Open Thread

“Dogma always comes with a set of though-terminating clichés, which help believers hide their close-mindedness–mainly from themselves.” — Jeff Schmidt, Disciplined minds.

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” —Fyodor Dostoevsky

————–

“This longitudinal cohort study of 73,254 children
composed of prospectively collected healthcare data from the Florida Medicaid system for the period 1990–2012”
“adjustment for covariates”

“Fluoridated water exposure revealed a dose-dependent relationship”
“When comparing the fluoride-exposed subcohort to fluoride-unexposed subcohort, significant increased (or decreased for tooth decay) risks”
Autism OR 6.317
other intellectual disability OR 2
Specific delays in development OR 1.3
Tooth decay Or 0.26

The absolute risks per 100 children were
6 less cases of tooth decay
1 additional cases of autism
0.5 additional cases of intellectual disability
4.9 additional Specific delays in development

https://bmcpediatr.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12887-025-05601-z
——

“We studied 500 mother-child pairs from the MINIMat (Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions in Matlab) birth cohort in rural Bangladesh.”
“fluoride concentrations were measured in the pregnant women at gestational week 8 and in their children at 5 and 10 years”

Fluoride exposure was –in a dose dependent manner– associated with decreased cognitive abilities

https://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/doi/10.1289/EHP14534
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“Here, we investigated the dose- and time-dependent impacts of sodium fluoride (NaF) on neuronal morphology, viability, oxidative stress, and synaptic function using both in vitro and in vivo mouse models.”

“Acute exposure led to neuronal swelling”
“prolonged exposure reduced neuronal viability”
“NaF dose-dependently elevated reactive oxygen species (ROS) production”
“Synaptic development was also impaired,”
“impaired synaptic function”
“Morphological analysis showed decreased dendritic spine density and head diameter.”

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00204-025-04003-5
—–

“Long-term fluoride exposure can induce inflammatory responses in various tissues”
“Our study demonstrates that even low-dose fluoride can induce the disruption of the inflammatory microenvironment in both humans and rats.”
“that the effects of fluoride on the body have both cumulative and long-term consequences.”

“This study included 327 participants, who were divided into three groups”
“Our field investigation and animal experiments show that fluoride exposure promotes the recruitment of Tregs in immune organs, suggesting that fluoride accumulation intensifies the inflammatory response”
“inhibit the proliferation of T lymphocytes”
“promote the apoptosis (cell death)”
“fluoride-induced immune imbalance”

https://www.mdpi.com/2305-6304/13/2/95
—
That is what the “experts” consider one of the top 10 greatest public health achievements in modern history.
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“Real critical thinking means uncovering and questioning social, political and moral assumptions; applying and refining a personally developed worldview” —Disciplined minds, Jeff Schmidt

“One is never afraid of the unknown; one is afraid of the known coming to an end.” ― Jiddu Krishnamurti

“The man who has a conscience suffers whilst acknowledging his sin. That is his punishment.” ― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

I have a question and a thought experiment for the minds here.

If every major government, mega-corp, intel agency, and more are all racing towards AI “far beyond human capabilities” with minimal regard to safety since the risk of losing is potentially existential for them, then are we about to experience the world’s greatest period of change/chaos? Let’s talk about the possibilities. How would you position yourself for what’s coming if you have a sharp mind but minimal financial net worth?

Below is a link to a timeline made by AI researchers (read their credentials). As I understand it, one of them risked 2 million in vested stock (85% of his family’s net worth) in order to speak out.

https://ai-2027.com/

NLTJ

The New York Times joined the propaganda barrage attacking RFK, Jr over the measles outbreak and the MMR vaccine. RFK has called for studying treatment options and this heresy is calling forth some fierce attacks.

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, has called for firing RFK. One of his “charges” is: “Promoted unscientific therapies such as vitamin A to treat measles, which has resulted in significant liver injury from its use among some children in Texas.”

In fact, administering vitamin A in high doses to hospitalized measles patients is the established standard of care. So, definitely NOT unscientific.

The NY Times dutifully reports on two cases of children sustaining liver damage after prolonged prophylactic administration of cod liver oil (a source of Vitamin A) by panicked parents. There is zero evidence that Vitamin A is effective prophylaxis. But, this essential distinction is not made.

The therapy pushed by The NY Times? Tylenol (yes, by brand name) to reduce fever. Tylenol has a dangerously steep dose curve and overdoses are a major cause of liver damage, but this fact gets no mention. Cod liver oil requires a doctor’s care, though, according to The NY Times.

RFK, Jr does officially endorse the MMR vaccine as the best means of prevention, but he also continues to question why there are not good quality safety studies.

I cannot offer a view of my own beyond noting the careless irresponsibility in the propaganda, but that irresponsibility is disturbing.

My only point, since I do not “do my own (medical) research”, is about the politics: we seem to be experiencing a crisis of competency. And that crisis is not limited to the figure of RFK, Jr — he’s a response to the long-building crisis of competence and a trigger for moral panic among the incompetent and irresponsible establishment.

On AI, I’ve been heavily influenced by Cory Doctorow. Whatever AI ostensibly does is not so important as long as it does one other thing. It has to keep investors animal spirits at a boiling point so they will keep accepting and supporting price/earnings ratios way above 100.
Corporate stock is better than money in the inter-corporation markets. A growth company with a high share valuation can freely do corporate deals — mergers, purchases, et alia, that “mature” corporations can only dream about. Stop the impression of growth, the share price falls, and all that goes away.

Sample quote:
“For Big Tech companies, AI is part of a “growth story” – a narrative about how these companies that have already saturated their markets will still continue to grow. It’s hard to overstate how dominant Amazon is: they are the leading cloud provider, the most important retailer, and the majority of US households already subscribe to Prime. This may sound like a good place to be, but for Amazon, it’s actually very dangerous.”

https://pluralistic.net/2025/03/15/altering-the-deal/#telescreen

https://pluralistic.net/2025/05/02/kpis-off/#principal-agentic-ai-problem

“Has anybody read the 3 body problem?”

Yes. Fine writing/translating, as far as I can tell, and I’ve never been more terrified by a work of fiction in my life. Back in the Cold War we used to talk about mutually-assured destruction, but, striding across our puny planet, we had no ideea what “assured” really means.

I recommend reading them in order. Each progresses from the one before, and volume two will look kind of stupid if you don’t fully appreciate the problem that Terrans are hit with in volume one.
The Three-body Problem
The Dark Forest
Death’s End

I praised the audience of Lawyers, Guns & Money Blog a few days’ back– not the NeoGlib clowns who run it, of course, they are beneath contempt. So naturally the Cosmic Karmic Kickback was quick, & strong!!

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2025/05/election-of-the-weekend-iii-romania

So DJW (?) covers the “election” in Romania, in which the last election was cancelled coz the winner was someone the Atlantic Council doesn’t like, and those primitive East Europeans don’t get to vote for anyone who offends the Hegemon!! The original winner, Georgescu, was restored to the ballot by a court, then kicked off by a different court. (Presumably one with well-connected judges who knew Jeffrey Epstein.) Then a 2nd court restored G. to the ballot, then he was removed AGAIN (by the Hand of God this time, perhaps?)

In defense of destroying Democracy, the writer chosen is the sick, murderous Anne Applebaum (what a charming Deutsche name, not to worry she writes for the Atlantic and is a fervent Zionist), but no worries, this Endless War Chickenhawk has never met a US War she didn’t cheerlead for (well, maybe she said nothing about the “War on Drugs” but that’s not foreign enemies) or a defensive war of people the US is attacking that she has approved of. She goes on at nauseating length about how the little people in Romania don’t deserve the vote because some people have “dangerous” ideas.

Not her kooky hubby, Poland’s Sikorsky, who Tweeted a picture of the world’s record (at least as far as human civilization knows) release of methane from the Ocean’s floor when Biden bombed Nordstream, with the words, “Thank you, USA!!” He took down that post, maybe he shouldn’t have applauded a US attack on its “ally” Germany, but hey, anything to “destroy Russia.”

I had to scroll through 20 comments before one thoughtful person wondered about the wisdom of cancelling elections and removing candidates at Will.

“It’s a very interesting and thorny problem. The political institutions of Romania are obviously trying to protect themselves from an absolute cracked pot of a Presidential candidate. This absolute cracked pot seems really popular though. Even if every allegation against him is completely true, it isn’t really a great look for liberal democracy to be taking these steps. They come across as heavy handed ways to deprive many voters of the politician they want to vote for rather than as a protection of democratic institutions.”

1 person of maybe every 50 on that site has a sliver of integrity and won’t go along with Do As the Betters Tell Us. They bray all day about “Democracy Dies in Darkness” but applaud killing it in the Light of Day.

As Ward Churchill observed after 9/11, there are a lot of “Little Eichmans” out there. Some who don’t even benefit in the least personally by being so.

Oh, and how interesting that it pretends to be a “Left” site, yet supports every American War, massacre and act of terrorism . . . I don’t read it often, but except for the post I cited a couple days back, when the site runner said “Oh, Hair Fuhrer has resumed his genocide in Gaza,” the topic is nearly never mentioned. Thankfully a majority of the site members called BS on that lie, and said, “Oh, you mean Joe & Kamala’s Gaza Genocide, don’t you?”

Here is a video called: ” In China, Robots That Are Also Solar Panels, Clean The Other Solar Panels “. Here is the link.
https://www.reddit.com/r/interesting/comments/1kdqusr/in_china_robots_that_are_also_solar_panels_clean/

I would put this together with my video about mangoes in Japan to show that we ( America and perhaps other countries) should think about a Japanese-inspired road to survivalism, because China has the money and the power now, and there is no catching up to China for the time being. So those Americans and others who are prepared to give up on “catching up to China” and prepared to accept a lesser level of Survivalism should begin doing what they can to survivalize now. If Survivalist movements can be started, organized and launched in parts ( however small) of the US starting soonest, that would be a good thing.

Survivalists should think in terms of preparing for ” life after America”.

fascinating, and not in a good way . . . . from the r/Millenials subreddit . . .
” Anybody else suddenly surrounded by people OUR AGE diagnosed with cancer? ”

Link: https://www.reddit.com/r/Millennials/comments/1kdz9vw/anybody_else_suddenly_surrounded_by_people_our/

I read a little way into the comment thread and saw thoughts offered as to why this might be. One thought I found offered several times was microplastics inside every part of every person and in the environment we all marinate in 24/7.

I didn’t read far enough to see if Covid was mentioned. I wonder how many of the Millenials getting cancer have previously gotten Covid. I remember reading several different times and places at NaCap about how Covid compromises the function of a certain kind of T-cell, called ” T-helpers” I think. Those are specifically tasked with finding and killing cancers at the “just a few bad cells” stage.

Reading that led me to think that over the years to come we will see thousands and then millions of new cancer cases per year. The more times you’ve had Covid ( even ‘mild’) the better a chance you have to get cancer. ( Covid-deniers who don’t believe this should get themselves infected with covid as often as they can, so they can show us how wrong we are about this.)

Search for “empty shelves” on TikTok and YouTube. People are starting to post videos of empty store shelves at Walmart, Kroger, and other places. It’s starting at the top shelves first. And the videos are coming from here and there, from all over America, and from different stores.

It has already started, much sooner than I expected.

I also highly recommend The Three Body Problem trilogy and second the recommendation to read the three books in order.
It is very good sci-fi, with a number of concepts that I had not run into in sci-fi before, and an interesting window into China. The first book takes place during the Cultural Revolution. It does not hit you over the head with that, but it is there in the background and gives one a feel for how that era is seen by at least official China now. There are parts of the trilogy that give you a feel for what the world looks like seen through the lens of China’s history over the past couple of centuries. This is an underlying view that I have not come across in western sci-fi. None of this is pushed in your face. One can enjoy the trilogy as pure science fiction. But if one wants, one can sense things about China.

Mark Level,

Don’t panic.

And always carry a towel.

Thanks, KT– yes, good advice from the Classic Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.