Issues
Jo Freeman: There’s Plenty To Do at the RNC – If You Have the Right Credentials
by Jo Freeman
Every national nominating convention has plenty of auxiliary events, some authorized, some not. Getting space can be a challenge; getting the word out even more so. But they do it nonetheless. Press were given a RNC 2024 Master Event Calendar, which was updated a few days later. Events began on Sunday and ended on Thursday. The actual convention sessions were just one item on the list. The calendar said if an event was Open or Closed to press, and also whom to contact to register. I’m going to describe some of the events, including a couple I went to, and a couple I was turned away from.
Since my focus is on women, I obviously wanted to go to those events – if I could.
The National Federation of Republican Women is the largest grassroots Republican women's organization in the country with hundreds of clubs. Founded in 1938, its members made the phone calls and knocked on the doors that elected Republican candidates for decades. It’s Tuesday luncheon featured Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders. The Master Calendar said it was SOLD OUT and they wouldn’t let me in. I was able to get into their lounge at the Fiserv Forum Wednesday evening, where I was repeatedly asked if I was a member, and if not, would I join. “I’m press,” I said. “I can’t join anything partisan.” I then said: “What brings you here?” On hearing that, finding anyone willing to chat with me was like pulling teeth.
Moms for Liberty met in a concert hall that afternoon. I had pre-registered, and I got in. From high in a balcony seat I listened to several people talk about the evils of transgenderism. It’s webpage says WE BELIEVE Power Belongs to the People. Sound Familiar? With a focus is on parental rights, it wants to “STOP WOKE indoctrination.”
Tuesday I went to “The New Mavericks” reception co-hosted by the Black Republican Mayors Association and the Georgia Republican Party. They honored Sen. Tim Scott, four Congressmen and two Georgia delegates – all male. There was only one mayor on stage, from Aurora, IL. The chair of the Georgia Republican Party was the one white man on the stage. At that event, women served; they didn’t speak. The RNC reported that 55 delegates to the 2024 convention are Black, up from 18 in 2016.
I missed the Independent Women’s Forum toast to “Women Who Make Our Country Great” because I went to Convention Fest: The Official Delegate Experience, which was held in the streets outside the Fiserve Forum and Baird Hall as well as some space inside Baird. To get to that one you not only needed a credential of some sort, but a USSS pass (which I have).
Concerned Women for America parked its pink bus across from the Baird Center the week before the RNC. No one was home. When Convention Fest opened on Tuesday afternoon, they set up a pink tent, from which its leaders preached to whomever passed by. It calls itself “the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization” but its focus is evangelical Christian. The slogan on the side of its pink bus captures this emphasis: “She Prays, She Votes.” A prayer precedes each sermon.
Wednesday Feb 05, 2020, The Senate rejected both impeachment charges, acquitting President Trump.: Sitting as a Court of Impeachment for the Trial of Donald J. Trump
Published hearing transcripts contain all witness testimony, the question-and-answer portion of the hearing, and any other material requested of the witness by the committee. It may take several months, or even years, for a hearing to be published. Unlike most other congressional documents, hearings are not available from the Senate or House Document Rooms. You may be able to locate a hearing from the Government Publishing Office's govinfo website, from a committee website, or from a federal depository library. For more tips, read the guide How to find committee hearings. more »
Pressing Issues State Lawmakers Are Facing as They Begin Their Work: Voting Access, Vaping, Natural Disaster Prep, Affordable Housing and Health Care
The 2020 presidential election is just months away and state legislators, courts and election officials are making final changes to policies governing access to the ballot. States remain divided along partisan lines on expanding and tightening voting laws. As the effects of climate change become increasingly apparent, many states are beginning to prepare for ongoing challenges instead of responding to disasters as one-off events. As more Americans nationwide struggle to pay rent, state lawmakers are filing bills they hope will lead to more affordable housing construction. The mortality rate in rural areas is nearly 850 people per 100,000 compared to about 730 in urban areas. The likely culprits: a lack of access to health care, lower rates of individuals with health insurance, and higher rates of poverty. more »
Heard of the Novel Corona Virus Before? The New England Journal of Medicine's Free Reading Lists and the W.H.O.'s Statement
From the World Health Organization: "It is expected that further international exportation of cases may appear in any country. Thus, all countries should be prepared for containment, including active surveillance, early detection, isolation and case management, contact tracing and prevention of onward spread of 2019-nCoV infection, and to share full data with WHO. Technical advice is available on the WHO website. Countries should place particular emphasis on reducing human infection, prevention of secondary transmission and international spread, and contributing to the international response though multi-sectoral communication and collaboration and active participation in increasing knowledge on the virus and the disease, as well as advancing research." more »
“That’s Not the Government Calling: Protecting Seniors from the Social Security Impersonation Scam”; Isolating Their Victims by Instructing Them Not to Tell Anybody What is Going On
"To keep their victims under the spell, the scammers will demand they corporate with their fake investigation by the government or face severe fines or even jail time. They also attempt to isolate the victim by keeping him or her on the phone uninterrupted for hours or even days at a time by instructing them not to tell anybody what is going on. They will cite the confidentially of the investigation. In a recent case reported by the Wall Street Journal, an oncology nurse in New York was instructed to leave work without notice, check into a hotel, and stay on the phone for nearly 50 hours. Coached by the fraudsters through a series of transactions at her bank and credit union, she lost almost $340,000 to scammers over three days." more »
