<body><div><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3W7yrs_0vaPj00f00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3W7yrs_0vaPj00f00" width="333" height="500" > JD Vance is still drawing fire — appropriately so — for his misogynous comments about “childless cat ladies.” When Taylor Swift announced her endorsement of Kamala Harris on Instagram, she signed it with the phrase that he had hung around his own neck: “childless cat lady.” But beneath the cruelty and casual sexism trafficked by Vance is a substantive concern: the reproductive rate in the United States — indeed, throughout the wealthier countries — has dropped below replacement levels. In other words, more Americans are dying than are being born. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> That means that, soon enough, the United States won’t have enough workers to support a growing economy, won’t have enough taxpayers to support Medicare and Social Security, won’t have enough children to keep nearly as many schools and playgrounds open. We won’t be the vibrant, healthy nation we are now. Vance’s solution is to restore the patriarchy and basically force women to have children, given his rigid anti-abortion views. Women who must work outside the home could get child care from their parents or in-laws, he has mused. He has also suggested that adults without children should pay higher taxes and that adults with children should be allowed to cast more votes in elections than those without. Extreme views, those. However, the GOP vice presidential nominee and his ilk remain viciously opposed to a rational solution that would at least help to raise the birth rate: immigration. According to the International Monetary Fund, “In the United States, the total fertility rate of natives was 1.76 children per woman in 2017, whereas that of immigrants was 2.18. The presence of immigrants helps to keep U.S. fertility at levels closer to the replacement rate.” <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> Yet, Donald Trump has made a hard-core stance against immigrants of color a hallmark of his two presidential campaigns. (His wife, Melania, and his in-laws were immigrants, so his views don’t seem to apply to white migrants.) His xenophobia and racism reached their zenith in the debate earlier this week, when Trump repeated as fact an outrageous internet rumor about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in,” Trump said. “They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there. “This is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame,” he ranted, insisting that this slander was true even as one of the moderators, ABC’s David Muir, tried to correct him. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> Muir noted that Springfield police have stated they have no credible reports of pets being kidnapped to be meals on the tables of Haitian immigrants. Yet, the racist tale persists on social media, spread by white supremacists, fearmongers and none other than Vance himself. Vance might have pointed to legitimate concerns about the rapid influx of Haitians to Springfield, a city of about 60,000 people that now has about 15,000 Haitians living there legally through the Temporary Protected Status program. The small city has struggled to provide enough housing, to pay enough teachers to help students who need to learn English, to provide enough translators for paramedics. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has quite reasonably asked the federal government for assistance. Nevertheless, Springfield, a blue-collar city that had lost population over the last few decades, has experienced a revival as the Haitians have settled in. Jamie McGregor, CEO of McGregor Metal, told the PBS News Hour that he has about 30 Haitian employees at his factory. <nbtemplate data-id="AdPlaceholder" data-content="JTdCJTdE"></nbtemplate> “I wish I had 30 more. Our Haitian associates come to work every day. They don’t have a drug problem. They will stay at their machine. They will achieve their numbers. They are here to work. ... That’s a stark difference from what we’re used to in our community,” he said. Other communities across the nation have seen a similar resurgence. Yet, the MAGA crowd is hostile to immigrants of color, no matter the value they offer us. Vance would rather stick with his weird strategy of insulting women who don’t have kids. <nbtemplate data-content="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" data-id="MediaPlatformAmplitudeButton"></nbtemplate></div></body>

Mountain View, CA

JD Vance is still drawing fire — appropriately so — for his misogynous comments about “childless cat ladies.” When Taylor Swift announced her endorsement of Kamala Harris on Instagram, she signed it with the phrase that he had hung around his own neck: “childless cat lady.”
                But beneath the cruelty and casual sexism trafficked by Vance is a substantive concern: the reproductive rate in the United States — indeed, throughout the wealthier countries — has dropped below replacement levels. In other words, more Americans are...