Secret Service Debunks Trump Lawyer Jay Sekulow's Lie That They Should Have Vetted Trump Jr. Russians Meeting

In the blithering nonsense that rolls from tongues in Trumplandia, President Trump's personal lawyer had a new argument on the ever-changing Donald Trump Jr. meeting with the Russians, one he expressed on his marathon-man appearances on all five Sunday news talk shows.

Trump's lawyer Jay Sekulow argued that it was the fault of the US Secret Service that Donald Trump's Jr.'s mishap meeting happened in the first place -- b-e-c-a-u-s-e it was the responsibility of the Secret Service to vet the meeting with Russians at Trump Tower. Game over. 

The Secret Service quickly shot down the assertion, much as the Dept. of Homeland Security slammed Trump's assertion that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch had personally issued the US visa to Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya.

“Donald Trump, Jr. was not a protectee of the USSS in June, 2016. Thus we would not have screened anyone he was meeting with at that time,” Secret Service spokesman Mason Brayman said in a statement.

After the inauguration, Trump's kids do indeed have Secret Service protection, as they do Trump family deals all over the world. But there was none during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

CFDA Honors Gloria Steinem As Trump Moves To Curtail Women's Right To Birth Control, Bowing To Religious Forces

Feminist icon Gloria Steinem arrived on the national stage with her 1962 essay 'The Moral Disarmament of Betty Coed'. In 1963, Steinem famously used her good looks and socially-perceived 'hot bod' to work undercover at the Playboy Club, penning her experiences in an essay called 'A Bunny's Tale'. Feeling the backlash, in 2969 Steinem explained why men shouldn't fear feminists in 'After Black Power, Women's Liberation'. 

In 2017, many American women wonder why we can't cement our equality in 21st century America, where anti-feminist forces are perhaps more formidable than ever. Surrounded by pundits who argued that Hillary Clinton should drop the allegation that misogyny played any role in the 2016 election, former RNC chairman Michael Steele agreed that misogyny DID play a role, describing America as a very provincial nation with traditional views about women's roles. 

In the aftermath of Clinton's loss, the fashion industry is galvanized around women's issues, having taken a Clinton win for granted. On June 5, Steinem will receive the CFDA Board of Directors' Tribute for her endless legacy of work within the women's movement, in an honor presented by her close friend Diane von Furstenberg, a board member of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. 

In a week when the Trump administration is a Trump Tweet away from abandoning the Democrats argument that contraception is a fundamental plank of women's health with a dilution of the contraception mandate, the battle to control women's reproduction is a Republican priority. The move would impact thousands of women who currently get contraception from employer-provided insurance plans with no out-of-pocket costs. Trump believes that a company's CEO's religious beliefs should dictate the right of women's employees to affordable contraception. 

Gloria Steinem agrees that "we're all enmeshed in this political system that is devoted to controlling reproduction." This staggering reality is a dagger in the hearts of the majority of American women living in the 21st century. 

Vogue.com invites 17 self-described feminists to share their thoughts about feminism today and what Steinem means to them, from her writings to her street activism and also her revolutionary fashion style. 

Merkel's Christian Democrats Have Strong Showing In Germany's Regional Election

German Chancellor Angela Merkel surely was smiling today, learning the results of France's presidential election. But Merkel had an even more important reason to celebrate over the "stunning triumph", writes the LA Times, of her Christian Democrats over the ruling center-left Social Democrats in Schleswig-Holstein, home to 2.3 million voters and 400,000 dairy cows. The win gives Merkel's Christian Democrats much-needed momentum in advance of next Sunday's regional election in Germany's most populous state -- North Rhine-Westphalia, with 13 million voters. 

Germany is not worried presently about a Marine Le Pen-like, nationalist confrontation among German voters, but Merkel has been at risk to her "colorful, straight-talking, multilingual challenger Social Democrat Martin Schulz" in the Sept. 24 election where she is seeking a fourth four-year term. Merkel's Christian Democrats beat the Social Democrats in Schleswig-Holstein by a margin of 32.5% vs 27%. Next week will give Merkel a comprehensive view of where she stands, although four months is forever in today's world.