THE CREEPY CULT SURROUNDING THE GAS STOVE PANIC GETS EXPOSED:

Good luck finding much support for Scott Wiener and Max Kennedy’s claims that gas stoves are “toxic” and cause asthma. Yes, a search will produce a random study or two, but there’s been no landmark research regarding gas stoves proving they are a major health risk, much less is there anything that begins to justify federal government intervention.

What makes this even dumber is that all the Democrats currently pushing for a ban on gas stoves apparently have them. If they are so dangerous, why didn’t Elizabeth Warren, Jill Biden, Kamala Harris, and others get rid of their gas stoves years ago? Could it be because this entire discussion is completely manufactured?

Fortunately, for now, it appears to be a ban too far, even for this White House: Consumer Safety Commission Walks Back Gas-Stove Threat amid Backlash.

AND TO THINK I KNEW HER WHEN: Film Forum Director Karen Cooper to Step Down After 50 Years.

When Karen Cooper took over Film Forum in 1972, the theater was a projector and 50 folding chairs in a loft on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, showing what were then known as underground films. The annual budget was $19,000. Cooper projected the films — sometimes herself — on a single 16-millimeter machine no larger than a microwave.

“I’d say to someone, ‘I show independent films,’ and they’d say, ‘You mean pornography?’” Cooper, 74, recalled with a laugh in a recent conversation at the nonprofit art house cinema’s offices, now located across the street from the theater in Greenwich Village.

But now, Cooper, who has become synonymous with Film Forum — which has grown into a four-screen space with a $6 million-a-year budget and an influence that reaches far beyond New York City — is stepping down from the director role she’s filled for half a century, the organization announced on Monday.

“I’ve thought about this for years,” said Cooper, whose last day will be June 30, though she will remain on staff as an adviser. “I wanted to have a smooth transition.”

The Film Forum is a brilliant venue, combining experimental programming and revivals of old classics; my cousin-in-law knows how to run a movie theater.

FORGET THE HATERS: Mayor Lori Lightfoot won’t quit until Chicago is the safest big city in America.

Good luck accomplishing that. On the other hand, since the Chicago mayor isn’t term-limited, is Lightfoot declaring herself mayor for life? Richard Daly was mayor of Chicago for 21 years. Will she be attempting to top that record?

(Chicago’s last Republican mayor left office in 1931.)

OVERLORD: Unconventional WWII Film Slip-Cuts Between Fact, Fiction, 1944 and 1975.

My latest, on a once-forgotten gem of a war movie, over at Ed Driscoll.com.

UPDATE NEWSPEAK DICTIONARIES ACCORDINGLY, COMRADES! In bid to oppose racism, USC School of Social Work nixes use of the word ‘field.’

The University of Southern California’s School of Social Work is dropping use of the word “field” in an effort to oppose racism.

“As we enter 2023, we would like to share a change we are making at the Suzanne-Dworak-Peck School of Social Work to ensure our use of inclusive language and practice. Specifically, we have decided to remove the term ‘field’ from our curriculum and practice and replace it with ‘practicum.’ This change supports anti-racist social work practice by replacing language that could be considered anti-Black or anti-immigrant in favor of inclusive language,” a notice about the change states.

“Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘field work’ may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign,” the notice claims. The notice indicates that it is from the “Practicum Education Department” and to the “USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck Practicum Education Community, Faculty, Staff, and Students.

I can’t wait to turn on ESPN this fall to watch the Saturday USC game played on their football practicum.

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.

ROGER KIMBALL: It’s different when Biden gets caught with classified docs.

RELIGION OF PEACE UPDATE: Report: Germany Arrests Iranian National Planning “Islamist-Motivated” Chemical Attack. German police: The 32-year-old Iranian man is “suspected of having prepared a serious act of violence … by procuring cyanide and ricin to commit an Islamist-motivated attack.”

FRANK J. FLEMING HAS ANSWERS TO THE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS: A Ladies Guide to Landing a Plane in an Emergency Situation. Women seem to think they couldn’t land an airplane with just the assistance of air traffic control, but I’m here to help.

DON SURBER: McCarthy cleans House. “McCarthy said, ‘It’s not like it’s anything new. Remember, this is what Nancy Pelosi – this is the type of Congress she wanted to have.'”

As Kurt Schlichter warned them in 2015: Liberals May Regret Their New Rules.

NEW STUDY DEBUNKS HILLARY CLINTON’S FAVORITE CONSPIRACY THEORY:

Never mind that a two-year probe conducted by Robert Mueller proved Democrats’ ‘Russian collusion’ conspiracy theory not to be true. Never mind that the recent release of Trump’s tax returns also showed it not to be true.

Now, even the Washington Post is saying it’s not true!

When Mueller came up empty-handed in 2019, disappointed Democrats still insisted that Russia had used trolls or bots on social media to steer the election toward Trump. Yet, the Washington Post’s Tim Starks reported on Monday (emphasis added), “Russian influence operations on Twitter in the 2016 presidential election reached relatively few users, most of whom were highly partisan Republicans, and the Russian accounts had no measurable impact in changing minds or influencing voter behavior, according to a study out this morning.”

As Ace asks, “Where do we go to get our last six years back?”

BAN ALL THE THINGS! The Attack on Things That Work:

The loss of these techniques may not disturb those for whom fine dining is one restaurant reservation away—those with sufficient means who reside in locales with access to that level of finery. That leads us to perhaps the most important distinction between electric and gas overlooked by America’s busybodies: gas is cheaper. In most U.S. states, natural-gas appliances cost between 10 and 30 percent less to operate on a regular basis than electric alternatives.

The attack on natural gas appliances should be viewed as an extension of the war the nation’s regulatory apparatus is waging against gasoline-powered lawn equipment. The arguments that opponents of these machines deploy are myriad. They are bad for the environment. They throw “disease-spreading” particulate into the atmosphere. They shatter the bucolic placidity of the spring and summer months. These dubious assertions are necessary to convince you to devote more of your income and vastly more manhours to the work of lawn care.

There’s symmetry, too, with the undemocratic means by which America’s most neurotic states are depriving you of access to single-use plastics such as straws and shopping bags, incandescent lighting, and short-cycle dishwashers and laundry machines. Efficiency is the problem. If abstractions such as social justice and sustainability fail to convince you, then you must be cajoled or extorted out of your selfish attachment to proficiency. And if that doesn’t work, there’s always the force of law.

Of course, California super-sizes its bans: California looks to ban all gas and diesel truck fleets.

Which makes this statement by Gov. Newsom (D-French Laundry) an all-time classic in Orwellian doublespeak: “California is the true freedom state. Protecting liberty from a rising tide of oppression taking root in statehouses. Weakness, masquerading as strength. Small men in big offices. Freedom is who we are – anyone from anywhere can accomplish anything here.”

OKAY, GROOMERS: Why Is NPR Promoting Teaching Children How To Give Oral Sex?

KATIE PORTER WON’T WAIT FOR DIANNE FEINSTEIN, JUST ANNOUNCES SHE’S RUNNING FOR HER SENATE SEAT. “Feinstein, who is still in the seat, hasn’t said one way or another if she’s running or not, but that doesn’t matter to Porter, who just won re-election to the House. She wants to make the move over to the Senate because it’s a safer seat. She won’t be challenged every two years. Porter is skilled at raising money from small-dollar donors and is beloved by progressives. However, she isn’t without baggage. Just recently, it was discovered that she horribly mistreated a staffer who was a Wounded Warrior Fellow and apparently has a history of being abusive to staff, which includes accusations of racism. Is she the best California Democrats can do? Probably.”

Finally, the grownups are back: Holy impeachment! Democrat Katie Porter is slammed on social media for dressing up as Batgirl in Congress on same day as historic inquiry vote.

PAULA BOLYARD: Insider Emails PROVE Efforts to Censor Tucker Carlson Came From the White House.

CHANGE:

Flashback: Pelosi, Democrats eject Marjorie Taylor Greene from House committees.

As with Harry Reid and the filibuster, why do Democrats think the rules they change won’t apply to them when they’re the party out of power?

TYLER O’NEIL: Kristi Noem backs bill protecting kids from trans “treatments.”

AMAZING: Damar Hamlin Discharged, Will Continue Recovery in Buffalo.

SHOCK: NYU Study Finds Russian Trolls Had Little to No Impact on Trump’s 2016 Election. As Ace asks, “Where do we go to get our last six years back?”

DISPATCHES FROM WEIMAR AMERICA: The Left Hits a New Low: Down Syndrome Drag Shows.

THERE ARE RECEIPTS: Joe Biden’s White House Directed Facebook COVID-19 Censorship.

GREAT MOMENTS IN PROJECTION: Classified documents from when Biden was VP are found in his think tank’s Washington office: Ten files were found day BEFORE midterms — but Department of Justice investigation has only just been made public.

No word yet if Biden will be siccing the FBI on himself over this.

Exit quote:

President Biden spoke about the classified documents the FBI found in former President Trump’s home. When Mr. Biden saw the FBI image of the documents he says he thought to himself, “How anyone could be that irresponsible?” https://t.co/7SixTE3OMT pic.twitter.com/sgQraMMOl5

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) September 19, 2022

 
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): Yep.

YES. NEXT QUESTION? Did ‘every conspiracy theory’ about Twitter turn out to be… true? New video from Reason TV:

Earlier:Jonathan Turley: “We Don’t Do This:” Adam Schiff and the Underbelly of American Censorship.

IT’S A LONG WAY TO THE TOP, IF YOU WANNA ROCK AND ROLL: From Vinyl Roofs to Classic Vinyl. Review: The Lives of Brian by Brian Johnson.

The big rock acts have become tribute bands to their younger selves. They pad the thinning ranks of their original members with substitutes for the growing ranks of their dead, like those medieval soldiers who propped up corpses on the ramparts in order to hold off the siege. They have been doing this for so long that some of the substitutes now pass for the real thing. Ron Wood joined The Rolling Stones in 1975, replacing Mick Taylor, who replaced Brian Jones. This is the musical equivalent of the philosopher’s conundrum known as the Raft of Theseus. If you replace all the plank-spankers, how can it still be the same vessel?

Brian Johnson joined AC/DC in 1980 after the death of the band’s original singer Bon Scott. Before we proceed to Johnson’s amiable rockography, The Lives of Brian, we should clarify the musical technicalities. AC/DC are not a heavy metal band. They are frequently hard rock, but essentially they are a rock ’n’ roll band. Like Motörhead, and like the early punk bands that shared their energy and glee, they are the last, late progeny of ’50s rock ’n’ roll. They are loud and bluesy, and have more in common with Johnny Kidd and the Pirates than with Metallica or Def Leppard. The boogie in their early albums carries echoes of the age before Elvis. Like Motörhead’s Philthy Phil Taylor or The Damned’s Rat Scabies, the drumming of AC/DC’s first drummer Phil “The Stud” Rudd swings with the ghost of Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich.

Second, AC/DC are Australian. Formed in 1973, they came up the old way, which is the hard way, on the Australian pub circuit. The “pub” part might evoke cozy and ramshackle British country inns, but Australian pubs, according to those who have visited them and survived, are cavernous beer halls full of raging drunks. These bracing conditions made AC/DC what the Irish call a “show band,” playing other people’s hits, and entertaining the punters like a very loud vaudeville act. Hence their guitarist Angus Young dressing as a schoolboy, complete with satchel.

Third, Bon Scott was and always will be AC/DC’s singer. This is the Raft of Theseus part. Scott had been with the band for six years before he choked on his own vomit after an especially exuberant night out in South London. Brian Johnson replaced him in 1980, and freely admits that he is a singing caretaker, preserving Scott’s songs and the band that made them. Johnson’s 42 years on the job begin where The Lives of Brian ends. This is the story of what Johnson did before he became famous, and what he did to become famous. It is, as Bon Scott wrote, “a long way to the top if you want to rock ’n’ roll,” but the scenic route is much more interesting than the rock star’s cycle of arena shows and private jets.

Read the whole thing.

TYLER O’NEIL: YouTube Censors Doctors, Heritage Foundation Expert for ‘Medical Misinformation’ on COVID-19.

Nearly three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and just after President Joe Biden effectively claimed the pandemic is over by trying to reverse Title 42, YouTube removed footage of a panel involving doctors and a Heritage Foundation expert discussing COVID-19 and restrictions imposed on religious liberty in the name of public health.

One speaker on the panel told The Daily Signal that this Big Tech censorship proved his point about suppression of freedoms during the pandemic, and he condemned YouTube’s move as “Kafkaesque.”

The panel, “Setting the Record Straight,” took place at the Restoring Our Faith Summit last October in Vermont.

Speakers included Dr. Robin Armstrong, owner of an organization of hospital and nursing home physicians; Dr. Janci Chunn Lindsay, a toxicology expert; Aaron Kheriaty, a psychologist and scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center; and Roger Severino, former director of the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services and currently vice president for domestic policy at The Heritage Foundation. (The Daily Signal is Heritage’s news outlet.)

“Hi Restoring Our Faith Summit, Our team has reviewed your content, and, unfortunately, we think it violates our medical misinformation policy,” YouTube wrote Dec. 13 to the summit, using boldface for the final three words.

YouTube noted that it had removed content on the panel discussion from the social media site’s platform.

How’s Elon Musk’s YouTube clone for Twitter coming along?