If you already find yourself weary of news about Rep. Anthony Weiner and his infamous weiner, Greg Sargent warns us that the circus is just getting started. This is obviously much worse news for him and his wife than it is for us.
Beyond Weiner’s self-inflicted political damage, Amanda Marcotte raises a point that also occurred to me during all this tsk-tsking over dudes sending cock shots: some women might actually want them.
But enough talk about the Weiners:
1. Three decades of the AIDS crisis. “[June 5, 2011] marks the thirtieth anniversary of the Centers for Disease Control’s publication of a mysterious set of illnesses which took the lives of five gay men in Los Angeles. AIDS had been swirling around unnoticed since the 1930s, and doctors in Europe and Africa began to notice that people were falling victim to a host of diseases which are normally curable in the Congo River basin in the late 1970s. But it took the CDC report of a cluster of cases in southern California to signal that the mysterious deaths were somehow related. The rest, as they say, is history, with a whole lot of stigma thrown in.” (G.D.)
2. This seems self-evident, but global warming is not good for food production in particular, and food security more generally. (Nicole)
3. The Supreme Court denied a petition by conservative lawyers who wanted to stop California for offering reduced, in-state tuition to students who are undocumented immigrants. (G.D.)
4. Ratko Mladic’s crimes in Srebrenica were horrible, it might not be accurate to call them genocide. (Nicole)
5. Late pass but, as we probably already figured, the Global War on Drugs is an unmitigated failure. It’s time to acknowledge the obvious and start widespread decriminalization efforts, no? (Blackink)
6. The last time Rick Santorum ran for office (his 2006 bid to be re-elected to his PA Senate seat), he was mollywhopped in the general — to the tune of 17 percentage points. But just because he’s a gaffe-prone ignoramus who lacks any appeal in or out of his home state outside of hardcore social conservatives doesn’t mean he can’t continue to nurture his silly dream of being president one day. (G.D.)
7. Cordova, Alabama, residents who were displaced after devastating tornadoes this spring have had their recovery stifled because city officials refuse to ease a previously unforced ban on single-wide mobile homes. (Blackink)
8. Redistricting in DC is getting ugly. (Nicole)
9. This is not how to be a good gentrifier. This is how to be a good neighbor/person. (Nicole)
10. America’s biggest and least gas-guzzling cities. North Carolina doesn’t fare so well. (Blackink)
11. The German E.coli outbreak we mentioned last week has gotten worse- 22 dead and 1600 ill. The source of the outbreak was mistakenly attributed to Spanish cucumbers, causing a rift with Spain, but it now looks to be German bean sprouts. In a “surprising U-turn”, the German government is now saying (again) that they have no idea where the E.coli is coming from. Tom Laskawy at Grist argues that while Europe doesn’t have the equivalent of the American Centers for Disease Control, we shouldn’t be too complacent in thinking that it couldn’t happen here. And it’s worth noting that these virulent strains of E. coli are closely linked to the low-level antibiotics we insist on feeding animals. (Nicole)
12. I like Feministe a lot, but this post on gluten-free life/recipes strikes me as … patronizing. I think it reinforces the perception that gluten-intolerance is just a new “craze”, like Atkins, and not actually something that should be taken seriously– celiac is an autoimmune disease after all, like lupus or type 1 diabetes. And there are lots of people (not just women faking it) who do have gluten sensitivity, even if it’s not full blown celiac. It’s still surprisingly hard to find gluten free foods and ingredients (even living in a major metro area), barring making everything (and I mean absolutely EVERYTHING) from scratch. So, if the Times wants to publicize it, I’m all for it. (Nicole)
13. Vinters in Napa Valley have adopted a refreshingly humane and practical approach to dealing with migrant workers. (Nicole)
14. Brooklyn in the Summer of 1974. It was beautiful. (Blackink)
15. An analysis of those who have forgotten about Dre. (Nicole)
16. This is amazing: The LeBron James Headband Timeline. (Blackink)
17. Bethlehem Shoals susses out the motivations of recently fired Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel and men like him: “The real power-brokers in sports aren’t doing their job if they stick to the straight and narrow.” (Blackink)
If you want to discuss Weiner’s toned pecs in the space below, go right ahead. But don’t be offended if I change the subject to LeBron.
