Travel
Jo Freeman's Convention Diary: Cleveland Had More Police Than Protesters and Philly Was Cop-Lite
We were told that 500 Cleveland police and 2,800 police from elsewhere were keeping the protests peaceful. They slept in the dorms of the local colleges and were moved around in local school buses. These were the friendliest police I have ever seen at a protest. They spoke with the various march leaders as though they were working for the tourist bureau. Only the members of the Pennsylvania State Police were added to the Philadelphia police. While their numbers waxed and waned, police presence in the street was no greater than in a normal protest. more »
After the Louvre: My Favorite Paris Museum, Musee des Arts et Metiers
Founded by anti-clerical French revolutionaries to celebrate the glory of science, it is no small irony that the museum is now partially housed in the former abbey church of Saint Martin des Champs. The museum's collection originated with a selection of mechanical contraptions bequeathed to Louis XVI by the mechanical engineer Jacques Vaucanson, inventor of the most renowned automaton of the 18th century, a talking, flapping mechanical duck. more »
Jo Freeman's Democratic Convention Diary: Bernie Sanders Supporters, More Sad Than Celebratory, More Angry Than Uplifted
But the Berniers I listened to in the downtown rallies and in FDR park were more sad than celebratory, more angry than uplifted. They wanted red meat, not Tofurky. This went beyond what I saw in 2008, when Hillary’s dedicated supporters were disappointed that she wasn’t heading the Democratic ticket, or even in the second spot. The latter were in mourning, not out for revenge. more »
Jo Freeman's Convention Diary: Where Was the Luncheon for Melania? Keep It Made in America and the Donald Trump Bobblehead Were in Cleveland
Jo Freeman writes: I went to that party after writing this story in a tent sponsored by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which has comfortable couches and free drinks. The AAM is an alliance of the National Association of Manufacturers and several unions, including the United Auto Workers, of which I am a member (via Local 1981 — the National Writers Union). Their slogan is KEEP IT MADE IN AMERICA. The Donald might agree with that. more »