Horrified, Lydia: So I recently learned that Portland itself doesn't put flouride in the water, and if put to voters, they will vote No Flouride. I can't understand what is going on there?

A big fault line has opened up inside the OR GOP between two factions. The relatively more moderate faction believes the 2020 election was stolen, Covid was a hoax, GOP county chairs will be rounded up & arrested by the FBI any day now, & Dems are communists. sethcotlar.substack.com/p/down-the-d...

Down the Derp State Rabbit Hole with the Chair of the Marion County (OR) GOPsethcotlar.substack.com Cleon Skousen's conspiracy theories, Chinese commandos invading from Mexico, and other oldies but goodies from the right wing playbook

The faction that considers itself more "in touch with the grassroots" & wch almost got their candidate appointed to be OR's representative to the RNC, consists of radio hosts/podcasters like this "noncompliantus" guy who thinks Israel maybe killed JFK, chemtrails will kill you, & Alex Jones rules.

If you feel like spending a few hours listening to two of the far right, conspiracy-obsessed media figures behind the movement that is on the verge of taking over the OR GOP from the far right, conspiracy-obsessed people they think are RINO squishes, here you go. rumble.com/v4krkg0-frid...

Friday Night Rant with Joshua Michael & Rob Taylorrumble.com 7:00 PM Friday, March 22, 2024 So much to rant about and so little time, but we are going to do it anyway. Joshua and I are going to rant about the state of the Oregon Republican Party, the Yue Crew,

For you Cleon Skousen fans out there, one of his relatives, Joel Skousen (who makes Cleon seem like a very sober-minded, reality-based commentator) is running for president. That further right faction in the OR GOP is quite Skousen-curious. Spread the word! rumble.com/v4k159h-pres...

Presidential Candidate Joel Skousenrumble.com 3 PM Monday, March 18, 2024 The Constitution Party has asked Joel Skousen to be their presidential candidate for the 2024 General Election. Joel and I had a very intriguing conversation about his cand

It should probably go without saying that the further right faction in the OR GOP is in favor of removing fluoride from the public water supply. noncompliantamerica.transistor.fm/episodes/joe...

Playing all of your favorite hits from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s!!! sethcotlar.substack.com/p/those-funn...

Thosesethcotlar.substack.com Or, how I learned to stop laughing and love talking seriously about the anti-fluoridation movement

So I recently learned that Portland itself doesn't put flouride in the water, and if put to voters, they will vote No Flouride. I can't understand what is going on there?

Put most simply, it’s the horseshoe merger of far right anti-government and anti-science suspicions with a left variant of the same impulses. Sometimes being suspicious of what “the man” is up to is quite wise and healthy. Sometimes it’s just silly.

I wrote a bit about that "crunchy to alt-right pipeline" here. In these days of "organic food loving trad wives" and "clean-eating wellness influencers" who also spread far right conspiracy theories, this history has come to seem even more relevant. sethcotlar.substack.com/p/sending-sp...

Sending Spit to Ms. Safronsethcotlar.substack.com Walter Huss and the little-known subculture of

Yes, I suspected it to be connected to the leftie anti-vaxers from well before the pandemic. Have one in my family (but not talking to me for years). Had a super premie baby who survived well but somehow turned them against the medical establishment (without whom the baby definitely would have died)

I hears the floride was put in water in some places to try to support dental health to cut costs or something. Is that true?

Yes, they discovered that kids who lived in areas where the water had naturally high levels of fluoride got far fewer cavities than kids elsewhere. So in 1945 they experimented with adding fluroride to the water in Grand Rapids, MI and it was a smashing public health success.

And unlike many areas of human health and biology, the explanation was dead simple. The main mineral constituent of teeth is a calcium phosphate that includes an (OH, Cl, F) group. In areas with high background levels of F, it enters the mineral and makes it more resistant to dissolution and decay.

I've never had a cavity, even though my parents, who grew up before the DC area started fluoridating water, had bad teeth The last time I went to the dentist, about 7 years ago, they said in all their years practicing in Portland, they had never seen anyone over 40 with no cavities. 53 now, still 0

when I discovered that portland didn't flouridate I started buying extra-high flouride toothpastes

funny to think about it starting in such a conservative area!

Though Texas Democrats in the age of the New Deal were not conservative on everything...they were totally down with programs that benefitted the public as long as those programs didn't threaten white supremacy in any way.

but we were talking about Grand Rapids, MI, I thought?

Horseshoe theory and/or evidence that the two-dimensional (Nolan) chart is at least somewhat useful: Some people are more Authoritarian (Christofascist, Tankie) than they are Right or Left, and some are more Libertarian (Paleoconservative, Crunchy) than they are Right or Left.

A lot of people are proud of the purity of the Bull Run watershed, where the city gets its water (mostly.) To add anything to it is considered is akin to hocking a lugee on da Mona Lisa. Plus, dentists are cool.

Despite the obvious benefit to them, dentists do not seem cool with this regulation or whatever it is. I can see an attraction to purity of the water, even though it immediately sounds like this guy and his precious bodily fluids.

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