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.
Inspiring Artists, Musicians, Novelists, Poets, and Filmmakers: Coney Island, Visions of an American Dreamland
What these artists saw from 1861 to 2008 at Coney Island and how they chose to portray it varied widely in style and mood over time, mirroring the aspirations and disappointments of the era and of the country. Taken together, these tableaux of wonder and menace, hope and despair, dreams and nightmares, become metaphors for the collective soul of a nation.
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Simple Things (Really Simple) To Keep Kids Busy, From Under Twos to Six
Julia Sneden wrote: It's summer, that season of family vacations and rich contact between grandparents and grandchildren. Herewith, a list of suggestions for those who find themselves racking their brains to remember the kinds of things children like to do. Having taught kindergarten for twenty-five years, I tend toward direct, interactive activities. These days, children get plenty of television, movies, and computer games at home! (But perhaps you should have a bit of technology on hand, just in case you need a break). more »
An Expert Assesses Personal Security in An On-edge America
The US suffers a median rate of violent crime (all types, including homicides) similar to the rate in other western democracies, such as Britain, France and Germany, but the homicide rate is much greater in America than in these other countries, particularly with firearms. For instance, in 2010, the US, with a population around five times greater than Britain's population, experienced 244 times more murders by firearms than Britain, with only 41 murders by firearms. more »
Congressional Bills Passed & Introduced Female Veteran Suicide Prevention Act; Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome Medical Assistance; Human Trafficking Hotline Funding
Bill introduced to direct the secretary of VA to establish a pilot program to award grants to health care entities to lease, purchase, or build health care facilities for female patients to qualified female veterans; A bill to authorize spouses of servicemembers to elect to use the same residences as the servicemembers; A bill to require the secretary of Defense to provide expedited evaluation and treatment for prenatal surgery under the TRICARE program; A bill to prevent the abuse of opiates, to improve response and treatment for the abuse of opiates and related overdoses. more »