Alabama is Latest Cannabis Prohibition Domino to Fall
But, don't you dare smoke or bake it. | #TC96
Welcome to Third Cultured – a foreign policy and LGBTQIA+ politics newsletter – published by yours truly, Kyle Borland. My goal is to highlight the unique role Queer people play in the politics of the United States and the world-at-large.
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This edition:
Opinion Essay
Stories to Watch
Opinion Essay
Cannabis crossed a big threshold last week: Alabama passed a medical marijuana bill.
Yes, that Alabama. *insert obligatory Roll Tide*
That said, the pace isn’t too surprising once you learn that cannabis and LGBTQ+ rights have always been intricately tied together.
The effort to legalize marijuana ramped up considerable with the advent of AIDS in the 1980s. Treatments for the disease were poor at best.
Marijuana emerged as a legitimate treatment for pain and loss of appetite that were common with AIDS. Activist and hospital volunteer Brownie Mary toured the wards at San Francisco General Hospital, offering cannabis brownies to AIDS patients.
The person who did the most to push for legalization in the Golden Gate City, and eventually all of California, was Dennis Peron, who became known as the gay ‘father of medical marijuana.’
Peron was a Vietnam War vet who sold medical cannabis out of a storefront in the Castro. Seeing the benefits of cannabis for people with AIDS, Peron organized a statewide measure to legalize medical cannabis. That initiative passed in 1996 with more than three-quarters of the vote.
The issue was personal for Peron. His partner died from AIDS.
After Colorado legalized recreationally in 2012 and SCOTUS legalized gay marriage in 2015, it was only a matter of time until Prohibition fell in states of all political stripes.
Hell, Evangelicals are even pro-cannabis! (Though they still hate us Queers.)
I guess Alabama embodies that dichotomy better than most states. In the past month, they’ve passed a medical cannabis program while also passing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that bans transgender youth from participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.
On the flip side, Biden is trying to enshrine federal protections for LGBTQ+ people but seems determined to do absolutely nothing on the bipartisan slam dunk – 91% of residents believe marijuana should be legal for medical purposes – that is cannabis legalization.
But, it doesn’t matter much when the modern Republican Party stands only for obstructionism rather than a conservatism of any recognizable strain.
At least the ALGOP sees the benefit of cannabis for Alabamians.
Just don’t smoke it.
Stay safe and healthy, beautiful people. Get vaccinated, and thanks for reading.
Roll Tide,
Kyle (@kgborland)
PS – Here are some great reads worth your time.
2021 Officially Becomes Worst Year in Recent History for LGBTQ State Legislative Attacks as Unprecedented Number of States Enact Record-Shattering Number of Anti-LGBTQ Measures Into Law. (Human Rights Campaign)
A Climate Dystopia in Northern California (The Intercept)
An oral history of Tom Holland's sensational 'Lip Sync Battle' performance (Insider)
Advocates say Jenner is 'out of touch' with LGBTQ issues — and America at large (NBC News)
An Unarmed Black, Gay Man Shot Was Shot By Police. His Family Is Speaking Out (them.)
China: Totalitarianism’s Long Shadow (Journal of Democracy)
Facebook and the Normalization of Deviance (The New Yorker)
For progressives, Joe Biden has both surprised and disappointed (New Statesman)
Housing advocates work to address disparities for BIPOC, LGBTQ seniors (BAR)
How Can Iran 'Re-Enter' an Agreement That It Never Left? (Eunomia)
How Many Airbuses Can the EU Invent? Too Many (Bloomberg)
The EU dominates tech regulation, but that shows it’s better at defending its 400 million consumers than developing the new killer app. As France’s Emmanuel Macron said in December, the U.S. has the FAANGs and China boasts the BATX 1 while the EU has its GDPR data-protection law.
In an attempt to walk a middle path between the U.S.’s deep VC networks and China’s shamelessly statist approach, the bloc is failing at both. In 2000, EU leaders promised that by 2010 the bloc would be the most dynamic knowledge economy in the world. That didn’t happen, and China’s rate of innovation has increased five times as fast as the EU’s since 2012.
Gay California insurance czar Lara launches reelection bid (Bay Area Reporter)
Germany Announces Plan to Return Benin Bronzes to Nigeria (Hyperallergic)
Green New Deal for Cities Act can’t be dismissed as radical (Speaking Security)
Homophobic rhetoric from religious leaders is pushing Americans away from churches (The State)
Housing in Brief: Philly Is Paying Landlords to House LGBTQ Youth (Next City)
How cities will fossilise (BBC Future)
How Personal Ads Helped Conquer the American West (Atlas Obscura)
How Porn's Racist Metadata Hurts Adult Performers of Color (WIRED)
Is the U.S.-Japan Alliance Still the ‘Cornerstone’ of Stability in Asia? (NI)
John Swartzwelder, Sage of “The Simpsons” – The first major interview with one of the most revered comedy writers of all time. (The New Yorker)
How much time and attention did you spend on these scripts? Another “Simpsons” writer once compared your scripts to finely tuned machines—if the wrong person mucked with them, the whole thing could blow up.
All of my time and all of my attention. It’s the only way I know how to write, darn it. But I do have a trick that makes things easier for me. Since writing is very hard and rewriting is comparatively easy and rather fun, I always write my scripts all the way through as fast as I can, the first day, if possible, putting in crap jokes and pattern dialogue—“Homer, I don’t want you to do that.” “Then I won’t do it.” Then the next day, when I get up, the script’s been written. It’s lousy, but it’s a script. The hard part is done. It’s like a crappy little elf has snuck into my office and badly done all my work for me, and then left with a tip of his crappy hat. All I have to do from that point on is fix it. So I’ve taken a very hard job, writing, and turned it into an easy one, rewriting, overnight. I advise all writers to do their scripts and other writing this way. And be sure to send me a small royalty every time you do it.
Julie Mehretu Reminds That Borders Are Meant to Be Trespassed (Hyperallergic)
No, We Don’t Need These Forever Wars (Jacobin)
‘Pride’ Reframes Understanding Of The LGBTQ Rights Movement: “It Was Our Duty To Do A Deep Dive” (Deadline)
Stopping Drug Patents Has Stopped Pandemics Before, like HIV (Foreign Policy)
The Complicated Reality of Thrift Store 'Gentrification' (Jezebel)
The “Deviant” African Genders That Colonialism Condemned (JSTOR)
The Emerging Movement for Police and Prison Abolition (New Yorker)
“If we want to reduce (or end) sexual and gendered violence, putting a few perpetrators in prison does little to stop the many other perpetrators. It does nothing to change a culture that makes this harm imaginable, to hold the individual perpetrator accountable, to support their transformation, or to meet the needs of the survivors.” When we spoke, Kaba told me, “I am looking to abolish what I consider to be death-making institutions, which are policing, imprisonment, sentencing, and surveillance. And what I want is to basically build up another world that is rooted in collective wellness, safety, and investment in the things that would actually bring those things about.”
The White House Is Preparing to Fight Back Against Attacks on Trans Kids (Daily Beast)
Undoing 4 years of 'damage': LGBTQ advocates on Biden's first 100 days (NBC News)
What Comes After the Forever Wars (Foreign Policy)
Instead of an all-out ideological crusade, the United States should group relations with China into three distinct categories. The first category involves issues where its interests overlap strongly. Here, the two countries can agree either on positive steps to take together or on harmful or dangerous acts that each agrees to forego. Examples of the latter would be “beggar-thy-neighbor” trade policies or active efforts to interfere in each other’s domestic affairs. A second category would be “areas of mutual adjustment,” where each side might agree to alter policies that harm the other in exchange for reciprocal concessions. Arms control and trade arrangements are among the many areas where this sort of give and take might occur. Finally, when mutual adjustment proves impossible (as will often be the case), each side will defend its interests independently. Ideally, such independent actions should be proportional to potential harm and designed to protect one’s own interests but not escalate the conflict further.
There is no end to machinery. Even the horse is stripped of his harness and finds a fleet fire-horse yoked in his stead. Nay, we have an artist that hatches chickens by steam; the very brood hen is to be superseded! For all earthly, and for some unearthly, purposes, we have machines and mechanic furtherances; for mincing our cabbages; for casting us into magnetic sleep. We remove mountains and make seas our smooth highway; nothing can resist us. We war with rude nature and, by our resistless engines, come off always victorious and loaded with spoils.
– Thomas Carlyle, “Machine Learning” | 1829 | Craigenputtock
Stories to Watch
440+: The number of people charged with taking part in the Capitol siege, coming from all states except Mississippi, North and South Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming.
62,500: Biden raised the US refugee admissions cap to 62,500 from 15,000, with the intention of reaching 125,000 in the next fiscal year.
$152 trillion: The amount rich nations siphoned from the Global South since 1960.
Afghanistan: The Taliban captured the nation’s second-largest dam, the Dahla Dam, which provides irrigation to farmers and as drinking water for Kandahar. Reportedly, the Taliban is launching 80-120 attacks/day against the Afghan government.
Apple vs Epic: The biggest trial in tech is underway, which will determine if Apple is monopolistic with the App Store and its 30% fee.
Brazil: The South American giant has the second-highest amount of COVID deaths worldwide and COVID continues to ravage the country, but there’s been no international drive to help Brazil similar to the one for India. Blame Bolsonaro.
Colombia: After years of accepting millions of Venezuelans escaping US-driven economic devastation, Colombia is beginning to tear at the seams. President Ivan Duque introduced a tax reform that would have squeezed the middle class, triggering nationwide protests. It was withdrawn four days later, but the protests continued and grew as media coverage revealed police violence, deaths and disappearances. Currently, 26 people have been killed and more than 800 are injured.
Ebola: DR Congo declared an end to the latest outbreak of Ebola.
El Salvador: President Nayib Bukele's New Ideas party won 56 of 84 seats in February’s legislative elections to secure a two-thirds supermajority, which he used this week to dismiss the nation’s Attorney General and the five Constitutional Court justices that had acted as an active check on his power since 2019. Democracy ain’t looking to hot in the Northern Triangle.
GERD: Egypt appealed to Washington during its trilateral negotiations with Cairo, Sudan, and Ethiopia over the latter’s filling of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River. Cairo claims only DC or the UN Security Council can bring about a peaceful resolution as Addis Ababa looks to begin the second filling of the dam.
Guyana vs Venezuela: Caracas claimed “exclusive rights in the waters and seabed extending 200 nautical miles off the Orinoco Delta,” encroaching on the recently discovered oil deposits in Guyana’s territory. Understandably, Guyanan President Irfaan Ali denounced the claim and Venezuelan President Maduro.
Indian Elections: India broke another COVID cases/deaths record while Modi’s BJP party lost state elections across the nation, another loss for the once soaring PM. Maybe the BJP’s temper tantrum is why the nation can’t properly distribute the foreign aid they demanded ASAP.
Libya: Tripoli’s top diplomat demanded all foreign mercenaries and troops leave the country immediately, particularly the 20,000 Turkish forces that remain. Ankara is predictably resisting saying a training agreement was struck with the preceding “legitimate” government and Turkey has no reason to leave.
Mexico: The train crash in Mexico City that killed at least 24 people is a perfect example of why our infrastructure overhaul must include the entire Americas, not just the States.
Palestine: More than 300 Palestinian protesters have been injured this weekend, with at least two dead, in clashes with Israeli police over an upcoming (and now delayed) hearing from Israel’s Supreme Court concerning the forced expulsions of Palestinian families in the occupied East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. Protests have consumed the neighborhood and the Temple Mount, which houses the al-Aqsa Mosque. The US is attempting to mitigate and calm both sides of the situation, but there’s only so much Washington can do given our absurd $3 billion/year in foreign aid to pad Jerusalem’s “defense” spending. Not to mention, Bibi is desperate for a smokescreen now that he’s at his most vulnerable.
Vaccine diplomacy: Guess who predictably came out in support of the IP waiver for COVID vaccines after his first 100 days in office?! Biden, that’s who! On top of that, Pfizer exported 10 million US-made doses to Mexico and will export millions to Canada next week as it shifts excess supply to international orders. Delhi is working to expedite a domestic authorization for Pfizer’s shot. Meanwhile, it’s unlikely the US will achieve herd immunity unless Evangelicals change their false beliefs – something they’re famous for resisting at all costs.
