WSJ: Corporate America Begins to Bail on HRC 'Diversity' Index

Fox Business host Charles Payne lauded Molson Coors for abandoning its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that were so radically at odds with the company’s customers and roots.  During the Sept. 4 installment of Fox News’s America’s Newsroom, Payne stated that “shareholders are probably ecstatic about” the growing lists of companies renouncing discriminatory leftist ideology. These companies include Molson Coors, Tractor Supply, John Deere, and Harley-Davidson. Payne criticized Coors, saying it had lost touch with its customers by outsourcing decision-making to “Ivy League” school consultants. “That was your first mistake. They don't know your customer. They don't know who the core customer is. And why did you hire someone who doesn't even understand your business and then start to make these sort of decisions?” Payne said, referring to leftist consultants peddling DEI at these companies, which he said were “born in the heartland” of America. The Fox Business host went on to attack the Chamber of Commerce for caving to DEI advocates and adopting their language by removing a commitment to “shareholders” in favor of a commitment to “stakeholders.” The latter has turned into a euphemism for turning corporate priorities away from making a profit and towards achieving woke environmental, social and governance goals.  Payne rejected the “stakeholder” label, saying, “It's not people who have skin in the game, and it invites everyone to have an opinion and everyone to push the company around, and no company can operate like that when you have all of these potential bosses or folks you have to appease.”  Payne’s comments followed podcast host Robby Starbuck’s Sept. 3 announcement that Molson Coors ended participation in the Human Rights Campaign’s woke Corporate Equality Index social credit system.”  According to Starbuck, Coors also removed DEI from employee training and ceased dividing employees by race or sexual orientation. The company also pledged to abandon “supplier diversity goals” and no longer pressure employees by tying their compensation to discriminatory hiring practices.  Coors is not alone. Since June 27, Tractor Supply, John Deere, Harley-Davidson, Jack Daniel’s parent company Brown-Furman, Lowe’s and Ford have also decided not to appease stakeholders, abandoning their DEI initiatives. Conservatives are under attack! Contact ABC News (818) 460-7477, CBS News (212) 975-3247 and NBC News (212) 664-6192 and demand they report on the dangers of leftist DEI ideology infecting corporate America.

In 2020, PolitiFact gave Georgia Sen. David Perdue a “pants on fire” rating for claiming that rival Jon Ossoff was a socialist. Now, PolitiFact is at it again, giving Donald Trump a similar “pants on fire” on Wednesday for rating for labeling Kamala Harris a communist. In the “if your time is short,” section, Amy Sherman summarizes, “Marxism refers to the school of thought inspired by Karl Marx’s analysis of capitalism. Communism is a political system of government or a party that abolishes private property.” Additionally, she notes Harris’s “campaign pledge to pass a federal ban on price gouging on food drew criticism, but experts said it does not amount to communism.” In the main article, Sherman warns, “These attacks echo those of 1950s McCarthyism, when Sen. Joe McCarthy, R-Wis., led hearings on what he alleged was communist infiltration in high levels of the federal government.” If you go on PolitiFact looking for the pants on fire ratings of the left calling Trump, or any Republican, a fascist, you won’t find it. What you will find is a “half true” rating on Madeline Albright comparing Trump’s “drain the swamp” rhetoric to Benito Mussolini. When President Joe Biden compared GOP voting laws to Jim Crow, PolitiFact claimed the subject was too complicated to give him a rating despite admitting the laws were nothing like Jim Crow. Hypocrisy aside, Sherman hypes, “We have rated similar attacks against congressional Democrats, Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, as False or Pants on Fire.” Sherman also notes, “The Trump campaign pointed to a column written by Washington Post opinion writer Catherine Rampell, headlined: "When your opponent calls you ‘communist,’ maybe don’t propose price controls?" (Rampell has also criticized Trump’s economic ideas.)” The parenthetical, of course, has nothing to do with the fact-check, but Sherman ultimately allows Team Harris to describe itself, “Harris’ campaign describes Harris’ stance as capitalist, not Marxist, and experts say her policies are based on the assumption of a market-driven economy. Her issue portfolio consists of mainstream left-of-center views, and would be uncontroversial even among right-of-center parties in Europe.” She concludes, “When Trump calls Harris a communist, it evokes fear in Americans who fled authoritarian communist regimes. Neither her past nor current positions reveal Harris, the U.S. vice president for the last four years, to be communist. We rate this statement Pants on Fire!” If political insults that aren’t 100 percent literal are going to be given “pants on fire” ratings, then PolitiFact should start applying that standard equally.

The leftist extremism of ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC (and its cable affiliate MSNBC) is well-documented. However, what rarely gets mentioned is that the woke reporting emanating from these networks aligns with that of the leftist ESG asset manager giants that own the biggest portion of their stock. ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC (and its cable affiliate MSNBC) have persistently inundated viewers with non-stop left-wing TV broadcasting with impunity. Whether it’s the media pushing a woke environmental, social and governance agenda; propping up President Joe Biden or Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign; smearing former President Donald Trump and his supporters; pushing climate agitprop or ignoring news that’s politically damaging to the left, the media’s overt bias correlates with the interests of the leftist corporate entities that bankroll their enterprises.  Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street — three of the most notorious asset managers that pushed woke environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards onto the U.S. economy and Middle America — are the top three shareholders in each of ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN’s parent companies: Walt Disney Corp., Paramount Global, Comcast Corp. and Warner Bros. Discovery. Collectively, Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street own a whopping 1.9 billion shares of these media empires valued at a combined 71,879,816,285 as of Sept. 4. Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street have consistently been among the top shareholders of the leftist media companies since 2023. WATCH: Environmental, Social, Governance Standards and the Radical Left’s Anti-American Agenda MRC Business also looked at the top shareholders of Fox News’s parent company News Corp., which tends to appeal to a more right-leaning audience. Of the five major media giants, News Corp. is the only one that does not have Vanguard, BlackRock and State Street amongst its top three shareholders. Instead, State Street, Vanguard and BlackRock rank fourth, fifth and sixth respectively among News Corp. shareholders. So if Americans are wondering why ABC, CBS and NBC have prolonged the Harris political honeymoon by pushing non-stop propaganda, as a recent MRC study showed, perhaps they should look to their activist owners. The ABC, CBS and NBC nightly newscasts boasted 11,330,000 viewers combined during the week of July 22, 2024 alone, putting an exclamation point on the enormous influence that these media entities wield over Americans’ daily news diet.  All three asset managers have come under enormous fire for their fixation on ESG, wokeism and coercion of other businesses to follow suit, reportedly causing them to pull back on their more aggressive public leftist activism. But that doesn’t seem to have deterred their underlying goals. Financial News reported in February that Vanguard, BlackRock, State Street and Fidelity had spent $7.6 million just on government lobbying in the year 2023 alone. One of the firms cited “ESG regulation” as one of the top issues that they actively lobbied for.  But the three asset managers' connections to ESG don’t end there. BlackRock boasts on its website how in 2020 it integrated ESG at BlackRock, putting “sustainability at the center of our investment process, based on the conviction that integrating sustainability-related information into the investment process can help our portfolio managers manage risk and make better informed investment decisions.”  BlackRock CEO Larry Fink was present in June 2024 when President Joe Biden and other G7 leaders reiterated their commitment to accelerating eco-activist “sustainable infrastructure investment through the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI).” At the meeting, BlackRock “highlighted its commitment to facilitate billions in investments, including the close of the Climate Finance Partnership (CFP), a blended finance investment vehicle developed in partnership with the governments of France, Germany, and Japan that seeks to accelerate the flow of capital into climate-related investments in emerging markets.”  Vanguard also makes no bones about its commitment to ESG, pontificating on its website about its “set of corporate sustainability goals and initiatives to make progress toward reducing carbon emissions and reaching carbon neutrality in our global operations by 2025.”  And not to be outdone, State Street pats its ESG focus on the back: “As one of the world’s largest service providers and managers of institutional assets, our success depends on the success of our stakeholders — our clients, employees, investors and the communities we serve. We believe that considering environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues supports our purpose.” Despite the reported pullback by the big three asset managers due to political backlash, the woke, anti-American manipulation of the information flow on broadcast and cable TV outlets has already left its mark. MRC recently reported how 84 percent of legacy media coverage about Vice President Kamala Harris is favorable, while 89 percent of legacy media coverage about Trump is negative, but that is only the beginning of the story. Consider the following instances of overt leftist bias: ABC World News Tonight Sunday anchor Linsey Davis linked the Ku Klux Klan to Trump. (Aug.19) MSNBC host Alex Wagner propagandized that Trump and his supporters fear a Harris presidency would end the “white patriarchy.” (Aug. 20).  The ABC, CBS and NBC evening networks ignored coverage of Biden outrageously issuing his first veto killing a bipartisan bill to prevent pension fund managers from unilaterally making investment decisions based on ESG. (March 20, 2023). The ABC, CBS and NBC evening news networks ignored major news that two of their top parent company shareholders, BlackRock and State Street, withdrew from Climate Action 100+ over apparent fears that such a meeting to discuss pressuring companies to lower their fossil fuel usage would violate federal antitrust law, according to The New York Times. (Feb. 15, 2023 - Feb. 16, 2023). CNN Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour teed up one her guests to lambast Trump for rolling back climate regulations. “Now, the other concern about Donald Trump is his effect on the climate after rolling back many environmental provisions in his first term, not to mention pulling out of the Paris climate accord,” Amanpour railed. (April 22). Ahead of the April solar eclipse, NBC News’s streaming platform held a highly politicized segment with Star Trek icon William Shatner to tie the eclipse to the need to fight climate change. (April 8). CNN contributor Van Jones called GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) an “ideological nationalist” and suggested that “[t]hat’s a much more dangerous virus because he can … polish this stuff and make it seem palatable to people” better than Trump. (July 15). CNN climate alarmist expert Michael Mann doom-mongered on the 2024 summer heat wave: “There is no economy on a dead planet.” (June 19). The ABC, CBS and NBC evening networks ignored coverage of a damning Congressional hearing that explored the imminent dangers ESG policies posed to the U.S. economy. (May 10, 2023). CNN climate warrior Bill Weir celebrated the utility of whale poop to fight the climate crisis: “Let's figure out the value of a whale. What Earth services it provides over its 60-year life, $2 million-- $ 2 million in Earth services, all thanks to their poo.” (Feb. 2).  CBS Saturday Morning Host Dana Jacobson twisted the Biden-Harris human smuggling crisis at the U.S. southern border as “more complex” because of climate change (May 4). MSNBC Host Alicia Menendez complained that Trump discussed illegal immigration during his RNC speech and claimed that it had shades of the 2019 El Paso, Texas mass shooter’s “manifesto.” (July 18). One glaring potential conflict of interest between the media and their corporate shareholders involved the East Palestine, Ohio train disaster that occurred in February, 2023, which resulted in toxic fumes being spewed into the atmosphere.  An MRC study revealed that the Big Three broadcast network’s morning and evening news shows all but dropped coverage of the Ohio disaster once residents were permitted to return home Feb. 8. Between the incident’s genesis on Feb. 3 and the evacuation order for East Palestine being lifted on Feb. 8, all six shows fell just shy of spending a combined 30 minutes on the topic, largely regurgitating the public relations gaslighting of the company that owned the railway implicated in the incident, Norfolk Southern Corp.  MRC Business revealed at the time that two of the three asset managers with the biggest holdings in the Big Three’s parent companies, BlackRock and Vanguard, were also the two largest shareholders of Norfolk Southern. This indicated that ABC’s, CBS’s and NBC’s premature abandonment of coverage of the environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio may have been a gambit to protect the leftist pro-environmental, social, governance (ESG) standard giants tied to the incident. Deliberate or not, you can’t help but wonder whether these woke companies and their large ownership stake in the parent companies of ABC, CBS, CNN and NBC (and its cable affiliate MSNBC) is part of the reason why the talking heads on these networks adopt the same left-wing talking points and regurgitate them near-verbatim.  When DNC talking points were leaked the week of July 26, 2024, they appeared to be almost identical to what TV journalists had been saying that whole week about Harris’s role as border czar for the Biden-Harris administration. MRC’s News Analysis Division assembled the following compilation video to illustrate this. Watch: In another montage, MRC’s News Analysis Division showcased how the leftist media simultaneously took Biden-Harris administration Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre’s novel term “cheap fake” and regurgitated it ad nauseam in an apparent effort to protect Biden’s electoral aspirations before dropping out. Clearly, a greater spotlight should be placed on the massive woke corporations that own America’s news. MRC Director of Media Analysis Geoff Dickens and MRC Media Editor Bill D'Agostino contributed to this report. Conservatives are under attack. Contact ABC News (818) 460-7477, CBS News (212) 975-3247 and NBC News (212) 664-6192, MSNBC at (800) 952-5210 and CNN at 404-827-1500 and demand they report the news fairly and stop genuflecting to leftist ESG standards.       

While children across America were going back to school, users across Big Tech platforms found themselves going back to digital jail for exercising their free speech online. Despite Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg apologizingfor previous election interference, his platforms are still censoring election-related information. In addition to censoring election-related information, Meta platforms make up three of the top five worst censorship cases for the month of August. Facebook censored content about the new Reagan movie, and Instagram censored information about the harmful nature of the transgender ideology. Google-owned YouTube, for its part, tried to suppress information about the UK’s crackdown on free speech, while X (formerly Twitter) censored an anti-grooming group’s comments on the drag queens at the Olympics. Below are the worst examples of censorship from August 2024 as recorded in MRC’s unique CensorTrack database. Meta-owned Facebook suppresses content about a biographical film on Republican President Ronald Reagan. Actor Dennis Quaid and the marketers for the film Reagan accusedFacebook of suppressing advertising and promotion before the film was released Aug. 30. Quaid, who plays Reagan in the movie, wrote in an email to Newsweek, “Facebook is once again censoring the free flow of ideas, deciding what's best for us to see and hear; only this time it's throttling advertising and promotion for my movie about Ronald Reagan.” The film’s digital marketing director Eric McClellan also sent a letter to Zuckerberg reportedly citing “numerous problems” when trying to advertise Reagan on the Meta-owned platform. According to McClellan, the most “egregious” example of censorship was when Facebook prevented a post showing Quaid, the title of the film and a Reagan quote from being displayed. The platform also reportedly issued temporary suspensions to the movie’s Facebook page over clips of Quaid discussing the movie, asserting the content “mentions politicians or is about sensitive issues that could influence public opinion, how people vote and may impact the outcome of an election or pending legislation.” Facebook targets election-related information as 2024 Election Day approaches. Judicial Watch posted on Facebook, “BREAKING: Judicial Watch received an Excel spreadsheet of names and other data from the District of Columbia Board of Elections revealing that 113 non-citizens voted in the June '2024 Presidential Primary.’” The post added a quote from Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton and included an article link: “Judicial Watch: 113 Noncitizens Voted in DC Presidential Primary.” Facebook imposed a fact-check label claiming, “Missing context. Independent fact-checkers say this information could mislead people.” The label linked to a LeadStories article: “Fact Check: 113 Non-Citizens Did NOT Vote For President In DC June ‘2024 Presidential Primary.’” Users trying to share the post were required to click through yet another warning label claiming the post was “missing context,” and even after selecting “share anyway” the fact check appeared on the shared post. YouTube censors conservative host Glenn Beck for interviewing journalist about illegal immigration. Blaze Media founder and nationally syndicated radio talk show host Glenn Beck interviewed independent journalist Tommy Robinson about the riots in the U.K., which Robinson said he has been accused of inciting. In the video, Robinson explained to Beck that his goal had been “peaceful protest, not violence” and that he is “terrified” of being accused of incitement. U.K. authorities are arresting individuals accused of inciting violence through online free speech. YouTube imposed a warning label on the interview that users must click through in order to view the video. The label asserts that the content “has been identified by the YouTube community as inappropriate or offensive to some audiences.” Google-owned YouTube further turned offcomments and sharing for Beck’s interview, and prevented it from being suggested to other users. Below the video, YouTube wrote, “Certain features have been disabled for this video[.]” It continued, “In response to user reports, we have disabled some features, such as comments, sharing, and suggested videos, because this video contains content that may be inappropriate or offensive to some audiences.” Meta’s Instagram targets prominent detransitioner Chloe Cole. Cole, a detransition activist attempting to protect children from the left’s transgender ideology, shared a screenshot on her X account. The post shows an Instagram notice, which read: ”Take action or lose access to chooocole.” The notice further added that the “account has been suspended” because the “account, or activity on it, doesn't follow our Community Guidelines.” Instagram notified Cole that she could appeal the decision until Feb. 1, 2025, but “[i]f you don't take action, your account will be permanently disabled.” MRC Free Speech America verified that Cole's Instagram page was unavailable. Cole noted later that same day that Instagram restored her account, which MRC was also able to verify. X censors anti-child grooming organization for calling out drag queens in Olympic ceremony. Gays Against Groomers (GAG) posted about the Olympics featuring drag queens during the opening ceremony, “TRAs are claiming that the Olympics strip show was done ‘to promote positive LGBTQIA+ representation on a global scale.’ We disagree.” GAG included an image of the Olympic scene which apparently mocked the Last Supper by replacing the biblical figures with LGBTQ performers, captioning it, “GROOMERS” with the Olympics logo inserted as the “OO.” GAG subsequently shared screenshots showing how X imposed a “Visibility Limited” warning on its original post. The X label asserted “this Post may violate X's rules against Hateful Conduct.” GAG showed in another post that it had appealed the censorship, which X denied. GAG describes itself as “a nonprofit of gays, lesbians and others in the community against the sexualization, indoctrination and medicalization of children under the guise of LGBTQIA+,’” and it has been repeatedly censored by multiple online platforms, including Reddit, Instagram and Google. Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment and provide an equal platform for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using MRC Free Speech America’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

ESPN's Andscape website made a hard push for racial identity politics to kick off the NFL season, focusing on the apparent importance of race among NFL quarterbacks.Andscape, an ESPN-owned site, is self-described as "a Black-led media platform" that is purposely pushing "the diverse stories of Black identity."It's about page also cites its stated goal of pursuing the "shared mission of illuminating the culture and experience of Blackness."To start the NFL regular season, Andscape lived up to its mantra and delivered overwhelmingly racially fueled content focusing on black NFL quarterbacks. The ESPN outlet declared that not only is the sport in the "era of the black quarterback" but that black quarterbacks need to work harder to get the same respect as white quarterbacks.'Quit writing about it, quit talking about it, quit shoving it in everyone's face.'Jason Whitlock of "Fearless" called out the strange reporting and declared that "the media is actually destroying sports," not the actual competitors. "It's the media.""They're doing a story, 'half of quarterbacks are black.' Black. Black. Black. The blackity blacks are doing blackity black," Whitlock hilariously continued. "No one cares!"Whitlock then downplayed the narrative that glass ceilings are continuously being broken."[They've] won Super Bowls, played in Super Bowls, inducted into the Hall of Fame, MVPs, first-round draft picks ... but ESPN and Andscape can't find anything else compelling to do than tell everybody 'hey half the quarterbacks in the NFL are black.' Black. Black."The host added that the angle being taken by ESPN diminishes the sport, their platform, and the accomplishments of the players. — (@) Whitlock recited the beginning of one of Andscape's two leading articles titled, "The Era of the Black Quarterback."The piece claimed that for years sportswriters contacted black quarterbacks for commentary whenever another black quarterback would accomplish a feat."Then, suddenly, reporters stopped calling," Whitlock mockingly read. "Quit writing about it, quit talking about it, quit shoving it in everyone's face," he continued.The "Fearless" commentator then assured ESPN that Americans, including black Americans, are not as obsessed with race as they are."They don't tune into sports thinking they are going to get a replay of 'Roots' and '12 Years a Slave,'" he said.Another leading article on the ESPN site included an interview with Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts; the article mentioned his race nearly two dozen times.This included commentary on apparent unequal treatment of black quarterbacks, an alleged "black quarterback fraternity," and that black quarterbacks have inherently learned not to "remind the audience that [they're] black."In terms of any potential racial disparity, it doesn't actually seem like the NFL has any at the quarterback position. As of the start of the 2024 NFL season, 15 of the 32 starting quarterbacks in the league are black, while 16 are white. Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is of Samoan descent.Fritz Pollard was the first black man to play in the NFL in 1920 and also the first coach in 1921.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

Linda Sun is the former deputy chief of staff to New York Governor Kathy Hochul and a former aide to former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Now, she’s facing a federal indictment for allegedly operating as an undisclosed agent of the People’s Republic of China. Sun was arrested by the FBI at her $3.6 million home in Long Island on charges of being a foreign agent for the CCP. Federal prosecutors believe that she schemed to advance the interests of the CCP while working in the New York state government in exchange for millions of dollars, and are charging her with failing to register as a foreign agent, visa fraud, and alien smuggling. Her husband has also been charged in a money laundering conspiracy, which is reported to have afforded the pair their lavish lifestyle, complete with their extravagant Long Island home, a $1.9 million condo in Hawaii, and a 2024 Ferrari. “Being an agent of the CCP really pays, apparently,” Sara Gonzales of “Sara Gonzales Unfiltered” comments. Sun reportedly blocked Taiwan from accessing Governor Hochul, altered New York State messaging to be more favorable to the CCP, removed any references to Taiwan, and ensured that New York officials did not publicly address the CCP’s persecution of the Uyghurs. The CCP agent began her political career as chief of staff for New York State Assembly member Grace Meng, who is now a member of Congress. Meng’s father, Jimmy Meng, was the first Asian-American to be elected to the legislature in New York history. He was later arrested for wire fraud during an FBI sting investigation. “I’m just saying, if Linda Sun’s mentor was Grace Meng, whose father we already know was arrested for wire fraud,” Gonzales says. “It seems like all of these people are corrupt. Seems like maybe we should look into this woman who is now in Congress.” Sun was a part of the diversity initiative under Cuomo and made it clear she didn’t believe there were enough Asian-Americans working in the government. “I’m unsure how you can argue, how you can sit there and argue as an Asian person there isn’t enough representation in the government when you are literally Asian and you got your start working with Asians who were working in the government,” Gonzales comments. “Make that make sense,” she adds. Gonzales also notes that this isn’t the only time a Democrat has been outed as a Chinese spy, as Democrat Eric Swalwell was found to have had an affair with a Chinese spy. “Democrats have kind of a big Chinese spy problem,” Gonzales says. Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Pope Francis sparked criticism and comparisons with Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance after commending Indonesians for continuing to have large families.The pope has been touring southeastern Asia this week and made a stop in the cathedral in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta on Wednesday to meet with outgoing President Joko Widodo and to address a crowd filled with nuns, clerics, lay Catholics, and others.In 2020, America averaged just 1.6 births per woman, down significantly from an average of 3.6 births in the 1950s.During his remarks, Pope Francis praised Indonesians for having families with "three, four, or five children." He called babies "the greatest richness that a nation can have" and slammed countries that effectively imposed "a law of death ... by limiting births."The pontiff also lightheartedly insisted that Indonesia could serve as an "example" to other countries around the world, where some "families prefer to have a cat or a little dog instead of a child."Pope Francis did not name any particular country that implicitly or overtly encourages pet ownership over parenting, though birth rates in Western countries have dropped sharply in recent decades. The United States, for instance, averaged just 1.6 births per woman in 2020, down significantly from an average of 3.6 births in the 1950s, the World Bank reported.Additionally, fully 62% of Americans own at least one pet, and more than half of those pet owners believe their pets are as much a part of the family as human members, according to a Pew Research Poll published last year.The pope has data on his side, but his comments nevertheless reminded some of the "childless cat ladies" comments previously made by Sen. Vance of Ohio.In 2021, Vance, who is Catholic, told then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the U.S. was under the control of Democrats, big corporations, and "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," per NPR.In reporting on the pope's recent comments, The Hill published an article entitled "Pope Francis enters 'childless cat ladies' debate, praising Indonesians’ large families."Other, less prominent individuals have made similar remarks on social media, the Daily Mail reported. A quick X search indicates that some users have indeed linked Pope Francis and Vance over their respective comments regarding children and cats, though X posts on the subject have remained almost completely obscure, receiving little or no interaction from other users.The relevant clip of the pope's speech in Jakarta can be seen here.Wednesday was not the first time Pope Francis spoke out against declining birth rates. At a conference in Rome back in May, he said, "Homes are filled with objects and emptied of children, becoming very sad places. There is no shortage of little dogs, cats, these are not lacking. There is a lack of children."Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has also sounded the alarm about low birth rates. In April, he tweeted that "if birth rates continue to plummet, human civilization will end."Reuters noted that while Indonesian birth rates do surpass those of most Western countries, its birth rate is still declining.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!

THEY KNEW: Docs Reveal FBI, DHS, Colorado AG Were Aware of Venezuelan Gangs and DID NOTHING

Whoops: Report That Harris Team Regrets Not Picking Shapiro, As Nate Silver Has More Bad News for Them