Originally published at: Decapitated Iran Regime Reassembles, Claude AI Used in Attack, Maryland Sheriffs Defy New Anti-ICE Law – Peak Prosperity
Geopolitics
The US-Israel strikes on Iran reportedly killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei and senior officials, including IRGC commander Mohammad Pakpour, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Admiral Ali Shamkhani, IRGC Aerospace Force commander Seyyed Majid Mousavi, and deputy intelligence minister Mohammad Shirazi. The New York Times reported months of CIA tracking that pinpointed Khamenei at a Tehran leadership compound during a meeting, enabling strike timing adjustments with jets from Israel at 6 a.m. local time. President Trump confirmed Khamenei’s death, calling it justice, and noted IRGC defections seeking immunity while vowing continued bombing for Middle East peace. Iran reported 51 children killed at a girls’ school. Russia condemned the strikes as unprovoked aggression risking humanitarian, economic, and radiological catastrophe. China urged de-escalation. The UK, Germany, and France called for Iranian restraint and negotiations. Iran named Khamenei’s son Mojtaba as new Supreme Leader and hardliner Ahmad Vahidi, an IRGC veteran since 1979, as IRGC commander replacing Pakpour.
Relatedly, former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Representative Thomas Massie criticized US-Israel strikes on Iran as betraying MAGA’s no-new-wars pledge. Greene called the actions unrecognizable from campaign promises and urged Iranians to liberate themselves. Massie opposed the unauthorized war and plans a congressional vote with Ro Khanna. Others, like Alex Jones, warned of sleeper cells and nuclear risks, while clips recirculated of the late Charlie Kirk opposing Iran regime change due to civil war and refugee risks. Pro-Trump voices including Eric Metaxas praised the strikes as delivering justice.
Contrasting Iran and Venezuela, President Trump reportedly suggested a “friendly takeover” of Cuba and noted talks with its government amid economic collapse, fuel shortages projected for six to seven weeks, and strains on healthcare, water, and food supplies. A UN official warned of deteriorating daily life. The situation follows US pressure via oil blockades and regional actions, including Mexican strikes on cartels and a US raid on Venezuela’s Maduro. Cuban officials have reportedly denied engaging in high-level talks with the US.
Meanwhile, Pakistan conducted airstrikes on Afghan military installations overnight into Saturday, following a reported Afghan cross-border attack on Thursday. Pakistan reported killing over 300 Afghan forces, destroying 102 posts and 163 vehicles. Afghanistan reported 52 civilian deaths, mostly women and children, and rejected Pakistan’s figures. Both sides reported casualties on the opposing side: Afghanistan claimed 55 Pakistani soldiers died, while Pakistan reported 12. Tensions follow prior Pakistani strikes on Pakistani Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan. Mediation efforts by Qatar, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and China are ongoing amid refugee displacements near Torkham. Qatar reportedly mediated talks between the two countries’ foreign ministers on Friday.
Artificial Intelligence
Was Anthropic’s Claude used in the attack on Iran? The Wall Street Journal reported US Central Command used Claude AI hours after a Trump order banning it, for intelligence assessments, target identification, and battle simulations in Iran strikes. Phasing out government-wide use will take six months. Some observers questioned the report amid Anthropic’s stated restrictions on military applications.
Is AI deanonymizing online user data? A study by researchers, including those from ETH Zurich and Anthropic, showed large language models deanonymizing pseudonymous online users at scale. The LLM pipeline extracts identity signals from unstructured text, matches via semantic embeddings, and verifies candidates, achieving up to 68 percent recall at 90 percent precision across datasets including Hacker News-LinkedIn, Reddit movie discussions, and split Reddit histories. It outperformed classical methods using steps like summarization and reasoning, raising concerns about “practical obscurity” as models advance. The researchers noted that results relied on controlled experiments with known ground-truth data and persistent cross-references.
Is AI entering the religious space? Kyoto University unveiled Buddharoid, an AI humanoid robot monk trained on centuries of Buddhist scriptures for spiritual guidance and rituals. Led by Seiji Kumagai, it uses advanced language models for dynamic conversations, gestures, prayer postures, and temple interactions, addressing Japan’s monk shortage from aging demographics. Critics have questioned the ethical implications of AI in spiritual roles.
Will AI replace jury trials? UK opposition leader David Lammy proposed using AI in courts to reduce backlogs and abolish some jury trials. Tests showed ChatGPT and Grok failing a car wash riddle: both recommended walking half a mile on a sunny day but overlooked the inability to wash an absent car, only realizing after prompting on logistics. The Free Speech Union condemned the jury trial reductions as an authoritarian attack on liberties.
To dive deeper into AI, check out Volume 2 of the Renaissance Report on the AI Horizon: Existential Risks to Work, Wealth, and Currency.
US Politics
Nine Maryland sheriffs announced they will not enforce Governor Wes Moore’s signed law restricting local police cooperation with ICE, including 287(g) agreements. At an Annapolis press conference, Wicomico Sheriff Mike Lewis and Frederick Sheriff Chuck Jenkins called the measures political over public safety priorities, warning of court challenges and the need for street-level ICE support amid bills on masked agents and detentions. ACLU Maryland supported the law to protect immigrants’ rights and build community trust.
In what a Baltimore County resident is calling a violation of First Amendment rights, police visited them over Facebook posts in the “BGE Victims” group, which criticized soaring power bills and called BGE executives “parasites.” A detective reportedly suggested toning down the opinions amid complaints from 22,000 members, linked to grid mismanagement and AI data center demand. Maryland House Delegate Mark Fisher criticized state policies for contributing to the high bills.
In other news, Michigan Economic Development Corp. allocated $248 million to 182 nonprofits and entities in 2025, including $61 million to Flint & Genesee Economic Alliance Foundation, $46.7 million to Marshall Area Economic Development Alliance, $9.5 million to Invest Detroit Foundation, $7.5 million to Invest UP, $7 million to Grand Valley State University, and $350,000 to University of Chicago Argonne for energy efficiency and supply chain modeling. Other recipients included universities, festivals like Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix, art fairs, museums, chambers, and a credit union. The Mackinac Center for Public Policy questioned the grants’ economic benefits and transparency.
Energy
US construction spending data for December showed data center value surpassing office construction for the first time, reflecting AI-driven shifts. Capacity under construction dipped to 5.99 GW from 6.35 GW amid permitting and power delays, with vacancy at a 1.4 percent low. Growth has expanded beyond hubs like Northern Virginia to Chicago (up 169 percent), Dallas, and Atlanta (2 GW underway), despite local concerns over power costs.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy closed a $26.54 billion loan to Southern Company subsidiaries Georgia Power ($22.4 billion) and Alabama Power ($4.1 billion) for 16.7 GW of generation and transmission upgrades. The projects include 5.3 GW natural gas, 6.3 GW nuclear uprates at sites like Vogtle, 1 GW hydropower, battery storage, and 1,300 miles of lines. The loans are projected to save $7 billion in customer costs over 30 years and align with regional data center growth and Trump energy policy. Critics have described the loans as corporate welfare shifting costs to federal taxpayers.
Health
A 2022 study in The Lancet Microbe sequenced 3,489 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi strains collected from 2014 to 2019 in Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and India. The study identified extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains resistant to ampicillin, chloramphenicol, trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole, fluoroquinolones, and third-generation cephalosporins. These strains, which originated in South Asia, have spread to Southeast Asia, East and Southern Africa, the UK, US, and Canada, with nearly 200 international cases reported since 1990. Azithromycin is reportedly the last effective oral antibiotic, though resistance mutations have emerged. Untreated typhoid fever cases have a reported 20 percent fatality rate, with over 13 million cases reported in 2024. Experts have called for expanded typhoid conjugate vaccine use, citing Pakistan’s routine immunization program and WHO prequalification of four vaccines as of April 2025. A 2021 study in India estimated that urban child vaccination could prevent 36 percent of cases and deaths. CARB-X announced funding for a rapid typhoid diagnostic in early February 2026.
Sources
Typhoid Superbugs Spread Globally, Leaving Few Antibiotics Standing
The speed at which highly resistant strains of S. Typhi have emerged and spread in recent years is a real cause for concern
Source | Submitted by preppy
Pakistan Hammers Afghan Targets with Airstrikes as Border War Rages On
“Our patience has now run out. Now it is open war between us.”
Source | Submitted by preppy
Police Warn Maryland Man: “Tone Down” Facebook Fury Over Soaring Power Bills
He strongly suggested that I tone down my opinons.
Source | Submitted by nickythec
DOE Closes Record $26B Loan to Southern Co. for Nuclear, Gas, and Grid Overhaul
DOE Closes Massive $26 Billion Loan For Southern Co.
Source | Submitted by Shplad
LLMs Unmask Pseudonymous Online Users at Scale, Study Finds
AI Can Now Unmask Anonymous Internet Users, New Study Finds
Trump Floats “Friendly Takeover” of Crisis-Hit Cuba
Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.
Data Centers Eclipse Offices in US Construction: AI Ascendancy Confirmed
the value of Data Centers constructed in the US has officially surpassed the value of Offices
MEDC’s $248M Nonprofit Giveaway: Universities, Festivals, and an Illinois Lab
The state’s economic development arm gave $248 million to 182 nonprofits in 2025
Source | Submitted by PhilH
Meet Buddharoid: Japan’s AI Robot Monk Trained on Centuries of Buddhist Scripture
Meet Buddharoid: Japan’s AI-powered robot monk trained in centuries of Buddhist scripture
Source | Submitted by Etox
David Lammy Wants AI in Courts? ChatGPT and Grok Fail Car Wash Riddle and Legal Trap
It just shows you that without training AI properly, you get mixed results.
Source | Submitted by Mangonui
Russia Slams US-Israel Strikes on Iran, Warns of Radiological Catastrophe
Humanitarian, economic and possibly radiological catastrophe
NYT: Months of CIA Tracking Enabled Khamenei’s Assassination
“The C.I.A. had been tracking Ayatollah Khamenei for months, gaining more confidence about his locations and his patterns, according to people familiar with the operation.”
Maryland Sheriffs Unite to Defy Democratic Ban on ICE Cooperation
This is nothing more than politics over public safety!
Source | Submitted by nickythec
‘End of MAGA’: Greene, Massie Slam Trump Over US-Israel Strikes on Iran
“End of MAGA”
Trump Confirms Iran’s Khamenei Dead in US-Israel Strike, Vows Continued Bombing for Peace
Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead.
US Deploys Banned Claude AI in Iran Strikes Hours After Trump Order: WSJ
US strikes on Iran used Anthropic’s Claude, just hours after it was banned by President Trump, per WSJ.
Father-to-Son: Mojtaba Khamenei Named Iran’s New Supreme Leader
Iran Appoints Hardline Veteran Ahmad Vahidi as New IRGC Commander
Ahmad Vahidi will be the new commander of the Revolutionary Guard.
In addition to sources submitted by community members, the following were also used in the creation of this report: Coalition Against Typhoid, CARB-X, AP, Al Jazeera, BRICS News, Iranian State Media, IRNA, ZeroHedgeNotes, @fisher4maryland, @VraserX, ArAIstotle, LessWrong, Hacker News, TheSolanaFaucet, Moonlight Fairy, Bhagavant Blog, Free Speech Union, @SpeechUnion, WSJ, Shub @shub0414, Michigan Capitol Confidential, Mackinac Center, ACLU Maryland, WBAL-TV, and Eric Metaxas.
