Tag Archives: AIDS

Mediaite reports: President Donald Trump got ripped apart on Twitter after praising the non-existent AIDS vaccine during his speech on police reform on Tuesday. “Before the end of the year, I predict we will have a very successful vaccine, therapeutic, and cure. We’re making tremendous progress. I deal with these incredible scientists, doctors very very closely. I have great respect …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 59th birthday. Below is a short story that first appeared on JMG on this day in 2006, a date which, as you’ll see, plays a role in the story. Ricky Loved Madonna Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a position that I …

But not AIDS itself. The Sydney Morning Herald reports: Australia’s peak AIDS organisations and scientists have announced an end to the AIDS epidemic, as the country joins the few nations in the world to have beaten the syndrome. The number of annual cases of AIDS diagnoses is now so small, top researchers and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations have …

Sacha Baron Cohen appeared on Howard Stern’s show yesterday to explain that he quit the Freddie Mercury biopic because the surviving members of Queen plan to depict Mercury’s death at the movie’s halfway point and spend the rest of the film telling the story of the band struggling on. According to Cohen, nobody will be interested in that. From Stereogum: …

And the studio is panicking. Via Huffington Post: Audiences at screenings around the world, and some even in the United States, have been cheering and applauding a macabre scene in a new film by Sacha Baron Cohen in which “Donald Trump” accidentally contracts HIV. “The Brothers Grimsby” opens March 11 in the U.S., though chances are you’re learning that for …

It was 25 years ago this week in 1990 that the Pet Shop Boys released Behavior, the album that provided Being Boring, which many consider to be the most heart-wrenching and beautiful song about AIDS, loss, and survivorship. Christian Gerard at Pop Matters looks back: Being Boring sets a bittersweet tone for the album. “All the people I was kissing …

Hillary Clinton yesterday tweeted the above reaction to a New York Times story about drug price gouging. Then this happened: The former first lady’s comments clearly spooked investors. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) went from flat on the day before the Clinton tweet to closing down nearly 5%. Biotech stocks helped knock the Nasdaq into the red on what …

Yesterday we learned that pharma CEO Martin Shkreli has raised the price of a vital AIDS drug by 5500%. Folks have gone digging into Shkreli’s past and there’s quite a story there. US Uncut reports that Shkreli was recently accused of hacking the email account of a rival pharma executive and threatening his family. They write: The report, taken by …

Every year my pal Mark King attends the AIDS Conference and sends us informative and entertaining recaps of the goings-on. In today’s report, King interviews the “Berlin Patient” – the first man considered have been cured of HIV. King also visits with some of the noted activists in attendance and reports on the #TransLivesMatter activists that took over the stage …

Gentle readers, today is Madonna’s 57th birthday. Below is a short story that first appeared on JMG on this day in 2006, a date which, as you’ll see, plays a role in the story. Ricky Loved Madonna Twenty years ago today, August 16th 1986, I was a few months into a new job with AMC Theatres, a position that I …

As longtime readers know, there are four or five JMG entries that I repost every year. This is one of them. My dear friend Daniel Johnson, who threw the most kickass Groundhog Day birthday parties for himself, would have been 58 years old today. His was a life that burned brightly and I am illuminated still. Daniel Johnson, 1957-1997. I …

New York Times writer David Dunlap compares the US media’s reaction to ebola to what followed after his own paper’s Lawrence Altman made the first notable mention of AIDS in 1983: I can easily imagine the metro desk of 2015 jumping in to follow up on Altman’s account: “Find out who’s died. Call Larry [Kramer]. Reach out to the families. …

Via the Vancouver Sun: St. Paul’s Hospital has shut down its dedicated AIDS ward, saying they no longer have enough patients — and the end of AIDS is in sight. Ward 10C opened in February 1997 during the peak of the HIV and AIDS epidemic in Vancouver, when approximately one person was dying of AIDS every day. Earlier diagnosis of …

(Tipped by JMG reader Alan)

Entertainment Weekly on the decades-long journey from stage to screen for The Normal Heart: Despite involvement from names like Barbra Streisand, who owned the rights for 10 years, The Normal Heart appeared to be destined for only theater until Glee co-creator Ryan Murphy acquired the rights in 2009 with his own money. “I really believed in it,” explains Murphy, who …

The cast of HBO’s coming The Normal Heart chatted with the Hollywood Reporter during a shoot for the magazine’s current cover.

Via the New York Daily News: For the first time since the HIV epidemic exploded more than a generation ago, AIDS is no longer one of the top 10 causes of death in the city, the city’s top health official said Thursday. Health Commissioner Mary Bassett said AIDS dropped off the top ten list for 2012. In 2011, it was …

As longtime readers know, there are four or five JMG entries that I repost every year. This is one of them. My dear friend Daniel Johnson, who threw the most kickass Groundhog Day birthday parties for himself, would have been 57 years old today. His was a life that burned brightly and I am illuminated still. Daniel Johnson, 1957-1997. I …