Sightings
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.
Did Teenage 'Tyrants' Outcompete Other Dinosaurs? "Dinosaur communities were like shopping malls on a Saturday afternoon jam-packed with teenagers"
Paleo-ecologist Pat Schroeder: "Dinosaurs have been a life-long passion. I was, and still very much am a 'dinosaur kid.' My interest in dinosaur diversity came about when I realized that no one was really looking at dinosaurs the way we look at modern mammals and birds," Schroeder said. "There's a ton to be gained from applying the methods of modern and paleo-ecology to dinosaurs. Fortunately, we're now in an age of dinosaur research where a lot of information is available digitally, so the big data-intensive questions of ecology are now becoming more plausible for dinosaur paleontology." more »
Have You Received Your Stimulus Check? The IRS: When We’ll Send Your Third Payment & Face Masks and Other Personal Protective Equipment to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 Are Tax Deductible
IRS website: "When We’ll Send Your Third Payment: The third round of Economic Impact Payments are being sent in phases. The IRS started sending the first batch of payments with an official payment date of March 17. If you haven’t received one yet, it doesn’t mean you won’t. We’ll send the third payments each week to eligible individuals as we continue to process tax returns. Payments are sent by direct deposit or mail as a check or debit card." more »
Jo Freeman Reviews It’s In The Action: Memories of a Nonviolent Warrior by C. T. Vivian with Steve Fiffer
Cordy Tindell Vivian was a roaring lion of the civil rights movement. Born in July of 1924, he died last July right before his 96th birthday. Given all the dangerous things he did in his life, it’s amazing that he outlived his adversaries as well as most of his friends. One of those friends helped him write this memoir, as his ability to do so declined with age. Steve Fiffer met Vivian in 2014, when he interviewed him for another book. CT — as his friends called him — was one of his heroes. They stayed in touch, occasionally discussing a collaborative memoir. It was CT’s daughter who persuaded Fiffer to do it now. more »
Testimony: Assault in the Military, Continued Congressional Oversight and Additional DOD Focus on Prevention Could Aid DOD's Efforts
"Our prior work has shown that focusing on sexual assault prevention and addressing the needs of certain populations (e.g., male servicemember victims and DOD civilian employees) could help to further address the issue. DOD has largely focused on responding to incidents of sexual assault rather than preventing them. We testified that continued DOD leadership attention can help ensure that our recommendations are addressed to prevent sexual assault in the military. Despite congressional oversight and the Department of Defense's actions to implement more than 100 GAO recommendations, reports of sexual assault in the military continue to rise." more »
