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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.
Attorney General Barr Testifies on Justice Department Mission and Programs: Watch From the Beginning
Attorney General William Barr testified on the Justice Department’s mission and programs in an oversight hearing before the House Judiciary Committee. House Judiciary member, Rep. Jamie Raskin was quoted saying about the peaceful protest at Lafayette Park on June 1st: "The Episcopal Archbishop of Washington wrote: 'Using police force to clear non-violent protesters without notice in order to conduct this grotesque photo opportunity was antithetical to the principles of Christianity.' Time Magazine commented: The account of National Guard Maj. Adam DeMarco challenges the Trump administration’s explanation that vicious attacks by protesters led federal forces to turn on what appeared to be a largely peaceful crowd June 1 in the square in front of the White House. Law enforcement and security officers that night clubbed and punched protesters and unleashed mounted officers and chemical agents against them in one of the most controversial confrontations at the height of this year’s nationwide protests over the killing of Black people at the hands of police.' more »
Stateline: The Pandemic Has Closed Public Restrooms, and Many Have Nowhere to Go
The lack of restrooms has become an issue for delivery workers, taxi and ride-hailing drivers and others who make their living outside of a fixed office building. For the city’s homeless, it’s part of an ongoing problem that preceded COVID-19. “It’s gone from bad to worse,” said Eric, who lives in an encampment near Interstate 5. (Eric asked to be identified only by his first name.) “It’s definitely much, much harder.” A nearby pet supply store used to let homeless people use the restroom, but that changed during the pandemic. Conditions improved markedly when the city placed a portable restroom and handwashing station near the camp, but Eric said many more parts of town still lack similar amenities. more »
By Nearly a 2-1 Margin, Parents Prefer to Wait to Open Schools to Minimize COVID Risk, with Parents of Color Especially Worried Either Way
For the first time, most Americans (53%) now say that stress and worry related to the pandemic has had a negative impact on their mental health – an increase of 14 percentage points since May.... This includes about one in four who say it has had a “major” negative impact.As state and local officials prepare for the new school year amid the COVID-19 pandemic, parents with children who normally attend school overwhelmingly prefer that schools wait to restart in-person classes to reduce infection risk (60%) rather than open sooner so parents can work and students can return to the classroom (34%), the latest KFF tracking poll finds. more »
US Census Report: Cost of Motherhood on Women’s Employment and Earnings; Taking a Short Break From the Labor Force Has Only a Temporary Effect on Earnings
For mothers who continue to work, earnings fall by an average of $1,861 in the first quarter after birth relative to earnings pre-pregnancy or in early pregnancy (three quarters before the birth). But earnings recover to pre-birth levels by the fifth quarter after birth, and rise by an average of $101 per quarter for the next six years. While this recovery is encouraging, it is not large enough to return women to their pre-birth earnings path. There are no major differences in earnings between working mothers with just one child and those with multiple children. more »
