January 3, 2017

A hijabi beauty contestant in Minnesota. A bipolar woman who founded Kenya’s first mental health hotline. A female police chief in Cyprus fighting human trafficking. Women all around the world are changing it every day. Meet seven of them. / NPR

“My commitment to the public and my commitment to my religion and my community—the two can go hand in hand.” Incoming Brooklyn civil court judge Rachel Freier is believed to be the first female judge in the United States to belong to the ultra-orthodox Jewish Hasidic community, which places strict constraints on women’s public lives. / Associated Press

As you may have heard, House Republicans voted in a secret ballot Monday night to severely restrict the investigative powers and independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics, a semi-independent non-partisan government agency tasked with receiving and looking into allegations of unethical behavior by Congresspeople or their staffers. / HuffPost

“Any other way to monkey wrench it? Anything RN can do.” Tucked away in the notes of Nixon aide H.R. Halderman is somewhat damning proof of a very dirty trick indeed: As president-elect, Nixon worked hard to scuttle peace talks between the US and Vietnamese forces, which he thought would help his opponent. / The New York Times

“He knew what populism was in reverse. He thought like a Democrat and dressed like a plutocrat. He once said to me, ‘Are you black? Are you Hispanic? Are you gay?’ When I said no, he said, ‘Then why the fuck are you a Democrat? You should be with us,’” a Democratic political consultant told Jeffrey Toobin in a otherwise rather watery 2008 profile of Stone. / The New Yorker

“Drinking beer straight from the pitcher, sweat pouring down his face, Atwater apologizes for going home so early, but the St. Patrick’s Day Parade is just seven hours away and he is the grand marshal.” A 1989 profile of Lee Atwater, then at the height of his power as RNC Chairman, revels in the Good Ol’ Boy/Bad Boy routine put on by Strom Thurmond and Richard Nixon’s favorite attack dog. / The New York Times Magazine

So did the “Chicago Machine” Mayor Richard J. Daley employ “Chicago politics” and steal the 1960 election for JFK out from Nixon’s nose? No, but Roger Stone seems/claims to still think so. / Slate, stonezone.com

An example of how President Trump may approach foreign affairs comes in the form of 16 individual letters sent to former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond—who said he eventually just started throwing them away—threatening, cajoling, and otherwise attempting to convince Salmond to not let a Swedish company build a wind farm in some proximity to one of Trump’s golf courses. / huffingtonpost.co.uk

“I held Ben Carson’s head at arm’s length. It felt hard, heavy, and solid—like a real head, I supposed.” From an examination of Baltimore’s National Great Blacks in Wax Museum, published last April (and one of the best features of the year). / Lapham’s Quarterly

In case the House Republicans’ midnight tricks have you bumming, try Daniel González’s “Criminal Aesthetic Fashion” series, with sequins hand-sewn into canvas. / Daniel González

President Obama loves to trumpet the jobs growth during his presidency. He has done a great job decreasing the number of long-term jobless since the pits of the Great Recession, but his 78 straight months of jobs growth hinges on a one-dimensional category of “jobs.” / CNBC, HuffPost

Time-lapse video of smog rolling into Beijing within the span of 20 minutes. / YouTube

“What’s really relevant now is to stop being complacent.” Alfonso Cuarón revisits the message of his apocalyptic 2006 masterpiece (and box-office failure) Children of Men in the wake of the disastrous year we’ve just had. / Vulture

The crazy, wild train surfers of Mumbai. / blog.afi.com

“The Rapture sounded like prom, a big night for suckers, but I was terrified I wouldn’t be asked to go.” A moving essay on growing up Canadian, evangelical, and emo. / The Towner