{"id":56378,"date":"2025-03-13T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=56378"},"modified":"2025-03-12T19:49:59","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T02:49:59","slug":"open-thread-march-13-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2025\/03\/13\/open-thread-march-13-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Open Thread March 13 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, the first thing I did was check to see whether my Social Security had arrived. It had. So it’s replacement computer time. I’m still working on getting everything I will need either onto a portable hard drive or changed on the Net, Bu I can slow down a little. Incidentally, if you have ever wanted to say SOB (in full) in a different language, I have a few for you:
\nGerman H\u00fcndinsohn
\nFrench Fils de chienne
\nItalian Cagnafiglio
\nGreek sk\u00fdla gios
\nUkrainian \u0441\u0443\u0447\u0438\u0439 \u0441\u0438\u043d (transliterated suchyy syn)
\nI know enough French, German, and Italian to be pretty sure those work. But my Greek is classical. That’s a transliteration. And my Ukrainian is non-existent, so that’s pure Google Translate. But I thought it would be really handy. (BTW in Italian “gn” and “gl” are pronounced “ny” and “ly” respectively. So, “canyafeelyio.”)<\/p>\n

PolitiZoom<\/a>‘s article speaks for itself. My personal feeling is that anyone who has a personal relationship with the Clementine Caligula should be barred from having any weapons of any kind for life. But that’s probably just me.<\/p>\n

Yes, I know Ash Wednesday was yesterday. But I am very proud of my co-religionists for coming up with this<\/a>, and it’s not too late. It’s never too late to do the right thing.<\/p>\n

Several sources of mine have referred to this article from the Atlantic<\/a> (which I just got around to) in regard to Elon Musk (AKA Dork Vader). I only knew of it as the drug with which Elijah McClain was overdosed with by paramedics – and which killed him. It was the sub-head of the article which grabbed me: “can make anyone feel like they rule the world.” For anyone who doesn’t know, Virgil is a recovering alcoholic (now about 38 years sober) and when we were engaged and first married, I went to a lot of AlAnon meetings, but also to a lot of open AA meetings with him. The latter included a lot of sharing of personal stories. I think everyone who has ever had a drink or two believes they know exactly what it feels like to be “high” on alcohol, and outside of an AA meeting, I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone else actually describe their feelings in that condition. But if we think we know something, we may not listen as carefully when it is discussed. I speak from experience. It took me a couple of years to actually hear and process those stories. And they had this in common: every recovering alcoholic said that when they were drinking they felt “in control.” It’s not a big jump from feeling “in control” to feeling “like they rule the world.” Do I even need to say I have never felt anything remotely like that with alcohol? Because I certainly haven’t. If I had ever found anything which did give me that feeling, it would be extremely difficult for me to stop using it. Not that I have ever been looking!<\/p>\n