WHO KNEW THAT AGE 80, BIDEN CAN DO 360s BETTER THAN TONY HAWK? Biden tries to pivot to the center.
Biden seems to see his position as strong enough to break an immigration stand-off between the left-wingers and moderates within his administration. Last week he announced measures designed to stem the flow of migrants crossing from Mexico into the United States. The raft of measures included expanded use of Title 42 expulsions: an abandonment of the promise to junk Trump-era measures that prompted a rebuke from progressive groups. Homeland Security has also announced an update of the Trump-era “transit ban” that will make migrants who did not go through an authorized port of entry ineligible for asylum. It would also prohibit migrants from applying for asylum unless they were first turned away by another country.
In other words, behind the symbolism of Biden’s border visit is a substantive move in a more moderate direction. By expanding his administration’s use of Title 42, for example, Biden is embracing a policy he had been fighting in the courts to end.
Axios’s Josh Kraushaar lists Biden’s border trip as one sign of a “quiet pivot” to the center that has defined the start of 2023 for the president. Other evidence of the pivot includes last week’s show of bipartisanship in a Kentucky visit with Mitch McConnell to promote the results of bipartisan infrastructure legislation. Kraushaar understands the pivot as part of the “emerging Biden bet” that “he can reprise his winning 2020 campaign theme — winning re-election as a center-left incumbent who looks better than the radical alternatives.”
That “pivot to the center” didn’t last very long: Really? They want to ban gas stoves now?
The claim here is that gas stoves “emit pollutants including nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and fine particulate matter.” Those alleged emissions are above levels deemed safe by the EPA and the WHO. But if this report sounds suspicious to you, you’re not alone. First of all, gas stoves have been around since the early 1800s and they have been ubiquitous in America for longer than anyone can remember. The EPA has been in business for more than 50 years. The WHO was set up in the 1940s. And you’re just figuring this out now?
Obviously, not everyone agrees with this proposal. It appears to be based on one study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The American Gas Association cited guidelines from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the EPA, neither of which find gas stoves to be a significant contributor to adverse air quality or to pose a health hazard.
Turning this into more of a clown show, Cory Booker jumped into the debate. He claimed that gas stoves pose a “cumulative burden on black, Latino and low-income households.” Because of course he did. Here’s a hot tip for Senator Booker. White people use gas stoves too. Everyone does.
If Joe’s brain didn’t consist of rotting guacamole, this would be the perfect opportunity for him to do a little 1990s-era Clinton-style triangulation, and insist that “No, of course we’re not taking away your gas stoves. Jill loves hers!”
But it’s not like we’ve seen many signs that Joe is actually running the show in his White House.