Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana trained in Cremona and Bologna, Italy, respectively; two geographically close artistic centres but ones characterized by their particular artistic, social and cultural traditions. They came from different types of families and had different lives although in both cases the role of their fathers had a fundamental influence on their careers. Both were able to overcome the stereotypes that society assigned to women in relation to artistic practice and the deep-rooted scepticism regarding their creative and artistic powers. As a result, they made use of painting to achieve a significant position in the society in which they lived. 

“Restricting the spraying of atrazine is essential for protecting human health,” said Olga Naidenko, the Environmental Working Group’s vice president for science investigations. “Instead, the Trump EPA’s proposal would increase atrazine discharges, endangering children’s health and harming communities. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the agency has been working overtime on behalf of chemical agriculture while acting against the interests of children’s health.”

Julia Sneden wrote: The strangest Christmas of all was the Christmas of the Goose. John, my husband, was born in the wrong century. His vision of Christmas is informed by a heavy dose of Dickens and merrie olde England. It’s not enough to watch every version of A Christmas Carol that is shown on television, year after year. He hangs an Advent wreath over the center of the dining table. He sings along with the Advent hymns on a CD of the Canterbury Cathedral Choir. He sings The Boar’s Head in Latin as I carry in the roast. He reads Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales aloud to the family every Christmas Eve. He puts Christmas crackers at each place at table. He has even been known to remind us about Boxing Day.

In Rumors of War, Wiley draws from a series of paintings he created in the early 2000s when, inspired by the history of equestrian portraiture, he replaced traditional white subjects depicted in large-format paintings with young African American men in street clothes. At that time, these works were a reaction to the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nearly two decades later, Wiley’s public sculpture, taking its name from a biblical phrase found in Matthew 24:6, addresses the violence that continues not just in the Middle East but every day on the streets of this nation. Rumors of War also offers an exquisite example of how to imagine and develop a more complete and inclusive American story.

Data collected in ILINet may disproportionately represent certain populations within a state, and therefore, may not accurately depict the full picture of influenza activity for the whole state. Differences in the data presented here by CDC and independently by some state health departments likely represent differing levels of data completeness with data presented by the state likely being the more complete. Nationwide during week 50, 3.9% of patient visits reported through the U.S. Outpatient Influenza-like Illness Surveillance Network (ILINet) were due to influenza-like illness (ILI). This percentage is above the national baseline of 2.4%.

Sections read like poetic romance, others like adventure, some like fantasy of the best and most convincing kind, some like philosophy. The pace varies much in the way one's daily experience might in a place where the only means of transport are one's own legs, horses, or boats without motors. The reader is fully immersed in a complete new life in a very few pages, and by the last of over a thousand, has been in some way imprinted. The outstanding characteristic of Islandia is that it will leave no reader unmoved, or even untouched. To make your way through this tour de force of imagination will change you, according to what aspect of it touches you most closely.

Jeffrey Gray, an economist, argued in the late 1990s that “… any divorce-law change that alters the financial well-being of divorcing women and their children will also impact the welfare of individuals in families that do not dissolve … these indirect effects should not be ignored when designing effective social and economic policies.” Much of the research to date supports his claim. Studying divorce is hard — precisely because pinning down cause and effect is challenging.

Vice President Colfax appeared voluntarily before the House Select Committee concerning his ownership of stock in Credit Mobilier, a company involved in the construction of federally subsidized transcontinental Union Pacific Railroad. During the previous presidential campaign, in response to newspaper criticism, Colfax had denied that the railroad's agent, Congressman Oakes Ames, had given or offered him stock in the Credit Mobilier.

In 1849, Louisa wrote her first novel, The Inheritance, which was to remain hidden amongst her papers at Harvard University’s Houghton Library until two professors stumbled upon the 150-page manuscript in 1996. Previously, scholars had believed Louisa’s first novel was Moods, published in 1864. The Alcotts remained at Hillside, until Abby sold the property to Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1852. In 1853, they moved to another Concord home, Orchard House; the Alcotts lived at Orchard House until 1877. It was at Orchard House where, in 1868, Louisa wrote her classic family tale, Little Women, based on life at Hillside.

In 1906, Finland became the first country in the world to grant full political rights to women – they gained the right to vote (a first in Europe) and also the right to run for office. Marin is the third woman to hold the office of prime minister in Finland. She has had a quick rise to the top level of Finnish politics. A Social Democrat, is set to lead a five-party coalition government. The other four parties also are led by women. All but one of the party leaders are under the age of 35. Marin took over as city council leader in her hometown when she was 27. She became a national lawmaker in 2015, at the age of 30.

Jo Freeman Reviews: The desire for liberty is at the core of the United States — which Brookhiser calls America — from long before there were any states. In 13 detailed case studies ranging from 1619 to 1987, the author identifies instances in which the pursuit of liberty has framed the future. There is an unintended subtheme. Culture change is slow. Even when lighted by the lamp of liberty, ending slavery and giving women the vote took a long time. If you like to re-live historical moments, you will enjoy this book. Brookhiser takes you inside, using words to help you feel and see what it was like to be there.

The gig-economy model for pet care has disrupted a standing industry in somewhat the same way that ride-hailing services upended the taxi industry. And just like in those cases, cities and states are scrambling to make their regulations fit. In addition to Connecticut, many other states and cities, including Colorado, Massachusetts and California, are grappling with overseeing the pet care platforms, whether by implementing new statutes or considering legislation that specifically addresses how they do business.

"The first article is for Abuse of Power. It is an impeachable offense for the President to exercise the powers of his public office to obtain an improper personal benefit, while ignoring or injuring the national interest. "That is exactly what President Trump did when he solicited and pressured Ukraine to interfere in our 2020 Presidential Election — thus damaging our national security, undermining the integrity of the next election, and violating his oath to the American people. These actions, moreover, were consistent with President Trump’s previous invitations of foreign interference in our 2016 Presidential election.... "And when he was caught — when the House investigated and opened an impeachment inquiry — President Trump engaged in unprecedented, categorical, and indiscriminate defiance of the impeachment inquiry. "This gives rise to the second article of impeachment for Obstruction of Congress. Here, too, we see a familiar pattern in President Trump’s misconduct. A President who declares himself above accountability, above the American people, and above Congress’s power of impeachment — which is meant to protect against threats to our democratic institutions — is a President who sees himself as above the law."

A bronze plan could provide the uninsured with access to some primary care, no-cost preventive services, and financial protection against high health costs, though they come with very high annual deductibles ($6,506 on average in 2020). Consumers may want to consider paying a premium for a silver plan instead so that they can benefit from cost-sharing subsidies available under the ACA. The ACA’s cost-sharing subsidies are available to people with incomes below 250% of the federal poverty level who sign up for a silver plan, resulting in deductibles ranging from $209 to $3,268 depending on income level. In most states, potential customers have until Sunday, Dec. 15 to sign up for a marketplace plan, though a few states that run their own marketplaces have extended open enrollment periods.

"Whistleblowers perform an important service for the public and the Department of Justice (DOJ) when they report evidence of wrongdoing. All DOJ employees, contractors, subcontractors, grantees, subgrantees, and personal services contractors are protected from retaliation for making a protected disclosure. Reports concerning wrongdoing by DOJ employees or within DOJ programs can always be submitted directly to the OIG Hotline."

House Judiciary Committee Releases Staff Report on Constitutional Grounds for Impeachment: "To assist the Committee in its deliberations, we address six issues of potential relevance: (1) the law that governs House procedures for impeachment; (2) the law that governs the evaluation of evidence, including where the President orders defiance of House subpoenas; (3) whether the President can be impeached for abuse of his executive powers; (4) whether the President’s claims regarding his motives must be accepted at face value; (5) whether the President is immune from impeachment if he attempts an impeachable offense but is caught before he completes it; and (6) whether it is preferable to await the next election when a President has sought to corrupt that very same election."

The exhibition features clocks, automata, furniture, scientific instruments, jewelry, paintings, sculptures, print media, and more — from The Met collection and more than 50 lenders. Among the many loans will be silver furniture from the Esterházy Treasury; the alchemistic table bell of Emperor Rudolf II; a large wire-drawing bench made for Elector Augustus of Saxony; a rare example of an early equation clock by Jost Bürgi; and a reconstruction of a late 18th-century semi-automaton chess player, known as “The Turk,” that once famously caught Napoleon Bonaparte cheating.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi: Let us begin where our Founders began in 1776: ‘When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another…’ With those words, our Founders courageously began our Declaration of Independence from an oppressive monarch, for, among other grievances, the King’s refusal to follow rightfully-passed laws. In the course of today’s events, it becomes necessary for us to address, among other grievances, the President’s failure to faithfully execute the law. During the Constitutional Convention, James Madison – the architect of the Constitution – warned that a President might ‘betray his trust to foreign powers… which might prove fatal to the republic.’ Another Founder, Gouverneur Morris, feared that a president ‘may be bribed by a greater interest to betray his trust.’ He emphasized that, ‘This Magistrate is not the King …The people are the King.’

"Late last night, the President and his counsel turned down our invitation to participate in Wednesday’s hearing. His response is unfortunate because allowing the President to participate has been a priority for the House from the outset. That is why the House included the opportunity to participate in H. Res 660. "The American people deserve transparency. If the President thinks the call was 'perfect' and there is nothing to hide then he would turn over the thousands of pages of documents requested by Congress, allow witnesses to testify instead of blocking testimony with baseless privilege claims, and provide any exculpatory information that refutes the overwhelming evidence of his abuse of power."   

IX. Using the power of the Office of the President, and exercising his authority over the Executive Branch, President Trump ordered and implemented a campaign to conceal his conduct from the public and frustrate and obstruct the House of Representatives’ impeachment inquiry by: refusing to produce to the impeachment inquiry’s investigating Committees information and records in the possession of the White House, in defiance of a lawful subpoena; directing Executive Branch agencies to defy lawful subpoenas and withhold the production of all documents and records from the investigating Committees; directing current and former Executive Branch officials not to cooperate with the Committees, including in defiance of lawful subpoenas for testimony; and intimidating, threatening, and tampering with prospective and actual witnesses in the impeachment inquiry in an effort to prevent, delay, or influence the testimony of those witnesses.

"The sum and substance of the Democrats’ case for impeachment is that President Trump abused his authority to pressure Ukraine to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden, President Trump’s potential political rival, for President Trump’s benefit in the 2020 election. Democrats say this pressure campaign encompassed leveraging a White House meeting and the release of U.S. security assistance to force the Ukrainian President to succumb to President Trump’s political wishes. Democrats say that Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the President’s personal attorney, and a “shadow” group of US officials conspired to benefit the President politically."

Julia Sneden wrote: Taste: A clean mouth. Miner's lettuce, a small, wild leaf that grows in the California hills. I used to nibble on it straight out of the field, and I can still recall its astringent freshness. Turkey: For kids reared during the war, when meat was rationed and "organ meats" and Spam filled our tables, turkey was a Big Deal. I didn't know what steak was until long after the rationing ended, but turkey was on our table at both Christmas and Thanksgiving, and to this day it tastes like a treat, even the leftovers! Pumpkin pie, because of its association with holidays. Chocolate. Bread. And, again, that first cup of morning coffee, the one that gets the blood flowing and reminds me that I'm glad to be alive and in the comfort zone.

A few years ago interest revived in the passage of the ERA. Nevada and Illinois were persuaded to ratify. On November 5th Virginia elected a Democratic majority to both houses heightening expectations that it will become the 38th state to ratify the ERA. In the meantime a resolution to remove the deadline from the original 1972 resolution was introduced into the House by Rep. Jackie Speier (D CA). On November 13, the House Judiciary Committee marked-up the bill. Only a few Republicans attended. They all spoke against it, mostly claiming that the ERA would make it impossible to restrict abortion. "Sex" has replaced "protection" as the primary rationale against equality.