Pun Salad

Nothing about gas in Proverbs 21:20, though. So without biblical guidance, Kim Strassel looks at The Campaign to Ban Gas Stoves.

<voice imitation="horatio_caine">So would that be …

    (•_•)
    ( •_•)>⌐■-■
    (⌐■_■)
    

<voice imitation="roger_daltrey">YEEEAAAHHHH!</voice>

Briefly noted:

• Steven Greenhut seems to think so, anyway: Gas Stove Ban Backlash Has Progressives Gaslighting America.

  After my column last week about environmentalists' apparent desire to make our lives miserable as they try to improve the environment, I heard from progressives who accused me of jumping on the Fox News bandwagon. That's because I pointed to their latest crusade to highlight the supposed danger of natural-gas stoves.

  "I'd laugh my ass off about all the dipsticks freaking out about the imaginary war on gas stoves, but sadly, it's an indication of just how dumb and easily led so many people are," wrote one former journalist on Twitter. That echoed a common theme: conservatives are engaged in their latest unsubstantiated freak-out regarding some "reasonable" policy.

  I've de-bowdlerized "ass" in the above excerpt.

  For those who haven't seen the old Hitchcock movie, the psychological trick of gaslighting is described here.

• We don't often quote LTE's but it's Adam Thierer's letter, and it's in the WSJ, and he makes an excellent point, so… EU-Style Regulation Begets EU-Style Stagnation.

  The only thing Europe exports now on the digital-technology front is regulation. That is why it is mind-boggling that William Barr (“Congress Must Halt Big Tech’s Power Grab,” op-ed, Jan. 23) joins President Biden (“Unite Against Big Tech Abuses,” op-ed, Jan. 12) in calling for America to lead from behind on technology policy, following in the footsteps of the European Union rather than further developing one of the largest sectors of our economy.

  Neither mention the staggering costs of the EU’s big-government regulatory crusade against digital tech: Stagnant markets, limited innovation and a dearth of major players. Overregulation by EU bureaucrats led Europe’s best entrepreneurs and investors to flee to the U.S. or elsewhere in search of the freedom to innovate.

  To paraphrase what Boyd Crowder asked Devil just before shooting him in the chest: ""Whatever led you in your imagination to believe government could pull this off?"

• A contrarian take on poultry farming from River Page: Cage The Chickens.

  Let’s talk about the “cage-free” hen.

  First of all, chickens are violent animals even in the most idyllic settings. As a kid in rural East Texas, my family kept yard hens — never more than a dozen or so at a time — with a large coop for nesting and full run of the property. We raised chickens in the Platonic ideal of “cage-free,” the exact sort of pastoral environment egg marketing teams try to evoke. Still, on occasion, we would walk outside and find that, some time between the night and morning, the hens had encircled one of their flockmates and literally torn her apart.

  These occurrences are much more common in commercial “cage-free” environments. Wayne Hsiung, an investigator for the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere witnessed hens eating each other alive in a Costco cage-free egg farm. The process by which hens cannibalize each other is horrific and the details are grisly. In the typical cannibalism scenario, after finding a vulnerable target, sororicidal hens target her cloaca — the soft, fleshy part of the chicken from which she lays eggs and produces excrement. The victim hen dies slowly, as her flockmates eviscerate her from the inside out.

  Yeesh. Store brand eggs ($4.89/dozen, as I type) for me. The PBS-advertised "free range" eggs from Pete & Gerry's go for $5.49 for a half dozen, and they are not guaranteed to be cannibal-free.