Donna Karan Begins Again, Leaving DKI To Support Her Urban Zen Foundation

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Donna Karan Begins Again, Leaving DKI To Support Her Urban Zen Foundation

Donna Karan in her studio upstairs from Urban Zen, with works by her husband, Stephan Weiss, who died in 2001. She sold her company to LVMH that year, but she remains the creative director at Donna Karan and DKNY. Credit Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times

Donna Karan, the founder and chief designer of Donna Karan Internation, a LVMH Moët HennesseyLouis Vuitton  company, announced today that she will be leaving the company. There are no plans to replace her, although Karan will have a contact as a adviser to DKI. The main Donna Karan collection is suspended indefinitely, and DKI will reorganize its teams and structure to “substantially increase its focus on the DKNY brand,” the company’s more accessible line, according to the announcement, reports The New York Times

Rethinking Federal vs State & Local Governing Thru A Democratic Lens

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Rethinking Federal vs State & Local Governing Thru A Democratic Lens

Futurist and urban planner Richard Florida moved his family to Toronto a decade ago. Stunned by Hillary's loss, the theorist pulled back his new book from his publisher to do some serious soul searching.

His meaty article in Politico taps into my own mindset, one that is a total reversal of previous thinking among progressives on the role of the federal govt vs state and city govt. The idea is conservative -- one that puts key decisions about our urban and rural areas more in the hands of state and local govt.

Presently in America, rural Americans in red states are running the country. While it's great that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the Democrats' lawsuit about gerrymandering state districts, the decision could go against Dems. The electoral college is stacked against progressives, urban areas and Democrats generally.

The solution? It could only work if we pack up our money, the disproportionate amount of tax dollars blue states send to the federal govt.

Women Physicians Less Likely To Be Introduced As 'Doctor' At Mayo Clinic Medical Events

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Women Physicians Less Likely To Be Introduced As 'Doctor' At Mayo Clinic Medical Events

A new study published in the Journal of Women's Health, examined videos of 321 speaker introductions at 124 internal medicine grand rounds from 2012 through 2014 at Mayo Clinic campuses in Arizona and Minnesota. The research was triggered when Julia Files and Anita Mayer, both physicians at the Mayo Clinic noticed a pattern in which female doctors were introduced by their first name but males as Dr. So and So. 

Sharonne Hayes, another Mayo doctor, had noticed a similar pattern. While a male colleague would be introduced as “Dr. Joe Smith,” for example, the women were often simply called “Julia,” “Anita” and “Sharonne.” In that lightbulb moment, the trio decided to quantify their observations. 

Ivanka Trump Tells FOX News That Daddy's Political Instincts Are Phenom So She Stays Out of Politics

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Ms Hear-No-Evil, See No-Evil made it clear that in no way does she try to check prez daddy's 'phenomenal' political instincts. Can we all agree that Ivanka Trump's just on this ride for the money and thoughts that it would build her brand? And would progressives please stop beating up other Democratic women and turn their ire on people like Ivanka Trump. Kindly train your eyes on the real political villains in this American drama. I know it's not nearly as satisfying as eating your own, but still . . 

"“I try to stay out of politics. His political instincts are phenomenal. He did something that no one could have imagined he'd be able to accomplish,” the first daughter told Fox News’s “Fox & Friends” in response to a question about her father’s oft-controversial Twitter habit. “I feel blessed just being part of the ride from day one and before. But he did something pretty remarkable. But I don't profess to be a political savant.”

More Ivanka Trump News

Ivanka Trump Gets Approval for Branded Lingerie and Raincoats Bloomberg

Ivanka Trump's Spas Are Her Last Luxury Brand Bloomberg

Ivanka Trump struggles to move needle on paid leave Politico

Israeli Cabinet Bows To Ultra-Orthodox Demands, Nixing Western Wall Mixed Gender Plan

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POLICE ESCORT ANAT HOFFMAN HOLDING A TORAH SCROLL FROM THE WESTERN WALL, ON JULY 12

Israeli Cabinet Bows To Ultra-Orthodox Demands, Nixing Western Wall Mixed Gender Plan

Sunday’s decision to cancel the new Western Wall arrangement has drawn denunciations from liberal Jews in Israel and the United States. It also appeared to threaten Netanyahu’s fragile coalition, with Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman — head of a faction that represents secular Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union — vowing to fight back.  

“It actually causes terrible harm to Jewish unity and to the alliance between the State of Israel and Diaspora Jewry,” Israeli media quoted him as saying. 

“It’s a terrible day for women in Israel when the prime minister sacrifices their rights while kowtowing to a handful of religious extremists, who want to enforce their religious customs while intentionally violating the rights of the majority of the Jewish world,” said Anat Hoffman, chair of Women of the Wall.  

Faye Cuevas Brings Higher Intelligence To Africa's War On Elephant Poaching

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Faye Cuevas Brings Higher Intelligence To Africa's War On Elephant Poaching

Calling herself "the accidental conservationist," (Faye) Cuevas can pinpoint the moment she realized that she wanted to fight poaching.

"The first time that I saw an elephant in the wild was in Amboseli National Park here in Kenya two years ago," she said in Feb. 2016. "It was life-changing."

"At the current rate of elephant decline, my 6-year-old daughter won't have an opportunity to see an elephant in the wild before she's old enough to vote," she said. "Which just is unacceptable to me, because if that is the case then we have nothing to blame that on but human apathy and greed."

"The Kenya Wildlife Service and other many conservation groups are doing fantastic conservation work," Cuevas said. "However, the reality is that there are other challenges — from a cyber perspective, from a global criminal network perspective — that really necessitate security approaches integrated into conservation strategies."

Enter tenBoma -- or '10 homesteads' -- which uses technology to pull together diverse sources of information, from rangers to conservation groups. She analyzes the data to "create value in information in ways that it rises to the level of intelligence."

Bill Cosby Set To Educate Young Men About Charges Of Rape For A Simple Touch

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Just read these words. Does Cosby sound like he is a member of the alt-right? Cosby is launching a full-frontal, Trump-like assault on women, suggesting that a brush of the shoulder with a woman could get you on trial for rape. This is truly disgusting.

Looking marvelously better than during his trial, disgraced comedian Bill Cosby is hitting the road, playing the role of victim.

“Mr. Cosby wants to get back to work,” Andrew Wyatt, a spokesperson for Cosby, told a local Fox affiliate in Alabama on Thursday. “We are now planning town halls.... We’re going to talk to young people, because this is bigger than Bill Cosby. This issue can affect any young person, especially young athletes of today. And they need to know what they're facing when they’re hanging out and partying, when they’re doing certan things that they should be doing. And it also affects married men.”

Renee Rabinowitz Wins Case Over Ultra-Orthodox Demand That She Be Moved On El Al

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Renee Rabinowitz Wins Case Over Ultra-Orthodox Demand That She Be Moved On El Al

The most obvious erosion of women's rights in Israel centers around issues of religion and gender in public spaces. Now 83-year-old Renee Rabinowitz has won a critical court ruling, suing the strictly Orthodox male passenger who demanded that she be moved from her El Al aisle business-class seat when he boarded Flight 028 bound for Tel Aviv from Newark in December 2015. Strictly Orthodox Jewish men believe they are contaminated and tempted in the close proximity of women who are not their wives. 

Ms. Rabinowitz, who lived through traumatic days of the Nazis in Europe, moved reluctantly. But she landed in Israel determined to take action. This week a Jerusalem court ruled that gender segregation and the movement of passengers to accommodate gender discrimination was illegal on El Al. 

Cameron Russell's 'Model Mafia' Roars In Fashion Industry #2 Only To Oil In Polluting Mother Earth

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Cameron Russell's 'Model Mafia' Roars In Fashion Industry #2 Only To Oil In Polluting Mother Earth

Top model Cameron Russell is one of the strongest voices in the fashion industry, and her 'Model Mafia' roared in May 2017, boarding a bus ride to Washington DC, to participate in the People's Climate March. The message on Russell's website is clear:

Models are uniquely poised to become fantastic activists because they are some of the few women who have very direct access to media. Especially on the issue of climate change, our voices are important and powerful. Fashion is one of the dirtiest industries in the world, but it's also one of the biggest and most influential, that's why if we can change how our industry works we have the potential to make an enormous difference and lead the way to a sustainable future. 

Fashion is the second largest industrial polluter, second only to oil, writes the 'Model Mafia', in Glamour magazine's coverage of 

 their busride from New York to DC. Who is better than models -- increasingly true global citizens coming to the industry from all over the world -- to address climate change from an intersectional perspective? 

Related: Recent Articles About Sustainability in the Fashion Industry:

Earth Day 2017: The Fashion Industry's Effect On the Environment, And the Brands That Are Taking Charge W Magazine

Fashion in new bid to be truly sustainable The Guardian

5 New Solutions For The Fashion Industry's Sustainability Problem Fast Company

Members of the Model Mafia weigh in on climate change:Cameron Russell's 'Model Mafia' Roars In Fashion Industry #2 Only To Oil In Polluting Mother Earth

Green Party's Jill Stein Says She'll Happily Testify About Her Support For Putin's Ideas

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Politico writes that the Green Party candidate has no regrets, even as she's coming into the spotlight over questions about her own presence at Putin's Mike Flynn table at the RT dinner.

Congressional Dems want to talk to her as well, and given the insidious level of lies and treachery in the 2016 Congressional election -- and the Russians' co-opting Berners on social media -- we want to know why she was celebrating RT, owned by the Russian govt. Was she paid as Flynn was?

For the Congressional investigation to be valid, all stones must be unturned. That includes Stein and anyone else involved with the Russians, no matter what party.

Related: Foreign Greens Think the US Green Party Needs to Ditch Jill Stein VICE

Texas Leads Developed World In Maternal Mortality As Handmaid Activists Bow Meekly In Ohio Statehouse

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Texas Leads Developed World In Maternal Mortality As Handmaid Activists Bow Meekly In Ohio Statehouse

Powerful! This is a scene from last week's June 13 protest of Senate Bill 145, a proposed abortion ban of the most common method for second-trimester abortions, at the Ohio statehouse. 

Gone are the pink Planned Parenthood tees, as reproductive health activists now wear long red cloaks and white bonnets in a nod to Margaret Atwood's dystopian feminist classic 'The Handmaid's Tale', now playing on Hulu. 

Michael Premo, Chief of Staff for the Ohio Senate Democrats Tweeted his own photo, with the message: "Just another day at the Statehouse".

Alaska Rep Senator Lisa Murkowski Reaffirms Vote Against Any Plan That Defunds Planned Parenthood

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Alaska Rep Senator Lisa Murkowski Reaffirms Vote Against Any Plan That Defunds Planned Parenthood

Alaska's Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski is one of the most important swing votes in the health care debate, making her position on Planned Parenthood potentially pivotal to the shape of the final bill. Murkowski is one of two Republican women -- joined by Maine's Sen. Susan Collins -- who are folding firm on the argument that defunding Planned Parenthood will de facto end any possibility of her supporting a Republican-sponsored healthcare alternative to Obamacare. 

Seattle Storm Women's Basketball Steps Up For Planned Parenthood In New Relationship

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Seattle Storm Women's Basketball Steps Up For Planned Parenthood In New Relationship

The ownership group of the Storm, Force 10, is planning a “Stand With Planned Parenthood” rally on July 18 in KeyArena’s West Plaza, along with continuing efforts to aid fund-raising for Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest and the Hawaiian Islands. Five dollars from the sale of each ticket for the game that day between the Storm and the Chicago Sky will be donated to the chapter. The Storm, one of the few professional teams owned by women, will also host a fund-raising auction.

There will be blowback, of course, but Seattle is a progressive city and even 50% of Trump voters polled and interviewed after the inauguration said that they did not want Planned Parenthood to be defunded.

Edward Enninful Names Venetia Scott Fashion Director Of British Vogue

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Incoming Editor-in-Chief of British Vogue Edward Enninful announced Wednesday that Venetia Scott will become Fashion Director of British Vogue as of July 10th.  Conde Nast writes:

Venetia began her career at British Vogue as assistant to Grace Coddington, before cementing her status as a stylist working with magazines including British Vogue,Vogue Italia, AnOther Magazine, Self Service, The Face, Arena, i-D and Nova, where she was appointed Fashion Director. In 1997, Venetia began consulting for Marc Jacobs, becoming Creative Director in 2001, responsible for directing the Marc by Marc Jacobs line and associated accessories from launch. A move into photography began in 2005, with commissions from British Vogue, American Vogue, Vogue Paris, W, Self Service, AnOther Magazine, Dazed & Confused, POP, i-D, Document Journal, and Purple.

Venetia Scott will replace Lucinda Chambers, who is leaving the magazine after 36 years with the magazine, lastly as Fashion Director. 

Rolling Stone Digs Deeply Into MSNBC Anchor Rachel Maddow & Her Dogged Pursuit of Trump Truth

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Rolling Stone Digs Deeply Into MSNBC Anchor Rachel Maddow & Her Dogged Pursuit of Trump Truth

'TRMS' is nothing if not a lengthy explanation of the news that Maddow is most interested in, particularly the opening segment, or "A Block," which she usually writes herself, sometimes with help from Conaway or other producers. The show's format of deep-dive analysis and investigative reporting is not easy to produce, and a typical day can last anywhere from 12 to 14 hours. Maddow, who lives with her longtime partner, photographer Susan Mikula, in western Massachusetts, maintains an apartment in Manhattan where she lives during the week, making the three-hour-plus drive back and forth to Massachusetts every weekend. Her workday begins at around 11 a.m., when she arrives at her office, reads through every bit of news she can get her hands on, and then spends a few hours researching or reporting what interests her the most. At around 2 p.m., Maddow convenes her staff in the newsroom to plan the evening's show, though, given the volatility of the current news cycle, what seems relevant at 3 p.m. might be sidelined by six.

Agnes Gund Launches $100 Million Art For Justice Fund: A Movement To End Mass Incarceration

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Agnes Gund Launches $100 Million Art For Justice Fund: A Movement To End Mass Incarceration

The new Art for Justice Fund — to be announced Monday at the Museum of Modern Art, where Ms. Gund is president emerita — will start with $100 million of the proceeds from the Lichtenstein (which was sold to the collector Steven A. Cohen through Acquavella Gallery).

Ms. Gund, together with the Ford Foundation as administrator of the fund, hopes that other collectors will also support the Art for Justice Fund, with a collective goal of raising another $100 million over the next five years. 

Criticism Of Prominent DC Lawyer Jamie Gorelick Mounts Over Her Being Jared & Ivanka's Hired Gun

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The Washington Post talks Washington power lawyer and Hillary Clinton supporter Jamie Gorelick, one of DC's most prominent attorneys and big-time Democrat. Gorelick came to fame in defense of Richard Nixon's fight to control his White House Papers. It put Gorelick in the position of defending a person her friends loathed -- and very probably, Gorelick herself. 

Not for the first time, Gorelick tells WaPo that she's shocked over the response among friends that she's representing Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump over their Washington woes. AOC covered the most public slap, coming from prominent Democratic strategist and lobbyist, who tweeted, "Hey Jamie Gorelick, you've just poured that 'Complicit' perfume on yourself."

“Representing Jared and Ivanka is a case of pushing the ethical envelope, helping a wealthy family on the brink of using the presidency to further enrich themselves,” said David Halperin, a speechwriter in the Clinton White House and former counsel to the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Gorelick is a Clinton supporter embracing the family that wanted to put Hillary Clinton in jail. People in Washington are all too willing to forgive that.”

Chris Colls Snaps Gwyneth Paltrow For The Edit June 1, 2017

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Chris Colls Snaps Gwyneth Paltrow For The Edit June 1, 2017

Actor Gwyneth Paltrow covered the June 1, 2017 issue of The Edit, lensed by Chris Colls. Tracy Taylor styled the Goop founder in Chloe, Madewell, Mara Hoffman and more.  Refinery 29 checked out Paltrow's $500-$1,500 GOOP Summit in LA over the weekend. 

Claire McCaskill Uses Facts To Slam Senate Republicans' Authoritarian Healthcare Process

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Claire McCaskill Uses Facts To Slam Senate Republicans' Authoritarian Healthcare Process

While America was glued to the former FBI Director James Comey hearings on Thursday, HHS Secretary Tom Price testified about a bill to repeal and replace the ACA (Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare) before the Senate healthcare panel. 

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) asked the committee’s chairman, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), whether the panel would hold any hearings on the GOP’s proposal, catching Hatch by surprise. After conferring with an aide about how to respond, Hatch answered McCaskill, saying that he didn't know if there would be hearings on the still-secret legislation, being drafted by a committee of only white men. Suggesting that Democrats should have no quarrel with the process, the chair said that Democrats had been invited to "give your ideas" about the topic of healthcare reform. 

McCaskill was livid: