Alabama Official Uses Bible to Defend Senate Candidate Roy Moore

Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a teenager when she married Joseph, says State Auditor Jim Zeigler.

www.advocate.com/politicians/2017/11/10/alabama-official-uses-bible-defend-senate-candidate-roy-moore

Can gay bathhouses teach men to love themselves better? This guy says yes, definitely.
It only took a quarter of a century…

www.queerty.com/can-gay-bathhouses-teach-men-love-better-guy-says-yes-definitely-20171110?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

44 Seconds of Top Senate Republicans Not Answering Questions About Roy Moore: WATCH

A row of top Republicans sat in silence today for 44 seconds refusing to answer questions about GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore’s alleged sexual assault on an underage teen.

This is what 44 seconds of Republican senators not responding to questions about Roy Moore sounds like | Analysis by CNN’s Chris Cillizza t.co/UjrztCYHTH pic.twitter.com/8iDaBN4jEX

— CNN (@CNN) November 10, 2017

Writes CNN’s Chris Cilizza:

When Senate leaders planned an event Thursday afternoon with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and White House economic guru Gary Cohn to tout the rollout of their tax plan, the words “Roy Moore underage girl” were not likely on their minds.

But by the time the event happened, the allegations — first reported by The Washington Post — that the Alabama Republican Senate nominee had pursued relationships with four girls aged 14 to 18 when he was in his 30s was all anyone was talking about.

Which made this question and answer session SUPER awkward.

The homophobic, Christian, family values hypocrite Moore defiantly shook off the allegations, tweeting “rest assured — I will NEVER GIVE UP the fight!” and released a statement through his campaign.

The post 44 Seconds of Top Senate Republicans Not Answering Questions About Roy Moore: WATCH appeared first on Towleroad.

44 Seconds of Top Senate Republicans Not Answering Questions About Roy Moore: WATCH

Gender Pay Gap, Paradise Papers And Sexual Harassment All ‘Interlinked’, Says Women’s Equality Party Leader
Sophie Walker, the quietly-determined leader of the Women’s Equality Party, doesn’t do angry.

Keeping your cool is a major achievement when you consider that, in 2017, she focuses full-time on fighting for a society free from gender bias.

The headlines in the last week are enough to make anyone fume: an epidemic of sexual harassment, largely perpetrated against women by powerful men; a gender pay gap which will take a century to close; and a wave of austerity hitting women the hardest.

But Walker, a former journalist whose two-year-old party has grown to 60,000 members, is taking up every opportunity to set out her stall.

“The parliament in which all these harassment allegations are now swirling is cutting funding to domestic violence shelters,” she says. “It is the same parliament that is pushing through Universal Credit and austerity, which have been proven to disproportionately hurt women.

“The same gender-blind parliament does not recognise that childcare in the UK is the most expensive in the world. This all contributes to the deep-rooted, structural inequalities that mean men continue to exert far more power across all of our organisations, institutions and women.”

For Walker, the injustices running through Government policy are underpinning the gender pay gap, the Westminster sexual harassment scandal and also the Paradise Papers, which exposed how the super-rich – almost always men, she points out – avoid paying their fair share of tax.

Being in low paid work means women are more likely to be “dependents” or find themselves “vulnerable”, says Walker, who believes this in turn puts them at risk of abuse.

“The economic empowerment of women is vital if we are to end violence against women and girls – because that’s what sexual harassment is, it’s violence against women and girls and it is everywhere,” says the married mum-of-one.

“We won’t solve that until we have the economic empowerment of women, and that brings us to the Paradise Papers. 

“Parliament gives tax breaks to the rich, and the rich are nearly always men. They give tax breaks based on capital assets, and the people who have capital assets are nearly always men.

“The vast majority of the billionaires hiding their wealth offshore are men, while in this country, the poorest people in the country, who are women, are paying through loss of benefits to prop up the banks and this country’s economy.

“That is not only unfair and unjust, but it is stupid. It makes far more economic sense to empower women to contribute equally.

“The flipside is these stereotypes of toxic masculinity that are trapping and damaging men just as much as women.”

The WEP was founded by the comedian and presenter Sandi Toksvig and the journalist Catherine Mayer in 2015.

It aims to make the case gender equality will benefit all. WEP champions equal pay, equal parenting rights, equal representation in politics, business and education, equal treatment of women by and in the media and an end to violence against women.

The wave sexual harassment, which was unmasked by the exposing of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, was hardly a shock to Walker.

“I’m not surprised by the scale of the epidemic of sexual harassment that we are seeing,” she says. “And I’m not surprised by the efforts of those who want to make it small.

“It’s very clear what we are talking about here is a massive imbalance of power between men and women, and it’s particularly interesting that the first uprisings, if you like, are in media, entertainment and politics, which are areas that are not only dominated by men but which further the domination of men by their output.

“So, media outlets sexualise and objectify women. Entertainment outlets tell stories about men with women as onlookers or bystanders. Parliament is dominated by men and, as a result, fails to legislate drawing on the experiences of women.”

The media, she strongly feels, is portraying sexual harassment as a “women’s problem” and victims’ voices risk being drowned out.

“What happens is that women are put up (in the media) to fight other women, because then it becomes a distraction,” she says, following a week in which Walker clashed with the former Spectator deputy editor Petronella Wyatt. “It is a technique to make this small.

“It makes it an argument between women rather than an opportunity to fully look at the systemic harassment and imbalance of power.

“If another woman says to me ‘I haven’t got a problem with this behaviour’ then my answer to her is: it’s your prerogative to deal with this however you see fit.

“I think we should support women who choose to respond in a different way. I’m here to support women and I’m here to believe women, because standing up to your abusers and your harassers is an act of tremendous courage.

“The idea that women who stand up to this are making themselves into victims is not true – it is the men who make them the victims, not the women.

“As a society we have for centuries reverted very quickly to the narrative that we are seeing again here; that any woman who challenges powerful, popular men, or even very ordinary men, as being sexual harassers or sexual abusers, she is told that she is hysterical or lying or mad.”

The solution is a “truly independent body” which women can report sexual harassment to, says Walker, adding she believes too much pressure is placed on victims.

“To say that victims of harassment can solve a problem that is systemic by standing up and reporting it is absurd,” she says.

Walker stood against Phillip Davies in Shipley at the general election in June, the Tory MP is notorious for talking out a Bill on domestic violence.

She also stood in the London mayoral elections. Although she lost both with meagre shares of the vote, she hopes it leads to larger parties adopting WEP policies.

Among them are nine months shared parental leave, ensuring post-Brexit immigration policy does not discriminate against women with few skills and free universal childcare.

One person who will not be reading the WEP manifesto is Tory stalwart Iain Duncan Smith.

He has been busy making the case for more men and women to get married, arguing unmarried men are “a problem” for society.

How to encourage marriage is an idea on the ascendancy within the Tory ranks, with the centre right think tank the Centre for Social Justice arguing more nuptials will encourage social cohesion and produce better outcomes for children.

“I do not hear much about gay marriage in that debate,” says Walker, giving the idea short shrift.

“My focus is on explaining that women’s equality is the answer to community cohesion, social cohesion and a better economy.

“There is this knee jerk reaction, I think, particularly in times of economic difficulty, to shore up areas that male politicians are particularly comfortable talking about.

“You get the traditional narratives around the security of marriage and you get the traditional narratives around investment in infrastructure, and we should be looking to turn that stuff on its head.

“If what we really want to do here is improve standards of living and societal good then it has been proven time and time again that the best way to do this is gender equality.

“The Women’s Budget Group has proven that investing in care rather over construction – so social infrastructure over physical infrastructure – delivers twice the employment and economic benefits.

“So basically if you put 2% of GDP into construction you get 750,000 jobs, if you put 2% of GDP into care you get 1.5m jobs and those 1.5m jobs bring with them £40bn in savings via increased tax revenues and lower benefit payments.”

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/sophie-walker-interview_uk_5a05b920e4b05673aa58e8b6

“Rupaul’s Drag Race” star makes surprise cameo in Madonna’s new MDNA skin care ad
Looks can be deceiving.

www.queerty.com/rupauls-drag-race-star-makes-surprise-cameo-madonnas-new-mdma-skin-care-ad-20171110?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+queerty2+%28Queerty%29

Mueller Investigating Alleged Michael Flynn $15 Million Kidnap Deal with Turkish Govt. During Trump Transition

Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating an alleged $15 million backroom deal between the Turkish government and  former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn and his son to forcibly remove Fethullah Gulen, a Muslim cleric and rival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, from his home in the U.S. and deliver him to Turkey.

Erdogan has long sought Gulen’s extradition for inciting a coup attempt in 2016, something Gulen has long denied.

NBC News adds:

Additionally, three people familiar with the probe said investigators are examining whether Flynn and other participants discussed a way to free a Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who is jailed in the U.S. Zarrab is facing federal charges that he helped Iran skirt U.S. sanctions.

Mueller is specifically examining whether the deal, if successful, would have led to millions of dollars in secret payments to Flynn, according to three sources familiar with the investigation.

The meeting allegedly took place at the upscale 21 Club restaurant in New York, just blocks away from Trump Tower, where Flynn was serving on the presidential transition team. Flynn was offered upwards of $15 million, to be paid directly or indirectly, if he could complete the deal, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

The post Mueller Investigating Alleged Michael Flynn $15 Million Kidnap Deal with Turkish Govt. During Trump Transition appeared first on Towleroad.

Mueller Investigating Alleged Michael Flynn $15 Million Kidnap Deal with Turkish Govt. During Trump Transition

Topshop’s 2017 Christmas Collection Is Here To Make You Glisten

Topshop has just released details of its Christmas party collection and it sure is glistening. 

So what do we have in store? 

From rich blue velvet blazers to the modern and oddly pretty take on the Christmas jumper – a slick black number with festive decoration, the designers must have had a ball creating this collection. 

Favourites? An Eastern-Asian inspired wrap dress in a colour that can only be described as a mix between watermelon red and fuchsia pink. 

Topshop also presented the classics this year: a black embellished going out top with a mesh coverup, plus a rainbow of choice when it comes to satin jumpsuits and dresses. 

In addition there is an actual rainbow skirt, yellow fuzzy coats so your loved ones don’t lose you this winter and a budget-friendly version of a Liz Hurley Versace-esque little black dress.

The disco ball camis will make you feel as though you’re going to head to a New Year’s party with Paris Hilton – and there’s certainly a nod to the 00s and 80s with blouses which resemble pink bows and  Britney-and-Justin-denim.

Shop the collection at Topshop.

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/topshop-2017-christmas-guide_uk_5a05d686e4b0e37d2f37382c

Companies Take to Social Media to Celebrate Commitment to Workplace Equality

www.hrc.org/blog/companies-celebrate-commitment-to-workplace-equality?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss-feed