Mar 30
Editor’s note: For Women’s History Month, The Root is celebrating women from a wide range of professional industries in our video series Women at Work.
Mar 30
Mar 30
Ford has announced a pair of recalls that collectively span 440,000 vehicles in North America. Of the two recalls, one affects 211,000 cars and concerns possibly faulty side door latches; the other recall covers about 230,000 vehicles that are at risk of fires under the hood. Though the automaker has had more than two dozen reports of such fires, there … Continue reading
Mar 30
8 Ladies, Inspired By Maxine Waters, Share What Makes Them Strong Black Women
Posted in: Today's ChiliRep. Maxine Waters (D-Ca.) exuded the ultimate class, grace and strength on Tuesday.
The congresswoman responded to Bill O’Reilly’s racist and sexist insult about her hair with words that deserve to be a daily affirmation.
“I am a strong black woman, and I cannot be intimidated. I cannot be undermined,” Waters said on MSNBC.
Waters paraphrased her powerful words in a tweet using the hashtag #BlackWomenAtWork, amplified by activist Brittany Packnett in response to the disrespect the representative and White House correspondent April D. Ryan endured on Tuesday.
HuffPost Black Voices was so inspired by Waters’ response that we decided to highlight even more women. Using the hashtag #StrongBlackWoman, we asked our Twitter followers to tell us what makes them a boss.
Check out some of their tweets below:
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Mar 30
A photo of actor Patrick Stewart dressed in drag in 2016 lit up social media after people began to draw comparisons between Stewart’s look and that of presidential advisor Kellyanne Conway.
Now Stewart himself is weighing in.
The “Star Trek” actor playfully declared “Twinsies” on Twitter on Tuesday while sharing a side-by-side photo of them both sporting hot pink with platinum blond hair and black eye makeup.
Stewart had dressed up like a woman a year ago in Los Angeles to promote his show “Blunt Talk” in April 2016. It took months before someone put his face next to Conway’s on the internet.
Now the inevitable conclusion: a fan push for Stewart to play Conway on “SNL.”
“SNL” (and “Star Trek”) fans are messaging pleas like “make it so,” or writing that Stewart should “go where no man has gone before.”
Of course, Patrick wouldn’t be the first person to portray someone of the opposite gender on the popular NBC program.
In addition to Melissa McCarthy’s recent portrayal of Press Secretary Sean Spicer and McKinnon’s Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Will Farrell famously portrayed Janet Reno, the nation’s first female Attorney General ― who in one “SNL” skit got in on the joke by appearing on stage with the actor.
One thing: Despite these comparisons, they almost certainly wouldn’t get along. While Trump’s senior counselor is a stalwart supporter of the president, the “X-Men” star is a steadfast Trump detractor.
The British actor even said early this month on “The View” that he’s working toward getting his U.S. citizenship so he can more effectively fight the administration. The “only good thing as the result of this election, I am now applying for citizenship — because I want to be an American, too,” said Stewart. “All of my friends in Washington said there’s only one thing you can do: fight, fight, oppose, oppose. But I can’t do it because I’m not a citizen.”
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Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tom Hanks, Tracy Morgan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Michael Moore, Padma Lakshmi and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Donate now and join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31 on Facebook Live. #standforrights2017
You can support the ACLU right away. Text POWER to 20222 to give $10 to the ACLU. The ACLU will call you to explain other actions you can take to help. Visit www.hmgf.org/t for terms.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Mar 30
Over the last 48 hours, members of the Trump administration have embarked on a stunningly tone-deaf campaign.
After a presidential campaign rife with blatant misogyny, President Donald Trump spent his first months in office contemplating anti-woman policies surrounded by groups of white men. Now, Team Trump would like the public to believe that women’s empowerment is an administration-wide priority.
Before you crawl into a corner to laugh and/or weep, let’s review the events of the last two days:
On Tuesday, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Ivanka Trump held an event at the National Air and Space Museum, extolling the women of NASA featured in “Hidden Figures,” as well as the Trump administration’s apparent commitment to NASA and STEM education writ large. Meanwhile, the budget that President Trump has proposed would completely eliminate the NASA Office of Education ― which funds programs to get kids from marginalized communities involved in STEM.
On Wednesday morning, First Lady Melania Trump gave remarks at the State Department honoring the 12 women who received the 2017 Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Awards. “As leaders, we must continue to work towards gender empowerment and respect for people from all backgrounds and ethnicities,” she said, adding: “Wherever women are diminished, the entire world is diminished with them.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Press Secretary Sean Spicer echoed the First Lady’s remarks, and then took her sentiments quite a few steps further.
“The president made women’s empowerment a priority throughout the campaign,” he said earnestly, theoretically hoping his audience wouldn’t remember this president called his female opponent a “nasty woman” during one debate and alluded to how big his dick was during another.
A few hours later, President Trump joined a White House Women’s Empowerment Panel to deliver a speech filled with platitudes about women entrepreneurs, working mothers, affordable child care and Susan B. Anthony. “Only by enlisting the full potential of women in our society will we be truly able to ― you have not heard this expression before ― make America great again,” he said.
And yet President Trump has done nothing to support women (other than his daughter) who want to see their full potential enlisted.
Apparently, members of Team Trump believe that if they say that they care about women’s empowerment enough times, that makes it so. That’s not actually how reality works.
Before becoming president, reality star Donald Trump was caught on tape bragging about grabbing women by the pussy without their consent. He said that Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever.” He spoke to reporters about both of his daughters’ bodies. He made demeaning comments about the looks of famous women. He held rallies where his supporters cheered and chanted “lock her up!” He suggested that sexual assault was a natural outcome of allowing women to serve next to men in the military. He faced more than a dozen public accusations of sexual assault. (He is currently trying to use his position as POTUS to get out of a defamation suit filed by one of his accusers.)
This is not a man who was ever going to be a credible spokesperson for women’s issues.
Since entering office, the Trump administration has done little to indicate that the needs of women are a priority. The president reinstated and expanded the global gag rule, which prevents NGOs from receiving U.S. aid if they provide abortion counseling or referrals ― in a room full of white men. The (now defunct) GOP health care bill included a provision to defund Planned Parenthood, and would have eliminated maternity care from many insurance plans. The administration sent two women who have spent their professional lives opposing LGBTQ rights and reproductive rights to represent the United States at the UN’s annual summit on women. Experts say that Trump’s proposed budget would be devastating to poor victims of domestic violence. And the “affordable child care” he says he wants to fight for has not made its way into any meaningful legislation.
Donald Trump became president by tapping into men’s fears that equality for women would mean less power for them. He’s spent his time in office proving to those men they have nothing to worry about. When he chants “Make America Great Again” to a room full of women, the irony is completely lost on him that the “again” he’s referring to means a returning to a time in which women had fewer opportunities, rights and seats at the proverbial table.
Nice-sounding words about women are just nice-sounding words. When you’re (a known misogynist) leading a nation, actions speak a whole lot louder, and no faux feminist speech tour is going to change that.
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Mar 30
Moving a dead body is a lot like working out. You don’t want to do it, but once you’re doing it, it’s not a big deal.
In this completely improvised one-take video, comedians Tracy Soren and Jessie Jolles have a problem. Kyle, a guy Jessie is dating, maaaaaay have died.
Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, Mahershala Ali, Amy Poehler and a whole host of other stars are teaming up for Stand for Rights: A Benefit for the ACLU. Join us at 7 p.m. Eastern on Friday, March 31, on Facebook Live.
You can support the ACLU right away. Text POWER to 20222 to give $10 to the ACLU. The ACLU will call you to explain other actions you can take to help. Visit www.hmgf.org/t for terms. #StandForRights2017
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Mar 30
Before he passed away, Alidy Clark’s dad called her his little princess.
Following his death in November, the 3-year-old from Tampa, Florida has been wearing princess costumes every day.
“Her therapist calls it coping with costumes,” Alidy’s mom, Jenna Haslam, told The Huffington Post. “Every day she puts one on and whispers, ‘Look, Daddy, I’m your princess.’”
Alidy’s favorite costume is Ariel from “The Little Mermaid,” which is the one she wears most days.
And because she loves mermaids so much, she’s also pretty fond of her 15-year-old babysitter, Keegan Carnahan who has pink hair just like some of her mermaid dolls.
On March 22, Keegan babysat Alidy. And of course, the toddler arrived at Keagan’s house in her signature Ariel fins.
So, Keegan got an idea.
“I had gone through a phase a couple years ago in which I bought a mermaid tail that I could swim around in my pool in,” Keagan told HuffPost. “I had it in my closet for a couple years so [Alidy] had never seen it.”
When it was bath time, Keagan surprised Alidy with her scaly ensemble.
“It was a great way to lure her into the bathtub,” Keagan said.
And, boy, did she make a splash. Alidy absolutely loved being in the tub with another lady of the sea.
Just look at that face:
“Alidy was smiling from ear to ear. She commented on how ‘beautiful’ my tail was,” Keagan said. “I was overjoyed. She has been having a really hard time comprehending her dad’s death, so I was so happy that she could spend 20 minutes being a worry-free little mermaid.”
Keagan was so touched by the experience, that she decided to share pictures from their mermaid adventure on Twitter:
The tweet soon went viral, receiving over 31,000 likes and 18,000 retweets.
People clearly loved it:
But when it comes to Alidy, Keagan is just happy to be part of her word.
“I’m elated that I’m able to be a part of her life,” she told HuffPost. “Because she really is a hilarious and kind-spirited kid!”
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
Mar 30
Ah, a day at the beach. Blue skies. A balmy breeze. Sand between your toes. And a seagull puking its brains out because it’s ingested far too many plastic bits.
Famed marine sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor created this figure as part of a larger installation meant to convey a sense of urgency about the amount of plastic debris in the world’s oceans.
Taylor partnered with the nonprofit Greenpeace to erect his disturbing installation in central London this week.
The full work, called “Plasticide,” sits outside of the Royal National Theater. In addition to the vomiting seagull, the installation depicts a family of four enjoying a regular day at the beach. There are several other birds in the piece, and several other colorful piles of plastic ― presumably the other birds have already puked and moved on to find more garbage.
Each year, 8 million tons of plastic wind up in the ocean. By 2050, we’ll have more plastic than fish in our waters. This will lead to a number of deleterious consequences, including birds mistaking plastic for edible food. Studies have found that 90 percent of seabirds have plastic in their stomachs.
Among the pieces of debris one of the “Plasticide” seagulls has vomited is a cap from a Coke bottle. Beverage companies are a huge contributor to the current marine crisis, a Greenpeace UK report released earlier this month concluded.
While the major soft drink companies have committed to producing bottles that are recyclable, that’s not actually a sustainable solution. Just because something’s recyclable, doesn’t mean the user is going to deposit it in the appropriate bin.
One solution the environmental group has proposed is for beverage companies to manufacture bottles made entirely from recycled plastic. This will help reduce the amount of wasted materials entering the oceans, and cut down on the amount of entirely new bottles being produced.
“The build-up of a man-made material like plastic in the vast expanse of our seemly untouched oceans is a visceral reminder of humankind’s devastating impact on our environment,” deCaires Taylor said in a statement.
“I want to bring this message back to home: our oceans, and the marine life which inhabits them, literally can’t stomach any more plastic,” he added.
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Mar 30
Smurfette is the star of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s upcoming movie “Smurfs: The Lost Village.” The female cartoon character’s smarts and sense of adventure are what spur the plot into motion.
But in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak, Smurfette’s centrality to the plot apparently doesn’t matter as much as her perceived gender.
The character ― the only female Smurf ― has reportedly been edited out of billboards for the movie appearing in the city, which is home to many ultra-Orthodox Jews. Instead, the ads show just three male Smurfs.
Mirka’im-Hutzot Zahav, the PR company promoting the movie in Israel, told the Associated Press that the decision to cut Smurfette was made to avoid offending the city’s religious residents. Smurfette does appear in ads for the movie in other parts of Israel.
Bnei Brak reportedly has an ordinance prohibiting the display of posters of women that “might incite the feelings of the city’s residents.”
Smurfette isn’t the first lady to get this treatment. Several ultra-Orthodox Jewish publications have refused to publish photos of women because of concerns over modesty.
In the past, Tinkerbell and Jennifer Lawrence have also been edited out of advertising campaigns in Bnei Brak and Jerusalem, the Times of Israel reports. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also edited out of pictures from a march in 2015.
In 2011, a Brooklyn-based Hasidic newspaper airbrushed Hillary Clinton and a female counterterrorism director out of a photo taken inside the White House’s situation room during Osama bin Laden’s assassination.
The newspaper, Di Tzeitung, later apologized for altering the photo, which the White House has asked news outlets not to do. In a statement, the paper argued that their policy of not publishing photos of women “in no way relegates them to a lower status.”
“We regret if this gives an impression of disparaging to women, which is certainly never our intention.”
Watch a trailer for “Smurfs: The Lost Village” below.
It’s also worth noting that the Smurf franchise isn’t exactly feminist. Smurfette was introduced into the series in 1966 as an evil seductress to cause jealously among the male Smurfs. Papa Smurf later transformed her into a real Smurf. (Her dark hair becomes blond in the process). She only became a permanent part of the Smurf community in the 1980s.
The new movie attempts to introduce a more feminist angle and more female Smurfs, with Smurfette at the center of the action.
“Smurfs: The Lost Village” opens in Israel on Thursday.
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