Trump's Media Machine: Humbug or Bullshit? Business As Usual Political Lying? An Attempt To Make Putty Of American Minds?

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Trump's Media Machine: Humbug or Bullshit? Business As Usual Political Lying? An Attempt To Make Putty Of American Minds?

About three weeks after the New York Times first used the word 'lie' in a headline as a way of confronting the lack of truth coming out of the West Wing, the entire media world, bloggers, Twitters -- anyone associated with communications -- now calls 'lies' for what they are. Trump spokesperson and adviser Kellyanne Conway may have invented the terms: 'alternative facts', but you can't pour water in that vessel without having leaks everywhere.

In a new development, the list of lies in Trump's long, meandering press conference Thursday Nov. 16, caused his base to love him and left the rest of us speechless. The lies were so numerous as to be frightening. PolitiFact takes a stab at separating fact from fiction. 

Fact-checking Donald Trump's Feb. 16 press conference Politifact

Updated Encouraging News :Nominated For Nobel Peace Prize, Syria's White Helmets MAY Arrive For Oscars

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"They are not yet on US soil, and we await their arrival with tense anticipation," said the filmmakers of Raed Saleh and Khaled Khateeb. "In these uncertain times, their story is one of the most moving of our generation. We stand ready to welcome them."

On Wednesday, the outlook was grim that the key figures in the Netflix film 'The White Helmets' would obtain the necessary paperwork to gain US visas in time for the Oscars. In 48 hours since Hollywood Reporter and websites far and wide rallied around the issue, the situation has improved dramatically. 

“We are eagerly looking forward to coming to the Oscars," said Saleh in a statement. "It will give us an important platform for the voices of Syrian children and women trapped under the rubble as a result of the airstrikes and artillery shelling, and for the voices of thousands of displaced Syrians who have been forced from their homes.”

“It is so important that people see the film. It is important that people understand that Syria has people who want the same things they want: peace, jobs, family and to live without the fear of bombs," added Khateeb. "If we win this award, it will show people across Syria that people around the world support them. It will give courage to every volunteer who wakes up every morning to run towards bombs."

Previously Wed. Feb. 15, 2017: There is deep concern in Hollywood that key international talents will not be present for the Academy Awards due to President Trump's executive order banning Syrians and others from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. 

Director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara's  Netflix film 'The White Helmets' is nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Short. But it appears that the real heroes of the documentary will not be present at the Oscars. 

Every day in Syria, a group of ordinary, unarmed civilian volunteers known as the White Helmets risk their lives to help rescue men, women, and children injured by the incessant air raids destroying the country. Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2016, the apolitical White Helmets are credited with saving more than 75,000 people since 2012. 

Now it appears unlikely that Raed Saleh, the leader of the White Helmets, and Khaled Khateeb, the photographer who filmed all of the documentary's footage inside Aleppo, will get the necessary travel documents to attend the Oscars. Vogue interviews Einsiedel and Natasegara about their relationship with the White Helmets, and why we must watch their documentary in today's political climate. 

Ivanka Jumps In Dad's Oval Office Driver's Seat On Behalf of Women | Will She Succeed?

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Ivanka Jumps In Dad's Oval Office Driver's Seat On Behalf of Women | Will She Succeed?

Women attending the Monday Trump-Trudeau meeting included General Electric Canada CEO Elyse Allan, TransAlta Corp. CEO Dawn Farrell, Accenture North America CEO Julie Sweet, and Monique Leroux, chair of the board of directors for Investissement Québec, according to the AP. GM CEO Mary Barra was represented by Carol Stephenson of GM's board of directors. 

Katie Telford, Trudeau's chief of staff, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, and Dina Powell, an assistant to President Trump and a senior counselor for economic initiatives, attended. The trio is responsible for setting up the new council and recruiting participants like Barra, GE vice chair Beth Comstock, and Catalyst CEO Deborah Gillis.

The week prior Ivanka Trump hosted a small dinner party at the New York apartment of Wendi Murdoch, ex-wife of Fox News media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Attending the private dinner were IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Deloitte CEO Cathy Engelbert, Xerox chairman Ursula Burns, designer Tory Burch, and television host Mika Brzezinski. Ivanka Trump explained to the women that she wanted to learn about what the leaders were doing in areas like entrepreneurship, equal pay, paid leave, and education.

Planned Parenthood, Birth Control, Abortion Rights

Yes, Ivanka Trump champions the idea of gender equality -- although she refuses to openly support Planned Parenthood. This is relevant because controlling her fertility is the top tool a woman employs to advance her family's welfare and her own career.  

Designer Tory Burch, builder of one of America's most successful fashion brands and an attendee at Wendi Murdoch's private dinner, not only supports a woman's right to control her fertility, but she co-organized with designers Tracy Reese and Diane von Furstenberg New York Fashion Week's campaign to support Planned Parenthood, now under vicious attack by her father's administration. 

Melinda & Bill Gates were more confrontational than ever before in their annual letters and interviews this week, as they aggressively confronted the devastating impacts of now President Trump's expansion of restrictions around the Mexico City policy, governing USAID dollars supporting women's health initiatives worldwide. 

International Artists Launch 'Hands Off Our Revolution' To Counter Rise Of Right-Wing Populism

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Anish Kapoor at the Lisson Gallery 24 March 2015 - photo courtesy film maker Laura Bushell

Over 200 leading international artists including Anish Kapoor, recently honored as Genesis Prize Laureate 2017, activist artist Marilyn Minter -- a key leader of anti-Trump protests in America, Steve McQueen, Laurie Anderson and more have publicly lent their names and support to the 'Hands Off Our Revolution' movement.

Top New York Artists Protested Outside Ivanka Trump's Soho Apartment Before Heading to Art Basel

Organized by artist Adam Broomberg, originally born in South Africa and now living and working in London and Berlin as a photojournalist collaborating permanently with Oliver Chanarin, the group articulates the mission statement for 'Hands Off Our Revolution' mission statement:

We are a global coalition affirming the radical nature of art. We believe that art can help counter the rising rhetoric of right-wing populism, fascism and the increasingly stark expressions of xenophobia, racism, sexism, homophobia and unapologetic intolerance.

We know that freedom is never granted – it is won. Justice is never given – it is exacted. Both must be fought for and protected, yet their promise has seldom been so fragile, so close to slipping from our grasp, as at this moment.

As artists, it is our job and our duty to reimagine and reinvent social relations threatened by right-wing populist rule. It is our responsibility to stand together in solidarity. We will not go quietly. It is our role and our opportunity, using our own particular forms, private and public spaces, to engage people in thinking together and debating ideas, with clarity, openness and resilience.

Lend your own support at the bottom of website landing page. 

The collective behind 'Hands Off Our Revolution' will take action in:

A series of contemporary art exhibitions and actions that confront, head on, the rise of right-wing populism in the US, Europe and elsewhere. Exhibitions featuring critically engaged contemporary artists and taking place in central art institutions as well as alternative spaces, that will bring into public view statements, questions and reflections on the state we are in. To do what art has always endeavored: to help envision and shape the world in which we want to live.

Proceeds will go to arts & activist causes and building the coalition.

The artists movement was launched in reaction to contemporary events promoting nationalism like the Brexit vote, refugee crisis and the election of Donald Trump as president of the US.

“What is important is that it is not just seen as America’s problem, or Europe’s problem, so we are planning shows in Mexico and Lagos,” Broomberg told the Guardian. The first announcements of exhibitions will be released in March.

Karlie Kloss Apologizes For Vogue Geisha Cultural Appropriation Fashion Editorial

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Karlie Kloss Is 'Spirited Away' In Mikael Jansson Images For Vogue US March 2017

Supermodel Karlie Kloss apologized Wednesday afternoon for her controversial March 2017 Vogue US photoshoot, in which she is dressed in stereotypical Japanese geisha garb. The photo spread created a social media firestorm over accusations of cultural appropriation. 

Photographer Mikael Jansson shot the editorial in Japan, reportedly as an homage to a 1966 Vogue shoot by Richard Avedon of German model Veruschka.

Fashionista has plenty to say about this editorial, which we published yesterday. Dhani Mau really let's it rip. 

When Vogue released its March 2017 cover featuring a group of models — diverse both racially and physically — we were honestly thrilled. It seemed like Vogue finally "got it," "it" being that the world isn't full of white, skinny, blonde chicks and that the magazine should make some effort to represent its readers. But if Vogue took a step forward toward inclusivity with that cover, it took about a million steps backward with the total bullshit that is this Karlie Kloss editorial inside the magazine.

Shot by Mikael Jansson and styled by Phyllis Posnick in Japan's Ise-Shima National Park, "Spirited Away" features Kloss — a white lady from Missouri — dressed up as a Japanese fashion Geisha, engaged in a variety of confusing activities, like carrying a basket of cherry blossoms, looking solemn in a forest and being assisted with what is likely some trendy fitness innovation that involves water and, um, human beer koozies? The spread also includes one of fashion's favorite set-ups when it comes to shooting in other countries: using, as a prop, a decidedly unglamorous, often stereotypical human cultural symbol wearing traditional garb — in this case, a sumo wrestler — posed next to the beautiful white supermodel wearing designer clothing.

For her part, Kloss apologized on Twitter, writing: “These images appropriate a culture that is not my own and I am truly sorry for participating in a shoot that was not culturally sensitive. My goal is, and always will be, to empower and inspire women. I will ensure my future shoots and projects reflect that mission.”

Russell Haines' 'Faith' Artworks Vandalized & Stolen At Gloucester Cathedral

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Russell Haines' 'Faith' Artworks Vandalized & Stolen At Gloucester Cathedral

Several artworks by artist Russell Haines were stolen or vandalized in an exhibition called 'Faith' installed at Gloucester Cathedral as part of an exhibition celebrating religious diversity. The Guardian reports that besides the artwork, light projectors and sound systems used in the show were also stolen. 

Christian groups slammed the use of Islamic images inside the 11th-century cathedral after it opened January 24, 2017. Anonymous online accusations of blasphemy and death threats to Haines and members of the clergy involved with the show have escalated tension around the exhibit. 

United Talent Agency Cancels Oscar Party, Will Donate $250,000 To ACLU and International Rescue Committee | Crowdrise Campaign Currently At $250,000

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United Talent Agency (UTA) has bagged its annual Oscar party. preferring instead to donate $250,000 to the American Civil Liberties Union and International Rescue Committee. 

A major talent agency representing clients like Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Mariah Carey, Toby Keith, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Bettany, Iranian director Asghar Farhadi and many more VIPS, UTA will also hold a rally on behalf of refugees at its offices two days before the Oscars on February 24. 

"This is a moment that demands our generosity, awareness and restlessness," wrote UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer to staff. “Our world is a better place for the free exchange of artists, ideas and creative expression. If our nation ceases to be the place where artists the world over can come to express themselves freely, then we cease, in my opinion, to be America.”

Last year, UTA held its exclusive Oscar party at chairman Jim Berkus' residence, joining major studios and agencies holding galas and parties on the biggest awards night of the year, including CAA, WME-IMG, ICM Partners and The Weinstein Co. 

The Hollywood Reporter also noted that Ari Emanuel, co-CEO of mega-agency and UTA competitor WME-IMG, sent an email to staff Wednesday notifying them that the company would be forming a political action committee, though it wasn’t immediately clear on what the PAC would focus.

UTA has also launched a campaign on Crowdrise, which has raised another $250,000 to support the ACLU and IRC. 

Related: ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) ON FIRE As Silicon Valley Give Money & Mentoring & Coffee Shops Kick In

Pro Planned Parenthood Counter Protests Dwarf Anti-Forces | New York State Moves To Codify Roe v. Wade In State Constitution

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Pro Planned Parenthood Counter Protests Dwarf Anti-Forces | New York State Moves To Codify Roe v. Wade In State Constitution

Abortion rights are front and center on Saturday as pro-life activists launch protests across America. Waiting for them were supporters of Planned Parenthood -- and it seems the pro-Planned Parenthood forces dominated. 

In St. Paul, Minnesota, a "dozen feet of empty street separated a police-estimated 6,000 pro-Planned Parenthood protesters from an opposing, defund PP group of 250-500 people. 

Please, Please Come Back Melissa McCarthy. The White House Press Corps Needs You -- AND SHE DID!

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Please, Please Come Back Melissa McCarthy. The White House Press Corps Needs You

SNL heard the pleas of millions of Americans, sending back Melissa McCarthy in her role of White House press secretary Sean Spicer or 'Spicey' as she affectionately calls him. Take a listen. 

McCarthy's in-drag Spicer chastised the news media for failing to report on terrorist attacks like “the Horror at Six Flags,” “the Slaughter at Fraggle Rock,” and “the Night they Drove Old Dixie Down”; and then plugged some of Ivanka Trump’s merchandise including a bracelet and leopard pumps (“These babies are real head-turners”). 

The pumps were great for two reasons: McCarthy was wearing them and word is that Trump goes crazy when women impersonate his male staff. Second, just yesterday afternoon -- as North Korea had successfully launched yet another missile test -- America's president was on Twitter complaining about the media hating his daughter Ivanka. His list of priorities continues to scare the hell out of millions of people. In the case of Ivanka's problems, Trump is like a dog with a bone. 

Word is that President is not happy with SNL making a parody of his administration -- even though the show has parodied presidents for years. For a ratings-driven president, it should matter to him that cable news ratings for Sean Spicers Monday-Friday White House briefing are solidly better than any briefing in history. People are turning off the soaps and tuning in. Read on in AOC Women's News

New York Fashion Industry Women Heavyweights Launch Major Campaign For Planned Parenthood

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New York Fashion Industry Women Heavyweights Launch Major Campaign For Planned Parenthood

Vogue US editor Anna Wintour set the pace for the New York Fashion industry's support for Planned Parenthood. Sitting in the front row at the Brock Collection's New York Fashion Week presentation. Thursday February 9. The brand, headed by Laura Vassar and Kristopher Brock, won the CFDA Fashion Fund Award in 2016. The coveted prize was presented to by creative and romantic partners by Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America. 

In a spectacular announcement that will benefit countless poor women across America, CFDA -- which organizes New York Fashion Week -- announced a partnership with Planned Parenthood, which is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration anyway they can defund it. With their domination of Congress and the Presidency, President Trump will sign the legislation that President Clinton would have vetoed. 

Read on to learn more about the campaign for Planned Parenthood, the significantly increased threats of domestic terrorism against women entering Planned Parenthood clinics and my own history of being hunted for a year by one of this white male terrorists, who threatened to kill me.

My crime was saying on TV that I supported the Roe v. Wade decision, an admission that put me in police protection for a year. One cold fall night, my stalker flew across the windshield of my car in an nightmare confrontation in which I truly didn't care if I killed him. ~ Anne

ANNA WINTOUR (C) ATTENDS THE BROCK COLLECTION FASHION SHOW DURING, NEW YORK FASHION WEEK: THE SHOWS AT GALLERY 3, SKYLIGHT CLARKSON SQ ON FEBRUARY 9, 2017 IN NEW YORK CITY. (PHOTO BY NICHOLAS HUNT/GETTY IMAGES FOR IMG)

Amal & George Clooney Are Pregnant With Twins! | Meet Amal's Client Nadia Murad

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Human rights lawyer Amal and actor George Clooney have twin babies in their future. The well-dressed duo prefers to champion causes they care deeply about, not their glam lifestyle. Most notably, writes Vogue, Amal Clooney appeared at the UN in New York with client Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman enslaved by ISIS. In an act of feminist poetic justice, Murad is now suing her former captives. 

Last week, it was twins for Beyonce and Jay Z. What is going on here!!!

Related: Nadia Murad Is Taking On ISIS With the Help of Amal Clooney Vogue

Motherless, displaced, traumatized, grief-stricken, and the ongoing recipient of ISIS death threats, Murad counts herself among the lucky: Of the 6,000 Yazidi women and children taken during ISIS raids, she estimated that more than 3,200 are still being held in captivity. The activist highlighted one person in particular: Lemya, a neighbor and the little sister of close friends, who was only 14 when she was taken and held in the Iraqi city of Mosul by a 34-year-old man, who both raped her and told her, confusingly, that she remained a virgin. “That always sticks in my mind,” Murad explained. “That this happened to her, and she never knew what had happened to her.”

Lemya, like so many other Yazidis, remains missing. And it’s largely for their sake that Murad has sought the help of London-based human rights lawyer Amal Clooney. Together they’re attempting to remind the world that the organized killing and enslavement of Yazidis constitutes genocide. Their goal is to wrangle the assistance of the U.N. in hopes of holding ISIS accountable in international court.

“It is a genocide, and it needs to be recognized,” Murad told me through her interpreter, Murad Ismael, executive director of the Yazidi-supporting nonprofit Yazda. “That must be acknowledged, not just for Yazidis, but for any community that suffers through this. When genocide is committed, it must be seen. People must look at it with open eyes, not minimize its impact.”

USA Joins Russia, Pakistan, Iran On Top 10 Censoring Artists Countries By Freemuse

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In its annual report titled 'Art Under Threat', Danish free speech advocacy group Freemuse has documented a rise of 119 percent in violations of artistic freedom throughout 78 countries in 2016.

The non-profit divides its findings into categories, including “serious violations,” for killings, attacks, abductions, imprisonments, and threats; and “acts of censorship.” In 2016 the organization counted 840 incidents of censorship and 188 serious violations, writes ArtNet. 

Iran, responsible for 30 cases, was once again the worst offender for serious violations of artistic freedom, making it the worst violator of artistic expression since Freemuse began recording data in 2012. Turkey, Egypt, Nigeria, China, Malaysia, Syria, Tanzania, and Uzbekistan also recorded dismal artistic freedom records, collectively making up 67 percent of globally recorded serious violations.

The worst practitioner of censorship in 2016 was Ukraine for its blacklist of 544 Russian films banned in the wake of the ongoing conflict between the two countries.

Notably, the USA in on the top 10 censorship list -- and now that the Trump administration is in power,  artistic censorship will surely increase in 2017.  Other offenders making up the top 10 for recorded cases of censorship were Kuwait, China, Egypt, India, Russia, Turkey,  Pakistan, and Iran. Together these countries accounted for 88 percent of global censorship cases.

ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) ON FIRE As Silicon Valley Give Money & Mentoring & Coffee Shops Kick In

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With massive legal expenses ahead fighting the Trump administration, the ACLU got very clever in response to Trump's Kellyanne Conway's assertion of a Muslim terrorist massacre that never happened. Read on: Conway Agrees "No Massacre" In Bowling Green | Sally Yates Stands Firm Against the Boys Club. Yates was the acting attorney general fired by Trump Monday night for refusing to defend his ban. 

The ACLU scrambled to erect a website called The Bowling Green Massacre Victims Fund, with all donations going to the organization. 

Silicon Valley is also taking the ACLU into its startup accelerator Y Combinator. The ACLU will receive mentorship free of charge, a network of powerful connections in tech and a chance to present itself to investors on Demo Day, writes TechCrunch. 

Artists Impacted By Trump's Immigration Plan Often Blacklisted In Own Countries

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Shahrzad Changalvaee and her partner, Iman Raad, in a performance at Foote School, New Haven, Connecticut, in 2016. Photo Judy Sirota Rosenthal, courtesy the artist.

Artists born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen are stunned by US President Donald Trump's executive order halting entry to the US by natives of these seven majority-Muslim Middle Eastern and African nations.

"About half of the visas given in these countries were given to Iranians last year," according to the Washington Post. Several artists spoke to ArtNet News.

The irony of the situation for these artists is that many are banned and blacklisted in their own countries for opposition to repressive governments. 

Nicky Nodjoumi, an Iranian artist living in New York since 1961, holds a green card, which grants him the status of lawful permanent resident. “You come to a new country for freedom and now they want to ban you,” said Nodjoumi, who is blacklisted in his own country after his own activism against oppressive regimes there, he explained in a phone call. “It’s scary and at the same time ironic, and we can only ask, What the hell is going on?”

Nicky Nodjoumi. Courtesy the artist.

Anish Kapoor Honored As Genesis Prize Laureate 2017, Will Donate $1 Million Prize to Refugees

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Anish Kapoor, I Like America and America Doesn’t Like Me. Courtesy Anish Kapoor.

British-Indian, Bombay-born (now Mumbai) artist Anish Kapoor is named the Genesis Prize Laureate 2017, often called the 'Jewish Nobel Prize', awarded to those of Jewish heritage who have excelled professionally. 

"Jewish identity and history have witnessed recurring conditions of indifference, persecution and Holocaust," Kapoor is quoted by The Guardian. "Repeatedly, we have had to repossess ourselves and re-identify our communities. As inheritors and carriers of Jewish values it is unseemly, therefore, for us to ignore the plight of people who are persecuted, who have lost everything and had to flee as refugees in mortal danger."

Kapoor announced that he will use the $1 million prize money to assist the refugee crisis.

The artist recently joined the chorus of dissent against US President Donald Trump, creating a protest work inspired by Joseph Beuys. ArtNet explains:

Kapoor has re-created the poster for Beuys’ performance work I Like America and America Likes Me (1974). Kapoor's image is overlaid with the title 'I Like America and America Doesn’t Like Me' written in a pseudo Antiqua–Fraktur font commonly associated with Nazi German media

Beuys’ 1974 work saw him wrapped in felt upon arriving at JFK airport in New York, and transported to the René Block Gallery in an ambulance, where he spent the entirety of his three-day stay in a room with only a torch, a cane, a wild coyote, and a felt blanket. The performance is seen as a protest work, as Beuys never really saw any of the US, or technically set foot on American soil.

Gregory Locke Leads New York Subway Riders In Scrubbing Nazi Hate From Cars

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I got on the subway in Manhattan tonight and found a Swastika on every advertisement and every window. The train was silent as everyone stared at each other, uncomfortable and unsure what to do.

One guy got up and said, "Hand sanitizer gets rid of Sharpie. We need alcohol." He found some tissues and got to work.

I've never seen so many people simultaneously reach into their bags and pockets looking for tissues and Purel. Within about two minutes, all the Nazi symbolism was gone.

Nazi symbolism. On a public train. In New York City. In 2017.

"I guess this is Trump's America," said one passenger. No sir, it's not. Not tonight and not ever. Not as long as stubborn New Yorkers have anything to say about it.