Wingate

When Joe Biden gave one SotU, he said, "Political violence has no place in America" (in reference to 6 January 2021). Republicans sat, which says they think political violence is a useful tool.

I guess some people thought Pee Wee Herman was an orator nonpareil, so there's no accounting for taste. I see a time in the not too distant future when people will be embarrassed they once thought Trump was anything but a self-serving, mendacious, corrupt, willfully ignorant, vindictive, childish clown.

There are several reported instances since the 1980s, perhaps earlier, when a decision made by a human prevented the start of nuclear Armageddon. It was humans who decided machines were in error, reading false telemetry. Does anyone who has used any AI agent think AI systems are currently so foolproof that errors are not possible? Isn't it a little early to put the fate of humanity in the hands of error-prone systems? Sure, Sam Altman will agree to let the drunk Hegseth use his system, as it gets Altman 2 things he seems to need: money and prestige. That is where two flawed humans in the chain---Hegseth and Altman---present a problem. Dario Amodei of Anthropic seems more moral and discerning. He is standing up to Hegseth and Trump. Trump just nixed any USG use of Anthropic systems in any sphere of government as "punishment" for Amodei refusing to let Hegseth use Claude. Amodei also has first hand knowledge of the "moral character" of AI systems, as it was Anthropic that ran the simulations that tested AI's ability to both deceive and blackmail, having "learned" from reading everything ever written that humans can often benefit from immorality.

There is no way 53 pages of official documents, all of which just happen to involve allegations against Trump for violating a minor, just "coincidentally" disappear. In her House Judiciary Hearing, AG Bondi, under oath, said there were no Epstein Files implicating Trump. That is a lie. That is perjury. The pardon that Trump will undoubtedly give her will not hold. Maybe it will take until 2029, or maybe after the Dems retake the House and Senate in the midterms, but Bondi is going to jail. Her lie is on C-Span video. The silly North Korea-style image of Trump now hanging outside the DoJ is Trump announcing he owns the DoJ, it is not independent, and he will use it to both avoid any prosecution as well as go after his critics, even if the critics broke no law. Disgusting. Fascist.

Come on, OP, you've got that Georgetown, Guyana 1978 feel about you, so please do this: Off the top of your head---no Google or AI allowed---name the "8 wars" Trump supposedly stopped. Should be a piece of cake. Oh, and Cambodia-Armenia doesn't count. Nor Azerbaijan and Albania Nor the Rwandan Genocide of 1994, which Trump also claims he stopped. Hatfields and McCoys? Macy and Gimbels? Betamax and VHS? Butter and Margarine? Klingons and The Federation? Great Taste and Less Filling? Harlem Globetrotter and Washington Generals?

You really show your lack of education by being fixated on a term you truly do not understand. Please try to explain how Dems are somehow Marxist. Note the economic growth achieved under Biden, and the job creation. 181,000 jobs were created in all of 2025 under Trump. 2,230,000 jobs were created in 2024, Biden's last year. BTW, they even had truck drivers in Stalin's USSR. I guess that means you're a Marxist? Makes about as much sense as you calling Dems that because they chose not to go listen to almost two hours of Kremlin/North Korea style lies, with the requisite trained seal clapping.

Now that the longest SOTU address is over, with nothing of substance mentioned, albeit dozens of bald faced lies, we now return to your regularly scheduled program: The Epstein Files 53 pages of official documents accusing Trump of sex with a minor "somehow" went missing from the DoJ. If Trump thought putting the world to sleep with his borefest would divert attention from Epstein, he is mistaken. Of course, that just increases the likelihood of an attack against Iran Friday, after the stock market closes for the week. Now is a good time to hack into Hegseth's SIGNAL account.

You need an asterisk after"protect American citizens*" *unless said Americans are violated by a member of the Epstein Class, who are above the law. Oh, if the criminals do business with Trump, even if they launder money for Hamas, or are rich, even if they run 400 tonnes of cocaine into the US, or if they beat cops and try to hang the Vice President in Trump's name, then hurting any American citizen is okay. I agree the midterms are decided. The special elections in the last few months portend a Blue Tsunami, with Dems taking back the House and the Senate, and acting again like the Legislative Branch laid down by the Founders. Lame Duck Donny.

"Rwanda....7 million killed....machetes machetes everywhere.....but I stopped that"----Donald J. Trump In case you've forgotten, the Rwandan Genocide was 1994, and estimates put the number of dead at 800,000.

I think North Korea will show that speech in its re-education camps. "THAT is how you clap like trained seals, especially when the leader lies. Be like Mike (Speaker Johnson).

I'm betting on dystopia. When I think about what AI might be able to do, I get lost in the math. I seem to remember 1 + 1 = 2. When people discuss AI, it equals infinity. Think about it. Yes, AI can improve healthcare. AI might find ways to provide cheap energy. AI might streamline production and make goods and services more efficient and cheaper. Sounds good, but...... All economies need end users. We call them "consumers". Consumers need money to be able to purchase all of those wonderful goods and services. Unfortunately, AI is going to make those consumers, who are also income-receiving workers, redundant. They won't be working to earn the money needed to buy those goods and services. Ah, but what about UBI? Give people money and they can buy. Sounds good, until one looks at the world's debt situation and sovereign governments' debt situation. The world has $346,000,000,000,000 of debt, which amounts to about $41,000 for every current human occupant of the planet. Where is this money going to come from to pay UBI? More debt? More printed money? It is not workable, besides the fact NOBODY has a current plan at a time when AI is chomping up the food chain destroying jobs. AI isn't going to obviate workers all at once, nor even equally across all world societies. Think of how many people in the Philippines work call centers that you reach when calling about your credit card. Think of how many guys are busy writing code in Bangalore. Those two "careers" will be the first to go, so one might expect to see a little social unrest in areas so dependent on call centers and code writing. We're all going to be the proverbial lobster in the pot, "It's getting warm in here, but at least I'm not boiling like poor Joe the Lobster over there." Later, folks will come to realize education is pointless, save for learning for the sake of learning. No need to study engineering or medicine or much of anything, because AI will know more, know it faster, and be able to deliver solutions with minimal error. Universities will be useless. Anyone who wants a degree in Medieval Japanese history or the biology of flatworms can learn it online. No education is going to lead to gainful employment, so universities ability to charge $80K per year will be gone. It will be easier to sell a Betamax player than a sheepskin from MIT or Harvard. I suspect the people most able to adapt to the brave new world will be people currently under the age of 35. I've seen such people who can be mesmerized and satisfied by 10 straight hours of banal TikTok videos, believing that is a life well lived. AI will find ways to pacify and mollify such easily entertained people. Frankly, I think AI will eventually decide humans are just a nuisance and will exterminate the pests that we are. I might even opine that the real reason no alien civilization has visited us is not because of distance and speed limits, but because every advanced civilization eventually developed AI, and AI destroyed it.

One has to wonder if either the DoJ forgets the 1st Amendment establishes the right of a free press, or if the DoJ thinks the press is too stupid to find truths. Maybe the DoJ is just desperate and risking violations of the law to save their master. NPR has discovered that the DoJ pulled many documents where Trump is accused of sex with a minor, a girl as young as 13. The FBI thought the accusations were credible enough that they interviewed the now adult woman 4 times back in 2019. Some documentation of the first interview was released, but the subsequent 3 interviews, reported to be 50 pages or more, were pulled despite the law demanding all documents be released. An NPR journalists used some cross referencing of DoJ serial numbers to discover the documents had been pulled. One suspects this latest allegation will result in the following responses from DoJ: Denial "Protecting victims" (spurious) "Ongoing investigation" (a lie) In fact, when asked for a comment, a DoJ rep said of the documents: “fall within one of the following categories: duplicates, privileged, [or] part of an ongoing federal investigation.” Obviously AG Bondi lied when she claimed everything related to Trump has been released, and that there were no allegations against him. Rep Ted Lieu produced the one document DoJ did release, and called Bondi a liar to her face in the recent House Hearing. "Why didn't Biden release?" (not every Administration has the staff to look through tens of millions of DoJ files, particularly if what is hidden is unknown) I suppose from Christian Nationalists we will get something like: ("Even if true, let's not forget Mary was 14 when she carried Messiah 1.0") Yahoo NewsTrump Hit by New Epstein Files Bombshell Before Big SpeechA bombshell report regarding the Epstein files is threatening to spoil President Donald Trump’s big day. An NPR investigation, published the morning of the president’s State of the Union address, alle

Well, he still beats Trump, 960 to 820. But if Dems have to move on to AOC and Jasmine Crockett, so be it. LOL. I have to admit, neither Trump nor Newsom distinguished themselves intellectually. No doubt Bill Clinton topped their combined scores.

At a time of his all time low popularity, Trump will deliver the State of the Union speech tonight. He will attribute all good to himself, and foist all blame on Biden or Hillary or maybe Jimmy Kimmel. Undoubtedly he'll keep the fact checkers busy. Dozens, maybe hundreds of lies, hyperbole and fantasy will be in evidence from the get go. He will tell us that "only I" could have done it, and Many people are saying I accomplished more in my first year than any President ever. He might compare himself to Lincoln, maybe even to Jesus. He'll boast of "silent support", which is as real as that hospital ship he (didn't send) to Greenland. He'll praise himself endlessly and embarrass the nation continually. His word salad diatribe will last longer than the Oscars. Fidel Castro would be envious. I'm making a Bingo Card of words and phrases he is likely to use. Here's the line up: Deranged. Leftist, Radical, Losers, Hoax, <removed>, Russia, Greenland, Iceland, Disgrace, 8 Wars, Nobel, Autopen, Albania, John Barron, Rwandan Genocide, Arnold Palmer's Junk, Wind Turbines, Sharks & Electric Boats, covfefe

What about countries who pardon terrorists, like the 6 January 2021 crowd? I guess the world is taking heed and avoiding such a country now, spending their tourism dollars elsewhere.

Yes, we don't need any cartel thugs and miscreants being imported to the US. We have our own homegrown miscreants and thugs. We call them ICE. Of course, if any major drug runners somehow made it into the US, rest assured our enabler Trump will pardon them, like he did to the guy who helped run 400 tonnes of cocaine into the US. As for any deity owed thanks, I cannot think of a single spiritual belief system where its deity would lift a finger to come to the aid of a guy who certainly has broken 9 of the 10 Commandments of Judeo-Christianity---maybe all 10---and absolutely has scored all of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Come on, he sent it with his mind, the same way he declassified all those documents he stole in 2017. It's a kind of Trumpian telekinesis. I mean, a mind is a terrible thing to waste, so Trump---being the supreme multi-tasker that he is---puts his to work 24/7. How do you think he stopped the 1994 Rwandan Genocide at the same time he was filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his NJ casinos? Many people are saying---including John Barron---that nobody uses his mind better than Trump.

In an absolute worst case scenario, maybe Mamdani can do some harm to NYC. Small potatoes. In terms of being a wrecking ball, Mamdani is a mere posseur compared to Trump. Trump has messed up the entire US, with lower growth, higher "affordability", a skyrocketing deficit, rising trade deficit, greater national division, and a massive decline in support for the US around the world. Many people are saying nobody thought one corrupt, self-serving, willfully ignorant guy could do so much harm in so short a time. As Republican strategist Rick Wilson has said, "Everything Trump touches, dies". Trump is so bad that even his most sycophantic supporters are out to get him, as we saw last weekend at Mar-a-Lago.

His family and friends say he was big into MAGA, as are his parents. Epstein has even loyal MAGA turning against Trump. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/austin-martin-mar-a-lago-suspect-b2925443.html

I guess he could say he made himself $4 billion grifting off his position. That should get his Christian Nationalists and Prosperity Gospel folks chanting Alleluia! He can say he is on pace to shatter the record for sticking his golf expenses on to the American taxpayer. At $71,000,000 in just his first year, if he lives another year he might top the $151,000,000 of Trump 1.0 He tore down the East Wing and has replaced it with rubble. He temporarily added his name above JFK's at the Kennedy Center, but sadly has to close it for 2 years because no artists with legitimate talent want to play there anymore. In any event, those letters will not stay past his passing. He halved Biden's growth from Q4 2024, as Biden delivered 2.8% and Trump only 1.4% in Q4 2025. He failed miserably to go after his critics, having most cases dismissed or even failure to indict. As of the latest polls, he may have the highest disapproval rating of any President ever. I know he loves superlatives, so "highest" disapproval might excite him. For the rest, there's this thread:

Not sure you know much about boating, nor geography, so just in case, let me provide some education..... From the areas where these small boats are being hit, it's approximately 2000 km to any point in the US, as the crow flies. An awful lot of petrol would be needed to get all that way, no doubt more than the boat could carry. That would leave precious little room for drugs. OTOH, Trump pardoned a guy who ran 400 tonnes of cocaine into the US. So Trump is getting minnows---maybe, though there are now lawsuits by people from Trinidad whose fishermen relatives were blown up----while pardoning whales. Maybe you can explain why a cartel associate gets a pardon from Trump?

Solved it, have you, Trucky? If little Kash Patel wasn't getting drunk in Men's locker rooms in Italy (on the taxpayer's dime), he might welcome a call where you share your wisdom. Rural North Carolina isn't exactly a hotbed of left-leaning ideology. It's more Krackabamastan than effete eastern intellectual snobs. It's even possible he could be a disillusioned MAGA, upset about tariffs, Epstein, the coming war with Iran, whatever. Then there's the chance he's just a wingnut with a gun, of which America is quite full. Of course very long odds he could be a foreign intel asset trying to get some of that highly classified stash Trump used to keep out in the open, where members or even his hospitality staff could have had access. Back in 2019, two MSS operatives tried to gain access carrying cellphones and a thumb drive containing malware.

The good news for those in crypto is that Trump's tariff tantrum is taking another bite out of crypto. Bitcoin is down to $64500 this morning, so lots of those unrealized gains have morphed into unrealized losses. Funny we used to have a saying on the trading desk: "A paper gain is a paper gain, but a paper loss is real money."

Missing that empathy gene, are you? (That's the new deranged righty meme: "empathy is wrong".) Oh, and the honesty gene, too....seems you are missing that. I bet you think you're a totally self-made man. LOL. Decent people know they stand on the shoulders of those who came before them, and feel they owe something back to the society that created them. So much in life is owing to an accident of birth......where and when you were born, who your parents are, what genes for things like intelligence, looks and athleticism you inherited, etc. Silly people think they pulled themselves up solely by their own bootstraps and owe nothing to greater society or the world.

Total world debt is now $346,000,000,000,000. There are maybe 8.5 billion humans, including children and non-working elderly. Total debt per human being is thus about $41,000 per person, working or not. I'm going to guess that isn't sustainable.