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Hillary Clinton to Give Commencement Address at Medgar Evers ... New York Times She will become the second first lady to speak to City University of New York graduates in two years. Hillary Clinton to give Medgar Evers College commencement ...amNY Hillary Clinton to Give Commencement Speech at CUNY - MottoTIME Hillary Clinton to Give Commencement Speech for Medgar Evers ...DNAinfo all 7 news articles »

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Hillary Clinton to Give Commencement Address at Medgar Evers ... - New York Times

Hillary Clinton hailed "a great step for progressives" on Saturday after New York state leaders reached a budget agreement that includes tuition-free college.

"Let's celebrate New York State getting something important done that we wanted to do nationally. A great step for progressives," Clinton tweeted in reply to New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

Making public colleges and universities free to attend for all was a signature issue of Sen. Bernie Sanders' during the 2016 Democratic primary campaign, which Clinton scoffed at before adopting certain parts for her own plan during the general election campaign against President Trump.

Under New York's state budget agreement, tuition for the State University of New York system will be free for families earning less than $100,000 a year starting this fall, with eligibility expanding to $110,000- and $125,000-households in 2018 and 2019. Clinton also capped her national free college plan at $125,000 households.

Clinton was the U.S. senator to New York until former President Barack Obama made his 2008 presidential rival his secretary of state.

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Hillary Clinton cheers 'a great step for progressives' with New York's tuition-free college program - Washington Examiner

Hillary Clinton is a Broadway regular these days but it felt particularly symbolic to see her at the opening night of the musical War Paint, the musical about two trailblazing businesswomen, Elizabeth Arden and Helena Rubinstein, whose careers cracked the glass ceiling.

A longtime theatergoer, Clinton has been spotted recently at shows including The Color Purple, In Transit and Sunset Boulevard, among others, but War Paint marked her first Broadway opening. As with those previous production, Clinton was there because she knew someone involved in this case an investor, who invited her to the opening.

I couldnt think of a more perfect opening night gift, gushed David Stone, the Wicked and Next to Normal producer who leads a War Paint team that also includes Marc Platt (La La Land, Wicked), among several others. The audience gave Clinton a standing ovation as she took her seat, and did it again when she made her way backstage to congratulate the cast and creatives.

Theres a song that I sing in the show, Now You Know, said LuPone after the opening night performance on April 6. Theres a line in it that goes, A woman scales the wall / Climbs high above them all/ And oh what gates of hell they put her through. Ive always thought about Hillary on that line.

I think she saw how much War Paint is about women and power, she continued. I dont think all that much has changed for women.

The show depicts the ways in which Arden and Rubinstein, whose businesses shaped the cosmetics industry, still had to contend with sexism and misogyny despite their successes. The two women were such fierce rivals that, in real life, they never met.

But theres no such cold war going on between Ebersole and LuPone. No no, Ebersole laughed. Were not method like that!

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How Hillary Clinton Ended Up at the Broadway Opening of 'War Paint' - Variety

Writers like drawing comparisons between Hillary Clinton and myriad figures. Some see her as a warrior, others a lizard person. One writer towards the end of the presidential campaign argued that Hillarywas even like God Himself.

Over at Literary Hub, writer Emily Holleman continues this bizarretradition in her piece Is Hillary Clinton aModern-Day Cleopatra? Or, How We Systematically Tear Down Our Female Leaders.

[Hillary Clinton] and her so-called identity politics have been so quickly blamed for Trumps ascent. Watching the narrative emerge around Hillarys collapse, I found myself thinking of another female politician whose image was torn down by her opponents: Cleopatra, writes Holleman.

Who knew ancient Egypt had identity politics! Maybe Alexander the Great was transgender.

Holleman admits the comparison feels counterintuitive, but that Clinton, like Cleopatra, could have easily become a beauty icon. I dont know how much bath salts Holleman huffed before writing this piece, but it must have been some pretty good stuff.

The case for the comparison gets modestly stronger when Holleman describes how the two rose to prominence as appendages of more famous men. Hillary had her Bill and Cleopatra had her Julius Caesar.

Both women gained a bad reputation simply because of their gender, Holleman argues. The message is clear: A woman in proximity to power must be an evil manipulator or else a martyr at the altar of male ambition. Unfortunately for Hillary, her bad reputation isnt because shes a woman, its because shes a manipulator whose thirst for power couldnt be more transparently obvious. If that makes me sexist, so are the majority of white women who chose Donald Trump over Clinton.

The essay ends by asking readers to forgive Clinton, simply because its just not fair for us to demand perfection from her.

Maybe if Clinton one day leads a naval fleet against Augustus Caesar, Ill overlook some of her shortcomings. Until then, Clinton is less of a Cleopatra and more of a, well, Hillary Clinton.

Follow Joe Simonson on Twitter.

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Writer: 'Hillary Clinton Is Like a Modern-Day Cleopatra' - Heat Street

Vegas Vic hewed close to the strong, silent cowboy types with little regard for a mess of extra words.

Hed wave, all friendly-like, to city folk wandering down Fremont Street, and the wink of his right eye suggested he held a secret or two. For about 15 years after settling in his spot in 1951, all he ever said via a loudspeaker was, Howdy, pardner!

Pleasant. Genial. Long-winded he wasnt.

By the late 1960s, the towering neon casino sign had mostly gone quiet with many attributing Vegas Vics silence to an angry Lee Marvin. The tale thats been spun around these parts was that Marvin had been trying to get some shut-eye in the neighboring Mint Casino during a film shoot of The Professionals. The actor complained about Vics greeting and got him to clam up.

He stayed silent for decades before the folks who operated Vegas Vic mustered up the will and he began to utter Howdy, Ppardner! again. Sometimes, the sting of rejection takes a while to heal.

But eventually he grew quiet again. Pensive, perhaps.

Then Vegas Vic like many inanimate objects these days found Twitter. And, seemingly, his voice. It appears he had politics on his mind, but now Vegas Vic is in danger of being silenced again.

A two-year run on Twitter by someone using Vegas Vics picture and persona may be coming to an end. Lawyers for the company that owns the rights to the character are in the process of issuing a cease and desist letter to the person that transformed Vegas Vic from friendly cowboy greeter to angry partisan tweeter under the Twitter handle @VegasVictory.

Kevin Hanratty, lawyer for the company that owns the image and likeness of Vegas Vic, said they hadnt been aware of the accounts existence until this week. He said that after reviewing Vics posts on Twitter, he concluded that the user of @VegasVictory was in violation of using the trademarked image without permission. Another Twitter account, @VegasVic, appears to be dormant.

But the angst may also have to do with what Vegas Vic was saying and how he was saying it.

Vegas Vic on Twitter is a hyper-partisan, right-wing cowboy who bills himself as someone who loves Liberty, America and Las Vegas.

I am transitioning from Neon Sign to Real Cowboy.

Using a flurry of hashtags, Vegas Vic spent much of 2016 eviscerating Hillary Clinton. He ripped Democrats regularly and linked to a website that featured articles, pictures and videos with an anti-Democrat bent.

With more than 46,000 followers, Vegas Vic on Twitter was sometimes crudely mocking Clinton throughout the election cycle. He also ripped Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), calling him an angry old man, and has spent considerable time backing conspiracy theories -- including the one about President Obama wiretapping President Trump.

Hillary campaign could've fed 6 million hungry children for a year with the $$$ they wasted, he chided.

On Nov. 16: I never anticipated that one of the great jobs of @DJTrump45 election would be the #LiberalMeltdown. This is sinfully delicious fun!

Vegas Vic appears to have been a Trump supporter since the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Perhaps less controversially, Vegas Vic also tweets about sports, including updates on the Raiders' move to Las Vegas from Oakland.

Hanratty said the owners of Pioneer Hotel Inc. a subsidiary of Archon Corp. weren't interested in having Vegas Vic take on a partisan tone. The majority shareholders in the company are Paul and Sue Lowden she ran as a Republican for Harry Reids Senate seat in 2010, but lost to Sharron Angle in the primary.

But Hanratty said Vegas Vic wasnt an extension of the Lowdens views, and the company isnt happy about the way the image was being used on Twitter.

Vegas Vic has held iconic status for decades, representing the Westernized version of Las Vegas before the Strip took off and began exploding with a spate of themed casinos, including the Flamingo, Sahara and the Dunes.

Michael Green, associate professor of history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said Vegas Vic was originally brought in by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce in the late 1940s after he was designed and constructed by Young Electric Sign Co.

He is one of those figures where, if you see a photo of this neon cowboy, people know its Las Vegas, Green said. He marketed downtown Las Vegas for years, and hes the grand old man now.

The cowboy stood tall for years, waving and beckoning visitors from his perch atop the Pioneer Club, jaunty in his yellow-and-white plaid shirt. But after the Pioneer Club closed in the mid-1990s, age caught up to Vegas Vic. He fell into disrepair, but was restored when the Fremont Street Experience debuted in 1995. That renovation included adding a canopy over Fremont Street onto which light shows are projected while restricting the road to only foot traffic.

He got a new shirt red and yellow. His red-brown boots and lit spurs stand atop a massive souvenir shop now. He still hasnt kicked his smoking habit.

Vegas Vic isnt alone, with sign relatives spread throughout the state: Wendover Will on the Nevada-Utah border and River Rick in Laughlin. None appear to be tweeting.

The partisan tweeting (I wouldve thought he mightve been tweeting about public land issues, Green quipped) is generally avoided among brands and iconic images because tourists come from all political stripes.

Green said the last thing Las Vegas would want is to have one of its ambassadors alienate a sizable chunk of the population.

In our very partisan times, people are capable of reading this the wrong way, he said. It then eventually leads to problems.

George Payne, a 69-year-old from New Orleans who was visiting Fremont Street, was taking video and pictures of Vegas Vic on a warm weekday during the March Madness basketball tournament, and said he didnt want to think of the cowboy as a partisan.

Payne said he remembered seeing pictures of the waving cowboy in a few movies, and it never occurred to him to attach partisanship to Vic.

Payne looked up at the tall cowboy.

I think of Texas more than anything, he said. Not politics.

Vegas Vic was silent. He just winked.

david.montero@latimes.com

Twitter: @davemontero

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What happens when an iconic Vegas neon sign becomes a Hillary Clinton-bashing, far-right Twitter persona? - Los Angeles Times