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It wasnt exactly an homage to Hillary Clinton. But she was there in spirit. On the season finale of Scandal, Clinton was an indelible source of inspiration for what was worn and what was not.

On Thursday nights two-hour episode, Melody Margaret Grant, her hair pinned back and up, stood on the west side of the Capitol and took the oath of office, becoming the countrys first female president. To get there, she traversed the kind of tortured, circuitous, blood-soaked route that is a hallmark of the Washington-based melodrama created by Shonda Rhimes. So, despite the history-making nature of her victory, it was not one that fizzed with patriotic delight. But thats how things work in Shondaland a strange, alternative reality that offered up a picture of how Jan. 20, 2017, might have look if the electoral college had voted a different way and the highest, hardest glass ceiling had not only been shattered but done with a female vice president along for the breakthrough.

The new President Grant (Bellamy Young) was sworn in wearing a navy-blue Escada coat with kimono sleeves, navy leather gloves and a red, white and blue scarf neatly wrapped around her neck. Underneath, she wore an Armani dress and blazer. Over the course of her campaign, Mellie wore a flag pin on her jacket or her dress, as all politicians do, but it seemed to get larger the closer she came to victory. By Inauguration Day, her bedazzled flag brooch, not Ann Hand but Oscar Heyman, was practically as large as the satisfied grin on her face.

Holding the Bible and gazing on approvingly was her vice president, Luna Isabella Vargas (Tessie Santiago), who was dressed in a pale pink overcoat from Sentaler, adorned with a more discreet flag pin. Vargas, by the way, was not what she seemed that sugary-sweet coat was nothing but visual misdirection and before the two-hour finale concluded, she had been blamed for the assassination of her husband, was forced to take a poison pill as punishment for her crime, and was last seen slumped on a sofa in the White House.

But back to Mellie.

This female president did not wear pantsuits, or even pants not when she was campaigning and not when she was sworn in. In fact, her only scene in trousers was during a fantasy sequence during which she dreamed about being president, says Scandal costume designer Lyn Paolo.

Mellie has always been a dress girl. First lady Mellie wore lots of floral and prints and garden-party dresses, Paolo says of the character, who divorced former president Fitzgerald Grant (Tony Goldwyn) and embarked on a solo political career. As a senator, she wore dresses with a jacket often a black jacket over a shift dress. . . . For the campaign, I thought it would be too much of a leap for her to wear pants. Her dresses became more of a sheath.

I dont know what were doing with Mellie going forward, Paolo says, but now that shes president I dont want to do anything hitting you over the head with it. So presumably, still no pantsuits.

As the outgoing fictional president prepares to leave the White House and drama continues to swirl around a possible assassination plot against Mellie, the new commander in chief stands up mid-meeting, announces she has to leave and delivers a mini monologue that surely must have been cheered by certain female politicians, their exasperated champions and ardent naysayers who believe that fashion is a distraction rather than tool of self-expression.

Mellie: I have a valet and a dresser waiting for me to finalize my outfit for the ball. For the other 44 presidents, that took all of 10 minutes, but for the lady president that means choosing a dress that will impress the New York fashion blogs without insulting the Washington conservatives. So rather than sit here and discuss the ways I might die today, Im going to go pick an outfit now so I can be done with that nonsense, so I can focus on whats really important: running the damn country.

And with that, she didnt so much as storm out of the room as walk briskly to deal with the task at hand.

Yet just beneath the surface of her cutting commentary about women and fashion, Mellie still wants to look good. Who wouldnt? But how?

How would the first female president dress for her inaugural? I spent hours pondering it, Paolo says. Rhimes actually sent me pictures of Hillary Clinton as secretary of state going to Obamas inaugural.

I really wanted the [look] to be less old Mellie. We always did a kind of Southern-belle feel, A-line, off the shoulder. I just wanted to have something about it that felt regal, Paolo says. She wanted a dress that allowed Mellie to straddle that crazy divide of looking feminine and strong. Its hard for women. And its not fair.

Paolo chose a slim, red, strapless Oscar de la Renta gown with gray and cream bugle-bead embroidery and a matching, short-sleeved shrug. Worn without the jacket it would have been more L.A., Paolo says. We would never have used it without the jacket.

The dress is body-conscious but not form-fitting. It reveals very little skin, but it isnt so buttoned up that it is matronly. It is festive but not ostentatious. It would not spark a roar of excitement among fashion aficionados, but it wouldnt generate mocking, either. And the Washington establishment would probably be just fine with it. It was also a dress that Clinton just might have worn. De la Renta, who died in 2014, was a close Clinton friend and her favorite designer.

Scandal is all fiction, of course. But fiction influences perceptions of reality. The finale was dominated by power-hungry, power-grabbing women. Within the outlandish story lines and the games of psychological chess on Scandal, women embrace power because they believe they have earned it.

They wear their power with delight. This is what that looks like in alpaca, wool and silk.

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On the season finale of "Scandal," Hillary Clinton was an indelible source of inspiration - The Denver Post

Former first ladies Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton have joined together to press forward on the idea of having a National Women's History Museum in Washington, D.C.

Bush added her name to the cause during a Women Making History Awards event on Tuesday night at the Carnegie Institution for Science, where she was honored for her advocacy work. Bush said at the event it was important to redouble our efforts to make sure theres a womens museum right here in our countryThe Washington Postreported.

She added: It's really important to have a museum that focuses on women because half of the population is left out from American history. We need to figure out how we can encourage women to run for office and to run for president.

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Former secretary of state and fellow former first lady Hillary Clinton appeared via video link to praise Bush for her example, and her leadership,stating she wanted to take her grandchildren to a museum honoring women.

I look forward to the day when both my granddaughter and grandson can visit the National Women's History Museum and come away feeling a little braver, walking a little taller, knowing they stand on the shoulders of generations of history makers and trailblazers, Clinton said in the video. "That's an experience every child should have.

The push to see a womens museum on the National Mall has been ongoing for several decades, with the National Womens History Museumwhich sponsored the eventattempting to find a spot on the mall that would accommodate the space.

The museum currently exists only online. The website states: Once housed prominently among the other great museums of Washington, D.C., it will create better understanding and greater partnerships among men and women. The National Womens History Museum will be the first museum in any nations capital to show the full scope of the history of its women and will serve as a guiding light to people everywhere.

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Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton Unite to Fight for Women's Museum in DC - Newsweek

posted at 3:21 pm on May 19, 2017 by John Sexton

Friday morning the Russian embassy in the UK tweeted a meme suggesting Hillary Clinton was connected to the murder of Seth Rich. Heres the tweet:

So, first of all, theres the graphic. Who killed Seth Rich? is superimposed over the face of Hillary Clinton. Obviously, the suggestion being made is that Rich was murdered for the leak of DNC material which damaged Clinton. But it could also be taken as suggesting that Hillary herself ordered a hit on Rich.

Then theres the textwhich states that Seth Rich was #WikiLeaks informer. Thats a claim that was recently made in two stories by Fox News. According to these stories, the FBI examined Richs computer after his death and found thousands of stolen DNC emails and proof that Rich was in contact with WikiLeaks.

Ed looked at those storiesearlier this week and found them less than convincing. They require you to assume the FBI and the DC police are jointly participating in a cover-up of the real reason for Richs death. Shortly after Eds story went up, NBC News reported that two FBI agents denied the FBI had, or had ever examined,Richs computer:

Meanwhile, a current FBI official and a former one completely discount the Fox News claim that an FBI analysis of a computer belonging to Rich contained thousands of e-mails to and from WikiLeaks.

Local police in Washington, D.C., never even gave the FBI Richs laptop to analyze after his murder, according to the current FBI official.

And a former law enforcement official with first-hand knowledge of Richs laptop said the claim was incorrect. It never contained any e-mails related to WikiLeaks, and the FBI never had it, the person said.

Of course, thats what they would say if they were part of a cover-up/conspiracy. But if thats true then the family of Seth Rich must also be part of the conspiracy because they said none of this is true. Its also worth noting that the investigator quoted in that initial Fox 5 story later told Newsweek he had never seen Richs laptop and had nothing firsthand about what was on it. All of that to say, there is goodreason to believe Seth Rich was not the source of the DNCs hacked emails.

So why is the Russian embassy tweeting this? One explanation is the one I raised back when Julian Assange first hinted that Seth Rich might have been his source. Russia and Assange were clearly not happy with being linked as source and distributor of the hacked emails from the DNC, DCCC, Podesta, etc. Assange prefers to claim he is independent, not the face of a Russian government cyber effort, and Russia has always denied that it played any role in the hacking.

Recall that shortly after our government began to publicly blame Russia for the hack last year, an online figure appeared calling himself Guccifer 2.0. Guccifer 2.0 claimed he (not Seth Rich) was behind all of this. Further investigation suggested Guccifer 2.0 was not a real personat all but a Russian propaganda effort created to take credit for something the Kremlin was denying involvement in.

So a week or so after doubts began to circulate about Guccifer 2.0, Assange pours gasoline on a conspiracy theory floating around on Reddit which says Seth Rich was the real source. He never really says it outright, but he suggests it could be true. Again, the result is that Assange maintains apparent distance from Russia and Russia has someone new to blame as it continues to deny responsibility for the hack. The fact that the Russian embassy is now pushing the same story Assange was last yearshows they both prefer it to the alternative, i.e. that Russia hacked the DNC and gave the material to WikiLeaks.

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Russian Embassy tweets meme connecting Hillary Clinton to Seth Rich's murder - Hot Air

Hillary Clinton is returning to politics far from the national stage she exited in November 2016 but close to the issues she left behind backing grassroots groups intent on thwarting President Trump's agenda while championing women and minority causes.

Clinton announced earlier this week that her new political action committee, Onward Together, will fundraise for such groups as Color of Change, dedicated to improving the lives of black Americans, and the Indivisible Project, whose stated mission is to Resist Trumps Agenda.

The latter group tells newcomers that their first tasks should include learning their congressional representatives stances on the appointment of white supremacists, tax cuts for the rich, etc.

The organization may keep its distance from Clinton's new operation. The Indivisible Project reportedly is not planning to take the PAC money.

But others are.

Were thrilled to have Secretary Clintons support, Emerge America spokeswoman Allison Abney told Fox News on Tuesday. This is really about getting women to run. If youre not running, then youre not winning.

Emerge America, which trains female Democratic candidates, was among several groups that got a Clinton shout-out when the2016 Democratic nominee announced her PAC on Monday.

The group says 70 percent of its 214 candidates won races last November, and touts 151 candidates for next years midterm ballots.

On Twitter, Clinton praised Emerge America for "training diverse Democratic women candidates" and hinted there would be more groups to come that could benefit from her PAC's largess.

"Those are just a few of the groups Onward Together will support, working with @GovHowardDean and othersstay tuned for more to come," she wrote.

Onward Together is registered with the IRS as a 501(c)(4) group -- the kind of dark money groups Clinton and other candidates vowed during the 2016 White House race to remove from campaigns because they can hide the identity of donors.

Clinton, a former senator and secretary of State, and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have for decades had enormous fundraising power.

Whether the Clinton name can continue to make it rain for allied groups, however, remains an open question.

The Clintons have a long history of successful fundraising for nonprofit organizations that bore some relation to their government service, attorney Caleb Burns, a partner at the firm Wiley Rein who specializes in campaign finance, told Fox News on Wednesday.The fact that future government service for either of them is likely foreclosed suggests that fundraising for this new effort will be a challenge.

The other groups to which Clinton pledged support are RunforSomething.com, which is recruiting young progressive Americans to run for office, and SwingLeft.com, dedicated to helping Democrats retake the House next year by winning swing districts that Republicans narrowly won last year.

Jennifer Victor, a politics professor at Virginias George Mason University, argues Clinton still has fundraising power, despite being less powerful than she was a year ago and damaged goods to those who think she botchedher campaign.

Shes still incredibly famous, Victor said Wednesday. And theres a lot of energy out there for women candidates and from those opposed to Trump. Who better to lead the charge than Hillary Clinton?

Link:
Clinton PAC aims to boost left-wing, anti-Trump groups will she still have clout? - Fox News

Hillary Clinton says her newly launched political groupOnward Together takes its name from an old African proverb thats displayed prominently on the groups site: If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

But while Hillary may think shes enough of a liberal icon, schooled in diversity and adept at feeling the pain of disenfranchised minorities that shes allowed to pull freely from their historical wisdom,her followers dont feel the same way.

Using African sayings, is, of course, cultural appropriation, and Twitters social justice warriors were quick to pounce on Clintons faux worldliness.

But worse still, its not even clear the quote is actually an African proverb.

Both Clinton and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker have used the quote before, and actual experts on African history have stepped in to correct them. They note that while the conventional wisdom is that itoriginated somewhere on the continent, its not wholly accurate to call the quote a proverband its kind of weird to make assumptions about its history.

If someone starts an aphorism with theres an African saying, its probably a mythical quote misattributed to a whole continent, one social media user pointed out toNPR.

In other words, these types of quotes are a great way for progressives to depict precisely how in touch with their roots, and the marginalized and oppressed of the world they really are.

This particular quote may be a prime example. According to a history of the quote compiled byJezebel when Hillary Clinton used it the first time on the campaign trail, Clintons African proverb may have been made up by the whitest of all white men, Al Gore.

It appears in a few works of literature, but almost uniformly fiction books by white writers. Otherwise, it mysteriously appears on quote pagesbut mostly bysuccessful white businessmen, tech-types, and CEOs of socially conscious companies like TOMs (who, in turn, usually attribute it to being a mysterious, age-old African saying).

There are also an awful lot of artistic pull quotes with this particular proverb on it floating around Instagram and Tumblr, havens for educated, white social justice warriors.

Instead of making her look like shes off to represent the people, the quote makes Hillary Clinton looks a little like a fake.

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Hillary Clinton in Trouble for Using Fake 'African Proverb' on Her New Website - Heat Street