#tammy haddad

[soovermyself]

WHCD recap…

[sassysophiabush]

[uinterview]

@MissAmericaOrg CEO #SamHaskell's Leaked Emails Reveal He Slut-Shamed & Fat-Shamed Past Winners http://bit.ly/2pdEo9q

[dykevillanelle]

{ yearly booklist: 2020 }

books read: 107 pages read: 30,689

top 5: 1 (best). the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home (joseph fink & jeffrey cranor) 2. the faggots and their friends between revolutions (larry mitchell & ned asta) 3. a little life (hanya yanagihara) 4. the summer we got free (mia mckenzie) 5. there there (tommy orange)

bottom 5: 5. pleasure activism (ed. adrienne maree brown) 4. the immortalists (chloe benjamin) 3. where the crawdads sing (delia owens) 2. the difference between you and me (madeleine george) 1 (worst). sugar land (tammy lynne stoner)

full list under the cut [in order read, *starred* are recommended]: 

*bluets (maggie nelson)* pleasure activism (ed. adrienne maree brown) as lie is to grin (simeon marsalis) *the mythic dream (ed. dominic parisien & navah wolfe)* what is the what (dave eggers)   *if beale street could talk (james baldwin)* *the stonewall reader (ed. new york public library)* *the water dancer (ta-nehisi coates)* *no name in the street (james baldwin)* honeysuckle (robin gow) where the crawdads sing (delia owens) a tale for the time being (ruth ozeki) *going to meet the man (james baldwin)* *dangerous families (mattilda bernstein sycamore)* *junk (tommy pico)* call down the hawk (maggie stiefvater) answered prayers (truman capote) veils, nudity, and tattoos: the new feminine aesthetics (thorston botz-bernstein) *jacob's room (virginia woolf)* *sag harbor (colson whitehead)* so many ways to sleep badly (mattilda bernstein sycamore) the red parts: autobiography of a trial (maggie nelson) *the cancer journals (audre lorde)* the truth (terry pratchett) sweets: a history of candy *a little life (hanya yanagihara)* *tomboy survivial guide (ivan coyote)* *feed (tommy pico)* *red, white & royal blue (casey mcquiston)* *are prisons obsolete? (angela y. davis)* girl walking backwards (bett williams) the end of san francisco (mattilda bernstein sycamore) guapa (saleem haddad) *tell me how long the train's been gone (james baldwin)* pulling taffy (mattilda bernstein sycamore) love & lies: marisol's story (ellen wittlinger) the difference between you and me (madeleine george) *the body keeps the score (bessel van der kolk)* nimona (noelle stevenson) *priestdaddy (patricia lockwood)* *why are faggots so afraid of faggots?: flaming challenges to masculinity, objectification, and the desire to conform (ed. mattilda bernstein sycamore)* the city we became (n.k. jemisin) over the top (jonathan van ness) huntress (malinda lo) patience & sarah (isabel miller)   *the art of cruelty (maggie nelson)* tricks and treats: sex workers write about their clients (ed. mattilda bernstein sycamore) *the end of imagination (arundhati roy)* the evidence of things not seen (james baldwin) *on earth we're briefly gorgeous (ocean vuong)* *dark days (james baldwin)* trail of broken wings (sejal badani) the lady's guide to petticoats and piracy (mackenzi lee)   peculiar institution: america's death penalty in an age of abolition (david garland) *alice isn't dead (joseph fink)* three parts dead (max gladstone) when brooklyn was queer (hugh ryan)   *the faggots and their friends between revolutions (larry mitchell & ned asta)* the immortalists (chloe benjamin) *semi queer: inside the world of gay, trans, and black truck drivers (anne balay)* three guineas (virginia woolf) *the glass hotel (emily st. john mandel)* the girl who lived twice (david lagercrantz) *chokehold: policing black men (paul butler)* codename villanelle (luke jennings) no tomorrow (luke jennings) die for me (luke jennings) *just above my head (james baldwin)* *sketchtasy (mattilda bernstein sycamore)* *angry white men: american masculinity at the end of an era (michael kimmel)* *how to be an anti-racist (ibram x. kendi)* white fragility: why it's so hard for white people to talk about racism (robin diangelo) *there there (tommy orange)* *toward an intellectual history of black women (ed. mia bay et. al.)* jonah's gourd vine (zora neale hurston) *the faceless old woman who secretly lives in your home (joseph fink & jeffrey cranor) animal dreams (barbara kingsolver) *the adventure zone: petals to the metal (clint mcelroy, carey pietsch, griffin mcelroy, justin mcelroy, travis mcelroy)* *from black power to hip hop: racism, nationalism, and feminism (patricia hill collins)* sugar land (tammy lynne stoner) *nature poem (tommy pico)* *prisoners of politics: breaking the cycle of mass incarceration (rachel elise barkow)*   *all the bad apples (moïra fowley-doyle)* body horror: capitalism, fear, misogyny, jokes (anne elizabeth moore) *the summer we got free (mia mckenzie)* john henry days (colson whitehead) the memory of blood (christopher fowler)   the last smile in sunder city (luke arnold) *the death of vivek oji (akwaeke emezi)* *dust tracks on a road (zora neale hurston)* *an unkindness of ghosts (rivers solomon)* *thick: and other essays (tressie mcmillan cottom)* first test (tamora pierce) the noble hustle: poker, beef jerky, and death (colson whitehead) page (tamora pierce) *patron saints of nothing (randy ribay)* squire (tamora pierce) *this is how it always is (laurie frankel)* hidden (helen frost) jimmy's blues and other poems (james baldwin) 96 words for love (rachel roy & ava dash) *the colossus of new york (colson whitehead)* *heavy (kiese laymon)* *tell my horse: voodoo and life in haiti and jamaica (zora neale hurston)* lady knight (tamora pierce) *nobody knows my name (james baldwin)* *apex hides the hurt (colson whitehead)*

[christopherporreca01]

Miss America leadership steps down as controversy envelops the organization

[ad_1]

Sam Haskell, the ousted chief executive of the Miss America Organization. (Mel Evans/AP)

The top leaders of the Miss America Organization resigned Saturday, following the revelation of emails in which he disparaged previous pageant winners.

Sam Haskell stepped down as chief executive and board chairman Lynn Weidner submitted her resignation, according to the organization, which puts…

[nedsecondline]

“This afternoon, the board of directors of the Miss America Organization accepted the resignation of Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Sam Haskell, effective immediately,” Dan Meyers, interim chairman of the board, said in a statement.

Lynn Weidner, chairman of the 96-year-old organization’s board, also resigned but will remain on the board up to 90 days to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership, Meyers said.

Josh Randle, president and COO, is also stepping down but will remain in his position temporarily, a Miss America Organization spokesman said in a statement.

On Friday, board member Tammy Haddad said in a statement she was following through on her plan to resign, effective immediately.

Haddad in emails had referred to past Miss America winners as “malcontents” and suggested hiring an investigator to look into the activities of one former winner, the Huffington Post reported.

[bigyack-com]

The National Media Mob Descends on Iowa

DES MOINES — Every spring, the Washington impresario Tammy Haddad hosts a brunch before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that is a required stop for reporters, editors, network news anchors and political operatives.That crowd is currently in Iowa — drinking, schmoozing, occasionally driving off to see a presidential candidate or two — so Ms. Haddad, a media consultant and TV veteran, decided to bring the fun to them. Hence the Snowflake Garden Brunch, a Georgetown-in-the-cornfields gathering in Des Moines on Sunday that attracted a healthy chunk of the visiting political class.Attendees were greeted with mimosas and a wall of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The anchor Greta Van Susteren chatted up Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa. Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s spokeswoman, Lis Smith, gossiped with executives from ABC and NBC. The 15-year-old son of Janice Min, the former Us Weekly and Hollywood Reporter editor, was on-hand reporting for a group called KidUnity.The sponsors included Wells Fargo, the health insurer Anthem and a Washington-based lobbyist for the wind energy industry.“I’m living the dream at the Wells Fargo brunch,” one reporter said, eyeing an ice sculpture of a cow.Hundreds of journalists from Washington and New York have been crisscrossing the state for weeks covering the run-up to Monday’s caucuses, seeking insight into the psyche and soul of the average Iowan and stress-testing the abilities of a jumbo field of Democratic hopefuls.But as at any industry gathering, shoptalk is hard to avoid. These days, Iowa and its journalist hot spots — namely the glaringly lighted, hideously carpeted lobby bar of the Des Moines Marriott Downtown — can feel like a summer camp, trade convention and I.R.L. Twitter rolled into one.“It’s not quite Mos Eisley,” said Edward-Isaac Dovere, a staff writer for The Atlantic, referring to the alien cantina in “Star Wars.” “But everyone does seem to come through eventually.”On a recent evening at the Marriott, puffer vests abounded. Jake Tapper of CNN held court, and Ed Henry of Fox News popped by. Senior Democratic officials gossiped with correspondents from BuzzFeed, CNN, Politico and Time. Bloomberg News threw a Super Bowl screening with an open bar and free chicken wings. The Marriott gift shop was selling a T-shirt emblazoned with a logo that seemed tailor made for the visiting clientele: “Hi. Didn’t I Interview You 4 Years Ago?”It was the kind of crowd that lets out a collective gasp and tweets multiple exclamation points when the final Des Moines Register poll of Iowa voters is abruptly canceled. Which happened on Saturday night.“There definitely aren’t any caucusgoers there,” Mr. Dovere said, “but it’s where the operatives and reporters just assume everyone is heading.”The last weekend before the caucuses brings a unique kind of frenzy, along with some dweeby fandom (hey, it’s the “Pod Save America” guys!). More than 400 reporters attended Mr. Buttigieg’s final rally on Sunday at a high school. Television and newspaper executives, in town for a look-see, sat down to steaks at downtown chophouses while rookie embed reporters drank at the Mexican dive El Bait Shop.Occasionally, the high reporter-to-real-person ratio yields political consequences. John Kerry, the former secretary of state, had the misfortune of sitting next to an NBC reporter at breakfast when he apparently blabbed on the phone about a potential run for the presidency. The story exploded on Twitter before Mr. Kerry issued an obscenity-laced denial.“Strong ‘overheard on the Acela’ energy,” Rosie Gray, a BuzzFeed News reporter, wrote on Twitter, referring to the Amtrak express train that whooshes the chattering classes between New York and Washington.Were average Americans following the reports from Iowa? Unclear. With President Trump on trial in the Senate, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts devoted just 10 minutes of coverage last week to the caucuses, compared with 86 minutes in 2016, according to one study. Correspondents in Iowa, on three-hour drives to candidate forums in Decorah or Fort Madison, made a habit of listening to C-SPAN Radio to keep up with the impeachment proceedings.Back at Ms. Haddad’s Sunday brunch — which raised money for veterans’ groups — a contingent coalesced around Rob Sand, the state auditor and boyish bright young thing of Iowa Democratic politics.“You look like a young Pete Buttigieg,” joked Hilary Rosen, the Washington operative and Ms. Haddad’s co-host. Mr. Sand’s fingers flew to his smooth cheeks. “But Pete can grow a beard!” he protested.Does Mr. Sand resent all these interlopers parachuting in? “I’ve tried to be ‘Iowa nice,’” he said wryly.Brad Anderson, the Iowa state director at AARP, said in an interview that he appreciated all the national interest in his state. But he advised reporters to spend more time meeting with the people who really mattered: the Iowans who would be caucusing on Monday night.“Stand on a sidewalk and just start talking to people,” he said. “You’ll get a better sense than at a fancy brunch.”Mr. Anderson happened to say this while kibitzing at Ms. Haddad’s fancy brunch. Be honest: Will he miss the media when it’s gone?“I will,” he said, laughing. “I love you guys. I’m not being cheesy here, but the media does appreciate the Iowan approach to this process, and that makes me happy.” Read the full article

[narcisbolgor-blog]

Trump-like inflatable chicken pops up near White House

A giant inflatable chicken with golden locks is back at the White House.

Back in April the so-called "Trump chicken" became a mascot during the Tax March. Now the inflatable poultry with a Trump-like hairdo is back, popping up Wednesday in the Ellipse park just behind the White House.

SEE ALSO: Giant Trump-rooster statue appears in China in case you forgot about Trump for one second

Many noticed something was different and pointed out the golden-haired chicken Wednesday.

.@whca @markknoller who is floating the Orange Haired Chicken by @WhiteHouse anyone know? http://pic.twitter.com/asxuZWm6Ry

Tammy Haddad (@haddadmedia) August 9, 2017

BREAKING: There's an inflatable chicken with Trump's hair behind the White House http://pic.twitter.com/CPzyHeAixA

Rebecca Shabad (@RebeccaShabad) August 9, 2017

Who has the big Trump chicken on the Ellipse staring into the White House? http://pic.twitter.com/2O7cMRdyiW

Tom Manatos (@TomManatos) August 9, 2017

It appears some protesters have inflated this behind the White House. http://pic.twitter.com/TduZC591BK

Steve Kopack (@SteveKopack) August 9, 2017

#FoxNews #Chickentrump #Whitehouse Chicken Trump at the white house! http://pic.twitter.com/nN8naxbwsj

Gabriel Cloutier (@rick_holl) August 9, 2017

One news station even had a Facebook Live of the chicken shot.

This man claimed responsibility for todays chicken display. He told HuffPost that Trump is too chicken to release his tax returns and stand up to Russian president Vladimir Putin. He reportedly spent $1,300 on his visual protest.

Taran Singh Brar says he bought it for $1300. It's a visual protest. "Trump is too chicken to release his tax returns, to stand up to Putin" http://pic.twitter.com/JLohv0yl82

Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 9, 2017

Inflatable chickens are available on eBay for $500. They look almost identical to the Trump rooster statue that popped up in China last year. The chicken spotted at the White House Wednesday seems to make appearances every so often.

Too bad Trump is still in Bedminster, New Jersey, missing out on all the D.C. fun.

WATCH: Airbnb is giving away an epic experience to watch the solar eclipse

More From this publisher : HERE

=> *********************************************** Post Source Here: Trump-like inflatable chicken pops up near White House ************************************ =>

Trump-like inflatable chicken pops up near White House was originally posted by 11 VA Viral News

[bocher-daniel]

Das Huhn namens Trump

Gestern tauchte in der nähen von Trumps Amtssitz in Washington ein aufblasbares Gummi-Huhn auf. Das Hühnchen hat entgegen seiner wilden Artgenossen jedoch eine besondere Frisur: die typische blonde Trump Tolle.

.@whca @markknoller who is floating the Orange Haired Chicken by @WhiteHouse anyone know? pic.twitter.com/asxuZWm6Ry

— Tammy Haddad (@haddadmedia)

9. August 2017

Das Trump-Huhn ist jedoch nicht neu, sondern wird seit den Protesten des Tax March (Steuermarsch) im April diesen Jahres als Maskottchen genutzt. Bei diesen Protesten ging es darum das der amerikanische Präsident Donald Trump seine Steuererklärung veröffentlichen soll.

There’s a giant inflatable Trump chicken behind the White House. pic.twitter.com/z41FJNAG6X

— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_)

9. August 2017

Vor Ort fanden Reporter einen Mann der behauptete für die Aktion verantwortlich zu sein Er habe das Huhn für 1.300 Dollar gekauft und sagte den Reportern Trump sei zu feige (Engl. „chicken“) seine Steuererklärung zu veröffentlichen und sich Putin entgegen zu stellen.

Taran Singh Brar says he bought it for $1300. It’s a visual protest. “Trump is too chicken to release his tax returns, to stand up to Putin” pic.twitter.com/JLohv0yl82

— Philip Lewis (@Phil_Lewis_)

9. August 2017

<

p>*Nie veröffentlichte Quelle Internet, weil übrig geblieben am Ende des Tages und ich wollte nicht die Arbeit umsonst gemacht haben…

[soovermyself]

[sassysophiabush]

[mastcomm]

The National Media Mob Descends on Iowa

DES MOINES — Every spring, the Washington impresario Tammy Haddad hosts a brunch before the White House Correspondents’ Dinner that is a required stop for reporters, editors, network news anchors and political operatives.

That crowd is currently in Iowa — drinking, schmoozing, occasionally driving off to see a presidential candidate or two — so Ms. Haddad, a media consultant and TV veteran, decided to bring the fun to them. Hence the Snowflake Garden Brunch, a Georgetown-in-the-cornfields gathering in Des Moines on Sunday that attracted a healthy chunk of the visiting political class.

Attendees were greeted with mimosas and a wall of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. The anchor Greta Van Susteren chatted up Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa. Mayor Pete Buttigieg’s spokeswoman, Lis Smith, gossiped with executives from ABC and NBC. The 15-year-old son of Janice Min, the former Us Weekly and Hollywood Reporter editor, was on-hand reporting for a group called KidUnity.

The sponsors included Wells Fargo, the health insurer Anthem and a Washington-based lobbyist for the wind energy industry.

“I’m living the dream at the Wells Fargo brunch,” one reporter said, eyeing an ice sculpture of a cow.

Hundreds of journalists from Washington and New York have been crisscrossing the state for weeks covering the run-up to Monday’s caucuses, seeking insight into the psyche and soul of the average Iowan and stress-testing the abilities of a jumbo field of Democratic hopefuls.

But as at any industry gathering, shoptalk is hard to avoid. These days, Iowa and its journalist hot spots — namely the glaringly lighted, hideously carpeted lobby bar of the Des Moines Marriott Downtown — can feel like a summer camp, trade convention and I.R.L. Twitter rolled into one.

“It’s not quite Mos Eisley,” said Edward-Isaac Dovere, a staff writer for The Atlantic, referring to the alien cantina in “Star Wars.” “But everyone does seem to come through eventually.”

On a recent evening at the Marriott, puffer vests abounded. Jake Tapper of CNN held court, and Ed Henry of Fox News popped by. Senior Democratic officials gossiped with correspondents from BuzzFeed, CNN, Politico and Time. Bloomberg News threw a Super Bowl screening with an open bar and free chicken wings. The Marriott gift shop was selling a T-shirt emblazoned with a logo that seemed tailor made for the visiting clientele: “Hi. Didn’t I Interview You 4 Years Ago?”

It was the kind of crowd that lets out a collective gasp and tweets multiple exclamation points when the final Des Moines Register poll of Iowa voters is abruptly canceled. Which happened on Saturday night.

“There definitely aren’t any caucusgoers there,” Mr. Dovere said, “but it’s where the operatives and reporters just assume everyone is heading.”

The last weekend before the caucuses brings a unique kind of frenzy, along with some dweeby fandom (hey, it’s the “Pod Save America” guys!). More than 400 reporters attended Mr. Buttigieg’s final rally on Sunday at a high school. Television and newspaper executives, in town for a look-see, sat down to steaks at downtown chophouses while rookie embed reporters drank at the Mexican dive El Bait Shop.

Occasionally, the high reporter-to-real-person ratio yields political consequences. John Kerry, the former secretary of state, had the misfortune of sitting next to an NBC reporter at breakfast when he apparently blabbed on the phone about a potential run for the presidency. The story exploded on Twitter before Mr. Kerry issued an obscenity-laced denial.

“Strong ‘overheard on the Acela’ energy,” Rosie Gray, a BuzzFeed News reporter, wrote on Twitter, referring to the Amtrak express train that whooshes the chattering classes between New York and Washington.

Were average Americans following the reports from Iowa? Unclear. With President Trump on trial in the Senate, the ABC, CBS and NBC evening newscasts devoted just 10 minutes of coverage last week to the caucuses, compared with 86 minutes in 2016, according to one study. Correspondents in Iowa, on three-hour drives to candidate forums in Decorah or Fort Madison, made a habit of listening to C-SPAN Radio to keep up with the impeachment proceedings.

Back at Ms. Haddad’s Sunday brunch — which raised money for veterans’ groups — a contingent coalesced around Rob Sand, the state auditor and boyish bright young thing of Iowa Democratic politics.

“You look like a young Pete Buttigieg,” joked Hilary Rosen, the Washington operative and Ms. Haddad’s co-host. Mr. Sand’s fingers flew to his smooth cheeks. “But Pete can grow a beard!” he protested.

Does Mr. Sand resent all these interlopers parachuting in? “I’ve tried to be ‘Iowa nice,’” he said wryly.

Brad Anderson, the Iowa state director at AARP, said in an interview that he appreciated all the national interest in his state. But he advised reporters to spend more time meeting with the people who really mattered: the Iowans who would be caucusing on Monday night.

“Stand on a sidewalk and just start talking to people,” he said. “You’ll get a better sense than at a fancy brunch.”

Mr. Anderson happened to say this while kibitzing at Ms. Haddad’s fancy brunch. Be honest: Will he miss the media when it’s gone?

“I will,” he said, laughing. “I love you guys. I’m not being cheesy here, but the media does appreciate the Iowan approach to this process, and that makes me happy.”

from WordPress https://mastcomm.com/the-national-media-mob-descends-on-iowa/

[lrmartinjr]

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-Va.) hosted a dinner Friday night for more than 100 guests at his house on Martha’s Vineyard as part of the DSCC’S annual Majority Trust retreat. 

OVERHEARD: Warner, the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, joking to the crowd: “If you get me one more glass of wine, I’ll tell you stuff only Bob Mueller and I know. If you think you’ve seen wild stuff so far, buckle up. It’s going to be a wild couple of months.”

SPOTTED IN MARTHA’S VINEYARD at another party last night hosted by Sen. Warner and Connie Milstein at her house in Edgartown: Democratic Sens. Chris Coons (Del.), Michael Bennet (Colo.), Sheldon Whitehouse (R.I.), Doug Jones (Ala.), Gary Peters (Mich.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.) and Ed Markey (Mass.), Dr. Susan Blumenthal, Tammy Haddad, Wyoming Senate candidate Gary Trauner, Heather Podesta and Stephen Kessler, Tom Quinn, Ambassador Tod Sedgwick, Erik Huey, Adam Green, Wade and Lorna Ho Randlett, Carmen Osmond and Adam Bramwell.

[theconservativebrief]

Miss America is ditching the swimsuit competition and shifting away from judging contestants on their physical appearance, trying to revamp its image after vulgar emails surfaced of its leadership disparaging contestants and to step into the #MeToo era under Gretchen Carlson’s guide.

Carlson, the former Fox News host who is now chair of the board of directors at Miss America, said in an appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday that the organization is no longer a “pageant” but instead a “competition” where candidates will be judged on more than just their looks.

Organizers will swap the swimsuit competition for what Miss America described as a “live interactive sessions with the judges,” during which competitors will highlight their achievements and goals in life and how they plan to use their “talents, passion, and ambition” to perform the job of Miss America. It will also revamp the evening gown part.

Even though it plans to get rid of some of its most controversial trappings and despite its rebranding as a “competition,” Miss America will still ultimately be a pageant. Young women will be paraded around and asked to jump through hoops to obtain an arbitrary title and some scholarship money.

”We’ve heard from a lot of young women who say, ‘We’d love to be a part of your program, but we don’t want to be out there in high heels and a swimsuit,’ so guess what, you don’t have to do that anymore,” Carlson told GMA.

Miss America posted a video with the hashtag #ByeByeBikini on Twitter.

The talent competition, which distinguishes Miss America from its competitor Miss USA (which is owned by Miss Universe), will stay in, and the evening gown portion will be revamped to “give participants the freedom to outwardly express their self-confidence in evening attire of their choosing while discussing how they will advance their social impact initiatives,” according to the Miss America Organization’s press release announcing the change. What exactly that means isn’t clear.

The next competition will be held on September 9, 2018, in Atlantic City.

”Who doesn’t want to be empowered, learn leadership skills, and pay for college and be able to show the world who you are as a person from the inside of your soul?” Carlson, the former Fox News host and Miss America 1989 who was tapped as chair of the organization in January, said on GMA.

Miss America, which launched in 1921, has always entailed a swimsuit competition — and struggled to explain the point of keeping it in. It bills itself as “the nation’s leading advocate for women’s education and the largest provider of scholarship assistance to young women in the United States” but can’t quite explain why it makes sense to base scholarships on who looks best in a bikini.

In the early ’90s, Miss America went as far as to ask viewers to vote on whether they should keep the swimsuit portion in, which they overwhelmingly did.

“We are not stupid,” Leonard Horn, the organization’s former chief executive, said in 1993. “We are very sensitive to the fact that the swimsuit competition has always been our Achilles’ heel. The swimsuit competition has been controversial since the early 1920s, but it’s been retained because the majority of the people like it.”

The pageant found itself in the midst of major controversy late last year when the Huffington Post uncovered emails between organization leadership talking about the contestants in lewd and vulgar ways. Lewis Friedman, the lead writer for Miss America, in one email to CEO Sam Haskell, referred to former winners as “cunts,” to which Haskell replied laughingly. Media consultant and Miss America board member Tammy Haddad in another email called former contestants a “pile of malcontents.”

Haddad and Haskell were critical of Carlson in their communications as well and according to the Huffington Post were angered by her push to modernize the organization. Haskell, Haddad, Miss America COO and president Josh Randle, and board chair Lynn Weidner resigned after the emails were published, and Carlson was named chair at the start of the year.

Carlson has become a prominent figure in the #MeToo movement and the broader conversation about how women are treated in American culture since filing a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment against former Fox News chair and CEO Roger Ailes in 2016. Ailes was eventually forced to step down from his post.

At Miss America, Carlson has sought to overhaul some of the organization’s setup and practices. She has appointed several more women to its board and put in place an all-female leadership team. Last week, Miss America announced a partnership with the women’s political leadership organization IGNITE to promote female political engagement.

“We are moving [Miss America] forward and evolving it in this cultural revolution,” Carlson told GMA on Tuesday.

To be sure, these changes don’t wipe away the controversy around Miss America, nor does getting rid of the swimsuit competition signify some sort of cultural harbinger of female empowerment. As Rebecca Jennings at Racked points out, though Miss Teen USA — which is under the Miss Universe organization — axed its swimsuit contest, replacing the dress code instead with athletic wear, it’s definitely still a beauty pageant.

And there are certainly better ways to give out scholarship money to young women than having them parade around in evening gowns, demonstrate random party tricks dubbed talents, and attempt to answer complex questions about major policy and social issues, which policymakers struggle with for years, on the fly and in a matter of seconds.

Take a look at last year’s questions to the top five. Contestants were asked about potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia, the president’s reaction to white racially motivated violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Paris climate agreement, Confederate statues, and whether football should be banned because of concussions.

They got 20 seconds to answer.

Original Source -> Miss America is getting rid of the swimsuit competition. It’s a start.

via The Conservative Brief

[thedeadshotnetwork]

10 things you need to know today: December 24, 2017 1. President Trump went after FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe in a series of tweets Saturday and Sunday, accusing him of corruption in the investigation of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server. Trump accused McCabe of taking "$700,000 for wife's campaign by Clinton Puppets during [the emails] investigation." In subsequent tweets he referenced reports of McCabe's forthcoming retirement and quoted Fox News as saying McCabe promoted the Clinton campaign with his government email account. McCabe's wife, Dr. Jill McCabe, did receive $450,000 for a 2015 state campaign from a PAC run by Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), who was co-chair of Bill Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign and chair of Hillary Clinton's run in 2008. However, Andrew McCabe did not have oversight of the Clinton emails investigation until after she lost. 2. A federal judge on Saturday partially blocked President Trump's suspension of refugee admissions from 11 countries, nine of which are majority-Muslim: Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Mali, North Korea, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. After hearing arguments Thursday, U.S. District Judge James Robart ruled that refugee applications must be processed for those with "a bona fide relationship to a person or entity within the United States." The Trump administration claimed the ban "is a reasonable and appropriate way for agency heads to tackle gaps" in vetting procedure, but Robart said vetting is already rigorous. 3. President Trump went to the "Winter White House," his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, on Friday, where CBS News reports he told friends dining at his club, "You all just got a lot richer" because of the GOP tax overhaul he'd signed several hours earlier. Two sources at a nearby table described the comments to CBS. In public statements before the bill became law, Trump repeatedly claimed he, as a wealthy person, would take a financial hit so that ordinary Americans could pay lower taxes. Since the legislation was finalized, analysis has shown Trump will save millions annually under the new system. 4. North Korea in a statement Sunday harshly condemned new United Nations sanctions leveled against the isolated regime Friday. "We define this 'sanctions resolution' rigged up by the U.S. and its followers as a grave infringement upon the sovereignty of our Republic, as an act of war violating peace and stability in the Korean peninsula and the region and categorically reject the 'resolution,'" Pyongyang said, arguing that nothing can stop "the great historic cause of completing the state nuclear force." The sanctions were supported by Russia and China as well as the U.S. 5. At a June meeting on immigration policy, a frustrated President Trump said immigrants from Haiti "all have AIDS" and those from Nigeria will refuse to "go back to their huts" once they see America, The New York Times reported Saturday, citing two unnamed sources for each quote. The White House denied "these outrageous claims," the Times said, but did not deny "the overall description of the meeting." Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said it is "both sad and telling The New York Times would print the lies of their anonymous 'sources' anyway." 6. A fire in a shopping mall in the Philippines killed at least 37 people Saturday, and firefighters on Sunday were still struggling to put it out and locate the bodies of those trapped inside. Relatives of those trapped inside the building "were told that the chances of survival are zero," local authorities said. The blaze occurred in Davao City, where both the mayor and vice mayor are the children of controversial Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, who went to the mall Saturday evening to meet with survivors. 7. The Department of Homeland Security's acting press secretary said Saturday the federal government considers a Friday attack on police in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, to be an act of terrorism. The suspect, Ahmed Amin El-Mofty, "was a naturalized U.S. citizen who was admitted to the United States from Egypt on a family-based immigrant visa," the DHS statement said. El-Mofty was shot and killed by police after he fired at a police car, mildly injuring one officer. The suspect's ex-brother-in-law pushed back on the terrorism label, telling ABC News El-Mofty was "a chicken," not a terrorist. 8. Four leaders of the Miss America pageant — CEO Sam Haskell, President Josh Randle, board chair Lynn Weidner, and board member Tammy Haddad — resigned over the weekend after leaked emails saw them disparaging past pageant winners for their appearance and behavior. The emails were first reported by HuffPost . Randle and Weidner will temporarily remain in their roles to transition in new staff, while Haskell and Haddad leave immediately. Randle issued an apology to Miss America 2013 Mallory Hagan for his email comments about her; Haskell said the emails were "conveniently edited." 9. A Saturday New York Times report described an entrenched culture of sexism and sexual harassment at Vice , an atmosphere that led to four sexual harassment or defamation settlements against Vice employees, including top leadership. The Times cites the testimony of nearly 30 women who worked at Vice and describe "a top-down ethos of male entitlement" where female employees felt "like just another party favor." A statement from Vice founders founders Shane Smith and Suroosh Alvi apologized for institutional failure "to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive." 10. A suspicious package addressed to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and left near his California home on Saturday turned out to be gift-wrapped manure, Los Angeles police report. The package reportedly included a Christmas card signed by "the American people" and making critical comments about the Republican tax plan President Trump signed into law on Friday. The package was investigated by an LAPD bomb squad and the Secret Service. It is unknown whether Mnuchin and his wife were at home at the time of the incident. December 24, 2017 at 03:54PM

[youngmagazin]

Miss America CEO Sam Haskell resigns amid offensive email scandal

Omit The united states CEO Sam Haskell has resigned two days after leaked emails revealed he made disparaging comments about contest winners.

Alongside with Haskell, board chair Lynn Weidner moreover resigned, though she is final on the board for 90 days to wait on within the management transition.

Board member Tammy Haddad, who became occasion to some the emails, had previously resigned, to…