Authors
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.
Simple Things (Really Simple) To Keep Kids Busy, From Under Twos to Six
Julia Sneden wrote: It's summer, that season of family vacations and rich contact between grandparents and grandchildren. Herewith, a list of suggestions for those who find themselves racking their brains to remember the kinds of things children like to do. Having taught kindergarten for twenty-five years, I tend toward direct, interactive activities. These days, children get plenty of television, movies, and computer games at home! (But perhaps you should have a bit of technology on hand, just in case you need a break). more »
By Curbing Roundups and ‘Gassing,’ States Seek to Help the Hated Rattlesnake
In the ceaseless war of man versus rattlesnake, the rattlesnake has long been the loser. Now, some states are trying to give the sometimes deadly pit viper better odds of survival. The shift follows a dramatic decline in some US rattlesnake populations, as habitats have been lost to development and the reptiles have been killed, accidentally and intentionally. And it is threatening old traditions and forcing people to come to grips with animals many would rather avoid.
more »
CultureWatch: Joan L. Cannon Reviews The North Water, "a brilliant book ... but ..."
Joan L. Cannon writes: For readers who like adventure and macho behavior, subdued heroism with a dollop of basic cynicism, this will be a memorable experience. Descriptions are nothing short of brilliant, so vivid and evocative are they. For others who prefer some entertainment with a slice of terrible life, The North Water will be a trial in spite of its artistry. more »
Scout Report: Civil War & Reconstruction, Climate Change, Defense & Security; Buddhism, Fiction; James Madison; Accounting Principles
The US Congress established the James Madison Memorial Foundation to teach the constitution in high schools across the country. In exchange for graduate school funding, students agree to teach history and civics a year after graduation. Discovery Education examines Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel, The Jungle. A Civil War course taught by Prof of American History and Director of the Gilder Lehrman Center Yale University, traces the Civil War from its antecedents to its effects in the late 1870s. The Buddhism course uses scriptural and informational readings to take readers into the complex matrix of art, devotional acts, and literary works that make up the ancient religion. more »
