Odds and Ends — 26 August 2026

preparedwombat(78)

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Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:

Bond Market May Be Resetting Expectations About U.S.

U.S. debt hasn’t been further downgraded, breakeven rates on inflation-protected bonds haven’t spiked, and the cost of insuring against a federal default hasn’t skyrocketed, signs that most investors still see U.S. bonds as a largely risk-free bet even if they have been demanding higher interest rates.
That’s the good news.
Not so great is that developments in recent weeks have put U.S. federal debts and deficits in the broader context of an emerging era of higher global interest rates, ‌stiffer competition for the next dollar of lending, and global geopolitical and demographic headwinds that other countries are also confronting. There may not be a crisis tomorrow, but the idea of a cliff somewhere in the future seems more tangible.

https://x.com/NewYorker/status/2092409266640752765

Treasury Bonds Are No Longer a Riskless Safe Haven

A baseline assumption in asset allocation, regulatory policy and international finance has long been that U.S. Treasury securities are risk-free assets that offer protection against the vagaries of economic fortune. It may no longer be valid.
That’s the cold reality that lurks beneath the rise in longer-term bond yields in recent weeks that triggered a Treasury Department intervention.
It implies a world where the U.S. government can’t count on favorable borrowing conditions as a matter of course.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

https://x.com/HQNewsNow/status/2092299753799229914

Iran:

https://x.com/JustinTLogan/status/2092204089295704104

Politics:

GOP election law expert: Many more ‘low propensity voters in Republican Party’ after Trump mail-in voting ruling

https://x.com/MikeNellis/status/2092297040453599701

Trump Lawyers Warn That Kennedy Center Might Be Demolished

Lawyers for the Trump administration told a federal judge that the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts desperately needs the major renovation ordered by President Trump and raised the specter that it would need to be ‘taken down’ if those plans are blocked

https://x.com/Kasparov63/status/2092274522485555672

———— Minnesota Under Siege ————

Mike Lindell Stops Payment for Primary Election Recount

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mike Lindell says he has withheld payment to cover the cost of a recount after this month’s loss in the primary election, claiming the Secretary of State’s Office proposed an unlawful process to recount the votes.
Lindell needed to submit $825,000 to the state by midnight Monday but asked that the deadline be waived until a court can rule on the parameters of the recount, his campaign said in a statement released just hours before the deadline.

Does Lindell even have $825,000? He’s been bleeding money for a long time and recently resigned as CEO of his Mickey Mouse company. Seems more likely that he’s setting up a fundraising grift to fleece the rubes.

I sued to obtain the General Counsel Memo justifying ICE entering homes without judicial warrants. Turns out it’s not a memo at all - it’s an email - and they’ve wrongly redacted it.

https://x.com/commie_trucker/status/2092188669155090530

———— Blatant In-Your-Face Corruption ————

https://x.com/harryjsisson/status/2092290550279844315

———— Putin&Krasnov vs. Ukraine ————

https://x.com/RadioFreeTom/status/2092347014105198978
https://x.com/donwinslow/status/2092378669683716359
https://x.com/gosthdarkconrad/status/2092291313819435048
https://x.com/StealthQE4/status/2092414683185545676

https://x.com/rospigge60559/status/2092155917806567641

https://x.com/stacycay/status/2092288992465080583

———— Melon Husk ————

https://x.com/covie_93/status/2092332546902089850

———— Hegseth on the Rocks ————

Hegseth’s Purge of Top Generals Leaves Army Rudderless

A series of firings and feuds initiated by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has left the Army essentially rudderless as it struggles to deal with the threat posed by cheap, deadly drones and missiles that have pounded U.S. bases in the Middle East,.
The Army has not had a chief of staff, the service’s top officer, since Mr. Hegseth fired Gen. Randy George without explanation in April, and there are no signs that he is close to filling the position.
Mr. Hegseth has forced out at least three senior officers who had been viewed as potential successors to General George.
Army Secretary Daniel P. Driscoll, the service’s top civilian leader, is also expected to leave the administration in the next few months.

Top Commanders Told Hegseth Not to Cut Civilian Protection Program, Poll Showed. He Did It Anyway.

Shortly after taking office last year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth polled the nation’s top commanders about cutting a program designed to protect civilians during U.S. military operations.
Hegseth had bet senior officers would endorse his view that focusing on civilian security was “woke” and out of step with “maximum lethality,” current and former defense officials told ProPublica.
Instead, every commander rebuffed the idea.