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.
New Report From American Cancer Society: Cancer Facts and Figures
"Estimated number of new cancer cases for 2024, excluding basal cell and squamous cell skin cancers and in situ carcinoma except urinary bladder. Estimates are not available for Puerto Rico. Note: Incidence counts are model-based projections and should be interpreted with caution. State estimates may not equal US total due to rounding. ©2024, American Cancer Society, Inc. Surveillance and Health Equity Science©2024, American Cancer Society, Inc. Surveillance and Health Equity Science" more »
Legislative Update: Bills, Resolutions, Introduced: March 18-22, 2024; Hirono, Gillibrand, Tillis, Graham, Duckworth, Murkowski, Granger, Ernst and More
"Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) –– A bill to authorize a grant program to increase capacity for providing abortion services and other sexual and reproductive health care. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) –– A bill to direct the Attorney General to study issues relating to human trafficking. Sen. Thomas Tillis -- A resolution to protect the Iranian political refugees, including female foreign political prisoners, in Ashraf-3 in Albania. Sen. Lindsey Graham –– A resolution to demand that the international community hold accountable those who perpetrated acts of sexual violence and sexual torture during and after the attack on the state of Israel on October 7, 2023. S. 3983––Sen. Mazie Hirono –– A bill to authorize a grant program to increase capacity for providing abortion services and other sexual and reproductive health care."
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Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Spring is Coming
Ferida Wolff writes: "The daffies have been spreading over the years. They seem to decide where to plant themselves and then surprise me when they bloom. It’s a pleasure to see the vibrant yellow greeting me when I look out the kitchen window and it feels like the flowers’ energy is present when I do qigong exercises outside on a nice pre-spring day. A daffodil is seen as a symbol of hope and healing. It feels like an awakening as it begins to bring our thoughts to Spring. It’s almost an invitation to set aside what the winter offered and to welcome what is yet to come." more »
Antony Blinken, Secretary of State: Building A More Resilient Information Environment
"What I’d like to do this afternoon is spend a few minutes focusing on one longstanding problem that’s become increasingly complicated and increasingly consequential, and that’s the challenge of disinformation – of material deliberately meant to deceive and divide – as well as other forms of false and misleading content. We all know that a world in which reliable information is readily accessible is pretty much foundational to every issue, in every country. It empowers us to understand and engage with the world around us. To make decisions that shape our lives, that shape our communities, that shape our countries. But we also know the information space has become more crowded, more complex, more confusing, more contested than ever. That, in turn, creates an enabling environment for disinformation – an environment in which state and non-state actors are undermining the objective truths on which open societies depend." more »