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.
How Our Dreams Prepare Us to Face Our Fears: Tackling Anxiety-provoking Situations Once We're Awake
These results demonstrate the very strong link between the emotions we feel in both sleep and wakefulness. They also reinforce a neuroscientific theory about dreams: we simulate frightening situations while dreaming in order to better react to them once we're awake. "Dreams may be considered as a real training for our future reactions and may potentially prepare us to face real life dangers ..." more »
Ask a CDC Scientist: Dr. Terrence Tumpey and the Reconstruction of the 1918 Pandemic Virus Español
In 2005, microbiologist Dr. Terrence Tumpey was approved by then-CDC director Dr. Julie Gerberding to use reverse genetics to reconstruct the 1918 influenza virus, which had been lost to history following the devastating pandemic of 1918. The decision to recreate the 1918 virus was made very carefully by senior government officials and then carried out under strict controls. Dr. Tumpey was chosen to be the only person authorized to work on the 1918 virus, and then only under biosecurity level 3 enhanced (BSL-3E) precautions. For example, to reduce risk to colleagues, Dr. Tumpey worked alone after normal agency hours. His health was continually monitored and he took influenza antiviral drugs preventively as a precaution in case he was exposed to infectious virus. more »
Preventing the Spread of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in Homes and Residential Communities
Household members, intimate partners, and caregivers in a nonhealthcare setting may have close contact with a person with symptomatic, laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 or a person under investigation. Close contacts should monitor their health; they should call their healthcare provider right away if they develop symptoms suggestive of COVID-19 (e.g., fever, cough, shortness of breath) https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/php/risk-assessment.html more »
And Now For Something Completely Different: Daddy Long-Legs — A Weird and Wonderful Railway
Construction started in 1894 and the railway was opened in November 1896. Passengers were carried in a large tramcar-like carriage on a deck mounted on long stilts. It was named ‘Pioneer’ but popularly known as ‘daddy long-legs’. It was equipped with a lifeboat and lifebelts, and had to be operated by a qualified sea captain. The series includes six images of a unique electric seaside railway by Magnus Volk, the electrical engineer who designed and built Volk’s Electric Railway which opened on the seafront at Brighton in 1883 and is still in operation to this day. more »