March 7, 2026

AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD:

I wish it were that easy:

Further thoughts from Ace: Megyn Kelly, The Chameleon Princess of Pop Politics.

Posted at 4:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

TRUMP TO RUPTURING IRAN: Here It Comes!

Pezeshkian claimed that the “Guardian Council,” a triumvirate which includes the president and ostensibly holds power until a new Supreme Leader is chosen, had told the IRGC to stop firing at other countries unless they attacked first. The IRGC then completely ignored Pezeshkian’s orders:

Huge explosions were heard across Iran as Israel carried out a “broad-scale wave of strikes” using 80 fighter jets targeting Tehran and Isfahan, where key nuclear facilities are located, as the war entered its eighth day. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE saw fresh drone and missile attacks on Saturday, even as Iran’s president apologised to the Gulf nations for the strikes.

Translation: The Islamic Republic has ceased to be. Iran is now a flat-out military dictatorship. The IRGC no longer takes orders from the theocratic government that it supposedly serves. They have used this crisis to seize power, and they will not hand it back. Pezeshkian is now an irrelevant figure, as is Larijani and anyone else outside the armed services of Iran.

The death of the Ayatollah(s) is making the Economist, and other publications on the left quite sad:

Posted at 2:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

BRYAN CALLEN: Hollywood Did Stunning 180 on Pronouns. Veteran comic, Hangover alum shares fallout from Trump support, Biden critique.

Later, Callen shared why the cultural winds are shifting in Tinsel Town. Turns out a movie or TV show set is no place for a prima donna or someone who demands special treatment – think unconventional pronouns.

“Anybody who creates any of that kind of energy, it becomes problematic,” Callen explained. “When Hollywood hired all those DEI officers, movies started losing money.”

And, as a result, many were “quietly fired,” he said. That was then, albeit a few short years ago. The professional climate today is different, he explained.

“Now, the minute you apply for a job in Hollywood … if you wanna work on the set, if you put your pronouns down [on your resume], you ain’t getting the job. Nobody wants to deal with that maintenance,” he said. “I’ve been in those rooms [where decisions are made]. ‘Nope, I don’t wanna do any of that pronoun stuff.’”

“You can’t afford to have somebody sue or make a scene,” he added. “You’re dealing with too much money. You got 23 days to shoot this thing … nobody wants that [drama].”

But it sounds like plenty of pronoun people are still writing the material that’s filmed on those sets, according to veteran producer Jim Agnew, who may have just, as Roger Simon would say, blacklisted himself: “I’ve been in the WJ like 15 years. And let’s just say, because I have nothing in common with 99% of the people in the Writers Guild, let’s just say that in the last five or six years it looks like Starfleet Academy in real life. No, I’m not kidding. I’m not kidding. I mean, listen, I don’t think they can throw me out for making fun of other members and I’m too old to be hired on a TV show from some young show-writer. So, yeah, it looks like, you know, blue hair, lots of covid masks, beta males. Yeah. Pronouns everywhere. It’s literally is reflective of like 2,000 people who look like they’re in Starfleet Academy.”

Posted at 2:14 pm by Ed Driscoll

TUCKER CARLSON’S ABSURD CHABAD CONSPIRACY:

When you tell your millions of followers that a shadowy Jewish organization is secretly orchestrating a villainous plot to drag the United States into war and overthrow a historic Muslim religious site, you are not merely speculating. You are not merely “asking questions.” You are placing a target on the backs of ordinary people whose only crime is hosting Shabbat dinners, visiting the sick, or making sure a stranded traveler can find a place to pray.

Chabad isn’t only on college campuses or in Jewish population centers like New York or California. It also operates in some of the most remote places on earth: Tanzania, Ghana, Cambodia, Thailand, Brazil, China. Anywhere they could possibly support Jewish life, they have a presence.

In many cases, a Chabad House is the only Jewish institution in an entire region, serving tourists, students, or travelers. In other words: It is a safe haven.

“Can you imagine being a tiny minority and being able to travel anywhere in the world knowing you can find a Shabbat meal or a place to pray? ” wrote Daniella Greenbaum Davis on X. “That’s Chabad.”

And indeed, that’s exactly how most Jews experience it. But for the Chabad families themselves, the flip side is stark. Their mandate, after all, is to design their homes to be accessible and welcoming in some of the most isolated—and dangerous—places on Earth.

Why, it’s as if: Tucker Has Become Tehran’s Most Effective English-Language Propagandist.

Posted at 1:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

THE CORBYNIZATION OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONTINUES APACE: Zohran Mamdani’s wife liked social media posts celebrating Oct. 7 attacks.

UPDATE: “The ethno narcissistic tableau she presents and her centering of herself in her art are markers of the terminal cultural exhaustion that afflicts these people rather than any authentic ideological zeal (which would be much more interesting). Invoking the latter is actually a form of undue flattery and implies there’s more there than there actually is.”

Meanwhile, Ben “Hamas” Rhodes, who famously said, “The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old, and…They literally know nothing,” is angry that CBS is doing journalism:

No wonder Rhodes is so furious about this story being covered:

Posted at 12:45 pm by Ed Driscoll

THANKS, FELLAS:

Not that you’d fire a Patriot at a Shahed…

Posted at 12:30 pm by Stephen Green

TRUE ENOUGH:

Posted at 12:03 pm by Glenn Reynolds

I DID NOTICE:

Posted at 11:16 am by Stephen Green

THIS:

Posted at 10:56 am by Stephen Green

JOSEPH CAMPBELL: Will the 2026 midterms be a ‘blue wave?’ Here’s what to watch as polling ramps up.

One of the safe wagers about this year’s midterm elections is that polling of competitive congressional races will be frequent and abundant — and maybe even misleading. After all, the “red wave” of sweeping Republican victories anticipated four years ago turned out to be a very modest “red trickle.”

While Democrats are favored to win control of the House of Representatives this year, it may be months before clarity emerges about how November’s congressional elections will turn out. Even so, it is none too early to be aware of some realities about election surveys this year, especially as polling already has been conspicuous in unfolding U.S. Senate races in Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire and Georgia.

Pollsters in 2026 are coming off back-to-back disappointments. In 2024, polls overall understated Republican Donald Trump’s support for the third time in as many presidential elections, despite modifications to survey techniques that sought to avoid such an outcome. In 2025, polls collectively underestimated support for victorious Democrats in gubernatorial campaigns in New Jersey and Virginia — the year’s two most prominent statewide races.

Of course, past results are no sure indicator of future polling performance, as the recent experience of AtlasIntel makes clear.

Read the whole thing.

Posted at 10:14 am by Ed Driscoll