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JD Vance’s so-called ‘childless cat ladies’ have thoughts — and pictures of their cats
JD Vance’s so-called ‘childless cat ladies’ have thoughts — and pictures of their cats
Detroit Free Press
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Former President Donald Trump has tapped U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, as his vice presidential nominee, and, of course, that means scrutiny. This viral clip from 2021 of an interview with former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, in which Vance took aim at a broad swath of the Biden Administration … and their cats, recently resurfaced.
“We’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats via our corporate oligarchs 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,” Vance said, going on to name Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, as the “childless,” feline-owning controllers of the future of the Democrats. (Harris has two stepchildren. Buttigieg has twins. Cat status unclear.)
We asked Michigan’s “childless cat ladies” to share their opinions about the 2024 presidential election — and, obviously, pictures of their cats.
A stake in America’s future
Childless cat and dog lady here.
I spent 37 years in public education, first teaching English and social studies and then special education. I worked my final nine years as the principal of a Wayne County program for severely cognitively and physically impaired students.
In cooperation with their families, we set high, yet achievable goals for our students, and I’m proud of the hard-working and creative staff with whom I was fortunate to work.
After all my years of dedication to the education of children, JD Vance has no business telling me that because I chose not to have children of my own, I have no stake in America’s future.
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Marilynn Bachorik
Dearborn
I would rather live with a thousand cats
I am a single woman who never married and was unable to have children. Yes, I do have a cat, his name is Copper and he is a wonderful companion.
I would rather live with a thousand cats than with J.D. Vance.
Sandra Yarrington
Clinton Township
Who says cat ladies don’t care about humans, too?
It’s not so much that I mind being called a childless cat/dog lady. I am one. And I am fine with that. I am a wife and community member, cofounder of a nonprofit, disaster responder and director of an animal control. I am not one singularity, but for grins, I’ll identify as the childless cat lady.
And here’s the thing I’ve learned in my years of disaster response and animal control: There is no social safety net for our most vulnerable humans, and animal shelters are increasingly being asked to be the liaison between the few social services that exist for our elderly, mobility challenged, cognitively challenged adults and our children.
I am expected to connect the elderly with Adult Protective Services — who often can’t do anything. I’m a mandatory reporter to Child Protective Services, who often can’t do anything. I am expected to help domestic violence victims’ pets get safe so the victims won’t have to worry about their pet’s lives being used against them as they are whisked away into the night for their protection. I provide a pet food pantry for those going through hard times. I listen to the lonely senior citizen who calls every Wednesday because yes, we care. We raise items and clothes for those who have lost everything in a fire, whose perished animals we respectfully make final arrangements for. We are the Yellow Pages and beginning advisors to people who have to start all over and advocates for renters whose slumlords try to illegally evict them.
So while some would easily write off those of us who have not birthed children by choice — or infertility, suffered baby loss, child loss or unsuccessful rounds of IVF — I’d like to remind Mr. Vance and his ilk that quite a few of us spend our time caring for those most in society would discard or dismiss. Those that would be degraded and discarded for not pulling their Hooverville boots up by Reganomics bootstraps, and are at my door every morning begging for help due more to our society’s moral failing rather than their own.
So, yes. I’m a proud childless cat/dog lady who has her boots on the ground every day, caring for those with no voice at the human-animal intersection: the animals, the poor, the elderly and memory care population, the severely mentally ill, the homeless and the children in unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
And I’ll be at it again tomorrow.
Melissa Miller
Eastpointe
‘Catnip for Congress, anyone?’
Ah yes, the dreaded cat ladies are at it again, wielding their sinister powers of empathy, competence and pet adoption/rescue to take over the world. Next, they’ll be implementing mandatory cat-cuddling sessions to keep us all in line. Truly terrifying.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg are too busy with their actual human children to mastermind such an intricate plot.
If having a cat means better policy decisions, maybe we should all get one and see where it takes us.
Catnip for Congress, anyone?
Katherine Simpkins
Adrian
Officials seek tips after 4 elk illegally shot dead in Redwood National Park
July 31, 2024 / 10:17 AM EDT / CBS News
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/redwood-national-park-poaching-elk-shot-dead-officials-investigate-suspects/
Officials are investigating a poaching incident in Redwood National Park that killed four elk and poses an ongoing deadly threat to condors in the region. Rangers and California Fish and Wildlife wardens are asking the public for help as they continue to search for the suspected hunters responsible.
The elk were found dead earlier this month near Williams Ridge along Bald Hills Road, which is inland of the dense coastal forests that Redwood National Park is known for, park officials said in a news release Tuesday. It’s still on protected land within the park, where hunting is prohibited under both federal and state law. Officials learned that the four animals had been shot on July 21. No meat was taken, and an image published by the park service showed two of the deceased animals lying not far from each other in a patch of tall grass.
Redwood National and State Parks includes 133,000 acres of federal and state land in Northern California, where seven herds of elk have made their habitats. The herds include Roosevelt elk, a subspecies brought back from the brink of extinction thanks to careful conservation initiatives, the Pacific Forest Trust writes, calling the current population “a conservation success story” in the Pacific Northwest. In California, Roosevelt elk are only found in areas in and immediately around the Redwoods park. Most elk seen in Redwood National Park are Roosevelt elk.
“Tourists from all over the world and Californians alike enjoy the opportunity to see Roosevelt elk within their historical home range at Redwood National and State Parks,” the National Park Service said in a statement. “Park rangers are committed to protecting these amazing animals and urge the public to help them in this effort.”
Investigators also determined that the poachers who shot those elk used lead ammunition, further endangering a condor population that was recently reintroduced to the Redwoods. The National Park Service notes on its website that using lead-core rifle bullets in any setting means putting the health and safety of animals and humans at risk, because most pellets break into tiny fragments when they strike an animal and completely removing the fragments after the fact is hard to do. Scavengers, like condors, who go on to consume meat from that animal could be ingesting lead-tainted food as a result, which is toxic.
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Lead poisoning is the biggest threat to California condors, the park service says, citing various scientific studies. The endangered vulture is the largest land bird in North America and places in the West have taken steps in recent decades to revive the species. Working with Redwood National and State Parks and several other agencies including the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Yurok Tribe, whose reservation is close to the Redwoods, reintroduced California condors to the region just two years ago, according to the park service. Poaching and illegal hunting directly undermine their efforts, officials said.
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