Aleks Salkin

Man with Asperger’s has been arrested 32 times for impersonating NYC transit workers and hijacking buses and trains, just to drive the routes perfectly. Darius McCollum is a New Yorker with Asperger’s syndrome who gained international notoriety for his lifelong obsession with the city’s transit system. Since the age of 15, McCollum has been arrested 32 times for impersonating Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) employees and "hijacking" subway trains and buses. Remarkably, he never sought to steal the vehicles; instead, he would drive the actual routes, make the correct station announcements, and keep perfectly to the schedule. His story was the subject of the 2016 documentary "Off the Rails," highlighting the intersection of neurodiversity and the criminal justice system.

Let me take you through a thought experiment about what “the Iranian regime” actually is right now. Imagine a country like Iran, where familial and tribal loyalties run in parallel to the centralized authority. A place where patronage is built into the system. The US and Israel have decimated the leadership of both the Supreme Ruler and his clerics as well as the IRGC command. Factor in the mosaic strategy of spreading the IRGC out across all 31 provinces, plus constant attacks and degradation of Iranian infrastructure used by the IRGC: communication, roads, bases. In such a world the issue of succession becomes a problem, even if the regime thought they had prepared for it. New positions of authority are not being delegated from above, but rather are being assumed based on some hierarchy or org structure that may or may not still exist one month into the war. The IRGC leadership is not nearly as ideologically aligned as maybe the mullahs or the rank and file are. We are seeing reports of the relatives of high level IRGC living lavish lifestyles in the United States. We also know that the IRGC operates like a sort of organized crime syndicate within Iran, whereby they control large parts of the economy. Leadership is continuing to be killed on a near daily basis. It does not appear that the mullahs are even in charge anymore. The IRGC imposed the new supreme leader, even though all accounts say that he is badly injured and not conscious. There is probably some sort of coup whereby the IRGC has assumed power and decision-making without announcing it publicly. And there are reports of the president complaining that he has no real power and that the IRGC are pulling the strings. Now we get to the final point where it’s not even entirely clear who is negotiating on behalf of Iran. The actual situation within Iran in terms of their leadership is most likely something resembling this: authority is no longer flowing downward from Tehran. It is being claimed locally by surviving provincial commanders, rival IRGC factions, and patronage networks. Iran has become a loose confederation of armed power centers held together by shared hatred of the US and Israel, residual revolutionary ideology, and the IRGC’s economic mafia networks…but those same networks are also pulling in opposite directions. Logical conclusions from all this: ceasefires and diplomatic agreements become extremely fragile because the people signing them may not actually control the people with the missiles and drones (as we saw with the Kuwait strikes hours after the truce announcement). Further leadership killings will likely create even more autonomous warlords rather than weaken the resistance. Negotiating any lasting deal has become incredibly difficult because there is no longer one single lever of control. The regime is effectively fighting two wars at once…externally against the US and Israel, and internally against itself. That is likely what “the Iranian regime” actually is right now…and the US/Israel know this reality full well. They see and hear everything that’s happening. And what we, as the public, know is almost entirely controlled by what the US, Israel, and “Iranian regime” is telling us publicly. There is no independent reporting from inside Iran. The fog of war is nearly absolute and we are being told only a small part of what is actually going on. But if you look closely and deep enough, you’ll find enough crumbs to support (at least partially) the logical conclusions of this thought experiment. What would I be trying to do if I were Trump? Divide and Conquer is the name of the game. So take everything that you hear and see with a grain of salt…there’s lots of smoke and mirrors.

Once your culture is gone, it isn't coming back. To preserve a culture, you must continually read the books and ideas that created it. That's why we started an online book club to study the greatest texts of Western Civilization. Every month, we study a new great work — so far we've covered Augustine's Confessions, Dante's Inferno, The Count of Monte Cristo, Don Quixote, etc. Currently, we're reading Virgil's Aeneid. Western Civilization has given us the greatest books ever written, but it takes effort to read them, and even more to read them well. That’s what we’re doing here, slowly, together. If you want to support our efforts, please consider a paid subscription. It makes a huge difference to the time and resources we can dedicate to this project. Paid members get: - Live community book discussions (biweekly) - Deep-dive essays to guide you through the books we’re reading - The full archive of book reviews, essays, and our 100 Great Texts reading list - Access to all community discussion threads (via the subscriber chat) - Ability to vote on what we read next This is not school. There are no grades, no credentials, and no status games. Just a community of readers serious about recovering what’s been lost, and using it to build something better. Welcome!

JUST IN: New video shows crowds locking arms around Iranian power plants, creating HUMAN SHIELDS – a striking scene as Trump's 8p.m. deadline for the Islamic Republic nears. Iran has rejected the latest terms, raising the stakes with just hours to go.

The Jewish people are indigenous to Israel.