Madonna As 'Statue of Liberty' By Michael Forbes Joins Marilyn Minter At Brooklyn Museum Jan. 19

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Madonna As 'Statue of Liberty' By Michael Forbes Joins Marilyn Minter At Brooklyn Museum Jan. 19

The black eye is perfect because this is how we feel. Madonna is never one to walk away from controversy, and she was quick to share this new artwork by Scottish artist Michael Forbes. The artist portrays a caricature-like image of the President-elect as 'King Kong Trump' sitting on the head of our beloved Statue of Liberty, personified by Madonna. The human rights icon is holding a sign saying 'Not My President' -- a declaration that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by nearly 3 million Americans. 

"After Madonna posted it on Instagram my phone has been ringing repeatedly with people telling me about it," Forbes told the BBC.

(. . . }

Madonna will join artist Marilyn Minter tonight on the eve of the presidential inauguration at a SOLD OUT event at The Brooklyn Museum. 

The two fearless feminist provocateurs will talk art, culture, feminist, and the current state of affairs in America and around the world. Writes the Brooklyn Museum's website: Connecting Madonna, an artist, activist, and philanthropist, with Minter, whose work explores cultural perceptions of women, this unprecedented conversation will highlight the impact of female artists within broader culture and social change. Moderated by poet, essayist, and playwright Elizabeth Alexander and by Anne Pasternak, Shelby White and Leon Levy Director of the Museum.

Tonight's historic event is part of A Year of Yes: Reimagining Feminism at the Brooklyn Museum, a yearlong series of exhibitions and programs celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Museum's Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

FEMEN Activist Grabs Trump's Crotch At Madrid's Statue Unveiling

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Oh dear Goddess! Donald Trump must be seething. Perhaps his children can keep the president-elect from seeing this FEMEN activist grabbing the crotch of his highness -- sorry -- his likeness unveiled today at the Museo de Cera Madrid.  FEMEN is known in the women's rights community for its topless protests 

The unnamed FEMEN member shouted "grab patriarchy by the balls," as she ran towards the statue of his highness and grabbed him by the balls.  

Denouncing Trump, 'NASTY WOMEN' Art Show Raises $50,000 for Planned Parenthood

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Millions of American women loathed Donald Trump more than they thought possible, when the president-elect interrupted Hillary Clinton in the third presidential election, saying that she was "such a nasty woman". 

Educated women, in particular, have been seeking revenge ever since -- and we won't be stopping any time soon. Taking down Planned Parenthood is a prime agenda item of the incoming Trump Administration, even though 50% of Trump's own voters don't want this critical organization supporting poor women defunded. 

Nearly 600 self-proclaimed 'NASTY WOMEN' showed their art at the Knockdown Center in Maspeth, Queens, January 12-15. Over $50,000 was raised in support of Planned Parenthood, in the first stop of what will become a global tour for the show. Future stops include San Diego; Lubbock, Texas; Brussels; Memphis, Tennessee,;and Melbourne, Australia. 

After meeting its goal for Planned Parenthood, the NASTY WOMEN show donated $8,200 raised by the $20 general admission tickets in support of Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, the New York Immigration Coalition, Immigrant Defense Fund, and Sister Song. 

Alicia Keys On Makeup Free & Abolishing the Electoral College vs Melania Trump's White House Glam Room

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Alicia Keys Fronts 'Keys To Success' By Paolo Kudacki For Allure Magazine February 2017

It's fascinating the Alicia Keys has led the 'no makeup' look, although she assured readers in Feb. 2017 Allure that she also won't be a slave to not wearing makeup either. It all depends on Alicia's mood. 

She is a 15-time Grammy winner. To put that in perspective: Adele has ten; Taylor Swift, ten also; Mary J. Blige, nine; Rihanna, eight. Sometimes—rarely—in this world, prizes get awarded in a way that is commensurate with achievement, thank Allah, Jehovah, and Zeus. (Those are in alphabetical order, by the way; I may be a Christian, but if another guy’s deity wants to do me a solid, I’m very grateful. I do wish the entire panoply of gods could get together and stop my friends from using reply all. That’s what I pray for; I figure it’s an easier lift than universal amity or abolishing the electoral college.) On that topic, who could forget Keys’s impassioned performance of “Superwoman” and “In Common” at the Democratic National Convention last summer? The first song was dedicated to the “Mothers of the Movement,” a group that advocates for police reform and gun-violence prevention. The second one was a call to, in her words, “stand together and be united.” Keys’s deep disappointment with the election results is palpable. 

Keys' comments resonate in back to back posts -- the second one being about the White House glam room for America's next first lady Melania Trump.  AOC and I personally are working hard not to trivialize Melania Trump before she has a chance to open her mouth on America's behalf. 

Yet, for her biggest PR story to be about her upcoming glam room, as nearly 50 members of Congress say they will boycott the Trump presidential Inauguration and Trump & Putin might as well open a joint Twitter account as of today, Melania rings pretty darned hollow in her ivory tower. Goddess give us strength! ~ Anne

Ivanka Meets Queen Rania, Insists Her Primary Role In DC Will Be Wife, Mother & Advocate For Women & Girls

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Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan's commitment to girls' education runs very deep. Asking two weeks ago if the future is still female, Forbes writer Beth Doane profiled five women leaders, including Queen Rania. And there is exciting news to learn that Queen Rania has joined Michelle Obama's Let Girls Learn initiative, recently profiled here on AOC.

In these days before Donald Trump's inauguration as President on Friday November 20, and theWomen's March in DC on Saturday, November 21, women's rights are in a state of undefined flux in the new Trump administration -- one that is fundamentally opposed to feminism and any formalized commitment to women's rights as part of its legislative agenda.

We will see which Trump appointees stand for an expansion of women's rights at home and abroad versus those who seek to redefine them in a way that rolls back the clock.

Many women's groups and female leaders will be leaning on Ivanka Trump to persuade her father to veto key pieces of Republican legislation unless the proverbial add-ons are removed. Whether she is up to the task -- or her father has the stomach for the fight -- remains to be see. In my own view, the odds are against us. ~ Anne

Trump Slams Civil Rights Hero Ga. Rep. John Lewis On MLK Honorary Weekend

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President Barack Obama's Address in Selma March 7, 2015

When President-elect Donald Trump denigrated the personal history of Ga. Rep. John Lewis this weekend -- after Rep. Lewis said that he questioned the legitimacy of America's presidential election with the Russians doing Trump's bidding -- it seems like this 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Day is best honored with my review and full text of President Obama's historic March 2015 Selma speech. 

For Donald Trump -- who discredited President Obama for years with his birther claims -- to become indignant over Rep. Lewis' opinion and then turn like an attack dog on Lewis is more than I can stomach. This archives article details not only the events around Selma, in which John Lewis was nearly killed, but also the subsequent march to Montgomery, Alabama led by the Rev. Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta.

On this reverential weekend in America, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen to unleash a high-profile feud with people of color and all progressives and Americans of conscience who have not forgotten Rep. Lewis' near-death experience in Selma.  The New York Times explains with In Trump's Feud With John Lewis, Blacks Perceive a Callous Rival.  

Record Number Of Protests Planned Around Trump Inauguration

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The National Park Service has credentialed a record 28 groups coming to Washington DC over inauguration weekend, compared to a typical five or six. Primarily representing groups opposed to the presidency of Donald Trump, the protests will be led by The Women's March, an expected protest of 200,000 women and their male allies. 

The Washington Post reported on Friday that the city of DC has received requests for 200 bus parking permits for Inauguration Day. By contrast 1200 bus parking permits have been requested for The Women's March. 

Republicans have struggled to fill their blocks of hotel rooms, writes Politico. The inauguration committee is hosting only three balls, a major departure from the usual eight to 10.

Free Downloads For The Women's March In DC On Jan. 21 Available From The Amplifier Foundation

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Free Downloads For The Women's March In DC On Jan. 21 Available From The Amplifier Foundation

All reports are that the goal of delivering as many as 200,000 Americans congregating to support The Women's March will be met, and AOC will track the march and related events all week. We will not cover details of the Trump inauguration or any related events unless they are pertinent to women's rights.

The Amplifier Foundation -- an art machine dedicated to social change -- is supporting the march with free wallpaper downloads available here. Eight poster designs by artists who identify as female will be printed and distributed free to march participants.

Dishing on Morning Joe: A Trump Crush Gone Bust But Will Joe's Musical Rain Money?

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Dishing on Morning Joe: A Trump Crush Gone Bust But Will Joe's Musical Rain Money?

These days I try to watch 'Morning Joe' as little as possible. So I missed host Joe Scarborough's criticism of president-elect Donald Trump for his tweets against Meryl Streep's Golden Globe speech. Actually Scarborough delivered a strong message to Trump as Inauguration Day approaches: "Stop Tweeting!"

"Stop tweeting about Meryl Streep," the Republican former Congressman continued. "Stop putting words into the mouths of intel agencies. I'm serious, someone around him needs to tell him, give it a rest. Start preparing for your inauguration. Stop being so thin-skinned."

In the words of Vice President Joe Biden, who weighed in on Trump a few days ago pre-Street meldown "Grow up."

Scarborough's Trump tone contrasted with his and Mika's battle with fellow journalists last week.

Maria Balshaw Expected To Succeed Nicholas Serota at Britain's Tate Museum

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The London-based Tate Museum has not formally announced the appointment of Maria Balshaw, current director of the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester and Manchester City Galleries, as the Tate's new director.

Still, the British press reports that an official announcement is 'imminent.' British Prime Minister Theresa May must approve the appointment. If confirmed, Balshaw would become the first woman to hold the prestigious Tate position.

In Manuary 2016, the Tate Modern appointed Frances Morris as their new director in another win for women in the art world. via

Meryl Streep Denounces Trump Without Saying His Name

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Meryl Streep Just Denounced Trump and Called for Freedom of the Press in One Truly Epic Golden Globes Speech Marie Claire

"This instinct to humiliate, when it's modeled by someone in the public platform . . . filtered into everybody's life."

Actor Meryl Streep chose her platform of receiving her Golden Globe Cecil B. Demille Award to speak about America's president-elect Donald Trump. 

"There was one performance this year that stunned me," she said. "It sank its hooks in my heart. Not because it was good. There was nothing good about it. But it was effective and it did its job. It made its intended audience laugh and show their teeth. It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter, someone he outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it. I still can't get it out of my head because it wasn't in a movie. It was real life."

With real tears -- that the president-elect would most surely mock as representing the fake tears of liberal Hollywood and liberal, pc Hillary supporters -- flowing in the room, Streep continued:

"And this instinct to humiliate, when it's modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life, because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing," she continued. "Disrespect invites disrespect. Violence incites violence. And the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose...This brings me to the press. We need the principled press to hold power to account, to call them on the carpet for every outrage. That's why our founders enshrined the press and its freedoms in our constitution. So I only ask the famously well-heeled Hollywood foreign press and all of us in our community to join me in supporting the committee to protect journalists. Because we're going to need them going forward. And they'll need us to safeguard the truth.

One more thing: Once, when I was standing around on the set one day whining about something—we were going to work through supper, or the long hours, or whatever—Tommy Lee Jones said to me, 'Isn't it such a privilege, Meryl, just to be an actor?' Yeah, it is. And we have to remind each other of the privilege and the responsibility of the act of empathy. We should all be very proud of the work Hollywood honors here tonight. As my friend, the dear departed Princess Leia, said to me once, "Take your broken heart, make it into art. Thank you."

Donald Trump Calls Meryl Streep An 'Overrated Actress' and 'Hillary Flunky'

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President-elect Donald Trump hit back at esteemed actor Meryl Streep who criticized him in her acceptance speech for her lifetime achievement award at the Golden Globes in Los Angeles last night.

"She is a Hillary flunky who lost big," Trump tweeted, as he insisted once again that he never mocked reporter Serge Kovaleski at a South Carolina rally in November of last year.

Trump's denial that he never imitated Kovaleski, who has a congenital joint condition, is absurd and a most concerning trait in a future president. As is the reality with most of Trump's disparaging antics that play to his audience, they are obvious and highly-documented in film of his own behavior. Trump's denial is nothing more than a backtracking of reality, and thinking people who are fact-based are not humiliated into submission over Donald Trump and his outlandish arrogance that what we saw before our very eyes is not the truth.

This deeply troubling trait of Trump's tendency to lie about reality may play well with his voters -- although many have criticized this trait -- but it doesn't play well with me or with fearless people like Meryl Streep.

President-elect Trump is now facing a nation of Americans, propelled to office by three million fewer votes than Hillary Clinton in a nation where about one in four eligible voters actually supported him. This is no mandate of citizen admiration of Trump's despicable, deplorable inability to accept responsibility for his own actions. It's the sign of a very weak, insecure personality.

Read more about Meryl Streep's powerful speech that denounces the president-elect.

Margaret Zhang Captures Tory Burch's January 2017 Collection As Burch Embraces Women's Ambition

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Margaret Zhang Captures Kate Bosworth For Tory Burch's Gemini Link January 2017 Collection

Back to Tory Daily and her feature in Vogue January 2017 'The New Girl Bosses'. Tory writes: "We’re proud to note that three Fellows from the Tory Burch Foundation were highlighted in their roles as female entrepreneurs making waves: Allison DeVane of tea purveyor Teaspressa, Emellie O’Brien of the environmental-consulting firm Earth Angel and Ericka Lassair of gourmet Creole-style hot-dogs company Diva Dawg. "

The Tory Birch Foundation takes a refreshing approach to women's issues with their clear acknowledgement:

"We are empowering women everywhere to embrace ambition."

This is what total brand integration looks like, and it's deeply personal. I will not use the word 'authentic' which replaces 'hero' as a word used to such a fault that it has lost meaning.  Call me wowed yet again by Tory Burch and the people in her network! 

British Fashion & Culture Website Follows Republicans' Plan To Defund Planned Parenthood

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It's amazing that even Britain's Dazed Digital is following Republicans plan to defund Planned Parenthood -- stripping away funds for services that represent about 40% -- or $400 million -- of the organization's revenues.

Only 3% of Planned Parenthood's services are for abortions and there are no health clinics for poor Americans in many communities that can replace the large number of the more tshan 270,000 pap tests, 360,000 breast exams and treatment for more than 4.2 million tis every year. In addition, Planned Parenthood's education program is given to 1.5 million people in a single year.

Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan announced that the defunding of Planned Parenthood will be part of the budget reconciliation process, which will require only simple majorities in the House and Senate. The question is whether or not President Trump will sign it -- and all assumptions are that he will. The results for poor women especially will be simply devastating, unless major philanthropists step in to plug the funding chasm.

For a more detailed discussion of Republicans and Planned Parenthood, read our recent AOC Women's News As Trump Readies Planned Parenthood Rodeo, Half of Trump Voters Support Funding & Expect Him To Stand Down

Megyn Kelly Leaves FOX News For NBC, Rejecting $20 Million + Annual Pay Offer To Stay

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Megyn Kelly Is Leaving Fox News for NBC The New York Times

One of Fox News biggest stars Megyn Kelly was been wooed to NBC News by chairman Andrew Lack.  Kelly's contract is said to be the biggest negotiation since Katie Couric moved to CBS News in 2006. The move is potentially crushing for Fox, with Kelly being the second-most watched host -- after Bill O'Reilly-- and comes after the recent departure of founding chairman Roger Ailes, who was ousted by Fox owners -- the Rupert Murdoch family -- after serious allegations of extreme sexual harassment by Ailes over decades.

The Murdoch family had offered Kelly over $20 million a year to stay at the network, an amount NBC said they could not match. Kelly responded that money was not her key issue, given the problems at Fox and also the contentious relationship between Megyn Kelly and president-elect Donald Trump.

Kelly will broadcast a Monday through Friday news show, a Sunday evening in-depth show (thankfully Madame Secretary has moved to 10 pm) and participate in all major political programming and big-evemt coverage at NBC.

Should 'Morning Joe' Get A Stiffer Lip? You Loved Trump Calling In Every Day

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'Morning Joe' host Joe Scarborough and his sidekick Mika Brzezinski were miffed over accusations that they "partied with Trump" at Mar-a-Lago on New Year's Eve. The show led the way in the rise of Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, turning their show over to Trump on a nearly daily basis.

“Partied? You’re very good at pushing fake news," Scarborough knifed back to Sopan Deb, a former CBS reporter now at the Times. "You should write for CNN. Apparently making up facts is fine if you’re writing about us,” he replied, before launching into an explanation for why he was at Trump’s Palm Beach report. (He and his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, were trying to score an interview with the president-elect, he said, and this was the meeting time Trump gave them.) “One of the more entertaining aspects of media coverage of media is how so many who blast Trump for half truths attack us with half truths.”

Soon afterward, Scarborough’s NBC colleague Chuck Todd tweeted his own take on the Twitter tiff: “It really stinks to watch others continue help ruin the reputation of your industry. But fighting each other ...only hurts the democracy.” Scarborough issued a followup: “Yes. I find that people misrepresenting others and lying is indeed corrosive. I know you agree with me that facts matter,” he wrote.

Scarborough followed with an op-ed titled 'The Media's hypocrisy and hyperventilating in the age of Trump' for The Washington Post and an hour-long interview on CNN Money. Clearly the duo is hyper sensitive about accusations that they are in Trump's camp.

Unlike Facebook, Instagram Provides Major Platform For Frank Talk About Public Breastfeeding

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Unlike Facebook, Instagram Provides Major Platform For Frank Talk About Public Breastfeeding

Multiple celebrities like new mom Candice Swanepoel are using Instagram to launch a major discussion around the public shaming of discreet breastfeeding moms in America. And a new image from app from Pics Art comes to the rescue, taking the 'brelfie' to a new level by creating 'tree of life' pictures of mom and child.