Another reason to stop relying on screenshots when we can do links to the source & archives.

Or—get this—leave it there to corroborate claims like a rational person by linking exactly as the web was invented for.

We just take your word for it?

what is a link?

basically

The data

I see the article link some observational cohort studies, which rank somewhere in the middle of the hierarchy of evidence. Are there any systematic reviews?

As mentioned before, water fluoridation is uncommon in other developed countries. Shouldn’t there be tooth decay problems there, too?

A public health policy should meet the highest standards of evidence such as a systematic review.

Systematic review does show toothpaste fluoridated at sufficient concentrations suffices when administered. Are people not brushing teeth enough, and wouldn’t that be a bigger issue for tooth decay? Is the fluoride in their toothpaste too low?

A systematic review could reconcile the tooth decay observed in those cohort studies with that of the rest of the developed world lacking fluoridated water (whether they need it there or why they don’t). That would support a public policy.

Imagine toothpaste with fluoride that’s hard to avoid buying if you buy toothpaste in the store ever. Are people not getting toothpaste anymore?

In the developed world, US is an outlier. Also:

Recent studies suggest that water fluoridation, particularly in industrialized countries, may be unnecessary because topical fluorides (such as in toothpaste) are widely used and cavity rates have become low.[3] For this reason, some scientists consider fluoridation to be unethical due to the lack of informed consent.[12]

Maybe fluoridated toothpaste is enough?

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people with accessibility needs can’t read this

bruh

They’re fine insults. So was hot wheels.

No one at comedy roasts takes these oversensitive criticisms of “the virtuous way to insult” seriously. Why is that?

It’s a distraction.

Just like democrats to ratify insults by committee.

So would magic.

Exactly: neighbors can stay mad. Mint is cooler than neighbors arguably (& chemically).

If you want mint & don’t care about other plants, then I don’t see a problem. Some people might consider its low maintenance effort a good thing. 🤷

They should & they won’t. You know who owns the executive branch & gives absolutely 0 shits, right?

Wildcards, sometimes you need to see people and have no idea what you will pay in the end since sometimes they will do work or use something that isn’t fully covered so you then get a bill a month later telling you insurance only covered this you owe the difference.

You can request preauthorizations for an estimate. I always try to request those. Not always practical, however, especially when it’s urgent.

It’s up to you to figure out if that’s correct or not then go down the path of fighting it.

Fighting it is the worst. It’s a 3-body problem—you, the insurance, the provider—and you’re caught in the middle. You can’t just tell anyone in plain language “my insurance covers preventative care cost-free, so why am I being charged for this?” They force you to do the detective work, and they don’t make it easy. You basically have to know billing codes better than the billers and tell everyone to use correct ones. The billing codes aren’t necessarily printed on billing statements or claims (mine didn’t have them). Their meanings & provisions are unexplained. The patient has no reason to understand them or know they exist. Infuriating system.

This is just scratching the surface

You didn’t mention deductibles. Before copay or coinsurance kicks in, your policy may require paying a deductible. Cost sharing provisions vary by policy.

High deductible insurance plans come with a health savings account, which is completely tax-free (no taxes on contributions, their earnings, or eligible distributions) for health expenses including any type of cost share (deductible, copay, coinsurance). As long as you pay health expenses with other funds & retain the receipts, it functions in practice as a smaller investment retirement account with less taxes than IRAs. Somewhat interesting.

Health insurance typically doesn’t cover dental or vision: those need separate plans.

Another thing, you can’t just not have insurance. If you don’t, you will have to pay a penalty on your taxes for the time not covered.

Federally as of 2019 that was set to $0, so the amount ends up varying by state & could be $0.

Ah, surveys, which classify as observational, cross-sectional studies: pretty low on the hierarchy of evidence, yes?

Now show us studies that apply the same methods on the relationship with belief & attitudes toward bank robberies, risky driving, or dark personality traits as mentioned before. Applying the same methods on those questions would inform us whether such studies put them all on “the same level” as sexism or “objectification of women” (which someone before claimed would be funny), and whether we can put much stock in conclusions drawn from these methods.

It’s also questionable whether answers to survey questions imply much beyond state of mind that has real-life consequences. Unless there’s clear evidence of that, it’s a slippery slope.

Bit much to assume people recognize the Greenland flag. Looks like a logo. I think it’d sell as is.

Just print out the word “not”, wedge it into the sign: problem solved.

The lesson here is don’t troll these idiots

Maybe the lesson is to troll harder until they legislate themselves into ruin?

It doesn’t turn me on that much

That much?

Yes, that piece refers to the same event.

I feel like when I said, “Elon has been a public Nazi for a few years now,” what you heard was, “the general public has known Elon is a Nazi for a few years now.”

Were you trying to imply moral culpability for people “buying their own coffin from a Nazi” or not? Moral culpability only works if they reasonably would have known, so that “buying it” is a choice eligible for moral consideration.

If you’re merely observing the situation without moral consideration to point out gee, that’s ironic, then I’m forced to agree: that is ironic. However, you seem to be claiming more than that with the word excuse.

if you have a Model 3, you may have an excuse, but if you have a Cyberdump, you have no excuse

Thus, for your claim to work they had to be aware, and since we know nothing about them, we can only reasonably expect they knew if the general public knew. So, I don’t think I misunderstood you.

Yes, maga idiots have excused his behavior for years

Excused? No, they do the same and have for years. Feeding into Nazi conspiracy theories & agreeing with Nazis is typical MAGA behavior.

Remember Pizza Gate & the adrenochrome conspiracy? Both have roots in old antisemitic conspiracies of Jews consuming the blood of sacrificed children, though I doubt MAGA conspiracists know that.

Musk had a firm reason to know he was agreeing with a Nazi: the tweet he agreed with was answering a challenge for “cowards” posting “Hitler was right” to explain themselves. Even so, agreeing with Nazi conspiracies doesn’t amount to essentials that define Nazi: white supremacy, advocating for genocide & an ethnostate, etc. It doesn’t surprise me that people often see it as more MAGA idiocy similar to Trump saying both sides include “some very fine people”.

until after much of this behavior had already been very public

I agree it was public. I also submit that the general public probably saw it as MAGA instead of Nazi if they paid attention at all.

When people shop for a car, the company’s CEO may not be their top consideration if any. In the case of a Cyberflop, they may be looking at the environment, self-driving features, or fall for marketing gimmicks & believe they’re buying the greatest innovation.

Also, it’s just a fucking awful truck.

Totally. For that alone, they deserve all the blame for getting that deathtrap.

Let’s just forget this minor disagreement. That car’s a piece of shit. Fuck that car.

Not exactly a prominent headline & I don’t see a transcript. The 16-page sources documents links to online references including of a large number of tweets, several articles not regarding Musk, and some news articles on Musk. This is quite a bit to wade through. It’d be better to name clear, prominent headlines as I suggested before. Nonetheless, I’ll glance through.

The articles I’ve glanced through cover his descent into right-wing extremism on X, suspensions of journalists’ accounts, overtures to Putin & Trump. They cover criticism by advertisers & special interests of Musk’s tolerance for the spread of hate speech on X. There was that episode when Musk agreed with a post making a veiled reference to the antisemitic Great Replacement conspiracy theory, which led to denunciations by the ADL, advertisers pulling out, and Musk responding by posting objections to antisemitism & to organizations that push “racism of any kind” and by paying visits to Israel & Auschwitz.

Most of these could be construed as forgettable online MAGA mayhem. While that last episode drew headlines, rather than pin Musk down as a Nazi, a casual observer could easily discount it as online outrage over a MAGA idiot who falls for conspiracy bullshit & rolls that back. They could do that right before they easily forget it.

I don’t deny the conduct is troubling. However, these online distractions don’t exactly make memorable, prominent headlines that conclusively pin Musk down as a Nazi to the casual public. They don’t capture the public’s attention as clearly as Musk’s double Nazi salute.

If you could point out such a headline that the people in the collision would have known before they purchased the vehicle, then I’d concede your point, but at the moment I don’t see it.