Greetings! Glad you’re here. Today is Tuesday, March 17, 2026. This is a day you need to remember that the same people who told you 35% inflation and $5 gas gave us the strongest economy ever, are the same ones telling us today that 3% inflation and $3.50 gas is an economic disaster.
Today, of course, is St. Patrick’s Day. According to the historians, this is when, in the year 432 AD, St. Patrick, then aged about 16, was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Great Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. Keep a watch on PJ Media's front page. I see a couple of columns in the works on that topic, which should be up soon.
1600: The first recorded St. Patrick's Day celebration in America is held in St. Augustine in Spanish Florida, with the first parade taking place in the same location in 1601, both organized by Catholic Irish vicar Ricardo Artur.
1737: The Charitable Irish Society of Boston organizes the first observance of Saint Patrick's Day in the 13 colonies.
1756: St. Patrick's Day is first celebrated in New York City at the Crown & Thistle Tavern.
1861: Italy is unified into a single kingdom under Victor Emmanuel II following the campaigns led by Giuseppe Garibaldi.
1905: Albert Einstein finishes his scientific paper detailing his quantum theory of light, a foundation of modern physics.
1942: U.S. General Douglas MacArthur arrives in Australia to become supreme commander.
1944: Mount Vesuvius in Italy erupts after months of volcanic unrest, destroying several towns near the volcano.
1963: Elizabeth Ann Seton of New York was beatified (canonized in 1975).
1967: British harpist Sheila Bromberg plays with the string section for the Sgt. Pepper’s track "She's Leaving Home" and becomes the first female to perform on a Beatles recording.
1973: Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and a consortium of Western firms led by British Petroleum agree to the formal nationalization of Iran's oil industry in return for an assured 20-year supply of Iranian oil.
Birthdays today include a longer list than usual: Roger B. Taney, 5th Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; Bobby Jones; Nat King Cole; Eunice Gayson, British actress and first Bond girl; Astronaut James Irwin; country singer Dick Curless; Zola Taylor of The Platters; Clarence Collins, of The Imperials; John Wanye Gacy; Jefferson Airplane’s Paul Kantner; Don Mitchell; drummer Tony Newman of T. Rex; singer-songwriter Jim Weatherly; The Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian; CIA Director Micheal Hayden; recording artist Ian Gomm; Patrick Duffy; Kurt Russell; Thin Lizzy guitarist Scott Gorham; Gary Sinise; Paul Overstreet; Danny Ainge; Level 42’s Mike Lindup; and Rob Lowe. If today is your day, Happy Birthday!
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To quote Gen. Curtis LeMay, "If you kill enough of them, they stop fighting." The question before us is this: At what point do we reach that threshold in Iran?
Fox News is reporting that, according to Israeli Intelligence, “…Iran's top security official, Ali Larijani, and the head of the Revolutionary Guard's Basij militia, Gen. Gholamreza Soleimani, were both killed in overnight strikes in new blows to the country’s leadership.”
Now we get word that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is reportedly in a coma after a devastating airstrike and has also lost a leg. From Iran Wire:
The American newspaper The New York Post has published a report detailing U.S. intelligence assessments about Mojtaba Khamenei, the new Leader of the Islamic Republic. According to the assessment cited in the report, Mojtaba Khamenei is likely gay.
In its March 2 report, The New York Post wrote: “When Trump was informed of this data, he could not hide his surprise and laughed out loud.” According to informed sources, others present in the room also laughed, and one senior intelligence official “has been unable to stop laughing about it for several days.”
Word reached here about a day before that his father, Ali Khamenei, who was killed by the airstrikes on the first day, was never happy about his kid taking the reins. With this report, we can begin to understand why. Apparently, the worry was that he would be tossed off the top of a building somewhere. Again from Iran Wire:
Three separate sources within the intelligence community told The New York Post that this unusual claim is “considered credible by American spy agencies” and is not simply misinformation meant to damage Mojtaba Khamenei’s reputation. Two of those sources said the available information indicates that Mojtaba Khamenei “had a long-term sexual relationship with his childhood teacher.”
Another section of the report states that after being wounded in the airstrikes that killed his father and other family members, Mojtaba Khamenei, while recovering, “made aggressive sexual advances toward the men caring for him,” which sources suggest may have been influenced by heavy medication
Yeah, right. That chuckle aside, and just as a casual observation, it would appear that Iran is losing the Whack-a-Mole game. The moment someone gets appointed to a top role in what turns out to be a fast deteriorating regime, they are summarily and pretty much instantly removed from the position. And the thing is that, like lemmings, they keep lining up to take the over-the-cliff dive. On X, PJ Media's Richard Fernandez notices this as well and pipes in with his own comment:
Larijani as head of the Basij militia supervised the ground level control system of the Islamic Republic. Primarily tasked with internal security, the Basij functions as a "moral police" and anti-riot force to suppress protests. Some pundits will argue his death won't matter, but it comes as part of a rising frequency in strikes against the control structure of the regime. It won't matter only if the opposition to the Islamic Republic is inconsequential.
Obviously it is, and increasingly so, at least outside the insane world that is Iran. To quote LeMay again, "Kill enough and the rest stop fighting."
This video from some time ago, which shows the rude interruption of an Iranian State TV broadcast, seems emblematic. The anchor is saying that Allah will protect… Boom!
Sigue siendo el mejor vídeo de todos los tiempos.
— Isaac (@isaacrrr7) March 16, 2026
Medio estatal iraní: “Ninguna bomba puede alcanzarnos porque Alá nos protege…”
Tres doritos después: 💣💣 pic.twitter.com/GoJPduH8A8
I would think that, as LeMay implies, a sane person would note the people in line in front of them, becoming an instant red mist and would decide not to be the next in line for that honor. Iran's Islamic regime is done. Toast. It knows it as well as we do. I suppose reaching the LeMay threshold is simply a matter of time.
Thought for the Day: “Friends are people who know you really well and like you anyway.” —Greg Tamblyn
Take care. I'll see you tomorrow.
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