My prediction, which is mine, is that this was the LAST SOTU from Trump.
Why? Because just a few days after Jan 20 2017, when JD can potentially serve two extra full terms, Trump will have a "sudden fatal medical event".
JD has already offed a Pope and a Queen of England, and is only known by an alias of an alias, so it fits.
Now, the other interesting question is whether Usha realizes that as JD gets close to running for the top job, JD will be motivated to give HER a "sudden fatal medical event" so he could marry the widow Kirk.
If Usha does understand the risk, then she might need to arrange a "tragic, fatal, freak, furniture accident" that removes JD.
All of this will be in the coming season of "Game of Armchairs", look for it on cable!
Trump vies for Bush’s crown for worst foreign policy decision in history
Trump, last month, bested his own record (from last year) for the longest ever State of the Union address. (Which of his qualifies as most vacuous is a separate discussion.) Similarly, he will have three more years to exceed this worst foreign policy decision. Bad idea to bet against his doing so.
It would be wrong not to give you the Guardian's article on this, with the headline Trump vies for Bush’s crown for worst foreign policy decision in history
From the previous thread - They are striking “targets” in the north of Tehran. These are busy residential neighbourhoods with schools, nurseries and restaurants. The residential palace and museums are located there. Wtf is wrong with these people?
This is straight out of the current Russian playbook being used in Ukraine. Is there any reason at all to think it will work any better here?
The main difference I can see is that Iran starts out with sophisticated, long range, drones -- designed and already being manufactured.** I'll be amazed if Israel doesn't become aacquainted with Shahed's for the next few weeks. Or months, as may be. This isn't like attacking Palestinians, who have no real industrial base.
As for the US, I expect Trump to just declare victory and scuttle home. Before he loses a US Naval vessel or something. Incompetent as this administration is, it will be no surprise if that doesn't work out well. It's not like attacking Venezuela after all.
** At least this may cut off Russian imports, and so reduce the attacks on Ukraine, at least a bit.
They are striking “targets” in the north of Tehran. These are busy residential neighbourhoods with schools, nurseries and restaurants. The residential palace and museums are located there. Wtf is wrong with these people?
If there were anything to the supposed military rationale for the attack, there would have been attacks on military targets. You know, like missile batteries, military bases, etc. But of course there were not, because it's never been about that. Instead, it's right out of the Russian playbook in Ukraine. Probably be about as successful, too.
There's a lesson here, for Iran or anybody else in the world. Throw a big party for Trump, with flashy (tacky preferred) props and such. Like the Saudis did. If I was in government in Taipei, I'd be looking hard for a way to do something like that to boost Trump's ego.
I was thinking more of 'play with your prey' animals or some selected arthropods with a side dish of jellyfish.
Wood chippers would quickly lead to uncontrolled blood loss putting an end to the procedure.
And the European reaction is to condemn Iran for answering in kind.
The general problem of a conflict where all parties are despicable* and politicians feel obliged to throw in their lot with one of them.
*the Yahoo from Netanja, His Orangeness and Chamenei all lack any conscience or empathy. They should all be (very) slowly fed to some less than fussy carnivores on life TV.
That has become the norm. 'Negotiations' are a diversion to make the attack a surprise when it hits. Ideally it gives the location of the high level negotiators, so they can be targeted themselves (as happened the last time where it only failed because the attack hit the house before the guys arrived). First rule: His Orangeness and the Yahoo from Netanja NEVER act in good faith.
And double checking on Gemini, while McCain referenced the Beach Boys, it was actually a parody song by Vince Vance & the Valiants, which was recorded during the Iranian Hostage Crisis.
They are striking "targets" in the north of Tehran. These are busy residential neighbourhoods with schools, nurseries and restaurants. The residential palace and museums are located there. Wtf is wrong with these people?
The rationale is of course ridiculous. At least Bush tried to make a case in front of Congress and the UN (I never thought I would say anything positive about Bush but here we are ...)
Head of Anthropic Amodei left OpenAI specifically because he felt the commercialization was overriding the need for guardrails. So in that respect, he's being consistent. Anthropic also doesn't have any public contracts with the IDF, where all this stuff is getting real world tested, so Michael Cain's observation about retail vs. wholesale murder is probably true.
As for Anthropic specifically, I’m not up on the details, either of Anthropic’s history or this specific spat. But if Hegseth is upset, that strongly suggests that Anthropic is on the side of the angels, at least on this one.
I believe the line Anthropic (and OpenAI too, I think) have drawn is at autonomous killing machines at a retail level. "Retail" meaning the AI has decided this person is an enemy combatant that should be killed, and that person is not. I may have missed something, but they don't seem as opposed to wholesale level stuff, as in the AI has decided this is a Chinese landing ship with 1,000 marines attacking Taiwan, or not.
And now they are trying to bury us in carbon on top of that by consuming as much energy as a small city.
I would have said medium-sized. The four cities served by my local power authority have a combined population of 354000. If we were one city, that would put us at 55th on the US list. During peak summer usage, the four cities occasionally draw 600 MW. The new data center complex being built up the road from us in Cheyenne, WY will draw 1,200 MW almost continuously when finished.
But if Hegseth is upset, that strongly suggests that Anthropic is on the side of the angels, at least on this one.
Leaving aside that they built and trained their LLM using texts that they knew were taken without permission...
They owe my wife and a lot of other authors a whole lot of money for that one and are busy trying to wriggle out of that, or to get a big enough deal that paying for the settlement won't put them under.
I don't think anyone with an LLM is on the side of the angels. They were all built on theft and built to steal more jobs. And now they are trying to bury us in carbon on top of that by consuming as much energy as a small city.
But hey, at least Anthropic has found a few scruples...
Come AI winter I'm gonna open a bottle of the good stuff and drink to their demise. It will be an economic blow like the pandemic, but an environmental boon like the pandemic as well. I won't celebrate the suffering it causes, but I will celebrate the suffering that their fall will prevent.
I could just as easily have used "the private sector" or "for-profit entities." The government, in a normal country, is usually the one installing the guardrails to keep the capitalists from running amok.
Anyone have thoughts on this Anthropic thing? It’s a topsy-turvy world when the tech bros have more restraint than the federal government.
"Tech bros" are not a monolith. The high profile obnoxious (or worse) ones get a lot of press. But mostly the good ones get ignored.
As for Anthropic specifically, I'm not up on the details, either of Anthropic's history or this specific spat. But if Hegseth is upset, that strongly suggests that Anthropic is on the side of the angels, at least on this one.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.
On “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran”
Heh heh!
TOO many years, it's so hard to keep track of them all.
Just lucky for me that someone will notice these things when I have a lapse.
BRB, need to fix a nagging Y2K problem.
"
...just a few days after Jan 20 2017...
Prediction is easy, especially when it's about the past.
"
copying a comment I made elsewhere:
My prediction, which is mine, is that this was the LAST SOTU from Trump.
Why? Because just a few days after Jan 20 2017, when JD can potentially serve two extra full terms, Trump will have a "sudden fatal medical event".
JD has already offed a Pope and a Queen of England, and is only known by an alias of an alias, so it fits.
Now, the other interesting question is whether Usha realizes that as JD gets close to running for the top job, JD will be motivated to give HER a "sudden fatal medical event" so he could marry the widow Kirk.
If Usha does understand the risk, then she might need to arrange a "tragic, fatal, freak, furniture accident" that removes JD.
All of this will be in the coming season of "Game of Armchairs", look for it on cable!
"
Trump, last month, bested his own record (from last year) for the longest ever State of the Union address. (Which of his qualifies as most vacuous is a separate discussion.) Similarly, he will have three more years to exceed this worst foreign policy decision. Bad idea to bet against his doing so.
"
It would be wrong not to give you the Guardian's article on this, with the headline Trump vies for Bush’s crown for worst foreign policy decision in history
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/28/trump-iran-analysis-us-foreign-policy-george-bush
"
Europe is already condemning Iran for shooting back (while only being 'concerned' about the US' and Israel's actions).
As had to be expected.
"
I've already fired off a letter to my Congressman, asking when the Declaration of War got passed. Sarcastically, obviously.
Not that there's any chance that Congress will push back on this. But just to lend what little support I can.
"
This is straight out of the current Russian playbook being used in Ukraine. Is there any reason at all to think it will work any better here?
The main difference I can see is that Iran starts out with sophisticated, long range, drones -- designed and already being manufactured.** I'll be amazed if Israel doesn't become aacquainted with Shahed's for the next few weeks. Or months, as may be. This isn't like attacking Palestinians, who have no real industrial base.
As for the US, I expect Trump to just declare victory and scuttle home. Before he loses a US Naval vessel or something. Incompetent as this administration is, it will be no surprise if that doesn't work out well. It's not like attacking Venezuela after all.
** At least this may cut off Russian imports, and so reduce the attacks on Ukraine, at least a bit.
On “As it all falls down around our ears: An open thread”
If there were anything to the supposed military rationale for the attack, there would have been attacks on military targets. You know, like missile batteries, military bases, etc. But of course there were not, because it's never been about that. Instead, it's right out of the Russian playbook in Ukraine. Probably be about as successful, too.
There's a lesson here, for Iran or anybody else in the world. Throw a big party for Trump, with flashy (tacky preferred) props and such. Like the Saudis did. If I was in government in Taipei, I'd be looking hard for a way to do something like that to boost Trump's ego.
"
I was thinking more of 'play with your prey' animals or some selected arthropods with a side dish of jellyfish.
Wood chippers would quickly lead to uncontrolled blood loss putting an end to the procedure.
"
Hartmut: "less than fussy carnivores" get satiated too quickly.
And guillotines are too quick, and hard to find.
WOOD CHIPPERS on the other hand, can be found (at low, low prices!) at your neighborhood home&garden center.
Feed the warmongering assholes in "feet first" for an appropriate application of justice.
AND what comes out of the wood chipper can fertilize a garden! Reduce/Reuse/Recycle!
"
And the European reaction is to condemn Iran for answering in kind.
The general problem of a conflict where all parties are despicable* and politicians feel obliged to throw in their lot with one of them.
*the Yahoo from Netanja, His Orangeness and Chamenei all lack any conscience or empathy. They should all be (very) slowly fed to some less than fussy carnivores on life TV.
"
This has been planned for months:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/feb/28/israel-attacks-iran-as-blasts-heard-in-tehran-live-updates?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-69a2d2008f080cbafb285b9d#block-69a2d2008f080cbafb285b9d
"
That has become the norm. 'Negotiations' are a diversion to make the attack a surprise when it hits. Ideally it gives the location of the high level negotiators, so they can be targeted themselves (as happened the last time where it only failed because the attack hit the house before the guys arrived). First rule: His Orangeness and the Yahoo from Netanja NEVER act in good faith.
On “Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran”
And double checking on Gemini, while McCain referenced the Beach Boys, it was actually a parody song by Vince Vance & the Valiants, which was recorded during the Iranian Hostage Crisis.
On “As it all falls down around our ears: An open thread”
Interestingly, the mediator from Oman spoke of a breakthrough in the talks just hours ago - another win for diplomacy...
https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2026/02/28/mediator-oman-hails-breakthrough-in-us-iran-nuclear-talks_6750947_4.html
"
They are striking "targets" in the north of Tehran. These are busy residential neighbourhoods with schools, nurseries and restaurants. The residential palace and museums are located there. Wtf is wrong with these people?
The rationale is of course ridiculous. At least Bush tried to make a case in front of Congress and the UN (I never thought I would say anything positive about Bush but here we are ...)
"
Now I wake up to the news that they are bombing Tehran.
I urge the people in the US and Israel to rise up and overthrow their government's.
"
Head of Anthropic Amodei left OpenAI specifically because he felt the commercialization was overriding the need for guardrails. So in that respect, he's being consistent. Anthropic also doesn't have any public contracts with the IDF, where all this stuff is getting real world tested, so Michael Cain's observation about retail vs. wholesale murder is probably true.
"
As for Anthropic specifically, I’m not up on the details, either of Anthropic’s history or this specific spat. But if Hegseth is upset, that strongly suggests that Anthropic is on the side of the angels, at least on this one.
I believe the line Anthropic (and OpenAI too, I think) have drawn is at autonomous killing machines at a retail level. "Retail" meaning the AI has decided this person is an enemy combatant that should be killed, and that person is not. I may have missed something, but they don't seem as opposed to wholesale level stuff, as in the AI has decided this is a Chinese landing ship with 1,000 marines attacking Taiwan, or not.
"
And now they are trying to bury us in carbon on top of that by consuming as much energy as a small city.
I would have said medium-sized. The four cities served by my local power authority have a combined population of 354000. If we were one city, that would put us at 55th on the US list. During peak summer usage, the four cities occasionally draw 600 MW. The new data center complex being built up the road from us in Cheyenne, WY will draw 1,200 MW almost continuously when finished.
"
Anyone have thoughts on this Anthropic thing?
If software is speech, the government is trying to compel speech, a violation of the First Amendment.
"
But if Hegseth is upset, that strongly suggests that Anthropic is on the side of the angels, at least on this one.
Leaving aside that they built and trained their LLM using texts that they knew were taken without permission...
They owe my wife and a lot of other authors a whole lot of money for that one and are busy trying to wriggle out of that, or to get a big enough deal that paying for the settlement won't put them under.
I don't think anyone with an LLM is on the side of the angels. They were all built on theft and built to steal more jobs. And now they are trying to bury us in carbon on top of that by consuming as much energy as a small city.
But hey, at least Anthropic has found a few scruples...
Come AI winter I'm gonna open a bottle of the good stuff and drink to their demise. It will be an economic blow like the pandemic, but an environmental boon like the pandemic as well. I won't celebrate the suffering it causes, but I will celebrate the suffering that their fall will prevent.
"
I could just as easily have used "the private sector" or "for-profit entities." The government, in a normal country, is usually the one installing the guardrails to keep the capitalists from running amok.
"
"Tech bros" are not a monolith. The high profile obnoxious (or worse) ones get a lot of press. But mostly the good ones get ignored.
As for Anthropic specifically, I'm not up on the details, either of Anthropic's history or this specific spat. But if Hegseth is upset, that strongly suggests that Anthropic is on the side of the angels, at least on this one.
*Comment archive for non-registered commenters assembled by email address as provided.