Two influencers say they were denied entry to a club because of their size. Now, they’re empowering others to speak out.

Kalhan Rosenblatt - Yesterday 

Before she even arrived at the Los Angeles club The Highlight Room on Wednesday, model Alexa Jay had anxiety.


Two influencers say they were denied entry to a club because of their size. 

Now, they’re empowering others to speak out.© Provided by NBC News

Jay, 24, who is Black and plus size, said she has experienced discrimination at clubs, bars and parties since her freshman year of college. But she decided to push those concerns aside to attend her friend's birthday party. That night, she waited in the tightly packed corridor of the club's entrance alongside several friends, including curve model and influencer Ella Halikas. While some in their group were admitted to the club, Jay and Halikas were stopped by the bouncer, they said.

"He looks me head to toe, takes his time, up and down, and goes, 'Not tonight,'" Jay said. "That's when I knew exactly what was going on and I said, 'It's happening.'"

The two models said they believe they were turned away for being plus size. They said what happened is just one example of how people with bigger bodies are discriminated against.

A spokesperson for Tao Group Hospitality, the parent company of The Highlight Room, said in a statement Monday that it is “aware of the Ella and Alexa’s experience and are actively engaged with them to discuss the incident further."

"We are always appreciative of feedback on our operations and continue to work on how to improve our guest experience," the spokesperson said. "Our company does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.”

Jay and Halikas confirmed they have been in contact with the club but said they have not received an apology.

The two decided Friday to share their story on TikTok, where a video on Halikas' page has been viewed more than 1.1 million times.

They said the humiliation they felt has inspired them to try to change the culture of how bigger bodies are policed in spaces like clubs.


“I said to my friend if it’s not me being discriminated against because I’m Black, it’s because I’m curvy," Jay said. "When does this end? Like, when does it end?”

The women also started the hashtag #NotTonight to encourage others who have experienced discrimination for being plus size to share their stories and to show the extent of the problem.

"This story isn't really even about me or The Highlight Room. Like, yes, I want an apology, but it's so much bigger than that. This is about all the girls who don't have a voice," Halikas, 25, said in a recent interview. "Even as a Sports Illustrated model myself, I could not get let into a club because I'm a size 14. That shook me to my core."

Some online — including body positivity advocates, fat empowerment activists and plus-size content creators — are sounding the alarm over a potential return to the “heroin chic” thinness of the 1990s and the early 2000s.

“I am of the generation of the first wave of this. We never fully recovered. I lost two decades of my life,” actor Jameela Jamil wrote on Instagram in response to a New York Post headline declaring “heroin chic” back in style.

“I’m BEGGING you to violently reject this, and to VIOLENTLY REJECT any people, or magazines or news outlets who are participating in the spread of this hell," wrote Jamil, who founded the “I Weigh” campaign, which encourages people to value themselves with qualities apart from their weight.

Jay and Halikas said they want to highlight how people with bigger bodies are treated offline.

They believe the bouncers at The Highlight Room should undergo sensitivity training.

Ultimately, they hope, the incident will lead to more inclusive spaces for people of all sizes.

It’s unclear how many people have used the #NotTonight hashtag since Halikas and Jay began promoting it. The hashtag shares the title of a popular EDM song, which has been used as a tag on TikTok.

The comment sections of both women’s videos have been flooded with remarks from others sharing stories about the times they also faced discrimination because of their size.

“I am the lead singer of a band and one time the bouncer of the venue I performed at TRIED TO TURN ME AWAY AT THE DOOR OF MY OWN SHOW,” one person commented.

Another commenter wrote: “I am that girl who doesn’t have a voice and I thank you both for this! It’s happened to me and I just walked away and cried in private.”

Newspapers in most parts of the world show disinterest in US elections

Nov 9, 2022

As the U.S. anxiously waits to determine which political party will gain control of Congress, the world's media watched Tuesday's election races with some curiosity, though most coverage appeared to be overshadowed by the COP27 climate summit, the war in Ukraine, and Meta’s announcement to lay off hundreds of employees.

La Repubblica

Several major European papers like The Guardian, Le Monde, and La Repubblica have covered the midterm elections closely –– some even launching live blogs –– though there was noticeably little to no coverage of the U.S. races in papers across Asia and in Africa.

Here’s a look at how some international media outlets covered the Tuesday elections so far.

THE VIEW FROM GERMANY

Bild: “The greatest winner is Trump’s greatest enemy”

Though not making the top of the site’s homepage or the world section, German tabloid Bild’s coverage of the midterm elections delves into the biggest surprises from Tuesday evening –– including Republican disappointment of not achieving a “red tsunami.” The report also highlights Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ win in the state, and what that might mean for Donald Trump if the two were to run as party rivals in the 2024 presidential elections.

Bild

Quoteworthy:

“For those in the party and at grassroots level who are fed up with Trump's antics but want a candidate with Trumpian content, a real alternative is coming up. Ronald instead of Donald. One like Trump, but without his political and legal baggage.”

THE VIEW FROM RUSSIA

TASS: “Medvedev skewers midterms, Ukraine’s ‘green’ leader: Global support for US course dying”

Dmitry Medvedev, Russia's former president and current deputy chairman of the security council, told Russian state news agency TASS that results from the midterm elections so far show that "global support for the United States’ policy course is on the decline."

On his Telegram, Medvedev posted an illustration of a blue pig flying over the world, supported by balloons with the colors of national flags from other Western countries.

TASS

Quoteworthy:

“...grandpa Biden is slipping away, global support for US policy is on the decline, and betting on a ‘stoned hetman’ was a huge mistake,” Dmitry Medvedev wrote on his Telegram channel on Wednesday.

THE VIEW FROM MEXICO

Milenio: U.S. Midterm election results | Latest news

As one of Mexico’s biggest papers, Grupo Milenio followed the midterms closely, launching a live blog detailing the results. The outlet also published a series of explainers on DeSantis and highlighted the young and LGBTQ candidates who won their races.

THE VIEW FROM AUSTRALIA

The Australian: “Trickle treat for Biden as red wave withers”

In Australia's most widely circulated broadsheet, reporter Adam Creighton described the anticipated “red wave” as more of a ripple, saying that Republicans, especially Trump, “face humiliation” as Republican ambitions to take hold of Congress “appear to be in tatters.”

The Australian

THE VIEW FROM INDIA

Hindustan Times: “Do voters want Joe Biden to run for president again? Exit poll says ‘not really’.”

Dehli-based English-language newspaper Hindustan Times published its latest story on the midterms just minutes before midnight on Tuesday. The piece leads with Biden “not having the best time” as midterm results roll in, and largely draws on a CNN poll showing that two-thirds of voters do not want Biden to run for reelection in 2024.

THE VIEW FROM SPAIN

El Mundo: “What if the referendum is about Trump?”

Similar to the leading story from Bild, Gina Montaner’s column in El Mundo, the second largest daily newspaper in Spain, examined how the outcome of the election may be more about Trump’s potential rivalry with DeSantis going into 2024.

El Mundo

Quoteworthy:

“DeSantis is emerging as one of the biggest threat [against the Democrats] who are wondering who the real rising star is,” Montaner wrote.

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Michael Moore: Blue wall stopped ‘ugly red wave’

Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech - THE HILL
Documentary filmmaker and activist Michael Moore thanked voters for creating a “Blue Wall” to stop Republicans from gaining control of the House and Senate during Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Michael Moore: Blue wall stopped ‘ugly red wave’© Provided by The Hill

“We were lied to for months by the pundits and pollsters and the media. Voters had not ‘moved on’ from the Supreme Court’s decision to debase and humiliate women by taking federal control over their reproductive organs. Crime was not at the forefront of the voters ‘simple’ minds. Neither was the price of milk,” Moore wrote on his Substack “Mike’s Midterm Tsunami of Truth.”

“It was their Democracy that they came to fight for yesterday. And because of that drive, we live to fight, and hope, for another day,” he continued. “Once again, massive thanks to all of you for helping all of us build a Blue Wall that stopped an ugly red wave.”

While votes are still being counted, Tuesday proved to be a better night than expected for Democrats, as the “red wave” many polls and pundits predicted would engulf the nation failed to do so.

Related video: Go blue? Michael Moore's key to beat MAGA Republicans

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The GOP started the night off strong when projections from Florida showed Sen. Marco Rubio (R) and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) winning their races.

But Democrats defied the odds by holding their own throughout the night and secured victories in key races, including the Senate race in Pennsylvania, where Democrat John Fetterman defeated Republican Mehmet Oz.

Earlier this year, Moore predicted that voters emboldened by the overturning of Roe v. Wade would ensure Democrats kept control of Congress in a blue “tsunami” during the midterm elections.

“On November 8th, 2022, an unprecedented tsunami of voters will descend upon the polls en masse — and nonviolently, legally, and without mercy remove every last stinking traitor to our Democracy,” Moore wrote on his Substack in October.

Previously, Moore accurately predicted that former President Trump would win the 2016 presidential election when many polls wrongly suggested Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton would become the nation’s first female president.

US midterm vote: How Democrats thwarted an anticipated ‘red wave’

Abortion rights and Republican tilt to the far right helped Democrats hold on in key races across the US, analysts say.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer was one of several Democratic incumbents in swing states who fended off Trump-backed challengers with relative ease [Rebecca Cook/Reuters]

By Ali Harb

AL JAZEERA 

9 Nov 2022

Washington, DC – The stars appeared aligned for Republicans. With economic uncertainty, a seemingly unpopular president from the opposite party in the White House, and historic trends on their side, they were hoping to deliver a knockout punch to their Democratic rivals in the United States midterm elections.

But as Americans woke up on Wednesday morning, it seemed like the much-anticipated “red wave” changed course and never made landfall.

KEEP READINGl
Photos: How the US voted in the 2022 midterm elections

Poor Russia-US ties will not improve after midterms: Kremlin

Key takeaways – so far – from the US midterm elections

A Democratic push to protect abortion rights and Republicans’ move to the far right with the nomination of several Donald Trump-backed conspiracy theorists and election deniers helped change Democrats’ fortune, analysts say.

David Cohen, a political science professor at The University of Akron in Ohio, said the Supreme Court’s ruling in June that ended the constitutional right to abortion in the US was an “energising moment” for Democrats.

“It was one of the most important motivating issues to get Democrats out to the polls,” Cohen told Al Jazeera. “I think also the worry from many Americans about the threats to democracy – that issue was not looked at enough by prognosticators.”

President Joe Biden had stressed that “democracy is literally on the ballot” as he warned ahead of election day on Tuesday that candidates who question the integrity of elections posed a danger to the US system.

While results are still coming in and the Republican Party may well gain control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, or both, it became clear in the early hours of Wednesday morning that Democrats had outperformed expectations.

“Certainly by historic standards, this is really an incredible night for the Democrats. There has not been a majority party in the White House and in the Congress that has done so well in the midterms,” Lara Brown, a political science professor at George Washington University, told Al Jazeera in a television interview.

“Even if the Democrats lose the House, and they appear to be on track to do that, [Republican] Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s majority would be very narrow – and that would be a win for the Democrats.”

Defying historic trends

In US midterms, the party in control of the White House usually suffers major losses in Congress.

Former President Trump lost dozens of seats in the House in 2018. Barack Obama lost large majorities in both chambers of Congress in 2010, prompting him to describe the vote as a “shellacking”. George W Bush and Bill Clinton also lost control of the House and the Senate in midterms.

“In a normal midterm election, you see a seating chair switch of 31 seats – and that’s been more pronounced in presidents’ first midterm elections when voters who had turned out for the president in a prior general election tend to sit out the midterms,” said Robinson Woodward-Burns, assistant professor of political science at Howard University.

But this year, losses for Biden’s Democratic Party will be modest at best – and Democrats could end up with gains when all the votes are counted.

The party flipped a Senate seat in Pennsylvania in one of the most closely watched races in the country, and Democratic Governors Gretchen Whitmer and Tony Evers won re-election in the swing states of Michigan and Wisconsin, respectively.

Democrats also avoided major upsets in their coastal strongholds.

Senate races in Colorado and New Hampshire that were expected to be competitive ended up being easy wins for Democratic incumbents. And in the House, many Democratic candidates in swing districts survived, and the party was actually able to flip a couple of Republican-held districts

.

Democrat John Fetterman defeated Republican Mehmet Oz in a Pennsylvania Senate race considered one of the most important contests in the midterms

[Gene J Puskar/AP Photo]

Abortion was focal to many Democratic campaigns, with liberal candidates promising to protect the right to the procedure and painting their Republican opponents as “extremists” who want the government to dictate to women what to do with their bodies.

A conservative majority on the US Supreme Court – including three Trump appointees – had revoked the constitutional right to the procedure in June, fuelling outrage from women’s rights groups. Biden promised to pass a federal law to codify abortion rights as part of his pitch to voters.

On Tuesday, the states of California, Michigan and Vermont passed ballot proposals to enshrine abortion protections into their laws. And voters in deeply conservative Kentucky rejected a measure that would have amended the state’s constitution to say there was no right to the procedure.

While the defeat of the referendum will have no immediate effect on the law in Kentucky, which has an abortion ban in place, it showed that even some conservatives who vote Republican do not back government restrictions on reproductive rights.

Election deniers

Republicans also did not do themselves any favours by nominating far-right candidates for key races, including in swing states, according to analysts. Trump-backed candidates who question the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential elections faltered across the map.

In Pennsylvania, a state that Biden won by a little more than 1 percent two years ago, far-right Republican candidate for governor, Doug Mastriano, lost by more than 13 percentage points to Democrat Josh Shapiro.

In Michigan, election denier Kristina Karamo was trailing incumbent Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson by a similar margin with 87 percent of the votes counted by Wednesday afternoon.

Voters sent a message on Tuesday that “Americans are really not enthusiastic about extremists of either party”, said Brown.

For his part, Cohen said “candidate quality” undermined Republicans’ chances of winning across the map, citing several races where GOP hopefuls did not do as well as expected.



“Some of the alarming rhetoric we heard on the Republican side, I think really nailed home the message that American democracy is not a sure thing, and that there were many candidates on the ballot that would actively undermine the American political system,” Cohen said.

Beyond warning of what they call Republican extremism, Democrats also tried to tout their own record. For all his perceived unpopularity, Biden has been talking up his economic policies, including a bipartisan infrastructure bill he signed into law last year and the more recent Inflation Reduction Act that freed up billions in funding to combat climate change.


Moreover, the president’s decision to forgive up to $20,000 in student debt may have helped mobilise young voters who appear to have played a major role in the Democrats’ better-than-expected performance.

“The youth vote is overwhelmingly Democratic,” Cohen told Al Jazeera. “And I think they helped put Democrats over the top in a number of races.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

Red Ripple: Democrats surprise themselves with their own strength

Nov 9, 2022, 12:03am MST

David Weigel

David is a Political Reporter for Semafor, joining us from the Washington Post. 

Democrats woke up on Tuesday bracing for a 2010-level wipeout, losing seats they’d held for generations. They entered Wednesday morning surprised by how well their 2020 coalition was holding together.

In New Hampshire, Sen. Maggie Hassan won a race that Republicans hoped was breaking their way. In Cincinnati, Democrats unseated Rep. Steve Chabot, a member of the 1994 “Republican Revolution” who’d helped impeach Bill Clinton. And in Washington, D.C. a stage that had been set for Kevin McCarthy to celebrate a new Republican majority stood empty, well after midnight.

“So far, this isn’t a wave,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle, as early results in his state showed Republicans struggling to flip the four districts they’d targeted. “It’s a ripple.”

Republicans were still on track to flip the House, aided by a friendly gerrymander in Florida and a court-drawn New York map that created half a dozen winnable seats.

Late in the night, after polls had closed in every state, they’d flipped a number of seats President Joe Biden won by single digits. In Virginia Beach, they ousted Rep. Elaine Luria, a member of the Jan. 6 commission. In northern New Jersey, where Rep. Tom Malinowski looked vulnerable all cycle, he fell to Tom Kean, Jr. in a rematch of their 2020 race.

But Republicans shot the moon this cycle, talking confidently about a “red wave,” then a “red tsunami.” Former President Donald Trump hoped for a “humiliating rebuke” of the man who defeated him. Sen. Ted Cruz stumped across the Rio Grande Valley, telling audiences that they could sweep all three House seats in a region Democrats had won for more than a century.

They wound up with just one of those seats, as one of the Republicans who lost asked why the wave never materialized.

The Democrats’ surprising strength showed up early in the night. So did the problems with weak nominees that Republicans had worried about all year. In New Hampshire, where Donald Trump had endorsed former White House staffer Karoline Leavitt over a candidate favored by House GOP leaders, the first towns to report their votes found her losing where moderate Republicans usually won. Leavitt, who’d claimed that the 2020 election was rigged against Trump, quickly fell to Rep. Chris Pappas.

“Great night to be a moderate in a moment when politics looks insane,” said Matt Bennett, the co-founder of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way – which had published a Monday memo warning that voters saw both parties as equally extreme.

Flush with cash in both their campaign committee and their affiliated super PAC, Republicans had expanded their target list all year, into places that Biden won by as much as 20 points. But they struggled to win much softer targets, with both Trump-backed MAGA candidates and more moderate Republicans. In Rhode Island, the GOP had recruited Allan Fung, who mocked Democratic ads that called him an extremist. He lost by 3 points to state Treasurer Seth Magaziner. In northwest Ohio, MAGA activist J.R. Majewski lost by double digits in a seat Trump had carried by 3 points. Democrats who worried that a GOP gerrymander would reduce them to just two House seats walked away with five of them.

With a few exceptions, like New York City’s suburbs and majority-Latino parts of Florida, Democrats held on by winning the suburban voters who flipped their way after 2016. Across the Midwest, Republicans got less than they needed in suburban counties where they’d blamed Democrats for increased crime. It was a potent message in Long Island. But it didn’t connect outside of Milwaukee, where statewide GOP nominees ran behind the 2020 Trump vote, or outside of Pittsburgh, where Democrats were on track to hold two seats where Republicans tied their nominees to the “defund the police” movement.

DAVID 'S VIEW

I can’t overstate how confident Republicans were when the polls closed today. There was talk of a 54-seat Senate majority, the biggest House majority in a century, new supermajorities in state legislatures. Lots of people who watched these races closely, including me, were looking for upsets in places Democrats never have to worry about. That didn’t happen. Democrats clearly turned out their base and kept some swing voters in line by highlighting the most right-wing, pro-Trump leanings of candidates who had wanted the race to be a clear Biden referendum.

Donald Trump makes election night about himself as Republicans underperform
Dave Levinthal

Former President Donald Trump speaks during the America First Agenda Summit, at the Marriott Marquis hotel July 26, 2022 in Washington, DC. 

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Donald Trump blasted out a "poll" Tuesday night asking supporters whether he should run for president.

Answer "yes," and you're taken to a donation form.

Money contributed goes to Trump's own political action committees.

As a "red wave" failed to materialize Tuesday night and many Republicans underperformed, former President Donald Trump turned his attention away from struggling 2022 Republican congressional and gubernatorial candidates and toward his favorite politician of all: himself.

"TRUMP RAPID RESPONSE," an email to supporters reads. "DO YOU WANT PRESIDENT TRUMP TO RUN IN 2024?"

Click a green "YES" button and you're taken to a page featuring Trump boarding Marine One.

A donation form inveigles prospective contributors to give at least $45 and as much as $2,500.

A Trump fundraising message from November 8, 2022. Trump political committees

A Trump fundraising message from November 8, 2022. Trump fundraising committees

Trump has openly flirted with running for president again ever since leaving the White House in January 2021.

He's promised to make a "big announcement" on November 15.

All the while, Trump has aggressively fundraised for his post-presidential political committees, most notably Save America and Make America Great Again PAC.

Save America alone had almost $70 million cash on hand as of October 19, according to Federal Election Commission records.

‘Hats Off to the Democrats’: Lindsey Graham Begrudgingly Acknowledges Red Wave Didn’t Happen, Offers Biden Some Unsolicited Advice

By Alex GriffingNov 8th, 2022, 

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) acknowledged a red wave did not materialize on election night as Republicans had hope in a downbeat interview with NBC News as results were coming in.

“Let’s talk about New Hampshire, because here’s here’s one where Republicans were feeling kind of good recently. But you do have General Bolduc, who it was controversial election denier from that wing of the party. Well, how are you reading these tea leaves?” Savannah Guthrie asked Graham.

“If you run that far behind your governor, kind of that you probably made a mistake. So. You know, General Bolduc served his country well, but, you know, Sununu won big, Bolduc, you know, wouldn’t talk about what we should have done, I guess, but definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure. I was in charge of Guam, so I want to take credit for that,” Graham joked.

“Congratulations,” Guthrie replied.

“Guam, which I thought was big in 1993, last time we were gone. Guam, I think you know, I think we’re going to be at 51, 52 when it’s all said and done, the Senate,” Graham predicted.

“Well, let’s talk about the Donald Trump effect. There been a couple of conversations around this table as it’s become apparent there’s not going to be a wave here. And the question of whether his appearances along the way have actually hurt Republicans. Do you give that any credence?” Lester Holt asked Graham.

“You know, not really. I think it was a referendum on Biden. You know, if we take back the House and we get the Senate majority, that’s a very good night. A wave would have been like New Hampshire and Colorado,” Graham replied.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) stuck a similar tone on the election while discussing the results on his podcast, saying, “It hasn’t been as big of a wave as I’d hoped it would be. We’ve had some close races go the other way so far.”

“So, you know, you got to hats off to the Democrats. They performed well in a lot of these swing districts. You know, a couple of days from now, we’ll know better,” Graham continued, adding:

But at the end of the day, guys, if we take the House in the Senate, we’re going to have to sit down as a country and figure out what to do with it.

Some unsolicited advice to President Biden. If we do take the House and we do take the Senate. Let’s all go to the border and see if we can find a way to fix it. I’ve got to a bill with Elizabeth Warren, believe it or not, to regulate social media and maybe we could do something in the energy and the energy space. So if it’s a divided government, maybe something good can come of it.

Republican pollster says Trump ‘couldn’t have had a worse night’

Patrick Ruffini said the former president is like a "wounded animal"

 by Jack Peat

 2022-11-09 14:32

in Politics

Republican pollster and strategist Patrick Ruffini has said he couldn’t have imagined a worse night for former President Donald Trump, who he described as a wounded animal.

Control of US congress hangs in the balance as the Democrats showed surprising strength in the American midterm elections, defeating Republicans in several races and defying expectations that high inflation and President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings would drag the party down.

In the most heartening news for the Democrats, John Fetterman flipped the Republican-controlled senate seat for Pennsylvania that is key to the party’s hopes of maintaining control of the chamber.

In the race for the house of representatives, Democrats kept seats in districts from Virginia to Kansas and Rhode Island, while many districts in states like New York and California had not been called.

Democrats were also successful in governors’ races, winning in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania – battlegrounds critical to Mr Biden’s 2020 win over former president Donald Trump.

But Republican Governor Ron De Santis had an excellent night in Florida, where he increased his share of the vote and his coattails pulled other Republicans up the ballot to victory in their own races.

Asked what happened to the predicted Republican red wave, Ruffini told the BBC that the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade – the court’s 1973 ruling that abortion was a constitutional right and therefore legal across the US – drove up Democratic turnout.

Trump, as always, seems to be taking it well: