What's New
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.
Rose Mula Writes: If You Can't Stand the Heat ... How About a Subscription to One of the Popular Meal Preparation Kit Services; What an Inspired Idea!
Rose Mula writes: First I had to liberate corn from a plastic-coated box which had been glued together with an impenetrable industrial-strength adhesive strong enough to attach the wings onto a 747. I was supposed to stir the corn frequently and cover the pan if it started to pop. Of course, every time I uncovered the pan to stir, several kernels popped and escaped to the kitchen floor. When what was left of the corn in the pan was a bit charred, I added the other veggies — a poblano and tomato (after coring, deseeding and dicing) and scallion (chopped, of course) and some cilantro (also chopped) with a drizzle of olive oil and a liberal sprinkling of salt and pepper. Eventually, all the veggies were charred (which was supposed to be a good thing) and the chicken and potatoes were cooked. Finally! The dinner was ready to be plated — but I was so exhausted and traumatized that I no longer was hungry. more »
Too High To Drive: States Grapple With Setting Limits On Weed Use Behind Wheel; Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Indiana are Among States That Forbid Driving at Any THC Level
Brain scientists and pharmacologists don’t know how to measure if and to what extent marijuana causes impairment. Existing blood and urine tests can detect marijuana use, but, because traces of the drug stay in the human body for a long time, those tests can’t specify whether the use occurred earlier that day or that month. They also don’t indicate the level at which a driver would be considered “under the influence.” “It’s a really hard problem,” said Keith Humphreys, a psychiatry professor and drug policy expert at Stanford University. “We don’t really have good evidence — even if we know someone has been using — [to gauge] what their level of impairment is.” more »
Jo Freeman: With the 116th Congress the Party Gap has Become a Party Chasm
Jo Freeman writes: While many have greatly lauded this great leap upward over the 112 women who were M.C.s during 115th Congress, few have noted that this gain was almost entirely among Democrats. Of the 36 women elected to the House for the first time, only one is a Republican. Of the 3 new Senators, only one is a Republican. Women are now 25 percent of both houses of Congress, but not of both parties. Women are over one-third of the Democratic Caucus in both houses (36% and 39%), 15 percent of Republicans in the Senate, and only 8 percent of Republicans in the House. more »
Stateline: Some Drug Users in Western US Seek Out Deadly Fentanyl. Here’s Why.
In a series of interviews with heroin users in Rhode Island in 2017, Brown University researchers reported that users “described fentanyl as unpleasant, potentially deadly, and to be avoided.” They concluded that demand for the deadly contaminant was low and that its presence in the drug supply was “generating user interest in effective risk mitigation strategies, including treatment.” But in San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin district, where fentanyl was only rarely seen until last year, drug users tell a starkly different story. For many of them, fentanyl is a high-value drug that, if used carefully, can prevent dope sickness and deliver a strong high for a fraction of the price of heroin.
Amber Sheldon, right, greets a frequent client at the harm reduction program at Glide in San Francisco. The program offers clean syringes, drug tes… more »
