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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.
Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Vee-ing Across the Sky
"Previous studies found that birds can use less than 20 to 30 percent of energy. According to a 1970 paper, in a V formation of 25 members, each bird can achieve a reduction of induced drag and as a result increase their range by 71%. In a 2001 Nature study, researchers used trackers on pelicans and yielded the results that pelicans flying alone have higher heart rate and flap their wings more frequently compare to those flying in V formation." more »
Legislative Update: Bills, Resolutions, Introduced: March 18-22, 2024; Hirono, Gillibrand, Tillis, Graham, Duckworth, Murkowski, Granger, Ernst and More
"Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) –– A bill to authorize a grant program to increase capacity for providing abortion services and other sexual and reproductive health care. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) –– A bill to direct the Attorney General to study issues relating to human trafficking. Sen. Thomas Tillis -- A resolution to protect the Iranian political refugees, including female foreign political prisoners, in Ashraf-3 in Albania. Sen. Lindsey Graham –– A resolution to demand that the international community hold accountable those who perpetrated acts of sexual violence and sexual torture during and after the attack on the state of Israel on October 7, 2023. S. 3983––Sen. Mazie Hirono –– A bill to authorize a grant program to increase capacity for providing abortion services and other sexual and reproductive health care."
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Ferida Wolff's Backyard: Spring is Coming
Ferida Wolff writes: "The daffies have been spreading over the years. They seem to decide where to plant themselves and then surprise me when they bloom. It’s a pleasure to see the vibrant yellow greeting me when I look out the kitchen window and it feels like the flowers’ energy is present when I do qigong exercises outside on a nice pre-spring day. A daffodil is seen as a symbol of hope and healing. It feels like an awakening as it begins to bring our thoughts to Spring. It’s almost an invitation to set aside what the winter offered and to welcome what is yet to come." more »
Encore: Kitchen Stigmata and There Are Many Ways to Identify a Good Cook by Julia Sneden
Julia Sneden Wrote: "Actually, this stigmata is not the sole property of a cook. Anyone who is willing to help in the kitchen can acquire one. It is a nonsexist, non-ageist badge of honor. A few weeks ago I observed my adult son, dressed in shorts and about to do his daily run. There it was, about a quarter of the way up his bony shin: a jim-dandy dishwasher ding. It was one of the proudest moments of my life as a mother." more »
