March 17, 2026

DID AN IRANIAN EMBASSY JUST DEFECT?

Posted at 5:24 pm by Stephen Green

I DUNNO, IT’S SO HARD TO TELL THE HOST FROM THE PARASITE:

Posted at 4:53 pm by Stephen Green

HMM:

Exit quote: “The bottom line – Iran is transitioning into an extremist military regime where Mojtaba Khamenei acts as a mere ‘puppet’ of the Revolutionary Guards, who completely control the country.”

That’s in line with my thoughts from a week or two ago, so naturally I’m inclined to agree. Heh.

What’s the mean going forward? Predictions are hard, the wise man said, especially about the future.

Posted at 4:35 pm by Stephen Green

PANSPERMIA: Asteroid Ryugu Contains All 5 DNA and RNA Building Blocks, Study Shows.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the Hayabusa2 mission in 2014, sending a spacecraft on a 186-million-mile (300-million-kilometer) journey to Ryugu. One year after reaching the asteroid in 2018, the spacecraft landed on its surface and fired a projectile into it. Hayabusa2’s “catcher” then gathered up the chunks of ejected debris, and the spacecraft carried them back to Earth.

Astronomers have run many analyses of the Ryugu samples since then, but Koga and his colleagues are the first to find all five nucleobases inside them. The researchers studied samples that were collected and curated under strictly controlled conditions and conducted their analysis in a cleanroom to further prevent contamination. They also ran tests to confirm the molecules formed on Ryugu rather than coming from Earth.

Fascinating.

Posted at 2:49 pm by Stephen Green

THE REVOLUTION DEVOURS ITS OWN:

Flashback: “[T]here is no sign of the humour industry taking the side of traditional morality, patriotism or civility. The best it can do is dignify itself with noisy and public collections for sentimental and prominent charity. Once you step beyond the fringe, you sooner or later find yourself in very wild country indeed.”

Posted at 2:35 pm by Ed Driscoll

BELIEVE THEM WHEN THEY TELL YOU WHO THEY ARE, PARTICULARLY WHEN THEY DO IT EVERY TIME, GOING BACK DECADES:

Posted at 2:32 pm by Stephen Green

DOMESTIC ABUSE: Jerry O’Connell claims wife, daughters ‘became physical’ after his comments about Harris losing to Trump:

“I said something along the lines of ‘there was no planning. This is what they get. There should have been a primary.’ I said something along those lines, you know, like I was just spit-balling ideas. It was a shock. My wife and daughters, without saying anything, became physical with me. They were filled with rage,” O’Connell said.

He continued, “So if I am being careful with you in how I say things, yes, I live in California. I live with not one, not two, but three people who, if I made any kind of joke, they’d become very angry with me.”

Luckily, we have he-man Bill Maher to teach O’Connell how to stand up for himself:

“Whatever household situation I’m in, I say what I truly think, and if it makes you angry, I’m sorry. We’ll have to work that out. But I am not going to tuck my tail between my legs and just shut the f— up,” Maher said.

O’Connell needs to pick up a copy of my new book and learn to set some boundaries with the abusive women in his house.

Posted at 2:01 pm by Helen Smith

DATA REPUBLICAN: Data Analysis of the State of the Iranian Conflict on March 16, 2026.

PART A: THE US ENDGAME

Why this is America First, not Israel First.

  • Energy: The US is a net petroleum exporter. At $100+ Brent, US shale producers benefit. The US saves approximately $250 million per day compared to Asia and Europe on energy costs during the war. [CONFIRMED — Forbes, March 16]
  • China hurt directly: China was purchasing ~90% of Iran’s sanctioned oil — ~1.7 million barrels/day at deeply discounted prices. That supply is now disrupted. China’s teapot refineries face acute shortages. A direct strategic blow to a US competitor.
  • Taiwan deterrence signal: Chinese intelligence watched B-2s deliver GBU-57s against hardened targets successfully. The US capability to rapidly close an adversary’s entire air defense network, then strike freely — that signal is unambiguous. PLA is studying the campaign. [CONFIRMED — Taiwan News]
  • Dollar hegemony: The post-1973 global financial architecture rests on oil priced in dollars, with US security guaranteeing the flow. Saudi Arabia was exploring yuan oil pricing in 2023. The 2026 Iran war — demonstrating US willingness to use force to keep the system functioning — sends a specific signal to Riyadh about which security relationship is structural. [CONFIRMED — Hindustan Times]
  • What winning looks like: Iran agrees to verifiable nuclear dismantlement and ends proxy funding, from a position of economic and military weakness. No ground invasion, no occupation, no nation-building.
  • Cost comparison: The Iraq War cost ~$2.4 trillion; Afghanistan ~$2.3 trillion (Brown University). Both were driven by ground deployment, force protection, and nation-building. The Iran air campaign runs almost entirely on munitions already procured and carrier strike groups already forward-deployed. [CONFIRMED — CRS;Brown University Watson Institute]

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 1:22 pm by Ed Driscoll