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First Lady Melania Trump Spoke at a Cyberbullying Summit While the President Tweeted Insults


First Lady Melania Trump is once again speaking out about one of the key components of her Be Best initiative: cyberbullying. But her comments are ringing a little ironic to many, given her husband’s propensity to, well, cyberbully.

Trump delivered her remarks on Monday at a cyberbullying prevention summit in Maryland, stressing the “responsible” use of social media platforms. “I know many of you are here representing social media companies, federal agencies, educational organizations, youth programs, and law enforcement,” she said. “I also know we share one goal—to pave a smooth way forward for our children, our next generation. I launched my Be Best campaign in May, with a focus on the many issues facing children today—one of them being the safe and responsible use of social media.”

She continued with what proved to be one the most discussed lines of her brief speech, especially since Donald Trump’s presidency has been riddled daily with Twitter attacks posted from his official account: “In today’s global society, social media is an inevitable part of our children’s daily lives. It can be used in many positive ways, but can also be destructive and harmful when used incorrectly. That is why Be Best chooses to focus on the importance of teaching our next generation how to conduct themselves safely and in a positive manner in an online setting.”

As if on cue (and in yet another seemingly public contradiction) President Trump spent part of his morning tweeting insults at Robert Mueller and former CIA Director John Brennan, using language like “disgraced,” “discredited,” “hack,” and “worst CIA Director in our country’s history.”

The First Lady has been taking heat for her cyberbullying platform since she first spoke about it during the 2016 campaign—and it certainly isn’t going to go away when Donald Trump’s tweets keep presenting the couple at opposite sides of the issue’s spectrum.

It didn’t take long for people on social media to call out this latest round of contradictions—and for the First Lady’s spokeswoman to fire back. “Rather than dissecting her remarks, let’s focus on the countless children who struggle w bullying & online safety each day,” Stephanie Grisham tweeted in response to criticism.

The White House pool reporters traveling with the First Lady asked why she continues to be engaged in the cyberbullying issue when the President uses Twitter to insult his detractors (and then some). Grisham replied: “The First Lady’s presence at events such as today’s cyberbullying summit elevates an issue that is important to children and families across this country. She is aware of the criticism but it will not deter her from doing what she feels is right. The President is proud of her commitment to children and encourages her in all that she does.”

Still, it’s hard not to question if the First Lady is again publicly contradicting her husband, or if she just doesn’t see the initiative as irony.

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President Trump and First Lady Melania Met Queen Elizabeth II for Tea


While a giant baby Donald Trump blimp flew across the London skies to protest his visit, (yes, that happened), Queen Elizabeth II capped off a busy week of royal activities by hosting the U.S. President and First Lady Melania Trump for Friday tea at Windsor Castle.

And just in case you’re wondering, this is the same castle where Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wedding festivities took place back in May.

The President and First Lady arrived at the castle in a Range Rover driven by two officials. In the past, the queen’s husband, Prince Philip, has driven foreign dignitaries himself, as he did with Barack and Michelle Obama back in 2016. But Prince Philip was not spotted today, according to the White House pool report, nor were any other members of the royal family.

The queen greeted the couple wearing a blue day coat with a matching hat over a yellow and blue floral outfit and carrying one of her signature black bags. FLOTUS, meanwhile, wore a pale Dior skirt suit, according to CNN’s Kate Bennett, who also pointed out that Trump wore Dior when she met Prince Harry at last year’s Invictus Games. After a couple of quick handshakes, the President and First Lady stood for the U.S. national anthem, hands over their hearts.

PHOTO: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

While there were smiles all around during the greeting, it would seem that the Trumps may have kept the queen waiting a tad too long, as she was spotted checking her watch while they were still in the air, arriving by helicopter.

The Trumps did not appear to bow and curtsy upon greeting the queen. But it is actually not required by her majesty, especially for heads of state, according to CNN. After the short walk, they all headed inside for tea.

Twitter, of course, had some thoughts about the meeting—especially since it was taking place as things were hitting the fan back across the pond: On Friday morning 12 Russian nationals were handed indictments by the Justice Department, as a part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia meddling investigation.

And some thought Trump broke protocol by blocking the queen during their walk.

As for what the Trump and the queen discussed over tea? No word yet. But it’s possible he discussed how that Baby Trump blimp made him feel “unwelcome.”

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Pro-Choice Organizations Launch the #OneInFour Campaign Ahead of President Trump's Supreme Court Nomination


Ahead of Donald Trump’s announcement of his choice for a nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on the Supreme Court, pro-choice groups like Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Shout Your Abortion, and Advocates for Youth are gearing up for a fight over one of the nation’s most divisive issues—a woman’s right to choose and the possible overturning of the landmark Roe v. Wade, the court case that ostensibly legalized abortion in the United States.

Today, they are launching a social media campaign called #OneInFour where they are asking women to share their own abortion stories (if possible) or to stand with those who are. Participants can also tag their senator and ask them to oppose any SCOTUS nominee who does not voice explicit support for Roe v. Wade. (You can find your senator’s Twitter handle here.)

The name #OneInFour comes from the statistic that nearly one in four women in the United States will have had an abortion by the age of 45.

That’s almost a quarter of the female population and yet there is still an incredible amount of stigma attached to women talking about their own abortions. Not to mention the online trolls. But as the Shout Your Abortion website states: “Abortion is normal. Our stories are ours to tell. This is not a debate.”

When women share their abortion stories, we see that there is not one type of woman who makes the choice to end her pregnancy. And that there are also legions of women standing behind her, supporting her right to do so.

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And that’s just the beginning as women keep talking and keep sharing.

We will know more about the battle ahead for the pro-choice movement Monday night after the president names his SCOTUS nominee, but the future of access to safe and legal abortion is most certainly in jeopardy.





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Melania Trump Reportedly Planned to Visit Migrant Children in Texas Before the President Ended Separations


On Thursday, first lady Melania Trump traveled to Texas as part of an unannounced visit to Upbring New Hope Children’s Shelter. There, she reportedly planned to meet with several children who have been separated from their parents at the border.

“I’m glad I’m here and I’m looking forward to seeing the children,” Trump said while seated at a table surrounded by the center’s staff, ABC reported. “But first of all, let me begin to recognize each of you and thank you for all that you do, for your heroic work that you do every day and what you do for those children. We all know they’re here without their families, and I want to thank you for your hard work.”

The facility Trump visited is currently housing an estimated 60 children ranging in age from five to 17, according to a White House pool report. The children are all from Honduras and El Salvador.

Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s communications director, told reporters that Trump asked her staff to plan the visit on Tuesday, just prior to her husband’s decision to sign an executive order ending the family separations.

“This was 100 percent her idea. She absolutely wanted to come,” Grisham said. Even after her husband signed the order, Grisham said the first lady still believed it was important to travel to Texas. “She wants to see what’s happening for herself and she wants to lend her support, executive order or not. The executive order certainly is helping pave the way a little bit, but there’s still a lot to be done.”

PHOTO: Chip Somodevilla

U.S. first lady Melania Trump toured the facility after a roundtable discussion with doctors and social workers at the Upbring New Hope Children’s Center.

The first lady, along with Trump’s daughter and advisor Ivanka Trump, were both said to be instrumental in the president’s decision to sign the executive order.

“Ivanka feels very strongly. My wife feels very strongly about it. I feel very strongly about it,” the president said while he signed the executive order Wednesday, according to ABC. “I think anybody with a heart would feel very strongly about it. We don’t like to see families separated. At the same time, we don’t want people coming into our country illegally. This takes care of the problem.”

Following the signing of the executive order, Ivanka shared her thoughts on social media writing, “Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act and find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values; the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families.”

In a follow-up message sent on Thursday, Ivanka further tweeted, “Now that an EO has been signed ending family separation at the border, it is time to focus on swiftly and safely reuniting the families that have been separated.”

Mrs. Trump isn’t the only first lady to speak out about the separation of families. As ABC noted, all five living former first ladies have publicly condemned the separations. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, former first lady Laura Bush called the separations both “cruel” and “immoral.” Bush added, “Our government should not be in the business of warehousing children in converted box stores or making plans to place them in tent cities in the desert outside of El Paso.”

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Kim Kardashian Is Planning To Meet With President Donald Trump To Discuss Prison Reform


After weeks of planning, Kim Kardashian will reportedly meet with Donald Trump and Jared Kushner at the White House Wednesday to discuss the case of Alice Johnson, a 62-year-old grandmother who has been serving a life sentence without parole for a non-violent drug offense.

Kardashian has been an advocate of Johnson, who has been in prison for 21 years, since coming across her story through a video published on Mic.

“I’ve been in communication with the White House and trying to bring her case to the president’s desk and figure out how we can get her out,” Kardashian told Mic. “That’s such a huge step from where we started with that not even being on their radar.”

According to a person familiar with the meeting, Kardashian will ask Trump to pardon Johnson, who was imprisoned for drug conspiracy and money laundering, Vanity Fair writes. Johnson’s story has resonated with many criminal justice reform leaders; she’s previously shared that she became involved with drug dealers after losing her job, her son, her home, and her marriage. According to Mic, she did not sell drugs or make deals, but became an intermediary who passed along messages to those involved in the drug trade. She was featured in an ACLU campaign to end mass incarceration, and her story went viral after multiple outlets picked it up.

“I felt like a failure,” Johnson told Mic. “I went into a complete panic and out of desperation, I made one of the worst decisions of my life to make some quick money. I became involved in a drug conspiracy.”

Kardashian tweeted about the Mic story back in October 2017, writing “This is so unfair.” In November, she brought in a team of lawyers to examine Johnson’s case. According to Vanity Fair, she also reached out to Ivanka Trump and was connected with Jared Kushner, who has been supportive of prison reform. According to reports, he’s been trying to pass a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill that has co-sponsorship from lawmakers, including Doug Collins (R-Ga.) and Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.). Sources say Kardashian will not bring the Keeping Up with the Kardashians camera crew or her publicist to today’s meeting.

Kardashian’s trip to the White House comes after her husband, Kanye West, released a string of controversial statements and tweets about supporting Donald Trump. Kardashian reportedly supported Hillary Clinton in the last election and has never publicly embraced Trump, but has suggested she is willing to work with his administration for Johnson, despite facing backlash on social media.

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“I’m just focused on criminal-justice reform and helping one person at a time. And so far, the White House has been really receptive to my calls, and I’m grateful for that,” she said. “And I’m not going to stop that because people personally don’t like Trump.”

Kim Kardashian’s advocacy efforts have also included Cyntoia Brown, a young woman serving a 60-year prison sentence for killing a man she says solicited her for sex at 16.

“Where I’m at in my life right now, just like, to go and spend my money buying material things just doesn’t satisfy me the way that it used to,” she said. “To save someone’s life and do that once a year, then that would make [my] heart fuller.”





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Pink Wrote a Powerful Open Letter to the Grammys President for Saying Women Need to 'Step Up'


So many women released great music last year: Cardi B., Kesha, Lady Gaga, Lorde, SZA, Pink, Katy Perry…and that’s just a few examples. And while some of these artists received Grammy nominations for the 2018 ceremony, the final list of honorees was predominantly male. This was perhaps most apparent in the Album of the Year category, which only featured one female nominee (Lorde’s Melodrama).

When it came to the final winners, men swept the 2018 Grammy Awards on Sunday night, too. The only woman who won a major award was Alessia Cara for Best New Artist. Four women were nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, but Ed Sheeran—the only male nominee in that category—won the honor. Women, more or less, were completely shut out of the show, which for many was both confusing and infuriating.

But not as infuriating as the Recording Academy president Neil Portnow’s rationale for the snubs. “I think it has to begin with women who have the creativity in their hearts and their souls—who want to be musicians, who want to be engineers, who want to be producers, who want to be part of the industry on an executive level—to step up, because I think they would be welcome,” he said, according to USA Today.

Yes, you read that correctly. Portnow thinks women weren’t awarded at the Grammys Sunday because they haven’t “stepped up” to the plate—whatever that means. This should go without saying, but women have been stepping up—for decades. There’s just an institutional bias in the music industry toward male artists. Their work is viewed as more valuable, and that’s why they keep winning year after year.

Pink echoed this in an open letter to Portnow that she posted to social media. “Women in music don’t need to ‘step up’ – women have been stepping since the beginning of time,” she wrote. “Stepping up, and also steppin aside. Women OWNED music this year. They’ve been KILLING IT. And every year before this. When we celebrate and honor the talent and accomplishments of women, and how much women STEP UP every year, against all odds, we show the next generation of women and girls and boys and men what it means to be equal, and what it looks like to be fair.”

See her message for yourself, below.

Female artists quickly rallied around Pink after she posted this. “Another powerful woman, leading by example,” Katy Perry tweeted. “We ALL have a responsibility to call out the absurd lack of equality everywhere we see it. I’m proud of ALL the women making incredible art in the face of continual resistance. ✊?” Charli XCX tweeted, “Women are making AMAZING music right now wtf is this dude talking about ?????” (We have no idea.)

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