Angelina Jolie Speaks Candidly On World Refugee Day As New TIME Contributing Editor

/

Angelina Jolie Speaks Candidly On World Refugee Day As New TIME Contributing Editor

Activist actor Angelina Jolie is now a monthly contributing editor at TIME magazine.

Editor-in-chief and CEO Edward Felsenthal announced that Jolie’s essays will focus on topics related to human rights and displacement, issues front-of-mind for the humanitarian who has worked with the UN Refugee Agency for 18 years.

Jolie first official piece was published to coincide with World Refugee Day, June 20, with the title Angelina Jolie: What We Owe Refugees. She argues: "Under international law it is not an option to assist refugees, it is an obligation," she writes. "It is perfectly possible to ensure strong border control and fair, humane immigration policies while meeting our responsibility to help refugees."

Happy Birthday AOC

Anne of Carversville had a birthday this week, 12 years old on June 17. AOC came to life seemingly out of nowhere, inspired by my reading our founding muse Angelina Jolie’s Esquire interview. Reading her thoughts marked a turning point in my life: Smart Sensuality Angelina Jolie: Virtue Considered in Carversville's Country Air.

Angelina is one of the many Winning Women in Action we track on AOC.

Enjoy reading all of Angelina Jolie’s AOC Archives.

Karly Loyce Poses In A 'Cape Town' Mood, Landing In South Africa For Vogue Ukraine July 2019

/

Karly Loyce Poses In A 'Cape Town' Mood, Landing In South Africa For Vogue Ukraine July 2019

Photographer Ina Lekieqicz flashes Martinique-born model Karly Loyce in ‘Cape Town’ for Vogue Ukraine July 2019./ Hair & makeup by Emil Zed

Pamela Anderson Poses For Cedric Buchet In 'French Evolution' Interview In Porter Magazine #33 Summer 2019

/

Pamela Anderson Poses For Cedric Buchet In 'French Evolution' Interview In Porter Magazine #33 Summer 2019

Canadian-American actor, model and environmental-animal rights activist Pamela Anderson now lives in the south of France. The forever-blonde bombshell isn’t just channeling Brigit Bardot in her ‘French Evolution’ photo shoot, lensed by Cedric Buchet for Porter Magazine #33 Summer Escape 2019. Styled by Maya Zepinic, Anderson now lives in France. / Hair by Karim Belghiran; makeup by Pep Gay

Pamela Anderson is living her own best life, always moving to the beat of her own drum. At the time of her interview with Vassi Chamberlain, a large part of the interview was devoted to her year-old relationship with French team soccer player Adil Rami.

Jamaica Leads in Richard Branson-Backed Plan for a Caribbean Climate Revolution

/

Jamaica Leads in Richard Branson-Backed Plan for a Caribbean Climate Revolution

After hurricanes Irma and Maria tore through the Caribbean in 2017, devastating dozens of islands – including billionaire Richard Branson’s private isle, Necker Island – Branson called for a “Caribbean Marshall Plan.”

He wanted world powers and global financial institutions to unite to protect the Caribbean against the effects of climate change.

That hasn’t happened. So Branson and his government partners from 27 Caribbean countries hope that his celebrity, connections and billions will prod local politicians and the financial community to act.

In August 2018, at a star-studded event at the University of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica, Branson helped to launch the Caribbean Climate-Smart Accelerator, a US$1 billion effort to kickstart a green energy revolution in the region.

Doutzen Kroes Talks Environment, Humanity, Activism In Xavi Gordo Images For Madame Figaro France

/

Doutzen Kroes Talks Environment, Humanity, Activism In Xavi Gordo Images For Madame Figaro France

Supermodel, humanitarian, global citizen, adoring wife and mother Doutzen Kroes covers the June 13, 2019 issue of Madame Figaro France. Xavi Gordo captures the Piaget jewelry ambassador and one of the world’s most famous elephant conservation activists interviewed by Marilyne Letertre in Saint-Raphaël, in the south of France. Cécile Martin styles the shoot.

The Little Sisters of the Poor Joined Trump Administration To Attack Contraception Coverage At SC

/

The Little Sisters of the Poor Joined Trump Administration To Again Attack Contraception Coverage At SC

Conservatives have spent the better part of a decade arguing the Affordable Care Act’s birth control benefit, which provides insurance coverage for a host of contraception without additional cost or co-pay, violates religious freedom principles. Those efforts have had mixed results. Despite two turns before the U.S. Supreme Court, dozens of lower court orders, and a handful of executive orders from President Trump, the benefit remains in place—but employers who object to it can avoid complying with it.

This week, the Roberts Court will consider taking up a case that could settle the birth control benefit’s fate once and for all.

The case is The Little Sisters of the Poor Jeanne Jugan Residence v. California. Yes, that’s right. The Sisters are at it again.

To understand how yet another case like this could end up before the Roberts Court, let’s revisit for a moment the history of the contraception mandate. Originally proposed in 2012, the birth control benefit requires most employers to include coverage of FDA-approved contraceptives without co-pay in their employer-sponsored health insurance plans. The benefit contains an exemption for religious employers and an accommodation for religiously affiliated employers. The benefit, and the exemption and accommodation, launched a wave of objections and lawsuits that has not yet receded. The first batch of those lawsuits reached the Roberts Court in 2014 in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby, in which the Court ruled that some for-profit employers could take advantage of the accommodation process.

'Beyond Meat' Investors Chastain, Gates + DiCaprio Launch Best IPO To Date In 2019

/

'Beyond Meat' Investors Chastain, Gates + DiCaprio Launch Best IPO To Date In 2019

Vegan brand 'Beyond Meat' was the first one in its category to IPO ever. It debuted in May at $25 per share, but rose to $65 by the end of the first day — a leap of 165 percent.

CNBC reported it was the best initial public offering of the year; Beyond Meat “left every other debut in the dust,” including Uber Technologies, which dropped more than 7 percent on its first day of trading.

Several prominent celebs, business leaders and athletes are investors in Beyond Meat, besides spokeswoman Jessica Chastain. Noteworthy moneybags include Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates and actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

A plant-based burger patty uses 99% less water and 50% less energy. And that's before we get to the methane fumes when your meat love is beef. TIME magazine writes that supermarket sales of meat alternatives surged 19.2 percent to $878 million for the year ended Jan. 5, according to data from Nielsen.  The TIME article reviews a lot of critical information about the competitive marketplace in meat alternatives brands.

Walmart Expands Volkeswagen Group Electric Car Charging Locations From 120 To 300

/

Walmart Expands Volkeswagen Group Electric Car Charging Locations From 120 To 300

Electrify America, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Volkeswagen Group of America, is investing $2 billion over a 10 year period in zero emission vehicle infrastructure, education and access. A major partner is the initiative is Walmart, which has now opened 120 charging stations at Walmart stores in the US.

On Monday, Electrify America and Walmart announced that the are expanding their relationship in an initiative that will make Walmart one of the largest retail hosts of EV charging stations across the US.

Plans are to add 180 additional locations. Every installation site is equipped with regular 150 kW stations as well as ultra-fast 350 kW stations that can charge vehicles at a rate of 20 miles per minute.

Most electric charging infrastructure—and most electric vehicles—are located on the coasts, writes Curbed. Walmarts tend to be located in states or areas within states where EV adoption is low. This sounds counter-intuitive but the initiative can help to influence consumer buying behavior in more ways than one. Walmart isn’t commonly associated with environmental initiatives, which is a reflection of elitist thinking about the company.

Want To Fight Crime? Plant Some Flowers With Your Neighbor

/

Want To Fight Crime? Plant Some Flowers With Your Neighbor

Neighborhoods struggling with physical decline and high crime often become safer simply when local residents work together to fix up their neighborhood.

My colleagues and I at the University of Michigan School of Public Health Youth Violence Prevention Center have spent nearly a decade documenting why. Research from cities across the United States shows how small changes to urban environments — like planting flowers or adding benches — reduce violence.

The result is an emerging crime prevention theory we call “busy streets.” Here’s how it works.

The United States May List Giraffes as an Endangered Species As Young Population Plummets

/

The United States May List Giraffes as an Endangered Species As Young Population Plummets

Between 1985 and 2016, the world's giraffe population plummeted by nearly 40 percent. Just over 97,000 of the long-necked mammals remain in the wild, including 68,000 mature adults—equivalent to less than a quarter of the world’s estimated African elephant population, Michael Biesecker reports for the Associated Press. While elephants were listed as a threatened species under the United States’ Endangered Species Act in 1978, giraffes have yet to receive any such legal protections.

A petition filed by environmental and conservation groups in April 2017 may pave the way for giraffes’ addition to the legislative act. According to the statement, the petition presents “substantial information that listing may be warranted,” as threats, including land development, civil unrest, commercial trade and poaching, pose major obstacles to the species’ long-term survival.

Sophie Turner Is Noble Origins Scholar Woman By Daniel Jackson For Vogue China July 2019

/

Sophie Turner Is Noble Origins Scholar Woman By Daniel Jackson For Vogue China July 2019

‘X-Men: Dark Phoenix star Sophie Turner covers the July 2019 issue of Vogue China, lensed by Daniel Jackson. Sophie poses outdoors in noble origins, Vassar-woman images styled by Alex White.

Rihanna Covers Interview Magazine Summer 2019, Talks Love With Hassan Jameel

/

Rihanna Covers Interview Magazine Summer 2019, Talks Love With Hassan Jameel

The Rihanna show continues to roll through pop culture, as the Barbados-born mogul drops into the pages of Interview Magazine’s Summer 2019 issue. The cover star is styled by Mel Ottenberg in images by Pierre Ange Carlotti./ Hair by Yusef; makeup by Stephane Marais

Recycling: Poorer Countries Can Now Refuse Plastic Waste Imports, Making System Fairer

/

Recycling: Poorer Countries Can Now Refuse Plastic Waste Imports, Making System Fairer

The world generated 242 million tonnes of plastic waste in 2016 – a figure that’s expected to grow by 70% in the next 30 years. But this same plastic is also a commodity that’s sold and traded in a global industry that generates US$200 billion every year.

Exporting plastic waste is one way rich countries dispose of their waste. By selling waste to firms that then send it to countries where recycling costs are cheaper, rich countries can avoid the unpleasant task of finding somewhere at home to dispose of it. Unfortunately, most of this waste is shipped to countries that aren’t equipped to properly manage it.

When wealthy countries export their plastic waste to poorer countries with weaker recycling capacity, those plastics are often dumped, eventually polluting the land and sea. But a recent UN decision could help those countries most affected by plastic litter and with the least capacity to manage it. Due to a little-known treaty called the Basel Convention, poorer countries can now say no to the deluge of exported waste.

Jamily Wernke Meurer Strikes US Military Poses, Lensed By Hans Feurer For Numéro Berlin

/

Jamily Wernke Meurer Strikes US Military Poses, Lensed By Hans Feurer For Numéro Berlin

Model Jamily Wernke Meurer honors US Allied forces, presumably associated with WWII, styled by Samuel Francois in images by Hans Feurer for Numéro Berlin.ly

Much of the world honored the 75th anniversary of D-Day this past week. The Allied invasion of Normandy on June 6, 1944 was the largest seaborne invasion in history.

With a huge force of over 150,000 soldiers, the Allies attacked and gained a victory that became the turning point for World War II in Europe. Historians estimate that 4,414 Allied soldiers died on June 6, 1944, with 2501 of them Americans.

Much less is known about the role of women in the WWII effort generally and its possible role in activating the second wave of feminism two decades later.

Karlie Kloss Is Celebrated In Vogue Paris As Vicky Ward Dishes On Kushner Family Karlie Vibes

/

Karlie Kloss Is Celebrated In Vogue Paris As Vicky Ward Dishes On Kushner Family Karlie Vibes

Supermodel, entrepreneur, activist and philanthropist Karlie Kloss is styled by Celia Azoulay in ‘Elan Sportif’, lensed by Alique for Vogue Paris June 2019.

Kloss is an American success story admired by millions, which is why AOC was stunned playing catch up on the story of the Kushner family’s long resistance to bringing Karlie into the Kushner family through her marriage to Josh Kushner, Jares’s younger brother.

Understandably, the media has focused on Jared and Ivanka detailed from Vicky Ward’s new book ‘Kushner, Inc’, where she describes the President’s son-in-law and daughter as appearing to be “disdainful of rules, laws, and ethics.” You got that right, Ms. Ward, a contributing editor to Town & Country, shared the Kushner family response to Karlie Kloss — including the fact that they refused to meet her for six years.

Cass Bird Flashes Liya Kebede In 'Making Waves' For Porter Magazine #33 Summer Escape

/

Cass Bird Flashes Liya Kebede In 'Making Waves' For Porter Magazine #33 Summer Escape

Supermodel Liya Kebede covers Porter Magazine #33 Summer Escape 2019. George Cortina styles Liya in a mix of sustainable and not sustainable swim and resort pieces from All Sisters, Cover, Fisch, Ganni, Hunza G, Mara Hoffman and bold jewelry. Photographer Cass Bird is behind the lens for ‘Making Waves’. / Hair by Ward; makeup by Frank B

Many Americans Viewed New York Harbor's Lady Liberty as a False Idol of Broken Promises

/

Top image: THIS MAP APPEARED IN THE MAGAZINE PUCK DURING THE EMPIRE STATE CAMPAIGN, A HARD-FOUGHT REFERENDUM ON A SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT TO THE NEW YORK STATE CONSTITUTION—THE REFERENDUM FAILED IN 1915. Lower image: ‘Madre Luz’ by Pablo Machioli, installed in Baltimore at the site of a Confederate monument removed after Charlottesville. It was destroyed. via

Many Americans Viewed New York Harbor's Lady Liberty as a False Idol of Broken Promises

By Angela Serratore. First published on Smithsonian.com as ‘The Americans Who Saw Lady Liberty as a False Idol of Broken Promises’.

It was a crisp, clear fall day in New York City, and like many others, Lillie Devereaux Blake was eager to see the great French statue, donated by that country’s government to the United States as a token of friendship and a monument to liberty, finally unveiled. President Grover Cleveland was on Bedloe’s Island (since renamed Liberty Island), standing at the base of the statue, ready to give a speech. Designed in France, the statue had been shipped to New York in the spring of 1885, and now, in October 1886, it was finally assembled atop its pedestal.

“Presently the veil was withdrawn from her beautiful calm face,” wrote Blake of the day’s events, “and the air was rent with salvos of artillery fired to hail the new goddess; the earth and the sea trembled with the mighty concussions, and steam-whistles mingled their shrill shrieks with the shouts of the multitude—all this done by men in honor of a woman.”

Blake wasn’t watching from the island itself, though—in fact, only two women had been invited to the statue that day. Blake and other members of the New York State Women’s Suffrage Association, at that point New York’s leading women’s suffrage organization, had chartered their own boat in protest of the exclusion of women not just from the statue’s unveiling, but from the idea of liberty itself.

Blake’s protest is one of several highlighted at the new Statue of Liberty Museum, which opened earlier this month on Liberty Island. While the statue’s pedestal did at one point hold a small museum, the new space’s increased square footage allowed historians and exhibit designers to expand the story of Lady Liberty, her champions and her dissenters.

Women Have Been The Fueling Energy Of Christian Right Demands For Decades

/

Women Have Been The Fueling Energy Of Christian Right Demands For Decades

By Emily Suzanne Johnson, Assistant Professor of History, Ball State University. First published on The Conversation

Alabama’s new abortion restrictions were signed into law by Gov. Kay Ivey. But more has been said recently about the fact that the bill was passed by 25 white men in the state Senate. Media reports have pointed to how this law will disproportionately affect black and poor women.

Only four women currently serve in Alabama’s state Senate. Three voted against the bill, while one abstained.

In response to the Alabama vote, Democratic State Sen. Linda Coleman-Madison compared men’s votes on abortion legislation to “a dentist making a decision about heart surgery.”

“That’s why we need more women in office,” Coleman-Madison said.

Across the country, women are underrepresented in legislatures. But the question is: Would voting more women into office necessarily shift the politics of abortion?

Blesnya Minher Is Exquisite In 'Lost Paradise' By Txema Yeste For Numero June-July 2019

/

Blesnya Minher Is Exquisite In 'Lost Paradise' By Txema Yeste For Numero June-July 2019

The goddesses have bestowed on rising model, Angolan-born Blesnya Minher one of those priceless editorials that are pure poetry with relevance far beyond the fashion world. In its simplest expression, Minher has made deeply beautiful art with timeless roots in nature, styled by Bernat Buscato. Txema Yeste captures Minher in ‘Lost Paradise’ for Numero Magazine June/July 2019./ Hair and makeup by Victor Avarez