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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.
“Few rights are more central to individual freedom than the right to control one’s own body. The Justice Department will use every tool at our disposal to protect reproductive freedom."
Among other responsibilities, the Task Force will monitor and evaluate all state and local legislation, regulations, and enforcement actions that threaten to:
Infringe on federal legal protections relating to the provision or pursuit of reproductive care;
Impair women’s ability to seek reproductive care in states where it is legal;
Impair individuals’ ability to inform and counsel each other about the reproductive care that is available in other states;
Ban Mifepristone based on disagreement with the FDA’s expert judgment about its safety and efficacy; or
Impose criminal or civil liability on federal employees who provide reproductive health services in a manner authorized by federal law. more »
Justice Department Commemorates Anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act: Eliminate Discriminatory Barriers, Support Full Participation, Community Integration, Independent Living and Economic Self-sufficiency
“The Americans with Disabilities Act embodies a national promise to eliminate discriminatory barriers and support full participation, community integration, independent living and economic self-sufficiency for people with disabilities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “We will continue using this bedrock civil rights law to eliminate barriers and safeguard the rights of people with disabilities across the country.” Since November 2021, the department has reached settlement agreements with CVS Pharmacy Inc., Hy-Vee Inc., The Kroger Co., Meijer Inc. and Rite Aid Corporation to ensure that people with disabilities can book COVID-19 vaccine appointments and obtain vaccine information online. more »
Dr. Deborah Birx, Former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, Testifies on Trump Administration's COVID-19 Response
JUNE 23, 2022: Former White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx testified before the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis about the Trump administration’s pandemic response. She repeated her claim that up to 130,000 deaths were preventable and explained that beginning in April of 2020, there were “parallel streams of data coming into the White House and parallel analyses that I was not privy to.” She named Dr. Scott Atlas, former White House Coronavirus Task Force adviser, as someone who gave former President Trump COVID-19 misinformation, which resulted in unnecessary deaths. Dr. Birx also addressed other issues regarding the Trump administration’s pandemic response, such as White House officials being preoccupied with the 2020 election, misguided data collection amid asymptomatic individuals, and some officials downplaying the pandemic. She also emphasized that too many deaths are still occurring. [*This text was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.] more »
White House Task Force to Address Online Harassment and Abuse
"Survivors and experts highlighted the offline impact of online abuse, ranging from psychological distress and additional negative health impacts, to self-censorship, disruptions to education and economic loss, as well as experiences of other forms of physical and sexual violence. Participants noted that online harassment and abuse disproportionately impacts women, girls – especially women and girls of color – and LGBTQI+ individuals. Participants also provided concrete recommendations to prevent and respond to online harms." more »
