Progressive NYC Chef Angela Dimayuga Shuts Down IvankaTrump.com Interview Request

Angela Dimayuga, executive chef at New York City’s Mission Chinese Food, publicly responded to a request for an interview on the IvankaTrump.com website with an emphatic 'no, thanks.' 

The chef noted that she could not differentiate between the brand and President Trump, writing: “So long as the name Trump is involved, it is political.”

Read Dimayuga’s response in full below, via Forward:

Thank you for thinking of me. I’m glad you are a fan of my work so much that you want to provide more visibility for my career to inspire “other working women.” However, I’m for women who actually empower other women.

I don’t believe that IvankaTrump.com is truly “a non-political platform of empowerment for [women]”. So long as the name Trump is involved, it is political and frankly, an option for the IvankaTrump.com business to make a profit.

I don’t see anything empowering about defunding Planned Parenthood, barring asylum from women refugees, rolling back safeguards for equal pay, and treating POC/LGBT and the communities that support these groups like second class citizens.

As a queer person of color and daughter of immigrant parents I am not interested in being profiled as an aspirational figure for those that support a brand and a President that slyly disparages female empowerment. Sharing my story with a brand and family that silences our same voices is futile.

Thank you for the consideration.

Does Kellyanne Conway Really Live In An Alternate Universe?

Writing for The Atlantic, Molly Ball takes a more serious look at Kellyanne Conway, giving her major credit for articulating the anti-immigration policy that came to dominate the Donald Trump primary and presidential campaigns. 

In 2014, Conway was part of a group of Republicans that produced a poll for FWD.us, an immigration-advocacy nonprofit founded by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg. The poll showed that immigration reform was a political necessity for the GOP—a finding that contradicted the line Conway had been pushing since the 1990s. Two months later, Blueberry -- her Secret Service code name -- produced a different poll, demonstrating that “enforcement of current law” and “encouraging illegal immigrants to return to their home countries” could be a winning message. Conway's new findings were rebuffed by Republican donors. But Steve Bannon's far-right wing Breitbart.com called it a "blockbuster".

African American Heavyweights Rep. Jim Clyburn, Clyburn Women & Morgan Freeman Embrace Hillary

US Rep Jim Clyburn, the third most powerful Democrat in Washington, acknowledged the influence of his wife and daughters in his decision to endorse presidential candidate Hillary Clinton ahead of the South Carolina's Feb. 27 primary. The females in Clyburn's family are all in for Hillary. 

Previously, Clyburn has remained neutral with endorsements until after the primary, although he tangled with an angry Bill Clinton in 2008 over what the highly-regarded politician perceived as use of racially-tinged comments from the former president in the 2008 battle between now president Obama and Hillary Clinton. 

Clyburn joins his close friend Rep. John Lewis of Georgia, who has also endorsed HIllary Clinton and her commitment to the African American community since the days of America's civil rights movement. 

Jim and Emily Clyburn have three daughters, Mignon, Jennifer Reed, and Angela Hannibal; two sons-in-law, Walter Reed and Cecil Hannibal; and three grandchildren, Walter A Clyburn Reed, Sydney Alexis Reed, and Layla Joann Clyburn Hannibal. Speaking yesterday about his decision to support Hillary Clinton, Clyburn explained that the women in his family pressed him very hard to put his heart and head out there in a public embrace for Clinton. 

Clyburn's daughter Mignon is a Commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, nominated by President Barack Obama, nominated in June 2009 and sworn in on August 2009. Jennifer Clyburn Reed, Ed.E is a professional educator in Columbia, South Carolina. Angela Clyburn Hannibal is an assistant program coordinator at Benedict College in Columbia. 

Previously this month, Hillary Clinton received the endorsement of the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, and yesterday actor Morgan Freeman endorsed Hillary and released a very special campaign ad. 

Morgan Freeman for Hillary

“Her life’s work has been about breaking barriers and so would her presidency, which is why for every American who’s not being paid what they’re worth, who’s being held back by student debt or a system tilted against them, and there are far too many of you, she understands that our country can’t reach its potential unless we all do," Freeman explains in the ad, which the Clinton campaign confirmed as new. "Together. A stronger country.”

Freeman was candid about his unflinching support for Clinton, telling CNN's Don Lemon that he has absolutely no trust issues with Clinton. 

"Not with me, she doesn't," Freeman said in an interview that aired Friday on "CNN Tonight." "I can't say that she doesn't, because all you need in some cases for people is to say it. Just put it out there and it gets legs. The Clintons have been being beat down ever since way back, so she just was going along with that legacy that she's inherited over the amount of time she's been in politics, which is a long time."

Freeman added, "I think this is just made-up stuff, just, you know, it's political hogwash."