MOSHE HILL OPINION COLUMNS MAY 10 2023
The monstrosity of a state budget passed a month after it was originally due, and it is seeking to not just run the state government, but actively interfere in the day to day lives of New Yorkers. The budget, amounting to a massive $229.8 billion, represents a 3.7 percent increase from the previous year and a staggering 69 percent increase from a decade ago. The budget includes various components such as Medicaid, Covid relief funds, federal aid, and borrowed capital funds. The part that’s garnering a lot of headlines, however, is the regulation against gas stoves.
The pending budget deal mandates all new buildings under seven stories be fully electric by 2026, with larger structures following three years later. This means that new construction cannot have gas stovetops, relegating all new homes to electric ranges. This also means no hookups for natural gas grills outdoors, and no natural gas for heating or showers. All of this is regulated on top of a power grid that, if it fails, will completely shut down your home. Don’t forget: They have already passed regulations requiring no new gas-powered cars to be sold in the state, making more electrical vehicles connected to the same power grid.
This is a house of cards that everyone knows will collapse, and New Yorkers will pay the price for the decisions that are being made today.
Democrats are manufacturing an energy crisis to placate climate change radicals who claim there is a climate crisis. Yet even those climate change radicals don’t actually believe there is a climate crisis, because all of the logical and practical methods of reducing carbon emissions are rejected by the radicals (like natural gas and nuclear). Meanwhile, the same people who say that the world is going to end are spending an inordinate amount of time on fighting the culture war. Newsflash: If the world were actually going to end, no one would be trying this hard to make sure men dressed in ludicrous outfits and 10 pounds of makeup can read stories about how happy they are to preschool children.
Even that wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have media sycophants actively gaslighting the general public about this very issue. Back in February, when this was first rumored, GOP lawmakers sounded the alarm on the pending regulation. The Democrats, both in the Biden and Hochul administrations, pulled back and said this was unfounded. The media was happy to mock Republicans for such a ludicrous thought.
Stephanie Ruhle of MSNBC called the gas stove ban “a new, and absolutely ridiculous [thing to think.]” Chris Hayes called it a “right wing freakout.” Joy Reid laughed at the absurdity of it. Seth Meyers also called it a “freakout” adding, “no one is taking your gas stove.” Medhi Hassan said it was a “freakout” (seeing a pattern yet?) and called it “the latest in a long series of made up, culture war battles that are designed to enrage and rile up their right wing and paranoid base.” A CNN commentator said that “Republicans are prone to conspiracy theories.”
That’s just the cable commentators spouting their nonsense to their dwindling audiences. Here are some of the headlines that emerged back in February. New York Times: “No One Is Coming for Your Gas Stove Anytime Soon” Time: “How Gas Stoves Became the Latest Right-Wing Cause in the Culture Wars” Salon: “Rumors of a gas stove ban ignite a right-wing culture war” MSNBC: “No, the woke mob is not coming for your gas stove” Associated Press: “FACT FOCUS: Biden administration isn’t banning gas stoves” Washington Post: “GOP thrusts gas stoves, Biden’s green agenda into the culture wars.”
How long before this “freakout” and “conspiracy theory” became law in the fourth-largest state in the country? Around six weeks. Have any of these commentators, who have all said that people like Tucker Carlson have no journalistic integrity, apologized? Retracted? Expressed a sense of outrage that the government is trying to control the way you cook? Not even close. CNN Chief Climate Correspondent Bill Weir mocked people for even wanting to have gas stoves, claiming, “[i]t’s a very emotional thing, cooking over fires. It’s primal. People love the idea of a furnace burning in the basement to keep them warm or they like the way their food cooks. It’s a cultural thing.”
It will be a primal thing, because when the electrical grid fails or home electricity skyrockets to keep up with the massive supply shortage that is looming, people will be forced to make fires to keep themselves warm or cook their food.
This is not hyperbole. In Texas, when they relied too much on wind and solar energy to power their grid, a once-in-a-century freeze forced people to gather around the fireplace just to keep warm. What happens the next time a Superstorm Sandy hits the shores of Long Island? At least then, the oil burners still worked to keep people warm and the natural gas allowed people to cook food. What happens when all of that is gone? Make sure you stack up some firewood. Don’t worry though – politicians in Albany and cable news talking heads will give you a sticker for being a good climate change soldier while their publicly-funded backup generators keep them cozy and comfortable.
New York, we get what we voted for.
