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.
Congressional Bills Passed & Introduced Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act; Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Medical Assistance; Human Trafficking Hotline Funding
Bill introduced to direct the secretary of VA to establish a pilot program to award grants to health care entities to lease, purchase, or build health care facilities for female patients to qualified female veterans; A bill to authorize spouses of servicemembers to elect to use the same residences as the servicemembers; A bill to require the secretary of Defense to provide expedited evaluation and treatment for prenatal surgery under the TRICARE program; A bill to prevent the abuse of opiates, to improve response and treatment for the abuse of opiates and related overdoses. more »
Spotlighting Women and Amplifying Their Voices in Society Through Film
"This year's Human Rights Watch Film Festival presents an array of women's rights issues through inspirational and personal stories of remarkable women," said John Biaggi, the festival’s creative director. "From a tenacious women's rights activist in China to a teenage Afghan rapper fighting child marriage to a courageous director of a women’s health clinic in Mississippi — the festival is spotlighting women and amplifying their voices in society through film. more »
Chair Janet L. Yellen: "My Message Will Be Largely Favorable, Although Recent Developments Have Been Mixed"
"Inflation has been lower than our objective of 2 percent, but I expect it to move up over time for reasons that I will describe. If incoming data are consistent with labor market conditions strengthening and inflation making progress toward our 2% objective, as I expect, further gradual increases in the federal funds rate are likely to be appropriate and most conducive to meeting and maintaining those objectives. However, I will emphasize that monetary policy is not on a preset course and significant shifts in the outlook for the economy would necessitate corresponding shifts in the appropriate path of policy." more »
On The Trail: Bernie Calls for Free Tuition Despite Opposition
Sanders declined to comment on the Democratic National Convention, where the party's candidate could be selected if the candidates do not secure enough delegates. He repeated his conviction that there is a path forward to make a university education more affordable. We are the richest country in the history of the world," Sanders said. "We will not succeed unless we have the best-educated workforce in the world." more »
