The ladies of Twitter never fail to brighten our days with their brilliant ― but succinct ― wisdom. Each week, HuffPost Women rounds up hilarious 140-character musings. For this week’s great tweets from women, scroll through the list below. Then visit our Funniest Tweets From Women page for our past collections.       

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Before you decide to Netflix-and-chill your way through winter hibernation and spring’s first blossom, try going to the movies! Yes, an actual movie theater.

We have some recommendations for the most promising new releases across 2017’s first four months. Not every major title is on this list. We trust, for example, that “Fifty Shades” fans have already marked their calendars for next month’s sequel. Here is a little something for everyone, from monstrous blockbusters and outlandish thrillers to Disney reboots and intimate indies. Try ‘em out, won’t you? 

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Sanitary pads might seem like an unlikely subject for a photographer. But in the African country of Malawi, the availability of the basic materials can determine the course of a young girl’s education and change the course of her life.

In Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, a single sanitary pad costs roughly a day’s pay. As such, many young women who can’t afford feminine hygiene products turn to makeshift alternatives including rags, banana fibers, mattress foam and toilet paper while on their periods.

These insufficient materials often leak ― an understandably humiliating experience for a young girl in school ― and can cause infections that leave women with rashes and sores. For women across the world, that time of the month promises stomach cramps, fatigue, and confounding tears. But for one out of 10 girls in Africa in particular, menstruation is the cause for missing or dropping out of school entirely, UNICEF reports.

In October of 2016, photographer Julia Gunther spent three and a half weeks in Malawi at the Green Malata Entrepreneurial Village. The village, set up by the Children’s Fund of Malawi, provides local teenagers, mostly orphans, training in tangible skills like welding and carpentry, supplying them with sustainable tools to make a living. 

When she arrived at Green Malata, Gunther learned that one of the sustainable skills offered to the young women was learning to tailor and sell reuseable sanitary pads. One “School Girl Pack” featuring three pads and a pair of underwear sells for around $3.50. Each pad is easily washable and is meant to be reused for extended periods of time.

This simple yet revolutionary measure provides Malawian girls with affordable and sustainable means to attend school while menstruating. “I had always been interested in aid projects that are about more than short-term solutions,” Gunther wrote in an email to The Huffington Post. “It seemed to me a good example of the ‘right’ kind of aid.”

During her time in Malawi, Gunther documented the colorful pads themselves as well as the young women whose lives were altered by their very existence. Although heat and cultural differences posed challenges throughout her time there, Gunther said her greatest barrier was getting the girls she chronicled to open up.   

“Menstruation is indeed a taboo,” she said. “But not so much in that no one talks about it, but more that women are ridiculed and discriminated against while on their period. As a result of this, and the fact that many cannot afford to throw away sanitary pads, they stay home from school or work.”

For Malawian women, who are deemed second-class citizens in terms of rights, employment, and healthcare, education is the most plausible means of empowerment. “One of the most effective ways for women to reduce their reliance on men and to become more independent is to get, and more importantly complete, their education,” Gunther said.

“Going to school allows them to get a job,” Gunther continued. “Being employed means earning money, and being financially self-reliant is often the first step to true freedom.”

Gunther’s photographs depict daily life at the Green Malata Entrepreneurial Village ― showing viewers how reusable sanitary pads are designed, tailored and sold. But more importantly, they show the colossal effect these everyday objects have on the young women who wear them. 

“For me, the main aim with this story is to illustrate how a seemingly incongruous object like a sanitary pad can significantly impact the lives of young women,” Gunther said. “That something we take for granted in the West can make or break the future of someone in a developing country.”

Visit the Children’s Fund Malawi to learn more about reusable sanitary pads and donate to women who cannot afford them. 

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Astronaut Jeanette Epps made African-American history on Wednesday when NASA announced that they’ll her as the first black American astronaut to board the International Space Station. 

While NASA has sent 14 black astronauts into space over the decades, none have ever stayed aboard the ISS as a crew member. Epps will be the first African African and the 13th woman to call the ISS home since the space station was founded in 1998. Epps, who is from Syracuse, New York, will join astronaut Andrew Feustel as a flight engineer on Expedition 56 in May 2018, according to NASA. She will also stay on board for Expedition 57. 

Epps has a PhD in aerospace engineering and has served as an astronaut since 2009. She has also spent seven years as a technical intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency. Epps, who is also a former NASA Graduate Student Researchers Project fellow, will be one of among 200 astronauts who have visited the ISS. 

“Each space station crew brings something different to the table, and Drew and Jeanette both have a lot to offer,” said Chris Cassidy, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, in a NASA press release. “The space station will benefit from having them on board.”

The timing of NASA’s announcement came mere days before Friday’s widespread release of “Hidden Figures,” which tells the story of three black women who played pivotal roles in NASA’s successful attempt to put astronaut John Glenn into orbit in 1962. 

Big congrats to Epps!

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A father-daughter movie night that quickly turned into a viral post about the importance of representation in film moved hundreds to tears this week. And now the Mexican family behind the story is speaking out. 

When Perla Nation found out Diego Luna had made it a point to keep his thick accent for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” she decided to take her father, Pablo Perez, to see the film.

“I wanted my Mexican father, with his thick Mexican accent, to experience what it was like to see a hero in a blockbuster film, speak the way he does,” she wrote in her viral Tumblr post.  

But the third-year student at the University of California, Berkeley didn’t expect what came next. Luna tweeted her story on Tuesday, saying it was an “emotional” read, and it went viral. 

The following day Nation posted a video on YouTube capturing her father’s reaction to his newfound fame. Perez even had a message for Luna. 

“I think what he did is extraordinary,” he says about the actor in the video. “I like that he kept his Latino accent in the film because you can tell he’s an extraordinary artist.” 

Nation also recently spoke to We are mitú about what she hopes her family’s experience teaches moviegoers and Hollywood executives. 

“I’d love for people reading this post to acknowledge the need for diversity in film.” she told mitú. “Not just behind the camera but in front of it. The chair of the Center for Latin America Studies [at UC Berkeley] Harley Shaiken always says that ‘art transcends borders’ and he couldn’t be more right. I’m glad ‘Rogue One’ knew that it surely transcends outer space.” 

And if she could speak directly to Hollywood executives, Nation told mitú she’d “tell them that our world is changing and then I’d invite them to be a part of it.”

We couldn’t agree more. 

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WASHINGTON ― After recent controversy over a painting hanging in a Capitol tunnel that depicts cops as pigs, Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) removed the art Friday without permission and returned it to the Democratic colleague who had selected the painting as the winning entry in a district-wide contest for high school students.

Hunter apparently unscrewed the painting from the wires it hung on as a group of GOP congressmen looked on, brought the painting to the office of the congressman who had selected the painting ― Rep. William Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) ― and then bragged to Fox News about his act of censorship. 

“I was angry,” Hunter told Fox. “I’ve seen the press on this for about a week or so. … I’m in the Marine Corps. If you want it done, just call us.”

Hunter had no authority to remove the painting. But he said if Clay has the painting put up again, “I’m allowed to take it down.”

The painting, which had been hanging there since June, caught the attention of some Republican congressmen after an Independent Journal Review article noted that the artwork depicts cops as pigs holding someone up at gunpoint and protesters stand in the background holding signs that read “Racism kills” and “History.” There is also an African-American who is being crucified while holding the scales of justice in the picture.

In June, Clay described the artwork to the St. Louis American as “the most creative expression that I’ve witnessed over the last 16 years.”

Every year, members of Congress select a painting from a high school student to hang in the tunnel between the Capitol and the Cannon House Office Building. In Clay’s case, he selected then-high school senior David Pulphus’ untitled work to hang beside the other winners of the Congressional Art Competition.

Pulphus was a student at Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School in St. Louis ― about 10 miles from Ferguson ― and his work seems to have been heavily influenced by the protests in Ferguson following the August 2014 shooting of Michael Brown.

The painting hung in the Capitol for six months before the IJR story sparked controversy, with law enforcement groups calling for its removal from the Capitol. Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) was asked about it during his weekly press conference on Thursday, though he declined to comment until he had seen the painting, and it was a topic of conversation among House Republicans during a conference-wide meeting on Friday morning.

After that meeting, on his way back to his office, Hunter removed the painting.

A request for comment from the U.S. Capitol Police was not returned, nor were requests from Hunter’s, Clay’s and Ryan’s offices.

Drew Hammill, communications director for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), said Hunter would “soon realize that he’s fallen down more than one rabbit hole,” an apparent reference to another recent controversy with Hunter, one where the California congressman used campaign funds to pay $600 to fly a pet rabbit across the country.

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Hit Backspace for a regular dose of pop culture nostalgia.

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Staff at the East Lake County Library say they were just trying to save books.

But one librarian has been fired in connection with a scheme involving the creation of a fake library patron who “checked out” more than 2,000 books over the last year, as first reported by the Orlando Sentinel.

The fake patron, named “Chuck Finley” — who shares his name with a real-life retired baseball player — is recorded as checking out 2,361 books ranging from children’s book Why Do My Ears Pop? to John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row.

Branch supervisor George Dore was fired on Dec. 27, Lake County spokeswoman Elisha Pappacoda told The Huffington Post. Two other employees involved are still working at the library.

Dore told the Sentinel that two employees hatched the plan for a good reason. The library’s computer system automatically flags books for removal if no one has checked them out within a year, and they wanted to keep the books on the shelves.

This plan prevented the books from getting tossed, which also prevented the library from having to spend money re-purchasing books its staff wanted to keep.

Some news outlets have suggested that the library might have an ulterior motive — boosting its funding by fraudulently increasing circulation statistics. But county spokeswoman Pappacoda told HuffPost that this just isn’t true — county libraries, she said, do not receive funding based on circulation numbers.

Even so, Pappacoda said, the county felt that firing Dore was justified because in creating the fake patron — which involved a made-up address and driver’s license number — the library was “creating a false public record.” She added that no one involved was facing any criminal charges.

Pappacoda also said that after the county was tipped off that something seemed suspicious with the library’s records, they got a third-party auditor to assess the situation. It was that auditor who found out the truth about Finley.

Lake County Public Resources director Jeff Cole told WFTV that if the library truly had a problem with books potentially being removed, Dore simply could have discussed it with his superiors.

Author and activist Cory Doctorow voiced his support for the library staff in a BoingBoing blog post on Monday, writing that the situation highlights some of the perils of relying too much on data and not enough on human beings.

“The library wants to be efficient at stocking books its patrons will enjoy, so it deploys software to measure popularity, and raises the outcomes of those measurements over the judgment of the skilled professionals who acquire and recommend books, who work with patrons every day,” he wrote.

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If new parents in 2017 were limited to only 100 possible baby name options, what should they be? Nameberry is attempting to answer this question.

We’ve whittled down the thousands of possibilities to find the 100 baby names that we believe are most emblematic of our times ― while also being both somewhat timeless and forward-facing. The names here are perfect for a 2017 baby yet will serve him or her well into the turn of the next century (now there’s an amazing thought).

Of course, there are hundreds of other baby names that potentially fit these criteria. But if we are limited to only 100, these are our picks for the very best of the best ― and our reasons why.

1. Alden ― May unseat the popular Aiden, thanks to actor Ehrenreich, the new young Han in “Star Wars”


2. Amity ― Friendly update for Hope and Faith


3. Amos ― A biblical boy that could follow the newly successful Abel


4. Araminta ― British classic fresher than Arabella


5. Arcadia ― Heavenly name for the optimistic


6. Archer ― Fresher than Hunter, cooler than Arthur


7. Arrow ― Shooting upwards


8. Ash ― Cool short form of Ashton or Asher, or full name on its own


9. Astrid ― Scandinavian import with lots of style


10. Auden ― Poetic surname chosen by Kelsey Grammer for his son


11. Aviva ― Vivacious palindromic choice


12. Baxter ― Could Bax be the new Max?


13. Bea ― Beatrice or Beatrix short form that stands alone


14. Benno ― Ancient saint name makes Ben special


15. Birdie ― Nature name taking flight


16. Booker ― Iconic hero name with literary and musical associations


17. Bowie ― The late idol inspiring baby namers


18. Briar ― New unisex nature name in the Top 000


19. Calliope ― Love child of Cadence and Penelope


20. Cassius ― Ancient Roman name that couldn’t be cooler


21. Celeste ― Ladylike name with heavenly associations


22. Clara ― Clearly the most stylish Claire-related name today


23. Clark ― Old-time heartthrob and superhero returns


24. Corin ― The Bard gave us this distinctive yet straightforward boys’ name


25. Cressida ― Posh British possibility with a Shakespearean pedigree


26. Cyrus ― Celeb choice with historic Eastern roots


27. Daisy ― Perennially-fresh and charming flower name


28. Dashiell ― Literary name with lots of dash


29. Delphine ― Chic French twist on floral name


30. Dylan ― Rebel Nobel poet name turned modern classic


31. Echo ― Three trends ― mythological, o-ending word name ― in one modern choice


32. Eliza ― Classic revival keeps gathering steam


33. Ember ― Emma meets Amber


34. Emilia ― Khaleesi gone classic


35. Esme ― Charming Salinger name that means beloved


36. Esther ― Biblical heroine name weds ancient and feminist appeal


37. Felicity ― “Rogue One” star Felicity Jones adds strength to this name


38. Felix ― Ancient saint turned cartoon cat turned happy modern baby name


39. Fiona ― Romantic Scottish favorite moving on from “Shrek” 


40. Forrest ― Nature name with buttoned-down appeal


41. Frank ― Frank Ocean updates this name from the Sinatra era


42. Frankie ― Boyish nickname for girls


43. Geneva ― Cool Swiss place name destination


44. Gideon ― Biblical boy name on the rise


45. Goldie ― One nickname name that’s both rich and fun


46. Greer ― Tailored Hollywood name, fresher than Harlow or Ava


47. Gus ― Friendly, informal Gus is the new Max


48. Indigo ―- Bright blue unisex choice


49. Ines/Inez ― Spanish-inflected variation of Agnes with starry new gloss


50. Iris ― Elegant floral that’s also the name of the goddess of the rainbow


51. Isadora ― The new Isa girl in town


52. Keziah ― Biblical name that feels sleek and modern


53. Lachlan ―Scottish choice finding wider favor


54. Lark ― Bird name that sings sweetly in the middle


55. Lionel ― Jazzy name with stylish leonine associations


56. Louise ― This year’s nominee for how can it NOT be in the Top 1000?


57. Loxley ― Popping on Pinterest


58. Loyal ― One virtue name that works for boys


59. Lucian ― Male spin on the popular Lucy and Lucia


60. Lula ― Retro girl name on the upswing, and Liv Tyler’s new daughter


61. Lux ― As simple as it is luxurious


62. Marguerite ― Cooler than Margaret, more classic than Margo


63. McCoy ― The real thing


64. Mirabelle ― The new Isabelle


65. Monty ― British favorite feels fresh here


66. Osiris ― Name from Egyptian mythology that feels powerful today


67. Otis ― Bluesy choice that’s the epitome of cool


68. Otto ― New old O name for boys


69. Ozzie ― Adorable O nickname for Ozias, Oswald, etc; Oz works too


70. Pearl ― The most stylish middle name of the moment


71. Persephone ― Now that Penelope is a top name, Persephone is rising


72. Posey ― Sweet update on Poppy and Rosie


73. Quincy ― Unusual Presidential choice that works for boys and girls


74. Ray ― Sleek, simple name right for both genders


75. Reeve ― A successor to celebrity surname name Reese


76. Remy ― French, simple, lovely for either sex


77. Reuben ― Hot biblical boy name


78. Roman ― Celebrity favorite with noble pedigree


79. Rosamund ― Elegant rose family member


80. Ruth ― Rich biblical name finding new fans


81. Sadie ― The fastest-rising girl name on Nameberry


82. Sage ― A name marrying wisdom and nature


83. Sasha ― Unisex name re-embraced for boys


84. Saskia ― Dutch treat with artistic vibe


85. Sayer ― More eloquent than Sawyer


86. Simone ― Gold medalist times two


87. Snow ― Fresh, winter white choice


88. Soleil ― Sunny French name shining here


89. Sybil ― A not-done “Downton Abbey” name


90. Sylvie ― Sweet French-accented choice


91. Tallulah ― Dramatic name favored by celebrities, but still distinctive in the real world


92. Thea ― Newcomer to the Top 1000 that feels both classic and modern


93. Thor ― Powerful superhero choice


94. Vera ― Fresher than Cora or Ava


95. Wilder ― Prepster name with an outdoorsy vibe


96. Winnie ― Winning nickname-name finding new fans, including Jimmy Fallon


97. Winston ― Churchill makes it a hero name, but Winston feels wearable for a child, too


98. Yara ― Spanish favorite slowly being discovered by the wider world


99. Zelda ― New series based on the life of Zelda Fitzgerald soon to debut on 


100. Zinnia ― Exotic floral choice

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When Thuy Nguyen was just 12 years old, she left her native country of Vietnam and boarded a South Korean boat in search of a safe place to call home. After living in a refugee camp for two months, Nguyen arrived in Canada in 1975, where she and her family were able to build a new life.

More than forty years later, Nguyen is paying it forward by taking care of others fleeing war in search of a stable home and a peaceful life. For the past year, she and her partner Michael Adams have been mentoring and supporting the Noumans, a family of nine from the embattled city of Homs, Syria.

According to the UNHCR, Mohamed Nouman, his wife, and seven children arrived in Toronto in January 2016. Since then, Nguyen, Adams, and a small group of friends have stepped in to help the Syrian family adjust to Canadian life ― from finding the kids a good school in the area, to taking them to doctors’ appointments, and helping them learn a new language. 

Nguyen told The Huffington Post that her biggest dream for the new family is for them to be happy in their new country. 

“My father always said that it’s not often that you can have a big impact on somebody’s life. So when you have a chance to do it, you should try,” she told HuffPost.

The Noumans came to Toronto as part of a Canada’s private sponsorship program ― the only one of its kind in the world, according to the UNHCR. The program was developed under the administrations of former Canadian prime ministers Joe Clark and Pierre Trudeau in the late 1970s, initially to help resettle refugees those uprooted by the Vietnam War.

Under the program, citizen sponsors commit to providing basic financial support for the refugees’ first year in the country, or until the refugees become self-sufficient. The sponsors also help refugees with tasks like finding a job, learning English or French, and opening a bank account.

Michael Casasola, a UNHCR Resettlement Officer in Canada, told The Huffington Post that more than 275,000 refugees have come to Canada through this program.

Throughout the application process, Nguyen and Adams received help from Lifeline Syria, a Canadian nonprofit that helps sponsors resettle Syrian refugees in the Toronto area. Frank Palmay, chair of the organization, told The Huffington Post that the minimum requirement for sponsorship of a single refugee is $12,600. For a family of nine like the Noumans, it’s $40,000 ― an amount Nguyen and her partner raised with the help of about 130 friends and family.

Palmay said that there was a surge in interest in sponsorships in the fall of 2015. He linked that uptick to the haunting photo of Alan Kurdi, a 3-year-old Syrian refugee whose body was found washed up on a beach in Turkey.

But as the conflict in Syria continues on, with no foreseeable end in sight, Palmay said that the challenge now is to keep Canadians interested and motivated to help.  

“We’re trying to re-motivate people again, because the human tragedy of Syria is beyond imagination,” he told The Huffington Post.

The Noumans’ lives have changed drastically since they left Syria. According to the UNHCR, the family was trapped inside their house in Homs for days, afraid to leave because of bombs. 

Mohamed Nouman, the family patriarch, told the UNHCR that he decided to flee for safety because “I didn’t want my kids to see death.”

The Noumans fled to Lebanon and then Jordan. They lived in Amman for two years, the entire family sleeping in one room of an apartment. 

Now that they are in Canada, Narjes Nouman, the eldest of the family’s seven children, said she finally feels safe.

“It is really wonderful to be with your family surrounded by safety,” Narjes said in a UNHCR video. “There is no one to attack you like in Syria. When we came to Canada we felt better.” 

For Nguyen, sponsoring the Noumans was a way to help people who are searching for the same opportunities her family longed for so many years ago. After settling in Canada, she and her 15 siblings went on to attend college, finding careers in medicine, architecture, and finance.

Nguyen’s goal now is to give the Noumans a “safety net” as they adjust to life in Canada. 

“I’m sure there’s still anxiety, but it takes some of the anxiety out of the process, just knowing there’s another family there,” she said. “And if you need something, you can call and ask them.”

She looks forward to seeing the children go to school. She wants to attend their graduation parties and their weddings. And she’s looking forward to witnessing their lives change for the better ― just like hers did.

“There’s something about the process of coming to another country and having to rely on yourself, something about that process that really makes you more resilient.” 

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On Dec. 29, “alt-right” boy wonder Milo Yiannopoulos announced that he’d signed a $250,000 deal with Simon & Schuster’s conservative imprint, Threshold, to write a book entitled Dangerous.

By the end of the day, social media was in an uproar. Petitions begging his publisher to rescind the contract were circulating, while others, including Chicago Review of Books and indie bookshop Raven Books, announced they’d be boycotting all Simon & Schuster titles in response. 

To many free speech advocates, this backlash was more troubling than the initial book deal. On Thursday, the National Coalition Against Censorship published a statement defending the publisher’s right to publish Yiannopoulos’ work, no matter how offensive. The statement, also signed by industry advocacy organizations including the Association of American Publishers, the Authors Guild, and the National Council of Teachers of English, argued that a boycott of Simon & Schuster would have a “chilling effect” on publishers that would undermine dissemination of diverse ideas:

This kind of response will have a chilling effect on authors and publishers, which is undoubtedly the goal of those who support such boycotts. However, the suppression of noxious ideas does not defeat them; only vigorous disagreement can counter toxic speech effectively. Shutting down the conversation may temporarily silence disfavored views, but does nothing to prevent them from spreading and resurfacing in other ways.

Whether “vigorous disagreement” can effectively neutralize hateful speech seems more questionable than ever in recent months. A November essay by an anonymous columnist in The Guardian confessed that the accessibility and popularity of alt-right vitriol ― including Yiannopoulos’ own work ― temporarily seduced him into harboring racist views. “If it can get somebody like me to swallow it ― a lifelong liberal ― I can’t imagine the damage it is doing overall,” he wrote.

After backlash erupted in response to a now-canned A&E show intended to follow Ku Klux Klan members, an anecdote about Oprah’s decision to no longer interview neo-Nazis on her show, after a 1988 segment, resurfaced. Having hosted a group of white nationalists onstage for a segment meant to stir vigorous and provocative discussion, Oprah later recalled, “I actually thought for a long time that through the power of conversation, I could break down barriers of racism or homophobia.”

Instead, what she discovered as she hosted a jeering crowd of skinheads eager to broadcast their agenda, was that “the power of the platform” was greater than the power of debate. “I went, whoa, I think I’m doing one thing. I think I’m exposing them, I think I’m showing them in their vitriol and their dark side, and trying to get them to see another point of view, and they are using me.” She realized, “I think I’m doing good here, and I’m not.” 

Anti-censorship organizations and critics of the boycott movements have equated any successful push to have Yiannopoulos’ contract rescinded with a form of censorship, if a less direct form than governmental restrictions on speech. But lacking a sponsored platform for one’s views is a fate long suffered by women and, especially, minority groups who have been boxed out of access to those platforms. The default, in American history, has been that marginalized groups simply weren’t offered book deals or staff positions to disseminate their ideas to begin with, while white men with all manner of noxious views were paid to propagate theirs without consequence to themselves ― just to the underprivileged people targeted by toxic screeds. By the same token that most of us will never get book deals, no one is owed a book deal or any sort of megaphone, even by virtue of possession being nine-tenths of the law.

For those affected by the willingness of gatekeepers to participate in spreading hateful speech, protest and boycott don’t register as censorship, but a meaningful response to the propagation of harmful speech directed at their communities. 

In a phone conversation with HuffPost, NCAC Executive Director Joan Bertin, emphasized, “We’re not saying readers can’t boycott, of course they can.” Instead, she says, “Our hope is that publishers will support their authors.”

So far, Simon & Schuster has stood behind their new author, now with the support of a coalition of anti-censorship organizations. (Jon Anderson, president and publisher of Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing Division, is a member of the NCAC board of directors; however, Bertin stated to HuffPost that “he had nothing to do with the statement or our decision to issue it.”)

Free speech is enshrined in our Constitution, protecting us from overt governmental censorship of ideas. When it comes to private citizens’ protests, and private companies’ responses, the concept of “censorship” grows far more muddled. Protesting Dangerous might have a chilling effect on publishers; then again, Yiannopoulos’ own words and encouragement of racist harassment had such a chilling effect that they drove actress and comedian Leslie Jones from Twitter. He’s also famously advocated that women leave the internet because they’re “ruining it” for men with their annoying opinions.

For her part, Bertin sees no conflict: “These are not principles that can readily be applied in a one-sided fashion,” she told HuffPost. “In my experience it’s been the advocates of progressive causes that have most often been silenced. So in order to protect those rights for those people, we have to say, you know, Milo’s got the same right.”

Though Yiannopoulos has the right to express his opinions, it’s nonetheless troubling to see his ideology, which propagates disdain and contempt for various vulnerable groups of people, given an immense platform. Though we don’t want to sand the edges off our discourse in the name of a comfortable consensus, at some point, it’s reasonable to ask gatekeepers to answer for elevating deliberately harmful views. Given that Yiannopoulos’ range of targets have historically been subject to comprehensive oppression, admonishing critics to engage with his abhorrent views through debate while watching him, and his publisher, profit off of his dissemination of racist, sexist ideology, doesn’t seem like the best solution. It elevates hatred and invalidation of nonwhite humanity into a category of debatable thought, leaving marginalized groups to politely argue for their own right to be in the room at all.

At a time when women are leaving Twitter because of sexist abuse and an incoming president has hinted that he doesn’t support full freedom of the press, worrying over petitions to rescind a book contract to a bully and alt-right troll seems almost beside the point. Questioning a major outlet’s decision to give Yiannopoulos such a powerful platform, given his body of work, isn’t censorship, especially since, unfortunately, it seems he’s going to have more than enough opportunity to exploit it.

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It’s Golden Globe weekend! Here’s everything you need to know.

How do I watch?

Catch the Golden Globes live at 8 p.m. EST on NBC Sunday. E!’s red-carpet special, hosted by Giuliana Rancic and Ryan Seacrest, begins at 6 p.m. NBC’s airs at 7 p.m. The awards take place at the Beverly Hilton in Los Angeles.

Who is hosting?

Jimmy Fallon, who has teased potential Donald Trump cracks despite rustling the president-elect’s hair like an old chum during Trump’s campaign. The Globes typically open with the host’s monologue, but Fallon has plans for a “fun and friendly and joyous and cool” opening number featuring Justin Timberlake, Ryan Reynolds, Tina Fey and possibly other cameos. 

Who else will be there?

According to a press release from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, here is the list of presenters: Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Bell, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Naomi Campbell, Steve Carell, Jessica Chastain, Priyanka Chopra, Matt Damon, Viola Davis, Laura Dern, Leonardo DiCaprio, Gal Gadot, Hugh Grant, Jon Hamm, Goldie Hawn, Chris Hemsworth, Felicity Jones, Anna Kendrick, Nicole Kidman, Brie Larson, John Legend, Diego Luna, Sienna Miller, Mandy Moore, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Timothy Olyphant, Chris Pine, Eddie Redmayne, Ryan Reynolds, Zoe Saldana, Amy Schumer, Sylvester Stallone, Sting, Emma Stone, Justin Theroux, Carrie Underwood, Vince Vaughn, Milo Ventimiglia, Sofia Vergara, Carl Weathers, Reese Witherspoon and Kristen Wiig.

Who is Miss Golden Globe?

Every year, famous people’s daughters hand out the trophies onstage. Sometimes they go on to become famous themselves, like Laura Dern and Dakota Johnson. In fact, The Hollywood Reporter published an interesting feature on the Miss Golden Globe tradition on Thursday. This year, Sylvester Stallone’s daughters ― Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet Stallone ― will do the honors.

The Globes predict the Oscars, right?

Yes and no. They tend to get billed as the primo Oscar precursor, but that’s something of a misnomer. The Hollywood Foreign Press Association ― an easily wined-and-dined organization that comprises about 90 international journalists ― votes for the Golden Globes. None of them are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which selects the Oscars. The HFPA’s picks may influence some Academy voters, but the two awards are otherwise unrelated.

What the Globes mostly do is help to ferment the Oscar conversation, which is largely about campaign narratives. Awards pundits see the Globes as a sort of dress rehearsal for Oscar contenders. Or you can think of it as an audition. Giving a great Globes speech ― one that homes in on the respective movie’s messaging or charms the hell out of the boozing Oscar voters watching ― can bolster someone’s Oscar attention. It’s all a game of politics!

No matter what, the Globes are different because the stars drink throughout the ceremony. Expect the speeches to get sloppier as the night progresses. Cate Blanchett, for example, later admitted she was “a couple of sheets to the wind” by the time she won her category (for “Blue Jasmine”) in 2014.

Is anything else big happening?

Because she hasn’t been decorated enough throughout her career, Meryl Streep will receive the annual Cecil B. DeMille Award, a lifetime-achievement prize that has recently gone to Denzel Washington, George Clooney, Woody Allen, Jodie Foster and Morgan Freeman. The Globes, which does not usually feature an “in memoriam” segment, are also reportedly considering a tribute to Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher. “We’re going to acknowledge it, but we’re still in discussion with exactly how we’re going to do that,” executive producer Barry Adelman told Variety.

Who will win?

Here we go. I’ve been covering awards season for the past few months, so I’m just going to do this in a quick list format. The Globes do throw some crazy curveballs from time to time, so apologies if I lead you astray. But here’s where the races stand after a few months of campaigning. You can see the full list of nominations here.

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”OK” may be one of the most commonly used words in America.

Want to grab a drink after work? OK. How are you feeling? I’m OK. Justin Bieber is the best singer of all time. OK ...

But did you know that every time you throw “OK” around you’re using the 1840s slang equivalent of phrases like “bae” or “it’s lit fam”?

As explained in the Mental Floss video above, late lexicographer Allen Walker Read traced OK’s origin back to a Boston newspaper editor who in 1839 used the initials as a trendy, clever way of saying “oll korrect,” or, more accurately, “all correct.”

The editor was playing into a popular 19th century trend in which writers would playfully abbreviate and misspell their words. For example, they’d use “KG” to say “know go,” which means “no go.” It’s similar to how people today use “bae” for “baby” or “before anyone else,” or how millennials will text “it’s lit fam” to describe to their friends that something is amazing or fun. 

But “OK” came around at a time when catchy phrases are most important: a presidential election.  

During Martin Van Buren’s 1840 bid for president, his campaign turned his nickname, “Old Kinderhook,” into a hip and catchy slogan: “He’s Old Kinderhook and he’s oll korrect.”

More than 170 years later, “OK” has all but taken over. 

Want to know the rest of “OK’s” history? Watch Mental Floss’s video above, OK?

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They got “Dust In The Wind” down to a tee.

“The Big Bang Theory” star Jim Parsons joined “The Late Late Show” host James Corden in spoofing Kansas’ iconic 1977 hit on Thursday.

And they totally nailed it, by expertly recreating the original music video — from their hair to the violin solo and even the haunting mist.

Check out the full clip above, and watch the group’s original music video below:

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Things might look pretty bleak in America currently, but at least we aren’t living in a totalitarian regime... yet.

The first trailer for Hulu’s television adaptation of the celebrated Margaret Atwood dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale arrived on Saturday and we’re already prepared to declare the upcoming 10-episode series as our new favorite TV show. 

“The Handmaid’s Tale” follows a group of women living under an oppressive theocracy that only values them for procreation. In the 30-second clip, we meet Offred (Elisabeth Moss), who is forced contend with this new reality after being separated from her husband and daughter. 

 “I had another name, but it’s forbidden now,” she says. “So many things are forbidden now.”

We have an endless amount of questions from watching the teaser, but all we can think about is where are they taking Alexis Bledel?!

Ugh, this would never happen in Stars Hollow. 

“The Handmaid’s Tale” premieres Wednesday, April 26 on Hulu.

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Nat Hentoff, the longtime journalist, jazz critic, activist and provocateur known for his commitment to social causes and his defense of the First Amendment, died Saturday at the age of 91.

Hentoff died in his Manhattan apartment of natural causes, according to his son, Nick, who announced the death on Twitter. He died “surrounded by family listening to Billie Holiday,” Nick wrote.

Hentoff started in New York journalism as a jazz critic in the the 1950s for Down Beat magazine, but his body of work would eventually encompass 35 books, 50 years at The Village Voice — where he railed against the Vietnam War, racism and the media itself, among other targets — and stories in The Washington Post, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal and Esquire, along with dozens of other publications.

Above all else, Hentoff was a crusader for free speech, a cause that brought him into clashes with conservatives and progressives alike. He staunchly opposed abortion and capital punishment, supported pornography as a form of free expression, and was willing to attack gay people and feminists if he believed they were trying to stifle dialogue in the name of “political correctness.”

Hentoff told Clyde Haberman of The New York Times after he was laid off by the Voice in 2009 that Duke Ellington himself taught Hentoff the perils of being pigeonholed. “He said, ‘Never get caught up in categories. That’ll imprison you,’ ” Hentoff recalled.

He relished his role as a troublemaker, and reportedly embraced this description of him by a colleague: “He puts on his skunk suit and heads off to the garden party, week after week, again and again.”

Hentoff was born in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood in 1925 to Russian-Jewish immigrants Simon and Lena Katzenberg Hentoff. His early loves included Bessie Smith, Duke Ellington, Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong, Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, affairs that would last his lifetime. He became the editor of his student newspaper at Northeastern University, and moved to New York after a stint with a Boston radio station. By 1958 he was writing for The Village Voice.

His jazz pieces evolved into eclectic columns on civil liberties, politics, education and ― again and again ― free speech. His books ranged from jazz studies to young adult novels to profiles to social commentary. A classic Hentoff work was his 1992 book Free Speech for Me ― But Not for Thee: How the American Left and Right Relentlessly Censor Each Other, in which he excoriated just about everybody.

After he was finally forced out at the Voice, Hentoff continued to hammer away at his keyboard. He spoke to Haberman of a “perilous time” for media, with fact-checking vanishing and readers gravitating toward websites that only reinforced their beliefs.

Hentoff then said that the jazz musician Ben Webster once told him: “Listen, kid, when the rhythm section ain’t making it, go for yourself.”

“I’ve tried that with editors all the time,” Hentoff went on. “That’s the fun of all this. You keep surprising people. And angering them, I might say.”

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Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy
”Atlanta”
”Blackish”
”Mozart in the Jungle”
”Transparent”
”Veep”

Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television
”American Crime”
”The Dresser”
”The Night Manager”
”The Night Of”
”The People v. O.J.: American Crime Story”

Best Performance By an Actress in a Television Series, Musical, or Comedy
Rachel Bloom, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend”
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, “Veep”
Sarah Jessica Parker, “Divorce”
Issa Rae, “Insecure”
Gina Rodriguez, “Jane the Virgin”
Tracee Ellis Ross, “Blackish”

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Tracee Ellis Ross won Best Actress in a Television Series, Comedy or Musical at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday for her work on ABC’s “Black-ish.”

When she took to the stage, the 44-year-old said she had never attended the Golden Globes before. But she wasted little time while there before dedicating her award to something bigger than herself. 

“This is for all the women, women of color and colorful people, whose stories, ideas, thoughts are not always considered worthy and valid and important,” she said. “But I want you to know: I see you. We see you.”

She continued, “It is an honor to be on this show, ‘Black-ish,’ to continue expanding the way we are seen and known and to show the magic and the beauty and the sameness of a story and stories that are outside of where the industry usually looks.”

Ross also took a moment to appreciate that she is able to survive in Hollywood after the age of 40, something many other female actresses have struggled to do. “It’s nice at 44. I like it here. This is great. Thank you,” she said. 

Soon after, Miles Brown, who plays Ross’ son, Jack Johnson, on the show, uploaded a video of him celebrating her win on Twitter. 

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Diego Luna and Gael García Bernal’s friendship is a love story for the ages.

The two actors have been friends since they were child telenovela stars in Mexico in the early ‘90s. Decades later, Luna and García Bernal proved they are closer than ever at the 74th annual Golden Globe Awards on Sunday.

The “Rogue One” star carpooled to the Golden Globes with García Bernal, who was nominated for his lead role in Amazon’s “Mozart in the Jungle.” García Bernal won a Golden Globe in 2016 for the same role. 

Luna posted an Instagram photo of the two in a car on their way to the ceremony.

On the red carpet, the two friends walked and posed together, smiling and waving. 

Like seriously, how cute are they?

If this isn’t true bromance, we don’t know what is. 

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Ryan Reynolds may have lost the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical to Ryan Gosling, but he doesn’t seem to be too broken up about it. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that he received a passionate kiss from Andrew Garfield as Gosling headed to the stage to give his acceptance speech: 

Wouldn’t you want to be comforted by Andrew Garfield’s lips if you just lost the Golden Globe to Ryan Gosling? Of course you would. 

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