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.
Counseling Parents and Teens About Marijuana Use in the Era of Legalization of Marijuana
"Numerous published studies have shown the potential negative consequences of short- and long-term use of recreational marijuana in adolescents. These consequences include impaired short-term memory and decreased concentration, attention span, and problem-solving skills, all of which interfere with learning. Alterations in motor control, coordination, judgment, reaction time, and tracking ability have also been documented. These effects may contribute to unintentional deaths and injuries among adolescents, especially those who drive after using marijuana." more »
Advocating for Strict Regulation of the Multibillion-dollar Fertility Industry
In a time when the fertility business in the US is booming and so much is possible — artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy, and potentially, bioengineering of embryos — there are few, if any, laws that protect the children from these less traditional origins. more »
While Washington Fiddles, California Leaders Forge Ideas For Universal Health Care
As the nation's Republican leaders huddle to reconsider their plans to "repeal and replace" the nation's health law, advocates for universal health coverage press on in California, armed with renewed political will and a new set of proposals. Organized labor and two lawmakers are leading the charge for a single, government-financed program for everyone in the state. And Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom has suggested building on employer-based health care to plug holes in existing coverage. The proposals are fueled both by a fear of losing gains under the Affordable Care Act and a sense that the law doesn't go far enough toward covering everyone and cutting costs. more »
‘Yes Means Yes’: Grappling With Teen Sexual Assault
A 2015 survey of high school students in the [California] district, which includes Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, found that 11 percent of girls and 6 percent of boys reported being the victims of unwanted kissing, touching or sexual intercourse with someone they were dating or had dated in the past year. The usual approach, which relies on teaching kids that "no means no," isn't enough, a high school senior has said. Often, when it comes to sexual activity, she said, "there is a fine line. We have to un-blur it."
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