January 25 – February 24, 2024

January 20 – March 2, 2024

This week’s episode of Reveal features WNYC’s Kai Wright and the Nation‘s Lizzy Ratner, hosts of New York Public Radio and the History Channel’s Blindspot: The Plague in the Shadows. Wright and Ratner take on the history and politics of the early AIDS crisis, surveying contemporary media coverage, community responses, and the enduring waves of activism that followed the dawn of HIV.

Wright’s look at some of the first reporting on HIV and AIDS brings him into conversation with Lawrence Altman, physician and author of a groundbreaking 1981 New York Times article that brought the little then known about HIV to wider attention; veteran AIDS activist Phil Wilson, and Anthony Fauci, then head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases and a leading HIV researcher. Then, through interviews and archival recordings, Ratner sketches the life of Katrina Haslip, whose activism and educational work around AIDS began in the 1980s at New York’s Bedford Hills women’s prison and continued, in conjunction with ACT UP, until her death in 1992 at the age of 33. 

Special thanks to Blindspot, all three seasons of which can be heard at WNYC.

A Democratic candidate for the Ohio Senate is a transgender man who has long gone by the name Ari Faber, but a 1995 law will require the state’s upcoming March primary ballots to use the name he was given at birth: Iva Faber.

Title 35, Section 3513.271 of Ohio Revised Code requires that “[i]f any person desiring to become a candidate for public office has had a change of name within five years immediately preceding the filing of his statement of candidacy, both his statement of candidacy and nominating petition must contain, immediately following the person’s present name, the person’s former names.”

Additionally, the statute says, people who are “elected under the person’s changed name, without submission of the person’s former name, shall be immediately suspended from the office and the office declared vacated.”

According to the New York Times, which published a feature story on Faber and the Ohio law on Saturday morning, the law originated to prevent candidates from deceiving voters. There is an exception to the law for candidates who changed their names through marriage.

Faber, who is running for a state senate seat in southeast Ohio and has not legally changed his name, told the Times he is “concerned that supporters might be confused when they see my deadname on the ballot.”

Martin Odegaard showcased outstanding form as Arsenal secured victory against Burnley this afternoon, earning praise from Ian Wright and numerous Arsenal supporters.

Odegaard has consistently been a stellar contributor to the Gunners’ success this season, exemplified by his role as the club’s captain.

In the match against Burnley, the Norwegian maestro once again controlled the midfield, posing significant challenges for Arsenal’s opponents throughout the game.

Burnley struggled to contain most Arsenal players, with Odegaard particularly standing out for his tactical acumen and his ability to provide essential service to his teammates, enabling them to continue posing a threat to their opponents.

Impressed by Odegaard’s performance, Wright couldn’t contain his admiration and took to Twitter to express his thoughts, stating: “Odegaard has been so good,” accompanied by five clapping hands emojis

Arsenal has emerged as one of the most in-form clubs in Europe this year, and the statistics behind their stunning run have been unveiled.

Under Mikel Arteta’s guidance, Arsenal secured a resounding 5-0 victory against Burnley, marking another instance where they scored at least five goals in consecutive games. This second half of the season stands in stark contrast to the previous campaign, where they experienced a loss of momentum at this stage.

The impressive win against Burnley has propelled Arsenal to score an astounding 21 times in their last five matches. This goal-scoring spree is noteworthy for a team that faced struggles in front of the net in preceding seasons.

Journalist James Benge, closely monitoring Arsenal’s remarkable form tweeted after the Burnley victory:

“In their last five games, Arsenal have given up shots worth 1.7 expected goals.

Mikel Arteta has expressed his delight in working with his current group of players, highlighting their exceptional commitment and ability to secure victories consistently.

In the latter part of the previous season, Arsenal struggled, losing momentum in the title race, and their form suffered a significant dip, ultimately leading to them missing out on the title.

This season, the team has learned from those mistakes, demonstrating improvement at a crucial stage rather than seeing a decline in their performance levels. The players’ commitment has notably eased Arteta’s responsibilities, and he is impressed by their conduct in games, acknowledging how they make his role as their coach more manageable.

After the game, he was asked about Arsenal’s stunning start to 2024 and said to the BBC:

“Individually and collectively, the purpose they are playing with, the form the players are in, even at 3-0 4-0 they want more.

Who among us has not handed $50,000 cash in a shoebox to a purported undercover CIA agent in an SUV with tinted windows because a fake FTC investigator told us to?

Well, I haven’t. Nor do I have a stray $50,000 to give. Still, a February 9 report from the real Federal Trade Commission reveals that the saga Charlotte Cowles describes with painstaking detail in her recent viral essay isn’t entirely unique. 

In fact, consumers reported losing more than $10 billion to fraud last year, the FTC said. It’s the first time fraud losses have reached the double digit billions, and marks a 14 percent hike over losses in 2022.

Investment scams made the top category of fraud, with people reporting losses exceeding $4.6 billion. Imposter scams, such as the one Cowles fell victim to, was the second-highest money loser with reported losses nearing $2.7 billion.

To summarize Cowles’ experience—which you really should read for yourself—the financial-advice columnist lost $50,000 to an elaborate con in which a phony Amazon customer service imposter called her about fraudulent charges for iPads on her non-existent business account. After clearing up that she didn’t purchase tech products, the faux-Amazon employee offered to connect Cowles to a supposed FTC investigator, who informed her that her identity was connected to bank accounts that had wired more than $3 million overseas, and that a car rented under her name was found with blood and drugs inside. He said there were warrants out for her arrest. Cowles would need to immediately give a CIA officer $50,000 cash from her compromised bank account, which the government would kindly convert into a Treasury check that her family could live on for up to a year until all of this identity fraud nonsense was sorted out.

At a televised White House press conference Friday, President Joe Biden rebuked the Kremlin for insisting that leading Russian dissident Aleksei Navalny simply lost consciousness and died after taking a stroll in prison.

“Make no mistake: [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is responsible for Navalny’s death,” Biden said. “Putin is responsible. What has happened to Navalny is yet more proof of Putin’s brutality. No one should be fooled, not in Russia, not at home, not anywhere in the world.”

Navalny had been incarcerated in a high-security prison at an Arctic penal colony known as Polar Wolf on extremism charges widely believed to be politically contrived. Known as the country’s most outspoken critic of Putin and his United Russia party, Navalny had returned to Russia from Germany after receiving treatment there in 2020 for poisoning by a nerve agent called Novichok, which was developed by the Soviet Union. Upon re-arriving in Russia in 2021, Navalny was immediately arrested and subsequently sentenced to 19 years in prison.

“We don’t know exactly what happened,” Biden added, “but there is no doubt that the death of Navalny was a consequence of something that Putin and his thugs did.”

Speaking to reporters, Biden said Navalny’s mysterious death reinforces the need for Congress to put together an aid package to help Ukraine continue fighting Russia’s invasion. 

Bukayo Saka has notched a brace in each of his last two matches for Arsenal, and the forward expresses his hope to achieve a hat-trick soon. As a pivotal player for the Gunners, Saka has showcased significant development in becoming a more clinical player this season.

His two-goal performance in the victory against West Ham was followed by another brace against Burnley today. Saka’s growing reliability is evident, highlighting his potential to play a crucial role in Arsenal’s pursuit of success in the league or Champions League this term.

After the victory, the attacker told the Arsenal Media:

“I’m really pleased. 

“I’m enjoying my football, but obviously I need to keep focused. But yeah, of course I’m happy to score two, two weeks in a row and hopefully the third one will come soon.