Politics
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.
Issues Addressed in Congress: Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and the Opioid Crisis Hearings
Bills introduced: Rep. Jackie Speier: A bill to award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively, to the American women who joined the workforce during World War II, providing the vehicles, weaponry, and ammunition to win the war, that were referred to as "Rosie the Riveter," in recognition of their contributions to the National the inspiration they have provided to ensuing generation. Sen. Claire McCaskill — A bill to direct the director of the OMB to establish an interagency working group to study federal efforts to collect data on sexual violence and to make recommendations on the harmonization of such efforts, and for other purposes. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster introduced a similar bill in the House.
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Reading Recommendations from Radcliffe’s Fellows and SeniorWomen's Editor
The 2017–2018 cohort of Radcliffe fellows include scholars, scientists, artists, and writers. Below, a selection of Radcliffe fellows share books that inspired their research, activated their imaginations, and sparked their enjoyment. My own list of books to be read includes one on American Women Code Breakers, a Robert A. Caro third volume of his Lyndon Johnson biography, The Fighting Temeraire, Joseph Conrad's The Secret Agent; Alan Riding's And the How Went On (Cultural Life in Nazi-Occupied Paris); Anthony's Powers 1st in the series A Dance to the Music of Time; but I am dedicated to Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Workout, too ... more »
The Naturalization Application Fee has Increased From $35 (or $80.25 in 2017 dollars) in 1985 to $725 in 2017
Naturalization provides immigrants with virtually the same rights and benefits as native-born citizens, including the right to vote, access to federal jobs and protection from deportation. A recent report from the National Academy of Sciences found that having more naturalized immigrants is good for the national income and increases political participation and integration of those immigrants within American society.
Surveys show that most US immigrants want to become citizens. But compared to other similar countries, like the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, the United States has a lower naturalization rate, which has been decreasing over recent decades. more »
United States Immigration Services: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals: Response to January 2018 Preliminary Injunction
Due to a federal court order, USCIS has resumed accepting requests to renew a grant of deferred action under DACA. Until further notice, and unless otherwise provided in this guidance, the DACA policy will be operated on the terms in place before it was rescinded on Sept. 5, 2017. more »
