2024 Presidential Election thread

[pfife]

14 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

The fact that fluoridation of water is potentially going to become a partisan issue (particularly if RFK Jr. ends up getting anything of responsibility in this administration) is incredibly depressing.

EDIT: I do think that RFK Jr., assuming Jacky Rosen ends up winning in NV, would have a *very* tough time getting confirmed for anything.... but still even having the conversation is unnerving to me.

you think he would have GOP defections in the Senate?

[Tiger337]

2 minutes ago, pfife said:

yes I do, well over 100oz per day

So, is that why you are cognitively impaired?  😃

[Hongbit]

21 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I do.  I switched back a few years ago because I drink a lot of water and bottled water is expensive.  Plus, I don't really trust the bottled water to be anywhere near as pure as they claim.   

 

2 minutes ago, pfife said:

yes I do, well over 100oz per day

Do you filter with anything or going rawdog straight from the tap? 

[Tiger337]

Just now, Hongbit said:

 

Do you filter with anything or going rawdog straight from the tap? 

Straight from the tap.  

[chasfh]

53 minutes ago, Mr.TaterSalad said:

Well Trump wants to ban fluoride in water and end vaccine mandates for kids in school. I think my way forward will either be dental school or becoming a mortician. 

Except once people have to drop any part of their medical insurance because they can no longer afford Obamacare, dental is the first to go, even before vision.

[pfife]

Just now, Hongbit said:

 

Do you filter with anything or going rawdog straight from the tap? 

filter on the fridge ice/water dispenser that's probably not filtering anymore.   A2 has really good tap water

[mtutiger]

4 minutes ago, pfife said:

you think he would have GOP defections in the Senate?

For RFK Jr., Murkowski and Collins are a guarantee, Cassidy/Young (at least) seem likely.

RFK Jr. is toxic as hell, Collins is also up for reelection in 2026 (if she runs).

Edited November 7 by mtutiger

[chasfh]

42 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

I hear a lot of folks wanting to move to a number of these countries if Trump would win. Will they lobby to dump chemicals into their water once they get there? Why can’t we just brush our teeth and rinse with a fluoride mouthwash? 
 

 

Move to Europe, then, you commie.

[Motown Bombers]

Did Bob Casey officially lose? I haven’t seen anyone call that yet. It’s really close and it seems there’s some vote on Philadelphia left. 

[chasfh]

33 minutes ago, Tiger337 said:

I do.  I switched back a few years ago because I drink a lot of water and bottled water is expensive.  Plus, I don't really trust the bottled water to be anywhere near as pure as they claim.   

I can attest that Aquafina and Dasani are great, and Ice Mountain is garbage.

[pfife]

7 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

For RFK Jr., Murkowski and Collins are a guarantee, Cassidy/Young (at least) seem likely.

RFK Jr. is toxic as hell, Collins is also up for reelection in 2026 (if she runs).

Ive been worried about him at HHS so this is assuring.

Unless he's some special Czar over a bunch of stuff I think his bent may be more toward FDA or NIH than HHS.   

[mtutiger]

7 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

For RFK Jr., Murkowski and Collins are a guarantee, Cassidy/Young (at least) seem likely.

RFK Jr. is toxic as hell, Collins is also up for reelection in 2026 (if she runs).

Would add Thom Tillis here as well, who is up for reelection in NC in 2026 (probably one of the D's largest targets).

This is why every single seat matters... losing Casey in PA hurt a lot, but it could have been so so much worse.

[chasfh]

27 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

The fact that fluoridation of water is potentially going to become a partisan issue (particularly if RFK Jr. ends up getting anything of responsibility in this administration) is incredibly depressing.

EDIT: I do think that RFK Jr., assuming Jacky Rosen ends up winning in NV, would have a *very* tough time getting confirmed for anything.... but still even having the conversation is unnerving to me.

You may remember from the late 2010s that all Trump has to do is name Kennedy acting secretary indefinitely, which will avoid the whole confirmation process.

[chasfh]

12 minutes ago, pfife said:

filter on the fridge ice/water dispenser that's probably not filtering anymore.   A2 has really good tap water

Maybe six or seven years ago, I got one of those large Zerowater carafes that filters out dissolved solids to a 99+% rate (and also, funnily, it reduces Chlorine and Fluoride). A few years later, the city of Chicago then sent all us taxpayers a smaller Zerowater carafe and six filters gratis. (Well, actually, paid by our property taxes.) Chicago has one of the best water systems around, but sometimes, I can really smell the chlorine in the shower and coming out of the kitchen tap.

ZW also provides you a meter that measures dissolved solids. Depending on where you are, tap water usually has around 100 to 200 PPM; ZW reduce that to zero, and you’re supposed to periodically test the water so you know when it’s time to change the filter.

I’m telling you all this because I also used the meter to measure the water being filtered out of the fridge dispenser, and it had the exact same dissolved solids levels as the tap water, and when i changed the fridge filter to new and ran five quarts through the dispenser as instructed, it still had the same readings as water out of the tap.

So, I’ve started to think the whole fridge filter thing is a sham.

[Tigermojo]

In Windsor, we have fluoride in the water again after not having it for several years. They did studies and found dental health became worse when the fluoride was gone. I've always drank the tap water here. Too bad science, truth and facts are not part of project 2025.

[Sports_Freak]

2 hours ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

He does a great job articulating why the majority of Americans voted the way they did yesterday.
 

 

He's wrong about crime and inflation. Crime has been coming down all over the country since Trump left office. And if they can't see that Biden was finally getting inflation under gontrol, wait until Trump deports millions of people working and spending money to help the economy. As well as producing the goods we need. And then the tariffs that will be paid by the consumer, not the country from where the goods come from. Donald is going to totally destroy our economy, just as every single business he ran went bankrupt.

[mtutiger]

4 minutes ago, chasfh said:

You may remember from the late 2010s that all Trump has to do is name Kennedy acting secretary indefinitely, which will avoid the whole confirmation process.

I'm not sure if that option is completely opened until someone is actually confirmed, but could be wrong. Either way, the smaller the margin, the harder it is for the nutters to land some of these top jobs. 

[Mr.TaterSalad]

I read a stat today from a study that an estimated 40% of farm and agriculture workers are undocumented persons. If that stat is close to reality for many farms, I can only imagine deporting 40% of their workforce would harm crop production and raise food prices. 

Feeding America: How Immigrants Sustain US Agriculture

[mtutiger]

It was less pronounced in the Blue Wall states, but the gaps between the Senate race and the Presidential race make you think....

[gehringer_2]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Maybe six or seven years ago, I got one of those large Zerowater carafes that filters out dissolved solids to a 99+% rate (and also, funnily, it reduces Chlorine and Fluoride). A few years later, the city of Chicago then sent all us taxpayers a smaller Zerowater carafe and six filters gratis. (Well, actually, paid by our property taxes.) Chicago has one of the best water systems around, but sometimes, I can really smell the chlorine in the shower and coming out of the kitchen tap.

ZW also provides you a meter that measures dissolved solids. Depending on where you are, tap water usually has around 100 to 200 PPM; ZW reduce that to zero, and you’re supposed to periodically test the water so you know when it’s time to change the filter.

I’m telling you all this because I also used the meter to measure the water being filtered out of the fridge dispenser, and it had the exact same dissolved solids levels as the tap water, and when i changed the fridge filter to new and ran five quarts through the dispenser as instructed, it still had the same readings as water out of the tap.

So, I’ve started to think the whole fridge filter thing is a sham.

'Filtration' terminology is used sloppily out in the real world. You do not 'filter' DS.  'Filters' remove solid particles. Some filters remove very small particles but still solid particles. Sort of by definition a filter does not remove DS, because --- it's dissolved - no particles at all. To stop dissolved ions you can move from a filter to a membrane - i.e. Reverse Osmosis  removes DS.  While it could be done I suppose, I haven't seen a Fridge with an RO. Just to confuse things there are also membranes used for very fine particle filtration - but they don't remove DS either.

But you can also exchange one ion for another, which is what a zero carafe does. That's not 'filtration' either, it's ion-exchange.  It's loaded with two ion-exchange resins. One to swap out cations like Na, Ca for hydrogen ions, and the other to swap out chloride or other anions for hydroxyl ions. The hydrogen and hydroxyl combine to produce water, which is non-conductive, whereas the NaCl or whatever DS was in the water initially is conductive. Thus the ion-exchange reduces the conductivity, which is what the meter reads and calls DS. RO also reduces conductivity because the anions and cations simply don't pass the membrane. There are other differences but a major one is that an RO membrane will last a long time if it's not physically damaged, whereas the ion exchange resin eventually runs out of the replacement ions it was charged with and needs to be replaced. In larger ion-exchange systems the resin may be regenerable - e.g. a water softener (totally different resin/exchange system in a water softener however.....)

Fridge filters are usually just particulate filters plus activated carbon, which removes mostly organic contaminants and can also tie up chlorine - actually Cl2 mostly reacts on the surface of AC and turns in to ordinary chloride ion. (The zero carafe also contains activated carbon in front of the ion-exchange resin). Chlorine removal by AC won't result in any reduction in DS reading - in fact it would produce a tiny increase. The carbon may trap a few other heavy ions, but basically only reduces DS by accident.  I can't say there aren't any fridge filters that do ion-exchange like your carafe, but I know many or maybe most do not. For sure I've never seen one available for a fridge I've owned. 

So tl:dr, it's not unexpected that your fridge filter, which is likely just a particulate filter plus AC, doesn't reduce DS. It that is the composition, it wasn't designed to.

Edited November 7 by gehringer_2

[gehringer_2]

3 hours ago, pfife said:

A2 has really good tap water

Grew up in Detroit, I hate A^2 tap water! (TBF, it's because we are so close to the treatment plant our water is over-oxidized)

Edited November 7 by gehringer_2

[Edman85]

5 hours ago, mtutiger said:

The fact that fluoridation of water is potentially going to become a partisan issue (particularly if RFK Jr. ends up getting anything of responsibility in this administration) is incredibly depressing.

EDIT: I do think that RFK Jr., assuming Jacky Rosen ends up winning in NV, would have a *very* tough time getting confirmed for anything.... but still even having the conversation is unnerving to me.

He got around senate confirmations last time by abusing the "acting" title.

 

The fact that I'm seeing "Make America Healthy Again" in relation to this just makes me want to vomit, and lose respect for people repeating that trope.

[Edman85]

https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/rfk-jr-is-now-an-extinction-level-threat-to-federal-public-health-programs-and-science-based-health-policy/

[IdahoBert]

FROM TOM SANTOS ON X-
So when Trump fires all non-partisan career professionals in government, replaces them with radical loyalists within every nook and cranny of the US government, and adds radical judges everywhere.

And every one of you that voted for him finally wake up from your ****ed up fantasy just like the folks that woke up after 4 years of the last **** show, only to realize it’s much much worse, and much more permanent, this time. 

When the cancer you caused has infected every bit of the American system and it can’t be unwound for a lifetime.

What then?

Do you beg this country for forgiveness for choosing fascism because you were conned into believing your eggs are too expensive because of Joe Biden?

You just put Steve Bannon in charge of American policy. 

You just put Michael Flynn in charge of our military. 

You just put Alex Jones in charge of media and propaganda. 

You just put Stephen Miller in charge of immigration policy. 

You just put bat**** crazy RFK Jr. in charge of health policy. 

You just killed free public education and privatized schools, which you will have to pay for. 

You just sealed the deal on a national abortion ban, because you’re demented if you think it’s not coming. 

You just radicalized the Supreme Court for a generation.

You just made women less safe and less free. 

You just made this country an oligarchy with the billionaires quite literally in charge now.  

You just put in office the one person that believes a president is a king, with the ****ing Supreme Court ruling to prove it in his back pocket!

You just ushered in Fascism. 

Because your cereal costs more. 

Congratulations.

 

[chasfh]

8 hours ago, Sports_Freak said:

He's wrong about crime and inflation. Crime has been coming down all over the country since Trump left office. And if they can't see that Biden was finally getting inflation under gontrol, wait until Trump deports millions of people working and spending money to help the economy. As well as producing the goods we need. And then the tariffs that will be paid by the consumer, not the country from where the goods come from. Donald is going to totally destroy our economy, just as every single business he ran went bankrupt.

Counterpoint: he and his circle are gonna get good and rich along the way, so their personal economies will be swell along the way.