What's New
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.
Rose Madeline Mula Writes: Addicted to Amazon
Rose Madeline Mula writes: My other impulse purchases on Amazon include a string of mini, solar-powered lights to brighten my quarantined balcony; a label maker (which I have used to make two labels since buying it a year ago); a roll-up keyboard (in place of the Steinway I can’t afford and have no room for) which I immediately rolled up and put in a drawer before plinking even one melody; a five-pound bag of gum drops (yes, five pounds!); essential oils (which were certainly not essential); make up (too little, too late), and a garden kneeler. No, I don’t have a garden. I live in a third-floor condo. But I’m hoping it will help me get up when (not if) I fall so I don’t have to call the firemen (though, actually, their visits are the highlight of my social life). more »
To Become a Citizen After Birth, You Must: Apply For “derived” or “acquired” Citizenship Through Parents; Apply for Naturalization
Naturalization is the process by which U.S. citizenship is granted to a foreign citizen or national after he or she fulfills the requirements established by Congress in the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA).
For more information, see USCIS Policy Manual Citizenship and Naturalization Guidance. Most naturalization applicants are required to take a test on: English; Civics (U.S. history and government). For more information, visit our Naturalization Test page. Get study materials from the Citizenship Resource Center. more »
Hollowed-Out Public Health System Faces More Cuts Amid Virus; "When we do our job, nothing happens"
The US public health system has been starved for decades and lacks the resources to confront the worst health crisis in a century. Marshaled against a virus that has sickened at least 2.6 million in the US, killed more than 126,000 people and cost tens of millions of jobs and $3 trillion in federal rescue money, state and local government health workers on the ground are sometimes paid so little that they qualify for public aid.They track the coronavirus on paper records shared via fax. Working seven-day weeks for months on end, they fear pay freezes, public backlash and even losing their jobs. more »
Review of The Meanest Man in Congress: Jack Brooks and the Making of an American Century
Jo Freeman writes: This book is a fine description of how the political boys clubs worked. The inner sanctum was known as the Board of Education. Most weekday evenings "Mr. Sam," as Speaker Rayburn (D. TX) was called, invited a few Representatives to have a drink with him... With Mr. Sam as his mentor, Brooks moved up the hierarchy rather quickly, becoming a subcommittee chairman after only two years in the House. Eventually he chaired the Government Operations and Judiciary Committees. More than a biography this book gives you an inside look at how Congress operates, at least during the latter half of the 20th Century. You should get course credit in Political Science just for reading it. more »
