Bessent is about to have many more sleepless nights
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Samsung Unleashes $80 Billion Shareholder Return After SK Hynix's "Buyback Bazooka" To Revive Memory Trade
"The smart money is moving on."
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/samsung-unleashes-80-billion-shareholder-return-after-sk-hynixs-buyback-bazooka-revive
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Pennies Have Been Abandoned, Now What Will Be Done With Nickels?
Two different versions of the Common Cents Act passed this summer...
https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/pennies-have-been-abandoned-now-what-will-be-done-nickels
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Medieval Diseases Have Returned To Los Angeles
Newsom strikes again...
https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/medieval-diseases-have-returned-los-angeles
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Treasury's Clumsy Buyback Just A "Band-Aid On A Bullet Hole" But McElligott Says Losing The Long-End Is Now A Non-Starter
...the pump is being primed. The market just has to get worse first...
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/treasurys-clumsy-buyback-just-band-aid-bullet-hole-nomura-says-losing-long-end-now-non
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US To Send Hospital Ship Next Year To Peru To Help With Impact Of El Nino
“We are concerned, but we’re not just concerned; we’re taking action...
https://www.zerohedge.com/weather/us-send-hospital-ship-next-year-peru-help-impact-el-nino
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Ceuta Invaders Are Now Eating The Cats And Birds: Report
Mutilated cats and half-eaten pigeons found around migrant camps...
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ceuta-invaders-are-now-eating-cats-and-birds-report
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Popular Ukrainian Official Raises Stakes Against Zelensky With Election Call: Democracy Held 'Hostage'
"We have to answer a fundamental question – how should a state function, if the war has lasted for years?"
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/popular-ukrainian-official-raises-stakes-against-zelensky-election-call-democracy-held
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Houthis Claim Fourth Attack On Saudi Aramco Refineries This Month
Also a "sensitive target" at Najran Airport...
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/houthis-claim-fourth-attack-saudi-aramco-refinery-month
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Ukraine Corruption Scandal Deepens: 'Operation Forrest Gump' Shocks Zelensky Government With More Searches
Is the noose tightening around Zelensky? The anti-corruption crisis facing his administration is only growing.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraine-corruption-scandal-deepens-operation-forrest-gump-shocks-zelensky-government
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Popular Ukrainian Official Raises Stakes Against Zelensky With Election Call: Democracy Held 'Hostage'
"We have to answer a fundamental question – how should a state function, if the war has lasted for years?"
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/popular-ukrainian-official-raises-stakes-against-zelensky-election-call-democracy-held
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Pennsylvania Dangles Permitting Carrot For Data Centers That Bring Their Own Power
Under a new permitting framework for loads over 25 MW, applicants that commit to abide by the state’s recently introduced infrastructure standards for data centers will receive preferential treatment.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/pennsylvania-dangles-permitting-carrot-dta-centers-bring-their-own-power
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"Let's Downsize": Antifa Uses Instagram To Put 'Luigi-Style' Hit On Flock Camera CEO
"Antifa on Instagram is issuing death threats to CEOs, referencing bullets and Luigi Mangione, and essentially using the platform to call for more CEO assassinations."
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/lets-downsize-antifa-uses-instagram-style-hit-flock-camera-ceo
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Cost Of Living Remains Biggest Challenge Facing Americans
53% of US adults said that the high cost of living was one of the biggest challenges they currently face.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/cost-living-remains-biggest-challenge-facing-americans
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Coking Coal Prices Surge 25%, Squeezing India's Steelmakers
Indian steelmakers are reeling from a jump in coking coal prices this year that is squeezing their margins and delaying capacity expansion in the steelmaking industry.
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/coking-coal-prices-surge-25-squeezing-indias-steelmakers
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A Day Of Reckoning Arrives For U.S. Treasuries Just As The U.S. National Debt Reaches $40,000,000,000,000
The Treasury Department’s daily financial report shows that the nation’s debt reached $40.05 trillion on August 18, more than double its level in 2017. The federal debt has ballooned because government spending is outstripping revenue, forcing the U.S. to borrow more money to cover the shortfall.
Our politicians are literally destroying the future of this country.
In 1980, the size of our national debt was just reaching 1 trillion dollars.
When Barack Obama entered the White House, the size of the national debt was sitting at about 10 trillion dollars.
Now we are 40 trillion dollars in debt with no end in sight…
We just hit 30 trillion dollars about 4 years ago.
How long would it take us to hit 50 trillion dollars?
If Elon Musk donated his entire fortune to the government, it would barely even make a dent in the national debt…
The sheer scale of America’s $40 trillion debt is hard to fathom. The amount is significantly greater than U.S. annual GDP. That means even if all U.S. income went toward paying down the debt for a full year—rather than to things like salaries, corporate profits and investment—the federal government would still owe trillions, by this measure.
If Elon Musk helped pay down the debt by sacrificing the entirety of his nearly $1 trillion net worth—itself a mind-boggling sum—it would barely make a dent. The gross debt owed by the federal government is also nearly equal to what is owed by all U.S. households and businesses combined (excluding banks).
Even if you took every single penny from every single billionaire in this country, that would only get you about 8 trillion dollars.
We are drowning in debt with no way out.
At this stage, we are spending more on interest on the national debt each year than we are on either the U.S. military or Medicare…
As the government continues to borrow, interest payments are consuming a larger share of the nation’s spending, creating a compounding effect that further fuels the debt. The U.S. government now spends more on servicing its debt than on national defense or Medicare.
We really are in the endgame.
At the same time that our national debt has hit 40 trillion dollars, a moment of reckoning has arrived for the Treasury market…
The fiscal pressures are increasingly visible in the bond market.
The yield on the 30-year Treasury recently reached roughly 5.3%, its highest level in nearly two decades, according to the Journal and Reuters.
Higher Treasury yields increase the government’s cost of issuing and refinancing debt and can also influence borrowing costs for households and businesses.
Government borrowing costs are starting to spike.
In a desperate attempt to calm investors, the U.S. Treasury Department conducted a dramatic intervention on Wednesday…
In a move announced Wednesday morning, the Treasury Department, led by Secretary Scott Bessent, said it would at least double the size of its government debt buybacks, starting Sept. 9 and running through Nov. 4.
Yields tumbled following the announcement, with the 30-year down about 10 basis points after previously hitting its highest in about 19 years, predating the global financial crisis in 2008.
But it didn’t work.
On Thursday, yields on long-term Treasury bonds bounced right back…
Bond yields climbed Thursday, erasing most of the pullback they saw the previous day after the Treasury Department announced an intervention aimed at easing pressure on longer-dated government debt.
The yield on the 30-year U.S. Treasury bond — the primary focus of the accelerated buyback — was up more than 6 basis points at 5.256%.
Yields on 10-year U.S. Treasurys — the main benchmark for mortgages, auto loans and credit card debt — moved more than 5 basis points higher to 4.704%.
This is a really big deal.
And there aren’t going to be any easy fixes, because as Wolf Richter has aptly pointed out, there is only so much that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be able to do moving forward…
Going forward, yields will have to be high enough to entice bond buyers off the fence and buy an additional $1 trillion of new Treasury securities every three to five months or so; yields have to be high enough to overcome their fears about inflation, government profligacy, and the new supply pushing up yields even higher.
This didn’t happen by accident.
Decades of incredibly foolish decisions have brought us to this point.
Meanwhile, bond markets in Europe are also starting to go nuts…
A sharp increase in borrowing costs also took place across Europe. France’s 10-year bond yield hit its highest level since 2009 on Tuesday, while the yield on German bunds climbed to 3.25pc, a 15-year high.
And the yield on 5 year Japanese bonds recently hit the highest level in 31 years.
Government bonds sit at the very foundation of the global financial system.
Now that foundation is really starting to be shaken, and that is an extremely troubling sign.
The stage has been set for a meltdown of epic proportions, and it won’t take very much at all to push us over the edge.
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/a-day-of-reckoning-arrives-for-u-s-treasuries-just-as-the-u-s-national-debt-reaches-40000000000000/
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Tennessee pastor sentenced to life in prison for raping girl, 5, with help from wife
A Tennessee pastor who spent years traveling the country for his ministry will spend the rest of his life behind bars after a jury convicted him of raping a child, while his wife was found guilty of facilitating the abuse, authorities said.
Benjamin Garlick, 35, was found guilty Monday of seven counts of aggravated rape of a child, six counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of solicitation of sexual exploitation of a minor and two violations of Tennessee’s Child Protection Act after a two-week trial in Rutherford County.
https://nypost.com/2026/08/20/us-news/tennessee-pastor-benjamin-garlick-wife-shaantal-found-guilty-of-raping-young-girl/?utm_source=twitter
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Why would the Pentagon want to hide weapons testing results?
The Pentagon says it removed 25 years worth of annual weapons testing reports from public view late last month, a move that critics fear could hide potentially dangerous flaws in weapons systems.
Justifying the move, the Defense Department said adversaries could use AI and other tools to “compile disparate, unclassified data points [from the reports] into highly detailed vulnerability profiles targeting [U.S.] critical infrastructure and defense capabilities.”
In 1983, Congress created the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) to provide independent guidance and oversight to the services to test weapons. The move followed concerns that compromised testing practices repeatedly allowed for underperforming weapons systems to be deployed in the field.
https://responsiblestatecraft.org/dod-weapons-testing/
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US Army U-turn over futuristic drone and robot unit is slammed as 'deeply dangerous'
The US Army is set to phase out its drone assault battalion in a shock 'back to basics' U-turn that critics are branding 'deeply regretful and dangerous.'
In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, the Army declared that it would be shifting its focus away from its battalion exploring drones and ground robots.
The move comes after the unit participated in a 'major exercise' in Germany in August and September, the outlet reported.
They are set to report their findings back to the Army for any future experimentation before the idea is shelved and the unit returns to 'core warfighting tasks as an airborne infantry battalion,' an Army official told the Journal.
Webmaster Addition: I suspect the Chinese ban on rare earth exports is a factor.
https://www.dailymail.com/news/article-16065827/US-army-dangerous-drone-robot-unit.html
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Chris Menahan 🇺🇸 @infolibnews
The Israel Lobby's new list of demands just dropped:
$40B from US taxpayers over the next 10 years (as a base)
US establish a "permanent" military presence and CENTCOM operational HQ in Israel
Formally include Israel in the Golden Dome
Merge our defense-industrial base
A "limited" US-Israel Mutual Defense Treaty (to "honor" the "memory" of Lindsey Graham)
A new NATO where the US organizes/arms Arab states in defense of Israel ("Membership in such a security structure should be conditioned on Arab members normalizing relations with Israel...")
What does America get? The bill.
https://x.com/infolibnews/status/2090586776335229063
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https://x.com/hemmatmahdi/status/2090514661800391155?
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Why ex-Soros employees bid to fix US economy and contain fallout from Trumps Iran war & AI boom is doomed
The US Treasury’s push to increase buybacks of its long-term bonds to at least $4 billion is no routine move, signaling a looming US crisis and exposing divisions between two Trump proteges: ex-Soros employee and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Bilderberg darling and Fed chief Kevin Warsh.
What is Bessent doing?
Critics say he is manipulating the bond market to push borrowing costs back down, calling the maneuver “quantitative easing-lite". What do they mean? When the Federal Reserve creates money to buy bonds and drive down interest rates, it’s called quantitative easing (QE). Bessent's Treasury isn’t printing doll
https://news-pravda.com/world/2026/08/21/2530652.html
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Mental hospitals set killers free on weekend passes
A man who K*LLED his own landlord was just allowed to walk out of a Virginia mental facility on a “weekend pass”…
…and used it to board a ONE-WAY international flight out of the country.
He is GONE. And he is not coming back.
His name is Abdulloi Toshpulodzoda.
Back in 2019, police say he k*lled his landlord. When investigators showed up, they found him covered in blood.
He was found “not guilty by reason of insanity” and committed to the Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute in 2022.
Under Virginia law, that facility was allowed to hand this man UNESCORTED weekend and day passes. No guard. No escort. Just… go, and please come back.
A FREAKING K*LLER ON THE LOOSE!!!!!!
So on July 6, he took his little weekend pass, drove to Dulles Airport, and boarded a one-way flight to Tajikistan.
Someone even bought his ticket for him. In his name. With a window seat.
It gets worse.
The prosecutors had actually OPPOSED letting him out in June. They warned it was a public safety risk. But they say once it’s out of court, they have NO say in what the facility decides.
So the people whose JOB is public safety said “no”… and a mental health facility overrode them and gave a blood-soaked accused murderer a pass to leave.
And the cherry on top? Prosecutors didn’t file to get a cross-border warrant until August 5th.
A FULL MONTH after he was already gone!!!!
He’s now in a country with no extradition.
He is never seeing an American courtroom again.
An accused m*rderer just escaped justice completely… because a bureaucracy gave him a weekend pass and nobody stopped him.
WE DO NOT HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS!!!!!!!
https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/mental-hospitals-set-killers-free-on-weekend-passes/
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