Odds & ends for the weekend

• They're at it again (eyeroll):  introducing Donald Trump at a rally in Michigan, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Governor of Arkansas and Trump's former White House Press Secretary, took an apparent jab at Kamala Harris for not having (biological) children (New York Times gift-linked article)(do these guys ever learn??): 

“...my kids keep me humble,” Ms. Sanders said. Then, mispronouncing Vice President Kamala Harris’s name, she added, “Unfortunately, Kamala Harris doesn’t have anything keeping [her] humble.”

• Happily, the backlash to Sanders' comments was swift, from some Republicans as well as Democrats. Perhaps they're starting to realize that maybe it's not wise to keep insulting women (50% of the population) and childless people generally (20% and growing)??  
• Lyz Lenz dubbed Sanders "Dingus of the Week" and "The winner of the Aunt Lydia Award for Lady Misogyny" in her "Men Yell at Me" Substack.  
• The hosts of "The View" -- including Sanders's former co-worker, Alyssa Farah Griffin -- had a few things to say. (Entertainment Weekly) 
• From "The Cut" (possibly paywalled;  I find that sometimes saving to Pocket and opening it there will make it readable):  "Conservatives Really Can’t Handle Kamala Being a Stepmom."
• An earlier article from The Cut: "Does J.D. Vance Regret His ‘Childless Cat Lady’ Comments Yet?"
• Ruth Marcus wrote a scorching critique in the Washington Post: "Sarah Sanders’s crude swipes at Kamala Harris notch a new low for GOP," (Gift link, and worth a read!) 
• Also in the WaPo (by Aaron Blake, gift link): "The Trump campaign can’t quit ‘childless cat ladies’."

...there are lots of voters out there whom these kinds of comments could alienate. That’s not just the 22 million women between 20 and 39 who don’t have children, but also the many stepparents and stepchildren... A 2015 Pew Research Center study found that 16 percent of children live in blended families. The logical extension of Vance’s and now Sanders’s comments is that these people have less to offer the country and a lack of perspective and humility.

And it’s not as if people like childless cat ladies are voters Republicans can just write off; an Ipsos study released last week showed they are only slightly less Republican than voters overall.

• And, from Sarah at Afterward Honesty's Substack, "I'm Childless. Here's What Keeps ME Humble." 
• A couple more articles on the "childless cat ladies" theme, both from a couple of months ago, but worth a read: 
• From USA Today: "Kamala Harris, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Aniston and when we reduce women to 'childless cat ladies'."
• From Forbes (!)(back in May, before the "childless cat lady" comments resurfaced):  "A Psychologist Debunks The ‘Crazy Cat Lady’ Myth." 
• From New York Magazine/Intelligencer:  "The Truth About the Right and IVF."  (Full of great lines!) 
• From ABC News (Australia): "Childlessness can cause a 'deep existential crisis'. What you say about it matters." 
• This one from the Guardian is relatable in SO many ways...!  "As our friends with kids become grandparents, it reignites the sadness of being childless not by choice." 
• Sample quote: "People who are childless not by choice know that as much as having children changes you, so does not being able to have children when you want them." 
• On a different topic altogether:  Lee Child interviewing Richard Osman in the Guardian is the conversation I didn't know I needed.  :)  Who knew that Osman envisioned the Thursday Murder Club character of Bogdan as "a suburban Sussex Reacher"??!  (I've never read Child, but I do know about Reacher.)  

Have a good weekend!  :)