Bollywood's Deepika Padukone Cancels Appearance With Ivanka Trump In India As Hindu Nationalists Put $1.5 Million Bounty On Her Head

Bollywood's Deepika Padukone Cancels Appearance With Ivanka Trump In India As Hindu Nationalists Put $1.5 Million Bounty On Her Head

In India, the highly-anticipated release of the movie 'Padmavati' has been delayed after a politician from India's governing party has offered a bounty of $1.5 million for the heads of Deepika Padukone, Bollywood's highest-earning actress, who plays the 14th century Hindu queen -- and also the movie's director Sanjay Leela Bhansali. 

Padmavati is a fictional queen in the epic poem 'Padmavat' by 16th-century poet Malik Muhammad Jayasi. The poem was written more than 200 years after the actual invasion and was absolutely impacted by folklore. 

The poem elevated the virtue of Padmavati, who committed sati, in which a widow immolates herself on her husband's funeral pyre in order to protect her honor. Initially sati was practiced after Hindu men were defeated in battle and to avoid being taken by Muslim men. Like so many customs, the act of sati -- or committing suicide by fire with the death of the husband -- came to be seen as an act of devotion. The custom was outlawed by India's British rulers in 1829 following demands by Indian reformers.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi has courted Hindu nationalists as part of his political base -- as has Donald Trump. In the US presidential election, Hindu nationalists were burning images of Hillary Clinton in the streets. 

CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell & Gayle King Speak With Cold Realism About Charlie Rose's Suspension

'CBS THIS MORNING' ANCHORS NORAH O'DONNELL, CHARLIE ROSE AND GAYLE KING ON A HAPPIER MORNING THAN NOV. 21, 2017, WHEN THE WOMEN CONDEMNED THE ACTIONS OF THEIR CO-HOST.

CBS This Morning's Norah O'Donnell & Gayle King Speak With Cold Realism About Charlie Rose's Suspension

Disgraced, power-brain talk show host and journalist Charlie Rose was honored in October at the Flax Trust annual luncheon at the 21 Club, New York.  Rose was introduced by Norah O’Donnell, his co-host on “CBS This Morning,” and presented with the Flax Trust Award by Sr. Mary Turley. The group publishesIrish America magazine,  vehicle for expression on a range of political, economic, social and cultural themes that are of paramount importance to the Irish in the United States.

This morning, Charlie Rose lies in the smoldering ashes of another Icarus who flew too close to the sun. Viewers of “CBS This Morning” start the day with the show’s signature “eye opener,” a first-moment montage of overnight news. The Tuesday morning 'eye opener' was painful as co-anchors Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell told their audience in stark terms how much they were shaken by allegations of sexual harassment leveled at the third member of their team, Charlie Rose.

“None of us ever thought we’d be sitting at this table in particular telling this story, but here we are,” said King, making a reference to the round-topped glass table that has become the center of the CBS morning program, which features Rose, King and O’Donnell not only reporting the news but talking over the ramifications of the stories they deliver. “This is not the man I know, but I’m clearly on the side of the women who have been very hurt and very damaged by this,” she added.

Laura McGann Details Glenn Thrush's Sexual Harassment, With Five Victims & 40 Sources

Laura McGann Details Glenn Thrush's Sexual Harassment, With Five Victims & 40 Sources

In October, New York Times White House correspondent Glenn Thrush made an impassioned Facebook post, in the throes of accusations against ace political journalist Glenn Thrush. The post was written in response to political journalist Mark Halperin's admission of significant sexual transgressions. Thrush wrote: “Young people who come into a newsroom deserve to be taught our trade, given our support and enlisted in our calling — not betrayed by little men who believe they are bigger than the mission.”

Vox writer Laura McGann reports that journalist insiders found Thrush's comments ironic, given his own reputation with young women, including her. 

Recounting an encounter with a young Politico reporter and Thrush, 50, her friend Bianca Padro Ocasio, also 23 and a journalist launched a text conversation the next day with Thrush. 

“I want to make sure you don’t lure young women aspiring journalists into those situations ever again,” she texted. “So help me out here. How can I do that?”

“I don’t lure anybody ever,” Thrush wrote back, according to screenshots provided by Padró Ocasio. “I got drunk because I got some shitty health news. And I am acutely aware of the hurdles that young women face in this business and have spent the better part of 20 years advocating for women journalists.”

Now Laura McGrann lowers the boom, citing her own experience with Glenn Thrush:

Eye: Katja Mayer Captures The Patriarchal Contradiction in 'Melancholia' For Numéro December 2017

Katja Mayer Captures The Patriarchal Contradiction in 'Melancholia' For Numéro December 2017

Model Marland Backus feels the 'Melancholia' in images styled by Samuel Francois. Photographer and artist Katja Mayer captures the provocation for Numéro's December 2017 issue.

The obelisks of ancient Egypt represented the benben, the primordial mound upon which the god Atum stood at the creation of the world. As such, they were associated with the benu bird, the Egyptian precursor to the Greek phoenix. According to some Egyptian myths the benu bird was the first living creature whose cry awoke creation and set life in motion. The bird was linked to the morning star and the renewal of each day but was also the sign of the end of the world; in the same way the bird had cried to begin the creative cycle, she would sound again to signal its completion. via

Seaton Schroeder, an engineer who helped bring Cleopatra's need to Central Park recounts:  “From the carvings on its face we read of an age anterior to most events recorded in ancient history; Troy had not fallen, Homer was not born, Solomon’s temple was not built; and Rome arose, conquered the world, and passed into history during the time that this austere chronicle of silent ages has braved the elements.”

It's noteworthy that in the march of human civilization from the Egyptians to the Romans -- which coincides with the rise of monotheism and patriarchal values, the Romans built twice as many obelisks as the Egyptians. During this time, condensed into a period of several hundred years in Greece, three famous philosophers chronicled the decline of women from Socrates, who had no issue and embraced the idea of a woman head of state; to Plato, who said 'perhaps but preferably not' (metaphorically speaking) to AAristotle, who saw women as very inferior to men. Aristotle actually believed that all the DNA, all the human qualities of life were transmitted through semen and the man. The woman was only the 'oven' , the incubator of babies that men actually created.  Read on.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Mn.) Accused of Groping & Forcible Kissing By Broadcaster Leeann Tweeden

Sen. Al Franken (D-Mn.) Accused of Groping & Forcible Kissing By Broadcaster Leeann Tweeden

Broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden said on Thursday that Minnesota Democratic Senator Al Franken "forcibly kissed" and groped her during a 2006 USO tour. Franken has apologized and called for a Senate investigation into his own actions. 

“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Tweeden wrote in a blog post. “You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later and be ashamed.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the Senate Ethics Committee to review the 11-year-old allegations against Franken, who first issued a brief statement of apology, then later a longer one in which he called for an investigation, saying, “I will gladly cooperate.”

Tweeden's 2006 USO tour was the ninth for the Fox Sports Network correspondent and fitness model,writes The Washington Post. Franken was an Air America radio host just months away from announcing his Senate candidacy.

Angelina Jolie Criticizes UN Peacekeepers For Not Tackling Global Violence Against Women

Angelina Jolie Criticizes UN Peacekeepers For Not Tackling Global Violence Against Women Art of Living

Angelina Jolie remains one of the strongest voices for women worldwide, and she did not hold back in addressing the UN Peacekeeping Defense Ministerial Conference in Vancouver on Tuesday with her keynote speech.

“Sexual violence is everywhere – in the industry where I work, in business, in universities, in politics, in the military, and across the world,” she said during her keynote address on Wednesday. “All too often, these kinds of crimes against women are laughed off, depicted as a minor offense by someone who cannot control themselves, as an illness, or as some kind of exaggerated sexual need,” she continued. “But a man who mistreats women is not oversexed. He is abusive.”

Two New Accusers Come Out Against Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore

Two New Accusers Come Out Against Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore

Tina Johnson

Two more accusers of sexual misconduct came forward tonight against Alabama Republican Senate race candidate Roy Moore. Al.com reports late Wednesday that Tina Johnson alleged that in the fall of 1999 (when Moore was married) she sat in Moore's law office with her mother Mary Katherine Cofield. 

Moore began flirting with her from the moment she walked into Moore's office, alleged Johnson.

"He kept commenting on my looks, telling me how pretty I was, how nice I looked," recalled Johnson. "He was saying that my eyes were beautiful."

It made her uncomfortable. "I was thinking, can we hurry up and get out of here?"

Johnson was in a difficult period of her life, and in the process of signing over custody of her son to her mother. As she left the office, Johnson recalled that Moore grabbed her buttocks.

"He didn't pinch it; he grabbed it," said Johnson. She was so surprised she didn't say anything. She didn't tell her mother.

Gal Gadot Confirms That Brett Ratner Is No Longer Involved In 'Wonder Woman' Sequel

Gal Gadot Confirms That Brett Ratner Is No Longer Involved In 'Wonder Woman' Sequel

Hollywood producer Brett Ratner has met his match in Gal Gadot. The 'Wonder Woman' actor said that she would not make a sequel to the blockbuster movie, if he remained involved in the project. Warner Bros must have taken her seriously, knowing also that women worldwide would boycott the film with any new 'Wonder Woman' in place. That will not be necessary. 

Vanity Fair reports that Gadot is on the record revealing that before the Wonder Woman star even appeared on 'Today' Wednesday morning, interviewed by Savannah Guthrie, the matter had been resolved. In fact, says Gadot, it was resolved before the Page Six article.

Swedish Film Institute (SHI) Considers New Rules For Training On Sexual Harassment In Industry

Swedisn Film Institute (SHI) Considers New Rules For Training On Sexual Harassment In Industry

The Swedish Film Institute (SFI) is responding with lightening speed to the recent #MeToo letter signed by nearly 600 local actresses, including Oscar winner Alicia Vikander (above), calling out harassment and abuse in Sweden's film, theater industry.

SFI head Anna Serner's proposal, which requires board approval, stipulates that production companies seeking public funding attend free educational seminars, likely one or two per year, that would cover issues, such as sexual harassment, gender equality and diversity. 

Asserting “zero tolerance against sexual exploitation and violence” the letter signatories demanded that employers, from film companies and theaters to book publishers and Swedish television networks, “stop protecting, hiring and making money on perpetrators” of sexual violence.

Writing on her blog, Serner said the #MeToo movement could only truly change the culture "if there are consequences" and called for zero tolerance of sexual harassment. The problem, writes Serner, is about power and an industry decision to profit from known abusers.

Eye: Radhika Jones, A "Fearless and Brilliant Editor" Says Wintour, Will Head Vanity Fair Magazine

Radhika Jones, A "Fearless and Brilliant Editor" Says Wintour, Will Head Vanity Fair Magazine

Did Hollywood's continuing Harvey Weinstein scandal affect Conde Nast's decision to move the lower profile, but not less credentialed Radhika Jones into the editor-in-chief chair at Vanity Fair?

Jones will be the magazine's fifth editor-in-chief since it was revived in 1983, and she succeeds the famed Graydon Carter, who has helmed Vanity Fair since 1992. 

"There is nothing else out there quite like Vanity Fair," Jones said in a statement.  "It doesn't just reflect our culture — it drives our understanding of it. It can mix high and low, wit and gravitas, powerful narrative and irresistible photography. It has a legacy of influential reporting, unmatchable style and, above all, dedication to its readers. I am honored to succeed Graydon Carter as editor and excited to get to work."

We'll never know if the Harvey Weinstein scandal and its aftermath influenced Conde Nast's pick of Radhika Jones, but it seems probable that a too-familiar relationship with Hollywood moguls might not be an ace credential in what has become a daily struggle of outing one Hollywood exec after another over sexual harassment accusations and sexual assault. Perhaps a more important qualification could be an editor or writer's relationship with the women of Hollywood and women in general. 

Eye: The Wing's New Women's Club In Soho Opens Its Pop-Up Doors To Chanel's CoCo Club

Eye: The Wing's New Women's Club In Soho Opens Its Pop-Up Doors To Chanel's CoCo Club

Women's clubs are on the move, and the timing may be perfect. I'm reluctant to write that American women are at some kind of watershed moment in our understanding of just how difficult it is to succeed in the boys club world. Watching our fundamental, hard-fought rights being rolled back in Trumplandia while Margaret Atwood's dystopian 'The Handmaid's Tale' won eight Emmys, American women are primed for some serious female business bonding. This sister act was in play well before the Harvey Weinstein scandal dropped, launching the massive #MeToo campaign spilling out of our misogyny-overloaded brains. 

If The Wing is a home base for women on their way, the space's first pop-up CoCo Club is perhaps better for women who have arrived. How clever of The Wing to plan for pop-up spaces and other events on the premises. It seems that Chanel took over the entire Soho location as a money-generating, member-acquiring drive for the permanent landlord of this women's club -- The Wing. In not so subtle fashion, Chanel celebrated the launch of the brand's new BOY∙FRIEND watch. 

From a branding and messaging to women perspective, the permanent decor at The Wing evokes a dramatically different vibe than the temporary tenant CoCo Club. 

Founders Audrey Gelman and Lauren Kassan anticipated a huge win for women with a Hillary Clinton presidency.

"This was going to be the golden age of women in power, so women could have rooms like this. It was sort of a triumphant concept." No more running around Manhattan changing outfits for events and meetings in "random bathrooms around the city."

"Obviously that's not what happened," Kassan said.

Beverly Young Nelson Details Roy Moore Assault On Her As 16-Year-Old Waitress

Beverly Young Nelson Details Roy Moore Assault On Her As 16-Year-Old Waitress

In one of the most compelling moments I've ever witnessed on television, Beverly Young Nelson voiced in vivid, graphic detail her 1977 attack by Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Nelson becomes the fifth woman -- and probably the most serious accuser -- along with Leigh Corfman. Nelson was quick to say that both she and her husband voted for Donald Trump and her claims have nothing to do with politics. It was reading the stories of the other women that prompted Beverly Young Nelson to come forward.

Represented by Gloria Allard, who specializes in sexual harassment and sexual assault cases, Nelson recounted Mr. Moore's attack on her when she was 16 and a waitress in a Gadsden, Alabama and he was a prosecutor in Etowah County, Ala. The Daily Beast details her testimony about that night.

Earlier in the evening, Moore had signed Nelson's yearbook -- which Nelson produced at the news conference -- and later offered her a ride home. Instead of getting on the highway, she alleges, Moore parked in the back of the Olde Hickory House restaurant. Nelson said she asked Moore what he was doing.

“Instead of answering my question, Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me, putting his hands on my breasts,” Nelson said weeping. “I tried to open my car door to leave, but he reached over and locked it so I could not get out. I tried fighting him off, while yelling at him to stop, but instead of stopping he began squeezing my neck attempting to force my head onto his crotch. I continued to struggle. I was determined that I was not going to allow him to force me to have sex with him. I was terrified. He was also trying to pull my shirt off. I thought that he was going to rape me. I was twisting and struggling and begging him to stop. I had tears running down my face.

Gloria Allred Will Present A New Accuser Of Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore Monday At 2:30 PM

Gloria Allred Will Present A New Accuser Of Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore Monday At 2:30 PM

The New York Post reports that at 2:30 pm Monday, Gloria Allred has scheduled a news conference at the New York Palace Hotel, where another woman will accuse Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. 

"The New accuser wishes to state what she alleges Roy Moore did to her without her consent," Allred said in a statement.

The Washington Post broke the heavily detailed story late last week, in which now grown women alleged that Moore pursued them as teenagers when he was in his 30s. The most explosive accusation came from Leigh Corfman, who was 14 years old when she alleges Roy Moore took her to his house in the woods and molested her. 

On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. 

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot Issues Ultimatum To Warner Bros: It's Ratner Or Me

Wonder Woman Gal Gadot Issues Ultimatum To Warner Bros: It's Ratner Or Me

In recent days, multiple women in Hollywood -- six at latest count including actors Olivia Munn and Ellen Page --  are coming forward to accuse director and producer Brett Ratner of sexual harassment. Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot is not one of them, but Gadot has flexed her muscle in negotiations for phase two in the new franchise, giving an ultimatum to Warner Bros: it's either me or Ratner. 

Page Six reports that Gadot is threatening to walk away from her role in 'Wonder Woman' in the midst of negotiations for a sequel to the $821 million worldwide blockbuster movie unless Ratner's relationship with the DC Comics universe is completely severed. “Gadot is saying she won’t sign for the sequel unless Warner Bros. buys Brett out [of his financing deal] and gets rid of him.

Related 11/12/2017: Model Accuses Brett Ratner of Masturbating in Front of Her in a Chaffeured Car The Cut

Eye: Edie Campbell Is Fashion Industry Oracle, Joining Cameron Russell In Fight Against Model Exploitation

Eye: Edie Campbell Is Fashion Industry Oracle, Joining Cameron Russell In Fight Against Model Exploitation

Top model Edie Campbell graces the December 2017 issue of Vogue China, lensed by Patrick Demarchelier with styling by Daniela Paudice./ Makeup by Romy Soleimani; hair by Ward

Ironically, Campbell is styled as a possible muse from an ancient Greek temple like the famous one at Delphi. Occupation of the site at Delphi can be traced to the Neolithic period with extensive use beginning in the Mycenaean period (1600-1100 BC), a time we associate with the fall of the goddesses in cultural worship and the rise of patriarchy, which established deep roots in ancient Greece. The name 'Delphoi' comes from the same root as δελφύς delphys, "womb" and may indicate archaic veneration of Gaia at the site, writes Wiki. An oracle was a priest or priestess -- originally we believe it was primarily women as priestesses -- acting as a medium through whom advice or prophecy was sought from the gods in classical antiquity.

Enough with ancient history of the goddesses. Edie Campbell became a fashion industry muse and oracle this week, writing an open letter published by Women's Wear Daily, in which she highlights the abuse of all models, including men.  In a maverick twist, Campbell suggests that in the fashion industry, the abuse of male models is every bit as serious as among the women. 

“We have a problem: we operate within a culture that is too accepting of abuse, in all of its manifestations. This can be the ritual humiliation of models, belittling of assistants, power plays and screaming fits. We have come to see this as simply a part of the job.”

Campbell’s letter is in response to the Instagram campaign to raise awareness of sexual exploitation of models started in October by the US model Cameron Russell.

Here is Edie Campbell's letter in full:

Eye: Mary J. Blige Wears Her Iconic Style In The Edit Nov. 9, 2017, With Netflix 'Mudbound' Bringing Her Oscar Talk

Mary J. Blige Wears Her Iconic Style In The Edit Nov. 9, 2017, With Netflix 'Mudbound' Bringing Her Oscar Talk

As painful as it's been ending her 13 year marriage to Martin Isaacs, Mary J Blige tells The Editmagazine that she used the pain of her divorce to emotionally fund her acclaimed role in 'Mudbound'. Blige's character makes on debut in the Netflix film, scheduled for release on Friday November 17.

In her editorial styled by Tracy Taylor, Blige wears the street style she's famous for. Yelena Yemchuk is behind the lens, flashing Blige in what is one of many new editorials to come.

"A lot of the things we do in a relationship are in the name of love. You want to save it, so you do stupid stuff and give him what he wants, knowing you shouldn't. You create a monster, Blige explains.

She added: 'I learned life is the greatest teacher. You gotta ask, what did you do to end up here? That's when you can start to heal. And I realized that I must have hated myself, because I didn't deserve to be treated like that.”

LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey Forms Entertainment Industry Sexual Assault Task Force

LA District Attorney Jackie Lacey Forms Entertainment Industry Sexual Assault Task Force

Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey announced Thursday the formation of a task force organized to respond to claims of sexual abuse in the entertainment industry, writes New York Magazine. 

“I have assigned the group of veteran sex crimes prosecutors to work together to ensure a uniformed approach to the legal review and possible prosecution of any case that meets both the legal and factual standards for criminal prosecution,” Lacey continued.

Four Women Allege A Younger Roy Moore Pursued Sensual/Sexual Relationships With Them As Underage Girls

Four Women Allege A Younger Roy Moore Pursued Sensual/Sexual Relationships With Them As Underage Girls

The Washington Post has placed reporters in Alabama for over a month, speaking to at least 30 people who support the blockbuster allegations made in the paper this afternoon. Roy Moore is the Bible-toting former Alabama judge who was twice removed from the state's supreme court for making legal decision based on the Bible and not the US Constitution. Moore is now the Steve Bannon/Donald Trump-supported, Republican candidate for the US Senate vacated by now Trump administration Attorney General Jeff Sessions, running against Democrat Doug Jones. 

None of the four women contacted the Post reporters directly. While working in Alabama on a profile about Senate candidate Moore, a Post reporter was told that Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls in the past. The four women say they do not know each other and only chose to go public after extended interviews and conversations with Post reporters.  

The four women making the allegations against Moore were very young in early 1979, when the 32-year-old assistant district attorney introduced himself to 14-year-old Leigh Corfman and her mother. Moore offered to sit with the girl while her mother attended a custody hearing. 

Gal Gadot Is All 'Wonder Woman' Lensed By Paola Kudacki For ELLE US December 2017

Gal Gadot Is All 'Wonder Woman' Lensed By Paola Kudacki For ELLE US December 2017

Actor Gal Gadot covers the December 2017 issue of ELLE US, styled by Simon Robins in Elsa Peretti for Tiffany & Co jewely, Louis Vuitton, Saint Laurent, Gucci and more. Photographer Paola Kudackicaptures Gadot with an engaging interview by Holly Milea. 

“There’s been a fear for years of her being ‘clean’ and yet still tough,” says Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, who, three-quarters of a century after Wonder Woman made her DC Comics debut, brought the superheroine’s story to big-screen life last year, starring Gal Gadot. “So many people’s assumptions about what would make a tough woman is actually a damaged woman. People were confusing strength with defensiveness, and I was like, ‘Why would she be defensive? She totally trusts people! Why would she be angry? She assumes that she’s going to be treated well. She has no chip on her shoulder!’”

Wait until she finds out she’s getting paid 80 cents on the dollar.

In fact, it's director James Cameron who took it upon himself to issue a negative critique of Gadot's 'Wonder Woman'. After all, a successful man would have the answers, right? Cameron called Gadot "an objectified icon", pointing instead to Linda Hamilton's 'Terminator' character as what a female action protagonist should be. "She was strong, she was troubled, she was a terrible mother, and she earned the respect of the audience through pure grit," Cameron said of the character Sarah Connor.) Gadot's 'Wonder Woman' was "a step backwards" for women. In post-Hillary defeat America, director Patty Jenkins was not amused.  

Jenkins noted that women don't need to be one thing to be a hero. THR shared her counter-argument:

ADL Confirms James Murdoch's $1 Million Gift & $1 Million Via His Email To Friends | Fox News Hires Alleged White Nationalist Sebastian Gorka

ADL Confirms James Murdoch's $1 Million Gift & $1 Million Via His Email To Friends | Fox News Hires Alleged White Nationalist Sebastian Gorka

In August 2017, in the days after white nationalism raised its ugly head in Charlottesville, James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox sent an email to friends and colleagues that was leaked to media. 

Commenting that he rarely discussed his family's charitable giving, Murdoch announced a pledge from him and his wife for $1 million to the Anti Defamation League (ADL) and urged others to also support the organization. 

This week the ADL confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter that the Murdoch donation of $1 million was received, accompanied by almost another $1 million associated with Murdoch's email.