In case you missed it …
A bill introduced by Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) would make certain kinds of “hate speech” a criminal offense, weakening the First Amendment.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Department of Justice considered having FBI agents monitor President Biden’s lawyers as they sifted through classified documents but ultimately rejected the idea.
A Colorado College physics professor says sexist astrophysicists use “violent” and “hypermasculine” language to describe space.
Dear Friends —
Out of seemingly nowhere, gas stoves are under attack. How did this become a “controversy” in the blink of an eye?
The spark started with green-energy group, The Rocky Mountain Institute, which published a study in December that blames 13% of U.S. childhood asthma cases on gas stoves. (Weirdly, the institute is partnered with China in its supposed efforts to save the world.)
The study
The study itself is flawed beyond silliness. BJ Campbell, who’s appeared on my podcast, calls it this way: “the science behind ‘gas stoves cause asthma’ is some of the dumbest I have ever seen.”
It’s a jumble of data from various years, spread over various countries. It doesn’t account for other environmental factors, primarily that kids who grow up in homes with gas stoves tend to live in areas with higher fine particulate matter in the air (not necessarily from gas stoves).
The Rocky Mountain Institute isn’t exactly unbiased, either. The board is full of executives from green energy corporations who would benefit from fossil fuel bans. Sen. J.D. Vance (R - Ohio) says the institute’s ties to the CCP are troubling. He told the Free Beacon:
"Who benefits from all this? Communist China. I think it's time for the chairman of the Consumer Product Safety Commission to answer some questions before Congress—under oath."
Oh, also the lead authors of the study aren’t scientists. One has a master of international affairs. One has an MBA.
The gaslighting
The legacy media simultaneously began both laying the groundwork to ban stoves, and blaming conservatives for starting the whole controversy.
The Washington Post ran four stories on the stove study, where one quoted a Consumer Product Safety Commission commissioner as saying the agency may ban gas stoves or regulate the amount of “toxic fumes such stoves can spew into Americans’ kitchens.”
Less than a day later, WaPo was mocking anyone stupid enough to believe the government wanted to take away our stoves.
“Republican lawmakers are claiming that the Consumer Product Safety Commission wants to take away people’s gas stoves, in what they say is the latest example of the Biden administration’s regulatory overreach .... In reality, the commission is not going to snatch anyone’s stove.”
Later, the CPSC did say it wouldn’t ban gas stoves. But the federal government is planning to eliminate them in federal buildings, and many states and cities have either banned or are considering banning gas stoves.
This idea that conservatives are suddenly pouncing on something silly and freaking out wasn’t limited to the Washington Post. Axios called gas stoves the “Right’s New Fight,” and began their article,
“Despite official insistence that fears of a ban are unfounded, conservatives are suddenly championing gas stoves in a new culture war.”
It’s not a new phenomenon. The idea that conservatives like to get upset and wage culture wars about nothing has been used for everything from The 1619 Project to critical race theory. It’s such a tired trope, the National Review wrote a funny satire piece about it, called simply, “Republicans Pounce: An Investigative Report.”
It’s a winning method for liberals. If they float an extreme idea and no one flips out over it, they get their way. If people do get outraged, they question your understanding of the matter.
Surely you don’t think they would propose something that ridiculous, do you? You must be crazy.
Gaslighting at its finest.
— Ken
"Republicans pounce" :-D