Eye | Cindy Sherman On Selfies for W, Skateboards for Supreme & Sexual Harassment

Eye | Cindy Sherman On Selfies for W, Skateboards for Supreme & Sexual Harassment

American artist Cindy Sherman insists that she hates the idea of selfies. “People say”—Sherman adopts a naive tone in W Magazine's Artists issue—“ ‘Oh, but you’re, like, the queen of selfies,’ ” and then her voice goes flat. “I really kind of cringe at that thought.”

Unlike the millions of humans populating the planet with incessant sharing of their own self-images, Sherman insists that her images to not depict herself. Rather, her artist's mission has always been to exposes how culture shapes appearances. "Since she has long resisted autobiographical readings of her work, it has been intriguing lately to see her take to, and toy with, Instagram, a platform that thrives on interplay of the personal and the artificial, especially when it comes to self-portraiture," writes Andrew Russeth for W. 

Indiana Students Demand Removal Of 'Offensive' Thomas Hart Benton Painting Honoring Triumph Over KKK

Indiana Students Demand Removal Of 'Offensive' Thomas Hart Benton Painting Honoring Triumph Over KKK

Should every historical reference that evokes negative emotions be removed from campus?

The Indiana mural by Thomas Hart Benton is an homage to the Indiana press for breaking the Klan's grip on power in the state, but critics say its depictions of the KKK aren't just historical.

Nearly 1,600 signatories are asking the school to take down or cover the offending panel from A Social History of Indiana (1933), also known as the Indiana murals. But others are speaking up in support of the artwork, contending that Benton was looking to draw attention to the evils of the Klan.

“It is past time that Indiana University take a stand and denounce hate and intolerance in Indiana and on IU’s campus,” reads the petition, which argues that exposing students and faculty of color to the image of the KKK stands in violation of the school’s diversity policy and the student Right to Freedom From Discrimination."

Donna Brazile Plays Race Card With Bravura Against Clinton Campaign, Says She Considered Replacing Hillary With Biden

Donna Brazile Plays Race Card With Bravura Against Clinton Campaign, Says She Considered Replacing Hillary With Biden

Former Democratic National Committee interim chair Donna Brazile has choice words for anyone upset for her Saturday revelation that she seriously considered overturning the popular primary vote and official Democratic party nomination of Hillary Clinton for president, based on the primary votes of Democrats. 

Brazile announced on ABC 'This Week' on Sunday that her critics can "go to hell." Drawing a comparison between herself and those telling Hillary Clinton to shut up and go quietly into the night -- in a book that seems to roast Hillary Clinton alive -- Brazile has dropped the gauntlet, telling her critics, "Go to hell. I'm going to tell my story."

Stupified over Brazile's claims that Hillary Clinton created an agreement with the Democratic National Committee that was a "cancer" on the party and claimed that it caused unequal treatment for Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. during the primaries, Clintonites questioned Brazile's amnesia over a similar one she executed as campaign manager for Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore in 2000. 

Popular Media Vastly Overstates Criminality Among Immigrant Men Concludes Define American Study

Popular Media Vastly Overstates Criminality Among Immigrant Men Concludes Define American Study

Define American is an immigration nonprofit founded by Pulitzer-winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas with the goal of examining how immigrants and immigration is portrayed in popular culture. The organization has released Immigrants and Immigration: A Guide for Entertainment Professionals as a 19-page brief that examines current key issues in immigration law including the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and the U visa for victims of violent crimes.

“Immigration is the most controversial yet least understood issue in America today. That’s why it’s crucial for Define American to publish a resource for members of the entertainment industry to better understand immigration and more accurately portray immigrants,” says Elizabeth Grizzle Voorhees, who joined Define American as its inaugural entertainment media director last summer. “These tools are written specifically for creative professionals, and we hope they will lead to increased representation and more humanized storytelling in television and film.”

Define American has also released a scorecard on the state of immigration representation on television, taken from The Opportunity Agenda’s study of 40 popular broadcast, cable and streaming shows that aired between April 2014 and June 2016.

Mario Testino Flashes Love Birds J-Rod! -- Jennifer Lopez & Alex Rodriguez -- For Vanity Fair December 2017

Mario Testino Flashes Love Birds J-Rod! -- Jennifer Lopez & Alex Rodriguez -- For Vanity Fair December 2017

Vanity Fair Magazine's December 2017 cover story shares J-Rod!, America's new 'it couple' with the world. Mega star Jennifer Lopez and famed New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez dish on love, beauty, redemption and their captivating love story. Famed celeb photographer Mario Testino flashes the sizzling duo with styling by Jessica Diehl for 'A Tap on the Back'.

Bethany McLean conducts the interview -- well worth the read -- and we learn that it's Lopez who made the first move. 

NYPD Taking Paz de la Huerta's 2010 Rape Claims Against Weinstein Very Seriously, Saying They Would Arrest Him In New York City

NYPD Taking Paz de la Huerta's 2010 Rape Claims Against Weinstein Very Seriously, Saying They Would Arrest Him In New York City

Actor Paz de la Huerta accused Harvey Weinstein of two instances of rape earlier this week, alleging that twice in 2010 he forced himself on her. Although the events happened seven years ago. An important factor in the investigation of Paz de la Huerta's claims is documentation provided by her therapist, who provided a letter outlining her memories of the sessions devoted to the alleged assaults by Weinstein. TIME reports that another individual has corroborated parts of the story, and additional subpoenas have been issued.

Wall Street's Howie Rubin Named In $27 Million Lawsuit Alleging Extreme BDSM Brutality & Rape

WALL STREET TYCOON HOWIE RUBIN AND HIS WIFE, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL ALUM MARY HENRY. THE COUPLE MARRIED IN 1985 AND HAVE THREE CHILDREN.

Wall Street's Howie Rubin Named In $27 Million Lawsuit Alleging Extreme BDSM Brutality & Rape

Well-known Wall Street portfolio manager Howie Rubin was named in a $27 million Brooklyn federal lawsuit filed Thursday. The New York Post broke the story in which Rubin, the legendary big shot featured in best-selling books 'Liar's Poker' and 'The Big Short', is charged with engaging in brutal sex with women paid between $2,000 and $5,000 per session. 

The lawsuit alleges that the three plaintiffs -- including two Playboy Playmates -- allege that Rubin, the married father of three, gagged, tied up and viciously abused them in an $8 million penthouse in Manhattan's Metropolitan Tower with a side room fitted with ropes, chains, sex toys and other BDSM equipment. 

“I’m going to rape you like I rape my daughter,” Rubin barked during one of the alleged assaults.

In one session, he beat one of the women’s “breasts so badly that her right implant flipped,” the papers state. The former Bear Stearns trader paid her $20,000 to repair the damage.

Eye: Rihanna Channels Queen Nefertiti As Cultural Appropriation Cries Mount Against Vogue Arabia

Eye: Rihanna Channels Queen Nefertiti As Cultural Appropriation Cries Mount Against Vogue Arabia

Mega star Rihanna covers the November 2017 issue of Vogue Arabia, channeling Queen Nefertiti. Riri loves the ancient Egyptian queen with such passion that she even has a Queen Neferti tattoo on her torso. Vogue Arabia writes:

Ruling over Ancient Egypt next to Pharaoh Akhenaten almost 3 500 years ago, Nefertitiis still one of the most beloved icons of the Middle East. Known for her unmatched beauty, the queen had a very active role in the country’s political sphere, giving mankind an early lesson in women empowerment. Although her death is still shrouded in mystery, Nefertiti’s myth took on a new dimension at the beginning of the 20th century, when German Egyptologist Ludwig Borchardt and his team discovered a painted limestone bust of the royal in Amarna. It was found in the ruins of the workshop of court sculptor Thutmose, and was described by Borchardt as “the most alive Egyptian artwork.”

The expected claims of cultural appropriation from the Twitter-universe are proliferating social media. Some loud voices in social media demand that only a model of Egyptian or Arab descent is allowed to channel Queen Nefertiti. The cultural appropriation police are further pounding the drums, demanding that black and African models not be used in an interchangeable manner. A black model -- or presumably an African American model of Kenyan descent cannot channel a Kenyan woman because she is technically American. You get my drift. The rules about who can model what and where are increasingly governed by a very, very tight noose of allowable creativity by the cultural appropriation police. It will be interesting to see how all this ends up in our melting pot world. It seems that the cultural appropriation police do not permit intermixing of racial identities and heritages, or being inspired by cultural influences. They are total purists about intermarriage, color mixing, and any other attempts to water down purity. Sounds pretty white nationalist to me. 

Billionaire Robert Mercer Denounces Milo Yiannopoulos, Calling His Prior Support 'A Mistake'

Billionaire Robert Mercer Denounces Milo Yiannopoulos, Calling His Prior Support 'A Mistake'

Hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer, a major Republican donor to the Trump campaign announced Thursday that he is selling his stake in Breitbart News to his daughters; pulling all of his funding from Milo Inc., the new controversial entertainment venture run by Milo Yiannopoulos, and is also relinquishing his co-CEO title at Renaissance Technologies for a non-management role. Vanity Fair writes:

In an open letter to investors, the 71-year-old strongly denounced the white nationalist movement that has come to be associated with several of his far-right political causes, tainting his reputation and putting Renaissance Technologies in the crosshairs of a divestment campaign. “Of the many mischaracterizations made of me by the press, the most repugnant to me, have been the intimations that I am a white supremacist or a member of some other noxious group,” he wrote. On the contrary, he said, “a society founded on the basis of the individual freedom that flourishes under a limited federal government has no place for discrimination . . . Discrimination on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, creed, or anything of that sort is abhorrent to me. But more than that, it is ignorant.”

Mercer acknowledged his relationship with Steve Bannon, saying that he respected Bannon but also disagreed with him on political alliances. But it was Yiannopoulos, writes VF, that received condemnation for his neo-Nazis views. 

Sexual Misconduct & More Claims From Men Mount Against Actor Kevin Spacey

Sexual Misconduct & More Claims From Men Mount Against Actor Kevin Spacey

A publicist for actor Kevin Spacey says that the Oscar-winning actor is seeking treatment as accusations from other men against Spacey in the aftermath of the accusation by actor Anthony Rapp that Spacey was guilty of sexual misconduct with him. 

The New York Times reports that many of the accusations against Mr. Spacey involve actions taking place when he was artistic director of the Old Vic theater in London, a position he held for 11 years, until 2015. 

Former employees and actors associated with the Old Vic argue that the London theatre and many associated with it turned "a blind eye to inappropriate sexual behaviour by the 11 years that the Hollywood star was its artistic director", writes The Guardian. 

Three Dartmouth Professors Part of Criminal Investigation On Serious Sexual Misconduct

Three Dartmouth Professors Part of Criminal Investigation On Serious Sexual Misconduct

The New York Times reported Tuesday that three Dartmouth College professors -- Todd Heatherton, Bill Kelley, and Paul Whalen, all professors in the college's department of psychological and brain sciences -- are being criminally investigated for alleged sexual misconduct. New Hampshire Attorney General Gordon MacDonald said in a statement Tuesday that his office is part of a joint criminal investigation with four other law enforcement agencies into allegations of “serious misconduct.”

Production Suspended on 'House of Cards' In View Of Gay Male Sexual Harassment Accusations Against Kevin Spacey

Production Suspended on 'House of Cards' In View Of Gay Male Sexual Harassment Accusations Against Kevin Spacey

Netflix and streaming giant and producer Media Rights Capital issued a joint statement on Tuesday that production on 'House of Cards' has been suspended indefinitely following the sexual harassment claim made against Kevin Spacey, star and executive producer of the political drama. 

The suspension comes two days after 'Star Trek' actor Anthony Rapp alleged in a Buzzfeed article that Spacey made sexual advances towards him when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was 26. The incident prompted Spacey to immediately offered his "sincerest apology" to Rapp via Twitter and to use his statement to come out as a gay man for the first time. Spacey's move was criticized by Hollywood colleagues, as well as GLAAD, who accused the prominent actor of trying to deflect from allegations of sexual assault against him by coming out. 

'Get Me Roger Stone' Director Talk Paul Manafort & Roger Stone Partnership In Business & As Fast Friends

'Get Me Roger Stone' Director Talk Paul Manafort & Roger Stone Partnership In Business & As Fast Friends

The Hollywood Reporter touches base with  Morgan Pehme, Dylan Bank and Daniel DiMauro, directors of the 2017 Netflix documentary 'Get Me Roger Stone'. Famed conservative pundit and Trump whisperer Roger Stone is a longtime friend and former business partner of Paul Manafort, the former Trump campaign chairman indicted Monday by the Robert Mueller investigation. The duo worked on Ronald Reagan's presidential campaigns in the 1980s and helped set up a powerful Washington, D.C., lobbying shop, Black, Manafort & Stone.

THR queries: How closely tied are Manafort and Roger Stone?

Daniel DiMauro: One of the through lines of our film is Stone and Manafort’s lifelong friendship and partnership in politics. Their bond dates back to their early 20s. Manafort managed Stone’s successful 1977 campaign for the chairmanship of the Young Republicans, which was part of their plan, as Manafort says in our film, to move the "Republican Party in a more ideological direction" toward the conservative right. Then, in 1980, after playing key roles in the Reagan campaign, Manafort and Stone decided to go into business together by creating a lobbying firm to cash in on their relationships within the new administration. That company, Black, Manafort & Stone, became one of D.C.’s first mega-lobbying firms and made millions, in part because of BMS’s willingness to represent brutal third-world dictators like Mobutu Sese Seko in the Republic of the Congo and Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines — work that led to their firm being branded "The Torturers’ Lobby." BMS also represented a host of high-powered corporate clients, including Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, The Tobacco Institute and, starting in the early 1980s, Donald Trump.

After Manafort and Stone sold their business in the '90s, their careers went in different directions, but they always stayed in touch, and their relationship to this day remains close. As Manafort admits in our film, it was Stone who recommended him to Trump for the job of campaign chairman. Stone has also been instrumental in helping Manafort navigate his post-Trump campaign challenges from a public relations standpoint.

Prince Harry Joins Obamas To Kick Off Inauguration Of Obama Foundation Summit In Chicago

Prince Harry Joins Obamas To Kick Off Inauguration Of Obama Foundation Summit In Chicago

Prince Harry joined Michelle Obama on Tuesday, kicking off the inaugural summit of the Obama Foundation. “During this inaugural Summit, hundreds of leaders from around the world will come together to exchange ideas, explore creative solutions to common problems, and experience civic art, technology, and music from around the world,” reads the Obama Foundation’s site.

Harry joined the former First Lady in a meeting with about 20 students at Hyde Park Academy across the site from the future site of the Obama Presidential Center. Caroline Adler Morales, Obama’s communications director, told People that they discussed “the importance of young people staying inspired and hopeful, and the transformative power of students using their voices to change the world.” Harry is scheduled to give a headliner speech, where he’ll likely talk about his Full Effect program, which supports at-risk youth in the U.K.

President Obama was scheduled to speak at 3 pm Tuesday and Prince Harry will take the podium at 6:15 pm. The former first lady spoke Tuesday morning at 11:45 am. 

Congresswomen Jackie Speier & Brenda Lawrence Set To Deal With Capitol Hill's 'Toothless' . . Sexual Harassment Policy, 'A Joke'

Congresswomen Jackie Speier & Brenda Lawrence Set To Deal With Capitol Hill's 'Toothless' . . Sexual Harassment Policy, 'A Joke'

Politico writes that two female lawmakers -- Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif) and Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich.) -- and several congressional staffers will are working on new legislation calling for an overhaul of the Congressional compliance office, in view of the landslide of sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations mounting across media, Hollywood, state politics and just about every American workplace from the New York/DC corridor to California -- with touchdowns also in middle America. 

The compliance office is today "constructed to protect the institution -- and to impede the victim from getting justice," according to Congresswoman Speier. This is not her first attempt, having introduced the same bill every year since 2014.

“Many of us in Congress know what it’s like, because Congress has been a breeding ground for a hostile work environment for far too long,” Speier continued. “It’s time to throw back the curtain on the repulsive behavior that has thrived in the dark without consequences.”

Federal Appeals Court Reverses Trump Administration's Scott Lloyd's Refusal To Allow Abortion For Immigrant

Federal Appeals Court Reverses Trump Administration's Scott Lloyd's Refusal To Allow Abortion For Immigrant

The full US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled 6-3 on Tuesday that a 17-year-old immigrant held in federal custody in Texas must be allowed to obtain an abortion. The teen, known only as Jane Doe, is about 15 weeks pregnant and entered the US in September. 

The federal government did not appeal the decision and the ACLU writes that the abortion is concluded. 

Lawyers for the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for sheltering children who illegally enter the country unaccompanied by a parent, have said the department under the Trump Administration has a policy of "refusing to facilitate" abortions and that releasing the teenager would require arranging a transfer of custody and follow-up care. E. Scott Lloyd, the head of the federal refugee agency that oversees detention centers for minors, is a longtime antiabortion activist.

Eye: Sara Sampaio Sizzles But Cries Foul In David Bellemere's Lui Magazine October 2017 Images

Sara Sampaio Sizzles But Cries Foul In David Bellemere's Lui Magazine October 2017 Images

Top model and Victoria's Secret Angel Sara Sampaio covers the October 2017 issue of Lui magazine. Sampaio is styled by Dan Sablon in workout wear for sizzling images lensed by David Bellemere./ Hair by Ward Stegerhoek; makeup by Courtney Perkins. 

AOC is sharing the David Bellemere editorial because it's in wide circulation and for a decade we've written about positive sensuality within a strong feminist mindset. We would take down the images immediately at the request of either David Bellemere or Sara Sampaio. AOC is also sharing the editorial knowing that Sara Sampaio has alleged that the shoot violates her policy of no nudity, adding a clause to that effect in the agreement covering the shoot. Despite this, Sampaio says, she was "aggressively pressured to do nude shots on set." Fashionista covered the grievance, writing: read on

Photographer Terry Richardson Banned By Condé Nast Writes Daily Telegraph London

Photographer Terry Richardson Banned By Condé Nast Writes Daily Telegraph London

The first thought that went through my mind in the Harvey Weinstein case was wondering if celebrity photographer Terry Richardson would get his just desserts. Richardson has proudly been the fashion industry's photographer playboy with strong suggestions that a quick fling with Richardson's ample c#ck was the price for a photoshoot with "Uncle Terry". 

AOC is unaware of any new allegations against Richardson in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal -- and so many more that we've lost count now. But The Telegraph in London dropped the story that an email they've seen was circulated on Monday at the media group Condé Nast International.  According to The Daily Telegraph, the company will no longer work with Terry Richardson. 

The message was sent by James Woolhouse, the company’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, to “country presidents” at the firm at 8.14am on Monday. Condé Nast International publishes Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, and GQ, among other well-known titles.

Mr Woolhouse wrote: “I am writing to you on an important matter. Condé Nast would like to no longer work with the photographer Terry Richardson.

“Any shoots that have been commission[ed] or any shoots that have been completed but not yet published, should be killed and substituted with other material.

“Please could you confirm that this policy will be actioned in your market effective immediately. Thank you for your support in this matter.”

Complicity In The Boys Club Is Entrenched | Consider Joe Biden In The Supreme Court Confirmation Of Clarence Thomas

Complicity In The Boys Club Is Entrenched | Consider Joe Biden In The Supreme Court Confirmation Of Clarence Thomas

Writing for New York Magazine's The Cut this week, Rebecca Traister raised a delicate issue, one that simmers in the minds of many Democratic women.  Traister questions just how many times we must go through these grand national revelations of male misbehavior. Last year it was Trump talking about grabbing women by the pussies whenever he wanted. It's a right, Trump explained, of powerful men. And then America elected the pussy grabber president -- because he promised to give America to the small group of Christians demanding a theocracy for America. Yes. To add insult to injury, America's most supposedly devout Christians made the pussy grabber president of America. 

Trump is not an isolated incident; nor is Harvey Weinstein, writes Traister. These are not unique stories of sexual harassment or sexual assault. We must come to grips with a "nuts and bolts infrastructure of gender injustice that has permitted generations -- centuries -- of this behavior, and that has worked again and again to beat back any resistance to it."

Former senator and vice president Joe Biden was the architect of the Violence Against Women Act and most recently a voice in the movement to address campus sexual assault. While many of us respect Joe Biden for all the good he has done for Americans, we also view Biden as deeply complicit in his role of "protecting the powerful" while allowing the shaming of Anita Hill for speaking truth to power. Biden silenced other witnesses who wanted to corroborate Anita Hill's allegations against Clarence Thomas in his supreme court nomination hearing. In fact, then-senator Joe Biden, who led the all-white, all-male Judiciary Committee in 1991 initially ignored Anita Hill and her desire to testify against Thomas as being fit for a position on the US Supreme Court. Traister writes:

Rep. Frederica S. Wilson Links Sgt. Johnson's Death In Niger To Her Support For Chibok Girls As Trump Amps Up Attacks On Her

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ELIZABETH BROCKWAY/THE DAILY BEAST

Rep. Frederica S. Wilson Links Sgt. Johnson's Death In Niger To Her Support For Chibok Girls As Trump

Congresswoman Frederica S. Wilson has been very busy this week, defending her own integrity under the full-frontal assault against her by the Trump administration. At least the liberal media must assume that she had no time to explain her focus on events in Niger -- because the story only emerged now on AM Joy with Joy Reid articulating Rep. Wilson's hunch about what happened in Niger.

In a nutshell, we knew that Rep. Wilson has a long history with U.S. Army Sgt. La David Johnson and his family, both as a school superintendent and family friend, and in her foundation 5000 Young Men of Excellence, which educated Sgt Johnson and mentored him for years.Amps Up Attacks On Her