Do you have a source for the fact that pressuring wives was the goal/an effect? I want to believe it since it sounds like the kind of thing that would happen but a quick search didn’t really turn anything up.

One flavor is just detecting acid (sour), and so a strong enough sour flavor would chemically destroy your taste buds by basically dissolving them. I think this is fairly similar to the fact that too bright a light will damage the light detection in your eye. I’m not sure about any others tastes or smells though.

It’s not what free speech means, but they’re using his own words against him. Of course we clearly can’t expect any consistency from conservatives, “free speech for me” etc.