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Democracy

No, Joe Biden isn’t going to take your gas stove. He actually wants to buy you a new one.

Isn’t that nice?

gas stoves, gas stove ban, ted cruz
via Wikimedia Commons and Pixabay

Joe Biden's kickoff rally for his 2020 presidential campaign and a gas stove burner.

When politicians find an issue that affects the average person, it’s an easy way to gain leverage over their opponents. They’re called “kitchen table” issues and the Republicans have found a great one with the “gas stove ban.” Conservative lawmakers are claiming that the Biden administration wants to ban gas ovens and stoves.

Heck, it’s not just a figurative kitchen table issue, it’s a problem that’s in voters’ kitchens. The problem for Republicans is that no one wants to take away anyone’s kitchen stove.

The kerfuffle began on January 9 when Richard L. Trumka Jr. of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission told Bloomberg that a ban “was on the table” for gas stoves. "Products that can't be made safe can be banned," Trumka added.

Gas stoves have been on regulators' radars after a recent study found that roughly 13% of all childhood asthma cases can be attributed to having a gas stove—a risk level that’s on par with secondhand smoke.

Trumka’s comments caught the attention of Republican lawmakers who quickly tried to use the issue to their benefit. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) tweeted Monday that "the Biden Administration is once again going to extreme lengths to appease Green New Deal fanatics — they're considering a national ban on gas stoves."

GOP Rep. Ronny Jackson of Texas weighed in as well.


Joe Manchin III of West Virginia, the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, jumped into the fray, too.

The good news for the 38% of Americans who prefer to have their food cooked over a hot blue flame is that the government has no interest in barging into your kitchen and taking your stove.

The chair of the CPSC, Alexander Hoehn-Saric, clarified the issue on Wednesday indicating that the CPSC is looking for ways to reduce the dangers that come with gas stoves but has no interest in confiscating your appliances. “But to be clear, I am not looking to ban gas stoves and the CPSC has no proceeding to do so,” he said.

The White House has also denied any interest in banning gas stoves. “The President does not support banning gas stoves – and the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which is independent, is not banning gas stoves,” a White House spokesperson told CNN on January 11.

Joe Biden and a group of jack-booted thugs aren’t going to be knocking down your front door and stealing your gas stove anytime soon. But the Biden administration does want to make it easier for you to transition to an electric stove if you so choose.

The Inflation Reduction Act includes $4.5 billion in funding for states to give rebates to people who purchase new electric appliances, including wall ovens, ranges and cooktops. Those who switch from gas or propane to electric can get up to an additional $500 rebate.

So if politicians were being honest, they’d be saying, “Joe Biden doesn’t want to steal your stove. He’d like to buy you a new one.” But that doesn’t get people talking on cable news, now does it?

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Community

Facebook group brings people together IRL to make meaningful friendships

True

Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history

They were doing trigonometry 1500 years before the Greeks.

via UNSW

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles' sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.

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'She just needed somebody to help her'—principal adopts student after she's suspended

An unlikely family will celebrate their ninth Christmas together this year.

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Get ready folks, this story is a bit of a tearjerker.

Back in 2015, Jason Smith, a school principal, met a sixth-grade girl sitting outside his office, waiting to be reprimanded for throwing yogurt at a classmate during lunch.

That girl, Raven Whitaker, would later become his daughter.

Smith recalled with Good Morning America that the 11-year-old looked like a “sweet,” “innocent” child as she admitted to him what she had done.

Trying to reason with her, Smith asked, "Well, if you were out at a restaurant, would you do that there?'"

And that was when Raven told him that she had never really been to a restaurant. As she explained to WTHR, she had spent most of her life in the foster care system, suffering under terrible conditions, and was currently living in a group home.
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This Map Reveals The True Value Of $100 In Each State

Your purchasing power can swing by 30% from state to state.

Image by Tax Foundation.

Map represents the value of 100 dollars.

As the cost of living in large cities continues to rise, more and more people are realizing that the value of a dollar in the United States is a very relative concept. For decades, cost of living indices have sought to address and benchmark the inconsistencies in what money will buy, but they are often so specific as to prevent a holistic picture or the ability to "browse" the data based on geographic location.

The Tax Foundation addressed many of these shortcomings using the most recent (2015) Bureau of Economic Analysis data to provide a familiar map of the United States overlaid with the relative value of what $100 is "worth" in each state. Granted, going state-by-state still introduces a fair amount of "smoothing" into the process — $100 will go farther in Los Angeles than in Fresno, for instance — but it does provide insight into where the value lies.

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Terrified, emaciated dog comes to life as volunteer sits with him for human connection

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Rocky Kanaka|YouTube

Terrified dog transforms after human sits with him.

There's something about dogs that makes people just want to cuddle them. They have some of the sweetest faces with big curious eyes that make them almost look cartoonish at times. But not all dogs get humans that want to snuggle up with them on cold nights; some dogs are neglected or abandoned. That's where animal shelters come in, and they work diligently to take care of any medical needs and find these animals loving homes.

Volunteers are essential to animal shelters running effectively to fill in the gaps employees may not have time for. Rocky Kanaka has been volunteering to sit with dogs to provide comfort. Recently he uploaded a video of an extremely emaciated Vizsla mix that was doing his best to make himself as small as possible in the corner of the kennel.

Kanaka immediately wanted to help him adjust so he would feel comfortable enough to eat and eventually get adopted. The dog appeared scared of his new location and had actually rubbed his nose raw from anxiety, but everything changed when Kanaka came along.

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Family

Bill Gates explains the ‘safest’ age to give a kid a cellphone

Sorry, kids.

Image from YouTube video/ Creative Commons/Attribution 3.0 Unported.

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Bill Gates sure is strict on how his children use the very technology he helped bring to the masses.

In a recent interview with the Mirror, the tech mogul said his children were not allowed to own their own cellphone until the age of 14. "We often set a time after which there is no screen time, and in their case that helps them get to sleep at a reasonable hour," he said. Gates added that the children are not allowed to have cellphones at the table, but are allowed to use them for homework or studying.

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How does a kid cope in life after accidentally killing his brother? John did.

A childhood game went very wrong.

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John Arthur Greene (left) and his brother Kevin



A childhood game can go very wrong in the blink of an eye.

"You'll never get me!"

“Freeze! Put your hands up."

If you've ever played cops and robbers, you know how the game goes.

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