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.
GAO Report: Sexual Harassment: Opportunities Remain for VA to Improve Program Structure, Policies, and Data Collection
Sexual harassment in the workplace can cause harmful psychological, physical, occupational, and economic effects for workers. Several federal laws, executive orders, and agency directives are aimed at preventing and addressing sexual harassment at federal agencies. GAO issued a June 2020 report (GAO-20-387) that reviewed VA's efforts to prevent and address sexual harassment at the agency. In this report, GAO made seven recommendations. This testimony discusses VA's efforts to implement GAO's recommendations to 1) ensure VA's EEO structure is properly aligned; 2) improve the agency's policies to prevent and address sexual harassment of VA employees; 3) collect and analyze data to inform VA about sexual harassment of its employees; and 4) improve relevant training. more »
“Few rights are more central to individual freedom than the right to control one’s own body. The Justice Department will use every tool at our disposal to protect reproductive freedom."
Among other responsibilities, the Task Force will monitor and evaluate all state and local legislation, regulations, and enforcement actions that threaten to:
Infringe on federal legal protections relating to the provision or pursuit of reproductive care;
Impair women’s ability to seek reproductive care in states where it is legal;
Impair individuals’ ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states;
Ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy; or
Impose criminal or civil liability on federal employees who provide reproductive health services in a manner authorized by federal law. more »
Justice Department Commemorates Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act: Eliminate Discriminatory Barriers, Support Full Participation, Community Integration, Independent Living and Economic Self-sufficiency
“The Americans with Disabilities Act embodies a national promise to eliminate discriminatory barriers and support full participation, community integration, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We will continue using this bedrock civil rights law to eliminate barriers and safeguard the rights of people with disabilities across the country.” Since November 2021, the department has reached settlement agreements with CVS Pharmacy Inc., Hy-Vee Inc., The Kroger Co., Meijer Inc. and Rite Aid Corporation to ensure that people with disabilities can book COVID-19 vaccine appointments and obtain vaccine information online. more »
Why Some Cities Lost Population in 2021: One Specific Group — Younger Adults in Their Early 20s to Mid-30s
"As past stories covering the Vintage 2021 estimates have suggested, domestic migration during this time period is likely driving the change. These patterns indicate that although young working-age adults are leaving the central counties of these large metro areas, they are simply relocating to other counties in the country. This may be related to the COVID-19 pandemic that created conditions enabling many workers to work from home and may have given these younger working-age adults the flexibility to relocate from areas with high concentrations of job opportunities to places with a lower cost of living or other quality of life improvements." more »
