Boys Club Lectures Sen. Kamala Harris As Intelligence Heads Refuse To Answer Questions

Boys Club Lectures Sen. Kamala Harris As Intelligence Heads Refuse To Answer Questions

On Wednesday the leaders of America's intelligence agencies appeared before members of the Senate Intelligence Committee for a hearing about Russian interference into the 2016 presidential election and any possible collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. 

It didn't go well, with the nation's top national intelligence leaders refusing to talk. They were not bound by any executive privilege claim by President Trump. Nor were they discussing classified information, which is not permitted in an open hearing. 

Several senators were visibly and audibly upset with the immobile faces refusing to even utter 'yes' or 'no' to the senate panel that oversees them.  New Mexico's Dem. Sen. Martin Heinrich was aggressive with all the silent men who refused to speak, making a notable criticism of Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein with the words "At this point, you filibuster better than most of my colleagues."

Allison Janney & 'Mom' Co-creator Gemma Baker Deliver $250,000 Contribution To Cecile Richards Of Planned Parenthood

Allison Janney & 'Mom' Co-creator Gemma Baker Deliver $250,000 Contribution To Cecile Richards Of Planned Parenthood

Vanity Fair writer Richard Lawson described Allison Janney as the "queen of television" with her seven Primetime Emmys, tying with Ed Asner for the second-most Emmys awarded to a single actor. Cloris Leachman holds the record with eight. 

Janney's hit CBS comedy 'Mom' was just renewed for a fifth season, as the actor completes her filming while appearing on Broadway in the first-ever Broadway revival of John Guare's iconic 'Six Degrees of Separation'. 

Lawson's Tuesday piece got bested, though, with a great feminist act that caused Janney and 'Mom' co-creator Gemma Baker to take the $250,000 Emmy promo budget for 'Mom' -- and her securing an eighth Emmy to tie Leachman -- and donate it to Planned Parenthood. 

“We don’t NOT want to be considered for Emmys,” Janney hastened to explain. “But we decided to use the money instead to support Planned Parenthood.”

Jessica Chastain Tells Cannes That Lack Of Female Storytellers Distorts Women In Film

Jessica Chastain Tells Cannes That Lack Of Female Storytellers Distorts Women In Film

Jessica Chastain said she found the onscreen representation of women in this year’s Cannes Film Festival lineup "quite disturbing."

"I do believe that if you have female storytelling you also have more authentic female characters,” Chastain, who served on the jury said during a press conference Sunday. “This is the first time I’ve watched 20 films in 10 days, and I love movies. And the one thing I really took away from this experience is how the world views women from the female characters that I saw represented. It was quite disturbing to me, to be honest.”

CFDA Honors Gloria Steinem As Trump Moves To Curtail Women's Right To Birth Control, Bowing To Religious Forces

CFDA Honors Gloria Steinem As Trump Moves To Curtail Women's Right To Birth Control, Bowing To Religious Forces

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem arrived on the national stage with her 1962 essay 'The Moral Disarmament of Betty Coed'. In 1963, Steinem famously used her good looks and socially-perceived 'hot bod' to work undercover at the Playboy Club, penning her experiences in an essay called 'A Bunny's Tale'. Feeling the backlash, in 2969 Steinem explained why men shouldn't fear feminists in 'After Black Power, Women's Liberation'. 

In 2017, many American women wonder why we can't cement our equality in 21st century America, where anti-feminist forces are perhaps more formidable than ever. Surrounded by pundits who argued that Hillary Clinton should drop the allegation that misogyny played any role in the 2016 election, former RNC chairman Michael Steele agreed that misogyny DID play a role, describing America as a very provincial nation with traditional views about women's roles. 

In the aftermath of Clinton's loss, the fashion industry is galvanized around women's issues, having taken a Clinton win for granted. On June 5, Steinem will receive the CFDA Board of Directors' Tribute for her endless legacy of work within the women's movement, in an honor presented by her close friend Diane von Furstenberg, a board member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. 

'Gaysi': Sakshi Juneja's Queer Blog Thrives In India's Illegal Queer Scene

'Gaysi': Sakshi Juneja's Queer Blog Thrives In India's Illegal Queer Scene

Posting Testino's 'Role Play' for Vogue India, AOC discovered 'Inside Gaysi: the blog transforming India's queer scene', appearing Monday in The Guardian'. Charukesi Ramadurai shares writes that the zine's content includes pieces of fiction, photo-essays, personal narratives, illustrations and how-to guides on the theme of sexual desire, from A Quick Guide to Scissoring to evocative verse on Love in the Age of Surveillance.

Karmen Pedaru Wears 'Dark Desire' By Alvaro Beamud Cortes For Vogue Spain June 2017

Karmen Pedaru Wears 'Dark Desire' By Alvaro Beamud Cortes For Vogue Spain June 2017

Top model Karmen Pedaru is styled by Juan Cebrián in sleek, black pool party looks for 'DarkDesire'. Alvaro Beamud Cortes flashes Karmen for Vogue Spain June 2017./ Hair by Lorenzo Barcella; makeup by Carole Colombani

Why Hillary Didn't Carry White Women In The Presidential Election

Why Hillary Didn't Carry White Women In The Presidential Election

We've been talking about the new PRRI/The Atlantic research on white working class voters who preferred Trump to Hillary 2 to 1. Much has been made of Hillary's failure to carry white women without a college degree. This research provides tons of answers, but one really sticks out to me:

Overall, white working-class Americans make up one-third (33%) of the adult public, a substantially larger share than white Americans with at least a four-year college education (22%).

58% of working class white men now express an authoritarian orientation, which is disconcerting to Democrats and progressives, Independents and true conservatives. But on the subject of Hillary Clinton not winning the white working class women's vote, 71% of those women prefer an authoritarian leader.

No one ever accused Hillary Clinton of being an authoritarian like Trump. I believe this stat about women in particular, because the most amazing research out of Baylor University in 2010 was done on America's Four Gods. Well over 150,000 people -- including many of us back then -- took the online survey, which had dramatic results around different visions of God.

The fourth vision of God -- one that I scored in believing -- is a non-gender spiritual energy force in the universe. Fully 25% of Americans embraced God #4, but get this -- it was 98% male who believe that God has no gender. American women believe that God is male -- except for Lisa and me, and a few other brave women with enlightened brains.

When I read the book and then took the online test, I said feminism is sunk in America if 98% of women believe that God is always watching them (more questions) and God is a he. ~ Anne

Senate GOP On Defensive Over All-Male Health Care Group, Saying They're Not About 'Identity Politics' and 'Father Knows Best'

Senate GOP On Defensive Over All-Male Health Care Group, Saying They're Not About 'Identity Politics' and 'Father Knows Best'

Two Republican women senators -- Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) sit on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Collins joined the committee in 2015, but Murkowski is a member since 2007.  Both senators support Planned Parenthood.

When asked by ABC's George Stephanopoulos why she *wasn't* in the working group, Sen. Collins replied, "Well, the leaders obviously chose the people they want."

Gabriela Hearst Launches Luxury Sweater Worth $50,000 To Planned Parenthood

Designer Gabriela Hearst is standing with Planned Parenthood, launching pre-sales on a merino wool sweater intarsia'd that unifies a ram's head and ovaries. Vogue explains that Hearst originally conceived the sweater as her entry into the Woolmark Prize competition, which took place in Paris on January 21, the same day as global Women's Marches. Note that Hearst won the prize. 

Hearst developed her Planned Parenthood support strategy when she realized the outline of a ram's head looks remarkably similar to a woman's reproductive system. “I liked that they’re both symbols of strength,” Hearst said.

“Planned Parenthood right now needs all the help it can get, and all the attention it can get,” Hearst told Vogue. For me, it’s not only about my body my choice, it’s about our overall health. They take care of our cancer screenings. They take care of so many things. And when the government is making a direct attack on women’s health… first of all, it’s appalling. And we have to do something.”

$500 of each $699 sweater will go to Planned Parenthood, and Hearst is making 100 of them. “That’s $50,000,” she underscores, with a plea for women of financial means to get out their wallets.

Hearst’s relationship with the organization is not a new one. She’s designing a dress for Cecile Richards, Planned Parenthood’s President, for next month’s CFDA Awards, where Richards will be honored with the Board of Directors’ Tribute alongside Gloria Steinem and Janelle Monae.

I've been in the fashion industry for decades and have never seen us all so mobilized on any issue. Supporting progressive causes is implanted in our brains, but the Trump administration's assault on women's rights and Planned Parenthood is a new chapter for us all. ~ Anne

Meet Brigitte Macron -- The Super Smart, Glamorous First Lady of France! Viva la France!

Meet Brigitte Macron -- The Super Smart, Glamorous First Lady of France! Viva la France!

This is going to great, watching Brigitte Macron, France's new First Lady, who is a true modern woman, not living in the shadow of her husband but in concert with him. Like Melania Trump, Brigitte loves 'blue' and I'll bet she gets along great with Michelle Obama. My mind is racing on what these two ace women can do together. Obama gave a big endorsement to her husband, so expect the two couples to develop a deep personal relationship.

Forbes just profiled Brigitte Macron and also included what the haters -- lead by Marine Le Pen at this week's debate in terrible, personal insinuations -- have to say about their age difference.

Forget The Flip Book, Ivanka: The Women You Say You Stand For Are Getting Creamed By Republicans

Smart Women Across America Are Asking: 'Where Is Ivanka When We Need Her?' AOC RedTracker Daily

The insults to Ivanka Trump are piling up in trailerloads. Sady Doyle's is one of countless, incredulous, scathing reviews of the pink frosted cupcakes baked from the wisdom of other people that America's First Daughter calls a book for working women. There is near-unanimous agreement that Ivanka Trump has a unique idea about the very word 'working'.  It's not the one that over 100 million of the rest of us relate to. 

One wonders if Ivanka isn't actually doing more damage than good with this book, even if the proceeds are going to charity. Personally, I thought Ivanka was smarter than the Stepford wife she projects in 'Women Who Work'.  Her prolific use of people's quotations, taking them out of context and giving them revised life through an Ivanka-envisioned hastag, implies a certain sympatico with her -- one that more often than not, doesn't exist at all. Ivanka Trump is smelling the roses in Hillary country, leaving many people not amused. 

When Ivanka takes Toni Morrison's 'Beloved' and its reflections on both freedom from physical slavery and a psychological prison living in the mind of its main character Sethe and applies it to the lives of well-off, working white women, our aggravation is beyond exasperation. She sounds like a heartless, clueless airhead -- or more like her father than we want to believe. 

As Gail Collins wrote in her New York Times column this weekend: 'Where's Ivanka When We Need Her?' 

Hard Work Is All That's Required, Says Ivanka Trump In A Book Drowning In Bad Reviews AOC In-Depth

Hillary Clinton Slams Trump Administration's Assault On Women's Reproductive Health

Hillary Clinton Slams Trump Administration's Assault On Women's Reproductive Health

Hillary Clinton, speaking at the 100th anniversary gala honoring Planned Parenthood on Tuesday, slammed "groups of men" in Washington, DC who are deciding the future of women's health protections. Everyone in the room knew she was talking about the men of the Trump administration and now the anti-women lieutenants like Teresa Manning and Charmaine Yoest, hired to rollback women's health advancements over the last 50 years. 

Trumps Launch Full Assault On International Programs That Benefit Women & Girls

Trumps Launch Full Assault On International Programs That Benefit Women & Girls

The Trump family double teamed their lies about women's rights with the proposed elimination of Hillary Clinton's Global Women's Issues Office, a State Department office that fights for the rights of women all over the world, with a special focus on defending those who are in the most precarious and vulnerable situations in impoverished countries.

Angela Merkel Meets With Vladimir Putin, Armed With Her 5-Point Plan For Dealing With Autocratic Strongmen

Angela Merkel Meets With Vladimir Putin, Armed With Her 5-Point Plan For Dealing With Autocratic Strongmen

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is at Russian President Vladimir Putin's summer residence in Sochi for talks on a variety of complex issues. No one is expecting any major breakthroughs in Sochi, writes the BBC. 

In January 2017, Foreign Policy wrote a fascinating piece on how Angela Merkel deals with bullies, noting that Vladimir Putin considers her to be a "dangerous person," according to Russian dissident and former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

The chancellor’s astounding record in outfoxing, outlasting, and outmaneuvering full-of-themselves male rivals, however, began before Putin appeared on the scene. Her track record offers the outlines of a go-to plan for dealing with bullies — and, not coincidentally, it dovetails tightly with her top foreign-policy advisor’s five-point plan for taking on Trump.

World's Leading Women Look At Ivanka With Incredulous Silence As She Extols Dad's Support For Women

World's Leading Women Look At Ivanka With Incredulous Silence! A Few Booed!

One unplanned development from the meeting was Chancellor Merkel's accidental revelation of a new global investment  fund for female entrepreneurs that is connected to the Trump administration and the World Bank. 

Dina Powell, President Trump's deputy national security adviser for strategy and senior counselor for economic initiatives, who was in attendance, said that the announcement was unplanned. 

Speaking at a Thursday evening dinner in Washington, DC, welcoming the 2017 class of the Fortune US State Department Global Women's Mentoring Parntership, Powell explained that the announcement was premature, and the details will be forthcoming.  

One wonders if Powell mentioned that the Trump administration's intention is not only to cut off all global funds for contraception and other forms of health assistance for poor women and families, but also to abolish the State Department's  Global Women's Issues Office, a State Department office that fights for the rights of women all over the world and was created by Hillary Clinton in the earliest days of her tenure as Secretary of State. The Trump administration is on the record saying they have no interest in soft power. Note that many Republicans in the Senate support the office as a deterrent to terrorism, and it may well have its defenders.

Spanish Women Face Hate Crime Charges Over Plastic Vagina Protest

Spanish Women Face Hate Crime Charges Over Plastic Vagina Protest

Three women who staged a 2014 May Day protest are facing charges of "crimes against religious sentiment" for parading "a plastic vagina a couple of metres high in the style of the Virgin Mary", according to court papers. 

The protest was designed to highlight issues of discrimination against women in the workplace and also restrictions on women's reproductive health as part of the national Workers’ Day march in Seville by the Spanish union the General Workers' Confederation (CGT).

The legal case was already dismissed in Spain's judicial system but the Association of Christian Lawyers appealed the decision and the previous judge's ruling that "not believing in the dogmas of a religion and manifesting it publicly falls under the freedom of expression". The new case claims to contain 'new evidence' that the protest was a deliberate insult to "religious sentiments of Cathlics' with "a mockery of the Easter procession."

Meet Emily Steel, Dedicated New York Times Reporter Who Is Bill O'Reilly Enemy #1

Meet Emily Steel, Dedicated New York Times Reporter Who Is Bill O'Reilly Enemy #1

Marie Claire interviews New York Times reporter Emily Steel, who insists "I'm not the story" when talking about Bill O'Reilly's epic fall at Fox News. Perhaps not, but the investigative research approach that she took, together with her Times colleague Michael S. Schmidt, was absolutely awesome, inventive, meticulous and truly original. 

Three weeks ago, Steel and Schmidt dropped their explosive Times article, documenting settlements with at least five accusers over the last 15 years, to the hefty sum of $13 million. Within two days of their report, over 50 advertisers had fled O'Reilly's show. And now he's gone from his perch as the biggest anchor on cable TV.

Beyoncé Launches Formation Scholars With Four Full 2017/2018 Scholarships For Young Women

Beyoncé Launches Formation Scholars With Four Full 2017/2018 Scholarships For Young Women

Beyoncé used the first anniversary of 'Lemonade', the world's best-selling album in 2016, to launch Formation Scholars -- full college scholarships for four young women -- one for each of the participating institutions: Berklee College of Music, Howard University, Parsons School of Design and Spelman College, her site explains. 

Will The Berlin Girls Club Confront Ivanka Trump About Her Father's Anti-Contraception Drive In Poor Countries?

Will The Berlin Girls Club Confront Ivanka Trump About Her Father's Anti-Contraception Drive In Poor Countries?

The coverage of Ivanka Trump in the German press in the days leading up to her speech was similar to that at home, where she has been criticized on late night programs like “Saturday Night Live” for being “complicit” in her father’s agenda. The front page of one daily newspaper, Berliner Zeitung, featured a photograph of Ivanka Trump under the headline “First Flusterin,” or “the first whisperer.” 

Ivanka can read the headlines, and anticipating not being taken seriously, having no policy chops, the Trump daughter co-authored an op-ed in The Financial Times, with World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, arguing that the estimated 170-year timeline to close the gender pay gap "is unacceptable."

{.. . }

It's ironic to read Ivanka Trump's commentary about empowering women in developing countries, after her father has decimated family-planning budgets in place under the Obama Administration and instituted when Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State. 

Blake Lively Talks Child Pornography, Not Her 'Power Outfit' At Variety's New York Power of Women Luncheon

Blake Lively Talks Child Pornography, Not Her 'Power Outfit' At Variety's New York Power of Women Luncheon

Actor and supermom Blake Lively was not amused at Variety's recent New York Power of Women luncheon when a reporter posing as a journalist asked her about the designer of her outfit. Lively executed a no-nonsense approach to her smackdown, admonishing the reporter.  

Lively was chosen as an honoree for her 'fierce advocacy against child pornography', joining singer-actress Audra McDonald, television personality Gayle King, Viacom media executive Shari Redstone and Chelsea Clinton, the vice-chair of the board at Clinton Foundation.

Lively's comments were focused on her support of Child Rescue Coalition. Given her award by Selma Hayek, Blake's speech was emotional and deeply personal.