U.S. Republican vice presidential nominee J.
D. Vance is learning the hard way the internet doesn't just love cats but also childless cat ladies, as comments resurfaced in which he claimed those without offspring were less fit to govern. In a 2021 clip, Vance singled out Kamala Harris, now the Democratic presidential nominee, among others as he told Fox News that those who hadn't procreated, particularly "childless cat ladies," were "miserable" and had no "direct stake" in the country.
The comments have sparked a storm of scorn and accusations that the father of three represents an out-of-touch, sexist Republican mindset that has no place in the modern era. "It would be funny if it wasn't so sad," Minnesota Governor Tim Walz told MSNBC, adding: "My God, they went after 'cat people,' good luck with that!" If Harris, who has two stepchildren, beats Republican former president Donald Trump in November elections, she not only becomes the first woman president, but also the first woman of Black and Asian heritage, which has opened her up to a number of attacks along demographic lines. While multiple Republicans have flagged her lack of biological children as an issue, her online "KHive" of fans has been running defense -- via memes, indignation and supportive posts including from celebrities, politicians and members of her own family.
An outraged Jennifer Aniston pointed to her own infertility, which the actor has been vocal about in the past, while comedian and talk show host Whoopi Goldberg asked "Now, what the hell?" - 'Just a basic fact' - The resurfaced 2021 clip shows Vance, then a US Senate candidate from Ohio, telling Fox's Tucker Carlson that the United States 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." "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," Vance said. "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?" Buttigieg, who is the US transportation secretary and adopted two children that same year, told CNN the comments were hurtful given an adoption setback he was facing at the time.
"He couldn't have known that, but maybe that's why you shouldn't be talking about other people's children," Buttigieg said. Harris has two stepchildren, Cole and Ella, through her husband Doug Emhoff and his first wife. Their mother, Kerstin Emhoff, said in a statement to CNN that the attacks on Harris were "baseless.
" "For over 10 years, since Cole and Ella were teenagers, Kamala has been a co-parent with Doug and I," she said. "I love our blended family and am grateful to have her in it." Ella, age 25, who refers to Harris as "Momala," meanwhile wrote on Instagram that "I love my three parents.
" "How can you be 'childless' when you have cutie pie kids like cole and I." - 'Leaders should have children' - Harris supporters were quick to point out that no US president has ever physically given birth, since all have been men. A handful have also never produced any offspring.
Chief among them was George Washington, America's first president who like Harris helped raise his spouse's children from a previous marriage. Meghan McCain, daughter of late Republican senator John McCain, warned that Vance's comments "are activating women across all sides, including my most conservative Trump supporting friends." The focus on politicians' children comes as reproductive health and abortion access -- topics Harris has championed -- take center stage in this year's election.
"Political leaders should have children. Certainly they should at least be married," venture capitalist and Trump-endorsed former congressional candidate Blake Masters wrote on X. "If you aren't running or can't run a household of your own, how can you relate to a constituency of families, or govern wisely with respect to future generations?" he said.
In a 2021 speech, Vance went so far as to suggest people with children should have more votes. "When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power," he said in quotes unearthed by the Washington Post, adding "if you don't have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn't get nearly the same voice." Vance's campaign has since dismissed the comments as a "thought experiment.
" Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Thursday invoked the annihilation of U.S. adversary Iran in a social media post reminiscent of his most incendiary outbursts while in the White House.
"If they do 'assassinate President Trump,' which is always a possibility, I hope that America obliterates Iran, wipes it off the face of the Earth — If that does not happen, American Leaders will be considered 'gutless' cowards!" he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social. Trump made the remarks alongside a brief video of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu bringing up alleged Iranian plots against Trump in his address to the US Congress on Wednesday. US media reported last week that the US Secret Service had increased security for Trump weeks ago after authorities learned of an Iranian plot to kill him, although it was not linked to the recent attempt on his life in which a 20-year-old American fired shots during a campaign rally.
CNN reported that US authorities received intelligence from a "human source" on a plan by Tehran targeting the former president, causing protection to be boosted for Trump. Other US outlets also reported the plot. But it was not connected to the campaign shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania, in which gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks opened fire, lightly wounding Trump and killing a rally attendee, they said.
Relations between Washington and Iran have long been strained and reached a breaking point as Tehran sought revenge for the 2020 killing of Revolutionary Guards commander Qasem Soleimani, ordered by Trump when he was president. The US National Security Council said it had been "tracking Iranian threats against former Trump administration officials for years." Trump's post recalled a controversial episode in 2019 when, as president, he threatened the "obliteration" of Iran if the country carried out an attack on "anything American.
" That confrontation came after Iranian officials said the path to diplomacy between the two nations was permanently closed after Trump's new round of sanctions Monday. As president, he also threatened North Korea with "fire and fury like the world has never seen," although he later became friends with the isolated country's dictator, Kim Jong Un, and often referred to their "love." CONTINUE READING Show less France's rail network was paralyzed Friday by coordinated acts of sabotage which knocked out most of its high-speed train services hours before the Paris Olympics opening ceremony.
French rail operator SNCF said three night-time arson attacks had destroyed cabling boxes at strategic junctions around its network at locations north, south-west and east of Paris. A fourth attempted act of vandalism south-east of the capital was thwarted by rail workers who spotted intruders in the early hours of Friday. "Our intelligence services and law enforcement are mobilized to find and punish the perpetrators of these criminal acts," Prime Minister Gabriel Attal posted on X, calling the attacks "prepared and coordinated acts of sabotage.
" The Paris Olympics are set to open in a spectacular and unprecedented ceremony on the river Seine on Friday evening, with many ticket holders set to travel to the City of Light by train. Several Eurostar trains between Paris and London were cancelled Friday because of the rail disruption, which is likely to affect British sports fans heading to the French capital. The parade will see up to 7,500 competitors sail down a six-kilometer (four-mile) stretch of the Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats.
Passengers gather at Gare Montparnasse in Paris after the French high-speed network was targeted by acts of 'sabotage' © Thibaud MORITZ / AFP As well as the rail attacks, poor weather -- with Paris under thick cloud and occasional rain -- also risked dampening the party. "We'll see tonight..
. but the closer it gets the more the models suggest we're likely to get rain," chief Games organizer Tony Estanguet told France Inter radio, while adding that there would be some modifications if it was wet. "It's going to be a beautiful moment, it's going to be a great party," he added.
Hunt for culprits French security forces are on their highest alert to prevent terror attacks spoiling the start of the first Olympics in Paris in 100 years, while acts of sabotage from hostile foreign powers were also a known risk. French officials refused to comment on the identity of the culprits of the rail sabotage who appear to have had a sophisticated understanding of the network. Far-left French anarchists have a history of targeting the train network with arson attacks.
Suspicions might also fall on Russia, which French President Emmanuel Macron has said in the past was planning to target the Games. Police arrested a Russian man this week in Paris who was suspected of "organizing events likely to lead to destabilization during the Olympic Games." Map of Paris showing the two security perimeters where traffic will be restricted from Thursday © Sylvie HUSSON, Paz PIZARRO / AFP Commenting on the rail disruption, which will affect 800,000 people over the weekend, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach told the media that he had no concerns.
"We have full confidence in the French authorities," he said at the Athletes' Village. The USA basketball team was also set to take a high-speed train to play their opening a game on Sunday against Serbia in Lille, northern France. - Security blanket - Compared to the Covid-blighted 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed by a year and opened in an empty stadium, the Paris opening ceremony will take place in front of 300,000 ticketed spectators and many more from overlooking buildings.
It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, a decision fraught with danger at a time when France is on its highest alert for terrorism. A huge security perimeter has been erected along both banks of the Seine, guarded around the clock by some of the 45,000 police and paramilitary officers who will be on duty on Friday evening. Another 10,000 soldiers are set to add to the security blanket along with 22,000 private security guards.
"Without any doubt, it is much more difficult to secure half of Paris than to secure a stadium, where you have 80,000 people and you can frisk them and send them through turnstiles," Frederic Pechenard, an ex-director general of the French police, told AFP. Police snipers are set to be positioned on high points along the river, which is overlooked by hundreds of buildings. President Emmanuel Macron told a pre-Games dinner for dignitaries: "Tomorrow you will have one of the most incredible opening ceremonies.
" The line-up of performers is a closely guarded secret but US pop star Lady Gaga and French-Malian singer Aya Nakamura are rumoured to be among them. Beach volleyball will be played in front of the Eiffel Tower © Odd ANDERSEN / AFP US rappers Snoop Dogg and Pharrell Williams have also been in Paris for the torch relay. Around 3,000 dancers are set to perform from the banks of the river and monuments including Notre-Dame cathedral in a show that will promote diversity, gender equality and French history.
The landmarks and architecture of the City of Light is set to feature as a backdrop both to Friday night's show and much of the sport afterwards. Paris's vision is for a more cost-effective and less polluting Olympics than previous editions, with competitions set to take place at historic locations around the capital. "It's going to be incredible," Laetitia Chaze, a 41-year-old landscape gardener, told AFP after arriving in Paris on a train early on Friday morning.
"It's something that only happens once in your lifetime and I definitely didn't want to miss it." © 2024 AFP CONTINUE READING Show less Questions continue to swirl about the injuries suffered by Donald Trump in an apparent assassination attempt. There has been no official report from Trump's team or government agencies about what caused the wound to his right ear when a gunman opened fire at his Pennsylvania rally, but a New York Times analysis relying on video from the event and a 3-D model found that Trump's ear most likely was grazed by the first of eight bullets fired by Thomas Crooks.
"A key piece of evidence in The Times’s analysis is a live video feed that captures Mr. Trump’s reaction as the first three gunshots are fired," the newspaper reported. "The crack of the bullets are heard as they pass the microphone that Mr.
Trump speaks into. Almost a second elapses between the first and second shots." ALSO READ: Milwaukee girded for massive convention protests.
But they got something else . The former president flinches and starts reaching toward his ear in the brief moment between the first audible shot and the second, and photos show his fingers were bloodied as soon as he touched his ear, and that same first bullet appears to pass him and strike bleachers to his left, where many of his supporters were standing. Rally attendee David Dutch appears to have been injured by the second shot, which was fired along a similar trajectory, and he winces and then crouches down as the third shot passes.
The Times produced a 3-D model of the rally grounds to help determine the trajectory of all eight gunshots – a burst of three followed by a burst of five – and found the first shot, which apparently struck Trump, was not deflected by first striking another object that would have sprayed him with debris . Another bullet injured 74-year-old James Copenhaver, who was standing a few feet away from Dutch, and video analysis shows 50-year-old Corey Comperatore was shot in the head and killed by the second volley of shots fired by the 20-year-old Crooks, who was quickly shot and killed by a Secret Service sniper. CONTINUE READING Show less.
