Third Man

The "Buy Now, Pay Later" crisis:

1. 47% of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) users were late in paying their BNPL loans over the last year.

2. This percentage has risen +6 points from 2025 levels and +13 points over the last 2 years.

3. High-income borrowers, young adults, men, and parents of young kids are among the most likely to miss payments.

4. This comes as 25% of borrowers now hold three or more active BNPL loans at once, driven by Gen Z and Millennials.

5. Furthermore, 29% of users are now turning to these loans for groceries, and 20% for restaurant delivery or takeout.

6. Transactions using BNPL loans are expected to surge to a record $687 billion in volume by 2028, from $334 billion in 2024.

Americans are increasingly “fighting” inflation with more debt
The Kobeissi Letter

You can’t make this up:

Allbird stock, $BIRD, was down -99% from its record high as of yesterday as the shoe company was collapsing.

Today, Allbirds stock is up as much as +875% after entirely rebranding as an AI company.

This includes selling all of its brands and footwear assets and rebranding to “Newbird AI.”

And, the company will use a $50M convertible financing facility to “acquire high-performance GPU assets.”

Even shoe companies are moving into AI.
The Kobeissi Letter

Interest on US federal debt has never been higher:

In the first 6 months of Fiscal Year 2025, interest expense jumped +7% YoY, to $623 billion, the highest for this period in history.

This is even higher than during the massive pandemic response in 2021, when the budget deficit was at $1.7 trillion.

Over the last 12 months, gross interest expense is running at a record $1.3 trillion.

As a result, interest is now the 2nd-largest spending category, only behind Social Security at $1.6 trillion.

Interest expenditures are $300 billion larger than health spending and $400 billion larger than defense spending. [for now]

The US debt crisis is in full swing.
The Kobeissi Letter

🇺🇸🇮🇱🇮🇷 Benjamin Netanyahu rejects President Trump’s ceasefire and says the war will continue against Iran at any time he chooses.

Netanyahu says he will achieve his objectives through further military action under his command:

“We are ready to resume the fighting at any moment.”
Megatron

⚡️ 🎦 The Iranian Embassy in Tajikistan joined the wave of reactions to Trump's controversial plan from Masih by releasing a video, which set an interesting record in the virtual space, and this post reached 13 million views in a few hours.
📹 Middle East Observer

⚡️ Channel 15 Hebrew, quoting a Western diplomat:

• Hamas and Israel largely accept the status quo, talks have been stalled for weeks, and there is no real progress.

• There is no effective involvement from the head of the Peace Council, Nikolay Mladenov, and I have no idea what the Peace Council is doing.

Middle East Observer

⚡️ Another Iranian oil tanker is loading oil

🔹"Javier Blas," a Bloomberg columnist, wrote:

Satellite images show that another Iranian oil tanker is loading oil today.

Middle East Observer

⚡️ 🔺Basic goods reserves are secured

The head of the Tehran Food Wholesalers Union *announced a threefold increase in basic goods reserves compared to previous years and assured that the market is completely calm.
Middle East Observer

Trump approved more H-2B seasonal worker visas after meeting with associates tied to his businesses, WSJ reports.
Megatron
——————
So many FFIA we could stage a ceremonial walk.

⚡️ Or Heller - Channel 13:

The Turkish organization responsible for the "Marmara" ship is preparing to launch a fleet of ships towards the Gaza Strip, and intensive preparations are underway in the Israeli army for the possibility of a direct confrontation at sea to prevent a breach of the naval blockade.
Middle East Observer

🚨 Full alert status in the Zionist regime to prepare for the resumption of hostilities with Iran.
🏴 Iranian Militarism 🏴

Tucker Carlson asks NYT: “Is denying the Holocaust more important than killing kids?”

He didn’t get any answer
Megatron

Ali Bk

⚡️⭕️ This is the Ugandan Chief of Defense posting on X today

Not sure if he's hacked or he's having an Evangelical ceasure
Middle East Observer

🔴Ugandan Army Commander Kineroja is demanding that Turkey pay $1 billion and offer him the most beautiful woman in the country in marriage; otherwise, he will close the Turkish embassy in Kampala within 30 days.

It is worth noting that he previously proposed to the Italian prime minister.
Sam News

🇺🇸🇮🇷 Trump admits that US was sending weapons to the protesters and are trying to use the Kurds for ground attack on Iran:

“We sent a lot of guns to the Iranian protesters, we sent guns through the Kurds, I think the Kurds kept them.”
Megatron

⚡️⭕️The American F-15 pilot will soon run out of his 48-hour emergency supplies, assuming he is still alive.

This will force him to come out of hiding and possibly hand himself over to Iran in order to survive.

Otherwise, he would need to move between rural areas and villages trying to live off the land, and the chances of being detected by locals will increase.
Middle East Observer

⚡️ 🔺Israel quadruples its public diplomacy budget, hoping to restore its destroyed global image

• Israel's public diplomacy budget has increased from $150 million to $730 million in the new year.

• According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 60% of Americans have a negative view of the Zionist regime.

Middle East Observer

A massive Iranian oil tanker carrying 1.9 million barrels worth approximately $220 million managed to evade the U.S. Navy and reached East Asia; it is now near Indonesia.
Ali Bk

🇮🇷🇺🇸| Some of the energy facilities Iran will target in case ceasefire does not uphold, according to IRINN.

I can tell you that the target bank is much bigger than this:

• Qatar »

  • RasGas: LNG production
  • Ras Liffan: LNG production

• UAE (Eastern Israel) »

  • Das Island: Oil and LNG
  • Zirku Island: Major offshore oil field

• Kingdom of Saudi »

  • Abqaiq: World's largest oil producer
  • Safaniya: World's largest offshore oil field
  • Khurais: Oil field

• Kuwait »

  • Burgan: 1.6–1.7 million oil barrels/day

📹 Fotros Resistance

⚡️ Foolish Trump:_

I have been briefed on the outlines of the deal with Iran.
Middle East Observer

[...]
Ali Bk

Trump on the remaining 15% of Iran’s missile capabilities:

“I’d like to eliminate them… That would be the start of them rebuilding their strength—and yes, I’d like to eliminate them.”
📹 Ali Bk

Trump on the possibility of resuming military strikes against Iran:

“I can't say that to a reporter. If they misbehave, if they do something bad—but for now, we'll see. It's a possibility, for sure.”
📹 Ali Bk

Yisrael Hayom, citing a source:

Estimates suggest a ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel is not imminent, despite Trump’s statements
Ali Bk

@Sovereign@nicecrew.digital was right, there were very revealing signs that this would happen:
——————
China on Sunday announced 10 new incentive measures aimed at Taiwan, including relaxed restrictions on tourism, permission for “healthy” television dramas, and expanded opportunities for food exports, following a visit by Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s largest opposition party.

The measures, released by the official Xinhua News Agency, include plans to “explore” a regular communication channel between the KMT and China’s Communist Party, the full resumption of cross-strait flights, and allowing residents of Shanghai and Fujian province to travel to Taiwan.

China also said it would set up a mechanism to ease inspection requirements for food and fishery exports, but only on the political basis of “opposing Taiwan independence,” according to Xinhua.

It added that Taiwanese television dramas, documentaries, and animation will be permitted for broadcast as long as they meet criteria of “correct orientation, healthy content, and high production quality.”
The Cradle

U.S. Army Chief of Staff:

These paratroopers are always ready to jump from Air Force planes into ground combat and seize key terrain if ordered to do so, just as their predecessors did in Sicily and Normandy during World War II.
📹 Ali Bk