Farhad Manjoo’s entry in the gas stove battle is 50% progressive talking points and 50% reality

I have mixed feelings about Farhad Manjoo. As a columnist he’s most interesting when he’s conflicted between his instinctual need to be a progressive NY Times columnist and his desire to admit the truth about a given topic. That was how I read his column last year about why people are moving to Texas. On the one hand, he totally gets it as he drives around Dallas with a real estate agent. You can have a much nicer place to live in Texas than you can in California for the same money. On the other hand he can’t help but feel guilty about stating the obvious: “Here I was — a lefty New York Times columnist —preparing to laud the livability of a state that seemed to be lurching to the fringe right.”Read More