Is she really against bullying, though?

[nairiporter]

"While many presidential wives have taken advantage of their platform to promote an agenda close to their heart, friends of Melania’s say the First Lady isn’t particularly devoted to any charity or cause as is typically expected among the women of Manhattan’s wealthy elite.
“She was passionate about… Well, I can’t think what she was passionate about,” said old friend Lisa Bytner when Vanity Fair asked where Mrs. Trump’s deepest interests lie."
http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/melania-trump-profile-says-shes-frosty-ivanka-and-never-had-any-interest-first

Why am I bringing this up. Because Melania Trump's first UN speech rang very insincere. She condemned bullying of children - while she has stood by her husband when he bullied people all over the place.

If Presidents and First Ladies are supposed to lead by example, this couple has failed miserably in that respect. Melania's husband invented sneering nicknames for political opponents, he said a news anchor was "bleeding badly from a facelift", he promoted videos showing him toppling his political opponent with a golf ball strike to the back... all in all he has been a bully-in-chief all along. And now his wive has taken up the cause of... fighting bullying!?

( Read more... )

The standard-bearer of obscenity

[fridi]

Hugh Hefner died yesterday at age 91. Reflecting on a life completely spent in the pursuit of pleasure (he was a self avowed hedonist) and not only objectifying (some would say degrading) women, he was one of the first to openly publish pornography.

But the iconic Hefner did much more than that. He made it cool and almost mainstream. For most guys growing up in the 1950s and 60s, their first introduction to pornography was the Playboy magazine. Yes, he will be remembered and lauded for creating a media and publishing empire in the 70s. A couple of years ago they even decided to stop publishing nude pictures of women because, in Playboy magazine's words, "nudity has become passe and available readily online." And they readily changed their policy a few months later. The point is that he is largely responsible for opening those floodgates. And the Supreme Court kinda agreed with him in the 1970s by their failure to define obscenity. ("I know what it is when I see it").

( Read more... )