Learning
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.
Book Review by Joan L. Cannon, Of War, Maturing, and Class: A Bundle From Britain by Alistaire Horne
Joan L. Cannon reviews: Alistaire Horne is the author of over a dozen books of modern history. In this narrative, we realize that the half-century surrounding World War II has lost much of its impact, if only perhaps because of the wars that have succeeded it. A Bundle from Britain is a completely engaging account of Alistaire Horne's evacuation from England near the beginning of the Nazi onslaught on Europe and especially England. As it happened, he was sent to a section of the American world that can hardly stand in as typical of the USA. more »
Janet Yellen Speaks at a Teachers Town Hall Meeting; The Gender Gap in Economics and the Leaky Pipeline Problem
Fed Reserve Board Chair Janet Yellen addresses educators in Washington and nationwide via webcast. "Very importantly for students, we try to make sure that the job market is strong so that students entering it will have a wealth of job opportunities.. we do work to make sure that unemployment is low and job opportunities plentiful. And we try to keep inflation low and stable. And that's something that is important to savers who are concerned about providing for their retirement." more »
Yale's Canine Cognition Center: Dogs Are Smarter Than Humans About Receiving Bad Advice
The new study shows that dogs will leave out irrelevant actions when there is a more efficient way to solve a problem, even when a human repeatedly demonstrates these actions. "Although dogs are highly social animals, they draw the line at copying irrelevant actions," said Angie Johnston, Yale Ph.D. student and lead author on the study. "Dogs are surprisingly human-like in their ability to learn from social cues, such as pointing, so we were surprised to find that dogs ignored the human demonstrator and learned how to solve the puzzle on their own."
Dogs are less likely to follow bad advice than children, according to a new study conducted at the Canine Cognition Center at Yale. Yale Prof. Laurie Santos found that, in contrast to children, dogs only copy a human’s actions if they are absolute… more »
Why the ‘Skills Gap’ Doesn’t Explain Slow Hiring
"I think [the] 'skills gap' has run its course. It's overhyped and overrated," said Janice Urbanik of Partners for a Competitive Workforce, the umbrella organization for workforce efforts in the Cincinnati area. "I don't think it's the only factor, and to some extent it's not even the primary factor." President-elect Donald Trump made restoring lost manufacturing jobs a centerpiece of his campaign. He says he will bring back jobs by cutting taxes, rolling back regulations and renegotiating trade deals. His position on education and training for displaced workers is unknown.
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