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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.
‘Cruel’ Digital Race For Vaccines Leaves Many Seniors Behind; Challenges Facing Seniors Speak To the Country’s Fragmented Approach
The efforts to vaccinate people 65 and older have strained under the enormous demand that has overwhelmed cumbersome, inconsistent scheduling systems. The struggle represents a shift from the first wave of vaccinations — health care workers in health care settings — which went comparatively smoothly. Now, in most places, elderly people are pitted against one another, competing on an unstable technological playing field for limited shots. While the demand is an encouraging sign of public trust in the vaccines, the challenges facing seniors also speak to the country’s fragmented approach, which has left many confused and enlisting family members to hunt down appointments. more »
A Diane Girard Reprise: Keep Those Paws Off My Pajamas
A Diane Girard Reprise: I am not usually a demanding woman, but there are pajamas I will not wear. I’m sorry if I offend anyone, but I no longer buy the ones with critters on them. I have tried — but the animals disturbed me. I woke up in the middle of the night, wondering if I had crushed the wee things. And their tiny paws left weird marks on my body, which stayed for hours. I don’t need wrinkles in strange places. I have a sufficient number already. Besides that, critters are entirely too cute and don’t suit my somewhat grumpy personality. I do not want to wear pink frilly nightwear either (not that there’s anything wrong with that) because then I feel silly, as if I’m stuck in a time warp at a pajama party. more »
Julia Sneden Writes: Age Rage; Sometimes You Just Have to Strike Back
Julia Sneden wrote: There's a phrase being bandied around these days: "Road Rage". It has been defined as a reaction to the drivers or the overcrowding on our superhighways. In fact, it's probably as old as the human species: that moment when someone younger brings you hard up against the fact that the inner you is no longer what others see in the outer you. In other words, when you discover that you look older than you feel, and are being treated accordingly. I call it Age Rage. Unlike 'Road Rage', you don't have to do anything to express it. Just feeling it is enough to mark you for life. more »
Jill Norgren Reviews The Doctor's Blackwell: How Two Pioneering Sisters Brought Medicine to Women — and Women to Medicine
Working with primary sources, Nimura documents the courage, drive, and training that the sisters drew upon to establish the dispensary and hospital. They had no personal wealth. Their mission was not merely to aid women who were ill but to educate them in the power of hygiene and sanitation at a time when it was not understood that germs caused illness. Indeed, they were teaching hygiene to mothers at a time when doctors rarely washed their hands between patients. In her excellent new biography, The Doctors Blackwell, Janice Nimura documents another important force for change: individuals. In this book, written with grace and clarity, Nimura describes how the Blackwells brought women to medicine and medicine to women. more »
