Vive Brigitte! Hillary at Gloria Awards. The Lying King. Duty to warn. Beauty contest on Masada. Surprising Israeli poll. Great new books.
LETTY COTTIN POGREBIN NEWSLETTER #47 MAY 9, 2017
I'm wearing a beret this week to salute France's repudiation of the extremist candidate. Then again, how did we reach this sorry state where we're rejoicing over the election of a virtually unknown political neophyte simply because he's not a racist, fascist, antiSemitic Islamophobe?
French President Emmanuel Macron & his wife Brigitte Trogneux
The media are fascinated by the new First Lady of France, Brigitte Trogneux, who happens to be more than 24 years older than her husband. Interesting that the 24-year spread between Melania & Donald, a situation not atypical of wealthy men & their trophy wives, seldom rates comment.
Brigitte Trogneux Macron
President Emmanuel Macron, now 39, says he's been madly in love with Brigitte, now 64, since he was 15 & she was his (married) high school teacher of literature & drama. How often do you see that May-December configuration? Before Macron proposed in 2007, he reportedly asked Brigitte's three grown children for their blessing. More noteworthy than Brigitte's age is her quick wit.
WOMEN
Let's hear it for Sally Yates (above), former Acting Attorney General, who yesterday testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee on crime and terrorism, Conservative columnist Jennifer Rubin, assesses Yates' performance (and that of former Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr.) and finds it masterful. Watch video excerpts embedded in Rubin story, and read these "Five fast facts you should know about Yates," who clearly has a promising future in politics if she wants it.
Becca Heller (above), founder of International Refugee Assistance Project, dispatches lawyers & law students to defend targets of Trump's travel ban. See NY Times profile of this"firebrand"advocate.
l-r: Phil Donahue, Gloria Steinem, Marlo Thomas, Hillary Clinton, Letty Cottin Pogrebin, Pat Carbine.
A marvelous time was had by all at the Ms. Foundation for Women's gala in NYC last week. Photo (above) shows the four "Founding Mothers" of the Foundation -- Gloria, Marlo, Pat, and me -- plus broadcasting pioneer Phil Donahue (Marlo's husband of 37 years), and Hillary Clinton, the first woman in history to win the popular vote for President of the U.S.
My granddaughters, Molly Shapiro, 17 (left) and Maya Klaris, 18, were among the large and lively contingent of young women at the Ms. Foundation Gala.
Fannie Lou Hamer is remembered as the voting rights activist who "rose to national prominence as the leader of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which attempted to unseat the segregationist Mississippi delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention." But this Times story proves that she was so much more and should be honored for her remarkable vision and creative innovations in agricultural, land, and food policy. (I met Hamer just once, at the founding conference of the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971, but I will never forget the sheer magnetic power of her presence.)
VIDEOS
The brilliant actress-director, Lee Grant (above), has released a searing video called "Battered: The Assault on Hillary Clinton" a painful but necessary reminder of the incredibly vicious attacks on HRC by Trump, his surrogates, & right-wing media.
Here's HRC's elecrifying speech at the Ms. Gala on May 3rd.
And here's a 1.5 minute clip from Hillary's remarks at the Planned Parenthood benefit where she said the photo of Trump and his all-male group sitting around the table deciding how to strip away women's health care reminded her of "dogs sitting around the table discussing feline care."
Get to know Brigitte Macron, the new First Lady of France, via this (somewhat syrupy) 60-second video about her & this news clip about her relationship with her husband.
TRUMP WATCH
Angella Reid
Angella Reid (above), the first female African-American White House Chief Usher has been fired. No reason given. Maybe Trump was afraid of what she might overhear & eventually put in her memoir.
Andy Borowitz catches Trump supporters celebrating loss of health insurance. Funny, but not really.
Is your preexisting condition on this list? --AIDS/HIV, acid reflux, acne, alcohol or drug abuse with recent treatment, Alzheimer's/dementia, anorexia, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, bipolar disorder, breast cancer, bulimia, bypass surgery, C-section, celiac disease, cerebral palsy, cervical cancer, colon cancer, congestive heart failure, Crohn's disease, depression, diabetes, epilepsy, heartburn, hemophilia, hepatitis, high cholesterol, hysterectomy, kidney disease/renal failure, kidney stones, leukemia, lung cancer, lupus, lyme disease, lymphoma, mental health issues, migraines, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, narcolepsy, obesity, obsessive-compulsive disorder, organ transplant, pacemaker, paralysis, paraplegia, Parkinson's disease, pregnancy, rape, schizophrenia, seasonal affective disorder, seizures, sexual assault, "sexual deviation or disorder," skin cancer, sleep apnea, stroke, ulcers. If you or someone in your family has one of these preexisting conditions, call your Senators & tell them you oppose the GOP "health care" bill.
After enduring four months of POTUS' truth-twisting, you may want to revisit Maria Konnikova's Politico piece, "Trump's Lies vs.Your Brain," "When we are overwhelmed with false, or potentially false, statements, our brains pretty quickly become so overworked that we stop trying to sift through everything...The distressing reality is that our sense of truth is far more fragile than we would like to think."
Mug (above) inspired by Dr. Seuss. available here.
James Gilligan, psychiatrist and professor at New York University, was one of the mental health professionals who attended last month's conference at Yale University on the subject of Trump's mental health. Said Gilligan, “I’ve worked with murderers and rapists. I can recognize dangerousness from a mile away. You don’t have to be an expert on dangerousness or spend fifty years studying it like I have in order to know how dangerous this man is.” Psychologist John Gartner, founder of Duty To Warn, who taught at Johns Hopkins Medical School for nearly 30 years, told the group, "Mental health professionals have a 'duty to warn' about a leader who may be unfit to serve.
Count the days while you're still able to breathe. EPA dismisses scientists from review board. The message on this T-shirt would have made no sense a few years ago. Now it's a rallying cry.
JEWISH LIFE
Trump's push for "religious liberty" should scare every American Jew, writes Jay Michaelson. "... the rhetoric of 'religious liberty' sounds so appealing. But when all of the stated victims of anti-religious action are Christian, and all of the religious beliefs protected are Christian, and nearly all of the speakers are Christian, and the vast majority of the country is Christian, just what do we expect the effects of such changes to be?"
Deborah Lipstadt (above) unmasks the lies of Holocaust deniers. Watch her recent Ted talk.
"Namaste & Welcome: a Magical Jewish India Tour" (synagogue wall below) will be led by journalist-educator Rahel Musleah, who hails from a Calcutta Jewish family that traces its roots to 17th-century Baghdad. Tour dates: Nov 2-16, 2017, info here.
ISRAEL-PALESTINE
On Israel's 69th birthday, a national poll showed that both its Jewish and Arabs citizens are proud to be Israelis but critical of the Netanyahu government.
Right wing Israeli activists held a barbecue outside the West Bank's Ofer prison (above) to taunt the Palestinian inmates who are on a hunger strike to protest prison conditions, Israel’s administrative detention practices, mass arrests, and ill treatment of Palestinian prisoners and their visitors. The Israeli activists said the prisoners “will enjoy breathing in the smoke and suffer from the smell of the meat, and [we will] show them that we will not give in to their whims."
POTUS goes to Israel later this month. Little known fact: he once wanted to hold his Miss Universe pageant at Masada where, in the year 73 C.E., Jews committed mass suicide rather than surrender to the Romans.
P.S. Judy Bachrach's Vanity Fair piece explores Trump's obsession with beauty contests.
BOOKS
Jill Filipovic
A provocative review in The Atlantic of Jill Filipovic's The H Spot --which presents "the (feminist) case for women's happiness" -- inspired me to buy the book immediately Megan Garber writes: "There’s a subtle radicalism to Filipovic’s vision of politicized pleasure...It might be time to put contentment itself to work—for the good of women, and the good of a country full of people who could all stand to be a little happier."
The current line-up of titles from The New Press (below) is bracingly topical -- How Do I Explain This to My Kids: Parenting in the Age of Trump; Rules for Resistance: Advice from Around The Globe for the Age of Trump; and Wolf Whistle Politics: The New Misogyny in American Today. Browse New Press catalog
EVENTS
photo by Tony Cenicola, NY Times
The Manhattan Jewish Hall of Fame will induct its Class of 2017, which includes Tovah Feldshuh, actor; (above) Ruth Messinger, political & community leader; Daryl Roth, producer; and Randi Weingarten, pres. of the American Federation of Teachers. Thurs, May 11, 5:30-7:30 PM @General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen, 20 W. 44 St. Free admission. Register here
Eleanor's Legacy, which promotes & fosters pro-choice Democratic women candidates, informed voters, and political activists. will hold its annual spring breakfast Mon, May 15, 8- 9:30 AM @The Yale Club, 50 Vanderbilt Ave. RSVP here.
Washington D.C. Benefit for Operation Respect, the international anti-bullying project founded by Peter Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary. The heart-squeezing video of P, P, & M singing "Don't Laugh At Me" (best line: "Someday we'll all have perfect wings.") will make you want to attend their D.C. fundraiser Wed, June 7, 6-8. It's a big ticket price but for a great cause -- and Peter will sing!
See you next week. Meanwhile, don't agonize, organize.