Relationships and Going Places
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.
US Government Reaches Settlement in Class Action Family Separation Case Seeking Injunctive Relief; “The practice of separating families at the southwest border was shameful.”
"...the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have worked with plaintiffs to identify class members and their children, developed plans for reunification, and reunified class members with their children. On Jan. 26, 2021, the Justice Department rescinded the Department’s 2018 zero-tolerance policy for offenses under 8 U.S.C. § 1325(a). In Feb. 2021, President Biden issued an Executive Order establishing the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families, comprised of representatives from various federal agencies, including the Justice Department, DHS, and HHS. The parties have worked extensively to reunify families in accordance with the Executive Order and subsequent orders from the district court." more »
Federal Reserve: Financial Stability in Uncertain Times, A Speech by Governor Michelle W. Bowman
Michelle W. Bowman:"Many central banks are facing challenging and uncertain times as they strive to restore price stability and promote financial stability. A stable and resilient financial system is essential for the effective transmission of monetary policy and for a healthy economy. Healthy economies foster financial stability and financial stability fosters healthy economies. It is essential that central banks facing high inflation bring inflation back to target. A failure to do so would only lead to greater financial stability risks through less certain and unstable economic conditions and through reduced central bank credibility. It is, therefore, necessary that central banks, in collaboration with other financial regulators as appropriate, develop and use supervisory and prudential regulatory tools to promote financial stability." more »
Secretary Antony J. Blinken At the Launch of the Global Music Diplomacy Initiative (and playing the guitar)
Secretary of State Antony Blinken: "Welcome to the State Department. First let me say how grateful I am to my friend and colleague of so many years, Lee Satterfield, our assistant secretary of state. (Applause.) Lee and the Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs were the masterminds of this evening, and every single day are out there working to strengthen the bonds between Americans and people around the world. To our philanthropic and private sector partners – YouTube, Chevron, Boeing, the Wasserman Foundation, United Airlines – thank you. Thank you for making so many of our cultural diplomacy programs possible. We could not do what we’re doing without you. And to my friend and colleague, Chairman Mike McCaul, thank you for your support, your advocacy for international exchange. It makes a huge difference, and I’m proud to be your partner in this endeavor as well."
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Women's Congressional Policy Institute Legislative Update Including a Bill to Provide Loan Deferment for Borrowers And Survivors of Sexual Harassment, Stalking and Assault
A number of bills introduced: September 18-22, 2023: A bill to extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of family and medical leave; increasing access to short-term child care; a bill to provide access to an annually updated list of adoption agencies that are licensed and not-for-profit; extend protections to part-time workers in the areas of family and medical leave; a bill providing deferment of loans for borrowers who are survivors of sexual harassment, stalking, and assault; A bill to provide birth mothers and adoptive families with access to an annually updated list of adoption agencies that are licensed and not-for-profit in states across the United States; and a bill to recognize the Women-Owned Small Business program in the Department of Veterans Affairs procurement hierarchy of small business preferences.
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