Sightings
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.
Brief Remarks on the Economy and Monetary Policy Governor Michelle W. Bowman At the 2023 CEO and Senior Management Summit and Annual Meeting, sponsored by the Kansas Bankers Association, Colorado Springs, Colorado
"... the economy and the labor market have remained strong as the FOMC has tightened monetary policy. Real gross domestic product grew slightly more than 2 percent at an annual rate in the first half of the year, well above many forecasters' expectations. Consumer spending has been robust, and the housing sector appears to be rebounding with accelerating growth in house prices and a pickup in new housing starts. The most recent employment report showed a strong labor market with low unemployment and solid job gains. The pace of job gains has slowed, which is a sign that labor market demand and supply are coming into better balance. But the demand for workers continues to exceed the supply of available job seekers, adding upward pressure on prices." more »
Special Counsel Jack Smith Files Two Federal Indictments Accusing Mr. Trump of Three Conspiracies
"THE MEN AND WOMEN OF LAW ENFORCEMENT WHO DEFENDED THE U.S. CAPITOL ON JANUARY 6 ARE HEROES. THEY ARE PATRIOTS AND THEY ARE THE VERY BEST OF US. THEY DID NOT JUST DEFEND A BUILDING WITH PEOPLE SHELTERING IN IT, THEY PUT THEIR LIVES ON THE LINE TO DEFEND WHO WE ARE AS A COUNTRY AND AS A PEOPLE. THEY DEFENDED THE VERY INSTITUTIONS AND PRINCIPLES THAT DEFINE THE UNITED STATES. SINCE THE ATTACK ON OUR CAPITOL, THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE HAS REMAINED COMMITTED TO ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY FOR THOSE CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT HAPPENED THAT DAY" more »
Jo Freeman Reviews Undaunted: How Women Changed American Journalism by Brooke Kroeger
In Undaunted the author tells the stories of numerous women who have made their mark on the profession of journalism. Reaching back to the early 19th Century, she begins with Margaret Fuller, who “unstuck the gate” in the 1840s. She carries that history to the current era, exploring several themes. Her own years as a journalist shine through in her writing. Undaunted is a good read. more »
Oppenheimer: July 28 UC Berkeley Panel Discussion Focuses On The Man Behind The Movie
"A 25-year-old J. Robert Oppenheimer arrived at UC Berkeley in fall 1929 as an assistant professor, and over the next dozen years established one of the greatest schools of theoretical physics in the U.S. — one that continues to this day. He made UC Berkeley’s physics department the center of American thought about the new field of quantum mechanics and how to apply it to atoms, nuclei and even neutron stars."
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