I guess I can add J.D. Vance to my list of “People I used to admire and now can’t stand.” It’s getting to be a long list. It’s been painful watching J.D. go from Hillbilly whisperer to Trump boot licker. But he’s been so successful at it he’s gained a Senate seat and 2nd spot on the 2024 GOP ticket. And now that he’s the VP nominee, the media is going back over all his past appearances to find ammunition with which to attack him. And boy howdy, have they hit the motherlode! He called Trump “America’s Hitler” and “cultural heroin.” He got rich and famous trashing his relatives and hometown, pointing out that in America, these people had a path to success and they chose not to take it. Then he walked it all back and won the votes of those same people by turning populist and vowing to make government fix all their problems. You can’t get more American than that.
But the clip of an old Tucker Carlson interview is currently lighting the internet on fire. In 2021, before Fox News got smart and kicked Carlson to the curb, Vance appeared on his show and stated that the country was being run by “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. "
Ouch. That one really hit me hard. Sure, it’s nice to know that my kind is running the country now! I guess they forgot to include me on the memo. Vance doubled down on his attacks adding "It's just a basic fact — you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC — the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children. And how does it make any sense that we've turned our country over to people who don't really have a direct stake in it?"
I was told to bring the fire on this one. But I’m guessing the guys who run this page won’t allow the extreme profanity needed for me to accurately respond to Vance’s attacks. Let the record reflect that I didn’t end up childless because I listened to Democrats. No, I’m childless because I listened to REPUBLICANS. See, I actually believe that a child needs a mother and a father. That’s the way I was raised. I know that my adopted parents are the reason I’m not currently living under a bridge somewhere. I’ve seen the difference having a good father has made in the lives of others. Vance was right the first time in his book when he pointed out that the endless string of broken relationships, stepparents and step siblings wreak havoc on a child. Almost all the stress my friends with second marriages experience are a direct result of the children from the FIRST marriage. My own brother once advised me “Don’t ever marry anyone with children.” Our mother didn’t think that was fair, until I pointed out that she JUST TOLD US that she left her husband alone every Christmas because he dared to criticize her grandchildren. I have half-siblings, who have half-siblings, who probably have half-siblings. I’m probably related to half the state of South Carolina through birth, adoption, or divorce. You think sibling rivalry is bad? Half sibling rivalry is worse. Especially if one kid has a father and the other doesn’t. We’re still dealing with THAT 3 generations later, long after the parents are all dead.
I was also lectured by Republicans that I wasn’t supposed to have children I couldn’t afford. Agreed! No use bringing a child into this world and then relying on the government to feed and clothe it. That’s the parents’ responsibility! And since I was barely able to feed myself, children were not an option.
By the time I found a decent man to marry me, and we both had steady jobs, a savings account, and a roof over our heads – it was too late. We were both over 40. My eggs had probably expired. And my husband said he didn’t want to pursue adoption at our advanced age. Being a dutiful wife, I deferred to his wishes. Then he left me after 10 years of marriage.
So, being childless was not exactly a choice. I once read it described as “creeping non-choice.” Many women find themselves in this bind. You don’t make a conscious choice to go childless. You just keep postponing childbirth until it’s no longer a choice. Being single wasn’t my choice either.
The cats were a choice. But they’ve been a good one! My cat is more affectionate than my husband was. He also sheds less. And I always know where the cat is at night. Of course, that’s probably because I had him fixed. Something to consider for the next husband. My cat Marco and I are currently in a 13-year relationship, which is longer than both of my marriages put together.
On Sunday, when the big announcement came that Joe Biden had finally thrown in the towel and endorsed Kamala Harris, I immediately messaged a friend. “We should start a Cat Ladies for Kamala group!” And we did! We’re onFacebook if you want to join us. We’re not all childless. Most of the others in our group are married. We span the ideological spectrum from conservative to liberal. One of us isn’t even a cat person! But we’re united around one overwhelming issue that unites us all: Donald Trump must not be allowed back into the White House.
We cat ladies know that sadly, we do NOT run the world. Although we have a lot of influence on Facebook, which is pretty much overrun by cat videos! Our current world is actually run by pissed off tech bros like Elon Musk, who has 12 children with 3 different women! Some of whom were conceived with IVF, and one of whom is transgender and estranged from him. Someone alert the party of family values!
In 2016, angry women in pink knitted hats took to the streets in protest. This year, I envision women wearing cat ears and waving signs: “Cat Ladies For Kamala! Cat Ladies of America! Hear us Hiss!” The cat lady army rises. Come join us.
THE RACKET NEWS™ IS NOW ON THREADS: Our scheduling software now supports Threads so we are opening a page on that site. We also have an Instagram account that has been pretty inactive, but you may see us doing more there as well. Check us out at: https://www.threads.net/@theracketnews
SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS: You can follow us on social media at several different locations. Official Racket News pages include:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NewsRacket
Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/NewsRacket
Mastodon: https://federated.press/@RacketNews
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@theracketnews
David: https://www.threads.net/@captainkudzu71
Steve: https://www.threads.net/@stevengberman
Our personal accounts on the platform formerly known as Twitter:
David: https://twitter.com/captainkudzu
Steve: https://twitter.com/stevengberman
Jay: https://twitter.com/curmudgeon_NH
Thanks again for subscribing! Don’t forget to share us with your friends!
Great post, Merrie! And the cat lady memes are fire!
When it comes to the pro-natalists, folks like the Collins are going to give the Duggars a run for their money when it comes to dysfunction once their kids are old enough to afford therapists:
"Simone and Malcolm want to show me that you can raise a family according to entirely rational, data-driven principles designed to alter the course of human civilisation for the better; that you can make large families work; that you can promote pronatalism without being racist. I am the first British journalist to see what pronatalism in action looks like by visiting the Collinses in their home. When I leave them, I will be utterly lost for words."
"Every decision the Collinses make is backed by data. 'Nominative determinism is a heavily studied field,' Malcolm tells me, when I ask about his children’s names. 'Girls that have gender neutral names are more likely to have higher paying careers and get Stem degrees.' Names like Titan and Industry are much more than gender neutral, I say. 'We wanted to give our kids strong names. We want our kids to have a strong internal locus of control,' he continues, as Octavian waves a plastic rubbish truck in front of my face."
"Their home is set apart from the nearest town, down a track from a main road, near a creek. When deciding where to live, they weighed metrics on a spreadsheet, ranging from LGBTQ+ rights (which they support) to the density of Nobel laureates produced in a given area to levels of homelessness to major weather events. Then, they looked at cost. They bought this house and the one next door for $575,000; they allow their neighbours to live in the second house rent free, in exchange for childcare."
Every time I see the Vance quote about folks without children shouldn't be running the country, I think of the Collins (who come from old Texan Republican insurance money) and shake my head that Vance thinks that yahoos who take their parenting cues from animal documentaries are somehow a better fit.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/article/2024/may/25/american-pronatalists-malcolm-and-simone-collins