WATCH: Trump argues that we need a border wall to stop migrants just driving right across in their "unbelievable vehicles... stronger, bigger, and faster vehicles than our police have, than ICE has"

This remarkable docuseries has reached people who may never have thought about the lives of girls in Chicago and Atlanta

It’s been several days since the Surviving R Kelly docuseries began on 3 January, reaching a channel record of 1.9 million viewers – and the hashtag is still trending. Conversations and debates about Lifetime’s intense six-part series are still evolving, as people digest the stories shared by Kelly’s survivors. And on Tuesday, news broke that investigators are looking into allegations in both Chicago and Atlanta as a result of the series.

One could assume that the reason for the series’ success is a combination of good promotion, curiosity, outrage and excitement. But for many women, particularly black and brown women who have experienced sexual violence, I believe the premiere was both a long-awaited public moment of vindication for those Kelly has allegedly hurt (and for those fighting to hold him accountable), and a sign of the ever-growing resistance against him and others who inflict this kind of harm of women and girls in our communities.

Reports citing Nielsen ratings show that out of the millions of viewers, large percentages identify as women. Out of the 18-49 age demographic, 1.1 million people watched and 767,000 were women. Among 25-54s, 1.2 million watched and 837,000 were women. This leads me to believe that the buzz and the shock about the series aren’t as connected to the curiosity of the uninformed or the rage of the disbelieving as one might think.

To me, these numbers reflect the reality that women and girls from marginalised communities, who have always had to fight for and advocate for themselves, have been waiting for this moment or one like it; for the world to see the kind of violence committed against the most vulnerable in our communities in a way that it can’t ignore. If the series – along with recent stories of Jazmine Barnes, Yasmine James and Cyntoia Brown – have reminded us of anything, it’s that black and brown women and girls are still viewed us undeserving of protection. Our humanity is not seen as valuable.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/09/surviving-r-kelly-women-of-colour-docuseries?CMP=twt_gu

"Mr. Trump, here's your trash."

Reps. Jared Huffman and Jackie Speier deliver trash from National Parks in their California congressional districts to the White House as government shutdown drags on. https://abcn.ws/2D02RDW

Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib aren’t just radicals—they also have institutional power.

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What these women, and the other vocal, aggressive new faces in the House, are doing lives right on the seam between Ginsburg’s lawyerly legal reform project and the teenage Jane’s hunger for furious public protest. And that’s exactly why Republican men find them so terrifying. It’s why Ocasio-Cortez was dismissed as a “little girl” by Ed Rollins, and why Donald Trump (the swearing-est president in history) condemned Tlaib for being a mother who cursed in front of her sons.

These men aren’t afraid of these women because they’re part of a movement, although they are. They’re terrified because these women are empowered professionals who have parlayed careers in institutions of power to become formidable political actors. Calling them uncivil or bad mommies or child-like isn’t effective when women are legitimate holders of high office—and yet, as we see, it continues in ever-more comically depressing forms. As Virginia Heffernan notes, “These moth-eaten virgin-whore tropes have become self-satirizing. If you think misogyny has faded since ‘Mad Men’ days, you’re wrong. In fact, as women pack the halls of power, it seems more virulent than ever, as conservatives convulse in fear at losing their old rubrics of control. They lash out more than Don Draper ever did.”

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In the meantime, Pelosi is working to put forth new legislation aimed at reopening the parts of the federal government that are shuttered. Ocasio-Cortez is proposing tax policies that are actually quite reasonable. Sit with that image for a moment: Men in government are fussing and fuming about all the ways in which the government they run doesn’t actually matter much, while criticizing women in government for attempting to govern. It’s almost as if they are smashing up the toys of political leadership just as women are finally being allowed to move on the game board.

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The women in Congress now have a seat at the table. They don’t have to explain anything to anyone. They aren’t here to importune men for anything. They don’t have to beg for empathy. And they certainly don’t look inclined to apologize. Fights over tone and civility tend to be less relevant when both sides have institutional authority behind them.

To the extent On the Basis of Sex is dispiriting, it’s because it’s painful to be reminded that women have been fighting the same stupid fights for four decades. It’s frankly unbelievable that we have to do it yet again, and probably again and again after that. But to the extent On the Basis of Sex is a reminder of how much has changed, it underscores that we don’t have to convince men to make room, we simply need to take a seat. These women in the House are, well, in the house. They don’t have to ask for permission to be there. It’s still going to be a long haul, with more pointed fingers and cries of “witch.” But somewhere along the way, as the bell bottoms were traded in for pinks hats, something changed. Women don’t have to choose between being Jane or Ruth anymore. They can be both. The revolution is coming from inside the House.

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/01/ocasio-cortez-tlaib-news-women-power-ruth-bader-ginsburg.html?fbclid=IwAR0R7tiVc1DTM0saAMUbG19x5xXTcN5wc-TarmjLsxxEjS_1D7YtIHrhHBo