Megyn Kelly's 'Blackface' Comments Leave Her NBC News Future Very Cloudy

Megyn Kelly's 'Blackface' Comments Leave Her NBC News Future Very Cloudy

I missed this Megyn Kelly 'blackface' stupidity from Tuesday. The NBC face been on thin ice anyway, as Kelly's ratings have not been great. Her audience is 35% or more people -- largely women -- of color.

She still hasn't recovered from her run-in with Jane Fonda, choosing to ask Fonda about plastic surgery rather than her activism, which was the scheduled topic. Fonda abruptly ended the interview.

So Megyn Kelly, who already has a track record over objecting to black Santas, wonders out loud -- in the midst of this Trump crisis -- why whites can't wear blackface on Halloween. If the woman wanted to get her contract cancelled, she just delivered her own knock-out punch.

Kelly’s off the air Thursday and everything is up in the air at NBC. Rumors are intense that her departure is in negotiations. Given the outrage among her own colleagues over her ‘blackface’ remarks, it’s difficult to understand how Megyn Kelly can survive.

What was she thinking!!! Just last night I wrote a terse pushback over Instagram and Twitter outrage that Kendall Jenner was wearing frizzy curls in a photoshoot. Generally I feel that our culture has become way too politically correct. However, blackface??? Are you out of your mind Megyn Kelly? Because I refuse to buy the dumb blonde moniker, being one myself.

Kendall Jenner In PC Trouble For Her Curly Hair In CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Ad

Kendall Jenner In PC Trouble For Her Curly Hair In CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Ad

The fashion pc police were out in full force this week, and I’m not sure just how many people are offended. All I know is that my first response to seeing Kendall Jenner’s solo photo in the November 2018 issue of American Vogue was that she reminded me of my grandmother — my British grandmother.

I hope that the same people who are accusing Vogue and Kendall Jenner of cultural appropriation make it their business to vote in November. Like PLEASE stand up for the rights of people of color because America is in a terrible mess and you are worrying about Kendall Jenner’s clearly Gibson girl image. This is insane.

Believe it or not, millions of white women worldwide have curly, even frizzy hair. Every curly hairdo is not an attempt to rip off an Afro. Good goddess! Many, many Jewish women have curly hair because — ahem — when early humans migrated out of Africa, guess where they traveled? Into what is now known as the Levant and home to the Jewish people. Those early humans took their beautiful, curly hair with them and as a result, many other cultures ended up with lots of curls and even frizzy hair — NATURALLY. They are not fashion models and they were not ripping off Black women’s hair.

So we’ve got Trump trying to totally divide the country with his white nationalism and we’ve got Vogue magazine and Kendall Jenner once again having the audacity to think they can use Kendall in a Gibson girl look. Can we agree that Kendall’s outfit doesn’t look like it’s ripping off Afro fashion?

With all the pain and suffering on this planet, with Trump and the Republicans trying to take away voting rights for people of color in states all over America, this is the fashion industry crisis. I actually thought the editorial was very cool. Black women are everywhere in magazines right now — as they should be. As someone who tracks this topic every day, let me say that there is an abundance — and if we were counting — probably a statistical over-representation of models of color in fashion editorials right now. To that I say AMEN! It’s about time.

But then I read this kind of crap, that Kendall Jenner is accused of trying to cop an Afro — I can only say P-L-E-A-S-E give me a break.

"The image is meant to be an update of the romantic Edwardian/Gibson Girl hair which suits the period feel of the Brock Collection, and also the big hair of the '60s and the early '70s, that puffed-out, teased-out look of those eras," the Conde Nast publication said in a statement to E! News on Tuesday. "We apologize if it came across differently than intended, and we certainly did not mean to offend anyone by it." 

These two images from the editorial were used in a promotion for the publication’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund. And it’s not the first time. Vogues are always in trouble for some offense with the pc crowd. Kendall is also in trouble for the second photo below, where she posed with model Imaan Hammam, who wore a beyond words fabulous afro in another image. So Is Imaan in trouble for her straight hair??? Surely you jest. She’s just doing what models do. The offense in this case is strictly Kendall’s white girl oppression of women of color.

"FOR YEARS WE have been penalized about our looks and especially our hair, It is a slap in the face when non-Blacks try to imitate our look," one Instagram user wrote in a comment on the initial photo.

"I like Kendall but why didn't they use an ethnic model who has hair like that," another wrote of the initial photo.  via The Hollywood Reporter

Elephants Are Herbivores And Congo Would Love GlamTribal's Elephant Garden Party Pendant

Congo loves her watermelon at the Dallas Zoo

Elephants Are Herbivores And Congo Would Love GlamTribal's Elephant Garden Party Pendant

A circus retiree, the Dallas Zoo’s elephant Congo is called smart, investigative, and inquisitive and is enjoying exploring all of the new things she can do at the savanna. She loves to munch on bamboo, stripping layers of fibers and leaves off for a good chew, and enjoys regular pedicures with toenail filing, explains the Dallas Zoo in describing their Elephants on the Savanna exhibit. .

For all my love of elephants, I never considered their diet — specifically do they eat meat? One thinks of elephants as being herbivores, but is that actually a fact? The question was front and center in my mind, after planting a little garden in the tummy of our new GlamTribal Garden Party Elephant Pendant.

NS172 Elephant Garden Party Omo Pendant w/Earrings

$95.00

Elephants are primarily herbivores, spending 16 to 19 hours a day eating and looking for food. An elephant’s diet in the wild is comprised of 50% grasses that are supplemented with twigs, leaves, bamboo, roots, bark and small amounts of seeds, flowers and fruits. Read on.

Lupita Nyong'o Narrates Award-Winning 'My Africa' Virtual Reality Film For Elephant Conservation

Lupita Nyong'o Narrates Award-Winning 'My Africa' Virtual Reality Film For Elephant Conservation

A virtual reality film ‘My Africa’, narrated by Oscar-winning film star Lupita Nyong’o and supported by The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, is among the winners of the annual Jackson Hole Science Media Awards.

The nine-minute film won top honors in the Virtual Reality/360° Storytelling category for “effectively using 360 technology and resources to advance an appreciation or understanding of a scientific discipline, discovery or principle.”

The film which was commissioned by Global environmental organization Conservation International which supports community-led wildlife conservation in Northern Kenya —is available in 7 languages including English, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Samburu, Spanish and Swahili.

Directed by David Allen, the project was captured with virtual reality cameras in the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu County of northern Kenya at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, the first elephant orphanage in Africa owned and operated by the local community. In a region where conservation has traditionally been pursued by outsiders, Reteti — and the surrounding conservancy organization, Northern Rangelands Trust — offer a model grounded in local leadership and traditional knowledge, explains Creative Planet Network.

Inside Tommy Hilfiger’s New York Penthouse

Inside Tommy Hilfiger’s New York Penthouse

Tommy Hilfiger’s New York City penthouse is as glamorous and elegant as you would expect it to be. It overlooks Central Park and 5th Avenue, which makes it among the most coveted spots in the Plaza Hotel. The celebrated apartment also has access to one of the only two domes in the building. The four-bedroom duplex covers 6,000 square feet of pure luxury. 

Upon entering the unit, you'll be greeted by a spacious salon that has a view of the city skyline via its floor-to-ceiling glass windows. There's also an alcove library with animal-print walls, custom bookcases, and a comfortable reading seat flanked by plants. The home office has paneled bookcases, a leather chair, and an animal-print carpet – the perfect setting for creating artistic work.

After Major Award In France, Jane Fonda Heads To Michigan To Get Voters To the Polls"

After Major Award In France, Jane Fonda Heads To Michigan To Get Voters To the Polls"

The pendulum of Jane Fonda’s life swings wide right now. In Lyon, France to graciously accept the 10th Lumiere Lifetime Achievement Award, Fonda used her platform to first thank the french and then to speak on American politics.

Speaking in French, which she masters fluently, having been married to late film maker Roger Vadim in the 1960s, she played on the surname of the inventors of the moving pictures, the Lumière Brothers. Lumière means light in French, and Fonda said her award was a gift of "amour et lumière", love and light.

Preparing to leave France for Michigan, where Fonda is working with Taraji P. Henson to get out the vote efforts in the minority communities, the Oscar-winning actor currently featured in an HBO biopic ‘Jane Fonda In Five Acts’, summed up the concerns of so many progressives heading into the midterms on November 6.

“The elections on Nov. 6 are the most important elections of my lifetime. So much depends on what happens,” she said. “It's hard for me to breathe right now.” 

Fonda maintains close ties to Georgia, her home with former husband and CNN founder Ted Turner. She also operates a Georgia nonprofit GCAPP (Georgia Campaign For Adolescent Power And Potential)  But now, she can no longer speak to extended family and friends there.

“I love them, but I can't talk to them anymore. And I will fight to my last breath to stop what they are trying to do.” Fonda is referring to massive efforts by Republicans in Georgia to disenfranchise minority voters as the state stands on the precipice of electing its first black woman governor — America’s first black woman governor — Stacy Abrams.

Republican candidate for governor, current secretary of state Brian Kemp, is disenfranchising minority voters at an epic rate. To most progressives and Democrats, Kemp has an untenable conflict of interest and presumably Jane Fonda agrees.

The activist also spoke about America’s president Donald Trump. “I believe he suffers from PTSD because like many men he was, I believe, brutalized by his father when he was very, very young,” she said. “And some men … lose empathy for others [and] also totally lack empathy. And he has been very brutal with his own sons. Father son father son, it's very sad. I hate this. I have empathy for him, it's difficult, I try, I work at it.” (Jane Fonda, you are a far better soul than I am!)

“Martin Luther King said, 'I don't have to like you, but I have to love you.' It's not easy at this moment,” she summed up the situation in America. “We live in the patriarchy and the patriarchy makes us think that empathy and love is weak, but it's not. That is where our strength is. We have two strengths — there are more of us, and also we go forward with love and open minds and warm hearts.”

Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive: Fall 2018 Independence Campaign Celebrates Uniqueness

Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive: Fall 2018 Independence Campaign Celebrates Uniqueness

Tommy Hilfiger has launched its fall 2018 ‘Independence’ campaign with a 60-second video to support the adaptive collection, available at Tommy.com.

In keeping with values and attitudes of younger people, the campaign is focused around the theme of independence and embracing the power of every individual. Every individual in the campaign celebrates their uniqueness, writes WWD.

The “Independence” campaign was directed by James Rath, who was born legally blind as a result of ocular albinism and nystagmus and features Dmitry Kim a hip-hop dancer and leg amputee; Mia Armstrong, a 6-year old with Down’s syndrome; Lauren “Lolo” Spencer, who has ALS; Gavin McHugh, a surfer with cerebral palsy; Hailey Villarreal, an actress with cerebral palsy; Hunter Brown, an opera singer with autism; Jacob Santiago, a skateboarder who is visually impaired, and Miracle Pelayo, an actress with cerebral palsy.

“The democratization of fashion is one of the core values the brand was founded on,” said Tommy Hilfiger, founder and principal designer of Hilfiger. “The Tommy Hilfiger Adaptive collection continues to build on that vision of inclusivity, transforming the way the fashion industry defines diversity by serving to the needs of people with disabilities.”

New York Art Community Responds To Apparent Beheading Of Jamal Khashoggi By Rejecting Saudi Funds

New York Art Community Responds To Apparent Beheading Of Jamal Khashoggi By Rejecting Saudi Funds

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum and Columbia University have responded to the apparent seizure and Turkish reports of hideous torture and beheading by the Saudi government of Washington Post journalist and American legal resident Jamal Khashoggi.

ArtNet News reports that Saudi funding for a new Arab art initiative is under the microscope. The diplomatic crisis coincides with the launch in New York of the first-ever Arab Art & Education Initiative, a year-long cultural exchange across the city’s five boroughs.

The Middle East Art Institute, a think tank based in Washington, DC, withdrew from the program almost immediately after news broke about Khashoggi walking into the Saudi embassy in Istanbul and not being seen again.

Eighty-five percent of the Arab Art and Education Initiative’s funding comes from sources outside of Saudi Arabia, according to artNet News.

Bushwick, Brooklyn's Oko Farms Brings Aquaponics And A School Of Fish To The People

Bushwick, Brooklyn's Oko Farms Brings Aquaponics And A School Of Fish To The People

Nigerian-born Yemi Amu shares a look at Oko Farms, a Bushwick, Brooklyn aquaponics system housing both fish and plants with the same water source since 2013. Given that about 70 percent of freshwater is used for agriculture globally, Oko Farms is recycling at its best. Jen Maylack interviews the urban farmer for Vogue US.

When Amu first encountered the concept of aquaponics, she realized this technique, which uses fish waste to fertilize plants grown in water, and then in turn allows the plants to filter toxins from the water so it can safely be returned to fish, had massive potential. It’s a symbiotic system, relying on the relationship between fish, plants and microbes.  “Nature is really efficient, and I fell in love with that efficiency,“ Amu says. “That source of locally raised sustainable protein, nobody is doing it.”

Seeking knowledge about her own eating disorder, the urban farmer began studying Ayurveda and its emphasis on holistic nutrition, supported by the idea that food is medicine. She then attended Teachers College, Columbia University for a Master’s Degree in Health and Nutrition Education. Soon came rooftop gardening and a passion that grabbed her being.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Report Concluding Strong Evidence Of Her American Indian Ancestor

Sen. Elizabeth Warren Releases DNA Report Concluding Strong Evidence Of Her American Indian Ancestor

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has called Trump’s bluff, releasing Monday morning a DNA test suggesting “strong evidence” that she has a distant Native American ancestor.

The DNA analysis, by Stanford University professor Carlos D. Bustamante concludes that “the vast majority” of Warren’s ancestry is European but that “the results strongly support the existence of an unadmixed Native American ancestor in the individual’s pedigree, likely in the range of 6-10 generations ago.”

The finding supports Warren’s family story about her Oklahoma upbringing that her great-great-great-grandmother O.C. Sarah Smith was all or partially Native American.

At a July 2018 political rally in Montana, Trump claimed that he would donate $1 million to Warren if she took a DNA test “and it shows you’re an Indian.”

After the early morning release of her DNA test, Warren tweeted Trump a reminded of his promise, advising him: “Please send the check to the National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center” an organization the senator described as “a nonprofit working to protect Native women from violence.”

GlamTribal Goddess Shell Lava Necklace Is Pure Winnie Harlow Parisian Elegance

GlamTribal Goddess Shell Lava Necklace Is Pure Winnie Harlow Parisian Elegance

Winnie Harlow’s Parisian Elegance Inspire GlamTribal Tribal Goddess Shell Lava Necklace See blog post

Top model Winnie Harlow is styled by Camille Seydoux in hyper-feminine, couture beauty, lensed in Paris by Jacques Burga for Harper’s Bazaar Mexico and Latin America November 2018.

Winnie Harlow is a total goddess, not only in fashion shoots but also her humanitarian work. Looking at these fashion images, I was immediately inspired by our GlamTribal NS106 Tribal Goddess Creme Green Shells Lava Necklace w/Earrings $95.

Just like Winnie’s Paris fashion editorial, this fusion of modern beauty with our ancient roots is the heart of GlamTribal’s appeal to women with artistic, humanitarian spirits.

Architect Sir David Adjaye Curates Artist Lina Iris Viktor For Wondereur.com

Sir David Adjaye curates artist Lina Iris Viktor

Spectacular paintings by artist Lina Iris Viktor are on view at the New Orleans Museum of Art until Jan. 6, 2019. Introduced to her work via Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, further investigation about Viktor brought me to Wondereur.com, an outstanding website curating artists by other credentialed creatives.

New York based Viktor is profiled by Sir David Adjaye, a leading figure in the architecture world, and lead designer of the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. In 2017, TIME magazine named Adjaye as the world’s most influential architect. He was also knighted by the British government in 2017, an opportunity for Adjaye to reiterate the responsibility and potential of architects “to effect positive social change.”

Thelma Golden, the director and chief curator of the Adjaye-designed Studio Museum in Harlem wrote in TIME: “His work – deeply rooted in both the present moment and the complex context of history – has envisioned new ways for culture to be represented and reflected in the built environment. Nowhere is this more evident than in his recent triumph on the National Mall.

"How can a design acknowledge, and embody, the weight of this monumental history and yet transcend it right before your eyes? How can a building be true to the earthbound burdens of centuries of oppression and struggle, while at the same time displaying the faith, joy and triumphs of African-­American life, so that the structure soars into the light?

“In his epoch-making design, David made us aware of those questions and brilliantly solved them, with a singular gesture.”

In his curator’s statement for Wondereur.com about Lina Iris Viktor, Sir David Adjaye describes her work:

“Lina’s work is as evocative as it is strikingly beautiful. Her explorations with gold possess incredible intelligence, drawing out at once powerful connections to global indigenous heritages, opulent futuristic visions of black beauty, and vast philosophical notions of cosmology, geometry, and atomic matter. Her work crosses confidently across a landscape of science, technology, culture and identity with a timeless elegance and a casual defiance that is definitively modern.”

At New Orleans Museum of Art, Lina Iris Viktor Explores Blackness As A Source Of Energy and Creation

ELEVENTH. 2018. LINA IRIS VIKTOR. PURE 24-KARAT GOLD, ACRYLIC, GOUACHE, PRINT ON CANVAS. 65 X 50 IN. COLLECTION OF THE ARTIST, COURTESY THE ARTIST AND MARIANE IBRAHIM GALLERY, SEATTLE

Ex ELLE US Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers Takes Major Role With Shonda Rhimes At Shondaland.com

Ex ELLE US Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers Takes Major Role With Shonda Rhimes At Shondaland.com

Ex ELLE US Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers Takes Major Role With Shonda Rhimes At Shondaland.com

Robbie Myers, editor-in-chief of ELLE US for 18 years, will oversee the content strategy and editorial coverage for Shondaland.com, part of Hearst Digital Media.

Netflix superstar Shonda Rhimes says she's thrilled to have such a "celebrated" member of the editorial community join the Shondaland team. "Her commitment to culture, inclusive perspective and fearless passion for storytelling are a perfect match for our expanded vision of Shondaland.com's future," Rhimes said in a statement.

At New Orleans Museum of Art, Lina Iris Viktor Explores Blackness As A Source Of Energy and Creation

New York artist Lina Iris Viktor

At New Orleans Museum of Art, Lina Iris Viktor Explores Blackness As A Source Of Energy and Creation

“Usually I am more about trying to bridge divides of thought where people think things are in very defined spaces,” artist Lina Iris Viktor tells Harper’s Bazaar Arabia from her studio in New York. “I am all about making bridges.” The painter and conceptual artist is preparing new work for her first solo museum exhibition now open at the New Orleans Museum of Art entitled Lina Iris Viktor: A Haven. A Hell. A Dream Deferred.

Known for large-scale black and gold works on paper and canvas, the sculptural surfaces of Viktor’s pieces shimmer opulently with densely patterned iconography. There is something searingly original and contemporary about her almost cosmic composition of hieroglyphic elements that recall myriad forms, from Aboriginal Dreamtime paintings to West African textiles.

Born to Liberian parents, Lina Iris Viktor lives in London and Johannesburg, travelling and studying widely. The artist is not inspired by a specific location. Rather “It’s about experience and worldliness and understanding that there is no centre.”

Julia Roberts Faces Her Fears, 50 and Love of Family, Lensed By Alexi Lubomirski For Harper's Bazaar US November 2018

Julia Roberts Faces Her Fears, 50 and Love of Family, Lensed By Alexi Lubomirski For Harper's Bazaar US November 2018

Actor Julia Roberts covers the November 2018 issue of Harper’s Bazaar US, facing her fear of heights in a pink gown by Giambattista Valli Haute Couture gown paired with Dior sneakers and Tiffany jewels. Elizabeth Stewart then chooses Dior Haute Couture (green pleats), Gucci (green lace) and Gabriela Hearst (black) for images by Alexi Lubomirski./ Hair by Serge Normant; makeup by Genevieve Herr

The issue’s theme is daring women, and Julie Roberts confirms to Oprah Winfrey that she truly is afraid of heights.

Claire Foy Reflects On Life's Turbulences, Lensed By David Sims For Vogue US November 2018

Claire Foy Reflects On Life's Turbulences, Lensed By David Sims For Vogue US November 2018

‘The Crown’ star Claire Foy covers the November 2018 issue of Vogue US. Photographer David Sims is behind the lens in an editorial styled by Camilla Nickerson choosing looks from Alexander McQueen, Gucci, Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello, Miu Miu, Prada and Louis Vuitton. / Hair by Duffy; makeup by Lucia Pieroni

Claire Foy was eager to play Janet Armstrong, wife of Neil Armstrong — played by Ryan Gosling — who first walked on the moon. The movie ‘The First Man’ by Damien Chazelle opened this year’s Venice Film Festival and allowed Foy to play Janet struggling with loss and the emotional labor — often falling to women — of holding a family together. In the case of the Armstrongs, their family bonds were eclipsed by the moon and the heroic identity of her husband.

Foy admits to recovering her vitality slowly after a grueling period shooting ‘The Crown’ four months after the birth of her daughter, Ivy Rose. Consumed in the rush of success resulting from ‘The Crown’, Foy prepared for her intense physical and mental role in the latest iteration of Stieg Larsson’s Lisbeth Salander saga, ‘The Girl in the Spider’s Web’, while primed with parenting and then her separation from husband Stephen Campbell Moore. 

Speaking of the much criticized pay disparity Claire Foy experienced in making ‘The Crown’ — she was the queen but a poor one compared to costar Matt Smith’s salary as Prince Phillip — the actor speaks very positively of Netflix and how they handled her life as mother to a new baby girl. Netflix got its queen by investing, in logistical ways, in her motherhood. “No one had ever said to me that I could ask for anything before, that I could say that I needed a trailer with a bed in it,” she says. “That was completely new to me.” 

Jenna Lyons Will Launch Weekly Curated Lifestyle Show and E-commerce With Turner Media

Jenna Lyons Will Launch Weekly Curated Lifestyle Show and E-commerce With Turner Media

Former J Crew creative director Jenna Lyons has a new gig, spreading her retail design wings in a deal with Turner for a TV series and lifestyle platform. “I want to find a language and voice that feels honest, approachable and human to share things that I love,” Lyons told THR.

Lyons has signed a deal with the Turner entertainment company for an unscripted TV series that will also anchor a new lifestyle platform with e-commerce and major social media.

Working with Millard Drexler at J Crew, Lyons was a key player in building the $2 billion brand before leaving in April 2017, under the weight of sluggish sales.

“I’m excited to be doing something totally different,” Lyons said Tuesday. “I couldn’t think of a better partner for this next-generation fusion of media, lifestyle, and commerce,” added Kevin Reilly, president of TBS and TNT and chief creative officer, Turner Entertainment, in a statement.

Who's For Burning It All Down? American Women Are Thinking About The French Revolution

I've been thinking and reading a lot about the French Revolution this past week. The willingness of the French to have both a carving of Lilith AND Eve with Adam on the Notre Dame Cathedral tells me not to be afraid.

Unlike John Ashcroft throwing a drape over Lady Justice's naked breast in the nation's capitol, the French have never covered up Adam, Lilith and Eve -- Adam's first wife but she was too bossy and stormed out of the Garden of Eden, refusing to submit to Adam.

So France survived the French Revolution. I haven't checked on the tiki torches or just how unruly the mobs became, but France survived -- white male superiority intact, but they did get rid of the king. Writer Maya Singer is on the same track, and she makes a lot of sense.

And this pondering of a burn it down revolution is written for Vogue magazine. VOGUE MAGAZINE IN AMERICA. Bob Dylan would be proud.

When Trump tells you all those college-educated white Republican women leaving the party are running home to take care of their men and male children after the Kavanaugh hearings, don't take the bite of this poison apple.

Educated Republican women can walk and chew gum at the same time. You know . . . womanly multitasking, brains firing on all cylinders.. . that sort of thing. I quote Maya Singer:

"If you’d asked me, before last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearings with Judge Brett Kavanaugh and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, where we were on the road to revolution, I’d have said we were somewhere around “the people are very mad but they’re working within the system.” As of today, I feel like the revolution could kick off any minute now, because with the vote to send Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the GOP (and Joe Manchin) have officially flipped us the bird.

When I say “us,” I mean all of us. Not just women. Not just Democrats. Standing by Brett Kavanaugh—a historically disliked nominee, with crappy poll numbers (even before Dr. Ford came forward with a credible allegation that he’d sexually assaulted her in their teens) who walked right up to the line of perjuring himself in his Senate testimony and exposed himself as a both a jerk and a partisan hack—was, make no mistake about it, a display of power. A president who badly lost the popular vote, abetted by 51 Senators who represent a mere 44 percent of Americans, rammed through their nominee just to show us they could. Trump and McConnell could have easily jettisoned Kavanaugh in favor of an equally conservative replacement; instead, fearful of looking weak, they stuck with him, not in spite of all the protest but because of it. God forbid they seem to entertain the concerns of their constituents, because then those constituents might think they have a claim on how this country is run, and who for.

Ask yourself: For whom, right now, is this country being run?"

Kerry Washington Talks Her Love Of Acting, Owning Her Own Power As A Black Woman For Marie Claire US November 2018

Kerry Washington Talks Her Love Of Acting, Owning Her Own Power As A Black Woman For Marie Claire US November 2018

Kerry Washington chats with Janet Mock against the backdrop of the Santa Monica Mountains, as the duo hikes along Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles. Washington covers the new issue of Marie Claire US, exploring life after ‘Scandal’ in the November 2018 Power Issue. Thomas Whiteside is behind the lens for the issue on newsstands October 18.

Her production company, Simpson Street (the Bronx block her mother grew up on), has a slew of television and film projects on its slate, including The Mothers, a Warner Brothers film adaptation of Brit Bennett’s acclaimed novel; Universal’s workplace comedy 24-7, costarring Eva Longoria; psychological thriller The Perfect Mother; and an adaptation of Celeste Ng’s best-selling novel Little Fires Everywhere for Hulu, in which she costars alongside fellow executive producer Reese Witherspoon.

Washington’s most recent fame came in her producing and acting roles in the 2016 HBO film ‘Confirmation’ regarding the 1991 Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings. Speaking of her role in ‘Scandal’, Washington hits a high note on the subject of expressing her black woman identity:

“I didn’t feel like I had to twist myself into some other understanding of what black womanness is supposed to look like, because Shonda [Rhimes] got me. Just her existence and working with her so intimately changed the idea of what power looked like in this business.”

Melania Trump Honors Africa's Colonial Past While Ignoring Devastating Cuts To African Women's Health

Melania Trump Honors Africa's Colonial Past While Ignoring Devastating Cuts To African Women's Health

Two people were in the global news in Africa yesterday -- Melania Trump in her colonial hat rolling around Kenya -- and Dr. Denis Mukwege, with his Nobel Peace Prize, co-shared with Nadia Murad.

I spent my time writing Friday about the revered Dr. Mukewege, who I’ve followed for over a decade. One wonders just how much funding Trump has cut to the women in the Congo and across Africa. It's billions.

Regarding Melania Trump, to roll into Africa looking like she just stepped out of the colonial masters period is just too much. I'm tired of her making statements with clothes and then professing that we are attacking her and not listening to her voice.