Hasta La Gadget!

Halsey recently teamed up with the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE) to fight President Donald Trump’s global gag rule. 

On Jan. 23, Trump signed into effect the global gag rule, a ban on funding for any international organization that offers or advises on abortion-related services in cases other than rape, incest or life endangerment. The global gag rule was originally established by Ronald Reagan in 1984 and since then has been rescinded by every Democratic president and reinstated by every Republican president. Trump actually expanded the gag rule to include all global health services that receive funding from the U.S., including programs that address HIV and infectious diseases such as Zika, malaria and Ebola. 

The gag rule will have life-threatening consequences for women around the world ― and Halsey just spelled out those consequences in a new video for CHANGE. 

In the video, posted to Facebook on Thursday, Halsey explained what the global gag rule is and the impact it has on women around the world. 

The result of the global gag rule? “Women die,” Halsey said. 

The global gag rule means that more women in sub-Saharan Africa may die from unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion.
Hauwa Shekarau, Nigerian activist and director of IPAS

Hauwa Shekarau, a Nigerian activist and director of women’s health organization IPAS, said in the video that unsafe abortion is a major contributor to the high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. 

“The Trump administration is playing politics with the lives of women in Africa,” Shekarau said. “The global gag rule means that more women in sub-Saharan Africa may die from unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion.”

To help fight the gag rule, CHANGE ― along with Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) and 200 other lawmakers ― has introduced the Global HER Act, which aims to end the gag rule once and for all.  

“None of us are free until all of us are free,” Halsey said. “And the oppression of women in some of the poorest countries from Africa to Latin America to Asia is directly tied to our own. So let’s do our part to join CHANGE and support all women when they need it most.”

Head over to CHANGE to learn more about the Global HER Act.  

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WASHINGTON, June 15 (Reuters) – Washington prosecutors have charged a dozen Turkish security and police officers with assault after an attack on protesters during Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan visit to the U.S. capital last month, officials said on Thursday.

The daytime brawl outside the Turkish ambassador’s residence in the city on May 16 left nine protesters injured and strained U.S.-Turkish relations.

A video posted online showed men in dark suits chasing protesters and punching and kicking them as Washington police struggled to intervene.

“I condemn this attack,” Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters at a news conference announcing the charges. “It was an affront to our values.”

Arrest warrants for the members of Erdogan’s security detail have been issued, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham said.

“If they attempt to enter the United States, they will be arrested,” he said.

Newsham said there was no probable cause to arrest Erdogan, who watched the confrontation unfold from a nearby car.

A total of 18 people have been charged in the incident. They include two Canadians and four Americans, according to prosecutors.

Two men were arrested on Wednesday. Sinan Narin of Virginia faces a charge of felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor assault, and Eyup Yildirim of New Jersey faces two charges of felony assault and a misdemeanor assault charge.

Some additional suspects still have not been identified, the police chief said. (Reporting by Tom Ramstack; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Dan Grebler)

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NBC’s “The Carmichael Show” was set to tackle mass shootings this week until a day of gun violence dominated headlines, prompting the network to pull the episode from its Wednesday night lineup.

But series creator Jerrod Carmichael isn’t happy about that decision. In his appearance on Chelsea Handler’s Netflix talk show “Chelsea” on Wednesday, Carmichael sharply criticized NBC by suggesting the network was underestimating its viewers’ ability to engage in discussion over current events.

Five people were wounded during a shooting at a Congressional baseball practice in Virginia earlier in the day, including U.S. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise. Later, a gunman killed three people at a California UPS facility. 

“We all are victims when something like this happens,” Carmichael said. “We all suffer from fear of going out, fear of enjoying your life, and we all suffer from the pain of knowing families have lost loved ones.”

The episode, titled “Shoot-Up-Able,” sees Carmichael’s character survive a mass shooting on the show, which follows a fictionalized version of the comedian’s family based in North Carolina. He fights being labeled a victim until police force him to describe what he saw. 

“I thought that tonight’s episode would have an opportunity to talk about these tragedies in a meaningful way, to really lend itself to conversation,” Carmichael told Handler. “A lot of times when things like this happen and someone wants to talk about it in an outlet that’s not the news, people will say ‘too soon.’ But when is it not too soon? Unfortunately, these things happen constantly and it’s a thing that breaks all of our hearts.”

Carmichael explained that he understands “a corporation making that decision.”

“But really, to me, what it says is that you don’t think America is smart enough to handle real dialogue,” he said, “and something that reflects real family conversations, and something that feels honest and true and still respects the victims. We handled the episode with as much love and integrity as we possibly could. But to just pull that is just, it’s criminal. It seems to do a disservice to the viewer, it does a disservice to you, it does a disservice to all of us.”

Season 3 of “The Carmichael Show,” which debuted late last month, won’t shy away from controversy in other ways. Next week’s episode, “Cynthia’s Birthday,” is set to air “n****r” uncensored in a storyline about race in America, per The Hollywood Reporter.

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WASHINGTON ― The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a class-action lawsuit to protect a group of more than 100 undocumented Iraqis, most of them Christians, who were arrested this past weekend after the Trump administration gave the green light for them to be deported back to Iraq.

The ACLU wants a district court in Michigan to hold a hearing on Friday where the detainees can describe their fears about what they could face in the war-torn nation, including torture, it said in a statement on Thursday afternoon.

“Not only is it immoral to send people to a country where they are likely to be violently persecuted, it expressly violates United States and international law and treaties,” said Kary Moss, the director of the ACLU of Michigan.

“We are hoping that the courts will recognize the extreme danger that deportation to Iraq would pose for these individuals,” she added. “Our immigration policy shouldn’t amount to a death sentence for anyone.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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Tess Holliday is proud to be a sexy mom.

On Wednesday, the model shared a black-and-white photo of herself on Instagram and included an empowering message in the caption. 

“Gentle reminder to myself that as a mom, I deserve to feel sexy & desired,” she wrote. “Fat women & moms are robbed of our sexuality so I’m here to tell you to stop that shit. Ok?” She also added the hashtag #effyourbeautystandards.

Anyone who follows Holliday knows she frequently speaks out against society’s impossible beauty standards for women. And since becoming a mom, the model has been vocal about her support for breastfeeding in public as well as the body-shaming comments she endured when she was pregnant. In a 2016 Instagram post, she wrote about how her pregnancy was “beautiful,” but “frustrating.”

“What I’ve had to be learn to be okay with (WHICH IS NOT COOL) is the fact that people still think it’s okay to comment on my body: ‘you don’t look pregnant’, ‘you must be have quadruplets’, ‘you are putting your baby at risk’ & a slew of other uneducated statements that are very far from my reality,” she wrote.

She also offered advice for other women on how to deal with similar experiences.

“It’s also okay to tell someone to fuck off when they give you unsolicited advice about what’s ‘best’ for you & your baby,” she wrote. “As women, we know what’s best & that’s our business. No one else’s.”

The HuffPost Parents newsletter, So You Want To Raise A Feminist, offers the latest stories and news in progressive parenting.  

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