Joy Comes With Justice As Bland, Mallory and Sarsour Step Down From The Women's March

The January 21, 2017 Women’s March was the largest single-day march in US history, coming the day after Trump’s inauguration.

Justice has come to The Women’s March, an organization launched with the unified, anti-Trump passions of millions of women and men worldwide on January 21, 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s Presidential Inauguration . The Women’s March was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.

After that breathtaking launch, The Women’s March devolved into recriminations against Jewish women, in particular, and white women generally. The Women’s Marches scheduled in many cities for 2019 were either cancelled or were held after public rejections of the Women’s March National Board led by original march organizers Linda Sarsour, a Palestinian-American activist; Tamika Mallory, an African-American gun control activist; Bob Bland, a white fashion designer, and Carmen Perez-Jordan.

The pervasive attitude that The Women’s March team was focused — not on building a large network of pro-women’s rights women and men nationwide — but their own New York activists short list of priorities that prioritized racial, Palestinian and sexual minority issues over women’s issues was wide-spread. White women, in particular, had little place in The Women’s March group as it evolved.

Women's March Co-Chairs Linda Sarsour and Tamika Mallory speak during the Power to the Polls voter-registration tour last year in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The organizers preferred to remind Hillary supporters and Democratic women that the majority of America’s white women voted for Trump, as Tamika Mallory did during the Power to the Polls voter-registration tour last year in Las Vegas. It was staggeringly depressing in the time of Trump to listen to Mallory use her platform not to rally the Hillary supporters, but denounce white women as pro-Trump.

College-educated white women voted for Hillary, but they were shunned and charged with not being true feminists, especially as Jewish women not being willing to denounce Israel over the Palestinian conflict.

Mallory, in particular, refused to criticize Nation of Islam black nationalist Louis Farrakhan, who made incendiary remarks about Jews, at an event in which she sat in the front row. Mallory is passionate in her support for Farrakhan, calling him a GOAT. Sarsour also refused to criticize Farakhan for his virulently anti-Semitic comments.

Tamika Mallory, Linda Sarsour, Bob Bland and Carmen Perez. Perez will stay on with The Women’s March group.

On Monday, The Women’s March announced that co-Chairs Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour stepped down from the board July 15, though the organization has been slow to announce their departures. ,reports The Washington Post.

A diverse cast of 16 new board members that includes three Jewish women, a transgender woman, a former legislator, two religious leaders and a member of the Oglala tribe of the Lakota nation will inherit an organization recovering from a failed attempt to trademark the Women’s March name and fractured relationships with local activist groups and the Jewish community.

A new operating structure will be put in place shortly, which is a good thing because in its totally destructive state, the national Women March leadership was a total threat in telling white suburban women — an important voting block in the success of Democrats in the 2018 midterms — to go to hell. After Mallory’s speech in Las Vegas, I simply can’t imagine what she would have said to white women in the presidential election campaign. .

The three members who have resigned — Bob Bland, Tamika Mallory and Linda Sarsour — are avid Bernie Sanders supporters, which is a key reason why they refused to allow Hillary Clinton to be one of about 20 women honored at the maiden Women’s March launch on January 21, 2019. Despite their protestations to the contrary, the founders never sought unity with Hillary supporters, all but accusing us of electing Trump.

Words do not express my job at seeing these three women — especially Mallory and Sarsour — step down from The Women’s March organization. Now — let us rise in unity! We’ll cover the responses to this news in a followup article. Few will be as candid as my commentary, but these women totally crushed the Trumped-down spirits of so many women all over America .~ Anne

Nicolas Valois Snaps Military Fashion As Madame Figaro France Inspires Delayed 9/11 Reflections

Nicolas Valois Snaps Military Fashion As Madame Figaro France Inspires Delayed 9/11 Reflections

Model Loane Normand suits up in utilitarian military looks so fancied in Europe. Cecile Martin styles Normand in images by Nicolas Valois for Madame Figaro France August 31, 2019.

Speaking of taking a fancy to bad-ass military women, it’s Madame Figaro France who just introduced me to the new Valerie Plame Campaign video. Plame is a well-known CIA agent who was outed in the Bush administration and had to leave the service. She’s now running for Congress (the House of Representatives) as a Democrat from New Mexico. We have multiple new military and CIA women in Congress elected in November 2018 — and I love them.

Now that Madame Figaro has set up this nod to America’s women , let me share more of my favs. Next up, Amy McGrath running in Kentucky to unseat Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Amy narrowly lost her House election in November 2018.

Dutch Museum Faces Protest Over Exhibition on Nazi Design

A picture taken on September 8, 2019 shows a Swastika formed with red carpets by artist Ralph Posset during the opening of an exhibition entitled "Design of the Third Reich" at the Design Museum Den Bosch, in 's-Hertogenbosch, central Netherlands. - The exhibition will show the contribution of design to the development of the Nazi ideology. (ROB ENGELAAR/AFP/Getty Images for Smithsonian.com)

The show focuses on how design furthered the ‘development of the evil Nazi ideology,’ but critics worry the show glorifies Nazi aesthetics.

By Brigit Katz. First published on Smithsonian.com.

Swastikas hang from the walls. Nazi propaganda films play across the gallery. Photos display the imposing choreography of Hitler’s rallies. They’re all part of a new show in the Netherlands seeking to place Nazi design under scrutiny. The exhibition at the Design Museum in Den Bosch explores how aesthetics fueled “the development of the evil Nazi ideology,” as the museum puts it. But the show, which was met with protests on its opening day, also shows the challenges of presenting Nazi iconography within a museum setting.

As Daniel Boffey of the Guardian reports, “Design of the Third Reich” includes a 1943 Volkswagen Beetle, images from the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, films by the Nazi propagandist Leni Riefenstahl and a piece by Arno Breker, reported to be Hitler’s favorite sculptor. The exhibition uses the artifacts to explore the contradictions of Nazism’s grandiose, romantic aesthetics, which sought to convey an image of prosperity and “purity” while its adherents were carrying out the most heinous of crimes.

Museum officials have taken steps to ensure that the exhibition’s artifacts are not taken out of context and glorified. Photography is prohibited in the gallery, so visitors are unable to post pictures of themselves with sensitive materials, and the museum has hired extra security to patrol the exhibition spaces, as Dutch News reports. The museum has also recruited people to monitor what is being said about the show on social media. Additionally, a spokesperson tells Catherine Hickley of the Art Newspaper that museum staff held a “very fruitful conversation” with members of the local Communist Youth Movement, which had requested demonstration permits before the show’s opening, to explain the purpose of the exhibition.

But that did not stop communist activists from protesting near the entrance of the museum on Sunday. The Association of Dutch Anti-Fascists has condemned the show as “provocative” and called on authorities to shut it down.

Timo de Rijk, director of the Museum of Design, is sensitive to criticisms of the new exhibition. “They are concerned that maybe we are glorifying it all,” he said of the protestors. “I would not be doing this if I thought we were, but I can understand that they are aware of that kind of evil in history.”

The museum insists that it is important to take a critical look not only at the “good side of culture,” but also its more sordid chapters. “The Nazis were masters in using design to achieve their goal, to both convince and destroy huge numbers of people,” the museum states. “If you wholeheartedly want to be able to say ... ‘[N]ever again,’ you must take time to analyse how the influencing processes worked at the time.”

Hanna Luden, director of the Center for Information and Documentation on Israel in The Hague, seems to agree. She tells Stefan Dege of Deutsche Welle that the Museum of Design is walking a “tightrope act” with its displays of Nazi paraphernalia—but that ultimately, exposing the terrible, manipulating power of Third Reich propaganda is "fundamentally good."

Vogue Italia September Has Gorgeous Adut Akech + Vilma Sjöberg Covers | Farneti's Words Confuse

Vogue Italia September Has Gorgeous Adut Akech + Vilma Sjölberg Covers | Farneti's Words Confuse

The September 2019 issue of Vogue Italia brings two covers into the world of fashion speak and imagination. "Peace" is the guiding idea of Mert & Marcus’s image of Vilma Sjölberg, while “Couture” inspires Paolo Roversi in his Adut Akech cover.

Also read the texts by Michael Cunningham for the September covers of Vogue Italia signed by Mert & Marcus and Paolo Roversi. Note that this text is taken directly from the Vogue Italia . AOC finds it a tad confusing, as international translation always struggles with s(he) pronouns in Google translator. Reality is that this issue of Vogue Italia is focused on the importance of words, adding a note of irony to this modern word editorial focus. Always looking for the good in a situation, I first attributed the excessive use of ‘he’ to Google translator.

Reading the Vogue Italia website translation of Farneti’s editor’s letter, it seems that the extensive use of ‘he’ is intended., that the male pronoun is dominant, in which case AOC is pretty pissed off. After all, the history of Rome is even worse than the fall of women’s influence and power under the Greeks. Italy put the nail in the proverbial women’s rights coffin.

Super Majority's Ai-jen Poo, Cecile Richards + Alicia Garza Launch National Women Voters Bus Tour

Led by National Domestic Workers Alliance director Ai-jen Poo, former Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards, and Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza, the recently-formed Supermajority political action group will launch a 14 states and Washington, D.C. bus tour starting September 15.

Women are the majority of Americans. That's why @supermajority launched #MajorityRules—our vision, informed by tens of thousands of women, for how we can all live, work, & rise together—and it all starts with a nationwide bus tour.
Meet us along the way! https://t.co/1pkaN1N2GZ

— Ai-jen Poo (@aijenpoo)September 4, 2019

Based on answers from Super Majority’s Women's Poll, answered by 60,000 women so far, the organization will unveil a policy platform called the “Majority Rules.” Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and Latinx rights advocate Paola Ramos will intersect with the Super Majority bus, along with Democratic presidential candidates including Julian Castro, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), and Pete Buttigieg.

"Women have always been powerful in their own right, but too often, we have been excluded from the political decisions that shape our futures," said Richards in a statement. "This bus tour is an opportunity for our leaders—from the community level to the halls of Congress—to hear directly from women and speak to them about how they will ensure the issues we care about, our Majority Rules, are treated like the national priorities that they are."

While women make up the majority of U.S. voters, Poo added, they are too often treated as a "special interest group" by politicians and the press.

"We are the most powerful force in America," she said. "It's time our leaders acknowledge us, look like us, and represent us. This bus tour will reach women across America who are doing more than resisting; they're taking action to better their lives, their communities, and their country so we can rise together."

Adut Akech Has Warrior Goddess Status In Andrew Nuding Vogue Australia September Cover Story

Adut Akech Has Warrior Goddess Status In Andrew Nuding Vogue Australia September Cover Story

Top model Adut Akech (a true supermodel in AOC’s eyes, and we NEVER use the term loosely) covers the September 2019 issue of Vogue Australia. On the cover (see last image), Adut wears a Maticevski tulle overcoat, Maticevski gown, Maticevski earring, Maticevski x Heart of Bone Couture Pistol Ring, styled by Jillian Davidson. Other brands featured in the shoot include Alexander McQueen, Miu Miu, Maticevski, Valentino, Vetements and more.

One can’t deny the comments of Vogue Australia’s editor-in-chief Edwina McCann that the gowns are “whimsical” and a high-fashion “fairytale”. And it’s easy to portray Adut Akech’s rise from refugee status to model stardom as yet another “fairytale”.

AOC is the last fashion website to talk pure pc, as it’s maddening to see the slight offences that can get one in terrible trouble these days. But talking of fairytale lives for the breakout girl of color is not what the worlds’ women need — not black-skin women, brown-skin women, yellow or red skin or white-skin women.

Statues For Equality by Aussie Artists Gillie + Marc Schattner Unveils First 10 Public Statues in New York

Zimbabwean scholar Tererai Trent has been immortalized in a bronze statue in New York

Life-size statues of 10 accomplished women across a wide spectrum of global life were unveiled in New York this week. Standing next to larger-than-life humanist-activist stars like Oprah, Nicole Kidman and Cate Blanchett is Zimbabwean scholar Tererai Trent.

Trent grew up in Zimbabwe where girls were not educated. Determined to learn, Trent taught herself to read and relocated to the US in 1998 through the efforts of an American nonprofit that visited her village. This “dream” come true of getting a bachelor’s degree, a master’s, and a PhD was realized after she wrote down her aspirations, sealing them in a tin can and burying them deep in the ground.

Trent’s life in America was hardly a carefree, upwards climb, but like so many women, she is a survivor. Today Dr Tererai Trent is one of the world’s most internationally recognized voices for quality education and women’s empowerment. Distinguished as Oprah Winfrey’s “All-time favorite guest”, Trent is a prominent activist for equal rights to education. Read more about Dr. Trent’s story.

Where . . . oh where are the women?

The lack of representation of women in public spaces has long been associated with patriarchal attitudes and the general “invisibility” of women globally.

New York is grappling with its own embarrassing dearth of female statues in Manhattan and the five boroughs, with a whopping 3% of public humans honored being female. Consider that one of those memorable female “beings” is Alice in Wonderland in Central Park, and you understand the scope of the problem.

Alice in Wonderland statue in Central Park.

There’s a note of irony in two Aussie artists seeking to remedy New York’s “no women statues” problem, but in the era of Trump, we’ll take any help we can get. Sculptors Gillie and Marc Schattner launched Statues For Equality to commemorate Women's Equality Day on August 26 under the "Sculpted for Equal Rights" banner.

Note that Sydney and London are also in the ditch with their own scores of 4% and 3% of historical women statues, suggesting that New York can be a global launchpad for their effort, a hunch confirmed by the Statues For Equality website.

The New York project is just the start of Statues For Equality and the initiative is now worldwide, with projects in many different countries, including Australia the UK and the US. Gillie and Marc are keen that the sculptures are representative of all women and know that the public are the best people to ensure this happens! 

“We hope that as the project expands, it will include a broader diversity of race, class, ability, sexual orientation and gender expression,” says Gillie.

Besides Blanchett, Kidman, Trent and Winfrey, other women honored with New York statues include Cheryl Strayed, Gabby Douglas, Jane Goodall, Janet Mock, Pink, and Tracy Dyson. Read their stories.

U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s New Poetry Collection Brings Native Issues to the Forefront

U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo’s New Poetry Collection Brings Native Issues to the Forefront

Seeing Joy Harjo perform live is a transformational experience. The internationally acclaimed performer and poet of the Muscogee (Mvskoke)/Creek nation transports you by word and by sound into a womb-like environment, echoing a traditional healing ritual. The golden notes of Harjo’s alto saxophone fill the dark corners of a drab university auditorium as the audience breathes in her music.

Born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Harjo grew up in a home dominated by her violent white stepfather. She first expressed herself through painting before burying herself in books, art and theater as a means of survival; she was kicked out of the home at age 16. Although she never lived on a reservation nor learned her tribal language, at age 19 she officially enrolled in the Muscogee tribe and remains active today. Though she has mixed ancestry, including Muscogee, Cherokee, Irish and French nationalities, Harjo most closely identifies with her Native American ancestry. On June 19, the Library of Congress named her the United States Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that position; she’ll officially take on the role next month.

Central Park Women's Suffrage Monument Redesigned to Include Sojourner Truth

For nearly a year, the proposed Central Park statue honoring women’s suffrage in America has been plagued in controversy. It’s difficult to believe that in 2019, planners of the monument could be so tone-deaf to the race-related arguments swirling around America’s women’s rights history.

The Women’s March 2017, organized by a group of women who refused to honor legendary women’s rights Hillary Clinton, after her defeat by Donald Trump, signaled a new day for setting the record straight — the truth and also new lies and distortions — about the history of American feminism.

The original design by sculptor Meredith Bergmann visually elevated two prominent white women — Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton — over a scrolling list of 22 other women, seven of them women of color. AOC disagrees with the complaint that Anthony and Stanton were metaphorically “standing’ on the other women.” But they certainly look like boss ladies at a time when younger people are rejecting hierarchy and white superiority, along with a nonexistent recognition of the contributions of people of color — and slaves specifically — in building America.

For context, there is NO statue of any nonfictional female of any skin color in Central Park and around New York, writes the New York Times. The park currently features no historical women but statues of fictional girls like Alice from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and Juliet from William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’

While a new visual of the proposed statue to be erected on Central Park’s Literary Walk by 2020 is not available, it’s a miracle that the proposed design was aborted at all. Women including Gloria Steinem helped turn back the design against the nearly insurmountable rules and regulations that defined its artistic creation initially and the legitimate controversy that ensued.

“Our goal has always been to honor the diverse women in history who fought for equality and justice and who dedicated their lives to fight for Women’s Rights,” Pam Elam said in a statement. The president of the Monumental Women’s Statue Fund, the group financing the sculpture, added: “It is fitting that Anthony, Stanton, and Truth stand together in this statue as they often did in life.” via Hyperallergic.

Related: Central Park Women's Suffrage Monument by Sculptor Meredith Bergmann Unveiled AOC She

Angelina Jolie Covers Harper's Bazaar US September 2019 and the Subject Is Witches

Angelina Jolie Covers Harper's Bazaar US September 2019 and the Subject Is Witches

Wonder woman Angelina Jolie follows in the steps of Beyonce’s essay in the September 2019 issue of Vogue, choosing to set her own narrative. Given the generally low quality of women’s magazines’ interview questions — I agree they have made progress — the haters should stop clutching their pearls around journalistic integrity and come up to Angelina’s level.

AIPAC Leads Other Jewish Groups, Lawmakers Condemning Israel Banning Tlaib + Omar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, said Reps. Rashida Tlaib, center, and Ilhan Omar, right, provided an itinerary that "revealed that they planned a visit whose sole objective is to strengthen the boycott against us and deny Israel’s legitimacy.” (Laura E. Adkins for JTA/Getty Images)

Loud voices — both Democrats and Republicans — living in America and in Israel expressed condemnation and in some cases outrage over Israel’s decision on Thursdayto ban Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar from entering Israel and the Palestinian territories this weekend.

Prominent pro-Israel group AIPAC was joined by other establishment Jewish groups to criticize Omar and Tlaib’s support for the movement to boycott Israel. But like others who have their differences with the two House reps, AIPAC said that Israel should nonetheless allow sitting members of the United States Congress to enter the country and see it for themselves, writes JTA ( Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

“We disagree with Reps. Omar and Tlaib’s support for the anti-Israel and anti-peace BDS movement, along with Rep. Tlaib’s calls for a one-state solution,” the organization tweeted, referring to the boycott Israel movement. “We also believe every member of Congress should be able to visit and experience our democratic ally Israel firsthand.”

Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, had previously said Israel would not bar any members of Congress. But it appears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flip-flopped minutes after President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter that Israel “would show great weakness” if it let in the two congresswomen.

Tlaib, D-Mich, and Omar, D-Minn., are supporters of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. Under Israeli law, BDS supporters can be prevented from entering the country. They have also at times invoked what critics call anti-Semitic tropes in criticizing the Jewish state.

The New York Times breaks down the specifics of the two-year-old Israeli law used to bar Tlaib aned Omar.

JTA shares specifics on individuals and groups supporting Netanyahu’s decision and those opposing it, as well as newly posted Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren criticize Israel’s decision to bar Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib

Over 100 Top Models + Time's Up Join Model Alliance In Open Letter to Victoria's Secret

On Tuesday morning, over 100 models, including Christy Turlington Burns, Edie Campbell, Karen Elson, Milla Jovovich, Doutzen Kroes, and Gemma Ward, signed an open letter addressed directly to Victoria’s Secret. The letter petitioned the lingerie brand to take concrete actions in protecting models against sexual misconduct.

The letter was properly addressed to Victoria’s Secret’s CEO John Mehas and it pulled no punches:

We are writing today to express our concern for the safety and wellbeing of the models and young women who aspire to model for Victoria’s Secret. In the past few weeks, we have heard numerous allegations of sexual assault, alleged rape, and sex trafficking of models and aspiring models. While these allegations may not have been aimed at Victoria's Secret directly, it is clear that your company has a crucial role to play in remedying the situation. From the headlines about L Brands CEO Leslie Wexner’s close friend and associate, Jeffrey Epstein, to the allegations of sexual misconduct by photographers Timur Emek, David Bellemere, and Greg Kadel, it is deeply disturbing that these men appear to have leveraged their working relationships with Victoria’s Secret to lure and abuse vulnerable girls.

L Brands CEO Les Wexner (l) and former CMO Ed Razek (r) in happier times.

The letter then proceeds to invite Victoria’s Secret to join the RESPECT Program —a program of the Model Alliance—is the only existing anti-sexual harassment program designed by and for models.

Signatory companies make a binding commitment to require their employees, agents, vendors, photographers and other contractors to follow a code of conduct that protects everyone’s safety on the job, and reduces models’ vulnerability to mistreatment. Models have access to an independent, confidential complaint mechanism, with swift and fair resolution of complaints and appropriate consequences for abusers. Further, RESPECT includes a robust training program aimed toward prevention, to ensure that everyone understands their rights and responsibilities.

“Corporations tend to treat the discovery of abuses as public-relations crises to be managed rather than human-rights violations to be remedied,” says Sara Ziff, the founder and executive director of the Model Alliance. “The RESPECT Program provides Victoria’s Secret an opportunity not only to right the wrongs of the past but also to work towards prevention.”

Ziff recently penned an essay for the Cut detailing her own encounter with Epstein as a young model. She highlighted just how long an imbalance of power and lack of protections have “plagued” the industry. She wrote: “Now, we need the support of agencies, publishing companies, and fashion brands who want to do better by the talent who they purport to protect.”

In November, the Model Alliance issued a statement following disgraced L Brands Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek’s infamous Vogue interview in advance of Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Razek retired from Victoria’s Secret on Monday.

Greg Abbott Invoked Mental Illness After the El Paso Shooting. Where Is Evidence?

Greg Abbott Invoked Mental Illness After the El Paso Shooting. Where Is Evidence?

Hours after a white gunman walked into an El Paso Walmart on Saturday and killed nearly two dozen Hispanic shoppers, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott addressed a room full of reporters in the border city and expressed grief and support for the community.

As high-profile mass shootings continue to erupt across the country — three of which occurred in Texas in the last two years — a reporter asked the governor what he planned on doing to ensure one doesn’t happen again.

Abbott, a Republican, hesitated, then spoke at length about how the state Legislature reacted to the 2018 high school shooting in Santa Fe, eventually focusing on what he said was the most agreed-upon need: addressing mental health issues.

“Bottom line is mental health is a large contributor to any type of violence or shooting violence, and the state of Texas this past session passed a lot of legislation and provided funding for the state to better address that challenge,” he concluded, referring to bills aimed at improving children’s mental health care.

Behind him, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, a Democrat from El Paso, visibly stiffened, shaking her head slightly as Abbott connected mental illness to what appears to be an act of domestic terrorism fueled by a white supremacist ideology.

The next day, before a downtown El Paso vigil for the victims, she put into words what had been apparent on her face.

“I would also call on those who use mental illness as an excuse to please stop. Please stop,” Escobar told reporters, to light applause from those beginning to arrive for the service. “It further stigmatizes those who truly suffer from mental illness, and the fact of the matter is people with mental illness are far more likely to be victims of violent crime, not perpetrators.”

“This tragedy is not in vain if we can finally have a reckoning in this country as to what is really going on,” she added.

Valentina Sampaio Shoots Pink Campaign for Victoria's Secret, As Ed Razek Steps Down from L Brands

We have the welcome news that Victoria’s Secret Chief Marketing Officer Ed Razek has retired in the wake of growing fallout around Jeffrey Epstein’s connections to L Brands chief and major stockholder Les Wexner. The plot has thickened so deep that even I — who worked in the business for a decade and knew both men well — am waiting for the next shoe to drop.

Razek was riding high — not in terms of VS revenues and profits, which were clobbered last year — but in an interview with Vogue in advance of the now cancelled, annual Victoria’s Secret fashion show. Among the tough questions fielded to Razek was one about using ‘transsexual’ models in the fashion show.

Razek claimed that “transsexual” models should not be cast “because the show is fantasy.” We know he meant “male fantasy” which is among the many reasons for the decline of VS. Former Victoria’s Secret Angel Karlie Kloss and current Angel Lily Aldridge clapped back online, stating that trans and gender non-conforming lives are not up for debate.

In a bit of poetic justice, Razek is out and transgender beauty Valentina Sampaio, a 22-year-old model hailing from Brazil, has shot a new campaign for Victoria’s Secret Pink.

I find Sampaio’s sultry, intoxicating images to be more conducive for the VS mothership, but whatever role she plays, we say kudos.

Hiring Sampaio won’t begin to solve Victoria’s Secret’s problems, but at least we know that new VS CEO John Mehas is putting his foot down. Mehas most recently was president of Tory Burch and from all we know, his thinking is much more advanced in terms of today’s women and also the attitudes of young shoppers than either Razek’s or Wexner’s.

Resistance to Private Prison Industry Mounts Amid Debate Over Trump’s Immigration Detention Policies

Resistance to Private Prison Industry Mounts Amid Debate Over Trump’s Immigration Detention Policies

The private prison industry is under renewed scrutiny, and things are not going well for it. Prison companies were already under fire, accused of putting profits above the well-being of incarcerated individuals and staff at the dozens of federal and state prisons and local jails they run around the country. Currently, about 8 percent of state and federal prisoners are held in privately operated facilities across 27 states and the federal system.

But these companies aren’t only in the business of housing people convicted of crimes. As of July, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had almost 53,000 people in its custody, and private prison firms are responsible for detaining more than 70 percent of them. Now the industry is getting more attention because of President Trump’s immigration detention policies, such as separating children from their parents, and because of the terrible conditions in many detention facilities, many of which are run by the government and not private firms.

Ironically, because of the Trump administration’s focus on building a border wall and keeping immigrants out, a Republican administration thought to be a boon to the private prison sector has proved one of its biggest problems. As resistance to current immigration policies mount, here is a roundup of some of the high-profile actors targeting the industry.

Presidential election politics

At least 11 Democrats running for president want to eliminate private prisons. Sen. Kamala Harris of California recently tweeted, “One of my first acts of business as president will be to begin phasing out detention centers and private prisons.” Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts issued a sweeping plan to eviscerate the industry by attempting to phase out federal contracts for private prisons and by reducing states’ reliance on the industry through cutting federal funding to states that contract with these companies. Other candidates have expressed support for immediately canceling all federal contracts with the industry and phasing out the government’s reliance on private prisons.

School Spankings Are Banned Just About Everywhere Around The World Except In US

School Spankings Are Banned Just About Everywhere Around The World Except In US

In 1970, only three countries – ItalyJapan and Mauritius – banned corporal punishment in schools. By 2016, more than 100 countries banned the practice, which allows teachers to legally hit, paddle or spank students for misbehavior.

The dramatic increase in bans on corporal punishment in schools is documented in an analysis that we conducted recently to learn more about the forces behind the trend. The analysis is available as a working paper.

In order to figure out what circumstances led to bans, we looked at a variety of political, legal, demographic, religious and economic factors. Two factors stood out from the rest.

First, countries with English legal origin – that is, the United Kingdom as well as its former colonies that implemented British common law – were less likely to ban corporal punishment in schools across this time period.

Second, countries with higher levels of female political empowerment, as measured by things such as women’s political participation or property rights – that is, women having the right to sell, buy and own property – were more likely to ban corporal punishment.

Other factors, such as form of government, level of economic development, religious adherence and population size, appear to play a much less significant role, if at all.

We are experts in education policyinternational policy and law. In order to conduct our analysis, we constructed a dataset of 192 countries over 47 years using country reports from the Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children and the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child. Then we matched it to data from the Quality of Government Institute.

After Warren Kanders Resignation From Whitney, Museum Boards Ponder Their Futures

After Warren Kanders Resignation From Whitney, Museum Boards Ponder Their Futures

Last week ended on a positive note for protesters and artists committed to forcing the resignation of Warren B. Kanders as vice chair of the board of New York’s Whitney Museum.

Protesters were adamant that his ownership of Safariland, a defense-manufacturing company that supplied state-of-the-art tear gas to quell protesters everywhere in the world disqualified him as any kind of representative of artists opposed to global militarization. Evidence mounted that Kanders’ stake in Sierra Bullets,linked him directly to high-velocity ammunition allegedly used by Israeli soldiers in Gaza against Palestinian civilian protesters.

With Kanders out at the Whitney and no specified game plan on how to move forward, all parties involved from artists to activists, patrons and buyers of art are asking what happens next. ARTnews writes that the Kanders’ resignation is a sign “of the shifting balance between museum boards and their critics, with protesters believing that they have won the day.

Don’t overthink the situation, say many of the critics, who have generally taken a stand against defense contractors and fortunes made from armaments worldwide. The Sackler family also has been the target of protests as they are tied deeply — if not exclusively — as profiteers tied to America’s epidemic drug crisis launched by OxyContin.

How the Conservative Right Hijacks Religion and Why Democrats Must Challenge Them

How the Conservative Right Hijacks Religion and Why Democrats Must Challenge Them

Democrats are beginning to challenge the Republican grip on the language of religion and faith in the United States. Democrat Sen. Chris Coons, a graduate of Yale Divinity School, recently wrote an essay for The Atlantic, “Democrats Need to Talk About Their Faith.”

This is a bold and necessary move. However, it may come up against scientific and progressive resistance. This resistance is based on the claim that science and religion, or religion and progressive politics, are incompatible.

Scorn for religion can be seen both among some learned atheists or in popular culture. Oxford evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins dismissively discusses religion in The God Delusion; comedian, political commentator and talk show host Bill Maher’s documentary Religulous also took a smug and barbed approach and has faced criticisms of liberal Islamophobia.

Bernie Sanders Campaign Should Stop The White Women's Privilege Lectures

Bernie Sanders Campaign Should Stop The White Women's Privilege Lectures

Last February Jennifer Wright addressed Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders’ problem with women, writing Bernie Sanders’ Sexism Problem for Harper’s Bazaar.

“We have got to look at candidates, you know, not by the color of their skin, not by their sexual orientation or their gender and not by their age. I mean, I think we have got to try to move us toward a non-discriminatory society which looks at people based on their abilities, based on what they stand for.” Vermont Public Radio, Feb. 2019

Many women and people of color view that statement as a reaffirmation of the “let white men rule, we’re better at it” theory of political governance. Wright perfects her roast of Sanders, and I encourage to read her piece, while I pull out a few highlights that still simmer in my conscious as a super active person in the Hillary Clinton campaign.

There was a bit of poetic justice when women who worked for Bernie in his 2016 primary campaign came forward to discuss how they were paid less and experienced sexual harassment. You see, with rare exceptions — finally hiring Symone Sanders who served as his national press secretary until late June 2016 — Bernie couldn’t really find many good women of any skin color to hire at a high level. His campaign was run by white men — a feature that he has fixed in his current 2020 run for the Democratic nomination.

Still, when women working in the field and as organizers complained about both wages and fending off sexual advances from male staffers, Bernie grabbed his mop of white hair and defended his inaction saying initially “I was a little bit busy running around the country”. After all, Bernie Sanders said that “women’s issues were a distraction” and Planned Parenthood — who is getting the crap kicked out of them by the Trump administration — is “the establishment”.

Artist Dewey Crumpler Opposes Destroying 'Life of Washington' Mural For Very Good Reasons

Artist Dewey Crumpler Opposes Destroying 'Life of Washington' Mural For Very Good Reasons

The firestorm over destroying the California New Deal-era George Washington Mural by Victor Arnautoff has hit Politico today. I've shared 2-3 earlier updates on AOC. For a refresher, Politico summarized the situation:

"The San Francisco Board of Education voted unanimously last month to paint over all 13 panels of the 1600 sq. ft. mural “Life of Washington,’’ a historic work commissioned during the New Deal that depicts George Washington as a slave owner. The move came after several vocal protesters demanded the move at a public meeting, saying their children were “traumatized” by depictions of the nation’s first president standing over the images of dead Native Americans."

Well, California Dems are so angry at the San Francisco school board that they sent out an emergency email alert seeking support for an effort to back a voter’s ballot measure to save the murals.

Dubbed the Coalition to Protect Public Art, the initiative aims to protect this art, “and perhaps other New Deal art in San Francisco’’ which may also be targeted.