Authored by Susan Crabtree via RealClearPolitics,

California Gov. Gavin Newsom suffered a legal rebuke Thursday night in his increasingly combative feud with President Trump, but the pair’s repeated sparring over immigration arrests and the Los Angeles riots is proving a net political win for Newsom – at least in the short term.

A federal appeals court late Thursday indefinitely blocked Newsom’s effort to reclaim control of the National Guard troops activated by the president in response to civil unrest in Los Angeles related to immigration arrests and deportations.

The three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that Trump appeared to have acted within his authority when he directed 4,000 California National Guard to help contain the riots. The judges – two appointed by Trump and one by President Biden – determined that Trump had wide latitude to determine that the protests and related violence were interfering with the execution of federal immigration law.

While the judges acknowledged there are limits to presidents’ ability to deploy the National Guard, they found that in this case there was enough evidence of civil unrest and danger to federal officials to justify the actions.

“Affording the president that deference, we conclude that it is likely that the president lawfully exercised his statutory authority” which authorizes federalization of the National Guard when “the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States,” the panel concluded.

Newsom responded to the ruling with an X.post pledging that “this fight doesn’t end here.”

“The court rightly rejected Trump’s claims that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and doesn’t have to explain himself to a court,” Newsom wrote in the post. “The president is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of military soldiers against citizens.”

The appeals court decision was just the latest skirmish in the years-long legal and political conflict between Trump and Newsom. The hostilities began in Trump’s first term and reignited just days after Trump regained the White House last November, when California’s governor declared himself a leader of the resistance. Newsom briefly toned down the rhetoric in January during the devastating and deadly L.A. fires when he was forced to ask Trump for $40 billion to rebuild.

Since then, Newsom has declared himself a likely 2028 presidential candidate and abandoned any attempt to mollify Trump. Since the beginning of the unrest in Los Angeles, Newsom’s official social media account has become a full-time trolling operation. His press office has called Stephen Miller, Trump’s domestic policy adviser and chief architect of his immigration policy, “Voldemort,” while depicting him as a gargoyle, using profanity, and mocking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Newsom has also taken the fight to Trump’s home turf, inviting prominent MAGA guests on his podcast and penning an op-ed for Fox News. In that piece, which ran this week, Newsom argued that the country is facing a “perilous moment” and accused Trump of “trying to destroy our democracy” by turning the country’s military against American families.

“The deployment of federal soldiers in L.A. doesn’t protect our communities – it traumatizes them,” he wrote. “This is not public safety. This is tyranny.”

The president has likewise ramped up his rhetoric against Newsom, whom he calls “Governor New-scum,” using the governor and the state’s progressive policies as political pinatas to please his MAGA base.

On Wednesday night Trump suggested he’s not inclined to sign off on a bill giving California the $40 billion in wildfire damage relief Newsom has been waiting for since January after a week and a half of Newsom’s attacks on Trump.

When a reporter asked if Trump’s recent “dust-ups” with Newsom would impact additional wildfire relief, Trump first hammered Newsom as “incompetent” when it comes to mitigating fire risk and adequately preparing for it.

Trump then shifted to their personal animosity, suggesting the sour relations could interfere with his willingness release the funds to California. “Hatred is never a good thing in politics,” the president said. “When you don’t like somebody – you don’t respect somebody, it’s harder for that person to get money when you’re on top.”

Trump’s statement appearing to make wildfire rebuilding funding personal gave Newsom yet another opening for an attack. 

“Only a truly disturbed person would threaten to withhold aid from victims because they don’t like someone,” Newsom responded.

The increasing vitriol over the ICE arrests and riot response gave Newsom a ready platform to attack Trump. Only a major foreign intervention – a possible U.S. war with Iran – managed to push Newsom out of the headlines – but only for a few days.

As CNN’s Harry Enten pointed out, Google searches for Newsom’s and Trump’s name together have gone up 9,700%, “an all-time high” based on data amassed by the search engine since 2005.

“Donald Trump was able to make a name for himself through “The Apprentice,” through all of his business ventures,” Enten added. “He is now making a name for Gavin Newsom, who seems to relish the fight.”

In response to Newsom’s numerous attacks on Trump during the Los Angeles riots, the Kalshi betting odds on his chances of becoming the Democratic nominee surged while his odds of becoming president also climbed. Those betting odds showed Newsom ahead of many possible Democratic contenders at 12%, followed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and former Treasury Secretary Pete Buttigieg, both at 10%, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at 6%.

Garry South, a veteran Democratic operative who ran former Gov. Gray Davis’ successful campaigns, says the reason for the rise in Newsom’s stock is no secret.

“It’s clear that Newsom has made a hero of himself among Democrats by standing up to Trump and his Gestapo tactics,” South told RealClearPolitics “I mean, he did try to play nice, or at least respectfully with Trump at first, but look where it got him. Trump invaded his state like it was a hostile foreign country, and Democrats are out there salivating to try to find somebody that will stand up to Trump and the MAGA forces.”

Newsom’s willingness to take the fight to Trump is a “net positive for his chances to be his party’s nominee,” according to Rob Stutzman, a GOP political consultant who served as deputy chief of staff to former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

“It’s TBD in my opinion for his chances of winning the White House,” Stutzman cautioned. “It’s worth noting that Newsom’s focus of criticism has been the deployment of the Marines and federalizing the National Guard much more than ICE.”

Republicans continue to tout polls showing strong support for Trump’s record so far on aggressive immigration enforcement. Still, Trump blasted Fox News this week over a poll showing Americans split on his handling of immigration issues and the southern border. The poll found a majority, 53%, approve of Trump’s handling of border security, while 46% disapprove.

Steve Maviglio, a veteran Democratic consultant asserts that Newsom’s moment in the spotlight lambasting Trump and his administration over immigration this month could be short-lived. Voters in California and elsewhere will be more interested in evaluating his overall record in handling problems such as crime and homelessness across the state, not to mention the slow rebuilding of Los Angeles after the fires, Maviglio said.

“It might be his 15 minutes [of fame] because that type of encounter will be difficult to sustain,” Maviglio told RCP. “Meanwhile, he has to deal with multi-billion-dollar deficits, fire recovery and soaring gas prices without a federal helping hand.”

“That will be a tough tight-rope to walk next year,” he added.

Susan Crabtree is RealClearPolitics’ national political correspondent.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi condemned the U.S. for striking its nuclear facilities and warned it will hold the White House “fully responsible.” The statement serves as both a diplomatic protest and a preemptive justification for Tehran’s potential retaliation.

As of Sunday, the spectrum of Iranian response options remains wide: regional proxy attacks, missile or drone strikes on U.S. bases, restricting maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and disruptive cyber operations. Most concerning from a homeland security perspective is Iran’s ability to activate sleeper cells or sympathizer networks inside the U.S. 

A former reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Asra Nomani, who has covered the ongoing Marxist NGO color revolution against President Trump, warned in the overnight: “Watch America’s streets. The Woke Army will take the Islamic Republic of Iran’s war to America’s streets.” 

Summary of Nomani’s warning:

• The Woke Army will serve as a proxy for the government of Iran, attempting to unleash mayhem to bring the war to America. Already just hours before U.S. bombs dropped in Iran, they rallied in Philadelphia: “US and Israel Out of Iran.”

• Their mayhem will be led by the 1,500 Socialist and Islamist sympathizer groups that I’ve identified through our @DPearlProject database, waging a war on America and Israel since Oct. 7: socialists @codepink @pslnational @answercoalition @PeoplesForumNYC funded by Neville Roy Singham, pushing propaganda for China and Islamists @CAIRNational @NationalSJP @AMPalestine @WOLPalestine .

• They will align with the 500 groups that have led anti-Trump, anti-Tesla, anti-Elon protests since President Trump’s election: @IndivisibleTeam @ACLU @SierraClub @UUSC @DNC 50501 etc.

• They will brand themselves as “anti-war” but they are not anti-war. The socialists and Islamists in the Woke Army are pro-China, pro-Hamas, pro-Islamic Republic of Iran, anti-American, anti-Israel. The Dems are predictably anti-Trump.

Nomani said that the next round of color revolutions on the streets should start “immediately.” 

Watch America’s streets. The Woke Army will take the Islamic Republic of Iran’s war to America’s streets.

The Woke Army will serve as a proxy for the government of Iran, attempting to unleash mayhem to bring the war to America. Already just hours before U.S. bombs dropped in… pic.twitter.com/e9oIok8WTc

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) June 22, 2025

She pointed out a coordinated sequence of actions that unfolded across the Woke Army late last night:

• 9:40 PM ET: Islamist advocacy group CAIR issued a public condemnation of the U.S. operation, aligning rhetorically with the Iranian regime.

• 10:00 PM ET: President Trump addressed the nation, confirming the strikes.

• 10:18 PM ET: Socialist-linked ANSWER Coalition called for mass street protests at 2 PM Sunday, signaling rapid mobilization intent.

Nomani continued:

• Remember these three words in everything that I share: malign foreign influence.

• Many of these organizations in the Woke Army are proxies for foreign interests seeking to unleash political violence and mayhem in America.

• CAIR is doing the dirty work of donors in Qatar and Turkey and other agents of the Muslim Brotherhood. Will those countries keep American safe as they fund CAIR to undermine America?

• Answer Coalition is fomenting chaos for China and donor Neville Roy Singham.

• The rest of the Woke Army is coalescing its forces as we speak for asymmetrical warfare in America’s streets and the capitals of the world.

9:40 pm Islamist @CAIRNational issues a press release condemning America’s actions in Iran.

10 p.m. President @realDonaldTrump addresses the nation.

10:18 pm Socialist @answercoalition summons foot soldiers to the streets for anti-America protests on Sunday 2 PM.

Remember… pic.twitter.com/sjEWq5w0jf

— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) June 22, 2025

Let’s only hope that FBI Director Kash Patel’s investigation into these rogue Marxist NGOs pivots from anti-ICE riots to what has been described in Nomani’s report. House Republicans should do the same… 

These developments underscore mounting concerns over potential malign foreign influence operating through dark money-funded Marxist-aligned NGOs. These groups—very active throughout the spring and early summer—have attempted to spark a color revolution against President Trump, with Los Angeles anti-ICE riots serving as the initial flashpoint. The broader effort, including the failed “No Kings” mobilization, appears to have stalled. However, according to reporting by Asra Nomani, these same organizations are now repositioning themselves under the banner of the anti-war movement, seeking to rebrand their objectives while maintaining the same strategic mission: to sow domestic instability, accelerate societal fragmentation, undermine capitalism, and weaken U.S. national cohesion.

“Two Tracks of Soros-Backed Protest Funding, Same Destabilizing Goal,” X user DataRepublican notes… 

🧨 Two Tracks of Soros-Backed Protest Funding, Same Destabilizing Goal

There are two different Soros protest funding pipelines, and they serve complementary purposes in the broader Open Society playbook:

🔹 Track 1: Arabella Advisors

This is the polished, PR-friendly side.… https://t.co/lmT4yh2YEO pic.twitter.com/ZTxKKAZKQv

— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) June 22, 2025

.   .   .  

As expected, futures opened for trading amid a risk off tone, with oil, gold, the dollar and other safe havens ripping, but there is hardly any sense of panic, as investors remain calm with Iran so far showing no signs of retaliation to this weekend’s US attacks. 

While emini S&P futures opened about 60 points, or 1% lower, at 6pm ET, they have since trimmed the loss in half, and at last check were back to just shy of 6,000, and about 2% below all time highs.

A similar kneejerk reaction was observed in oil which surged in early Monday trading, with some trading models indicated WTI contracts would open around $79/bbl – which it did – but then quickly retraced gains by half, rising $3 to $76…

… which is also well below the implied price assuming the Polymarket odds of a straits of Hormuz closure are accurate at 35% (assuming a fair value for oil of $60, and a worst case scenario of $120 at full closure), oil should be trading around $80.

Brent’s prompt spread, the closely-watched difference between its two nearest contracts, widened to as much as $1.99 a barrel in backwardation, from $1.53 on Friday. That’s a bullish pattern indicating concern about tight prompt supplies.

Turning to FX, the Swiss franc is the only major currency which is holding its own against the US dollar in early action, with the yen – which supposedly was on its way to becoming a new “flight to safety” in the (don’t laugh) world where the US was no longer exceptional, tumbling and reminding everyone that Japan with its mingblowing 400% in consolidated debt/GDP is the biggest basket case of all, and the yen will be trading at 1000 first before it goes back to 100 (and that’s only after the BOJ pulls a Maduro and chops off a number of zeros from the currency).

As for fiat alternatives, we once again are seeing mirror reactions, with gold spiking and ramping onward to all time highs…

… while the high beta “digital gold” – which as always was the only asset class open during the weekend’s peak stress moments when panicans dumped it in droves as they always do – slumped as it always does when there is geopolitical turmoil, confirming yet again that bitcoin and the crypto space in general has a long way to go before it becomes a true safe asset. 

“The market will closely watch Iran’s response — particularly whether it will move to disrupt Middle Eastern oil flows, directly or indirectly through its regional proxies,” said Muyu Xu, a senior crude analyst at Kpler Ltd. “If Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, even for one day, oil can temporarily hit $120 or even $150.”

Iran’s parliament has called for the closure of the strait, according to state-run TV. Such a move, however, could not proceed without the explicit approval of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Besides the straits, Tehran could opt to target crude infrastructure in rival suppliers in the Middle East, such as fellow OPEC+ producers Saudi Arabia, Iraq or the United Arab Emirates. Both Riyadh and Baghdad expressed concern following the US attack. Iran could also orchestrate attacks on ships on the other side of the Arabian peninsula in the Red Sea, encouraging Yemen-based Houthi rebels to harass vessels. After the US attacks, the group threatened retaliation.

If the hostilities escalate, Tehran’s own oil-producing capabilities could be targeted, including the key export hub at Kharg Island. Such a move, however, could send crude prices soaring, an outcome that Washington might want to avoid. So far, Kharg Island has been spared, with satellite imagery pointing to a drive by Iran to expedite its exports of oil, and Polymarket showing negligible odds of an attack.

Some good news: odds that Kharg island oil terminals will be hit have not budged, and are substantially lower vs a month ago pic.twitter.com/uOMQrSQ58a

— zerohedge (@zerohedge) June 22, 2025

Among the wider market fallout, Bloomberg notes that fuels also strengthened on Monday with Diesel futures gained as much as 7.8% to hit the highest price since July 2024, outpacing the move in crude.

Authored by Vince Bielski via RealClearInvestigations,

A high-stakes battle over the future of education is playing out in the state that has long had the best public schools in the nation – Massachusetts.

The likely overhaul of high school education and graduation requirements in Massachusetts is mostly aimed at lifting the academic performance of low-income black and Latino students who have been left behind in the state’s rise to the top. Leading the charge are progressive teachers’ unions and school administrations that want to broaden the scope of high school to include soft skills like teamwork and cultural awareness, as well as career training. The goal is to motivate students by aligning instruction with the workplace needs of a high-tech global economy.

But the architects of the sweeping 1990s reforms in Massachusetts that introduced high academic standards and accountability through testing are trying to hold the line. They fear that the focus on the fundamental subjects of English, math, and science – as well as the state’s top ranking – will be sacrificed along the way, hurting disadvantaged students most of all. 

The state’s consideration of a revamp of its relatively successful school system is notable because it’s happening as several southern states, which have long been at the bottom of the education rankings, are embracing the reforms that drove up student performance in Massachusetts. Mississippi and Louisiana, for example, are having remarkable success in lifting student English and math proficiency by doubling down on fundamental academics and holding schools accountable through testing. 

Steven Wilson, a player in the Massachusetts reforms, says the state’s possible diminishment of core academics is part of the playbook of social justice advocates, who consider tests of English and math proficiency as manifestations of white supremacy – a position espoused by the former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association (MTA). “If academics and testing are elitist and oppressive, then the answer is to broaden the aperture to other forms of knowing and experiences like social-emotional learning that are considered equally valid for obtaining a diploma,” said Wilson, author of “The Lost Decade” about the rise of the social justice movement in education. “This, in my view, is absolute nonsense.”

A “Hades-esque” Limbo

In Massachusetts, the MTA provided the impetus for change in November by winning its long-fought battle against the requirement that students must pass three tests of core academic subjects to graduate. MTA’s ballot measure campaign convinced voters that the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exit exams, which were the last piece standing of the sweeping reforms, must also fall because most of the very small percentage of students who failed were disadvantaged kids. 

The problem is that the ballot measure left Massachusetts in the remarkable position of having no meaningful statewide graduation requirements – a crisis that state board of education Chair Katherine Craven described in January as a “Hades-esque” limbo. 

In order to comply with the ballot initiative, the board of education created temporary graduation standards in May, which are now among the lowest in the nation. Starting with the class of 2026, students must complete only a handful of 9th and 10th-grade English, math, and science classes, in addition to other courses required by each district, to get a diploma. Districts, which vary significantly in the rigor of their courses, set the bar for passing, with some saying a D- will do. 

Critics warn that the lower standards will remain in place for several years and threaten to leave students, particularly in poor-performing districts, further behind academically and woefully unprepared for college and the job market. 

“What it means to pass a course varies dramatically from one school district to the next when you don’t have a statewide graduation assessment to ensure comparability,” Marty West, a member of the board of education and dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, told RealClearInvestigations. “And those differences in rigor and expectations emerge inevitably among disadvantaged students by holding them to lower standards.”

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey in January established a graduation council of lawmakers, officials, union leaders, and teachers to make final recommendations for permanent graduation requirements by mid-2026. Then lawmakers must approve a plan, which could take another year or more. 

The graduation council’s charge is broad, with the potential to entirely redesign high school education leading to a diploma. There’s no mention in the governor’s executive order establishing the council that teaching English, math, and science – the subjects formerly tested for graduation – will remain the top priorities of schools. Alternatives are on the table. 

At three closed-door council meetings so far, many participants, including union leaders and administrators, are supporting the creation of multiple pathways to a diploma, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the deliberations. Each pathway would be defined by particular courses and activities, such as internships in the trades, college prep courses known as MassCore, capstone projects and portfolios, dual enrollment in college, and more. The hope is that the various pathways would better reflect students’ genuine interests and engage them more deeply in learning – a position pushed by MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy. 

New York, which recently adopted a pathways approach in place of its Regents graduation exams, is held up as a model. As part of these pathways, New York defines seven proficiencies that students need to master to graduate, including innovative problem solver, global citizen, and social-emotional competence. The list of proficiencies doesn’t name English, math, or science, suggesting that while New York high schools will still teach these subjects, they will compete for attention in a short school day with the new proficiencies. 

The executive director of Citizens for Public Schools, a teachers’ union-supported advocacy group in Massachusetts that campaigned against the graduation tests, told the board of education in January that it could learn from New York’s approach. “We believe social and emotional development are as important as academics,” the group says on its website. 

Will Academics Take a Back Seat?

In theory, leaders of the reform movement don’t oppose the creation of pathways. Giving students more agency to choose a pathway can be motivating. The problem is that the mastery of core academic subjects that are essential to lifelong learning and almost every career – even plumbers need a solid foundation in math – may lose their primacy. 

James Peyser, the Massachusetts education secretary from 2015 to 2022 and now on the governor’s council, says it’s crucial that the state mandate rigorous academic coursework in English, math, and science for all students, no matter their pathway. But the current secretary of education, Patrick Tutwiler, created some doubt when he presented the department’s amended graduation framework at a recent council meeting. The category of “Coursework” had been removed from the framework and replaced with the broader “Learning Experiences,” suggesting that pure academics will be just another ingredient in the stew of learning. 

Massachusetts is a local control state, which means each of its more than 300 school districts has considerable autonomy – and variation – in setting their own coursework requirements for graduation in addition to what the state mandates. Without a uniform statewide policy, some districts will likely require fewer English, math, and science courses, or allow students to take an easier business math course in place of algebra, or a culinary arts course in place of chemistry. 

“I worry about districts saying if students are struggling, let’s lower the bar so they can succeed,” Peyser told RCI. “This does not serve disadvantaged children well because they come out of high school without the knowledge and skills they need to move on to college or career.”

Carolyn Plosky, the English Language Arts director at Winchester Public Schools in Massachusetts, says the pathway approach doesn’t diminish academics but rather layers them onto real-world assignments. For example, in a performance-based assessment (PBA) pathway that Plosky and other teachers are piloting statewide, she has instructed her class to research a problem in their community and come up with solutions. 

Teams of students might focus on the recreation department or library. They interview local experts and read research literature before presenting their ideas in a proposal to classmates, who stand in as community decision-makers. Core subjects such as reading, writing, and speaking are all practiced and assessed while students also learn how to collaborate and think critically about the obstacles to social progress. At council meetings, MTA President Max Page has urged the state to adopt PBAs.

“What’s so magical about PBAs is that they are authentic assessments of things that students might actually do in the real world,” said Plosky. “I didn’t become an English teacher because I wanted kids to use commas correctly. I went into teaching because I want to change the world. I want students to explore social justice and speak up when they see injustice.”

Reformers say PBAs might sound compelling but threaten to divert attention from the primary academic mission of schools in an already packed seven-hour day. “There is an enormous crush for time in schools and what the social justice advocates want will suck the oxygen out of academic teaching,” said Wilson, who founded a network of high-performing charter schools in Brooklyn focusing on liberal arts. “It amounts to condescension because we are mocking students when we claim to empower them rather than teach them how to reason and write.”

Massachusetts Rises to the Top

The Massachusetts Education Reform Act of 1993 helped kickstart a national movement. It was a heady time. The state created the highest standards in the nation and a school accountability program, including the MCAS graduation tests, in exchange for a massive infusion of funds, especially to poorer districts, to close the academic achievement gap with wealthier ones.

The crusade for reform was led by elite-educated politicians like Republican Gov. William Weld, a classics major at Harvard who wanted to provide students, rich and poor, with a robust liberal arts education. Reformers were proud of the standards that included a focus on classic literature, both ancient and modern, says Wilson, then a special assistant to Weld. 

“The standards were intellectually exciting,” said Wilson. “You would really want to be a kid in these classes.”

To ensure the standards were faithfully taught, a new independent agency evaluated the academic performance of districts, focusing attention on troubled schools that needed to improve. The MCAS graduation tests given in 10th grade were another means of accountability that galvanized the attention of teachers and students around core subjects.

When the tests were first given in 1998, there were no consequences for not reaching proficiency, and perhaps unsurprisingly, students performed very poorly. But in 2003, the first year the tests were tied to graduation, performance improved dramatically. The upward trend in proficiency continued for the next decade, rising from 60% to 90% of students in English. 

Other important benchmarks, such as the graduation and college attendance rates, also shot up for all groups of students in the decade after MCAS became a graduation requirement, according to a study led by Brown Professor John Papay. The percentage of low-income students attending college jumped by a remarkable 20 percentage points. 

What’s more, the closely watched achievement gaps narrowed significantly for high school graduation and college attendance rates but widened for college graduation. Overall, Papay found “substantial progress” with much work left to be done in closing the gaps. 

Even as Massachusetts rose to the top of the national rankings by 2005 in both reading and math for 4th and 8th grades – marking the first time any state had achieved such a feat on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) – the reforms faced growing opposition. Under pressure from MTA and other unions, the independent accountability agency was criticized for shaming districts and disbanded in 2008. Today, the state’s accountability system is widely regarded as ineffective, with districts in the driver’s seat and little oversight by the state. 

The standards also took a blow when the state adopted the Common Core in 2010, which Wilson says dumbed down instruction. The emphasis on great books was replaced by the Common Core’s focus on nonfiction. In math, algebra was moved from 8th grade to 9th and 10th grades. 

The rollback of the reforms coincided with a decline in Massachusetts’s NAEP scores between 2011 and 2019, but there was likely more to the academic slippage than state policies. The entire nation entered an academic slump that continues today. More troubling for Massachusetts, following the pandemic, the achievement gap widened the most of any state, according to a Harvard study.

“We have the widest achievement gaps,” said Jack Schneider, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and a prominent MCAS critic. “If the magic ingredient is our testing regime, then why does it only seem to work for affluent kids?”

There were also concerns over test prep. If teachers based their instruction on the standards, which were aligned with the MCAS exams, the students should be prepared. But some teachers felt compelled to spend additional time on prepping for anticipated test questions and other techniques that could suck the life out of a classroom.

Students were given five chances to pass each of the tests. Only 1% of seniors, primarily English language learners and those with disabilities, didn’t graduate in recent years because of failing the tests. Reformers saw this as the unfortunate cost of maintaining a uniform standard that benefited most students. 

But these issues, plus an estimated $15 million from the MTA, fueled the ballot initiative that killed the MCAS graduation tests, putting an end to the era of reform in Massachusetts.

A New and Uncertain Course

The course that Gov. Healey and lawmakers will set for Massachusetts’ high schools after her council submits its recommendation next year is anyone’s guess. Although the governor and leaders in the House and Senate sided with reformers and opposed the ballot measure, the political momentum, spurred by the teachers’ unions, is moving in a progressive direction. 

Lawmakers could, in theory, approve a new statewide graduation test, but that would defy the will of the voters and seems the least likely outcome. The most likely, says council member Peyser, are multiple pathways. From college prep to on-the-job training, there is something in it for everyone. 

But would all students face academic rigor, as they did during the era of graduation tests, or just those in the college prep pathway? The ability of Massachusetts to remain the top state for education might depend on this answer.

“It’s hard to say which pieces of the reform act were responsible for making Massachusetts the best in the nation,” said West, the board member. “But the more elements we remove from the act, the more we should be worried about backsliding.”

Update(1825ET): Trump has already pivoted from “this isn’t about regime change” as an admin talking to point, to… there might possibly be regime change after all. 

And all the while he’s lecturing Thomas Massie about not being ‘MAGA’ amid a ‘debate’ over what it is to be America First…

As world leaders urgently called for diplomacy, President Trump raised the prospect of regime change in Tehran on Sunday, less than 24 hours after U.S. strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites stoked fears of a dangerously escalating conflict across the Middle East.

“If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???” Mr. Trump wrote in a post on his social media site. The post came after top members of his administration spent much of the day emphasizing that the United States did not intend to enter an all-out war with Tehran.

This could very well become Bush/Cheney’s Trump’s Iraq War. And look who is very happy…

Dear President Trump, Bolton is back into the MAGA fold, but who is the one that has changed?

President Trump did the right thing for America in striking Iran’s nuclear-weapons program. Now, on to regime change.https://t.co/GAQt6KEKiJ

— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) June 22, 2025

* * *

Update (15:59ET): Republican rep Thomas Massie of Kentucky has been one of the very few outspoken Congressmen on either side of the aisle to blast Trump’s Iran bombing campaign, done without Congressional authorization or so much as debate or consultation.

Massie was seeking to introduce a war powers resolution in the House ahead of ‘bombs away’ on Iran. The conservative and libertarian-leading Congressman wants to legally prohibit American involvement in Iran.

This is not America First folks. pic.twitter.com/UllkiycVRv

— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 22, 2025

“This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our constitution,” he stated last week. In weekend media appearances, he’s also been calling out the Trump administration for shilling for Israel and Netanyahu. For example, on ‘Face the Nation’ he strongly suggested that the White House and some in Congress are being unduly influenced by a foreign power.

Massie: AIPAC is very persuasive. If you look at my colleagues’ feeds now, they all look the same, they’re all tweeting the same message. pic.twitter.com/rYZVv0SobG

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 22, 2025

Critics of Trump’s Iran policy are complaining that America fighting the Israelis’ wars for them is not at all ‘America First’ – while Trump’s team has touted this as ‘limited’ and intent on eliminating Iran’s nuclear program.

These and other criticisms have prompted a Sunday Trump response on Truth Social. He took Massie to task for his defiant stance, saying he’s “not Maga” and that “MAGA doesn’t want him”…

Social media, including X, has in the last days been taken over by MAGA infighting over the Iran issue. After all, Trump campaigned on a platform that was against starting new wars; however, he also vowed to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon.

Critics have said that the Trump people now sound just like Bush-era NeoCons when it comes to taking ‘preemptive’ action over WMD fears in the Middle East.

The benefit of Donald Trump attacking Thomas Massie is that it will continue to split the right and increase Thomas Massie’s popularity. And, in the long run, Massie will be proven right, just like Ron Paul.

— Liam McCollum (@MLiamMcCollum) June 22, 2025

Not a single US Congressman campaigned on regime change in Iran, because Americans consistently rank foreign policy as the lowest on their priorities, but most US Congressmen care about regime change in Iran above every other issue. They just take advantage of Americans only…

— Liam McCollum (@MLiamMcCollum) June 22, 2025

* * *

Update (11:37ET): Following President Trump’s new foreign entanglement – bombing Iranian nuclear facilities (which may or may not have taken them out while causing a deep divide amongst MAGA), Vice President JD Vance says he believes their nuclear program has been set back “many years,” and that he feels “very confident that we’ve substantially delayed [Iran’s] development of a nuclear weapon,” adding that it was US intelligence, not Israeli intelligence assessments, that led to Trump’s decision. 

When asked if the United States is at war with Iran, he claimed “No, Kristen, we’re not at war with Iran. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” and called on Iranians to “give peace a chance.

“They can go down the path of peace, or they can go down the path of this ridiculous brinksmanship of funding terrorism, of trying to build a nuclear weapon – and that’s just not something the United States can accept.” 

“We didn’t blow up the diplomacy. The diplomacy never was given a real chance by the Iranians,” says @VP.

“The Iranians are clearly not very good at war. Perhaps they should follow President Trump’s lead and give peace a chance.” pic.twitter.com/pJ2tpqekom

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 22, 2025

When asked if the US would support an Israeli assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Vance said that it would be “up to the Israelis,” and that the US position is “we don’t want a regime change.”

VP Vance: “No Regime Change” in Iran — U.S. Focused on Nuclear Threat, Not Government Overthrow

– In interviews (e.g. NBC’s Meet the Press), Vice President J.D. Vance emphasized the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear sites aims solely to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program—not to… pic.twitter.com/TPOLWCvP06

— GlobalWire (@global_wire_) June 22, 2025

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile insisted to Fox News that “This is not a war against Iran,” adding “Not a shot was fired against us. They didn’t even know what had happened. By the time we left, the planes were out of their airspace before they finally started realizing they’d been hit. So it would be a terrible mistake if Iran retaliates. So but that’s not our goal.”

Secretary Rubio clears the air on whether America is “at war” with Iran.

“This is not a war against Iran.”

“Not a shot was fired against us. They didn’t even know what had happened. By the time we left, the planes were out of their airspace before they finally started realizing… pic.twitter.com/RslL7KbgUz

— Media Lies (@MediasLies) June 22, 2025

He also warned against Iranian retaliation, saying: “If Iran retaliates, it will be the WORST mistake they’ve ever made.”

RUBIO: It would be a terrible mistake if Iran retaliated.

But that’s not our goal. We are not declaring war on Iran. We’re not looking for war on Iran. But if they attack us, then I think we have capabilities they haven’t even seen yet. It would be a terrible mistake on their… pic.twitter.com/grpdHegkep

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 22, 2025

Rubio then warned Iran not to close the strait of Hormuz after Iran’s parliament backed its closure, saying “If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, it will be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them if they do it and we retain options to deal with that.”

Rubio:

“If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, it will be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them if they do it and we retain options to deal with that” pic.twitter.com/6mXeYXJ6Te

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 22, 2025

Everyone got the script?

Iran, meanwhile in a statement through spox Esmail Baghaei, accused the Trump administration of sabotaging diplomatic efforts – saying “They cannot talk about diplomacy, they betrayed diplomacy,” adding that “diplomacy never ends.” 

Setting up for another forever war…where end-goals are undefinable?

LOL, Vance says Iran still controls enriched Uranium stockpile, which could be enough to produce 10 nuclear warheads pic.twitter.com/OvaX6kG4EJ

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) June 22, 2025

Regarding the escalating conflict, Baghaei warned “No one knows what will happen next, but what is sure is that the responsibility of the consequences of this war must be borne by the United States and Israel.”

The Iranian foreign ministry declined to elaborate on Tehran’s likely response to the attacks, or to detail the extent of the damage – only saying in a statement to CNN that Iran “is entitled … to exercise its right of self-defense,” adding “And we will do that for sure.” 

*  *  *

In a Sunday morning press briefing, Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared that “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated” – but also asserted that the attack did not target the Iranian people or civilians. He hailed the “incredible and overwhelming success” – following President Trump last night saying the same thing. “It’s worth noting the operation did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.”

Hegseth said this is part of the commitment of this administration’s vision of “peace through strength”. He continued, “Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran’s nuclear program, and none could, until President Trump.”

For the “bold and brilliant” operation, there was weeks of preparation and precision logistics and “misdirection” at the highest level, involving B-2 bombers going to hit, Hegseth described. “No other country on planet earth” could have conducted this operation.

He also underscored that the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) was used for the first time in US combat history – also that it was the longest bomber mission of its kind since 2001.

“Just like [IRGC Quds Force General Qasem] Solemani found out in the first term, Iran found out when POTUS says ’60 days’ – that when he seeks peace and negotiation – he means 60 days of peace and negotiation, otherwise that nuclear program will not exist. He meant it.”

Hegseth then read aloud Trump’s post to Truth Social last night, soon after the three nuclear sites were struck:

“Any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight.”

That’s when the US Defense Secretary then warned, “Iran would be smart to heed those words. He said it before and he means it.” He tried to stress the ‘limited’ scope of the attack and urged the Iranians to come back to the negotiating table:

There are both public and private messages being delivered to the Iranians in multiple channels, giving them every opportunity to come to the negotiation table, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says at a Pentagon press briefing.

Scope of operation on Iran was “intentionally limited” Hegseth says he believes the US attack will have a clear psychological impact on how Iran views the future US strikes against Iran’s nuclear enrichment site at Fordow are believed to have destroyed capabilities there…

To review the details of what happened last night, the US deployed six B-2 bombers to drop 12 GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bombs on Iran’s heavily fortified Fordow nuclear site, marking the first time these massive 30,000-pound bombs were used in combat.

The enrichment sites at Natanz and Isfahan were also attacked. The mission lasted about 37 hours with multiple refueling missions.

While the White House is now claiming Iran’s nuclear facilities were “completely and totally obliterated,” officials say it’s too early to confirm the full extent of the damage.

America dropped six GBU-57 bunker buster bombs on the Fordow nuclear site pic.twitter.com/LaWrHm0c2d

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) June 22, 2025

Iran, along with international nuclear agencies, reported no radiation leaks, prompting skepticism about the strike’s effectiveness—particularly at Fordow, which is buried deep underground. Iranian officials said damage was minimal and mostly above ground. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization vowed to continue its nuclear program, referring to assassinated nuclear scientists as “martyrs.”

Some degree of political backlash has quickly emerged over the lack of Congressional approval for the strikes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, despite previously mocking Trump’s diplomatic efforts with Iran, called for a War Powers vote, criticizing the president’s unilateral military action without a clear strategy.

Authored by Matthew Vadum via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. Supreme Court on June 20 unanimously upheld a law that empowers Americans harmed by terrorist attacks abroad to sue in U.S. courts.

The opinion in the 9–0 decision was written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

The decision reverses a federal appeals court that found U.S. courts lacked authority to hear cases based on terrorist attacks taking place outside the country.

The case is actually two cases—Fuld v. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and United States v. PLO—that were heard together.

The legal issue is whether the extraterritoriality provisions of the federal Promoting Security and Justice for Victims of Terrorism (PSJVTA) Act are consistent with the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, according to the petition filed on July 3, 2024.

In 2019, the PSJVTA amended the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, which had created a right for victims of terror attacks committed against Americans outside the United States to sue in U.S. courts.

The Anti-Terrorism Act was inspired by a lawsuit brought against the PLO for the 1985 killing of wheelchair-bound American cruise ship passenger Leon Klinghoffer “who was shot in the face and thrown into the sea by PLO hijackers,” the petition said.

The PSJVTA provides that the PLO and the Palestinian Authority are deemed to have consented to be sued in U.S. courts if they hand out payments “to terrorists for killing or injuring Americans.”

The Palestinian Authority operates a so-called martyrs’ fund that sends money to the families of Palestinians killed, imprisoned, or injured when committing acts of violence against Israel.

Mariam Fuld sued in federal district court in New York after her husband Ari Fuld was killed near a West Bank shopping mall in 2018 by a Palestinian terrorist allegedly incited by the PLO.

Other victims of terrorism and their families also sued in the same legal proceeding, the petition said.

After a seven-week trial, a jury held in January 2022 that PLO and Palestinian Authority employees were “acting within the scope of their employment, [and] had planned or participated in each of the attacks.”

The plaintiffs, including Fuld, were awarded $218.5 million for damages, a figure that was then tripled under federal law.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed in September 2023, finding the lower court erred because the PSJVTA was unconstitutional.

The Second Circuit found U.S. courts could not hear the case because the defendants were “at home” in “Palestine” and because the acts complained of took place “entirely outside the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”

Jurisdiction refers to a court’s official authority to render legal decisions.

The Second Circuit also found that the Fifth Amendment precludes the inference that a defendant has consented to federal jurisdiction without receiving a “governmental benefit” in return, and that in this case, neither the PLO nor the Palestinian Authority had taken in such a benefit, according to the petition.

Roberts wrote in the new opinion that the PSJVTA does not violate the due process rights of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority by compelling them to consent to the authority of U.S. courts.

“It is permissible for the Federal Government to craft a narrow jurisdictional provision that ensures, as part of a broader foreign policy agenda, that Americans injured or killed by acts of terror have an adequate forum in which to vindicate their right to [Anti-Terrorism Act] compensation,” he wrote.

The Supreme Court reversed the rulings of the Second Circuit and returned the cases to that court “for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

Thomas wrote a separate concurring opinion, which Gorsuch joined in part.

“I am skeptical that entities such as the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) enjoy any constitutional rights at all, let alone qualify as ‘person[s]’ for purposes of the Fifth Amendment,” he wrote.

While the federal government takes no position on whether “such foreign nonsovereign governmental bodies have constitutional rights,” the executive branch for decades has “endorsed principles that suggest that the Constitution does not protect these types of entities,” he said.

The oldest Christian population on Earth continues to be under threat of extinction, after the US-Gulf-Israel war of regime change in Syria, and former President Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow on December 8 of last year.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber entered St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church and detonated while a service was happening, killing at least fifteen – according to early reports – and leaving many more wounded. The church is now a bloody mess, and personnel at the scene have struggled to identify body parts.

The church is in an ancient Christian neighborhood that lies outside the Damascus old city’s Bab Sharqi, and is in an area of many churches, chapels, and Christian cemeteries.

Some initial reports said it may have been a car bomb, but regional sources as well as the popular regional account War Monitor indicate that “A suicide bomber blew himself up with an explosive belt inside the Greek Orthodox Church of St. Elias in the Douileh area of ​​Damascus, Syria.”

And Reuters notes that “It was the first suicide bombing in Damascus since Bashar al-Assad was toppled by an Islamist-led rebel insurgency in December.” Reuters says at least 20 people were killed and dozens more injured, amid conflicting emergency response reports.

A Middle East church source, Syriac Press, describes:

According to eyewitness reports, a gunman wearing an explosive vest stormed the church and opening fire. He then detonated his explosive vest.

The attack prompted immediate intervention by civil defense teams and medical personnel. Victims were evacuated to hospitals in Daramsuq, where an alert was issued to handle the influx of injured. Ambulance teams worked to secure the area while local security forces cordoned off the site, blocking neighborhood entrances as a precaution against potential further attacks.

The Church of Mar Elias, a prominent Christian landmark in the region, holds significant spiritual and historical value for the local community.

Journalist Hussam Hammoud, reporting from the scene, described in the aftermath that “Many of the victims are civilians and children, and security forces prevent journalists from entering the site.”

Worst nightmare for Syrian Christians begins: Suicide bombing today during Divine Liturgy at Mar Elias church.. just outside of Bab Sharqi near Old Damascus. At least 15 dead & rising.

My-father-in-law’s funeral/memorial was here many years ago. Been to this beautiful community… https://t.co/hAMZbBarX8

— Brad Hoff (@BradRHoff) June 22, 2025

Years ago, during the height of the anti-Assad insurgency, this all-Christian neighborhood of Damascus was on the front line of conflict as it is next to Jobar district, which was at the time occupied by al-Qaeda. That was a period of sporadic artillery fire launched indiscriminately on the oldest Christian parts of the Syrian capital.

The Baathist government of Assad was quasi-secular and protected the region’s Christians, as well as other religious ‘minorities’. Christian leaders have feared that since Jolani and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) takeover, they no longer have protection, and it could become ‘open season’ on attacking churches. Hundreds of thousands of Syrian Christians with means have left their homeland after some 14 years of brutal war.

There are concerns that HTS security forces may be interfering with the crime scene.
They encircled St. Elias Church shortly after the attack.
We urgently need international investigators on the ground — with the support of Greece and Cyprus — to ensure transparency and justice. pic.twitter.com/H1lN7Y8sZO

— Greco-Levantines World Wide (@GrecoLevantines) June 22, 2025

President Trump recently lifted sanctions on Syria, but did absolutely nothing to protect the Syrian Christians – or Druze and Alawites for that matter, who have been massacred in large numbers lately, especially along the coast near Latakia.

Back in 2015 when a jihadist coalition, with Western support, took over Idlib province – one of the first acts of the bearded so-called ‘liberators’ was to execute Christians and kidnap an Orthodox Christian priest. A recent book, Syria Crucified: Stories of Modern Martyrdom in an Ancient Christian Land, has recounted the story of how Idlib’s ancient Christian community was wiped out.

Authored by Ryan Morgan via The Epoch Times,

The U.S. strike on three Iranian nuclear facilities overnight on June 21–22 followed a highly intricate plan that entailed more than 125 U.S. aircraft and warships and layers of deception, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a Pentagon news briefing.

Hegseth said preparation for the mission—dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer—took place over the course of weeks and months, “so that we could be ready when the president of the United States called.”

The U.S. strikes were made a week after Israel launched a series of surprise airstrikes across Iran, aimed at degrading the country’s nuclear programs and military capabilities.

Joining the conflict that Israel initiated, U.S. military planners set Iran’s Fordow uranium enrichment facility as their primary target. With the Fordow facility situated hundreds of feet underground in a mountainous region of Iran, U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit stealth bombers carrying 30,000-pound bunker-busting bombs, called GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrators, offered one of the best options to destroy the facility.

Illustration by The Epoch Times

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the operation was the longest B-2 bomber mission since 2001, the second longest B-2 mission ever flown, and the first operational use of the GBU-57 bombs.

The Timeline

At the June 22 news briefing, Pentagon personnel presented a timeline for Operation Midnight Hammer.

• The operation began just after midnight Eastern time on June 21, as seven B-2 bombers departed Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, heading east on their way to Iran.

• The B-2 bombers received refueling support from dozens of aerial refueling aircraft along their journey across the Atlantic Ocean and over the Mediterranean Sea.

• The seven U.S. bombers reached the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility at about 5 p.m. Eastern time on June 22. Just before these bombers entered the Central Command area, U.S. submarines began launching Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Iran.

• U.S. fighter jets flew ahead of the bombers, and the airstrike package entered Iranian airspace at approximately 6 p.m. Eastern time.

(Left) A satellite image shows vehicles at the Fordow nuclear enrichment facility in Iran on June 20, 2025. (Right) A satellite image shows the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility, where multiple buildings were destroyed during recent Israeli airstrikes, in Iran on June 14, 2025. Maxar Technologies via AP

• As they flew ahead, U.S. fighter jets began preemptively suppressing Iranian air defense systems around the Fordow and Natanz nuclear facilities, clearing the way for the bomber crews.

• At approximately 6:40 p.m. Eastern time, the lead bomber crews reached the Fordow nuclear facility and dropped two GBU-57 bombs. Over the next 20 minutes, the rest of the bomber crews dropped their payloads over Fordow and Natanz.

• The sea-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles reached the third and final target, Iran’s Isfahan nuclear facility, and concluded the strike operation at approximately 7:05 p.m. Eastern time.

• The B-2 bomber crews exited the Iranian airspace at approximately 7:30 p.m. Eastern time.

As he delivered remarks on the strikes on the morning of June 22, Hegseth said U.S. air crews were still returning to the United States.

US Drops 14 Heavy Bunker Busters

After the lead bomber dropped its two GBU-57 bombs, the remaining six B-2 bombers each released two of their own heavy bunker busters over the Fordow and Natanz facilities.

In total, these bomber crews dropped 14 bunker buster bombs.

Airmen look at a GBU-57, or the massive ordnance penetrator bomb, at Whiteman Air Base in Missouri on May 2, 2023. Seven B-2 bombers on June 21, 2025, departed Whiteman Air Force Base, Missouri, and bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities. U.S. Air Force via AP, File

Submarines Launch More Than 2 Dozen Tomahawks

Detailing the operation, Caine said the U.S. submarines involved in the strikes began firing “more than two dozen Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles against key surface infrastructure targets at Isfahan.”

The air and sea components of the U.S. strike package were carefully sequenced so that the Tomahawk missile impacts could coincide with the narrow time frame of the rest of the strike package.

Decoys and Deception

The U.S. strike operation entailed several elements of deception in order to misdirect Iran’s defenses.

While the bomber crews responsible for conducting the strikes flew east from Whiteman Air Force Base, Caine announced that some bombers were headed west over the Pacific Ocean.

An operational timeline of a strike on Iran is displayed following a news conference with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on June 22, 2025. Caine also announced that some bombers headed west over the Pacific Ocean as decoys. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Caine said it was “a deception effort known only to an extremely small number of planners and key leaders here in Washington and in Tampa.”

The top U.S. general said U.S. forces employed other deception tactics in the course of the mission, but did not specify what those tactics were.

More Than 125 US Aircraft Used

More than 125 military aircraft participated in Operation Midnight Hammer, according to Caine.

He said this included the B-2 stealth bombers, “multiple flights of fourth and fifth generation fighters,” and “dozens and dozens of air refueling tankers.”

A B-2 Spirit stealth bomber performs a flyover of Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, on May 8, 2020. Jeff Roberson, File/AP

No Shots Fired by Iran

Emphasizing the surprise nature of the operation, Caine said the U.S. military is unaware of any Iranian forces firing on the U.S. warplanes during the mission.

“Iran’s fighters did not fly, and it appears that Iran’s surface-to-air missile systems did not see us throughout the mission,” Caine added. “We retained the element of surprise in total.”

Hegseth also said the capabilities and coordination demonstrated by the U.S. forces during the operation will be a key factor dissuading Iran from retaliating.

“We believe that’ll have a clear psychological impact on how they view the future, and we certainly hope they take the path of negotiated peace,” Hegseth said. “But I could not be more proud of how this building operated, of the precision, the sensitivity, and the professionalism of the troops involved in this effort.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (L), accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, takes a question from a reporter during a news conference at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on June 22, 2025. President Donald Trump gave an address to the nation on June 21 after three Iranian nuclear facilities were struck by the U.S. military. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Damage Assessments Ongoing

Hegseth said Operation Midnight Hammer was launched in order to destroy or “severely degrade Iran’s nuclear program.”

The full extent of the damage inflicted on Iran’s three nuclear facilities cannot be independently confirmed at this time. Still, Caine provided an optimistic early outlook.

“I know that battle damage is of great interest,” Caine said. “Final battle damage will take some time, but initial battle damage assessments indicate that all three sites sustained extremely severe damage and destruction.”

In a statement shared by Iran’s state-run PressTV shortly after the U.S. strikes, the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran vowed it would continue its work. The Iranian nuclear agency also urged the international community to condemn the attack.

Vice President JD Vance said that he believes the U.S. airstrikes on three of Iran’s nuclear sites have set back the regime’s nuclear program.

“I feel very confident that we have substantially delayed their development of a nuclear weapon, and that was the goal of this attack. That’s why it was a success,” Vance said on June 22 on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I think that we have really pushed their program back by a very long time. I think that it’s going to be many, many years before the Iranians are able to develop a nuclear weapon.”

Prior to the strikes, Israel said that Iran could be just weeks away from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while President Donald Trump had said Iran was weeks to months away from a nuclear bomb.

Update (15:59ET): Republican rep Thomas Massie of Kentucky has been one of the very few outspoken Congressmen on either side of the aisle to blast Trump’s Iran bombing campaign, done without Congressional authorization or so much as debate or consultation.

Massie was seeking to introduce a war powers resolution in the House ahead of ‘bombs away’ on Iran. The conservative and libertarian-leading Congressman wants to legally prohibit American involvement in Iran.

“This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our constitution,” he stated last week. In weekend media appearances, he’s also been calling out the Trump administration for shilling for Israel and Netanyahu. For example, on ‘Face the Nation’ he strongly suggested that the White House and some in Congress are being unduly influenced by a foreign power.

Massie: AIPAC is very persuasive. If you look at my colleagues’ feeds now, they all look the same, they’re all tweeting the same message. pic.twitter.com/rYZVv0SobG

— Acyn (@Acyn) June 22, 2025

Critics of Trump’s Iran policy are complaining that America fighting the Israelis’ wars for them is not at all ‘America First’ – while Trump’s team has touted this as ‘limited’ and intent on eliminating Iran’s nuclear program.

These and other criticisms have prompted a Sunday Trump response on Truth Social. He took Massie to task for his defiant stance, saying he’s “not Maga” and that “MAGA doesn’t want him”…

Social media, including X, has in the last days been taken over by MAGA infighting over the Iran issue. After all, Trump campaigned on a platform that was against starting new wars; however, he also vowed to prevent Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon.

Critics have said that the Trump people now sound just like Bush-era NeoCons when it comes to taking ‘preemptive’ action over WMD fears in the Middle East.

The benefit of Donald Trump attacking Thomas Massie is that it will continue to split the right and increase Thomas Massie’s popularity. And, in the long run, Massie will be proven right, just like Ron Paul.

— Liam McCollum (@MLiamMcCollum) June 22, 2025

Not a single US Congressman campaigned on regime change in Iran, because Americans consistently rank foreign policy as the lowest on their priorities, but most US Congressmen care about regime change in Iran above every other issue. They just take advantage of Americans only…

— Liam McCollum (@MLiamMcCollum) June 22, 2025

* * *

Update (11:37ET): Following President Trump’s new foreign entanglement – bombing Iranian nuclear facilities (which may or may not have taken them out while causing a deep divide amongst MAGA), Vice President JD Vance says he believes their nuclear program has been set back “many years,” and that he feels “very confident that we’ve substantially delayed [Iran’s] development of a nuclear weapon,” adding that it was US intelligence, not Israeli intelligence assessments, that led to Trump’s decision. 

When asked if the United States is at war with Iran, he claimed “No, Kristen, we’re not at war with Iran. We’re at war with Iran’s nuclear program,” and called on Iranians to “give peace a chance.

“They can go down the path of peace, or they can go down the path of this ridiculous brinksmanship of funding terrorism, of trying to build a nuclear weapon – and that’s just not something the United States can accept.” 

“We didn’t blow up the diplomacy. The diplomacy never was given a real chance by the Iranians,” says @VP.

“The Iranians are clearly not very good at war. Perhaps they should follow President Trump’s lead and give peace a chance.” pic.twitter.com/pJ2tpqekom

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) June 22, 2025

When asked if the US would support an Israeli assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Vance said that it would be “up to the Israelis,” and that the US position is “we don’t want a regime change.”

VP Vance: “No Regime Change” in Iran — U.S. Focused on Nuclear Threat, Not Government Overthrow

– In interviews (e.g. NBC’s Meet the Press), Vice President J.D. Vance emphasized the U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear sites aims solely to dismantle Iran’s nuclear program—not to… pic.twitter.com/TPOLWCvP06

— GlobalWire (@global_wire_) June 22, 2025

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile insisted to Fox News that “This is not a war against Iran,” adding “Not a shot was fired against us. They didn’t even know what had happened. By the time we left, the planes were out of their airspace before they finally started realizing they’d been hit. So it would be a terrible mistake if Iran retaliates. So but that’s not our goal.”

Secretary Rubio clears the air on whether America is “at war” with Iran.

“This is not a war against Iran.”

“Not a shot was fired against us. They didn’t even know what had happened. By the time we left, the planes were out of their airspace before they finally started realizing… pic.twitter.com/RslL7KbgUz

— Media Lies (@MediasLies) June 22, 2025

He also warned against Iranian retaliation, saying: “If Iran retaliates, it will be the WORST mistake they’ve ever made.”

RUBIO: It would be a terrible mistake if Iran retaliated.

But that’s not our goal. We are not declaring war on Iran. We’re not looking for war on Iran. But if they attack us, then I think we have capabilities they haven’t even seen yet. It would be a terrible mistake on their… pic.twitter.com/grpdHegkep

— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) June 22, 2025

Rubio then warned Iran not to close the strait of Hormuz after Iran’s parliament backed its closure, saying “If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, it will be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them if they do it and we retain options to deal with that.”

Rubio:

“If Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, it will be another terrible mistake. It’s economic suicide for them if they do it and we retain options to deal with that” pic.twitter.com/6mXeYXJ6Te

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) June 22, 2025

Everyone got the script?

Iran, meanwhile in a statement through spox Esmail Baghaei, accused the Trump administration of sabotaging diplomatic efforts – saying “They cannot talk about diplomacy, they betrayed diplomacy,” adding that “diplomacy never ends.” 

Setting up for another forever war…where end-goals are undefinable?

LOL, Vance says Iran still controls enriched Uranium stockpile, which could be enough to produce 10 nuclear warheads pic.twitter.com/OvaX6kG4EJ

— Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) June 22, 2025

Regarding the escalating conflict, Baghaei warned “No one knows what will happen next, but what is sure is that the responsibility of the consequences of this war must be borne by the United States and Israel.”

The Iranian foreign ministry declined to elaborate on Tehran’s likely response to the attacks, or to detail the extent of the damage – only saying in a statement to CNN that Iran “is entitled … to exercise its right of self-defense,” adding “And we will do that for sure.” 

*  *  *

In a Sunday morning press briefing, Trump’s Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth declared that “Iran’s nuclear ambitions have been obliterated” – but also asserted that the attack did not target the Iranian people or civilians. He hailed the “incredible and overwhelming success” – following President Trump last night saying the same thing. “It’s worth noting the operation did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people.”

Hegseth said this is part of the commitment of this administration’s vision of “peace through strength”. He continued, “Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran’s nuclear program, and none could, until President Trump.”

For the “bold and brilliant” operation, there was weeks of preparation and precision logistics and “misdirection” at the highest level, involving B-2 bombers going to hit, Hegseth described. “No other country on planet earth” could have conducted this operation.

He also underscored that the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) was used for the first time in US combat history – also that it was the longest bomber mission of its kind since 2001.

“Just like [IRGC Quds Force General Qasem] Solemani found out in the first term, Iran found out when POTUS says ’60 days’ – that when he seeks peace and negotiation – he means 60 days of peace and negotiation, otherwise that nuclear program will not exist. He meant it.”

Hegseth then read aloud Trump’s post to Truth Social last night, soon after the three nuclear sites were struck:

“Any retaliation by Iran against the United States of America will be met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight.”

That’s when the US Defense Secretary then warned, “Iran would be smart to heed those words. He said it before and he means it.” He tried to stress the ‘limited’ scope of the attack and urged the Iranians to come back to the negotiating table:

There are both public and private messages being delivered to the Iranians in multiple channels, giving them every opportunity to come to the negotiation table, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says at a Pentagon press briefing.

Scope of operation on Iran was “intentionally limited” Hegseth says he believes the US attack will have a clear psychological impact on how Iran views the future US strikes against Iran’s nuclear enrichment site at Fordow are believed to have destroyed capabilities there…

To review the details of what happened last night, the US deployed six B-2 bombers to drop 12 GBU-57 “bunker-buster” bombs on Iran’s heavily fortified Fordow nuclear site, marking the first time these massive 30,000-pound bombs were used in combat.

The enrichment sites at Natanz and Isfahan were also attacked. The mission lasted about 37 hours with multiple refueling missions.

While the White House is now claiming Iran’s nuclear facilities were “completely and totally obliterated,” officials say it’s too early to confirm the full extent of the damage.

America dropped six GBU-57 bunker buster bombs on the Fordow nuclear site pic.twitter.com/LaWrHm0c2d

— Vince Langman (@LangmanVince) June 22, 2025

Iran, along with international nuclear agencies, reported no radiation leaks, prompting skepticism about the strike’s effectiveness—particularly at Fordow, which is buried deep underground. Iranian officials said damage was minimal and mostly above ground. Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization vowed to continue its nuclear program, referring to assassinated nuclear scientists as “martyrs.”

Some degree of political backlash has quickly emerged over the lack of Congressional approval for the strikes. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, despite previously mocking Trump’s diplomatic efforts with Iran, called for a War Powers vote, criticizing the president’s unilateral military action without a clear strategy.

A massive heat dome is driving temperatures to the high 90s or even into triple-digit territory across more than three dozen states—from the Plains to the Mid-Atlantic and New England—threatening to strain the nation’s largest power grid through midweek.

PJM Interconnection, the operator of the largest U.S. power grid serving 65 million people across 13 states and D.C., has issued a “Maximum Generation Alert” for Monday, ordering all available power generation to run at full capacity to ensure power demand is met during peak hours amid tightening conditions. 

Why the alert?

• Persistent heat across PJM’s 13-state region is pushing demand to summer highs.

What PJM did:

• Issued a Maximum Generation Alert and NERC EEA-1 for June 23 – a heads-up that every available generator may be called to run at full output.

• Simultaneously issued a Load Management Alert to prep demand-response resources (both non-emergency and emergency).

Who needs to act?

• Generators / transmission owners – defer routine maintenance or testing so units stay online; be ready for possible export curtailments.

• Neighboring grids – warned that PJM exports could be limited.

• Retail customers – no action required unless a formal demand-response event is later declared.

Load forecast (entire RTO):

• June 23: ~160 GW

• June 24: ~158 GW

• June 25: ~155 GW

“This alert was issued in anticipation of tight conditions on the 13-state system as electricity demand is set to top 160 gigawatts on the afternoon of June 23, which would be the highest peak since July 2011,” Bloomberg wrote in a note, adding, “The Eastern US grid operator also called a “maximum generation emergency” to shore up supplies.” 

In its 6–10 day temperature outlook map, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts above-average temperatures across much of the eastern half of the U.S. through the end of the month.

Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York could experience mercury rising above 100°F for a few days through Tuesday.

None of this should come as a surprise to readers: we’ve extensively covered PJM’s repeated warnings, shared a Goldman Sachs note highlighting that the grid is “getting critically tight,” and urged those at risk to consider adding backup power generation at home.