Today
THE NATIONAL DEBT HIT $40 TRILLION — IT DOUBLED IN UNDER A DECADE, A FORMER PANDEMIC ADVISER PLEADED GUILTY TO HIDING DOCUMENTS, THE MILITARY ADMITTED TO AN AIRSTRIKE THAT ENDED A FIVE-YEAR-OLD AND HER PARAMEDICS — AND AN ANTI-ABORTION ACTIVIST WAS NOMINATED TO RUN THE FDA

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The U.S. national debt hit $40 trillion on Wednesday. The Treasury reported it in a routine daily update. It took nearly 200 years to reach the first trillion. This one took five months.

The debt was $19.95 trillion when the president first took office in January 2017. It has doubled since then. The government borrows $6 billion a day. Interest on the debt alone costs more than $1.1 trillion a year… more than the entire defense budget. July’s deficit was $432 billion… the fourth-highest monthly total in history.

That is $117,000 for every person in the country. Nearly $300,000 per household. The deficit got worse this year after the Supreme Court struck down many of the tariffs… forcing the Treasury to refund more than $100 billion in import taxes that were collected but ruled illegal.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said: “$40 trillion of debt doesn’t exist solely on the government’s ledgers. It is felt throughout the economy and finds its way to the pocketbooks of people one way or another.” The Bipartisan Policy Center said: “We’re speeding toward a cliff and refusing to turn the wheel.”

The machine spent $37.5 billion on the Iran war. Oil companies made $54 billion in one quarter. The debt doubled. And the Treasury reported it in a routine update… the same way you would check the weather.

$40 TRILLION. $6 BILLION A DAY. $117,000 PER PERSON. INTEREST ALONE COSTS MORE THAN DEFENSE. IT DOUBLED IN UNDER 10 YEARS.

BREAKING

A Former Senior Adviser Pleaded Guilty to Concealing Documents Related to the Pandemic — the First Criminal Conviction Tied to the COVID Response

A former senior adviser to the government’s top infectious disease official pleaded guilty this week to concealing documents related to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is the first criminal conviction connected to the federal pandemic response.

The adviser admitted to hiding records that were subject to federal investigation. The plea came after years of congressional hearings, FOIA requests, and public pressure over how the government handled the origins debate, lab safety, and early response decisions during the pandemic.

More than one million Americans died from COVID-19. Trillions were spent on the response. The debt that just hit $40 trillion includes pandemic borrowing that added $7.8 trillion in a single presidential term. And now someone has pleaded guilty to hiding the paperwork.

The machine spent trillions, lost a million people, and hid the documents. One person has been held to account. One.

EXPOSED

The Military Admitted It Fired on the Car Carrying Five-Year-Old Hind Rajab — 335 Bullet Holes, Six Family Members, and Two Paramedics Sent to Rescue Her

The Israeli military admitted Wednesday that its forces fired on the car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six members of her family. Forensic analysis found 335 bullet holes in the vehicle. An ambulance was sent to rescue her… with coordination from the military itself. The troops fired on that too. Both paramedics were found dead. All the bodies were recovered 12 days later.

It is the first time the military has opened cases into troop conduct in Gaza. The AP said 150 incidents were reviewed. Decisions were made on five. The military said it will NOT look into the strikes that hit World Central Kitchen workers or Doctors Without Borders staff.

José Andrés, founder of World Central Kitchen, said the decision was “wrong and painful.” Hind’s grandmother said: “We call for justice, not only for Hind, but for all Gaza children.” An Oscar-nominated film about the case brought her story to a global audience earlier this year.

The military fired on a car with a child. It coordinated an ambulance. It fired on that too. It took 18 months to admit it. And it chose which cases to investigate and which to ignore. The machine does not do justice. It picks which injustices to acknowledge.

“We call for justice, not only for Hind, but for all Gaza children.”

— Hind Rajab’s grandmother, after the military admitted to the airstrike

DEVELOPING

An Anti-Abortion Activist Who Celebrated the End of Roe Was Nominated to Run the Agency That Approves Your Medicine

Dr. Heidi Overton was nominated Wednesday to lead the Food and Drug Administration. She is currently deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. She celebrated the overturning of Roe v. Wade as a “huge victory.” She wrote a legal brief pushing for restrictions on mifepristone… the most common medication used in abortions in the United States.

She stood beside the president and RFK Jr. at the signing of the vaccination executive order on August 10. She previously worked at the America First Policy Institute. She replaces Marty Makary, who resigned in May.

Senator Patty Murray called her a “far-right extremist who has no business leading the FDA.” Even Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican, raised concerns about her lack of experience for an agency that oversees a quarter of every dollar Americans spend.

The FDA approves the drugs you take, the food you eat, and the vaccines your children receive. The person nominated to run it wrote a brief to restrict abortion medication and called the end of Roe a victory. The machine does not appoint regulators. It appoints allies.

 Connecting the Dots 

▸ The Bigger Picture

Four stories from one Wednesday. The national debt hit $40 trillion… doubled in under a decade… while the government borrows $6 billion a day and spends more on interest than on the entire military. A former pandemic adviser pleaded guilty to hiding documents from a response that cost trillions and a million lives. The military admitted it fired on a car with a five-year-old girl and then fired on the ambulance sent to save her… and chose which cases to investigate and which to ignore. And the person nominated to run the agency that approves your medicine celebrated the end of abortion rights and wrote a brief to restrict the most common abortion drug.

The press covers each on its own page. A “fiscal milestone.” A “guilty plea.” A “military probe.” A “nomination.” But the thread is the same in every one.

The machine spends without limit, hides what it did, admits only what it chooses, and fills every agency with people who serve its interests. The debt doubles and the Treasury calls it routine. The documents are hidden and one person takes the fall. The child is gone and the military picks which deaths to review. The FDA nominee wrote briefs against the medicine she would now oversee. Every system… fiscal, legal, military, regulatory… is pointed the same direction: toward the people who run the machine and away from the people it is supposed to serve.

When the debt doubles and the documents are hidden and the ambulance is fired on and the regulator is an activist… the machine is not broken. It is working as designed. That’s the Seventh Floor.

They rely on the shadows.
It’s time to turn on the lights.