Interview with Barbara Reynolds, founding editor of USA Today on her 2017 book My Life, My Love, My Legacy Coretta King as Told to Barbara Reyonolds biography of Coretta King, condensed from many hours of audiotaped conversations between King and Reynolds. All aspects of Coretta King's life, from early on through the Martin Luther King assassination and her life beyond. Piece also contains audio from Coretta King.

The so-called “War on Christmas” is in full swing. Militant Christians say the well-known evergreen is a Christian symbol for a Christian holiday, and any attempts to ban it are anti-religion political correctness gone mad. On the other side, folks like a complaining Rabbi in New Mexico say Christmas trees leave out holiday celebrations by other faiths.

Turns out, both sides are wrong.

Lately we've been awash in a debate over whether a Muslim should serve as President, triggered by Republican candidate Ben Carson, who said Islam is inconsistent with the constitution. As a woman in the U.S., I don't fear the possibility of a Muslim in the White House nearly as much as I fear the radical Christians now seeking the GOP nomination.  They want to send women back to the back alleys - a much more immediate threat.

It was down to the wire before a decision was made to include Carly Fiorina, the only woman in the race, in this week’s Republican presidential debate. Will a woman in the prime-time lineup help the Republican cause?  It could, but it depends much more on how she appeals to the majority of voters – other women.

The NRA won the gun control debate long ago.  So with the right to bear arms no matter the consequences firmly established in U.S. law and psyche of its citizens, the NRA has to push new laws to stay viable. One of the newer so-called gun rights the group has cooked up is "campus carry."

The first Republican debate is this week, so it’s time to take a peek at how the candidates feel about the majority of voters – women. 

The U.S. Senate has done it again – blocked a vote on the Military Justice Improvement Act.  It’s a bill by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand that would move the decision about whether to prosecute sexual assault in the military from the chain-of-command and turn it over to independent military prosecutors. Right now, senior officers -- not law enforcement -- get to decide guilt or innocence. Most of the victims are afraid of being punished by superiors if they come forward. And for good reason.

There’s an old saying “be careful what you wish for, because you just might get it.”  That applies in spades to Republicans who have voted over 50 times (unsuccessfully) to overturn Obamacare.  But now the Supreme Court may grant the GOP's fondest wish, when they rule by the end of the month on a case experts say could gut the Affordable Care Act.  Who will be hit hardest if Obamacare goes away?  Women, of course.

Too often when Albuquerque. New Mexico, is in the news, it's bad – a police department under scrutiny by the Justice Department, or a seemingly unsolvable homeless problem.  But recently the city made news for something good – especially good  for women. Initiated by Mayor Richard Berry, the Albuquerque City Council unanimously passed a strong gender pay equity initiative that is the first in the nation.

It's no surprise the golf world are obsessed every April with the Masters Tournament.The Green Dinos at Augusta National Golf Club will wine, dine, and brag about how their club is so exclusive the membership roster is secret.  Well, mostly secret.

The Grand Old Party is trying desperately to appeal to women – the majority of voters – and denies that it has engaged in a so-called war on women in the last few years.  If that’s true their upcoming budget should show it. The Obama budget wants to triple the tax credit for child care.  We’ll see what the GOP proposes.  After all, they’re supposed to be for family values.

The United States is 20th out of 142 countries in the world.  Last year we were number 23, so we’ve improved a bit overall (though back in 2011 we were even better at 17th).  Looking behind the numbers we see some good news – and some worrisome trends.

  It took the Academy 45 years to nominate the first woman director, in 1976.  Since then, a whopping three more have been nominated.  One actually won.

 Founding the National Woman’s Party in 1916, Alice Paul masterminded the tactics that finally got women the franchise in 1920 after a 72 year struggle by less aggressive suffragists. Paul was a pioneer in non-violent political protest, organizing  the first group of American citizens in history to picket in front of the White House fence in 1917.

The mediocre movie "The Interview" catapulted to international fame when Sony pictures caved to the North Korean government and scuttled -- but later reinstated -- the picture’s opening.  That caused "Interview" to rake in $20 million bucks in its first couple of weeks.  The bonanza was triggered by a major hack of Sony’s computers that revealed the movie’s comical plot about assassinating the North Korean president. But something else was revealed in the hack that is no laughing matter. Sony is guilty of sex discrimination in pay –  the gender pay gap is alive and well, even at the highest levels.  Case in point: Jennifer Lawrence.

December is for celebraing, but it's also about remembering one of the darkest days in decades, December 14, 2012  – when 20 first graders and 6 educators at Sandy Hook elementary school were gunned down by an ex-student wielding a shotgun.

After a drubbing in the elections President Obama says he wants to work with the new Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell.  Let’s hope they don't shake hands on the Trans Pacific Partnership, which McConnell has named as a priority.  What is it?  A giant  trade agreement between the US and twelve  Pacific Rim nations now being negotiated in secret -- and it's a disaster for U.S. workers. 

It’s been a rough couple of years for reproductive rights – not only with the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision granting corporate control of contraception, but in Congress and statehouses around the country.  Females are the majority of voters, and a super-majority when they’re joined by men who support them.  Women can control any election, and we’d better make it happen.

Some candidates are still campaigning hard against Obamacare and promising to repeal it if elected.  What does it mean for women if the system goes away?

College women have been brushed off and ignored, or worse, told they just can’t handle campus life and rape is just part of the game.  Victim blaming is another strategy to silence complaints. Congress is proposing new ways to curb the mayhem, but it's not enough.  Here's a controversial but effective remedy.

More than a month after the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision allowing corporations to refuse birth control coverage for female employees, the brouhaha has not died down. Anger is building -- and at precisely the time the Democrats are counting on single females to push them to victory in November.

This is the time of year when "good guy" awards are given out like candy to corporations supposedly good for women and minorities.  Working Mother magazine just listed "Best Companies for Multicultural Women."  But behind the scenes these companies aren't so great for women.

 Michael Bloomberg spent $12 million last year trying to get members of the Senate to vote for background checks, but his return on investment was lousy.  So this year Mr. Bloomberg has as a new strategy.  Instead of trying to change lawmaker’s minds, he’s going to try and change their faces.  Borrowing a page from the NRA playbook, his new group, Everytown For Gun Safey, will target moms and campaign against lawmakers who don’t support their agenda.

Way back in the '70s there were country songs bemoaning taxes. Things have changed a lot since then -- for the worst.  In those days the rich paid their fair share.  Now ordinary workers pay far more than those who don't go to work at all -- fat cats living off dividends and capital gains.  And many major corporations pay zero taxes too.  To paraphrase another '70s ditty -- "they got the gold mine, we got the shaft."

The Supreme Court is looking at two cases of religious persecution in 2014. The oppressed group?  American business.  Hobby Lobby and others are claiming they’re being persecuted for their faith.  Didn’t know a business could be a member of a church?  I didn’t either. I Never saw one being baptized, celebrating a bar mitzvah or making a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Germaine Tillion Geneviève de Gaulle and will be interred in the Pantheon. They will join 72 men and only two other females -- Marie Curie, and the wife of a French politician who was buried with her husband. The motto above the door states: "To great men, a grateful country."  At long last, it may now also become a monument to great women.

Michael Sam will no doubt be remembered as a groundbreaker, but he couldn’t have done it without groundbreakers before him – like Coretta Scott King.  Remembered for civil rights marches in the ‘60s alongside her husband, most don’t realize she was an early advocate for gay rights as well.  Includes audio from one of Coretta Scott King's speeches.

Women have reached near-parity on the Olympic team, but if you look behind the numbers for women athletes, you see that the Olympics are still very much an old boys club when it comes to the ruling bodies that control the games. And that may be why sexism is still rampant.

School shootings and kid-on-kid violence with guns are now so commonplace that "active shooter drills" are routine in the nation's schools.  But even toddlers have killed their playmates with guns found in their homes.  It's time to put the responsibility where it belongs -- on adults who leave guns where kids can use them to kill.

Women are the majority of the population, of registered voters, and of those who actually show up at the polls, meaning they can control any election.  The gender gap is alive and well -- women usually go for Dems and men stick with the good ol' boys in the Republican party.  But if candidates listen, getting the female vote is just not that complicated.

Christmas is over, but the tree won’t be the only thing kicked to the curb with the new year.  As of December 28, long-term unemployed Americans will lose some or all of their already paltry benefits, courtesy of Scrooges on Capitol Hill. 

Called the “Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance,” a proposed Albuquerque abortion ban is a test case for more city bans nationwide. Whether the local coalition fighting the measure can prevail over out-of-state rabble rousers, the  Catholic clergy, a biased local press, and fundamentalist churches that have taken up the battle is anybody’s guess.

We rank 23rd in the world, just behind Barundi in the Global Gender Gap Index.   Unlike the US,, governments in countries at the top of the list make it possible for parents to combine work and family. No one can argue that we’re not in the world’s top tier when it comes to standard of living -- it's just that women in the good ol’ U.S. of A don’t quite have the same standard as men. Maybe we can learn from those countries that are doing it right.

Congress could protect women and save lives with a few fixes that wouldn't infringe on the rights of lawful gun owners.  All it takes is political will.

Obamacare mandates that employer health plans cover birth control without co-payments.  Corporations like Hobby Lobby and Eden Foods hate the rule so much that they’ve filed lawsuits to stop it.  They say they don’t believe in birth control, and covering it for female workers violates their religious freedom. What about a female employee's right not to be forced to conform to dictates by the boss’s faith? 

The House voted to cut food stamps, but keep $195 billion in subsidies for big Agriculture and farmers who don't farm.   If it's not fixed, a lot more people will go hungry. Here's a suggestion .  . 

Syria has used chemical weapons on its people, and a unified world response is in order.  But the case for the U.S. bombing Syria alone on the grounds of national security is weak, and will cost billions.  The real threat to our national security is economic.  Here are some things the money could buy.

Though women worked as hard as men in the civil rights movement, they were very often made invisible.  At its core the movement was about the personhood of black men.  Indeed, "I AM A MAN" was often seen on placards, and is an enduring image of the era. Women were blocked from recognition at the March on Washington rally, not allowed to speak nor to attend a meeting at the White House. It's time these women were written back into history.

Groups friendly to House Republlicans are mounting an anti-Obamacare ad blitz during this month's congressional recess.  The ads are aimed at moms, but may just cause a backlash.  The ads could remind women that repealing Obamacare will eliminate cost-free birth control coverage, and they know the GOP has voted to defund family planning programs and birth control clinics. 

Most people think McDonalds and WalMart lead the pack when it comes to creating low wage jobs in the U.S. -- but they're wrong.  The biggest offender is mostly out of sight to consumers, and responsible for more poverty level wages than these two companies combined.

Texas Governor Rick Perry is good at letting conservative women speak for his anti-abortion crusade and label pro-choice women "terrorists." Perry learned from his predecessor George W. Bush how to do it.  Pro-choice women will likely take revenge at the ballot box. They are the majority of voters and can control any election. That ought to terrify anti-abortion candidates.

Republican Speaker John Boehner said the recent abortion ban passed by the House was very popular and wouldn't change how women feel about the party. He's half right. It won't their relationship with women, because women already hate the GOP.

Only 12% of American workers get any kind of paid leave for care of family members, including newborns and adopted children.  In the few companie that grant the benefit, new dads get far less than moms. It's time we recognize dads need time off too.

Congress cuts programs for kids, the elderly and the sick to pay for the sequester, while fat cat corporations continue to reap big bucks from unfair tax breaks.

The U.S. is far behind other developed countries when it comes to support for motherhood.  Most mothers are in the paid workforce, and we need new policies that match reality.

Food guru Michael Pollan wants women (and men) to go back to the kitchen and cook real food again. But what took women out of the kitchen to begin with?  Was it feminism?

Martha Burk led the fight to open Augusta National Golf Club to women, beginning with a protest a decade ago.  She and her organization kept the pressure on through lawsuits and big monetary settlements to finally dismantle the tree house a decade later.

It takes until April of every year for women to catch up to what men made by the previous December 31, and that's for full-time year-round workers.  Pithy commentary on why it happens and what can be done about it.

December 7, 1941 was one of the deadliest days in American History. The massive assault on Pearl Harbor drove the American military to do something it had never done before.