'This is not gonna be amateur hour’: After considering six Supremes as senator, Biden finally gets to pick one as president
President Biden will have a chance to make history when he nominates the first Black woman to the Supreme Court in a matter of weeks. And when he does, his decades-long work of shaping the federal bench as a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee will reach its apex.
news.yahoo.comWhither #MeToo? Chilling effect of Cosby reversal feared
When Indira Henard, director of the DC Rape Crisis Center, received the text message Wednesday, she thought she wasn’t reading her phone correctly. “I put on the news and there it was, and my heart just dropped,” Henard said. “I thought about how all our survivors would be feeling.”
news.yahoo.comO'Farrell's 'Hamnet' wins book critics award for fiction
FILE - Author Maggie O'Farrell poses for the media at the Costa book awards in London on Jan. 25, 2011. O'Farrell's "Hamnet," an imagined take on the death of Shakespeare's son from the bubonic plague, has won the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant, File)NEW YORK – Maggie O'Farrell's “Hamnet,” an imagined take on the death of Shakespeare's son from the bubonic plague, has won the National Book Critics Circle prize for fiction. “Hamnet,” an unfortunately well timed story for the current pandemic, explores the impact of the boy's illness and death on his family. The book critics circle was founded in 1974 and has hundreds of members around the country.
Penguin Random House, PEN America team up to Book the Vote
NEW YORK – Neil Gaiman, Anita Hill and Ann Patchett will be among the contributors to Book the Vote, an online initiative to provide information on the electoral system, voting registration and civic topics. Book the Vote is a collaboration among Penguin Random House, PEN America, the non-profit organization When We All Vote and the literary retailer Out of Print, which is owned by Penguin Random House. One feature is called “How America Works” and covers four topics: the right to vote, voting for the president, the Supreme Court and the electoral college. “Truth, facts, press freedom, and the future of open discourse are all on the ballot this November,” PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement. Noseel and Penguin Random House U.S. CEO Madeline McIntosh said they were pleased to be working together to provide credible and authoritative information about the U.S. election and voting rights.
Survey: In Hollywood, few believe harassers will be punished
But that doesn’t mean workers in Hollywood have faith that other harassers and abusers will be similarly punished. Instead, three years after the explosive Weinstein scandal launched the #MeToo movement, a survey by the Hollywood Commission, chaired by Anita Hill, finds a strong belief in the industry that sexual harassers will not be held to account. “People don't believe their complaints will be taken seriously, they don’t believe that something will happen to people who are found to be harassers. — Few people are reporting sexual harassment or misconduct, because there is little confidence something will be done about it. Hill said she was also struck by the fact that the respondents “really believe in this industry.
Former US Ambassador to Ukraine to be honored by PEN America
Ambassador to Ukraine who was forced out of her job last year by the Trump administration, is being honored by PEN America. The alleged attempt to make a foreign government investigate a political opponent led to Trump's impeachment in December on two counts by the Democratic-run House. “At a time when, for government officials, standing on principle can spell an end to a professional career, Ambassador Yovanovitch did not flinch or falter,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, said in a statement. She will be among the guests Dec. 8 at PEN's annual gala, to be held online because of the coronavirus pandemic. Others receiving awards will include author and musician Patti Smith and Chinese dissident Xu Zhiyong.
Biden under pressure to unveil list of potential court picks
ATLANTA – Joe Biden is resisting calls from President Donald Trump and even some fellow Democrats to release his list of potential Supreme Court picks seven months after he pledged to name the first Black female justice. A Supreme Court nomination is certain to amplify those dynamics. He’s since nominated Justices Neil Gorsuch, who appeared on a preelection list in 2016, and Brett Kavanaugh, who appeared on a post-election list. There is some irony in Supreme Court politics being such a potentially prominent variable in Biden’s presidential hopes. Even a 5-4 Supreme Court majority deciding the 2000 presidential election in favor of Republican George W. Bush over Democrat Al Gore did little to shift campaign dynamics concerning the court.
2 female firsts at the Supreme Court announce retirements
WASHINGTON The Supreme Court said Tuesday that the first-ever women to hold two prominent positions at the court, handling the justices' security and overseeing publication of the court's decisions, are retiring. She served as the court's general manager and chief security officer, managing approximately 260 employees, including the Supreme Court's police force. The courts third and fourth female justices, Justice Sonia Sotomayor and Justice Elena Kagan, joined the court in 2009 and 2010 respectively. As marshal, Talkin was responsible for ensuring the justices security when they attended events, including the State of the Union, inaugurations and state funerals. All persons having business before the Honorable, the Supreme Court of the United States, are admonished to draw near and give their attention, for the Court is now sitting," she said in calling the court to order more than 700 times, even when she was hoarse with a cold.
Joe Biden's inner circle: No longer a boys club
Biden's status as Democratic presidential nominee-in-waiting means the party will choose another man for an office never held by a woman. I understand.”Kate Bedingfield, an adviser the same age as Biden's youngest daughter, was first to propose a direct-to-lens declaration. She joined forces with Anita Dunn, an alumna of President Barack Obama’s West Wing and relative newbie to Biden's orbit. Together with two of Biden's longest-serving confidants – Steve Ricchetti and Mike Donilon – they convinced the almost-candidate it was the right course. Dunn said Jill Biden and Valerie Biden Owens are now elevated as “principals in their own right” — veritable extensions of the candidate.
Hollywood group launches largest-ever survey on sexual harassment
(Reuters) - Two years after the #MeToo scandal first roiled Hollywood, causing dozens of powerful men to lose their jobs, a new group on Wednesday launched what it said was the largest-ever industry-wide survey aimed at countering sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry. The Hollywood Commission on Eliminating Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality said the survey was open to anyone who has worked or tried to work in any area of entertainment.The commission is chaired by Anita Hill, the law professor who became an icon for the movement against sexual harassment when she accused nominated Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991. The survey, which will be completed anonymously and online, will be used to develop policies to counter workplace harassment and bias, the commission said. Several Hollywood labor unions and the Academy of Motion Pictures, which organizes the Oscars, have already come up with guidelines aimed at tackling sexual misconduct. These include hotlines for complaints, restrictions on holding meetings and auditions in hotels and private offices, and encouraging people to report harassment.
feeds.reuters.comAnita Hill says voters need to press 2020 Dems on gender violence
Anita Hill will chair the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace, created by executives in the media and entertainment industries. (CNN) - Social policy and law professor Anita Hill said Tuesday that voters should press Democratic presidential candidates on how they will tackle the issue of gender violence, arguing that little attention has been placed on the topic during this election cycle. "We have been listening to presidential debates and I have been trying to keep track, but I haven't heard one question about gender violence posed to the candidates. That needs to be addressed," Hill said, speaking at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit in Washington. Asked by an attendee what emotions she felt after Kavanaugh, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, was confirmed, Hill replied: "It was profound disappointment and sadness.
60 Minutes Overtime 03.16.14
60 Minutes Overtime 03.16.14 Jon Stewart talks with 60 Minutes about Bassem Youssef, a comedian in Cairo whose TV show has landed him in trouble with the Egyptian government; then, Sanjay Gupta travels "back in time" to the Tabasco company's private island in the bayous of Louisiana; and, In 1992, Anita Hill told Ed Bradley why she brought a sexual harassment charge against Clarence Thomas.
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