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The Name’s Bond View in browser The political strategist James Carville once joked that if he ended up being reincarnated, he’d like to come back as the bond market. “You can intimidate everybody,” he said. Not Scott Bessent. About a month ago, during a talk at Southern Methodist University, the Treasury secretary issued a challenge—both to the business-school students in the audience and to the traders of the world. “I have asymmetric information. I am the house now,” he said. “You can bet against me if you want.” The line was an attempt to explain the government’s decision to boost the Japanese yen over the summer, but it was also a broader statement about his ability to influence markets and guard against financial downturns. This past weekend, Bessent conceded that “the house doesn’t win every hand”—a sign that he’s been slightly chastened. Emphasis on slightly: Although he admitted he “can’t control the bond market,” he maintained that the house still wins “over time.” The bond market’s behavior over the past month clearly called for an adjustment to his posture. The interest rates on the 10-year Treasury (which dictates rates on certain consumer loans) and the 30-year Treasury (an important measure of how investors feel about the government’s ability to pay back its debts) are now the highest they’ve been since 2002. The Trump administration’s market interventions, which have been ramping up in recent months, have had little effect on bond prices. Bessent may continue to insist that he’s the “house,” but it’s clear at this point that the market isn’t listening. The rates on all kinds of everyday loans are closely tied to what goes on in the Treasury market. When holding government debt starts feeling like a riskier proposition, people start demanding bigger payouts—and when yields increase, consumers pay the price. Looking to buy a house? The average rate on a standard 30-year mortgage is now about 7.5 percent, the highest it’s been in almost three years. Mortgage costs are directly tied to the 10-year Treasury note—and before the war in Iran began driving up yields, the average mortgage rate had just dipped under 6 percent. What about a car? CNBC is reporting that rates on auto loans, some of which are already ticking up, are likely to rise even more as yields on five- and 10-year Treasurys continue to spike. Yields are up for a few reasons, one of which has to do with massive ongoing expenditures in the AI sector. Companies are laying the groundwork for decades of further investment in the American tech industry, and the Federal Reserve is expected to respond to the economic boost with higher interest rates to curtail inflation. Inflation is a major concern for traders—it has jolted upward as a result of the Iran war, making the Fed even more hawkish. Yields may also be up because of concerns about the $40 trillion national debt. The deficit is about 6 percent of GDP right now, and the government’s borrowing costs are skyrocketing; it currently spends more on debt financing than it does on defense or Medicare. Although there’s some debate around how much the current deficit panic is affecting bond yields, the market could be signaling that this level of spending is unsustainable. As Bessent rightly points out, he can’t single-handedly determine what happens in the bond market. That hasn’t stopped him from trying. Over the past couple of months, the Treasury has taken steps to expand its regular bond-buyback program. Usually, these buybacks are intended to keep the Treasury market liquid, but many commentators suspect that these moves were really about managing bond prices. When the government uses its own spending power to purchase Treasurys, it can send a signal to the market that prices ought to go up, and yields ought to come down. Lately, though, the buybacks have had the opposite effect. Despite these supercharged interventions, yields have continued to rise, and Bessent has been taking heat for it on Wall Street. He seems unfazed: “If some of the Bloomberg Terminal bros are unhappy with what I’m doing, well, that’s too bad,” he told Steve Bannon last month. As Bessent digs in, he’s being undercut by his boss’s erratic decision making. Treasury yields tend to go up when foreign bondholders lose trust in the U.S. economy—and Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada, on-again-off-again tariffs, flagrant federal-budget increases, and general air of unpredictability are all points against him. (The president made the unusual suggestion this summer that the military could somehow be used to tame yields.) Plus, the Iran war has driven up consumer prices and raised yields on government debt around the world. Most voters think the president has hurt the economy, and rising borrowing costs won’t make people any happier. In the meantime, the administration doesn’t seem ready to face reality. Kevin Hassett, the director of the National Economic Council, said he doesn’t “buy” the negative polling on the economy, and Trump continues to insist that the country is experiencing “the best economy we’ve ever had.” Bessent is doing his part to inspire confidence, but the house seems to be down on its luck. Related: Blame Trump for rising borrowing costs, David Frum argues. Economists who weren’t worried about the debt are now panicking.

Sri Lanka's former first lady is arrested on corruption allegations The wife of Sri Lanka's powerful former President Mahinda Rajapaksa was detained Wednesday on allegations of misusing donations received for her charity when she was first lady. Read More.

What to know about Kenya's first Ebola case and how officials are responding Kenya’s first Ebola case, a patient who travelled for weeks by road and air through three countries without being detected until he arrived in Nairobi, has raised questions about border control and how to trace the virus across countries. Read More.

Prosecutor says man charged in killing of British ex-politician tried to break into Farage's home A man accused of killing former British politician Ann Widdecombe tried to break into the home of anti-immigration Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage about a year earlier and researched other prominent figures, a prosecutor said Wednesday. Read More.

Mayor of Turkish opposition stronghold defects to Erdogan's party The mayor of Turkey’s third-largest city, Izmir, defected to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ’s ruling party on Wednesday, giving it the mayoralty of the opposition stronghold for the first time. Read More.

Ebola creates new hot spots in Congo as responders describe ‘chaotic’ response The Ebola outbreak in Congo is creating new hot spots where there's little to no support for patients, responders and officials say, as health workers admit there could still be a long way to go in fighting the disease that has killed over 4,000 people. Read More.

UN health agency wants more details from Russia on suspected pneumonic plague case A top official with the World Health Organization said Wednesday it doesn’t know how a lab worker in Siberia died, and she urged Russia to provide more information about a case that prompted global concerns about suspected pneumonic plague. Read More.

The worst of times brings out the best of our people. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/6609835/jewish/13-Heroes-of-October-7th-and-the-Aftermath.htm

Two lawsuits challenge Trump’s taxpayer-funded ads, alleging they violate propaganda law WASHINGTON (AP) — Two lawsuits filed Wednesday challenged President Donald Trump’s recent series of federally funded television advertisements, which promote his political message while costing taxpayers millions of dollars. https://apnews.com/article/trump-taxpayer-funded-ads-propaganda-lawsuit-a1e286d37989f1cb5bbe13905f8fbbf1? Disaster relief funding is creeping into Trump's midterm rhetoric. Critics say it has no place there President Donald Trump has turned emergency relief into a campaign talking point in the final sprint to the midterm elections, approving disaster declarations in consequential states and coupling endorsements with funding announcements. As the country braces for a major hurricane barreling toward the U.S. Gulf Coast, the moves have revived questions about whether the administration is politicizing disaster recovery. Read More.

Randall Price and his Biblical Museum Part 1 Summary: Dr Randall Price’s museum containing thousands of artifacts that bring the Bible to life, is looking for a new home. https://www.patternsofevidence.com/2026/10/08/randall-price-and-his-biblical-museum-part-1/?

🚛 1 for the road: Move to Detroit, get $15K Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios A new Detroit nonprofit is giving money to people who move to or pledge to stay in the Motor City, Axios Detroit's Annalise Frank reports. 💰 The first 13 winners of Move Detroit's "Make Detroit Home" grants are getting $15,000 each. It's the first stage of the program, supported by billionaire and Rocket Mortgage co-founder Dan Gilbert. CEO Hilary Doe said at a press conference: "This program is data-backed and focuses resources on our city's greatest asset: our people." Go deeper ...

⛳️ Spanish golf star Jon Rahm is exiting LIV Golf after deeming the league's reinvention plan "unacceptable." His departure marks a significant blow to the effort to create "LIV 2.0" after the league filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. More from Nathan Bomey.

🌀 Tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to become the season's first Atlantic hurricane overnight, with impacts across the Gulf Coast and up into the interior Southeast. It would be the latest-forming Atlantic hurricane in the modern era.

That should cover about .01% of there medical cost??

🤖 FCC may allow more robocalls Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios The FCC is considering a conservative group's request to loosen rules on political robocalls before November's midterm elections, including those with AI-generated voices. 🚫 Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller gets consent beforehand. The petition calls for a waiver that would allow political groups to use artificial or prerecorded voices in unsolicited wireless calls. ⚠️ Consumer advocacy groups warn that the proposed change could trigger a surge of unwanted, partisan and potentially misleading calls in the critical final days of the elections. The Republican-led FCC could rule on the proposal as soon as later this month. Go deeper.

Report: ChatGPT for Teens poses "unacceptable risk" Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios Common Sense Media says OpenAI's new ChatGPT for Teens poses an "unacceptable risk," Axios' Ina Fried reports. That's after the nonprofit, which rates and recommends family media, found shortcomings in safeguards meant to protect younger users. 🧑‍💻 The group's Youth AI Safety Institute tested more than 4,000 prompts on accounts registered to 13- to 17-year-olds. It found that ChatGPT generally did not provide instructions facilitating suicide or self-harm, eating disorders, or sexual or romantic role-play — but says it was less reliable at recognizing when a teen needed outside help. ChatGPT missed more than 1 in 4 instances in which its testers determined a crisis referral was warranted, the group says. The group also says that on more than a dozen newly created, parent-linked accounts, testers could spend up to an hour discussing suicide, self-harm or disordered eating without triggering a parental alert. And it found that "study mode" — meant to help students work through problems rather than deliver immediate answers — could be circumvented. 🤔 The other side: OpenAI says it has issues with Common Sense Media's methodology and findings. A spokesperson tells Axios: "We welcome rigorous independent evaluation, but we do not believe Common Sense Media's testing accurately reflects how ChatGPT's teen safeguards work in practice." Go deeper.

It looks like it, I posted twice, the response to Asia Joe, then a while later, the response to Hanseng in a separate post. Somehow the two got together and posted several times. I don't know what happened.

CORRECTION: An estimated 60-million people are on Medicare. The $90 will go to an estimated 20- million people. Those who have Medicare Advantage are excluded from teh fefulnd.

I did contract work for several Department of Corrections institutions as well as local sheriffs. Some of the DOC employees are not only ignorant, they are stupid and even criminal themselves. DEI rules the hiring process; consequently, individuals of certain ethnicities are hired, even though management knows they are not qualified. Nurses fresh out of school, with no hospital experience, are hired. Dealing with sociopaths in prison requires a good deal of skill and awareness, something a new grad with no clinical experience lacks. Of course, there are highly skilled, experienced nurses employed. It only takes one incompetent to spoil the environment and endanger inmates and coworkers. Usually there are more than one. Obviously, the people on the execution teams are not highly competent, experienced individuals. A bullet is about as foolproof as executions can get. Some states are thinking of returning to the electric chair or gas due to the number of botched "medical" type executions. All it will take is one inmates head exploding during electrocution to put the kibosh on that method. The videos I often see, possibly staged, show a bullet to the back or side of the head. Nobody survives that; however, I did see a patient who tried to commit suicide but missed. The gun was at the wrong angle and only damaged his brain. He was living in a nursing home at public expense when I saw him. Even a gun to the head is not foolproof when dealing with a certain class of people, the kind who might end up working for the Department of Corrections as DEI hires in "progressive" states. No disrespect intended to the competent professionals in the department.

Here is a video of the spectacle. Islam and Seventh-day Adventists have shared a common interest in regard to the Trinity Doctrine. I however side with Bonnie on this one - these folks are not "melting" into America - they stand apart and appear to have a real talent for fraud. At the minimum more investigation is needed! Modern Democrats hate the country so much they are willing to destroy it on account of their hatred. This Video Should End Amy Klobuchar's Political Career

It is obvious that the upside down flag was meant for imminent danger. Or at least when I was in school it was. Most of us understand what Kloboucher was doing and her intent. MN hasnt really changed. Same liberal mentality it has always been,now they have been granted the freedom to show everyone exactly who they are and what they actually stand for. Even with the in your face fraud by somalia's and MN leadership MN will happily place same back in control of MN purse strings

Well there are many who would agree with the upside down USA flag. It means the country is in distress. Many feel US is in distress. I am really shocked how Minnesota has changed.

Amy Klobuchar kisses Somali flag at campaign event — but watch what happens to the American flag - The Daily Bo Snerdley Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Amy Klobuchar appeared before a Somali audience in a video circulating Sunday. Klobuchar accepted a small American flag that was upside down and held it that way while addressing the crowd. She also kissed a Somali flag and touted her work involving remittances sent from Minnesota to Somalia.