After Trump Divorce, Is Anthony Scaramucci Now an Out-of-the-Closet Nikki Haley Supporter

Page Six reports that former Trump administration UN Ambassador Nikki Haley may have recruited Anthony Scaramucci to “the resistance.” That would be the Republican arm of”the resistance’, not the Democratic wing.

Trump’s controversial, short-lived comms chief Scaramucci officially divorced himself from his former buddy Donald Trump this weekend. The Mooch compared the US president to a nuclear reactor on the verge of melting down and suggested strongly that the GOP should run a candidate against him in 2020.

“To those asking, ‘what took so long?’ You’re right. I tried to see best in [Trump] based on private interactions and select policy alignment. But his increasingly divisive rhetoric — and damage it’s doing to [the] fabric of our society — outweighs any short-term economic gain.”

The reliable — even if it is owned by Rupert Murdoch — New York Post writes on Page Six that Scaramucci dined recently with Nikki Haley at the famed Harlem eatery Rao’s. The former governor of South Carolina, Haley has been deft in disassociating herself from Trump, while keeping her volume at low level. After Trump launched his despicable tirade against Baltimore Congressman Elijah Cummings two weeks ago, Haley tweeted: “This is so unnecessary.”

Haley seemingly has presidential ambitions of her own, although all bets are on 2024; Stay tuned.

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?

Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Celebrates Mississippi Confederacy At Every Opportunity

“I ENJOYED MY TOUR OF BEAUVOIR. THE JEFFERSON DAVIS HOME AND PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY LOCATED IN BILOXI,” HYDE-SMITH WROTE IN A CAPTION ON THIS PHOTOS POSTED TO HER FB PAGE IN 2014. DAVIS WAS THE CONFEDERATE PRESIDENT DURING THE CIVIL WAR. HIS FORMER ESTATE NOW SERVES AS A MUSEUM AND LIBRARY IN HIS HONOR.

“THIS IS A MUST SEE,” HYDE-SMITH WROTE. “CURRENTLY ON DISPLAY ARE ARTIFACTS CONNECTED TO THE DAILY LIFE OF THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIER INCLUDING WEAPONS. MISSISSIPPI HISTORY AT ITS BEST!”

Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith Celebrates Mississippi Confederacy At Every Opportunity

U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith attended and graduated from a segregation academy that was set up so that white parents could avoid having to send their children to schools with black students, a yearbook reveals. Hyde-Smith enrolled her own daughter at Brookhaven Academy, another Mississippi segregation school founded in 1970, the Jackson Free Press reported.

The latest race-related battle around Tuesday’s Mississippi Senate race with Democrat Mike Espy follows a recent leaked tape in which Hyde-Smith said that she would gladly attend a “public hanging” is one of her supporters invited her. The statement was outrageous, given Mississippi’s history as the lynching capital of the United States.

One of the most famous lynchings in Mississippi was the savage and brutal death of 14-year old Chicago child Emmett Till.

Hyde-Smith is very proud of Mississippi history and has no hesitation to celebrate the segregated south, saying that the Confederacy represents “Mississippi history at its best.”

I thought of Hillary Clinton, when reading this story. At considerable personal risk to herself, then 24-year-old law student Hillary was working for Marian Wright Edelman, the civil rights activist and prominent advocate for children. Mrs. Edelman had sent her to Alabama in 1972 to help prove that the Nixon administration was not enforcing the legal ban on granting tax-exempt status to so-called segregation academies, the estimated 200 private academies that sprang up in the South to cater to white families after a 1969 Supreme Court decision forced public schools to integrate.

Hillary posed as a young wife, telling the guidance counselor of a seg school that her husband had just taken a job in Dothan, that they were a churchgoing family and that they were looking for a school for their son.

Like many white activists from the North who traveled south to help on civil rights issues, Mrs. Clinton confronted a different world in Dothan, separate and unequal, and a sting of injustice she had previously only read about.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Mn.) Accused of Groping & Forcible Kissing By Broadcaster Leeann Tweeden

Sen. Al Franken (D-Mn.) Accused of Groping & Forcible Kissing By Broadcaster Leeann Tweeden

Broadcaster and model Leeann Tweeden said on Thursday that Minnesota Democratic Senator Al Franken "forcibly kissed" and groped her during a 2006 USO tour. Franken has apologized and called for a Senate investigation into his own actions. 

“You knew exactly what you were doing,” Tweeden wrote in a blog post. “You forcibly kissed me without my consent, grabbed my breasts while I was sleeping and had someone take a photo of you doing it, knowing I would see it later and be ashamed.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the Senate Ethics Committee to review the 11-year-old allegations against Franken, who first issued a brief statement of apology, then later a longer one in which he called for an investigation, saying, “I will gladly cooperate.”

Tweeden's 2006 USO tour was the ninth for the Fox Sports Network correspondent and fitness model,writes The Washington Post. Franken was an Air America radio host just months away from announcing his Senate candidacy.

Beverly Young Nelson Details Roy Moore Assault On Her As 16-Year-Old Waitress

Beverly Young Nelson Details Roy Moore Assault On Her As 16-Year-Old Waitress

In one of the most compelling moments I've ever witnessed on television, Beverly Young Nelson voiced in vivid, graphic detail her 1977 attack by Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore. Nelson becomes the fifth woman -- and probably the most serious accuser -- along with Leigh Corfman. Nelson was quick to say that both she and her husband voted for Donald Trump and her claims have nothing to do with politics. It was reading the stories of the other women that prompted Beverly Young Nelson to come forward.

Represented by Gloria Allard, who specializes in sexual harassment and sexual assault cases, Nelson recounted Mr. Moore's attack on her when she was 16 and a waitress in a Gadsden, Alabama and he was a prosecutor in Etowah County, Ala. The Daily Beast details her testimony about that night.

Earlier in the evening, Moore had signed Nelson's yearbook -- which Nelson produced at the news conference -- and later offered her a ride home. Instead of getting on the highway, she alleges, Moore parked in the back of the Olde Hickory House restaurant. Nelson said she asked Moore what he was doing.

“Instead of answering my question, Mr. Moore reached over and began groping me, putting his hands on my breasts,” Nelson said weeping. “I tried to open my car door to leave, but he reached over and locked it so I could not get out. I tried fighting him off, while yelling at him to stop, but instead of stopping he began squeezing my neck attempting to force my head onto his crotch. I continued to struggle. I was determined that I was not going to allow him to force me to have sex with him. I was terrified. He was also trying to pull my shirt off. I thought that he was going to rape me. I was twisting and struggling and begging him to stop. I had tears running down my face.

Gloria Allred Will Present A New Accuser Of Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore Monday At 2:30 PM

Gloria Allred Will Present A New Accuser Of Alabama Senate Candidate Roy Moore Monday At 2:30 PM

The New York Post reports that at 2:30 pm Monday, Gloria Allred has scheduled a news conference at the New York Palace Hotel, where another woman will accuse Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was a minor. 

"The New accuser wishes to state what she alleges Roy Moore did to her without her consent," Allred said in a statement.

The Washington Post broke the heavily detailed story late last week, in which now grown women alleged that Moore pursued them as teenagers when he was in his 30s. The most explosive accusation came from Leigh Corfman, who was 14 years old when she alleges Roy Moore took her to his house in the woods and molested her. 

On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. 

Four Women Allege A Younger Roy Moore Pursued Sensual/Sexual Relationships With Them As Underage Girls

Four Women Allege A Younger Roy Moore Pursued Sensual/Sexual Relationships With Them As Underage Girls

The Washington Post has placed reporters in Alabama for over a month, speaking to at least 30 people who support the blockbuster allegations made in the paper this afternoon. Roy Moore is the Bible-toting former Alabama judge who was twice removed from the state's supreme court for making legal decision based on the Bible and not the US Constitution. Moore is now the Steve Bannon/Donald Trump-supported, Republican candidate for the US Senate vacated by now Trump administration Attorney General Jeff Sessions, running against Democrat Doug Jones. 

None of the four women contacted the Post reporters directly. While working in Alabama on a profile about Senate candidate Moore, a Post reporter was told that Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls in the past. The four women say they do not know each other and only chose to go public after extended interviews and conversations with Post reporters.  

The four women making the allegations against Moore were very young in early 1979, when the 32-year-old assistant district attorney introduced himself to 14-year-old Leigh Corfman and her mother. Moore offered to sit with the girl while her mother attended a custody hearing. 

DeVos Champions Online Charter Schools & Parental Rights, But The Results Are Poor

DeVos Champions Online Charter Schools & Parental Rights, But The Results Are Poor

US education secretary Betsy DeVos is a big proponent of charter schools, so much so that she and her husband have put their money behind their values and beliefs. Over a decade ago, DeVos invested in junk-bond king Michael Milken-backed online charter-school operator K12, which targeted the growing homeschool market. But K12’s overly expansive business model made it both significantly less profitable and more prone to regulatory and operating deficiencies than smaller, less ideologically driven competitors, wrote The Atlantic prior to Besty Devos' senate confirmation. K12 still trades below its IPO price from 2007 and documents discovered by The Atlantic suggest that DeVos was a backer of Milken's parent company Knowledge Universe, now defunct.

Sen. Susan Collins: Will She Stay Or Will She Go? The Torn Moderate Republican Plans Her Future

Sen. Susan Collins: Will She Stay Or Will She Go? The Torn Moderate Republican Plans Her Future

Will she stay or will she go? Maine Senator Susan Collins admits to being very torn over her pending decision to remain as the moderate Republican Senator or run for governor. North Dakota Democrat Sen. Heidi Heitkamp is begging her not to do it. Leave the Senate that is. 

Collins admitted to Politico that the buzz about her prolonged indecision is "accurate". After hoping to finalize her decision by the end of September, Collins is not shooting for a mid-October deadline. 

Meghan McCain Set To Join The View's Revolving Door Panel For Women

Meghan McCain Set To Join The View's Revolving Door Panel For Women

Variety reports that Meghan McCain is joining 'The View', replacing conservative voice Jedediah Bila, who announced her departure on the ABC daytime show last week. McCain signed off Fox News' 'Outnumbered' with the announcement of her father Sen. John McCain's brain cancer.  Before joining Fox News, McCain co-hosted the Pivot Network’s "TakePart Live" and is an op-ed contributor to publications such as the Daily Beast, Newsweek and Time. Meghan McCain is known for being a free-thinker in the GOP, rejecting the party line on issues like same-sex marriage and climate change.

Fox Denies That Laura Ingraham Is Set To Take 10 pm Slot, Moving Hannity To Face Off Against Rachel Maddow

Laura Ingraham speaking for Trump at 2016 Republican convention.

Fox Denies That Laura Ingraham Is Set To Take 10 pm Slot, Moving Hannity To Face Off Against Rachel Maddow

CNN reports that Fox News commentator, radio host and Trump loyalist Laura Ingraham is set to replace Sean Hannity in the 10 pm time slot at Fox. Unidentified sources tell CNN that Hannity will move to the 9 pm hour, putting him head-to-head with Rachel Maddow at MSNBC. 

"The Five" will return to its original time slot, now that Eric Bolling has left the Fox News, after a month-long investigation into claims that Bolling sent male genitalia texts with saucy comments to other female staffers at Fox. 

Fox News denies the rumour, saying there is "no deal in place with Ingraham, who has her own charges of sexual harassment against her partner Peter Anthony at LifeZette, reportsThe Daily Beast.  Ingraham has also indicated an interest in the 2018 Senate race against Democratic incumbent and former Hillary Clinton running mate Tim Kaine, according to the Washington Post. A Fox gig would seemingly close that door -- now seriously complicated by charges against her business partner. 

Education Secy Betsy DeVos Announces Plans To Revise Title 9 Sexual Assault On Campus Rules

Education Secy Betsy DeVos Announces Plans To Revise Title 9 Sexual Assault On Campus Rules

US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos announced changes Thursday to an Obama-era directive regarding sexual-assault allegations on campus. Speaking at George Mason University in Virginia, DeVos said “The truth is that the system established by the prior administration has failed too many students." She pledged to replace the “failed system” with a “workable, effective, and fair system” that addresses the needs and rights for both sexual-assault victims and the accused.

“Every survivor of sexual misconduct must be taken seriously. Every student accused of sexual misconduct must know that guilt is not predetermined,” she said.

Leaving the current rules in place for now, DeVos said that a public comment period would open soon, in order to craft new rules. 

“We will seek public feedback and combine institutional knowledge, professional expertise, and the experiences of students to replace the current approach with a workable, effective, and fair system,” DeVos said.

Study: Republican Men See Women Political Leaders As Less Competent & With Lower Integrity

Study: Republican Men See Women Political Leaders As Less Competent & With Lower Integrity

NPR reports on a new study analyzing data about Americans' attitudes toward their House of Representatives  members from 2010 through 2014. Ideally, the analysis would be more current, because the presidential election both confirmed and negated some of these conclusions. 

Mia Costa and Brian Schaffner, political scientists from the U of Mass, Amherst concluded that women tend to think "more highly of female legislators on a variety of measures", regardless of party. Republican men express serious reservations about the women representing them, whereas Democratic men often rate women higher than men in governing. 

The research isn't broken down by education, and I would argue here that high-school educated women tend to be more traditional in their beliefs that men should govern. These attitudes have been explored in depth post presidential election, like PRRI/Atlantic analysis and direct interviews with a large sampling of Trump voters. 

In studying members of the House, and not the Senate, the research results are also impacted by districts that are seriously gerrymandered and representing rigid attitudes among both parties, and also racial attitudes. Within these caveats, Costa and Schaffner concluded:

"While Democratic men evaluate women legislators more favorably, the opposite is true for Republican men," the researchers write. "Republican men are the one group who provide lower evaluations of female elected officials."

Sen McCain Saved Obamacare Standing On The Unyielding Shoulders Of Collins & Murkowski

Sen McCain Saved Obamacare Standing On The Unyielding Shoulders Of Collins & Murkowski

Thankfully, most media understood that while Sen. McCain was the much-needed vote, he had two women colleagues who made his decision so critical because he could actually determine the final verdict on Obamacare. The Senator was in rare, eloquent form before returning to Arizona to commence his treatment for a seriously-advanced brain cancer. But it was Collins and Murkowski to declared their positions early on and never veered off course, in spite of numerous threats from Trump himself. Do any of those Republican white guys wonder the outcome might have been different if they had just taken Collins and Murkowski seriously, instead of treating them like pesky gnats. ~ Anne

GOP Congressman Are Dueling Till Dead, Now Slapping Around Republican Women Senators Over Healthcare

GOP Congressman Are Dueling Till Dead, Now Slapping Around Republican Women Senators Over Healthcare

It's been a tough week for Republican women senators. On Monday, Congressman Blake Farenhold of duck pjs fame was quoted on Texas radio as saying that if Republican senators Collins (Maine), Shelley Moore Capito (W. Va), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) -- who voted against a Republican plan on ending Obamacare last week -- were men, he would challenge them to a duel. 

Presumably Farenhold would be the last man standing, although after his jammies pic and sexual harassment lawsuit, coupled with his girth, AOC is not so sure.

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In an interview with MSNBC's Ali Velshi, Representative Buddy Carter (R-GA) defended Donald Trump’s Wednesday morning Twitter attacks on Senator Lisa Murkowski saying that, “Somebody needs to go over to the Senate and snatch a knot in their ass.” (For those of you who are not fluent in Carter's Georgia boy male lingo, to “snatch a knot” means to smack someone).

Trumplandia: Hope Hicks, Age 28, Is A Loyalist Who Let's Trump Be Trump | In Arizona, Ward Tells Sen. John McCain To Step Aside For Her

Donald Trump loyalist Hope Hicks

Trumplandia: Hope Hicks, Age 28, Is A Loyalist Who Let's Trump Be Trump | In Arizona, Ward Tells Sen. John McCain To Step Aside For Her

In the White House world of rival power centers, 28-year-old Hope Hicks reports directly to the president. Hicks pulls down the same salary as Reince Priebus and Steve Bannon -- $179,000 -- and keeps a low profile. Hicks is devoted to the advancement of Donald Trump. He calls her Hopester and she calls him Mr. Trump. Hope Hicks views her job, ultimately, as "someone who is installed where she is in order to help, but not change, the leader of the free world."

Previously flying under the radar, Hicks was at the president's side this week, during his explosive interview with the New York Times. In a series of bombshell statements, Trump said he wished he had never hired Attorney General Jeff Sessions given his recusal from the Russia investigation. He left open firing special counsel Robert Mueller, especially if he investigated Trump's business affairs. 

Hicks also may be one of the only long-term survivors with the arrival of incoming communications director Anthony Scaramucci who said on his first press briefing on Friday, "Dan [Scavino] and Hope Hicks are staying. As it relates to the other people in the comms shop, I’ve got to get to know them.”