Issues
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.
What the 9th Justice (Unconfirmed as yet) Is Missing: Argument preview: Justices to Consider Critical-habitat Designation for Endangered Frog
The justices will consider whether the service’s designation violated the ESA and whether its decision not to exclude Unit 1 was reviewable. As to the first question, Weyerhaeuser argues that Unit 1 is simply not “habitat” for the dusky gopher frog and thus cannot be “critical habitat.” According to Weyerhaeuser, “habitat” must be currently habitable, and Unit 1 fails this test because dusky gopher frogs do not live there now and “would not survive” if they were transplanted to the property in its present state. more »
Scientific American: How Reliable Are the Memories of Sexual Assault Victims? The Expert Testimony Excluded from the Kavanaugh Hearing
Editorial note: If Jim Hopper had been permitted to provide his expert testimony at the September 27, 2018 Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation, these would have been his remarks: "In short, what I’m talking about here today are realities, not theories or hypotheses—realities known all too well by our nation’s defenders and its millions of sexual assault survivors. The science helps us understand why people have incomplete and fragmentary memories, including the brain structures and processes involved, while revealing complexities we would not otherwise discover. And science gives us conceptual tools—mental spotlights, if you will—that help us to see reality more fully and clearly." more »
Sexual Harassment, Senate Judiciary Committee History, Links to Member's Biographies and Transcripts From Previous Hearings
"Call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline: Call 800.656.HOPE (4673) to be connected with a trained staff member from a sexual assault service provider in your area. When you call, you’ll be routed to a local RAINN affiliate organization based on the first six digits of your phone number. Cell phone callers have the option to enter the ZIP code of their current location to more accurately locate the nearest sexual assault service provider." more »
FactCheck.org Highlights Trump’s Fuzzy Medicare Math, "Medicare will be $700 billion stronger over the next decade thanks to our growth." South Dakota, September 7, 2018
President Donald Trump on several occasions has taken credit for making Medicare “stronger.” “Medicare will be $700 billion stronger over the next decade thanks to our growth.” Medicare’s finances have worsened since he took office, and economic growth is not expected to help the program as much as he claims: The latest Medicare trustees report says the Medicare Part A trust fund, which covers payments to hospitals, will run out of money by 2026, three years earlier than projected just last year. That’s partly because the tax cut law that Trump signed last year will reduce Medicare revenues and increase expenses. more »
