Welcome to Sunday, March 22, 2026: Sabbath for goyische cats and International Day of the Seal. Here’s a seal—I forgot the species)—resting on a piece of iceberg (photographed off Svalbard last July):
It’s also Buzzard Day, National Bavarian Crêpes Day, National Broccoli Day, and World Water Day.
Readers are welcome to mark notable events, births, or deaths on this day by consulting the March 22 Wikipedia page.
Da Nooz:
*War news: according to the Wall Street Journal, “Iran believes it’s winning—and wants a steep price to end the war.”
Three weeks into the war, the Iranian regime is signaling that it believes it is winning and has the power to impose a settlement on Washington that entrenches Tehran’s dominance of Middle East energy resources for decades to come.
This attitude may prove to be a dangerous misreading of President Trump’s determination, or of Israel’s capacity to inflict strategic blows on the Islamic Republic’s surviving leadership and military capabilities.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have given mixed signals on how long the war would go on, as they try to talk markets down and keep Tehran guessing. Netanyahu said Thursday that the war would end “a lot faster than people think.” Trump said this week the U.S. would wrap up the conflict in the “near future” even as the Pentagon dispatched thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East.
The problem is, Iran also has a say in when the guns fall silent—and, for now, it seems to think time works to its benefit.
Despite optimistic U.S. and Israeli pronouncements about destroying launchers and missile stocks, Iran has retained the ability to fire dozens of ballistic missiles, and many more drones, every day across the Middle East.
Instead of declining, the rate of fire actually picked up in recent days compared with 10 days ago. Iranian strikes inflicted catastrophic damage this week on key energy installations in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates—while Iran’s own oil exports kept booming.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf’s chokepoint, remains only possible with Iranian permission. Surging oil and gas prices, meanwhile, are exacting growing pain on economies worldwide—and putting pressure on Trump to end the war that he began in expectation of swift victory on Feb. 28.
One can hope this will change, but Iran thinks it’s winning, well, what can you say? It’s lost all of its navy, its uranium-enriching facilities, most of its ballistic-missile launching sites, most of its leadership (including leaders of the Revolutionary Guards), and I have a feeling that things in the Strait of Hormuz will change within a week or two. But what do I know? I’m a biologist, not a political pundit.
*In the NYT op-eds, Lis Smith and John Guida discuss “The future of the Democratic Party” (the IDs: “Ms. Smith is a senior adviser to the political organizations Majority Democrats and the Bench. Mr. Guida is an editor in Opinion.”) The article is archived here.
Democrats hardly need reminding that, however unpopular President Trump is at the moment, the Democratic Party is right there with him.
For the midterms, the party is attempting something of a makeover on the fly.
Guida: . . . what good or bad or other practices are you seeing among Democrats in their responses to the war?
Lis Smith: This is exhibit A of why we don’t need more lawyers in Congress and need people who bring different life experiences to Washington. Too many Democrats, when something like this happens, default to playing legalistic hall monitor and complaining about how Donald Trump didn’t fill out the right paperwork before launching strikes. That’s technically true and important, but that is not at all a persuasive argument.
The best messaging we’ve seen on this issue, by far, has come from post-9/11 war veterans like Platner [Graham Platner, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Maine]. They don’t sound like lawyers, but like people who actually understand what’s at stake because they’ve lived it.
Guida: What about Democrats outside the campaigns?
Smith: We’re seeing a new generation of leaders emerge in this moment. One person I’ve been really impressed by is Representative Pat Ryan of New York (and a Majority Democrats member) — a former Army intelligence officer who served in Iraq and earned two Bronze Stars. He did an interview recently on “Pod Save America” that I sent to all my friends and family because his messaging on Iran was so searing in its simplicity.
He talked about it in language that was plain, visceral and at times profane.
. . . Smith: Yes, you simply cannot succeed in today’s media environment if you can’t communicate in both long-form and short-form mediums. You can’t skate by with tightly scripted, five-minute-friendly cable hits. People want to see politicians who can have two-hour plus conversations that get them off their talking points. They want to see if their politicians are actually real people, willing to engage in cultural conversations.
Ideology in this context matters less than, say, age. Older generations of politicians were taught to always stick to a script, never have a hair out of place, never show any vulnerability and avoid controversial topics at all costs. Younger politicians like Pete Buttigieg and Mamdani, who certainly come from different wings of the Democratic Party, have really thrived in the new media environment. They are incredibly disciplined communicators, but it’s not because someone handed them a script — it’s because they know who they are, they’re comfortable in their own skin, they have very defined values and worldviews.
They’re also willing to let their guards down and have conversations that would give most old-school political consultants heart attacks. Think about Pete on the Flagrantpodcast — in between serious conversations about transportation policy and income inequality, he fielded questions from the hosts about whether the food in Afghanistan turned him gay.
Smith also touts Mamdani as a master of communicating (these are politicians who, like AOC, grew up knowing how to use the Internet), but I’ll let you read that for yourself. As for me, I remain a big fan of Pete Buttigieg. Yes, I know that polls show that gay candidates are largely unelectable as President, but for crying out loud, it’s 2026. Put Mayor Pete up against Vance and see what happens!
*Virtually every column that Andrew Sullivan writes now is against Israel or in favor of leaving Iran alone, and he does seem to become pretty monomaniacal about this, writing virtually the same column again and again. Still, I’ll give him some airtime, but he’s become a curmudgeonly sourpuss about everything. His latest column is “A war against our own values.”
it’s worth asking if Operation Epic Fury is a just war — on classical just war grounds? Let’s investigate.
Jus ad bellum — the first of two just war categories — refers to starting a conflict. Was the process legit? And even many war supporters concede it wasn’t. With no debate by the Congress, let alone a vote, and no attempt even to inform, let alone persuade, the American public in advance, the war is in a constitutional void. Yes, presidents have launched conflicts with no Congressional debate in the past century. But one that could cost well over $200 billion? With all our global alliances and the world economy in the balance? With a global recession possible? Nah, this is more George III than George Washington.
The war was also begun by a surprise attack: Israel’s sudden assassination of the entire Iranian leadership, which Marco Rubio said mandated our involvement (because it would have led to an immediate Iranian attack on us). But a just war requires an explicit declaration or ultimatum beforehand. The Iran War of 2026 is therefore the equivalent of what the Arab states did to Israel in 1967 and 1973, what Russia did to Ukraine in 2022, and what Japan did to the US at Pearl Harbor. FDR called that kind of surprise attack “unprovoked and dastardly.” For a reason.
Just war theory and international law also require an “imminent threat” to justify self-defense. So ask yourself: last month, how was the US “imminently threatened” by Iran? We weren’t. The only faint threat to the US — Iran’s potential nuclear weaponry — had already been “obliterated” last year. Sure, Iran’s conventional weaponry is still dangerous, but a sovereign state is allowed a military and, as we’ve seen, it’s no match for the mighty US and Israeli forces. And no, a potential threat for 47 years does not equate to an imminent one, unless the word imminent is drained of its entire meaning.
That is Sullivan playing “legalistic hall monitor” in the way Lis Smith decries right above. But wait! There’s more:
Was [the war] motivated by the right reasons? There is indeed a case for the war that is a righteous one: it is designed to remove a toxic theocracy that menaces its neighbors and terrorizes its own people. I sympathize with that case — as it’s the one I made passionately for war against Saddam (and the Dish doggedly covered the Green Revolution against the ayatollahs). But what I learned then is that good intentions are not enough. Regime change in Iraq happened for sure. But over 100,000 civilian deaths, over 3,000 American deaths, over 30,000 wounded, a cost of $2 trillion, and an empowered Iran came with it. And Saddam’s nuclear threat — the casus belli — didn’t exist. Neither does Iran’s anymore.
Is he really sure about Iran? They still have their 60% enriched uranium stockpile, and if the war ended today, as Sullivan wants it to, the bomb program would immediately resume, and, presto, within a few years Iran would have nukes.
Is there a chance of success commensurate with the cost? Another jus ad bellum test. Hard to tell. But right now, it’s clear that a war for regime change without ground troops has no guarantee of success. It could lead to something worse: an entrenched, more extreme Islamist government shutting the Strait of Hormuz and wreaking havoc on the global economy. A war to demolish Iran’s ability to defend itself conventionally? That’s achievable, it seems. Almost done, in fact. But it’s unjust. A world in where a superpower can use force to ensure others cannot defend themselves is raw imperialism.
Well, the “others” trying to defend themselves are a tyrannical regime that not only exports terror throughout the Middle East (and the world), but kills tens of thousands of its own people. Do we need to ensure that that regime can defend itself?
*After two months of investigating Harvard, the Trump administration is suing the school for antisemitism (I thought it already had). The article is archived here.
The Trump administration sued Harvard University on Friday over claims that the school was violating the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli people, an escalation of the government’s yearlong clash with the Ivy League university.
The administration has spent months investigating Harvard and trying to force a settlement on the university, the largest target in the White House’s campaign to remake American higher education. But the lawsuit Friday — more than six months after a judge blocked the administration’s opening push to strip Harvard of federal research funding — represented a new threat to the nation’s wealthiest university.
In its lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Boston, the Trump administration said that Harvard had “turned a blind eye to antisemitism and discrimination against Jews and Israelis.” The administration said Harvard had strictly enforced policies against other forms of bias, but had allowed anti-Israel protesters to violate rules “with impunity” after the war in Gaza in 2023.
“Instead of arresting the students or even timely stopping the occupation in violation of university policy, Harvard fed them,” according to the lawsuit, adding that faculty members ”brought them burritos for dinner” and “gave them candy.”
The administration said Harvard had failed to protect Jewish and Israeli students from severe harassment, including physical assault, stalking and exclusion from campus facilities like libraries and classrooms. Some of the episodes, including one where an Israeli student said he was assaulted during a “die-in” protest, have been contested.
“The United States cannot and will not tolerate these failures and brings this action to compel Harvard to comply with Title VI, and to recover billions of dollars of taxpayer subsidies awarded to a discriminatory institution,” the suit added.
The lawsuit asks a court to declare that Harvard is “in material breach” of its responsibilities under Title VI and, therefore, the government does not have to pay Harvard any existing grants. The suit further asks the court to force Harvard to pay back grants it has already received. And it asks for an independent monitor, approved by the government, to oversee the school’s compliance.
Well, the accusations seem valid to me, though Harvard says it’s already doing a lot to reduce antisemitism. In fact, the “burrito” accusation is true: in November 2023, when pro-Palestinian protestors illegally occupied the administration building, two Harvard deans, Rakesh Khurana and Salmaan Keshavjee, bought burritos for those students. However, even Harvard itself admitted it wasn’t doing enough for its Jewish students, and enrollment of Jews is down substantially as they are voting with their feet. Harvard’s response:
A Harvard spokeswoman, Sarah Kennedy-O’Reilly, said Friday that the university had “taken substantive, proactive steps to address the root causes of antisemitism and actively enforces anti-harassment and anti-discrimination rules and policies on campus” and that its “efforts demonstrate the very opposite of deliberate indifference.”
“We will continue to prioritize this important work,” she added, “and will defend the university against this lawsuit, which represents yet another pretextual and retaliatory action by the administration for refusing to turn over control of Harvard to the federal government.”
Taking away the grant money was heavy-handed, but a lawsuit accusing Harvard of civil rights violations is not itself “turning over Harvard to the federal government,.” It’s ensuring that a university that takes federal money does not tolerate discrimination.
*The U.S. mint may produce a gold coin with Trump’s mug on it, which is both inappropriate and illegal. But so, probably, was the demolition of the East Wing of the White House. Here is what you need to know!
Members of the Commission of Fine Arts — composed entirely of Trump appointees, including a 26-year-old executive assistant whose only listed credential for the post was managing Trump’s portrait project — spent several minutes discussing potential changes to the coin, including how big to make it, before officially endorsing it.
“I think the larger the better, and the largest of that circulation, I think, would be his preference,” said Chamberlain Harris, Trump’s executive assistant. Harris also said that the image captured Trump looking “very strong and very tough” and that it would be “fitting” to have him on a coin to mark the nation’s 250th anniversary.
James McCrery II, who served as Trump’s first architect on his planned ballroom before wrangling with the president over its size, encouraged Treasury officials to make the coin “as large as possible, all the way to three inches in diameter” as he led the vote to approve it.
But new coin designs are supposed to receive approval from two panels — and that second panel, the bipartisan Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee, refused last month to consider the proposed gold coin. In interviews, members opposed putting a sitting president on currency, saying it would break with democratic norms and reek of subservience to royalty.
“It’s wrong. It goes against American culture and the traditions that drive what we put on our coinage,” said Michael Moran, a Republican coin collector who then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) recommended for appointment. “I didn’t sign up for this.”
Yep, it’s wrong, it’s big (look at a rule to see the diameter of a three inch coin; half the length of a dollar bill), and have a look at one design below posted online by the U.S. Mint (in the WaPo). I find it particularly funny that right under Trump is the motto “In God We Trust”. And look at that scowl! Although federal law says no living President can appears on U.S. currency, NPR notes that “Megan Sullivan, the acting chief of the Office of Design Management at the Mint, said the Treasury secretary has authority to authorize the minting and issuance of new 24-karat gold coins, which Scott Bessent has used to get around that prohibition and put Trump on a coin.”
The final size and denomination haven’t yet been determined.
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili and Andrzej are discussing noms (Hili is making a purrito):
Hili: Whenever I come across a problem I cannot understand, I remind myself that I have not eaten in a long time.
Andrzej: That is an interesting phenomenon, it should be properly studied on a large, transnational representative sample of cats.
In Polish:
Hili: Ilekroć natrafiam na problem, którego nie mogę zrozumieć przypominam sobie, że dawno nic nie jadłam.
Ja: To ciekawy fenomen, powinien być porządnie zbadany na dużej, ponadnarodowej próbie reprezentacyjnej kotów.
*******************
From CinEmma, a floury cat:
From Stacy:
From Give Me a Sign:
From Masih. The excuse the Iranian regime used to execute this man and two others is this:
The three men — whom Mizan identified as Mehdi Qasemi, Saleh Mohammadi and Saeed Davoudi — were convicted for their role in the killing of two law enforcement officers at a police station. According to Mizan, they used swords, knives and machetes in separate assaults on the two officers.
I don’t believe it, and neither does Masih:
Stop repeating the narrative of the Islamic Republic in the West about this brave Iranian wrestling champion who was executed by hanging in Iran. Watch this video.
Saleh Mohammadi just wanted to be a champion.
He had no lawyer, no fair trial, no free media coverage, no access… https://t.co/y6si7eHo5u pic.twitter.com/yAIm5jRQz7
— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) March 21, 2026
The cancellation of Cesar Chavez has begun. This may be the biggest set of cancellations we see this decade:
The statue of Cesar Chavez on the campus of Fresno State was covered by a black tarp and black plastic on Wednesday. https://t.co/f2poKKyWBP
— BakersfieldNow (@bakersfieldnow) March 18, 2026
Luana found this one put up by Colin Wright:
🚨NEW: This guy got a PhD for interviewing 8 music therapy professors chosen through “purposive expert sampling” (i.e., completely non-random) and cramming as many woke buzzwords as possible into his dissertation title before reaching the character limit. pic.twitter.com/GeqT0dChOr
— Colin Wright (@SwipeWright) March 20, 2026
Two from my feed. First, kindness to kitties:
How about this for an act of kindness. So sweet 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/yy9vj7sMlQ
— Stellar (@StellarArtoisGB) March 20, 2026
FOUR YEARS OLD!
She is 4 years old little genius.
Wins 1st place at World Competition with Fur Elise by Beethoven.pic.twitter.com/9Y5MnJd9uv
— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) March 21, 2026
One I reposted from The Auschwitz Memorial:
This Dutch Jewish girl was gassed to death as soon as she arrived in Auschwitz. She was 11 years old. https://t.co/n2zFUEgmUb
— Jerry Coyne (@Evolutionistrue) March 22, 2026
And two from the estimable Dr. Cobb. First, Bastet!:
This bronze statue, made in Egypt between 715 and 343 BCE, represents the Egyptian cat-goddess Bastet. While Ancient Egyptians worshipped several male and female lion deities, Bastet is the only who came to be depicted as a domestic cat.
— Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (@ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social) 2026-03-21T08:00:56.996Z
Sinkfrog! Click to go to the video on Bluehair:
Thank you for the little girl’s recital. The sound of Fur Elise took me back many years, reminding me of a childhood friend who played this same piece for our third (?) grade class many years ago. He was taught by the local church/synagogue organist until his parents moved to Baltimore for the next level of instruction I was told. The family then emigrated to Israel where he has had a career as performer and professor. He started playing because as a six year old he was simply curious about the piano that his parents had bought for his sister.
Yes, thank you for the Fur Elise piece. It also took me back many years. I was in Australia, attending a bible school (another time of my life), and another student would occasionally play this piece. I’d sit and listen, so relaxed, on the couch in the old mansion’s living room. Thank you Dawn Rodinger, where ever you are, it was always lovely and soothing to listen to you play Fur Elise.
Banger of a thesis from Colin Wright. To think of the times I sweated over “Islamism In Iran and Algeria” and PCC(E)… sexing fruit flies and doing genetic math late into the night (?) as young men…
… when all we had to do was write nonsense about “Cishet Lesbie Dance Decolonialization in my bathroom” and interview an indigenous clown… and we’d be minted!
D.A.
NYC
Yeah, I had the same thought. When I think of how I busted my behind doing the theory and experiments for my Ph.D, reading about this nonsense really gets me. Oh well, look at it this way: A.I. can’t do too much harm to those fields. Adding a few more skatoles to bovine excrement…..
I know I’m reading a quality comment when I’m looking up the definition of the word Skatole! Thanks!
Learned some years ago that each school/dept/discipline seems to have its own standards. First sensitized when my lawyer cousins who had received BCL’s or LLB’s suddenly became JD with three chevrons on their academic robes and listed as Dr in the NAsa phone book…for three years of classwork sans research thesis?… kinda fat masters degree to me. Then took some graduate ed courses for my teaching license…they certainly, on average, did not carry the gravitas of grad physics or math coursework.
But as long as these folk compete among themselves, I have no issue with their self-determined requirements and titling.
Btw, I still think that there is something unique and important about the MD’s and DO’s that graduate from our medical schools.
“But as long as these folk compete among themselves, I have no issue with their self-determined requirements and titling.”
I used to agree with this live-and-let-live approach. I changed my mind when I realized how many folx with soft-on-crime PhDs had leveraged them into VP- or dean-level administrative appointments 🙁
Yes Mike. That is an issue, but one where they are no longer just competing among themselves. I think the old requirement for non-pilot astronaut was advanced degree in engineering or a field of science. So a masters or even doctorate in education would not cut it. But I am sure that those days are gone…and maybe they should be as we democratize space travel.
Is Iran winning or losing? I think losing, but an autocracy does not need to admit that or count their losses so the answer is not that simple. The clear lesson here is that a weaker power can hold off a superpower with a large arsenal of cheap drones and numerous but less sophisticated missiles. Intersection of those is far more expensive and also draining of stockpiles since it takes several interceptors to take out one of these. The result can be state of “not exactly losing”, and that sort of looks like winning.
We better be learning these lessons.
“He who attacks must vanquish. He who defends must merely survive.” [source]
Yes. And where do they survive? In subterranean spaces.
ISIS in caves. Iranian regime members in bunkers, and Iranian missiles in huge underground cities. Hamas in tunnels with connections through to Israel and Egypt. Hezbollah have tunnels into northern Israel. The IDF have discovered tunnel systems in Palestinian areas in the West Bank.
I can’t shake the image of Morlocks, (who share the color scheme of the Palestinian flag) out of my head.
Indeed I’m glad someone else sees Morlocks here.
?The Time Machine – H.G. Wells?
I have a theory – partly confirmed last year – that MOST of Sth Lebanon is as tunneled as Gaza was, where there were more tunnels than NYC (where we use them for subways).
This is why Israel has to occupy all of Sth Lebanon south of the Litani at least and regrade the land if possible.
Keep in mind it is a smaller area than we think: ALL of Lebanon is the size of CT, so south of the Litani should be a doddle!
And eff what the damn BBC and other idiots think and say.
D.A.
NYC
It’s bigger than you think. It would take a lot of troops to occupy effectively. The size of the IDF is limited, especially given the other tasks that we have.
The problem is not how we would look to the press, but the job itself.
Freak! She probably speaks 3 languages and uses the traditional pronunciation of “err.” I know, I’m just jealous. Really, though, how is it possible for someone so young to play a piece of music like that? I wish her well, and I’m certain she has a bright future, that is if anyone is still listening to classical music when she grows up.
We should stop giving credence to the “imminent threat” criticism being levied by Andrew Sullivan and so many others. The right time to act is before the problem becomes an imminent threat—before Iran has a nuclear weapon poised at the top of a ballistic missile. When an asteroid hurtling toward earth is a million miles away, there’s a chance to divert it. When the same asteroid enters the earth’s atmosphere with a fiery glow, it’s too late.
We should also not forget that Iran is an ongoing current threat and not a theoretical matter to be addressed at some point in the future. Hundreds of Americans have been killed by the regime since 1979, and Iran has all along been threatening U.S. interests in the region and around the world.
Norman Iran has been an active threat and international hooligan for most of my life. Start its rap sheet in its first days: US Embassy. Then a decade long nearly 1M dead meat grinder war with Iraq (admittedly started by Iraq, but sustained by Ruollah Khomeini),blowing up our embassy in Beirut and Marines (241 dead) in the 80s, an Israeli embassy AND a kindergarten in Bs. As., Argentina.
Next we move on to their felonies wrecking 4 Arab countries (Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria) to various degrees. Help in Oct 7, multiple hijackings, skullduggery in the Gulf Co-op Countries and the shia therein.
(long breath intake)… I have more but the Roolz limits…
The nukes, the “Countdown Clock” in Tehran to Israel’s destruction and finally.. what they’ve done to the Iranian people.
Norman I’m sure you’re aware of these, but many people aren’t. All the best my friend!
D.A.
NYC
Tehran countdown clock to Israel’s destruction. Who DOES this?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palestine_Square_Countdown_Clock
Others in other forums have noted that the image of Trump on the proposed coin looks like a gorilla. No offence to gorillas.
Re the gold coin. Is there no end to Trump’s megalomania? Well, I know the answer to that.
Absolutely sickening. And what a horrible image they chose. He looks ridiculous.
Reporting from Ukraine delves into Ukraine’s role in the US/Israel vs. Iran situation. Iran is no friend of Ukraine, having supplied Russia with Shahed drones, and that has pushed Ukraine to develop many effective techniques and materiel vs. Shaheds. Now Ukraine is quite popular with anyone threatened by Iran.
Also, in by-subscription-only posts from RfU, AI has greatly increased ID and processing of sites to be hit by US bombing, which may have been the reason that that school was hit.
Another RfU post covers US military involvement in Ecuador, by Ecuador’s invitation, against drug activity there. This does not seem to have gotten much menton, but with that info you should be able to find more about it.
The cat shelter vid is AI.
I think you’re right. If you slow the playback speed to 0.5x, you can see the guy magically stepping through the step ladder.
To me the image on the coin looks like a sad, hunched over old man using a walker.
I used to be a huge Fan of Andrew Sullivan.
I even tried for a some time to respond to his comments.
But since a while I cannot read him anymore – i get too angry.