Weekly Round-Up: Words Mean Things
Plus, a cooking blog you should visit and Instant Pot brisket you should make.
On the menu for today: The fact that words still have actual meanings is ignored by those who want to defend Joe Biden. Also, we visited with the editor of Porch, Wine, and Gravy, my new favorite food and cooking blog. And, this week’s recipe is an Instant Pot brisket that hits all the right notes. Be sure to subscribe and share!
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Coming to the defense of President Joe Biden, numerous people are trying to explain how denying all future requests for fracking on federal land isn’t a ban on fracking - something that Biden vowed he would not do.
Glenn Kessler, fact-checker at the Washington Post, is one of the more prominent ones to do this.
Kessler would like you to ignore the fact that Joe Biden said, and I quote, “I will not ban fracking. Period.” Which is a pretty weird thing to try to get us to ignore, because his own paper used that quote as a headline.
Here’s the problem with Kessler’s deflection: "Ban" is a verb meaning to "officially or legally prohibit" something. If the Biden administration is not approving new fracking permits, how is that not "officially or legally prohibiting" new fracking permits?
The economy is bleeding, and the Biden administration's response is to cripple one of the few industries that has been consistently employing people throughout this crisis. But, his allies in the media don't want him to take that PR hit, so they run cover and play word games. Biden's exact words were "We are not going to ban fracking. Period." The "Period." there would imply that ANY ban is off the table.
If you are going to prohibit via executive order - which is nothing more than a law passed outside of the normal legislative process - anything, you are "legally" prohibiting it. There are legal consequences to violating that regulation. So yes, definitionally, Biden has "legally prohibited" fracking in some way, shape, or form, which is the opposite of his campaign statements.
In other words, he lied.
But Kessler and other Biden supporters in the media would have you believe that "ban" does not mean "ban" in this case because it is not a complete ban of all fracking. Because Kessler is not actually doing any real fact-checking. He is doing what political hacks do, instead: Twisting words and meanings.
Definitionally, Joe Biden has put a "ban" on fracking. It is not all fracking, but it is a "ban" nonetheless. That is true no matter what type of spin you try to put on it. You may not like that it's being called a lie, but I can't help you. He lied.
And Biden's supporters on the far left are going to be so happy about it. They don't care that he lied. He did it for the right reasons! But you know who won't be happy about it? The blue-collar workers who depend on jobs like this, and whose jobs depend on energy produced domestically, that Biden lied to in order to get their vote.
Trump won blue-collar workers in 2020 because they were terrified more Democratic policy would kill more of their jobs. The Obama years were exceedingly tough on them. They saw Trump as a way to keep that from happening again. Trump was not perfect. He wasn't who they wanted, and after four years, they had an opportunity for someone who seemed like a better person, but golly this decent person belonged to the administration who screwed up the job market for them years before!
Biden did all he could to assure them he would not be seeking to destroy their jobs. Not in the energy industry. Not anywhere else. So he said he would not ban fracking. "Period," he added at the end of the statement for emphasis.
Within days of taking office, we now know that "Period." did not mean "under any circumstances," as the tone and usage would have implied.
Joe Biden lied. It is that simple. He has banned new fracking on federal land. His administration blocking new permits is definitionally a ban. He lied to blue-collar workers who felt they could identify with them because he wanted their vote. And from start to finish, the media will do everything they can to cover for Biden because he is a Democrat and they supported him from the get-go.
This is petty, partisan hackery coming from the people who say "Democracy dies in darkness" unironically. But, the only darkness I see is the Washington Post refusing to shine a light on the lies their preferred candidates spread in order to protect those candidates.
Homestyle: Porch, Wine, and Gravy
On this week’s episode of Homestyle, my co-host Leigh Guidry and I talk with Jolie Meaux, the writer and cook behind the popular southern cooking blog, Porch, Wine, and Gravy.
Meaux has some great recipes I’m going to have to steal at some point. She also got to cook for Anthony Bourdain, which makes me really jealous.
If you want to hear more, you can always go back and listen to previous episodes, and we’d love to hear your feedback. Subscribe, rate, and review the podcast here, and if you have cooking, crafting, or family activity ideas, you can find us on Facebook and on Instagram (@Homestylepod).
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The Homestyle Podcast is a joint venture between myself and one of my best friends, education reporter Leigh Guidry. Throughout each episode, we discuss cooking, crafting, and other hobbies as well as how we make sure to spend time with our families despite how insanely busy life can be. The goal of the podcast has always been to take a moment to focus on what’s really important because, at the end of the day, family and life is more important than whatever distractions are going on in the world around us.
Recipe of the Week: Instant Pot Barbecue Brisket
This sounds like sacrilege and, frankly, it is. However, sometimes you don’t have the time or the energy to cook a full brisket in a smoker, or even the oven. So what do you do?
My recommendation is beef stock, hot sauce, tomato paste, and salt. Add some cider vinegar and brown sugar, plus more hot sauce to taste. But I should probably give you the directions.
2-3 lb. brisket
2 cups beef stock
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
2 tsp. hot sauce (plus more if desired)
2 tbps. tomato paste
1 tsp. minced garlic
2 tsp. butter
Turn on saute mode on your Instant Pot and add the butter. After it melts, add the brisket and brown all sides. Remove from the pot and set aside.
Add the garlic, salt, and pepper and let the garlic cook. Then add the tomato paste and stir in. Then add the remaining ingredients and mix together.
Put the brisket back in and spoon the mixture all over it as needed. Put the lid on the Instant Pot and cook for 75 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 15 minutes, then open the seal, letting the remaining pressure out.
Take out and shred. Put on French bread for maximum effect, but you can eat it as a barbecue sandwich in any form or even in a tortilla.
You can also pour the liquids into a saucepan over medium heat and cook to reduce and thicken, adding the resulting sauce to your sandwich.
Final Thoughts
It’s been a long 2021 so far, hasn’t it?