fast track” gays, hooking up with dozens of partners nightly in sex marathons fueled by “poppers” (nitrate inhalants notorious for their own devastating effects on the immune system), who became sick. Kaposi's sarcoma, one of the original AIDS-defining conditions, was widespread among poppers-using gay men, but never appeared among IV drug users or hemophiliacs, the other two main risk groups during the early years of the epidemic. Even Robert Gallo himself, at a 1994 conference on poppers held by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, would admit that the previously-rare form of skin cancer surging among gay men was not primarily caused by HIV - and that it was immune stimulation, rather than suppression, that was likely responsible.11 Similarly, IV drug users are often riddled with opportunistic infections as their habit depresses the immune system and their focus on maintaining their addiction means that healthier habits - like good nutrition and even basic hygiene - fall by the wayside.    Supporting the call for revising the HIV=AIDS hypothesis to include co-factors is the fact that the mass heterosexual outbreaks long predicted by Fauci and his ilk in seemingly every country on Earth have failed to materialize, except - supposedly - in Africa, where the diagnostic standard for AIDS differs dramatically from those of the West. Given the prohibitively high cost of HIV testing for poor African nations, the WHO in 1985 crafted a diagnostic loophole that became known as the “Bangui definition,” allowing medical professionals to diagnose AIDS in the absence of a test using just clinical symptoms: high fever, persistent cough, at least 30 days of diarrhea, and the loss of 10% of one's body weight within two months. Often suffering from malnutrition and without access to clean drinking water, many of the inhabitants of sub-Saharan Africa fit the bill, especially when the WHO added tuberculosis to the list of AIDS-defining illnesses in 1993 - a move which may be responsible for as many as one half of African “AIDS” cases, according to journalist Christine Johnson. The WHO's former Chief of Global HIV Surveillance, James Chin, acknowledged their manipulation of statistics, but stressed that it was the entire AIDS industry - not just his organization - perpetrating the fraud. “There's the saying that, if you knew what sausages are made of, most people would hesitate to sort of eat them, because they wouldn't like what's in it. And if you knew how HIV/AIDS numbers are cooked, or made up, you would use them with extreme caution,” Chin told an interviewer in 2009.12   With infected numbers stubbornly remaining constant in the US despite Fauci's fearmongering projections of the looming heterosexually-transmitted plague, the CDC in 1993 broadened its definition of AIDS to include asymptomatic (that is, healthy) HIV-positive people with low T-cell counts - an absurd criteria given that an individual's T-cell count can fluctuate by hundreds within a single day. As a result, the number of “AIDS cases” in the US immediately doubled. Supervised by Fauci, the NIAID had been quietly piling on diseases into the “AIDS-related” category for years, bloating the list from just two conditions - pneumocystis carinii pneumonia and Kaposi's sarcoma - to 30 so fast it raised eyebrows among some of science's leading lights. Deeming the entire process “bizarre” and unprecedented, Kary Mullis wondered aloud why no one had called the AIDS establishment out: “There's something wrong here. And it's got to be financial.”13   Indeed, an early CDC public relations campaign was exposed by the Wall Street Journal in 1987 as having deliberately mischaracterized AIDS as a threat to the entire population so as to garner increased public and private funding for what was very much a niche issue, with the risk to average heterosexuals from a single act of sex “smaller than the risk of ever getting hit by lightning.” Ironically, the ads, which sought to humanize AIDS patients in an era when few Americans knew anyone with the disease and more than half the adult population thought infected people should be forced to carry cards warning of their status, could be seen as a reaction to the fear tactics deployed by Fauci early on.14   It's hard to tell where fraud ends and incompetence begins with Gallo's HIV antibody test. Much like Covid-19 would become a “pandemic of testing,” with murder victims and motorcycle crashes lumped into “Covid deaths” thanks to over-sensitized PCR tests that yielded as many as 90% false positives,15 HIV testing is fraught with false positives - and unlike with Covid-19, most people who hear they are HIV-positive still believe they are receiving a death sentence. Due to the difficulty of isolating HIV itself from human samples, the most common diagnostic tests, ELISA and the Western Blot, are designed to detect not the virus but antibodies to it, upending the traditional medical understanding that the presence of antibodies indicates only exposure - and often that the body has actually vanquished the pathogen. Patients are known to test positive for HIV antibodies in the absence of the virus due to at least 70 other conditions, including hepatitis, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, syphilis, recent vaccination or even pregnancy. (https://www.chcfl.org/diseases-that-can-cause-a-false-positive-hiv-test/) Positive results are often followed up with a PCR “viral load” test, even though the inventor of the PCR technique Kary Mullis famously condemned its misuse as a tool for diagnosing infection. Packaging inserts for all three tests warn the user that they cannot be reliably used to diagnose HIV.16 The ELISA HIV antibody test explicitly states: “At present there is no recognized standard for establishing the presence and absence of HIV antibody in human blood.”17   That the public remains largely unaware of these and other massive holes in the supposedly airtight HIV=AIDS=DEATH paradigm is a testament to Fauci's multi-layered control of the press. Like the writers of the Great Barrington Declaration and other Covid-19 dissidents, scientists who question HIV/AIDS dogma have been brutally punished for their heresy, no matter how prestigious their prior standing in the field and no matter how much evidence they have for their own claims. In 1987, the year the FDA's approval of AZT made AIDS the most profitable epidemic yet (a dubious designation Covid-19 has since surpassed), Fauci made it clearer than ever that scientific inquiry and debate - the basis of the scientific method - would no longer be welcome in the American public health sector, eliminating retrovirologist Peter Duesberg, then one of the most prominent opponents of the HIV=AIDS hypothesis, from the scientific conversation with a professional disemboweling that would make a cartel hitman blush. Duesberg had just eviscerated Gallo's 1984 HIV paper with an article of his own in the journal Cancer Research, pointing out that retroviruses had never before been found to cause a single disease in humans - let alone 30 AIDS-defining diseases. Rather than allow Gallo or any of the other scientists in his camp to respond to the challenge, Fauci waged a scorched-earth campaign against Duesberg, who had until then been one of the most highly regarded researchers in his field. Every research grant he requested was denied; every media appearance was canceled or preempted. The University of California at Berkeley, unable to fully fire him due to tenure, took away his lab, his graduate students, and the rest of his funding. The few colleagues who dared speak up for him in public were also attacked, while enemies and opportunists were encouraged to slander Duesberg at the conferences he was barred from attending and in the journals that would no longer publish his replies. When Duesberg was summoned to the White House later that year by then-President Ronald Reagan to debate Fauci on the origins of AIDS, Fauci convinced the president to cancel, allegedly pulling rank on the Commander-in-Chief with an accusation that the “White House was interfering in scientific matters that belonged to the NIH and the Office of Science and Technology Assessment.” After seven years of this treatment, Duesberg was contacted by NIH official Stephen O'Brien and offered an escape from professional purgatory. He could have “everything back,” he was told, and shown a manuscript of a scientific paper - apparently commissioned by the editor of the journal Nature - “HIV Causes AIDS: Koch's Postulates Fulfilled” with his own name listed alongside O'Brien's as an author.18 His refusal to take the bribe effectively guaranteed the epithet “AIDS denier” will appear on his tombstone. The character assassination of Duesberg became a template that would be deployed to great effectiveness wherever Fauci encountered dissent - never debate, only demonize, deplatform and destroy.    Even Luc Montagnier, the real discoverer of HIV, soon found himself on the wrong side of the Fauci machine. With his 1990 declaration that “the HIV virus [by itself] is harmless and passive, a benign virus,” Montagnier began distancing himself from Gallo's fraud, effectively placing a target on his own back. In a 1995 interview, he elaborated: “four factors that have come together to account for the sudden epidemic [of AIDS]: HIV presence, immune hyper-activation, increased sexually transmitted disease incidence, sexual behavior changes and other behavioral changes” such as drug use, poor nutrition and stress - all of which he said had to occur “essentially simultaneously” for HIV to be transmitted, creating the modern epidemic. Like the professionals at the Tri-State Healing Center, Montagnier advocated for the use of antioxidants like vitamin C and N-acetyl cysteine, naming oxidative stress as a critical factor in the progression from HIV to AIDS.19 When Montagnier died in 2022, Fauci's media mouthpieces sneered that the scientist (who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 2008 for his discovery of HIV, despite his flagging faith in that discovery's significance) “started espousing views devoid of a scientific basis” in the late 2000s, leading him to be “shunned by the scientific community.”20 In a particularly egregious jab, the Washington Post's obit sings the praises of Robert Gallo, implying it was the American scientist who really should have won the Nobel for HIV, while dismissing as “

A fundraising effort is underway to preserve what is described as a vital piece of Central Otago goldfields history. 

This week we follow up with many things going on in the world - including Gillian Mackay admitting prayer could be banned;  John Swinney wants unity against 'the Far Right'; Islamism in Sydney schools; another Islamist attack in France;  BBC whitewashes Hamas documentary; Stonewall uses US funding; Blackadder on the causes of war; the German Election;  English Granny visited by police for criticising politicians;  Northern Irish Pastor arrested for preaching in buffer zone; ;  Country of the Week - Greenland; the Death of Roberta Flack; France closes TV stations - proving JD Vance right; Wildfires Decline;  BP loses big on Renewables;  New Disease in the Congo;  the death of Roberta Flack and JFK's bodyguard; and Psalm 3  with music from Brebach, Talsik, Nive Nielsen and the Deer Children; Roberta Flack, the Specials, Dreamers Circus and the Sons of Korah.

Ashe in America breaks down Apple's massive $500 billion investment in the U.S., a move that signals the tech industry is betting big on Trump's economy...but is there a deeper play at work? With Apple CEO Tim Cook cozying up to MAGA while the DRC investigates Apple for child slavery and smuggling, the timing raises some serious questions. Meanwhile, Pam Bondi still hasn't released the Epstein files, despite pressure from Rep. Anna Paulina Luna and a growing public demand for transparency. Why is the DOJ dragging its feet on Trump's declassification orders, and is Congress just grandstanding? Also in this episode: The Deep State's panic reaches new heights, with D.C. insiders frantically searching for fraud lawyers, offshore bank accounts, and even suicide hotlines. Plus, Elon Musk gets a legal challenge over his government efficiency operation, as the bureaucrats desperately try to stop the purge. The swamp is sweating, and we've got all the receipts.

Crime & Punishment Episode #4 of 4.  In the late 1940s and 1950s, alongside the better known “Red Scare” that targeted alleged internal political enemies - American Communists - the US government led a crusade against gay men and women in the military and civil service. During the “Lavender Scare,” thousands of people were fired or forced from their jobs, dishonorably discharged from the military, and denied positions in the US government because of their sexuality. And those policies were enforced for decades - through “liberal” administrations, and the federal decriminalization of same-sex sex in 2003 - with life-ruining, and life-ending consequences for tens of thousands of Americans. And since we're basically reliving this awful period in history because Republicans believe that a time of queer persecution, women as second class citizens, and segregation and racism is America's “great” era, we better know the history so we can know how to fight.  Bibliography Allan Berube, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War II (University of North Carolina Press, 2010).  Julian Carter, The Heart of Whiteness: Normal Sexuality and Race in America, 1880–1940 (Duke University Press, 2007).  Josh Howard, The Lavender Scare, (Alexander Street Films). John Howard, Men Like That: Southern Queer History, (University of Chicago Press, 1999). David K. Johnson, “The Lavender Scare: Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Civil Service,” PhD Diss, (Northwestern University, 2000). E. Patrick Johnson, Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South (University of North Carolina Press, 2008) Elizabeth L. Kennedy and Madeline Davis, Boots of Leather, Slippers of Gold: The History of a Lesbian Community (Routledge, 1993). Anna Lvovsky, Vice Patrol: Cops, Courts, and the Struggle over Urban Gay Life before Stonewall, (University of Chicago Press, 2021). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Episode Summary:Queernundrum listeners, we have a serious and urgent queernundrum to unpack. In February 2025, the National Park Service (NPS) quietly removed references to transgender activists from the Stonewall National Monument website—an act that erases the vital contributions of trans people to LGBTQ+ history. This isn't just a simple edit; it's part of a larger effort to rewrite history, erase queer activism, and justify ongoing discrimination against trans people today.

Flo Lloyd-Hughes is joined by Jessy Parker Humphreys, Becky Taylor-Gill and special guest Liz Ward for an in-depth look at LGBTQ+ education in football. Liz is an expert on inclusion in football; she has worked at Stonewall and currently consults on a number of different projects within the men's and women's game. We chat to Liz about her work, the recent rainbow armband debate that split the game and what more could be done to create a truly inclusive space within football. Host: Flo Lloyd-Hughes Guests: Liz Ward, Jessy Parker Humphreys, Becky Taylor-Gill Producer: Katie Baxter Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week on Queer News, we honor the lives of Sam andTahiry, two Black trans individuals whose tragic deaths remind us why we must continue to speak their names and fight for justice. In politics, Lambda Legal secures a major win for gender-affirming care, while the people protest in NYC after transgender and queer identities are erased from the Stonewall Monument website. Plus, Darian Aaron from GLAAD brings us a special report on an upcoming conference supporting gay men who want to have children. And in entertainment, have you seen KWN & Kehlani's latest steamy music video? Let's get into it!

The Trump administration's determination to reduce the size of government regardless of the cost is having a hard impact on the National Park Service.   Last month the agency was forced to rescind job offers to seasonal workers, saw a hold placed on millions of dollars distributed through the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act to address climate change, been told to prepare a reduction-in-force list of employees, and ordered  to "hire no more than one employee for every four" let go.   There was a wee bit of good news late last week, with the decision Friday to allow the Park Service to hire 5,000 seasonal workers. But at the same time, the agency was told to fire 1,000 probationary workers.   Discussing these developments and their impact on the parks and the Park Service are Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Parks Conservation Association, and Phil Francis, chair of the Coalition to Protect America's National Parks. 

What has been the impact of Trump's DOJ dropping the charges against NYC Mayor Adams?On Today's Show:Dan Goldman, US representative (D, NY-10), formerly lead counsel for the impeachment investigation of Pres. Trump in 2019 and former assistant US attorney, responds to President Trump's executive orders, the latest developments in Eric Adams' cases, and the removal of references to Trans people at the Stonewall National Monument.

References to transgender and queer people have been removed from the Stonewall National Monument's website. Plus, WNYC's Brittany Kriegstein asks some New Yorkers if Mayor Adams' corruption case is swaying their support. Also, WNYC's Michael Hill and Arun Venugopal discuss new data that show some Manhattan neighborhoods are seeing big boosts in pedestrian traffic since the start of congestion pricing. And finally, dating coaches advise single New Yorkers that dating doesn't have to be a nightmare.

Start the New Year with a Fresh Start! Discover who you truly are, what you need in life and relationships to feel fulfilled, and how to get them with our Needs Course—yours for FREE for life. Begin your journey to transformation with our All-Access Pass Membership, FREE for 7 days this New Year! https://attachment.personaldevelopmentschool.com/dream-life-free-course?utm_source=podcast&utm_campaign=new-years-7-day-trial&utm_medium=organic&utm_content=mg-01-29-25&el=podcast In this insightful episode, we delve into the five common protest behaviors displayed by dismissive avoidant attachment styles, offering listeners practical strategies for healthier communication and deeper understanding. Join us as we break down stonewalling, emotional withdrawal, flaw-finding, numbing out, and relationship-threatening behaviors, exploring their root causes and effective ways to address them. Whether you're a dismissive avoidant, in a relationship with one, or simply curious about attachment theory, this episode provides essential tools to navigate and improve these dynamics. Don't miss our tips for co-regulation and fostering meaningful connections. Timestamps: 00:00 - Intro 01:14 - 1 — Stonewalling 01:55 - Why Do DA's Stonewall? 05:56 - Core Themes in DA's and Stonewalling 11:07 - How to Communicate Healthily 16:26 - 7-Day Free Trial: All Access Membership Pass 15:37 - 2 — Threatening to End the Relationship 16:53 - Changing Your Persona vs Adjusting a Behavior 18:12 - Do They Actually Want to Leave the Relationship? 20:40 - If You're on the Receiving End 28:17 - Rocket Money 30:09 - 3 — Withdrawing When Emotionally Overwhelmed 36:05 - DAs and Co-Regulation 40:54 - 4 — Blaming, Deflecting, and Flaw-Finding 43:31 - Flaw-Finding Stories 53:35 - 5 — Numbing Out and Soothing Through External Comforts 59:31 - Conclusion Let's connect! https://www.youtube.com/@ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool https://www.tiktok.com/@thaisgibson https://www.instagram.com/thepersonaldevelopmentschool/ https://www.facebook.com/ThePersonalDevelopmentSchool/ #TheThaisGibsonPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices