Open thread 3/19/2026
She has single jumps and not many of them. But just look at those spins and how she stops on a dime. I have no idea how she did it and I don’t think anyone can do it today:
The New Neo
A blog about political change, among other things
“Republicans overwhelmingly back Trump over Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly on Iran war, poll finds“—
https://nypost.com/2026/03/19/us-news/republicans-overwhelmingly-back-trump-over-tucker-carlson-megyn-kelly-on-iran-war-poll-finds/
(This was referred to in an earlier comment.)
One might hope that the amount of this support will increase once the country’s / orgs that are funding the vociferous, odoriferous woke-Right miscreants are exposed.
Looks like Iran still has some fight left in attacking its neighbor’s energy infrastructure now. The strategy is clear: hold the world hostage economically. Trump threatens to destroy their energy infrastructure in retaliation, which to me, plays into Iran’s hand. Obviously, not enough of their missiles and drones have been destroyed; needs to be taken down to zero before Iran will stop. Oil heading to $130 I think.
To be clear, I’m all for staying the course. We now seem to be in the stage where the enemy is desperate and willing to do anything just to go down in flames. Hard to find an end when up against such a mindset that requires we totally destroy such. Not rational people.
Iran without Kharg Island has no hands.
Stay non-wobbly.
Great 1 min. speech about choosing life over death by Douglas Murray
https://twitter.com/i/status/2034395349419212876
(ht Instapundit)
The Dems focus on the price of oil is interesting — saving Iranians from IRGC oppression is not good because … of oil! Gotta stop the attack because of oil!
Low cost oil is SOOOO important, even if it means the evil regime retains power and rebuilds to support more terrorism & even nukes, later.
Such intellectual hypocrites, just 20 years ago falsely claiming Bush was attacking Iraq for one reason — oil!
I’m for regime change now, and also sad that more Dems weren’t for regime change in Iran, too, in 2006.
How many know when the last Iraq elections were? Who the new Iraq president is? — I don’t, without looking it up. Iraq is not causing big problems, no news is good news. Getting rid of Hussein was good in the short term, and now even in the long term. Fails to solve the Arab Sunni vs Shia split, fails to give Kurds a homeland. Those aren’t problems solvable by the US; well, the first isn’t.
On Trump threatening to blow up Iran’s infrastructure, part of me takes it as just words. Negotiations. Not clear that IRGC leaders, now trying to destroy neighbor Sunni oil, will care that much if they’re losing anyway, but it’s clear a lot of their support is based on the money they spread to their military. Without the money, the numbers of fighters are certain to go down. If the oil infrastructure is destroyed, the fighters won’t get paid, and they have to know they won’t get paid … likely even more of them will switch sides. With guns*.
Yet maybe Trump is negotiating, in public, with the EU leaders. If they aren’t willing to use little they have to protect the straights, maybe destroying Iran’s oil production & cash mean the regime changes faster & fewer Americans die. And then Europe & China are stuck with higher world market prices, not so bad for American competitiveness.
Then, after Iran regime change, and maybe Cuba regime change, with more world peace except in Ukraine, the higher price of oil starts coming down & there is no big US recession.
I don’t support this, but it’s an attempt to steelman the idea that Trump should destroy Iran’s oil. While I think the downsides are worse, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some upsides.
Another link agrees with my Iran is weak thesis, despite their continued missiles.
The Islamic Republic prepared for the moment when its center would be hit, and its command structure would fracture. In that scenario, regional units keep firing, security forces keep repressing, and the state projects fragments of normality even as central control collapses. The activation of these mechanisms is evidence that the system has entered its collapse phase, not escaped it. What we are seeing is not resilience, but a regime preserving violence and surface function long enough to outlast the political patience of its adversaries.
https://parpanchi.substack.com/p/what-looks-like-resilience-in-iran
60-90 days should be enough for regime change. But not 20, nor even 40. Those calling for an end to the war before regime change are allies of the IRBC killers.
Smartest strategy by Trump is to minimize American deaths.
Short term pain for long term gain. Poo
Tom Grey:
You ask if anyone knows who the President of Iran is. His name is Pezeshkian, IIRC, and I saw a post yesterday (not the Babylon Bee) that says he is begging Israel and the U.S. not to kill him. Don’t know if that’s true, but it rings true to me.
Ignore the “poo.” Stupid autofill.
Interesting article on the skater here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonja_Henie
A tight spin with a precise, controlled exit. An impressive feat with a feminine aesthetic.
Democrats are going to airbrush Cesar Chavez from the picture like Stalin had his murdered opponents erased from pictures
Republicans say that he had to be eliminated because of his politically incorrect views on illegal aliens and open borders
I have decided to have a celebration on his day, March 31
https://abc7ny.com/post/california-lawmakers-say-change-name-csar-chavez-day-farmworkers-following-sexual-abuse-allegations/18736013/
California lawmakers say they’ll change name of Cesar Chavez Day to Farmworkers Day
There were calls to alter memorials honoring the man who in the 1960s helped secure better wages and working conditions for farmworkers and has been long revered by many Democratic leaders in the U.S. The California Museum said it will remove Chavez from the state’s Hall of Fame – something it’s never done before.
Some local and state leaders in both parties urged their communities not to celebrate Chavez’s birthday on March 31, and to rename buildings and streets named for him. Celebrations of Chavez in Texas and in his home state of Arizona have been canceled at the request of the Cesar Chavez Foundation.
Ignore the Person of Orange (PoO) at your own risk.
Re: Cesar Chavez St in San Francisco
I’d like to go back to Army St. I’m not the only one.
@Tom Grey: Getting rid of Hussein was good in the short term, and now even in the long term.
Agreed.
I think the blanket condemnations of the Iraq War mistakenly, even dishonestly, assume the world would have been just fine if Hussein had remained in place, steadfastly, covertly pursuing WMD.
Yes, we botched the nation-building part.
I would too huxley, I lived in SF before they renamed it. But they are more likely to rename it Ayatollah St.
@Bob Wilson:I have decided to have a celebration on his day, March 31
That might not be wise, until you’ve taken good look at the evidence.
Regarding the Iraq War: A few years ago I read an article by someone who had served in the NSC during Trump’s first term. He said he originally supported the war but eventually changed his mind for two reasons. 1) Fracking made Iraqi oil less critical to US economy and security. 2) We did not take Iran into account, weakening Iraq was a benefit to the mullahs.
I had had the same thoughts myself so resonated with this. 1) is admittedly anachronistic since we did not get fracking online and become more energy independent until well after the war started. But 2) is huge considering what we are still going through with Iran. Yet I also agree strongly with Tom and huxley that the world has to be a better place with Saddam out of the picture.
Was there a way to square this circle? Maybe we could have defanged Hussein without a full-scale war. Think of what we did with Gaddafi in Libya (until Obama screwed it up). Looking back that was a very Trumpian kind of move, leaving Gaddafi in power but removing him as a threat to the US. But it would have been hard. Showing that as usual in the Middle East you often don’t have a good choice and a bad choice, just a bad choice and a worse choice.
Hindsight is always 20:20 and very commonly mistaken for wisdom.
yes we learned all the wrong lessons from the Iraq expedition, because crude prices went up, we decided to phase out the incandescent lightbulb, and go in on electric and solar, elements,
when fracking really started underway, a campaign from parties in the gulf states as well as Russia, was mounted to discourage the expansion of same, not to mean the Solyndra grifr encouraged by the Stimulus bill one and two
it empowered the Deaniacs that took over the Democratiss including the nutroots, like Markos Moulitsas, and Obama
decapitating the Baathists empowered the likes of Suleimani who became Kingmaker not only in Iraq, but in Syria, allied with Hezbollah,using some of the factions, that were active back to the 80s, the Dawaa circle, who ended up in the government, (0ne of them, the transpott minister, met their fate alongside suleimani
@F, thanks for a response, but the Iran President is in the news. I asked about Iraq, in the context of Dems & int’l Luxury Belief holders claiming Iraq was a failure. The President of Iraq, and problems in Iraq, are far less in the news. (Know Iraq Pres. name without looking it up?)
I read, and believe, that in 2003 (before Neo’s blog? Just comments) Israel was wanting the US to go after Iran, not Iraq, as the bigger threat.
I wish that Bush had emphasized the 16 UN Security Council Resolutions that Saddam had violated more than the WMD. Also the 30,000 Kurds he murdered in one city. He was a monster.
Yet it’s likely true that regime change in Iraq, with small civil war nation building towards democracy, did increase the power & danger of Shia fundamentalists in Iran. Because some 60% of Iraqis are Shia. Arab not Persian, but Shia like the mullahs. I support democracy in Iraq, even tho they vote for policies I don’t like.
There was also genocide happening in Darfur, Sudan. I was hoping that America would be creating A World Without Dictators. But the world’s not yet ready. So glad that Trump is taking out Iran now, rather than delay so that the next President faces only more costly choices.
That skater so good it seemed fake. Slowed vid down, and no doubt it was real. Unbelievable.
They are using the A-10 Warthogs in Iran – or at least over the water. I’ve long thought it will be sad when the air force finally retires them. No other planes like them. https://nypost.com/2026/03/19/world-news/us-deploys-a-10-warthogs-apache-helicopters-to-secure-strait-of-hormuz/
Illyushin II Sturmovik, WW2 Soviet ground attack fighter-bomber, comes to mind.
Well, my mind anyway.
Regarding skaters and spins. The ability to spin at a high rate of rotation and stopping almost immediately is, and has been, very common among skilled skaters. Sonya Heine’s spins are very fast but not otherworldly. Check out these videos:
Lucinda Ruh, one of the best at spins, see the conclusion of her program at the 4:00 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0fvU4wnp34
Here is a collection of spins and spirals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNCyPQa1IzA
And, finally, KAMILA VALIEVA; mostly jumps, but also with terrific rotation speed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZjhUBHSQWM
The rate of rotation is mostly controlled by the amount of extension of legs and arms; faster rotation if arms and legs are close to body, slower rotation if arms and legs are extended.
P-47 Thunderbolt, excelled in ground attack, was very rugged. Air cooled radial engines are particularly robust.
IIRC the IL-2 had a pretty high loss rate; the armour surrounding the engine and pilot did not protect the oil cooling radiator (oil cooler).
The Douglas A6 Skyraider was a very capable and rugged ground attack aircraft operated by the USN through the Viet Nam war. I think our highly esteemed comentor J.J. flew them.
Tom Grey: The lesson to me? Don’t scribble a comment as I’m on the way out the door for a brief hospital visit!
Re: Animal story YouTubes
I’m convinced that half of them are AI. Here’s an example cued up to Exhibit A:
–“Blind Baby Bobcat Walked To Man House – Hours Later, She Thinks The Cat Is Her Own Mom”
https://youtu.be/WE0PJIp3CuI?t=59
Notice the sleeping man has two left arms! Rookie AI mistake.
Then there’s the whole blind baby animal rescue plot, which is done to death on YouTube.
Re: Animal story YouTubes
Have seen a few with family dog rescue baby just before mountain lion, bear, or eagle snatches from porch, grass, swing, slide.
Re: Animal story YouTubes
Heré’s one I couldn’t figure out:
–The Dodo, “Woman Has Removed Over 300 Hooks From Sharks’ Mouths | The Dodo Wild Hearts”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8LmxwOgBhA
I mean, this scuba diver is shoving her arm up to the elbow inside a shark’s jaws. while a group of sharks swim around her. Can this be real? The Dodo seems to be a reliable animal channel.
Of course, they are small sharks, 4-8 footers. Still, I’m not volunteering.
Turns out, the woman has a name and social media accounts which mention her shark work:
https://www.instagram.com/cristinazenato/
Guess it’s legit. Humans keep pushing the limits.
Thanks for the skating video, Neo. That was awesome!
= = = = = = = =
“…Denial of FISA-702 Abuse by FBI Director Kash Patel…”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2026/03/19/a-very-interesting-denial-of-fisa-702-abuse-by-fbi-director-kash-patel-surrounding-president-donald-j-trump/#more-281727
I’m not into break dancing, but these really are “Insane Moves! B-Boy Shigekix vs. B-Boy Issin | Red Bull BC One World Final Tokyo 2025”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O–lb2uPMHc&list=RDO–lb2uPMHc&start_radio=1
Oil for Cuba?!?! – Greta Thunberg ADMITS It Was NEVER About Climate Change (Video)
https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2026/03/oil-for-cuba-greta-thunberg-admits-it.html
Victor Davis Hanson appeared on Hannity Thursday night. In 7 minutes, he explains how facts are turning the worm on Ttump’s alleged war of choice.
Both Europe and Al Jazeera see the undeniable facts of US military success are becoming overwhelming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRyu1oIufj8P
The theocratic Iranian regime will be gone in weeks, VDH opines.
Caroline Glick interviewed on the war by Times of Israel’s Lazar Berman (34:35): https://youtu.be/EVk2DVIei_E
In sum, Caroline seems to me confident that the efforts are going quite well and — more importantly — will not end until the mutual objectives of Israel and the US are achieved.
On that NY Times story about Cesar Chavez (via Instapundit):
And several more possible holes in this story. So long ago, and little corroboration.
https://x.com/Zigmanfreud/status/2034804961738178850?s=20
Possible holes?
Little corroboration?
Hey! For the Democrats and their Media poodles, that’s more than enough!!
Well, it’s the NY Times. Chavez is no longer convenient to the left, since he opposed illegal immigration. As to Chavez, I dunno.
But how will the left tie Caesar Chavez to Jeffrey Epstein? A “Bridge too Far,” or a lie just too big?
Last I checked, Iraq had a parliamentary federal government. More personal liberty than many other nations in the region, and they’re fighting off ISIS with our help.
That’s a lot of “nation building” and calling it “nation building” with the built -in sneer at the absolute failure of any attempt at….”nation building”….only partly obscures it.
I suspect it had something to do with the fact that Iraq is/was more westernized than, say, Afghanistan and more people welcomed the change. And they’d been more or less “western” prior to Saddaam at least in the sense that they’d had a parliamentary government.
But “nation building” is a spectrum and can be said to succeed if we get a dictator who’s on our side and not repressing so hard a revolution is inevitable. Iraq seems to be on the opposite end of that spectrum.
Looking at the skater’s fabulous moves reminds me of something I heard some time back. Some, maybe most, hockey players have a groove running longitudinally along the center of the skate blade. This gives them a sharp edge on either side for more bite when changing direction of speed in a near-instant. On the other hand, doing spins would be difficult and you’d probably tear up a knee.
So maybe Sonya had one hockey skate blade and the other with a very slight bulge and used each according to her need. Sorry.
I was more struck by her ability to stand up after a zillion spins at probably 100 rpm.
Richard, always good to think outside the box while thinking about in the rink! 🙂
Just skating backwards is a challenge for me, a skill I wish I had achieved as a child skating on the local tennis court converted to an ice rink.
Or at the local roller rink, except back then we had roller skates that attached/strapped to our shoes and used at a concrete rink in the park, rather than the wheeled boot types now much more widely available at wooden floored indoor rinks.
I used to sharpen skates as a yout. Hockey skates have more curve to the blade, less steel on the ice, which made for sharper turns. the blade also had a deeper groove when sharpened. The figure skate was flatter (still had a curve) and the blades had a shallower profile when sharpened.
The blades on hockey skates are shorter than figure skates.
I found a pair of speed skates at a second hand store. The blades were extremely long. They were very fast!!! The leather disintegrated after one use, but it was fun while they lasted.