Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) Retires Under Sexual Harassment Claims, Endorses Son To Continue Political Dynasty

Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) Retires Under Sexual Harassment Claims, Endorses Son To Continue Political Dynasty

Michigan's John Conyers, a Democrat from Michigan, civil rights icon, and longest serving member of the US House of Representatives, announced on Tuesday that he will be retiring “today” amid multiple allegations of sexual harassment and a report that he paid more than $27,000 to keep an accuser quiet. 

The effective date is at once and not at the end of Conyers' term. It comes with yet another charge levied against Conyers today. Elisa Grubbs, who said that she worked for Conyers from 2001-13, claims that in addition to his inappropriate conduct with her, she saw him touching and stroking the legs and buttocks of Marion Brown, Grubbs' cousin, and other female employees working for the congressman on "multiple occasions."

“Rep. Conyers slid his hand up my skirt and rubbed my thighs while I was sitting next to him in the front row of a church,” Grubbs said. "When Rep. Conyers would inappropriately touched me like this, my eyes would pop out and I would be stunned in disbelief,” Grubbs wrote in an affidavit posted on Twitter by Brown’s attorney, Lisa Bloom.

NY Mag Takes Another Look At Matt Laurer's Takedown Of Today Show's Ann Curry

NY Mag shares again its 2013 story about Matt Lauer's takedown of 'Today' show cohost Ann Curry.

In the light of day on Dec. 4, the real problem is probably that she wouldn't . . . well, you know . . . make her body his playground. Who knows? Maybe she spoke up to 'papa'. Or maybe women liked Ann Curry more than Lauer. I sure did.

This article, read again against the backdrop of Lauer's outrageous and uneven grillings of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the 2016 election cycle, send the message that strong, competent women go nowhere in Matt Laurer's world. If you didn't kiss Lauer's butt -- LITERALLY -- you're not going anywhere.

How many other Matt Lauers are out there? As painful as these last months have been for women, let's take them the hell down if they fit the Matt Lauer and Charlie Rose, misogynist models. ~ Anne

Related: Revisiting the Bitter Matt Lauer -- Ann Cutty 'Today Show' Drama New York Magazine

Lauer's 'Double Life': Inside NBC, The Network Is Trying To Expunge The Lauer Era Vanity Fair

Eye: Carine Roitfeld & Halima Aden Talk Modesty, Provocation & The New Nike Pro Hijab

Eye: Carine Roitfeld & Halima Aden Talk Modesty, Provocation & The New Nike Pro Hijab

Carine Roitfeld joined model Halima Aden for a conversation about modest dressing at the Business of Fashion's annual Voices conference last week.

Aden was born in a Kenyan refugee camp and later naturalized as an American when her family moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota when she was seven years old. Aden first made headlines as a teen when she became her American town's first Muslim homecoming queen. After competing in the state's Miss USA pageant in 2016, she caught Carine's eye, and, a year later—at 19 years of age— Halima Aden covered CR Fashion Book Issue 10. Equally exciting, Halima was interviewed by her life-inspiring role model Imam. 

Halima Aden aspires to be a UN Goodwill Ambassador. Until then, listen to Carine Roitfeld, Halima Aden and Tim Blanks discuss modesty at the BofF VOICES 2017 conference. 

Billy Bush Reaffirms Trump's Voice On 'Hollywood Access' Tape, Says He's a Better Man

Billy Bush Reaffirms Trump's Voice On 'Hollywood Access' Tape, Says He's a Better Man

America's delusion president Donald Trump laughably tried to deny that he’d actually boasted about grabbing women by the genitals in the now infamous 'Access Hollywood' tape. Forget that Trump apologized for his misogynistic, bad boy behavior on national TV for the incident. The increasingly erratic and paranoid Trump seems to think 2017 is a new year and he can rewrite the script on what he now calls #fakenews. Trump's comments about a conspiracy have resurfaced in the light of Trump's support for Roy Moore.

In an op-ed in the New York Times posted on Sunday evening, Billy Bush clarified the incident, writing: 

Uma Thurman Puts Women Photographers Front & Center At 'The Parisian Woman' Premiere

Uma Thurman Puts Women Photographers Front & Center At 'The Parisian Woman' Premiere

Badass goddess Uma Thurman did a first, telling the male photographers at her Broadway premiere of Beau Willimon's 'The Parisian Woman'  to make way for the female photographers, so they could get a good shot. Uma says it's time to break up the Boys Club and she took action Thursday night, putting the women photographers front and center so they could get a good shot, writes W Magazine.

As she was posing alongside her cast members Josh Lucas, Blair Brown and Phillipa Soo, Thurman paused the moment to request that the male photographers capturing them clear a path for their female colleagues. “That’s the way things are going these days,” she said, according to The Daily News.

Thurman fans remain on alert for her promised weigh-in on her own Harvey Weinsteinexperiences. Initially when Thurman was asked about the mounting sexual allegations within Hollywood, she told Access Hollywood, "I don't have a tidy sound bite for you because I'm not a child and I have learned that when I've spoken in anger I usually regret the way I express myself. So I've been waiting to feel less angry and when I'm ready I'll say what I have to say."

Doug Jones Leads Roy Moore In Alabama Senate Race, Says New Post-Schar Poll | Large Majority Say Jones Has Higher Morals

Doug Jones Leads Roy Moore In Alabama Senate Race, Says New Post-Schar Poll | Large Majority Say Jones Has Higher Morals

I've become very involved in this race, working w/women in Alabama. My moods are swinging from positive for Jones (who I've supported since the primary) to despair over the outrageous and untrue statements said about him. This morning's poll gives me hope because the sample is much larger, and it documents that women are significantly more likely to vote for Jones. Turnout among moderate Republican women, Dems, of course, and Alabama's black community are critical.

When working on my own mindset, I remember Va a month ago, where polls showed an even race, but the actual result was huge for Dems.

The beliefs of Roy Moore are so extreme that it astounds me that he could become a US senator. Forget the sexual harassment claims. Moore is a LEADER in the personhood movement, giving ALL legal rights of a grown woman with three kids to a fertilized egg. The state would govern pregnancy, protecting the rights of the embryo.

It's all terrifying -- so terrifying that I forced myself to become educated on the rare third-trimester abortion last night. Not the statistics, which are about 1% nationally and 3 in Alabama last year, but the procedure itself.

Eye: Stella McCartney Joins Forces With Ellen MacArthur Foundation In Global Fashion Impact On Environment Study

Eye: Stella McCartney Joins Forces With Ellen MacArthur Foundation In Global Fashion Impact On Environment Study

The fashion industry turns towards London for Monday night's The Fashion Awards 2017 in partnership with Swarovski. To build excitement, several honorees have been announced in advance.

Stella McCartney Environmental Fashion Warrior

Designer Stella McCartney will be honored with a Special Recognition Award for Innovation, reflecting her commitment to innovation and for utilizing her influence to promote environmental responsibility.  

Stella will use her platform to back the Ellen MacArthur foundation campaign to stop the global fashion industry consuming a quarter of the world's annual carbon budget by 2050.

In a report published this week, round-the-world sailor and environmental campaigner Dame Ellen MacArthur exposes the vast scale of waste, and how the throwaway nature of fashion has propelled the fashion industry into a new reality of creating greenhouse emission of 1.2 billion tons a year -- larger than the combined total of international flights and shipping combined.

Other important factoids in the report reveal that:

Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold Settled $84,000 Sexual Harassment Suit With Taxpayer Money

Texas Congressman Blake Farenthold Settled $84,000 Sexual Harassment Suit With Taxpayer Money

The Duckie PJs lawmaker Blake Farenthold, who famously challenged Sen. Collins, Murkowski & Capito to a duel over Obamacare Repeal this summer used $84,000 of taxpayer funds to end a dispute with his communications director in 2014.

Lauren Greene, the Texas Republican’s former communications director, sued her boss in December 2014 over allegations of gender discrimination, sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment, writes Politico.

Another Farenthold aide told Greene the lawmaker said he had “sexual fantasies” and “wet dreams” about her. Farenthold “regularly drank to excess” and told her in February 2014 that he was “estranged from his wife and had not had sex with her in years”, according to the claims made by Greene.

Selena Gomez Named Billboard's Woman of the Year, Talks The Weeknd, Women's Revolution, Staying Strong

Selena Gomez Named Billboard's Woman of the Year, Talks The Weeknd, Women's Revolution, Staying Strong

Star girl Selena Gomez covers the December 9th, 2017 cover of Billboard, celebrating her being named the 2017 Woman of the Year. Kate Young  styles Gomez for images by Ruven Afanador. 

Gomez's 2017 life journey has been intense with producing the hit Netflix show '13 Reasons' to mastering the evolution of her music style with singles like 'Fetish' and 'Bad Liar', to going public about her recent kidney transplant. Gomez deals with each topic in her Billboard interview. 

Then there's the subject of Selena Gomez's love life including The Weeknd and Justin Bieber. In her Billboard interview, Gomez sets the record straight -- although her dear friend hasn't weighed in on his visual banishment of them as a couple from his Instagram page. 

“Something that I’m really proud of is that there’s such a true friendship [between me and The Weeknd],” Gomez told Billboard. “I truly have never experienced anything like that in my life. We ended it as best friends, and it was genuinely about encouraging and caring [for each other], and that was pretty remarkable for me.”

Afghan Girls' Robotics Team Wins Entrepreneurial Challenge At Europe's Biggest Robotics Festival

Afghan Girls' Robotics Team Wins Entrepreneurial Challenge At Europe's Biggest Robotics Festival

We are SO PROUD of the girls' robotics team from Afghanistan, the group of young women who were front and center on AOC when they were denied visas to the US to participate in an international robotics competition. 

Honored in Washington DC for their determination and moxie, the Afghan girls have now won an international robotics prize on merit. The Afghan teens who live in the western city of Herat applied to and won the Entrepreneurial Challenge at the Robotex festival, the largest robotics festival in Europe, held in Tallin, Estonia, on Nov. 24-26. The proud announcement was made through the Afghan embassies in London and Washington, and reported in the New York Times.  

“We are extremely proud of the wonderful accomplishments of the Afghan All-Girl Robotics Team,” Afghanistan’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, Said T. Jawad, said in a statement on Wednesday. “They are an excellent example for people around the world of what can be accomplished by young Afghans if given the right support and the opportunity to excel in their education.”

NBC Fires 'Today' Show Co-Host Matt Lauer Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

NBC Fires 'Today' Show Co-Host Matt Lauer Over Sexual Harassment Allegations

NBC has fired its leading morning news anchor Matt Lauer over sexual harassment allegations, the network’s president for news said in a memo to staff on Wednesday. 

NBC News chairman Andrew Lack said the accusation against Laurer by a colleague was a "clear violation of our company's standards."

Lack said it was the first complaint lodged against Lauer, 59, since he took over as anchor of the show in 1997, but there was "reason to believe" it wasn't an isolated incident.

Mid-afternoon on Wednesday, Variety dropped a story on its own two-month-long investigation. A key finding of the piece is that Lauer's sexually-predatory behavior was no secret at NBC News. Surely, one concludes, not all the women at NBC could possibly be so shocked over Matt Lauer's alleged behavior. 

It began with the button under his desk that allowed him to lock his door from inside without getting up, two accusers told Variety. Gone was the fear of someone walking in on Lauer while he was doing his business. What happened next is every bit as gross as the Charlie Rose allegations. 

According to Variety, Lauer allegedly sexually harassed several female colleagues, including an instance in which he “summoned a . . . female employee to his office, and then dropped his pants, showing her his penis,” then  reprimanding the “visibly shaken” employee for “not engaging in a sexual act.” Three women who identified themselves to Variety as victims of Lauer’s sexual harassment, coupled with dozens of NBC staffers past and present told other stories about NBC's big star, including gifting a female colleague with a sex toy (complete with an “explicit note about how he wanted to use it on her”), inviting young female employees to his hotel room while on assignment covering the Olympics, asking female producers about their sex partners and "offering to trade names" and playing "fuck, marry or kill" with staffers. Lauer was often open about which of his co-stars he'd prefer to sleep with.

And it seems that the married Lauer -- who maintains a distant relationship with his wife -- had an insatiable sexual appetite. 

Boys Club Member Susan Sarandon Tells Women Fighting For Equal Rights To 'Calm Down'

I haven't even commented on Susan Sarandon's Guardian interview choice words on Hillary Clinton. Every day cannot be a day of rage. But none other than W Magazine does a short, brilliant summary of the SS/Guardian interview and reminds us why so many of us loathe this woman. If a guy was making these statements, he would be out of business.

Susan Sarandon, infamously, wasn't with her. She's also not joining the #MeToo movement, and she doesn't like to call herself a feminist (she's more of a humanist, thank you very much). Indeed, the ever outspoken Sarandon has a lot of contrarian opinions, as evidenced by her latest interview with The Guardian. She claims that things "wouldn’t be much smoother" if Hillary Clinton would have won the election, and that there were still a lot of women out there who must've been flattered to be sleeping with Harvey Weinstein and James Toback. Yet, oddly, she also admits to telling women fighting for the Equal Rights Movements to "calm down," and isn't afraid to tell her gay friends about which politicians really are pro-gay.

In Burkina Faso, French President Macron Addresses Restitution Of African Heritage From Museums

In Burkina Faso, French President Macron Addresses Restitution Of African Heritage From Museums

In a speech delivered on a visit to the West African republic of Burkina Faso, French president Emmanuel Macron has promised to make the restitution of French-owned African heritage a priority over the next five years.  Saying that he wants “the conditions to be met for the temporary or permanent restitution of African heritage to Africa”, Macron also spoke to the audience of about 800 students at the University of Ouagadougou about his desire to promote the mobility of talented people between Europe and Africa.

Notably, Macron's comments are at odds with a formal request made in March 2017 to then French President François Hollande, writes artnet News. Lawmakers and civil society groups from Benin wrote an open letter asking for the return of a host of "colonial treasures" 

French President Macron Promises Gender Equality Reforms As France Reexamines Its Own Treatment Of Women

French President Macron Promises Gender Equality Reforms As France Reexamines Its Own Treatment Of Women

French president Emmanuel Macron observed the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women with a minute of silence for the 123 French women killed by their partner or ex-partner in 2016.

The #MeToo movement and the Harvey Weinstein scandal in America have provoked a rethinking of attitudes about sexual harassment in France, known worldwide as the "land of seduction and romance",writes Reuters. 

Unlike Donald Trump, who is trying to roll back women's rights advancements in America with increased legislation around women's reproductive health and a deep plunge in the appointments of women in his cabinet and inner circle and the federal judiciary, Macron campaigned on a platform of rethinking sexual politics and gender equality in France as part of his five-year-mandate.

Proposals that could be included in a 2018 draft law include criminalizing street harassment and extending the statute of limitation for the rape of minors to 30 years from 20 years. France has no minimum age of sexual consent and Macron is personally in favor of setting the age of sexual consent at 15. 

Squirming Over His Support For Roy Moore, Trump Now Suggests That His 'Access Hollywood' Tape Is A Fake

Squirming Over His Support For Roy Moore, Trump Now Suggests That His 'Access Hollywood' Tape Is A Fake

The Times reports: "He sees the calls for Mr. Moore to step aside as a version of the response to the now-famous Access Hollywood tape, in which he boasted about grabbing women’s genitalia, and the flood of groping accusations against him that followed soon after. He suggested to a senator earlier this year that it was not authentic, and repeated that claim to an adviser more recently. "(Note that in the hours after the tape was released in October 2016, Trump acknowledged that the voice was his, and he apologized.)

Republican candidate Moore is accused by eight women of pursuing romantic relationships with them when they were teenagers. At the time he was an assistant district attorney in his 30s. Two of the women have accused Moore of assault or molestation, which he vehemently denies. 

Besides Trump's endorsement of Roy Moore for the Senate, Trump feels the need to back the popular argument among Alabama men, asking why the women didn't come forward sooner. Numerous stories confirm that Trump doesn't believe the women accusing Moore, just as he accuses all the women alleging sexual misconduct by him as being liars. 

Jessica Chastain On Molly Bloom: "She Doesn't Trade Romance For Leverage" | Town & Country December 2017

Jessica Chastain On Molly Bloom: "She Doesn't Trade Romance For Leverage" | Town & Country December 2017

Actor Jessica Chastain covers the December 2017 issue of Town & Country, styled by Nicoletta Santoro. Photographer Matthew Brookes flashes the star of 'Molly Bloom' in 'Catch Her If You Can./ Hair by Didier Malige; makeup by Fulvia Farolfi

Surprise, surprise, writer Tim Teeman reveals in his interview with Chastian, the actor takes the Hampton Jitney to the Hamptons. 

"This is quite the caper," Chastain marvels, as she and Teeman speed around Manhattan with her assistant picking up weekend essentials. "One might have assumed that a famous Hollywood actress—she received Oscar nominations for her roles in The Help and Zero Dark Thirty and is in the midst of launching a major campaign for a new Ralph Lauren fragrance—would prefer a more private mode of transport to the Hamptons."

Chastain, who wore her pink pussy hat to the Women's March in DC in January, married  Italian count and fashion exec Gian Luca Passi de Preposulo at his family’s Treviso estate this past summer.

Plus, the cloak-and-dagger feel to our chaotic afternoon echoes, if unintentionally, her latest big project, the film 'Molly’s Game'. Aaron Sorkin’s movie-directing debut tells the story of former champion skier Molly Bloom, who came to run high-class, high-stakes poker games in Hollywood and New York at which the players included Tobey Maguire, Ben Affleck, and Leonardo DiCaprio, as well as art world scion Helly Nahmad (who would later be jailed for his part in the illegal ring).

Eye: Karlie Kloss Works Fearless Wonders For Adidas & Stella McCartney Adidas Collection

Eye: Karlie Kloss Works Fearless Wonders For Adidas & Stella McCartney Adidas Collection

Kloss is known for not faking anything she does, including her recent run in the New York City Marathon. Karlie ran the New York City marathon for the first time ever, and was sponsored by Addidas by Stella McCartney. Kloss fronted the brand's Ultraboost eco-friendly sneakers  made from recycled plastic from the ocean.

Karlie appears in the powerful new adidas Running film Fearless AF, one of six female athletes defying stereotypical arguments about women in sports. 

Betty Tompkins' Ballsy Feminist Art Project 'Women Words' Heads To Art Basel Dec 7-10

Betty Tompkins' Ballsy Feminist Art Project 'Women Words' Heads To Art Basel Dec 7-10

The rebellious, banned, ballsy and sometimes banned art of American feminist Betty Tompkins soars into relevancy in the age of Trump. Her big moment comes at the age of 72 and celebrates a project launched in 2010 as 'Women Words'.

In making my own short graphic post two days ago -- one in which I referenced graphic, slutty words about my own identity -- I was actually in sync with women worldwide who responded to Tompkins' invite for them to share phrases about women.

The answers were sent back from all over the world and were shocking - but not surprising - exposing the corrosive, endemic misogyny in our world. Tompkins made 1,000 paintings of the words, putting the writing on the wall in unflinching plain-speak.

Betty's project 'Women Words' will be front and center in Art Basel in early December. The timing couldn't be more perfect, and I will cover it in detail.

Claudia Schiffer Talks Three Decades of Modeling, Lensed By Nico Bustos For The Edit November 23, 2017

Claudia Schiffer Talks Three Decades of Modeling, Lensed By Nico Bustos For The Edit November 23, 2017

Supermodel Claudia Schiffer celebrates three decades as a top model in her new book, styled is iconic Claudia as sex kitten looks by Raquel Franco. Photographer Nico Bustos flashes Claudia for The EditNovember 23, 2017.

Laura Craik sits down with Schiffer who talks retirement, regret and her return to the runway in her new book. Key factoid: Schiffer's the most prolific cover girl in history. Over 1,000 have borne her image so far, a fact celebrated by a new book simply called 'Claudia Schiffer', published by Rizzoli.

From early shoots with Ellen von Unwerth through to legendary campaigns with Richard Avedon, Herb Ritts and Steven Meisel, Claudia has carefully curated the documentation of her supermodel reign. We learn that her favorite photographers are von Unwerth, Ritts and Arthur Elgort. One of the standout moments in her career was being shot by Elgort in the early ’90s, in Rome, for a Valentino ad campaign. Standing on a balcony waving for her photographer, the assembled crowd below waved back at her. 

In Private Trump Doubts Roy Moore's Accusers, Backs Alabama's Candidate

In Private Trump Doubts Roy Moore's Accusers, Backs Alabama's Candidate

Politico reports that President Donald Trump's near-endorsement of the sexually-accused Alabama Republican senate candidate Roy Moore came after intense conversations with senior Republicans and White House aides. 

The White House advisers told Politico that the president "drew parallels between Moore’s predicament and the one he faced just over a year ago when, during the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, Trump confronted a long line of women who accused him of harassment. He adamantly denied the claims."

Speaking with reporters as he departed for Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump couldn't have come closer to saying that he believed Roy Moore's declaration that all nine of his accusers are lying. In Trump's typically incoherent, repetitive way of speaking, he said: “Let me just tell you, Roy Moore denies it. That's all I can say. He denies it. And, by the way, he totally denies it,” 

“I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it,” Trump said. “He says it didn’t happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also. You're talking about, he said 40 years ago this did not happen.”