Hellbound and Down

Israel’s Strikes on Iran Spark Growing Dissent in Congress

On Monday, June 16, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced legislation, a War Powers Resolution, to prevent President Trump from using military force against Iran without Congressional authorization. This will force all Senators to go on record supporting or opposing the following: “Congress hereby directs the President to terminate the use of United States Armed Forces for hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its government or military, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran.”

Sen. Kaine, a longtime advocate for exerting congressional authority over war, blasted Israel for jeopardizing planned U.S.-Iran diplomacy. “The American people have no interest in another forever war,” he wrote.

When Israel launched a surprise military strike on Iran last week, it did more than risk igniting a catastrophic regional war. It also exposed long-simmering tensions in Washington – between entrenched bipartisan, pro-Israel hawks and a growing current of lawmakers (and voters) unwilling to be dragged into another Middle East disaster.

“This is not our war,” declared Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), a Republican and one of the House’s most consistent antiwar voices. “Israel doesn’t need U.S. taxpayers’ money for defense if it already has enough to start offensive wars. I vote not to fund this war of aggression.” On social media, he polled followers on whether the U.S. should give Israel weapons to attack Iran. After 126,000 votes (and 2.5 million views), the answer was unequivocal: 85% said no.

For decades, questioning U.S. support for Israel has been a third rail in Congress. But Israel’s unprovoked attack on Iran – coming just as the sixth round of sensitive U.S.-Iran nuclear talks were set to take place in Oman – sparked rare and unusually direct criticism from across the political spectrum. Progressive members, already furious over Israel’s war on Gaza, were quick to condemn the new offensive. But they weren’t alone.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) called Israel’s strike “reckless” and “escalatory,” and warned that Prime Minister Netanyahu is trying to drag the U.S. into a broader war. Rep. Chuy García (D-IL) called Israel’s actions “diplomatic sabotage” and said, “the U.S. must stop supplying offensive weapons to Israel, which also continue to be used against Gaza, & urgently recommit to negotiations.”

Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA) was even more blunt. “The war criminal Netanyahu wants to ignite an endless regional war & drag the U.S. into it. Any politician who tries to help him betrays us all.”

More striking, however, were the critiques from moderate Democrats and some Republicans.

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How Much Damage Has Mass Vaccination Done to Society?

My mind often overlaps the past present and future onto themselves. Because of this, I will frequently recall events that happened in the past which perfectly mirror what is unfolding before us, and in turn, I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve witnessed humanity repeat its same mistakes or can see a slow motion train-wreck ahead on the horizon. During COVID, I realized we were again reenacting the same tragedy humanity had ever experienced since the smallpox vaccine was brought to the market and I had a thought. If people became aware of what had happened before and ended our collective amnesia, perhaps this could at last stop.

As fate would have it, my wish came true, and without knowing me, Steve Kirsch gave me the opportunity to begin introducing that forgotten history to the world. This happened after he chose to publish an article I wrote illustrating how the trucker protests were identical to smallpox protests that had happened more than a century before and then for reasons I still do not understand, encouraged his readers to subscribe to me so I would start writing here.
Note: At the time I chose the username “A Midwestern Doctor” (for the smallpox article), I did not put much thought into it as I was never expecting to use it again.

Over the years, I’ve noticed again and again that a vaccine disaster happens which injuries many in a very similar way, it gets swept under the rug (often by officials who are quite conflicted in their decision to do so), and then the same thing happens again a few decades later.

Given that we give dozens of vaccines to each member of society, this raises an obvious question—what is that doing to society?

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America’s Deception Strengthens Iranian Hardliners

“I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done…. Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”

Trump made this post on the morning that Israel struck Iran. Expressing the belief that the devastating attacks on Iran would weaken Iran’s hardliners and push them to capitulate to U.S. terms and sign a nuclear deal, Trump said, “They should now come to the table to make a deal before it’s too late…. You know, the [hardliners] I was dealing with are dead.”

The belief that the strikes will weaken the hardliners and improve the chances of forcing Iran to accept a deal that eliminates their peaceful, civilian nuclear program is wrong.

As the strikes on Iran began, U.S. officials insisted that they were not involved in any way. In the first several hours, the only statement coming out of Washington was from the State Department. Though Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Israel had “advised” the U.S. of the action, he called the action a “unilateral action” and said the U.S. was “not involved in strikes against Iran.” Trump posted that “The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran.”

But Israeli officials told a different story. Though Iran had long been planning for an Israeli attack if nuclear negotiations with the U.S. failed, they thought they were safe while talks remained alive and continued. They did not consider an attack just days before the next round of talks.

Israeli officials not only say that that was the plan, but that the United States, and Trump specifically, were part of the deception. Shortly after the strikes began, Israeli officials claimed that, while Trump and his team publicly opposed the attack, they privately gave a “clear… green light.” They even claimed that public reports that Trump had told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on a phone call not to strike Iran, “in reality the call dealt with coordination ahead of the attack.”

This claim has not been confirmed, and the U.S. has denied it. It does appear, though, that Trump gave, if not a “clear green light,” then tacit approval.

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Kash Patel Drops 2020 Election Interference Evidence Bombshell

FBI Director Kash Patel dropped a bombshell Monday evening, handing Congress an intelligence report that raises serious questions about China’s role in the 2020 election. According to the report, Chinese operatives mass-produced counterfeit U.S. driver’s licenses as part of a broader scheme to flood the system with fake mail-in ballots—benefiting… you guessed it… Joe Biden.

This wasn’t just foreign meddling—it was industrial-scale fraud, enabled by a broken mail-in voting system the Democrats have long been exploiting. The report confirms what many of us suspected all along: the integrity of the 2020 election wasn’t just compromised—it was hijacked.

According to officials who spoke to Just the News, the reports—flagging potential foreign interference in the lead-up to the 2020 election—were neither corroborated nor seriously investigated. In fact, they were quietly pulled back from intelligence agencies right around the time then-FBI Director Chris Wray told Congress there were “no known plots” of foreign meddling.

Convenient timing, isn’t it? While Trump was being accused of endangering democracy, the intelligence community was sitting on evidence that might have blown the lid off the election narrative—and they buried it.

The documents were handed over to Sen. Chuck Grassley, who had warned the FBI that the intel was being ignored—not investigated—even though there was clear evidence of fake licenses tied to foreign election interference.

“Thanks to the oversight work and partnership of Chairman Grassley, the FBI continues to provide unprecedented transparency at the people’s Bureau,” Patel told Just the News. “To that end, we have located documents Chairman Grassley requested, which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election. Specifically, these include allegations of plans from the CCP to manufacture fake driver’s licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots – allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public.”

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Great Big Ugly Surveillance State

On March 20, President Trump signed an executive order “Eliminating Information Silos.” The order directed heads of federal agencies to make sure officials designated by the president “have full and prompt access to all unclassified agency records, data, software systems, and information technology systems.” The executive order did not attract much attention until it was more recently revealed that the administration was working with tech company Palantir to create a database containing all information collected by all federal agencies on all US citizens.

A database consisting of all the information of American citizens collected by the various federal agencies such as the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the Pentagon would be a major step in creating a total surveillance state. This database could come in handy to future Dr. Faucis seeking to enforce mask and vaccine mandates. Those with access to this database could see personal health records, education records, and tax returns. They may even be able to see how many firearms individuals have purchased and if they were associated with any organizations the government had labeled “extremist.”

Despite the obvious threat to liberty the “big ugly database” poses, some commentators and “influencers” who would normally oppose, or at least be skeptical of, expansion of the surveillance state are supporting it because they believe it will be used to locate illegal immigrants. Some conservatives are supporting this proposal because it will help identify students who have publicly opposed the U.S. government’s support for Israel’s actions in Gaza. Ironically, many of those supporting government cracking down on “anti-Israel” students came to fame (and in some cases fortune) as critics of “wokeness” and cancel culture.

The abandonment of liberty because fear drives people to trust government promises of safety is a phenomenon we have witnessed several times this century. An obvious example is the way many former friends of freedom supported the PATRIOT Act and other infringements on liberty following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. We also saw it during the covid hysteria when many embraced mask and vaccine mandates. Following the 2008 market meltdown, normally rather staunch opponents of government intervention supported the bailouts because they agreed with then-President George W. Bush who said he had “abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.”

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Is Israel About to Do the (Almost) Unthinkable?

Iran’s massive Sunday night missile barrage was the biggest escalation since Operation Rising Lion began — but that’s bad news for Tehran.

In the first three days of attacks, the IAF reportedly had destroyed about a third of Iran’s missile launchers. Iran’s options for conventional military attacks were always limited, and those options shrink with every destroyed launcher or intercepted missile.

Looking at the broader picture, there’s good news and bad news.

The good news is that the IAF now operates over all of Iran with near-impunity. The Wall Street Journal reported late Sunday that Israel “achieved air superiority over western Iran within 48 hours of starting its war.” That’s a “feat Russia couldn’t achieve in Ukraine” after three-plus years of fighting, the paper dryly noted.

In the 24 hours or so since, Israel seems to have extended its air superiority over the entire country.

Yesterday, the IAF struck an Iranian airbase at Mashhad, near the border with Turkmenistan in Iran’s far northeast. Iran had reportedly moved some of its aged F-4 fighters to Mashhad — which is about as far from Israel as anywhere in Iran — for safety.

Iran’s air force wasn’t much before Rising Lion. Now it’s even less.

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Europe’s risky war on Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’

The European Union’s latest moves (as part of its 17th package of sanctions against Russia declared in May) to target much more intensively Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of oil tankers and other vessels illustrate the danger that, as long as the Ukraine war continues, so will the risk of an incident that will draw NATO and the EU into a direct military clash with Russia.

The EU sanctions involve bans on access to the ports, national waters and maritime economic zones of EU states. Ships that enter these waters risk seizure and confiscation. It does not appear that Washington was consulted about this decision, despite the obvious risks to the U.S.

As part of this strategy, on May 15, an Estonian patrol boat attempted to stop and inspect a tanker in the Gulf of Finland. Russia sent up a fighter jet that flew over the Estonian vessel (allegedly briefly trespassing into Estonian waters), and the Estonians backed off — this time. In January, the German navy seized a Panamanian-flagged tanker, the Eventin, in the Baltic after its engines failed and it drifted into German territorial waters.

Sweden has now announced that starting on July 1 its navy will stop, inspect and potentially seize all suspect vessels transiting its exclusive economic zone, and is deploying the Swedish air force to back up this threat. Since the combined maritime economic zones of Sweden and the three Baltic states cover the whole of the central Baltic Sea, this amounts to a virtual threat to cut off all Russian trade exiting Russia via the Baltic — which would indeed be a very serious economic blow to Moscow.

It would also threaten to cut off Russia’s exclave of Kaliningrad, which is surrounded by Poland, from access to Russia by sea.

This is the kind of action that has traditionally led to war. The Swedish assumption seems to be that the Russian navy and air force in the Baltic are now so weak — and so surrounded by NATO territory — that there is nothing Moscow can do about this. However, it is very unlikely that the Swedes would take this step unless they also believe that in the event of a clash, Washington will come to Sweden’s defense — even though the EU and Swedish decisions were made without U.S. approval and are not strictly covered by NATO’s Article 5 commitment.

And despite all the hysterical language about Russia being “at war” with NATO countries, these moves by the EU and Sweden are also based on an assumption that Russia will not in fact lose its temper and react with military force. European policymakers might however want to think about a number of things: for example, what would the U.S. do if ships carrying U.S. cargo were intercepted by foreign warships? We know perfectly well that the U.S. would blow the warships concerned out of the water and declare that it had done so in defense of the sacred rule of free navigation — in which the EU also professes to believe.

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Teachers Must Avert an AI-Facilitated Intellectual Dark Age

Iremember watching a YouTube interview with a highly intelligent and observant entrepreneur, who cheerfully predicted that the time would come when AI programmes would replace teachers, rendering their jobs obsolete. The commentator in question was an enthusiastic advocate of personal and economic freedom and a vocal critic of the excessive incursions of State agencies in our personal lives. Yet for some reason, he seemed relatively unconcerned at the prospect of machines teaching our children.

Of course, there are tasks that most would happily relegate to AI programmes to the benefit of humanity, such as certain forms of tedious clerical work, a large chunk of manual labour, and the synthesis of unwieldy amounts of data. However, there are other tasks that cannot be delegated to a machine without endangering invaluable dimensions of our lives as human beings.

One of those tasks is teaching and learning, through which people learn to think, interpret the world, make rational arguments, assess evidence, make rational and holistic choices, and reflect on the meaning of their lives. For better or for worse, teachers, from kindergarten right up to university level, form the minds of the next generation. The formation of the mind relies on apprenticeship, imitation of a worthy model, and intellectual practice and training.

Much as an athlete fine-tunes his motor skills and muscle memory playing sport, and finds inspiration in an exemplary athlete, the student fine-tunes his mental skills thinking, reflecting, studying, analysing, and generating ideas and arguments, in dialogue with an inspiring teacher. There is both an interpersonal and “hands-on” dimension to human learning, both of which are indispensable.

Yet Artificial Intelligence is reaching the point where it has the capacity to automate and mechanise certain aspects of teaching and learning, marginalising crucial aspects of the learning process, most notably the way a teacher can model intellectual activity for the student, and the intellectual tasks a teacher assigns to students in order to fine-tune their mental skills and imagination. Many tasks which, just a few years ago, had to be undertaken “manually,” by which I mean, through the laborious activity, imagination, and effort of a human being, can now be performed automatically by AI.

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It depends which side you’re on…

Iran and Israel are exchanging missile fire and drone strikes. This is either the existential struggle of the Jewish people made manifest, or Zionist warmongering that puts the whole word in danger of nuclear conflagration.