Relationships and Going Places
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: Mushroom Hunt; Grasshoppers Leap Into the Future (on glass!)
Ferida Wolff writes: During this pandemic we are often, understandably, lost in negative, worrisome thoughts. But there are positive things to focus on: neighbors greeting neighbors with smiles and friendly though distant conversations, gratitude for the dedication of our health practitioners, conscious appreciation of the people in our lives. more »
Jo Freeman: Five Days in DC Where the Post-election Protests Were Puny but the Politics Were Not
Jo Freeman writes: As I passed McPherson Sq., one of the two Occupy DC hotspots in 2011-12, I saw several white tents and a stage. Days later I learned that these were put up by Bond Events, a female-owned event production company hired by the People’s Watch Party. PWP is a new coalition of 20 progressive groups which came together to produce an election day party on Black Lives Matter Plaza. The Plaza covers two blocks of 16th St. north of Lafayette Square that were turned into a pedestrian mall in response to the June protests. The DC government painted Black Lives Matter in 35 foot yellow capital letters from K to H Streets and DC’s Mayor officially renamed it on June 5. It has become the protest center of the Capitol. more »
Veterans Day: Post-9/11 Veterans Earn More, Work More Hours Than Those Who Never Served in Armed Forces
Employment among the nation’s three million post-9/11 veterans was higher from 2014 to 2018 than it was among those who never served in the armed forces, according to a new US Census Bureau report on November 10th. In the 2014-2018 period, about 80% of post-9/11 veterans were employed compared with only 75% of nonveterans. In contrast with older veteran groups, such as those from the Vietnam era or Gulf War, post-9/11 veterans encountered very different labor markets after returning from the armed forces. As a result, post-9/11 veterans represent a unique and growing segment of the veteran population and the broader US workforce. more »
The Effects of Large Group Meetings on the Spread of COVID-19: The Case of Trump Rallies, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
"The CDC has advised that large in-person events, particularly in settings where participants do not wear masks or practice social distancing, pose a substantial risk of further contagion (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020). There is reason to fear that such gatherings can serve as 'superspreader events,' severely undermining efforts to control the pandemic. The purpose of this study is to shed light on these issues by studying the impact of election rallies held by President Donald Trump’s campaign between June 20th and September 30th, 2020. Trump rallies have several distinguishing features that lend themselves to this inquiry. The degree of compliance with guidelines concerning the use of masks and social distancing was low, in part because the Trump campaign downplayed the risk of infection. This feature heightens the risk that a rally could become a 'superspreader event.'” more »
