Aspirin Could Help Reduce HIV Infections In Women -- A Dramatic, Promising Research Result In Nairobi

WOMEN IN KENYA. PHOTO BY JOHN MCARTHUR ON UNSPLASH

Aspirin Could Help Reduce HIV Infections In Women -- A Dramatic, Promising Research Result In Nairobi

By Colin Graydon, PhD Candidate in Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba and Monika Kowatsch PhD Student in Medical Microbiology, University of Manitoba. First published on The Conversation Africa.

With nearly two million new infections and one million associated deaths each year, the HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) pandemic is alive and well. Thirty-seven million people are now living with HIV, more than half of whom are women.

Today, most HIV transmission occurs through sex. Fortunately, you can protect yourself and others by keeping HIV away (abstinence, condom use, circumcision) or by inactivating HIV (microbicide gels or a combination of prophylactic anti-HIV drugs such as PrEP). However, these methods are not always feasible for many and can come with stigma.

Imagine though, if instead of targeting the virus, we could make people less susceptible to HIV and address the needs of communities by using a relatively safe, affordable and globally accessible drug with no associated stigma. This is where Aspirin comes in.

It may sound like a fairy tale, but results from our lab’s pilot study published last monthsuggest it may be true. Plus, there’s good science behind the explanation.

Third Love Lingerie's Heidi Zak Pens Open Letter To Victoria's Secret After Razek Interview

THIRDLOVE CEO HEIDI ZAK (L); L BRANDS CMO ED RAZEK (R)

Third Love Lingerie's Heidi Zak Pens Open Letter To Victoria's Secret After Razek Interview

The fallout from L Brands CMO Ed Razek’s now infamous Vogue interview in advance of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show continued with the publication of ThirdLove's co-founder and co-CEO, Heidi Zak’s open letter to Victoria’s Secret, published in Sunday’s New York Times.

In a long list of frankly stupid comments from a smart man I worked with for years, Razek cited his small but mighty ThirdLove competitor in the lingerie space, saying “We’re nobody’s ThirdLove, we’re their first love.” Pissed off people protested over Razek’s arrogance, particularly in view of Victoria’s Secret and PINK’s current death spiral in revenue. It was not a moment to give women and men one more reason not to shop Victoria’s Secret at the critical holiday season.

Emily Ratajkowski Launches M / RATA Lingerie On Nov. 22, Adding Another Wound To Victoria's Secret

Emily Ratajkowski Launches M / RATA Lingerie On Nov. 22, Adding Another Wound To Victoria's Secret

Victoria’s Secret is about to get another lingerie sector challenger with the announcement that Emily Ratajkowski is launching a new lingerie line called M / RATA in a collab with Blush Lingerie. Ratajkowski’s new baby will make its debut on November 22, 2018 just in time for the holidays.

M / RATA lingerie is committed to ethical manufacturing under the Blush umbrella, reflecting the growing demands and concerns especially among younger consumers. The rules governing its manufacturing practices are posted on the company’s website.

M / RATA by Blush is also committed to size inclusivity, a topic that haunted Victoria’s Secret once again after the brand’s recent, tone-deaf Vogue.com interview by VS pros Ed Razek and Monica Mitro.

'See Know Evil' Documentary By Charles Curran Revisits Davide Sorrenti Story & Rise Of Heroin Chic

'See Know Evil' Documentary By Charles Curran Revisits Davide Sorrenti Story & Rise Of Heroin Chic

On May 20, 1997, Amy M. Spindler wrote for the New York Times about the fatal heroin overdose of the promising young photographer David Sorrenti, 20. Spindler questioned the degree of complicity the entire fashion industry embraced in the advancement of the trend known as ‘heroin chic’.

Unlike the music industry, which has rallied with interventions and programs to get musicians off drugs, or the film industry, where known users have been subjected to drug tests for insurance on movies, the fashion industry has done little to combat the problem among the young in its ranks. The only event mounted to commemorate Mr. Sorrenti's death was a photo exhibition in his memory, called the ''Art of Fashion Photography,'' at a Flatiron district studio during March fashion week in New York. The drugged-looking photos from Detour were on view at that show.

In May 1997, President Clinton denounced the American fashion industry for cynically abusing teenagers and helping spread heroin usage to a new and younger group of people. “Some fashion leaders are admitting flat-out that images projected in fashion photos in the last few years have made heroin addiction seem glamorous and sexy and cool," President Clinton stated. “And as some of the people in those images start to die now, it's become obvious that is not true. The glorification of heroin is not creative, it's destructive. It's not beautiful, it is ugly. And this is not about art, it's about life and death. And glorifying death is not good for any society.”

As his name implies, Davide Sorrenti came from a family of photographers including his mother Francesca, his older brother Mario and sister, Vanina — “the Corleones” of fashion photography according to Francesca. His girlfriend and muse at the time Jaime King had her own struggles with heroin use, writes Models.com.

A key reason for the Naples-born Sorrenti family coming to New York in the early 1980s was Davide’s painful blood condition, Cooley’s anemia. The disease required frequent blood transfusions and caused the young Sorrenti to look even younger than his age.

Last week Charlie Curran premiered his seven-year-in-the-making documentary “See Know Evil”, a film attempting to tell Davide’s story, at Manhattan’s SVA Theatre, A second screening was held Thursday night, November 15.

'Fearless Girl' Wears A Bulletproof Vest, The Newest Fashion Must-Have For Students Of All Ages

'Fearless Girl' Wears A Bulletproof Vest, The Newest Fashion Must-Have For Students Of All Ages

Wall Street’s beloved ‘Fearless Girl’ got a makeover in advance of Tuesday’s election — and days before this week’s slaughter of 12 mostly young people in a shooting late Wednesday at a bar in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Artist Manuel Oliver gave New York’s most famous symbol of women’s empowerment some extra armor last Friday, dressing her in a bulletproof vest broadcasting the hashtag #FearfulGirl.

Oliver’s son Joaquin ‘Guac’ Oliver was murdered along with 16 other victims in the Valentine’s Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

“She can’t be fearless if she’s afraid to go to school,” wrote Change the Ref, Oliver’s pro-gun control nonprofit, on Twitter, about the rebranded “#FearfulGirl.” The organization is dedicated to using “urban art and nonviolent creative confrontation to expose the disastrous effects of the mass shooting pandemic,” according to its website.

On Nov. 6 Election Day, Anne Hopes Cat & Dog Shoes Lovers Land A Knockout Punch On Trump

On Nov. 6 Election Day, Anne Hopes Cat & Dog Shoes Lovers Land A Knockout Punch On Trump

Writing just now about the Louis Vuitton x Grace Coddington collab called Catogram, inspired me to reflect on my mouse shoes and their Manhattan intersection with a so-called master of the universe.

On this epic voting day in America, we have 1) a chance to smash rudeness, lies and white nationalism in the face in a blow to Donald Trump; 2) to stand for feline truth. You ALWAYS know where you stand with a cat, and there is no such thing as emotional fakery; and 3) love for humanity with a devoted dog who has your back.

While America is a nation with many faults, today will tell the world whether or not America still has a soul. Is she really the nation of promise I’ve fought for all these years, or does she have a fundamentally racist, angry, white nationalist, cold and frozen heart.

America’s true values are on the ballot today, so let me share a smile-worthy moment with a New York man with a heart — unlike Trump’s empty tin can contraption that keeps him alive, but has never in life had a real tuneup.

A Master of the Universe Meets My Parisian Mouse Shoes by Anne Aug. 11, 2011

These ‘Smoking Cat Wedges’ come from London-based luxury accessories designer Charlotte Olympia. Mine were mice. I bought them in Paris during the 80s, and I positively adored them. My mice shoes were fully fitted with eyes, whiskers and tails.

Wearing them on the sidewalks of New York, I knew my mouse tails weren’t long for this world. A sensible woman would have kept her Parisian mouse shoes for special occasions, but mine were pounding the pavement in days. Within weeks, one tail was AWOL.

Whose NYC Sidewalk Is This?

I have a major pet peeve with aggressive men in New York. You know the guy — he walks in the wrong direction on your side of the sidewalk, assuming that you will get out of his way, in order to avoid a major collision. It usually works, and women not only defer but say ‘I’m sorry’ as a Manhattan master of the universe mows the little people down.

Tallahassee Shooter Of Six Women, Killing Two, Had History of Incel Ideology & Misogyny

DR. NANCY VAN VESSEM (L) AND MAURA BINKLEY (R). PHOTO: TBH/FACEBOOK

Tallahassee Shooter Of Six Women, Killing Two, Had History of Incel Ideology & Misogyny

While Trump tries to scare the hell out of women over immigrants, he doesn't mention the white dude firing on six women -- killing Dr. Nancy Van Vessem, 61, who worked at Florida State University’s College of Medicine, and FSU student Maura Binkley, 21. -- in a yoga studio in Tallahassee on Friday.

NY Mag writes that the assassin -- who killed himself -- left a digital footprint of right-wing extremism and references to the anti-women 'incel ideology'. There is a strong probability that this unreported attack due to Tues. elections is the fourth attack by a right-wing extremist in the US in less than 2 weeks.

Facts-driven people know that right-wing extremism is a far greater threat to women than refugees. The Friday shooter Scott Paul Beierle, 40, shot one of the women six times. The Florida graduate and military veteran has a history of harassing young women, including two arrests for groping in 2012 and 2016.

Buzzfeed  News characterized the shooter as “a far-right extremist and self-proclaimed misogynist who railed against women, black people, and immigrants in a series of online videos and songs”:

In 2014, Beierle filmed several videos of himself in a You Tube channel, offering extremely racist and misogynistic opinions, in which he called women “sluts” and “whores,” and lamented “the collective treachery” of girls he had went to high school with.”

Charlize Theron Launches J’Adore Absolu Lady Squad Sensual Goddesses Campaign

Charlize Theron Launches J’Adore Absolu Lady Squad Sensual Goddesses Campaign

The dazzling Charlize Theron continues in her relationship with Dior Parfums as the face of J’Adore Absolu fragrance. In an interview so long and spilling over with candid observations that we will publish it tomorrow in AOC Women In-Depth, Charlize Theron manages to turn a discussion with Harper’s Bazaar UK about her new J’adore Absolu campaign into an extended conversation about diversity and femininity on-screen. Stay tuned.

The film was directed by Romain Gavras, and is a true tribute to the beauty and community of women. Over the song “Flashing Lights” by Kanye West, the new-look lady squad shows off their proud prowess. 

The new Dior J'adore L’absolu campaign, where Theron is seen bathing in a pool of gold, reminds us of the famous 1999 campaign featuring the supermodel Carmen Kass. This time, though, the sensual-yet-powerful character Theron portrays is not alone, as she was in the 2011 campaign below — Anne’s favorite. Theron is surrounded by a diverse array of women who share an ethereal quality. The scene is inspired by the painting ‘The Turkish Bath’ by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. Both the campaign and artwork integrate the eroticism of the naked female form into the relaxed sensual communion that women share apart from the male gaze.

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.”

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?"

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.

In A Time Of Turmoil, Dr. Mukwege's Nobel Peace Prize Is A Heavenly Gift For Us All

In A Time Of Turmoil, Dr. Mukwege's Nobel Peace Prize Is A Heavenly Gift For Us All

Introduction from Anne: Professor De Reus considered the humanitarian righteousness of awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to Congolese physician Denis Mukwege in 2015, a tremendous honor that was not his that year.

AOC has a decade-long history of writing about the courageous vision of Dr. Mukwege and the horrific challenges faced by women of the Congo. To awaken on October 5, 2018 and read that Dr. Mukwege and activist Nadia Murad, a Yazidi woman once taken captive by ISIS, were sharing the 2018 Nobel prize was truly good news at a stressful time in America and around the world.

I met up with Professor De Reus in my own East Coast backyard and also watched her TEDx Talk featured at the end of her article. If you don’t know about Dr. Mukwege and his Panzi Hospital, Lee Ann De Reus shares an excellent 2015 overview.

Amy Schumer & Emily Ratajkowski Arrested Protesting Brett Kavanaugh Vote For Supreme Court

Amy Schumer and Emily Ratajkowski were arrested today, as protesters infiltrated the Hart Senate Office Building in DC, to rally against an affirmative vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Before entering the Senate Building, Schumer and Ratajkowski joined Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York to address crowds outside of the Supreme Court. Gillibrand told the crowd that the FBI had failed to seriously investigate the claims by Dr. Blasey-Ford that Kavanaugh had sexually assaulted her. "It was not intended to get to the bottom of this. It was not intended to find the truth. It was intended to be a cover, a cover for those who don't want to look at the truth," Gillibrand said.

Shortly after Gillibrand finished, Schumer and EmRata were arrested, writes Harper’s Bazaar. On Twitter, EmRata shared the experience along with a photo of her carrying a sign which read Respect Female Existence Or Expect Our Resistance. She wrote, "Today I was arrested protesting the Supreme Court nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, a man who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault. Men who hurt women can no longer be placed in positions of power."

Christy Turlington Burns Launches 'Giving Birth in America: California', A Dramatic Turnaround Story

Christy Turlington Burns Launches 'Giving Birth in America: California', A Dramatic Turnaround Story

Giving Birth in America is a documentary series that examines some of the reasons for the alarming current statistics about maternal mortality rates in the US, where the US finds itself with maternal mortality stats ranking at the very bottom of the developed world. The series is presented by Every Mother Counts, the non-profit founded by Christy Turlington Burns in 2011, dedicated to making childbirth safe for women everywhere. This fifth and most recent episode, California, focuses on Dr. Cristina Gamboa, an OB-GYN in Watsonville who provides pre-natal health care to an immigrant farmworker from Mexico with a high-risk pregnancy. 

Christy Turlington Burns discusses her new documentary, made with ‘Every Mother Counts’ and ‘Giving Birth in America’ director/producer Clancy McCarty in the October 2018 issue of C Magazine.

Liya Kebede In 'Modern Bohemia' By Bjorn Iooss For Sunday Times Style Magazine UK Sept. 30, 2018

Liya Kebede In 'Modern Bohemia' By Bjorn Iooss For Sunday Times Style Magazine UK Sept. 30, 2018

Top model Liya Kebede is styled by Verity Parker in ‘Modern Bohemia’, a psychedelic mix of good vibrations clothes from Gucci, Prada, Balenciaga and more. Bjorn Iooss flashes the Ethiopian beauty and global women’s activist for The Sunday Times Style Magazine UK.

Like Christy Turlington Burns, featured today about her upcoming fifth installment documentary around maternal health, Kebede is also dedicated to maternal health as an ambassador for the World Health Organization and through her own Lemlem Foundation.

Projection Artist Robin Bell Strikes Kavanaugh's DC Courthouse With Brutal Messages

Projection artist and activist Robin Bell has turned his highly-effective visual projections on Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, targeting his federal courthouse in DC with interchanging slogans: ‘Brett Kavanaugh Is A Sexual Predator’, ‘Brett Kavanaugh Lied Every Time He Testified’, ‘Brett Kavanaugh Must Withdraw’, and ‘#Believe Survivors’.

Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee has been accused of a sexual assault by Christine Blasey Ford, allegations he has denied. The two will appear in front of the Senate Judicial Committee on Thursday. On Wednesday, another woman, Julie Swetnick, walked into the national spotlight, claiming that Kavanaugh had been present while she was gang raped in 1982. And on Wednesday evening, a fourth anonymous, but highly-detailed charge against Kavanaugh was revealed.

On Tuesday night, Bell pulled up in front of the E. Barrett Prettyman United States courthouse in a specially modified light projection van, beaming his message onto the facade of Kavanaugh’s workplace in an effort to highlight the allegations against the nominee and create a public shaming against the Supreme Court nominee. The guerrilla intervention was a collaboration with the women’s advocacy group Ultra Violet.

“It was good to be able to help amplify other people’s voices on this one,” Bell told artnet News in a call. “We made a statement that we believe survivors, that this is who this person is, and that we’re going to go to where he works and project it on the building. It’s somewhat cathartic.”

“I’ve been getting a lot of messages and I can tell you [the projection] really helped people who feel hurt right now and are trying to not allow someone like Kavanaugh to be in power, to continue to be in power, and get to the Supreme Court,” Bell continued.

Empowering Women Is Key To Planned Population Growth in Africa, Educated Citizens, Good Health and Economic Development

Empowering Women Is Key To Planned Population Growth in Africa, Educated Citizens, Good Health and Economic Development

By Alex Ezeh, Dornsife Professor of Global Health, Drexel University

I think about the future of my continent in terms of three questions: Are Africans healthy? Do they have access to a good education? And do they have opportunities to apply their skills?

Millions more Africans have been able to answer yes to these questions in recent years. But there’s an elephant in the room. One of the keys to keeping this progress going is slowing down the rapid rates of population growth in parts of the continent. But population issues are so difficult to talk about that the development community has been ignoring them for years.

Population growth is a controversial topic because, in the not-too-distant past, some countries tried to control population growth with abusive, coercive policies, including forced sterilization. Now, human rights are again at the centre of the discussion about family planning, where they belong. But as part of repairing the wounds created by this history, population was removed from the development vocabulary altogether.

For the sake of Africa’s future, we should bring it back. Based on current trends, Africa as a whole is projected to double in size by 2050. Between 2050 and 2100, according to the United Nations, it could almost double again. In that case, the continent would have to quadruple its efforts just to maintain the current level of investment in health and education, which is too low already.

But if the rate of population growth slows down there will be more resources to invest in each African’s health, education, and opportunity – in other words, in a good life.

Alma Jodorowsky Is Carefree Code Coco Girl In Theo Wenner's Fall/Winter 2018

Alma Jodorowsky Is Carefree Code Coco Girl In Theo Wenner's Fall/Winter 2018

French actor, fashion model and singer Alma Jodorowsky is a carefree Code Coco girl, showcasing the watch in Theo Wenner’s Fall/Winter 2018 campaign, styled by Belén Casadevall.

#MeToo movement? Chanel is having none of it! Contemporary politics and fighting to keep her birth control? These are not worries in a Coco woman’s world. More female chefs? Who needs them when men do such a splendid job of running everything.

Code Coco watches are “meant to be intriguing, with its parts working together to cleverly reveal different design elements — much like a code,” wrote SCMP last fall. Perhaps it’s all a ruse . . . the Code Coco woman is really in charge . . . like her trust fund owns the whole shooting hotel match, so she doesn’t have a care in the world. She’s really the boss lady in disguise.

SC Nominee Brett Kavanaugh & Accuser Christine Blasey Ford To Testify Sept. 26

The announcement that accused Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser Christine Blasey Ford have both been invited to testify under oath in a public hearing next Monday ended a day of Senate Republican leaders projecting defiance on calls to slow down the confirmation process.

Dr. Ford has accused Judge Kavanaugh of assaulting her at a house party when he was 17 and she 15. Ford charges that a “stumbling drunk” Kavanaugh attacked her, with his friend Mark Judge present, when she went upstairs to go to the bathroom. According to Ford, Kavanaugh then jumped on top of her, tried to take her clothes off, and when she tried to scream, put his hand over her mouth and turned up the music. She said was able to free herself when Judge jumped on the bed, too, sending the three tumbling, giving her a chance to run into the bathroom and lock the door.

Blasey Ford took and passed a professionally administered polygraph test, administered by a retired FBI agent.

The hearing with Judge Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey Ford, a research psychologist in Northern California, sets up a potentially explosive public showdown, stirring up painful to women memories of the 1991 testimony of Anita Hill, who accused the future Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. Next Monday’s hearing will play against the backdrop of the #MeToo movement and countless sexual harassment and sexual assault accusations against Donald Trump. His presidency has fired up Democratic women across the nation in massive civic actions and unheard of numbers of women running for political offices at every level in every state.

In an article by her friends in tonight’s The Mercury News, the headline reads #MeToo spurred Christine Blasey Ford to open up. . .

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was a key force in ending the misguided perceptions among Republican white men leaders that the scheduled vote by the judiciary committee would still happen on Thursday. Or that the hearing would somehow not be public.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX), a senior member of the judiciary committee, told reporters Monday morning that a hearing was out of the question, calling it a  “show trial.” But after a meeting with Collins in her office, it became clear that his position was no longer untenable, writes The Daily Beast.

“I have said that in order for me to assess the credibility of these allegations that I want to have both individuals come before the Senate Judiciary Committee and testify under oath,” Collins told reporters Monday afternoon.

Collins won; Cornyn lost. And Collins was joined shortly after by her close associate, Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, another pro-choice Republican woman.

Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), made it clear Sunday evening that he would not support Kavanaugh without Blasey Ford publicly telling her story.

“Obviously these are serious charges,” Flake, who sits on the judiciary committee, told reporters. “And if they're true, I think they're disqualifying.” South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday night that he also found believable testimony from Blase Ford the end of Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.

Today there are no female Republican members of the Judiciary Committee, but there are four Democratic women, including ranking member Dianne Feinstein, who was elected the year after the Hill-Thomas hearings, in what came to be known as "The Year of the Woman."

Both Sen. Collins and Murkowski are more moderate than most Republican senators. They definitely hold the keys to Brett Kavanaugh’s future, but we shouldn’t assume that other Republican men won’t be persuaded to vote down the nomination.

No one is guaranteed a seat on the US Supreme Court.

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen Named Head Of Planned Parenthood

Baltimore Health Commissioner Dr. Leana Wen Named Head Of Planned Parenthood

Baltimore health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen has been named the new head of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Growing up poor in California as a Chinese refugee, Dr. Wen, her little sister and mother received ongoing health care from Planned Parenthood.

Wen is a prodigy who enrolled at Cal State University at age 13, graduating at 18 with a degree in biochemistry. She attended Washington University in St. Louis for medical school and was a fellow at Harvard. Dr. Wen also studied public health at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.

Before taking the health commissioner position in Baltimore, Dr. Wen forked as an emergency room doctor at George Washington University, where she was also a professor.

Dr. Wen says she is leaving a job she loves in Baltimore because of growing attacks by the Trump administration and other conservatives on Planned Parenthood and women’s reproductive health rights.

“I see how the single, biggest health catastrophe of our times is the threat to women’s health,” Wen said. “I am deeply troubled by how women’s health issues are singled out, stigmatized and attacked.”

Planned Parenthood’s need for an articulate and fierce public voice is filled by the outspoken commissioner who is widely known for her newspaper op-eds and TV appearances, writes The Baltimore Sun.