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The Golden Globe nominee was "not OK" while filming "A Breed Apart" in 2025, according to director Griff Furst's Instagram video Monday.

The Golden Globe nominee was "not OK" while filming "A Breed Apart" in 2025, according to director Griff Furst's Instagram video Monday.

Did you see Lucky's Episode 7 twists coming?

Jackson Jobe will help lead the host Tigers past Paul Skenes and the Pirates on Wednesday afternoon, Stitches predicts.

The Trump administration is cutting off illegal immigrants from four major refundable tax credits, saving taxpayers an estimated $3 billion.

"I had the ability to forgive and that was what I wanted to get across. But we’re here and the door is open."

I was injured, in pain, and screwed," she wrote in her memoir in May. "Over twenty years later, these injuries still bother me."

A Texas teen who vanished just days before she was set to head to college has been found safely, cops announced Tuesday.

Hellish: Ceuta Mothers Weep In Streets; Rapes Force Women To Flee; Kids' Parks Smeared In Shit

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

Spanish mothers in Ceuta are in tears on live television. Hospitals are overflowing. Beaches and parks that once hosted families are now open-air camps of garbage, feces and makeshift shacks. And the Civil Guard has confirmed at least 15 rapes since the late-July mass migrant invasion - including a 10-year-old girl allegedly assaulted by three migrant brothers.

Women are packing up and leaving the Spanish enclave. Local residents describe a city abandoned by its own government while Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez remains on vacation.

A mother broke down on live TV this week, describing the daily terror for her teenage daughter.

?WATCH: A mother in Ceuta has broken down in tears on Live TV:

"My 16-year-old daughter has to go everywhere with her father or with me because the migrants devour her. I can't take it anymore. I want them all gone."

The left-wing feminists are silent. pic.twitter.com/3dksNYd9IC

— Inevitable West (@Inevitablewest) August 17, 2026

"My 16-year-old daughter has to go everywhere with her father or with me because the migrants devour her. I can't take it anymore. I want them all gone," she stated.

She added, "I'm not racist - my granddaughter is mixed-race, my best friends are Muslim - but they can't invade us. What's stayed here is the worst of it; there are murderers, rapists, thieves."

This is the reality two weeks after an estimated 70,000-plus migrants poured across from Morocco into a city of roughly 84,000 people. Reception centres collapsed. Thousands - largely young men - stayed behind when many others returned. Beaches became the default settlement.

Locals described the rapid transformation of once-pristine stretches such as Trampolín Beach: "We can't take our kids to the beach, we can't go. They are occupied, they are full of shacks, people are eating there, throwing food, it's full of clothes, feces, urine."

? CEUTA Residents Furious!

Small Kids Can't Go To The Park Anymore, Families Cannot Go To The Beach No More, There's P*ss And Sh*t Everywhere

This is our beautiful Spanish City in Africa, we have to defend it

Residents gathered in front of Ceuta's town hall in anger today for... pic.twitter.com/IVwZg6X3iz

— Active Patriot (@ActivePatriotUK) August 17, 2026

Children's parks across Ceuta have been left covered in human waste by the invaders, even as progressive voices continue claiming everything is under control and "normality" has returned.

Invasores llena de mierda los parques infantiles de Ceuta.

Pero los progres te dicen que todo está controlado y que impera la normalidad. pic.twitter.com/ut3OPKYV3H

— David Santos (@davidsantosvlog) August 18, 2026

Infectious diseases including scabies, tuberculosis and impetigo have surged. Ceuta University Hospital opened an emergency disaster wing. One doctor warned of a "health catastrophe."

Ceuta's basically turned into a full-on slum at this point.

Thousands of illegal migrants are living right on the beach in these rough shacks thrown together from straw and sticks.

Officials are managing cases of tuberculosis, scabies, impetigo, and gastroenteritis, while... pic.twitter.com/eHuEVKivS6

— I Meme Therefore I Am ?? (@ImMeme0) August 16, 2026

A local doctor attempted to speak with the Spanish migration minister Elma Saiz about the scourge of diseases the migrants are spreading, putting Spaniards in danger.

? LA MINISTRA DE SANIDAD NO QUIERE HABLAR CON ESTA DOCTORA

Y luego va la Mema diciendo que en Ceuta no hay colapso sanitario. pic.twitter.com/GZ12nVKqAJ

— Betania (@BetaniaTv) August 16, 2026

Decían que les importaba mucho la pandemia de la COVID-19 y nos obligaban a vacunarnos y llevar mascarillas hasta en exteriores y ahora van camino de provocar una pandemia con la situación de insalubridad que se vive en Ceuta.

Increíble.pic.twitter.com/BR0EbTggNU

— Javier Negre (@javiernegre10) August 16, 2026

Saiz made a speech literally saying that 'diversity is our greatest strength'.

She stated, "I want to highlight the responsibility, civic commitment, and maturity that the citizens are demonstrating. Ceuta is a true example of coexistence. A city in which different cultures, traditions, and faiths coexist. And which has demonstrated over decades that it is one of its greatest strengths."

Elma Saiz reivindica la "pluralidad" y la "diversidad" de Ceuta: "Quiero poner en valor la responsabilidad, el compromiso cívico y la madurez que está demostrando la ciudadanía. Ceuta es un verdadero ejemplo de convivencia. Una ciudad en la que conviven diferentes culturas,... pic.twitter.com/TZ8Kg5DEqg

— RTVE Noticias (@rtvenoticias) August 17, 2026

Another doctor, nearly in tears on television, described every hospital overrun, medicine running out, and staff afraid of being attacked. She said the streets, parks and football fields are filled with migrants and she is afraid to leave her house. Sexual assaults are rising. The Spanish government, she said, has abandoned its own citizens.

A doctor in Ceuta is almost crying on live television.

Every hospital is completely overrun with migrants. Rooms are full. Medicine is running out. They even opened a dedicated hospital for migrants, and that one is full too.

Doctors are afraid to treat them.
They're scared... pic.twitter.com/rcU2qaxViu

— Yossi BenYakar (@YossiBenYakar) August 16, 2026

The Civil Guard has now confirmed 15 rapes since the invasion. The latest reported case involved three migrant brothers allegedly sexually assaulting a 10-year-old girl on Lisboa Street.

Earlier reports detailed multiple underage Moroccan girls and at least one boy treated for sexual assault at the hospital. Many of these minors have been sleeping on the streets.

Two sisters, Yoli and María José, said they left the city with their daughters out of fear.

"What we are going through is very hard and it is very hard to hear journalists justify this Government, justify everything. We can't take it anymore, we feel humiliated, trampled. I have had to take my daughters out of their house because the Government does nothing, because Mr. Pedro Sánchez is on vacation in La Mareta. Nobody cares about us," Yoli told news organisation Cuatro.

Other women described needing escorts just to walk to their front doors, or waking to find a migrant in underwear in their bed after he climbed a balcony.

One resident reported that a BBVA bank branch had to close because security could no longer guarantee customers could withdraw money after a guard was beaten by a large group of migrants while trying to stop the robbery of an elderly woman.

? "A resident of Ceuta reports that they have had to close the BBVA because the security personnel cannot guarantee that customers can withdraw money.

A BBVA security guard was beaten by 40 engineers yesterday when he tried to stop them from robbing an elderly lady."... https://t.co/gy57oLwQIy

— Nature (@TurquoiseOceanB) August 17, 2026

A pregnant woman described families feeling unsafe amid migrant-related fights and called for stronger action from Spain.

?? Ceuta woman on migration tensions.

In a viral video, a pregnant resident says families feel unsafe due to migrant-related fights and calls for stronger action from Spain. Claims unverified. pic.twitter.com/srkC1L2xUz

— Donald Andy (@today__today) August 16, 2026

Residents Pilar and Elena urged government figures to visit Ceuta and see the situation for themselves, stating "We live here, we don't just come for a weekend," while elitist leftists sitting in TV studios in Madrid scoffed at them.

?? Ceuta residents Pilar and Elena are calling on Marta Sanchís to return to the city and see what they are experiencing firsthand.

"We live here, we don't just come for a weekend," they said.
pic.twitter.com/hkwmevMWaF

— NewsForce (@Newsforce) August 17, 2026

Another local resident spoke with visible distress in a street interview, gesturing emphatically as she described the daily fear and loss of normal life for Ceuta families under the ongoing occupation of public spaces.

She notes that she feels she cannot leave the house without pepper spray as she's afraid for her life, adding that the Spanish politician "motherfuckers" have allowed rapists and convicted criminals to invade and roam free.

pic.twitter.com/HZcOWhZxKE

— Victor VS ???? (@victor_vs) August 17, 2026

Ceuta mothers are now demanding the school year be delayed. "I would not let my daughter come to school alone," one said. Another insisted the schools themselves "should be fumigated before any children are allowed back in."

Las madres de Ceuta piden el retraso del inicio escolar:

"Yo no dejaría que mi hija se viniera sola al colegio"

"Los colegios deberían ser fumigados para que los niños puedan entrar" pic.twitter.com/V3x6MZ46Gy

— Pablo Haro Urquízar (@pabloharour) August 18, 2026

This all follows the past weekend's attempt at a second mass crossing. Hundreds of migrants tried to push from Castillejos. Spanish and Moroccan security forces turned them back with tear gas and a heavy deployment. Calls for a new wave on 15 August had circulated widely online.

Nuevo intento masivo en la frontera de Ceuta.

Cientos de migrantes intentan cruzar desde Castillejos y las fuerzas de seguridad lo frenan. pic.twitter.com/duSviz0USh

— Alerta Global (@AlertaGlobal24H) August 16, 2026

Thousands of those who remained from the first wave are now holding mass protests on the beaches, demanding asylum and transfer to mainland Europe. NGOs are reportedly helping produce the signs. There is talk of a hunger strike.

?? Thousands of illegal migrants in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta are holding mass protests demanding asylum and to be sent to mainland Europe. pic.twitter.com/HoAy8Jlt8N

— Visegrád 24 (@visegrad24) August 17, 2026

VÍDEO: ? Los migrantes siguen manifestándose en la playa del Trampolín: "No comida, asilo", en su segundo día de huelga de hambre reivindicando que no quieren volver a Marruecos pic.twitter.com/wltlumHRHf

— El Pueblo de Ceuta (@ElPueblodeCeuta) August 17, 2026

White liberal women volunteering for the NGOs continue to welcome and assist the new arrivals on the ground in Ceuta, openly supporting the occupation while local mothers flee.

White, liberal, fat, and ugly women welcome Muslim invaders in Ceuta. pic.twitter.com/t6ftTeeE1I

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) August 18, 2026

? Ceuta Migrant Crisis: These migrants ain't going nowhere, look at the help and handouts they're getting, they're demanding asylum and they will no doubt get it

Only a show of strength by both governments stopped a second wave, but how long will this show of strength last... pic.twitter.com/jUGEStUMVJ

— Active Patriot (@ActivePatriotUK) August 16, 2026

This is Ceuta. Pro-Islam white liberal women are a huge problem. They want to destroy Europe. pic.twitter.com/AgXKJAfcU0

— RadioGenoa (@RadioGenoa) August 18, 2026

What are they claiming asylum from? These are not people fleeing a country shattered by war or natural disaster. Morocco is a stable state that receives millions of tourists every year. The overwhelming majority are economic migrants seeking better opportunities, not refugees.

?? «Las ONG les incitan a la protesta para exigir el asilo. Ellas son las que incluso les están haciendo los carteles. Se habla de posible huelga de hambre si no consiguen el objetivo».

?? «The NGOs are inciting them to protest in order to demand asylum. They're even the ones... pic.twitter.com/CCe1SS1VQs

— Rubén Pulido (@rubnpulido) August 17, 2026

Footage shows new arrivals landing on the sand and immediately chanting "Allahu Akbar."

?Beach day in Ceuta just got a soundtrack no one asked for.

Clandestine arrivals from Morocco land on the sand... and the first words out of their mouths? "Allahu Akbar."

Not "hello."

Not "thank you."

Not "we're seeking safety."

Just the same chant, loud and clear.

If this... pic.twitter.com/KpuZL2MOZt

— The Patriots Voice ??????? ?? (@Proudofthisland) August 17, 2026

Camps of cardboard and plastic continue to expand along the shore, complete with football games and laundry lines on what was Spanish beach.

? Lo que no verás en la tele: así crece el campamento en la playa de Ceuta.
Chabolas de cartón y lonas. Fútbol, baños y espera.
Esto ya no es una crisis humanitaria" de unos días.: es un asentamiento permanente junto a la frontera.
El vídeo muestra otra cosa: un poblado de... pic.twitter.com/k527c5BiNE

— Jesús Vazquez ?????? (@jesusvazquezb) August 16, 2026

? It's only taken 2 weeks for third world immigrants to turn Ceuta into a sh*thole pic.twitter.com/q6N1zwSlL1

— Active Patriot (@ActivePatriotUK) August 16, 2026

Migrants have also set up an improvised mosque on El Trampolín Beach itself.

?? Inmigrantes CREAN una mezquita improvisada en la Playa de El trampolín (Ceuta) pic.twitter.com/VEyvpi0QFI

— Actualidad Noticias (@Actualidad_Pol) August 18, 2026

Throughout the crisis, Spanish government spokesmen and much of the legacy media insisted the migrants had almost all returned to Morocco and that "reasonable normality" had been restored. Left-leaning voices repeated the line.

The reality on the ground - permanent-looking settlements, daily protests for asylum, and residents too afraid to let their daughters outside - shows otherwise.

Ceuta's women are voting with their feet. Families are sending children to the mainland. Parks and beaches that belonged to locals two weeks ago no longer do.

The open-border agenda that turned a Spanish enclave into a third-world camp overnight is being defended by the same voices who claimed the problem had already solved itself.

How many more European cities will be asked to absorb this nightmare before there is meaningful action and change?

Your support is crucial in helping us defeat mass censorship. Please consider donating via Locals or check out our unique merch. Follow us on X @ModernityNews.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/19/2026 - 08:15

The aspiring actor filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, listing assets totaling $25,700 and liabilities totaling around $60,000, according to TMZ.

The aspiring actor filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, listing assets totaling $25,700 and liabilities totaling around $60,000, according to TMZ.

Buying Bullsh*t In "4 Easy Payments"

 Submitted by QTR's Fringe Finance

I have been gently touching on what a horrible idea one sector has been since the inception of this blog. And just this week, it looks like cracks are starting to form in the space via one of its largest and most well-known publicly traded companies.

As savings finally dry up, rates remain higher and auto loan/credit card delinquencies start rising, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a deluge of ugliness from these types of names in their next few quarterly reports.

(Chart: Zero Hedge)

I’ve said how buy now pay later “BNPL” has been a terrible idea since the inception of this blog. More recently, I named BNPL as one of the 10 areas of the market I would avoid heading into 2026.

Strip away the fintech branding, slick apps, venture capital language and the promises of “disrupting” traditional finance, and a large portion of the BNPL business boils down to something that has existed for centuries: lending money to people who don’t have enough money. And in many cases to people who don’t have enough money for a reason (i.e. they aren’t earning enough or can’t find a way to underconsume).

There is nothing particularly revolutionary about lending money at egregious rates to people who don’t have any. But when you start extending tiny amounts of credit so consumers can finance increasingly trivial purchases, whether that’s a burrito, groceries, takeout or other everyday expenses, you aren’t witnessing some great innovation in financial technology. You’re witnessing the last gasp of liquidity breath from a consumer in deep financial stress.

Credit makes sense when it bridges the timing between income and a major productive purchase. Mortgages allow people to buy homes. Business loans finance investment. Auto loans can help people purchase transportation they need to work. But when consumers increasingly need financing for a single solitary order of Large Fries from McDonald’s and other minute daily expenses, the economic signal is completely different.

If someone needs four payments to buy a french fry, the problem isn’t the absence of a sufficiently innovative payment app. The problem is that they’re fu**ing broke.

That’s what has bothered me about the evolution of BNPL. The industry has attempted to present installment payments as a technological revolution. In reality, subprime BNPL increasingly resembles a digitally optimized version of a very old business: payday lending, high risk consumer finance and, taken to its historical extreme, loan sharking.

The technology changes, the underwriting algorithms change, the user interface becomes prettier and the terminology becomes friendlier, but the fundamental economics do not. Someone has money, someone else needs money, and the lender advances the money today with the expectation of being adequately compensated tomorrow. That business has been around approximately…forever.

These businesses can look fantastic during the right portion of the economic cycle. Employment is strong, consumers are spending, asset prices are rising, credit losses remain manageable and investors extrapolate growth into the future. Then monetary conditions tighten. Positive real interest rates begin doing what positive real interest rates are supposed to do. Savings get depleted, refinancing becomes more expensive, credit becomes harder to obtain, monthly debt service burdens accumulate and consumers gradually exhaust the liquidity buffers they built during easier times.

Eventually, something breaks, and the lowest quality borrowers usually break first. That is why subprime credit can be such an important economic indicator. The trouble doesn’t necessarily begin with someone defaulting on a mortgage or declaring bankruptcy. It can begin much earlier. Consumers start financing things that historically would have been purchased with cash. Balances accumulate, payments begin competing with one another, discretionary spending slows, credit losses rise and eventually the consumer runs out of road.

And nowadays, in a nation full of gamblers and not investors…who place bets not just on stock options but on shit like what color tie Donald Trump will wear during a press conference on prediction platforms…people are getting addicted to gambling, running through their cash and desperately sourcing anyone who will lend to them faster than anytime in history. If you think people aren’t taking out loans from SoFi, Upstart and the likes to finance gambling addiction, you haven’t listened to the stories of enough gamblers in recovery.

That brings us to Klarna yesterday. The company’s second quarter 2026 results initially looked good. Revenue rose 27% year over year to approximately $1.04 billion, while the company produced a surprise quarterly profit. The reported numbers beat Wall Street’s expectations. If markets cared only about the rearview mirror, Klarna stock probably would have rallied. Instead, the shares plunged roughly 20%.

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The reason is that markets care about what happens next. Klarna lowered its full year revenue outlook to $4.08 billion to $4.16 billion, compared with its previous forecast above $4.34 billion and analyst expectations around $4.42 billion. The company also reduced expected 2026 gross merchandise volume to $149 billion to $151 billion from more than $155 billion previously. Weak retail conditions in Germany, Klarna’s largest market, and foreign exchange effects were among the factors cited.

Americans are increasingly using BNPL as actual consumer financing, according to Klarna’s latest report. U.S. purchase volume surged 27% year over year, U.S. revenue jumped 37%, and Klarna’s longer-term Fair Financing product grew 82% globally, while interest income hit $266 million for the quarter.

The numbers suggest consumers are increasingly borrowing to fund everyday spending rather than simply using BNPL as a checkout convenience. Once reliance on BNPL becomes a necessity to fund consumption, signaling an increasingly tapped-out consumer, rising defaults are the obvious risk that comes next.

At the same time, Klarna announced leadership changes. CFO Niclas Neglén and CMO David Sandström are expected to leave their positions in early 2027 as the company searches for replacements. So you had the classic combination markets hate: yesterday looked better than expected, while tomorrow suddenly looked worse. The stock got crushed accordingly about -20%.

And I don’t think investors should look at Klarna in isolation. I think they should look at it as another piece of evidence about the condition of the consumer. To be clear, Klarna itself is still growing rapidly. Second quarter revenue increased 27%, gross merchandise volume increased 18% and U.S. GMV reportedly grew 27%. This isn’t a company whose business disappeared overnight. That’s precisely why the guidance matters.

The interesting question isn’t whether BNPL continues growing. The interesting question is why consumers increasingly want it in the first place, and what happens to the economics of the model when those consumers become financially stressed. BNPL works beautifully when the consumer keeps paying. So does virtually every lending business. The real test of a credit model isn’t how rapidly it can originate loans during an expansion. As Seinfeld would say, “Anybody can just originate a reservation…”

It’s what those loans look like after years of elevated prices, depleted savings, expensive money and weakening consumer liquidity. That’s the part of the cycle investors consistently underestimate and dildo analysts on CNBC don’t want to talk about. That is, assuming they know what the business does to begin with…

There is an enormous difference between financing a $2,000 purchase because installment financing is economically convenient and financing a $12 lunch because you don’t have $12.

The app may classify both transactions as BNPL, but I don’t. One is financing. The other can be distress.

I’ve argued that the current equity market has many characteristics of a bubble, and BNPL is only one of the areas that concerns me. Markets have spent years rewarding growth narratives, financial engineering, technological disruption and increasingly aggressive assumptions about what future cash flows will be worth. Meanwhile, underneath the surface, consumers have been absorbing higher prices, higher financing costs and a steadily more restrictive cost of capital. Those two realities cannot diverge indefinitely.

Eventually the economic cycle, rates, liquidity and balance sheets matter. The first cracks rarely arrive with a giant sign announcing that the bubble is over. They appear individually. A weak consumer shows up in one company’s numbers. Credit deterioration appears somewhere else. A company beats quarterly expectations but cuts its outlook. A seemingly unstoppable growth story suddenly discovers that its customers have limits. That is how cycles turn. To quote Ray Dalio’s “How the Economic Machine Works”, the economy is a trillion little bullshit transactions all happening at once, over and over (OK, I paraphrased). Point is, they turn over gradually, one small transaction at a time, like sands passing through an hourglass.

BNPL has been marketed as financial innovation, and parts of the technology undoubtedly are innovative. The distribution is better, the checkout experience is easier, underwriting can be faster and data can improve risk assessment. But none of that repeals the basic laws of credit. If you lend money to financially stretched consumers, eventually some of them cannot repay it. If those consumers become increasingly dependent on credit to finance ordinary consumption, that isn’t necessarily evidence of a booming new financial ecosystem. It may be evidence that household liquidity is deteriorating.

I have warned about subprime lending and BNPL for years. I put BNPL among the 10 areas I wanted to avoid in 2026, and Klarna’s latest report doesn’t change my mind. It reinforces the thesis. When people need debt to buy a Coke Zero, I don’t see financial innovation. I see a warning about the consumer.

Klarna is only one data point, and one quarter doesn’t establish a macroeconomic trend. But combined with the other stresses emerging across the economy and financial markets, I believe it is another signal that the consumer is running out of liquidity. That is one of several reasons I continue to believe the current stock market bubble is approaching its final stage, with the reckoning likely coming in late 2026 or early 2027.

When it does, investors may discover that the newest revolution in consumer finance was built around one of the oldest businesses on Earth: lending money to people who don’t have it.

--

QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of all facts and figures included in this article though I made my best effort to get them right. I have been wrong before and will be wrong again, and encourage you to always double check, do your own research and speak to a licensed financial professional.

This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. I won’t update my positions.

As of May 20, 2026 I am attempting to no longer actively trade as much as I once did (read my story here). My eventual goal is for investing/saving to be mostly done by recurring contributions mostly to sector ETFs and a few select equities, trusted third parties who oversee my accounts, and advisors. Such advisors or funds, through individual equities, options, index funds, mutual funds, ETFs, or other securities, may have positions in, exposure to, or holdings of names mentioned herein that I know nothing about. Basically, via index funds, ETFs and individual equities it is possible I could own, have exposure to, or not own anything at any point. As of the same date, May 20, 2026, in an attempt to lead a healthier lifestyle, I’ve also excluded myself from fantasy sports, sports betting, online and in-person casinos and prediction markets.

And all positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. If you see numbers and calculations of any sort, assume they are wrong and double check them. I failed Algebra in 8th grade and topped off my high school math accolades by getting a D- in remedial Calculus my senior year, before becoming an English major in college so I could bullshit my way through things easier.

The publisher does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this page. These are not the opinions of any of my employers, partners, or associates. I did my best to be honest about my disclosures but can’t guarantee I am right; I write these posts after a couple beers sometimes. I edit after my posts are published because I’m impatient and lazy, so if you see a typo, check back in a half hour. Also, I just straight up get shit wrong a lot. I mention it twice because it’s that important.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/19/2026 - 08:05

From perfectly soft-launching her tall boyfriend to faking out the industry press, Inde Navarrette is already ruling Hollywood.

The stolen body parts included "heads, faces, brains, skin and hands."

" No woman should be forced to end the life of the baby she is carrying."

Holy Grail In Cancer Treatment? Moderna Erupts After Melanoma Vaccine Late-Stage Trial Success

Moderna's shares soared as much as 83% in premarket trading in New York after its personalized cancer vaccine, developed in collaboration with Merck & Co., reduced the risk of melanoma returning in a large, late-stage trial. The result marks the first positive Phase 3 trial for a personalized cancer vaccine by any company. 

The study met its primary endpoint by showing that the cancer vaccine, called intismeran autogene, combined with Merck's blockbuster immunotherapy Keytruda, improved recurrence-free survival compared with Keytruda alone. The study also met a secondary endpoint by reducing the risk of cancer spreading to other parts of the body.

Professor Georgina Long, the study's principal investigator, medical director of Melanoma Institute Australia, and chair of Melanoma Medical Oncology and Translational Research at the University of Sydney, wrote in a statement:

Today's results represent a landmark moment for adjuvant melanoma treatment. This is the first Phase 3 study to show that intismeran, a treatment designed based on the unique mutational 'fingerprint' of a patient's own tumor, given in combination with pembrolizumab, can reduce the risk of recurrence or death in patients with completely resected stage IIB-IV melanoma compared with KEYTRUDA alone.

Intismeran in combination with pembrolizumab has the potential to establish a new treatment paradigm in the adjuvant melanoma setting, helping patients remain cancer-free for longer.

Moderna and Merck did not disclose exact figures showing how much the therapy improved recurrence-free survival. The trial remains ongoing. Additional details will be presented at an upcoming medical meeting, and the vaccine could receive approval as early as 2027, depending on the regulatory review.

As of 0700 ET, Moderna shares were up 60% and trading around $100 per share. Short interest represents 13.5% of the float, equivalent to 49.8 million shares. Merck shares are up 7% in premarket as well. 

Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer. About 112,000 people are diagnosed annually in the US, and about 8,500 die from the disease, according to the American Cancer Society.

"Therapeutic vaccines have been something of a holy grail in cancer. People have been trying to do this for, you know, over 100 years in one way or another," Jane Healy, head of oncology early development at Merck, said in an interview with Bloomberg several weeks ago. She noted that one potential benefit of the personalized shot would be to extend survival without significantly increasing side effects.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/19/2026 - 07:40

Their season hinges on a vision they might not see until their lives depend on it.

Georgia Man Deported From Fiji Charged Over $165 Million Crypto Ponzi Scheme

Authored by Kimberly Hayek via The Epoch Times,

A Georgia man accused of wire fraud and money laundering appeared in a Los Angeles federal court on Monday after being deported by Fijian authorities to face the charges following his flight to the South Pacific island.

A price chart on the Bybit website for the cryptocurrency Ethereum on a computer screen in New York City on Feb. 21, 2025. Patrick Sison/AP Photo

Prosecutors alleged the 59-year-old Edward Zimbardi, of Flowery Branch, Georgia, ran a Ponzi scheme that made more than $165 million from thousands of investors between June 2022 and August 2023.

An attorney for Zimbardi could not be reached.

U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, who described ponzi schemers as "parasites" the day of the Department of Justice announcement, detailed the allegations.

"Zimbardi allegedly tricked thousands of people to invest in his 'Crypto Program' with false promises of enormous returns," Hertzberg said. "Instead, he spent the money on risky currency trades, payments to early investors, and treating himself to a house and expensive vehicles."

When the scam was discovered, he allegedly tried to evade federal prosecution by fleeing to Fiji before he was found by authorities and returned, the prosecutor said.

Marlo Graham, special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta, noted that Zimbardi allegedly preyed on unsuspecting individuals through a complex scheme. FBI Atlanta is seeking victim information to aid the investigation.

"Scammers are trying everything they can to defraud people out of their hard-earned money, but the FBI is doing everything we can to make sure they don't succeed, no matter where they hide," Graham said.

According to the charges and information presented in court, Zimbardi allegedly promoted The Crypto Program through videos and websites, telling potential investors it was a chance to buy advertising packages that would deliver a guaranteed 25 percent monthly return.

Investors were advised to send cryptocurrency to digital wallets, which, prosecutors alleged, were secretly controlled by Zimbardi. Thousands of people sent more than $165 million his way.

Instead of advertising packages, Zimbardi allegedly put more than $34 million into risky foreign currency trades and lost a substantial portion of it. In order to keep the scheme running, he allegedly used money from later investors to pay earlier ones. He also allegedly spent at least $10 million on personal expenses, including a house for his son, luxury vehicles, and alimony payments to his ex-wife.

The program collapsed in August 2023, and victims lost their funds. Zimbardi then traveled to Hawaii, Fiji, and other places.

In July 2025, after learning of the FBI investigation, he fled to Fiji and stayed more than a year. In May, he canceled plans to attend his son's wedding in Virginia, suspecting agents would attempt to arrest him there.

Fijian authorities deported him after learning of the charges in coordination with the FBI and the U.S. Department of State.

A federal grand jury had already indicted Zimbardi on July 8. The indictment charges him with 12 counts of wire fraud, 12 counts of money laundering, and one count of money laundering conspiracy.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/19/2026 - 07:20

The ChatGPT-maker said training will be slowed for two weeks while it puts the upgrades in place.

Unitree IPO Soars 460% As "Strong Retail Appetite" May Ignite Physical AI Listing Boom

Summary:

• Unitree Soars 460% in Shanghai IPO 
• Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index Plunges As IPO "Drew Funds Away" 
• Unitree IPO 5,550 Times Oversubscribed As UBS Says Grey Market Points To 3.5x Open

Unitree Robotics, one of the most closely watched technology IPOs in Shanghai this year, made its trading debut earlier Wednesday and closed up a staggering 460%. The Chinese humanoid robot maker raised 6.1 billion yuan, or about $904 million.

The Hangzhou-based company, formerly known as Yushu Technology Co., climbed as much as 629% from its IPO price of 150.80 yuan before paring some of those gains.

Retail bids for Unitree exceeded the 7.07 trillion yuan raised by memory chip giant CXMT in its July IPO. We pointed out yesterday, hours before the IPO, that the offering was more than 5,500 times oversubscribed.

Unitree plans to use the IPO proceeds to improve AI models, advance humanoid robot research, develop new products, and rapidly expand manufacturing capacity to maintain its lead in the physical AI race and expand market share. 

Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Ian Ma said, "Unitree's debut surge signals strong appetite for China's embodied AI sector," adding that the IPO proceeds should accelerate product development and commercialization. 

Analysts at Industrial Securities commented on the broad market reaction across the space, saying, "Robotics stocks plunged as Unitree Robotics' strong trading debut in Shanghai drew funds away."

The Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index (Bloomberg ticker: SOLCHRBP Index), which tracks publicly traded Chinese companies involved in the humanoid robotics supply chain, dropped 10% following the listing. The index is down 25% this year.

UBS analyst Lucy Zhang pointed out that the listing debuted amid an overall market selloff:

A-share tech names followed the US and broader Asia tech selloff, with the STAR50 down 6% amid elevated bond yields and geopolitical uncertainty.

Market leadership rotated into defensive sectors, including banking, energy and coal.

Retail flows remained heavily concentrated in recent IPO speculation rather than broader market beta, with Unitree (#688836 CH) the focal point, trading around RMB885/share and up 486% from its IPO.

Extreme two-way price action suggests increasingly speculative trading conditions. Half-day turnover reached RMB1.63 trn, while market breadth was extremely weak, with 4,927 decliners vs. 580 advancers.

Coal stocks outperformed as a defensive haven amid the tech pullback, supported by planned coke price increases of RMB50-55 per tonne effective Aug. 20. Robotics names fell 7% as a group, with Unitree's debut triggering a sell-the-news rotation across the sector.

Enthusiasm for Unitree has grown after the robot maker shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots last year, according to its prospectus. That makes the company the global leader in shipments of humanoid robots, far exceeding any US company. 

JPMorgan analysts have forecast that global shipments of humanoid robots will surge from 18,000 units in 2025 to 60,000 by the end of this year and to 1.75 million by 2030, with China accounting for more than half of global demand.

Readers should not be surprised that China is leading the humanoid-robotics race. We have outlined this trend on multiple occasions (see here).

Unitree IPO 5,550 Times Oversubscribed As UBS Says Grey Market Points To 3.5x Open 

The global market leader in humanoid-robot shipments, China-based Unitree, is set to begin trading on Shanghai's STAR Market on Wednesday, potentially sparking a wave of robotics listings in Asia as the race for physical AI remains in its early innings. 

Unitree New Robot Preview: “Superman” Breaking the Limits of Humanity🥳
Standing high jump 2 m, top speed 12.66 m/s (0.85 m leg length)
Surpassing the standing high jump and running speed records of all humans around the world
This new machine has only been in development for a… pic.twitter.com/12i80ITU6p

— Unitree (@UnitreeRobotics) August 17, 2026

The Wall Street Journal reported that the Hangzhou-based company raised $900 million after pricing its shares at 150.80 yuan apiece, implying a valuation of about $9.1 billion. Retail demand was off the charts, with investors submitting 9.8 million orders and the offering more than 5,500 times oversubscribed. 

"Unitree's IPO is significant because it provides an important A-share valuation benchmark for embodied AI and humanoid robotics," Morningstar analyst Kangyuxiao Li said.

Jacqueline Du, Goldman's head of China Industrial Technology research, recently explained that Unitree is the global market leader in humanoid-robot shipments: 

Global Market Leader: In 2025, Unitree shipped more than 5,500 humanoid robots, capturing a 37% global market share, according to Omdia.

This volume far outstripped Western peers such as Tesla, Figure AI, and Agility Robotics, each of which shipped around 150 humanoid robots in 2025, according to public reports cited by Omdia.

That said, this leadership was achieved during the very early stages of the humanoid-robot industry, where technology is evolving rapidly and the competitive landscape remains fluid.

Wednesday's IPO gives mainland investors direct exposure to one of China's top robotics companies and could pave the way for future listings by its domestic competitors. 

UBS analyst Tony Chalmers noted:

Unitree is set for its first day of trading on the STAR Board on Aug. 19 at a CNY61 bn market cap, or 219x PS, with a free float of only ~30 mn shares, representing 7.4% of total shares. The grey market is pointing to a ~3.5x open.

The pre-IPO perpetual contract on the Hyperliquid platform - not Unitree stock or IPO allocation - is about $99.50 per contract; the market implies a Unitree valuation near $40 billion, based on roughly 404.5 million post-IPO shares. That is more than four times the reported $9.1 billion IPO valuation. 

In markets, the Solactive China Humanoid Robotics Index (Bloomberg ticker: SOLCHRBP Index), which tracks publicly traded Chinese companies involved in the humanoid-robotics supply chain, is down 18% year to date.

SOLCHRBP covers robot manufacturers and suppliers of AI systems, actuators, motion controls, sensors, automation equipment, and other components. 

Goldman's Du highlighted how Unitree's pricing advantage is mostly underpinned by "China's supply-chain advantages." Unitree offers robots priced from roughly $4,000 to $100,000, compared with about $150,000 to $1 million for Boston Dynamics models.

Unitree founders understood something the US robotics industry did not.

A robot engineers can afford to buy, break, modify, and buy again can create a much larger market than a perfect robot nobody can afford and people watch videos of online.

So Unitree shipped “Laikago” in… pic.twitter.com/GxHElhuOKG

— Gabriel (@gabriel_horwitz) August 18, 2026

Readers should not be surprised that China is leading the humanoid-robotics race. We have outlined this trend on multiple occasions (see here).

The U.S. invented the robot dog.

China is about to dominate the market.

Tomorrow Unitree starts trading at a $9bn valuation after selling 23,000 quadrupeds last year. We had a 15-year head start.

This is how America turned a research lead into a manufacturing loss...🧵 pic.twitter.com/lTBtmWmTv4

— Gabriel (@gabriel_horwitz) August 18, 2026

The big question is whether President Trump can close the gap, given that the US lacks the fully integrated supply chains needed to manufacture critical components, including rare-earth magnets and actuators that power these robots.

Tyler Durden Wed, 08/19/2026 - 07:05