Confluence Daily is your daily news source for women in the know.

In the category of:  Family affair

The 29 most eyebrow-raising lines from Jared Kushner’s Axios interview

In the category of:  Things you didn’t know

Amanda Hollis-Brusky explains how a student group came to control GOP court nominations.

If you follow the Supreme Court at all, you’ve likely heard of the Federalist Society.

The group, begun as a discussion society for conservative and libertarian law students, has grown to become the single most important right-leaning legal institution in the country. Its founders have gone on to become celebrated law professors, members of Congress, and Cabinet officials. It has close ties to five of the nine justices of the Supreme Court and directly provides shortlists of judges that President Trump uses to make appointments.

You could make a real case that it’s the single most influential advocacy organization in Washington right now.

And its story began with a small startup grant from the Olin Foundation. It’s just another way America’s philanthropic system — in which rich donors get lavish tax breaks for donations that can, if used properly, profoundly alter public policy — can clash with norms of democracy.

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In the category of:  The history of Genocide

Canada ‘complicit in race-based genocide’ of indigenous women

Canada is complicit in a “race-based genocide” against indigenous women, a government inquiry has found.

The report cited research finding indigenous women were 12 times more likely to be killed or to disappear than other women in Canada.

The inquiry blamed the crisis on deep-rooted colonialism and state inaction.

Among more than 200 recommendations is a call for all Canadians to help end violence, including by learning indigenous history.

The 1,200-page document released Monday is the culmination of almost three years of hearings and research by the inquiry into disproportionate violence faced by indigenous women and girls in Canada.

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