THE NEWS

Las Vegas Raiders coach Klint Kubiak is either playing some sort of mind game or he sincerely is torn about naming a starting quarterback to open the regular season.That’s the only way to view this after the coach on Thursday night (actually Friday morning) declined to say what everyone assumes — that Kirk Cousins is the Las Vegas starter to open the season against the Miami Dolphins on Sept. 13.”You know, we got another week playing,” Kubiak told reporters after his team’s preseason game against the Houston Texans. “I don’t want anyone to be comfortable in their job.”It should always be that way from all positions. So, you know, we’ll just keep going forward.”FERNANDO MENDOZA THROWS PICK SIX IN SECOND NFL GAMEThe Raiders are heading toward their preseason finale next Thursday without naming a starting quarterback for the regular season. Kubiak apparently wants to keep Cousins and rookie Fernando Mendoza guessing about their status on the depth chart.HOW KIRK COUSINS AND FERNANDO MENDOZA ARE BUILDING ‘GREAT’ RELATIONSHIP THROUGH RAIDERS WORK, FAITH AND MOREAnd the entire rest of the Earth is thinking, “Really, coach?”Just last week, Kubiak made it seem like Cousins was the leader in the proverbial clubhouse for the starting job.”I think he’s had a solid training camp and it’s his job to lose,” Kubiak said of Cousins.RAIDERS ROOKIE FERNANDO MENDOZA THANKS GOD FOR AN NFL DEBUT THAT COMPARES FAVORABLY TO ‘MR BRADY’And one week later, when all Cousins did was watch from the sideline while Mendoza started and then gave way to third-stringer Aidan O’Connell in the second half, Kubiak’s changing course?What exactly did Cousins do to lose the job while not playing? Did he eat too much in the pregame meal?Kubiak himself said Cousins “did some good things” against the Texans in their joint practice on Tuesday. And, admittedly, Cousins did have a cringe moment when he threw a pick six in that practice.RAIDERS FRANCHISE THAT ONCE EMBRACED AN OUTLAW IMAGE NOW HAS ‘NO TURDS,’ COACH KLINT KUBIAK SAYSBut guess what?Mendoza threw a pick six in Thursday’s game against the same team’s backup players.”It was not a good throw,” Mendoza said of the pass that probably should have gone to the open receiver in the flat instead.Mendoza is undoubtedly going to be the Raiders starter at some point. He might even be the guy later this season. He was, after all, the team’s No. 1 overall pick of the 2026 draft.But team minority owner Tom Brady has talked about the benefits of sitting as a rookie and learning behind an experienced veteran, which kind of worked for him.The Raiders signed Cousins to serve as the bridge starting quarterback while Mendoza grows and learns. And one valuable lesson apparently came against the Texans.”I came away with that there’s a lot of more learning to do,” Mendoza said. “And that, although I maybe had a lot of success at another level, that this level’s a whole step further, and that the margins are so small and that, you know, one tight mistake can lead to catastrophe.”Here’s a catastrophe in the making:A rookie NFL head coach could be playing mind games with players to keep them uncomfortable. That maybe used to work for Vince Lombardi and Don Shula.But when the obvious answer is to start Cousins and let Mendoza grow for a bit at the beginning of the regular season, this tactic by Kubiak seems phony.FOLLOW ARMANDO SALGUERO ON X: @ARMANDOSALGUERO

Screencap of Twitter/X video.
A reporter for MSNOW recently tried to explain the challenges that the left is going to face in a general election in Florida. Aside from the fact that Florida is now a solidly red state, there are more than a million Cubans now living there.
People who escaped from Cuba know exactly what communism is, it’s precisely why they escaped the island nation. They want no part of the new DSA loons of the Democrat Party.
The reporter, however, seems to think that these Cubans just don’t understand the difference between democratic socialism and communism, as if there was one. He claims that Trump and other Republicans are making a ‘false conflation’ between the two.
Transcript via NewsBusters:
PETER ALEXANDER: The Senate primary. You got the Democratic socialist Angie Nixon. America’s talking about her today. An unfamiliar name. She scored a surprise win against Alexander Vindman despite a massive fundraising difference between the two. Are Democrats – they’re bullish about her campaign or anxious about what it may mean in a red state?
ALEX TABET: Well, Peter, there is a skittishness here on the ground in Florida. I just got off the phone with a Democratic strategist here in the state who reminded me that the general election electorate versus the primary electorate is very different here in Florida
In Florida, you’ve got about a million and a half more registered Republicans than Democrats. You also have about 1.6 million members of the Cuban diaspora. Those Cubans often lean conservative. Many of them have a strong aversion towards communism.
What we’ve been hearing from Republican politicians, from President Trump on down, is a conflation, an incorrect conflation, of communism and democratic socialism. If that messaging sticks, that could be a serious issue for Angie Nixon.
Watch the video below:

On Wednesday, after DSA candidate Angie Nixon won Florida’s Democratic Senate primary, MS NOW reporter Alex Tabet worried that Cubans in Florida will not vote for Nixon because of Republicans’ “conflation, an incorrect conflation, of communism and democratic socialism.” pic.twitter.com/7nHsr7IESE
— Nick (@nspin310) August 19, 2026

Multiple members of the DSA have stated clearly, on camera, that their ultimate goal is communism.
People who fled Cuba know exactly where this is all headed. If they want no part of it, it’s because they have already lived and it and know how awful it is in reality.

The post MSNOW Reporter Suggests Cuban Voters in Florida Might Not Understand the Difference Between Communism and Democratic Socialism (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

British Protesters Jailed For Longer Than Migrant Who Sexually Assaulted Girl

Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity News,

British men who protested outside an Essex asylum hotel have been locked up for far longer than the migrant whose sexual assaults on a 14-year-old girl and a woman triggered the demonstrations.

Charlie Land, 24, and Jonathan Glover, 48, received 32 months and 30 months respectively at Chelmsford Crown Court for violent disorder during the July 2025 clashes at The Bell Hotel in Epping. The Ethiopian national at the centre of it all, Hadush Kebatu, got just 12 months.

This is the latest chapter in a pattern that has already seen multiple local men handed heavier sentences than the man whose crimes set off the backlash.

Epping asylum hotel protesters jailed for longer than migrant occupant who assaulted woman and girlhttps://t.co/lO70iA2I01
— GB News (@GBNEWS) August 19, 2026
Kebatu arrived in Britain on a small boat and was housed at the Bell Hotel. Within days he approached a 14-year-old girl on a bench in Epping, tried to kiss her, made sexually explicit comments, placed his hand on her thigh and later assaulted a woman who had offered help.

He was convicted of multiple sexual offences, including two counts of sexual assault, and sentenced to 12 months in September 2025. A judge described him as manipulative with a “poor regard for women” and said he posed a significant risk of reoffending.

He was later mistakenly released from HMP Chelmsford due to an administrative blunder, triggering a multi-force manhunt before he was finally deported to Ethiopia.

The protests that followed were initially peaceful. They escalated on 17 July 2025 when counter-demonstrators arrived and disorder broke out.

Hundreds gathered. Police vehicles were attacked. Officers were shoved, punched and kicked. Essex Police said the overall policing operation cost more than £1.5 million.

Land was captured on drone and bodycam footage repeatedly damaging police vehicles, punching windows, kicking off wing mirrors, letting air out of tyres and climbing onto one vehicle to kick the windscreen while wearing a banned face covering. Judge Mills called him a “full and enthusiastic participant in the violent disorder” who showed “no regard” for officers’ safety. The mask, the judge said, “contributed to an atmosphere of intimidation.”

Glover was filmed shouting at officers and impeding police carriers. He claimed to be a journalist. The judge rejected that outright: “Genuine journalists record events – they do not manufacture them. You were not a reporter being picked on by the police; you were not the victim of so-called two-tier justice – you were the antagonist. Far from seeking to calm tensions, you repeatedly inflamed them.”

These are not the first such sentences. In October 2025 Stuart Williams received 28 months, Martin Peagram 26 months and Dean Smith 22 months. In June 2026 Lee Gower, a local father and youth football coach, was jailed for 33 months. Shaun Thompson received 31 months. Phillip Curson later got 27 months. Combined custodial terms for those convicted already exceed 17 years.

Chief Inspector Terry Fisher of Essex Police said the disorder left the community “scared and anxious,” disrupted daily life and damaged local businesses. “Whilst many people who wanted their voices to be heard on an important issue did that safely, a number chose to behave well beyond that and these convictions and sentences show that behaviour is and was entirely unacceptable.”

The contrast is stark. A foreign national who sexually assaulted a schoolgirl days after arriving by small boat served 12 months (and was released early by mistake). British men who turned up to protest the housing of such offenders in their town are serving two to nearly three years. The courts have repeatedly stressed that peaceful protest is not the issue – the violence is. Yet the disparity in outcomes has fuelled widespread anger over two-tier justice.

Meanwhile the Labour government continues to free space in overcrowded prisons by releasing thousands of criminals early. Prisons are operating near capacity. Successive schemes have already seen tens of thousands leave early. Further releases are planned under the Sentencing Act, with adjustments after public backlash to exclude some of the most serious sex offenders, yet thousands of other prisoners will still walk free ahead of schedule to ease the crisis.

BREAKING?More than 70,000 criminals freed from prison under Labour’s early release schemehttps://t.co/ftAnnKYHYZ
— GB News (@GBNEWS) July 30, 2026
British towns are told to accept mass arrivals. When one of those arrivals attacks local children and women, residents who object too vigorously find themselves behind bars for longer than the perpetrator.

The system prioritises capacity management and narrative control over equal application of the law.

Secure borders, swift deportation of foreign offenders and consistent justice for British citizens are not radical demands. They are the baseline of a country that still claims to protect its own people.

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
Fri, 08/21/2026 – 08:15

A founder of the Tea Party movement is heading a new nationwide campaign against AI data center expansion, arguing that tech corporations are encroaching on local communities and forcing residents to pay for the infrastructure against their will.Amy Kremer, chairwoman of Humans First, said the nationwide bus tour, dubbed the “Data Center Revolt,” will launch Sept. 12 in Austin, Texas, which she called the “battleground of the data center opposition movement.” The tour will travel across the South and up the East Coast, stopping in Washington, D.C., and Northern Virginia before concluding in California’s Silicon Valley.Kremer, a veteran conservative organizer and Georgia Republican Party leader, told Fox News Digital she sees parallels between the anti-data center push and the early days of the Tea Party movement.”The reason we’re doing this tour is because we have seen over the past couple of years that Big Tech is trying to shove their technology, their AI technology, down our throats,” Kremer told Fox News Digital. “The American people are very upset over the technology and the buildout. And so that’s why we’re doing this tour, to give people a voice, to stand with them and support them as they battle this in their local communities. And that’s exactly what we did with the Tea Party movement.”SILICON VALLEY IS LOSING THE DATA CENTER FIGHT, RISKING A REPEAT OF A CLASSIC FAILUREThe organization says it represents a grassroots network of residents concerned about the rapid pace of AI infrastructure development. Kremer cited Festus, Missouri, where voters unseated four city council incumbents in April after officials voted to advance a proposed $6 billion data center project.”The people don’t have a seat at the table, they don’t have a voice in what is being built in their community,” she added.Humans First is not seeking a federal moratorium and opposes blanket state or national bans on data centers, Kremer said. Instead, the group is advocating for local transparency and community representation.”Communities should have a voice in decisions that affect their electricity rates, water, land and quality of life. We should end secretive NDAs and corporate welfare and make sure ordinary Americans aren’t forced to subsidize some of the wealthiest corporations in the world,” Kremer told Fox News Digital. “Limited government doesn’t mean unaccountable corporate power.”Launched this year, Humans First has faced sustained scrutiny over its origins and funding, with critics questioning whether a hidden left-wing network is powering a conservative rebellion against a major policy priority.FROM NEW YORK TO TEXAS, STATES SHOULD RESPECT LOCAL CONTROL ON DATA CENTERSAn investigative report published in March by The Dossier’s Jordan Schachtel cited California public records showing Humans First was incorporated by Oliver Zhang and Arunim Agarwal in January, while both were staff members at the Center for AI Safety (CAIS). CAIS is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that has received millions in funding from Open Philanthropy, an organization founded by Facebook co-founder and Democratic Party mega-donor Dustin Moskovitz. The report alleged that Humans First presented itself as a grassroots bipartisan movement, but was actually “constructed by the Effective Altruist (EA) left and disguised as something liberty-loving Americans could believe in” to advance a progressive agenda.Additionally, a Fox News Digital investigation in July found that several of the local organizers behind a mass protest organized by Human First on July 18 had left-wing, Green Party or Democratic-aligned backgrounds, including a transgender Green Party House candidate, local progressive activists and a Democratic state legislative candidate. The Humans First website said that organizers promoting the event had not necessarily been vetted or endorsed by their group.Protest footage obtained by Fox News Digital at the Humans First event in Gilroy, California, had signs protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement — a common antagonist for those on the left.When Kremer assumed leadership in April, the organization announced it was shifting from a bipartisan organization toward conservative activism. Kremer acknowledged the group’s beginnings but said it was independent of CAIS and defended its conservative credentials.FOX NEWS POLL: COOL YOUR SERVERS! VOTERS REJECT DATA CENTERS”Humans First today is an independent conservative organization with its own leadership, strategy and agenda,” Kremer told Fox News Digital. “Our positions are determined by our team and our mission, not by CAIS or the individuals involved in the organization’s original formation.”Regarding funding, Kremer said Humans First received an initial startup loan from CAIS that is being repaid. She added that the group does not disclose individual donors and does not receive money from Open Philanthropy.”We will not accept funding that compromises our independence, dictates our policy positions, advances a foreign influence operation, or conflicts with our America First mission,” Kremer said.Kremer has noted that most of their staff members are longtime conservative activists, and she balked at those questioning the group’s conservative credentials.”This line of attack is preposterous but not surprising,” Kremer told Fox News Digital in July.”This is exactly the same line of attack we saw during the early days of the Tea Party. The establishment and their handmaidens in the media were willing to smear Tea Party activists as racists and bigots in their effort to defend the big interests of their corporate masters,” Kremer continued. “Instead of questioning our conservative credentials, how about asking how any so-called conservative can take money from the same big tech and big AI billionaires who have worked tirelessly to destroy the conservative movement over the last 10 years,” she said.MARXIST ORGANIZER LEADS CAMPAIGN AGAINST VIRGINIA AI DATA CENTER AS FOREIGN INFLUENCE CONCERNS MOUNTThe debate occurs alongside broader policy efforts surrounding AI development. Roughly one year ago, the White House released an AI action plan, outlining over 90 federal actions aimed at accelerating data center construction, streamlining permitting, and securing American technological leadership over foreign rivals like China.Kremer supports President Donald Trump’s mission of ensuring American tech companies dominate over China, but she argued that U.S. data centers remain reliant on components like Chinese lithium batteries. She also cited a July report from The Financial Times detailing how OpenAI and Google supplied AI model access to Singapore subsidiaries of Chinese tech firms listed on the Pentagon’s military blacklist. The sales are legal, according to the FT report, but the news has “reignited calls for tighter US regulation of AI models similar to its restrictions on exports of the chips used to train powerful models.””Pick a lane. You cannot be America first and China funded,” Kremer said. “And that’s what’s going on here … and it’s all on the backs of the American people.”Kremer also argued that county boards are giving tax breaks to wealthy tech corporations while residents are paying for the infrastructure and utility spikes.In March 2026, the White House addressed growing public concerns over infrastructure burdens by introducing a “Ratepayer Protection Pledge.” The voluntary commitment asks AI companies, utilities and data-center developers, to shoulder the costs of electricity generation and infrastructure, so expenses are not passed on to local residents or businesses. In July, the White House announced it had brought “more than 200 additional utilities, data center developers, cooperatives, and states into this growing national commitment.”KEVIN O’LEARY WARNS CHINA IS WINNING THE AI RACE BECAUSE U.S. STATES ARE SLOWING DATA CENTER PRODUCTIONA White House official told Fox News Digital, “President Trump is cementing American AI dominance over China while ensuring data centers pay for their own power, water, and other utilities. The President’s commonsense approach will beat China, harness this technological boom, and deliver lower costs and new opportunities for working families and small businesses.”Kremer argued that technological advancements, national security and local community protections can co-exist.”America absolutely must lead China in AI and advanced technology,” Kremer agreed. “But we reject the idea that beating China requires giving Big Tech a blank check or asking American communities to surrender their rights and resources. We can lead the world in AI while protecting American families, communities, taxpayers and national security. Those goals are not mutually exclusive.”Ultimately, Kremer is calling on lawmakers to establish stricter guidelines on Big Tech to protect consumers.”People want Congress to act. They need to put safety mechanisms in place,” she said. “The American people are demanding accountability and they’re demanding answers.””I think they would be foolish to ignore this movement,” she added. “And I think they need to get their heads out of the sand and start governing and do their job.”Recent reports have also pointed to foreign influence involved in the anti-data center push.A May report by the Bitcoin Policy Institute alleged that nonprofits funded by pro-CCP tech tycoon Neville Roy Singham — including CodePink — have spent years fueling opposition to U.S. AI infrastructure and data center expansion in coordination with Chinese propaganda narratives and foreign-funded activist networks.CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURESam Lyman, head of research at the Bitcoin Policy Institute and a former senior speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, previously told Fox News Digital, “Ensuring that AI is safe and empowers American workers must be a top priority for US policymakers. But the discussion about AI safety should not be influenced by geopolitical rivals, especially China, whose leaders have publicly stated their intentions to accelerate AI development to ‘gain the initiative in global science and technology competition.’”The Center for AI Safety did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.Fox News’ Asra Q. Nomani and Robert Schmad contributed to this report.

Gabby Forza officially signed with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) last week, becoming the latest woman to join the company’s Knockouts Division.Forza said in an interview with OutKick she wanted to sign with TNA because it’s one of the few major promotions that allow intergender wrestling (woman vs. man). She said being able to go up against men is one of the things she prides her pro wrestling abilities on.COMPLETE PRO WRESTLING COVERAGE ON OUTKICK”For me, I wanted to join TNA really badly because I just felt like I could see myself there in general, but I was so excited to join TNA because there are so many women there that I want to work with so badly and I love that they do have intergender wrestling there as an option because from the moment I joined wrestling, I always wanted to wrestle men,” she said. “That is kind of what I’ve made my schtick based off of, where I’m fighting men a lot on the independent wrestling scene. It’s like I would say like one of my greatest strengths.”So, if I ever get to do that at TNA, it would be like a dream for me. But mostly joining the women’s division and becoming a TNA knockout was like my dream. So, I’m super excited.”When OutKick asked the first man she wanted to square off with, Forza named Ricky Sosa.Those who haven’t seen Forza perform on the independent scene are in for a treat.She is a former women’s tackle football player and was a powerlifter for a period of time. Though Forza is a kind person outside the ring, she’s trained her hardest to put down anyone who steps to her.”Well, my wrestling persona is very much who I am,” she said. “So, just a very bubbly person, very positive. But I also can fight pretty much anyone of any size. I have a very big strength background in powerlifting, and I played tackle football for most of my life as a linebacker. So being a woman that is built like a linebacker is, I think, for most of our lifetime has been an insult to women.TNA STAR ELAYNA BLACK SHARES WHY SHE JOINED COMPANY, HOW SHE WANTED TO BE IN THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE”But for me, it’s like the biggest compliment because that was my goal — to train to be one of the best linebackers in the world. And the fact I get to bring that into wrestling means I hit people really, really hard and it’s very fun to do that and get to continue being an absolute menace in professional wrestling. But in the best way possible like I have an absolute blast doing it and I try to use my power for good, not evil, you know.”How does one even go from football to pro wrestling? It’s mostly seen on the men’s side. TNA stars like A.J Francis and Moose have done it successfully. Even WWE star Roman Reigns was playing college and pro football before he turned into the massive star he is today.Forza told OutKick she started cheerleading at a young age before convincing her mother to let her play tackle football. She said she played the sport for more than a dozen a years, getting herself comfortable being able to hit and take hits from the men.ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!”I’m very grateful to them because it shaped the rest of my life. I was always the smallest on my football team, but I played for 15 years — five of those years being on boys’ teams being the only girl,” she said. “But I was always used to going up against guys who were bigger than me but that made me a very strong person physically. My brother was always the biggest person on the football team and I was always the smallest. All the other guys growing up would take it easy on me because ‘that’s a girl, don’t hit the girl. My brother did not care. He was like, ‘Oh, I can hit my sister, let’s go.’ So, I do credit my brother for making me very, very tough because he was literally the biggest and strongest, couldn’t be taken down by anyone, but then there was me and I was like, ‘I’m getting him.’ Chasing my brother and literally beating each other up our entire childhood on various football teams made me not scared of anyone of any size and that I got the biggest fight in me. I’ve proven that all over the place. I took that into my women’s football career.”I was a women’s tackle football player from 18 years old until I joined wrestling a few years ago. I became a seven-time All-American linebacker. I traveled across the states, I traveled across the world, to play against the best. I tried out for Team USA twice, I made alternate roster one time. I really wanted to go into my wrestling career as an Olympic gold medalist in my sport because I thought it would be really cool but unfortunately I only made the alternate roster. But I was a two-time national champion linebacker for my football team and I had all the accolades I think I could have achieved in football – really hit the ceiling in what I could achieve and then I brought all of that into wrestling without taking any time off. I’m like the hottest I’ve ever been, the strongest I’ve ever been and I’m excited to show the world that.”Forza hopes to be a source of inspiration for young women don’t necessarily fit the mold of what society says a woman should look like.”I definitely aspire to inspire other people, especially young women who don’t fit the typical shape of a woman, you fit the mold that society has built for us,” she said. “That has made me want to be a TNA Knockout really badly because I’ve watched TNA and I’ve seen the type of women who thrive in TNA and I’m like I can absolutely be, not a wrestler in TNA but I feel like I can be a star at TNA and that’s kind of what I’m hoping to achieve and I think wrestling has been very good to me in the sense that I’ve been able to reach all these young people and young girls who come up to me all the time and tell me that I inspire them to work out, to get stronger, and not focus on being what other people expect them to be.”It’s unclear when Forza will make her debut. TNA holds “Impact” each Thursday night at 9 p.m. ET on AMC. The company will run its Lockdown pay-per-view on Sunday where each match is held inside a steel cage.

Health care in America is at a crossroads — and this episode takes on the full picture, from the halls of federal policy to the promises of a movement still finding its footing.
Rose Unplugged sat down with Dr. Mehmet Oz, Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, to talk about his journey from heart surgeon to national health leader, the principles guiding his work overseeing care for more than 160 million Americans, and why he believes personal responsibility and prevention are just as vital as policy itself.
Dr. Oz opens up about early lessons from the operating room, the power of communication in improving health outcomes, and even shares his now-famous “Fanta antidote.”
Then Rose turns to the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement with Dr. Salvatore Giorgianni, Senior Science Adviser to the Men’s Health Network.
With over 40 years as a clinical pharmacist, Dr. Giorgianni offers a candid look at why MAHA gained early momentum — and why so many Americans, even supporters, now say it’s lost clarity.
Together, Rose and her guests explore whether this is a messaging problem, a policy problem, or a trust problem, and what it will actually take to restore confidence in America’s health institutions.
This is a conversation about more than politics — it’s about honest communication, informed choices, and what it really takes to build a healthier America, one family at a time
WATCH:

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The post Rose Unplugged: Dr. Mehmut Oz and the Trust Gap (VIDEO) appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

HSBC Warns Global Zinc Market Is Flashing Signs Of Tightness

HSBC’s Global Commodity Team warned Thursday that the zinc market is flashing warning signs of extreme tightness:

Global zinc mine supply remains tight: HSBC’s Global Commodity Team expects global mine supply to fall 2.1% y-o-y to 12.5mt in 2026, driven mainly by lower production in Latin America.

The zinc market is expected to be slightly tight in 2026e, driven by a modest recovery in demand in Europe and North America amid supply disruptions at smelters and mines.

Overall, concentrate supply remains tight, and there have been smelter disruptions as well. Zinc demand has held up.

Here’s where the physical tightness is emerging: Zinc for immediate delivery on the London Metal Exchange traded at a premium of as much as $132.37 a ton over three-month futures Thursday, the widest backwardation this year.

The spread signals intensifying competition for readily available metal in warehouses. Benchmark zinc rose 1.1% to $3,802 a ton earlier today, putting it on course for a fifth weekly gain and its highest close in four years.

Analysts from Chinese brokerage Jinrui Futures Co. wrote in a note, “There are still concerns about overseas supply disruptions in zinc,” adding, “So the driving forces for the relative strength of the LME price continue to exist, together with heightened volatility around macroeconomic sentiment.”

Beyond zinc, veteran commodities strategist Jeff Currie wrote in a series of X posts Thursday that the convergence of tight physical markets, currency debasement and policy intervention represents the hallmark of a structural commodity bull cycle.

Quantix Commodity Index

Currie told his followers to “Get long and buckle up: the next leg of the ride will see more vol with higher highs across more markets.”

Read the report here.

Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/21/2026 – 08:00

You hear that? Listen closely. Did you hear it? The bands. The cheers. The pageantry. That’s right.High school football has returned. It’s back. We’re back.We’ve made it to our first Football Friday of 2026, folks. High school football returned around the country last night, and really kicks off tonight. College football is next week. The NFL is two weeks after that.Thanks to the WNBA for holding it down this summer and giving us something to pass the time, but the king has returned. Your watch has ended.With high school football, of course, comes the names. Like Marshall Manning, the freshman QB son of someone named Peyton Manning.ARCH MANNING’S NFL STAR GRANDFATHER LAMENTS HYPE AROUND TEXAS QUARTERBACKMarshall made his debut Thursday night for Baylor School — a private, college prep school in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The game was televised on ESPN2, and also featured arguably the best player in the country in running back David Gabriel Georges.And while Manning’s debut went viral on social media because, well, he’s a Manning, it was Gabriel Georges who absolutely stole the show.What a specimen:How great is high school football? So much to break down there.For starters … how about Marshall Manning’s first career completion going to a kid named Cornbread Adams? How lucky are we to live in this country? God, I love it.And yes, Manning is just a freshman and will play sparingly and was just in briefly last night to get his feet wet. I get it. But, it’s Marshall Manning. This is the kid they’ve been hyping up for a few years now, in the same way they did Archie.I think the pressure on both is insane, by the way, but it comes with the last name. It’s not the worst problem to have.Obviously, the star of the night was this David Gabriel Georges — a 5-star Tennessee commit who is apparently impossible to tackle. The kid never went down on first touch. He finished with three touchdowns and 250 total yards. He might be the next Derrick Henry. Who knows?I don’t know who makes the rankings, but if he’s not the consensus No. 1 running back in the country, the whole thing is a sham.I mean, look at this animal:Lordy. He had social media in awe all night. The 6-foot, 210-pound senior was all over my timeline, making insane play after insane play.STAY “FEARLESS” ON THE GO! TAKE TOMI LAHREN WITH YOU. DOWNLOAD THE TLIF PODCAST NOW!This one, in particular, might’ve taken the cake:Goodness gracious. They didn’t make ’em like that when I played high school football. Thank God.Anyway, welcome back, King. It’s good to have a Football Friday back.

Hong Kong activists who organized vigils remembering the crackdown on Tiananmen Square pro-democacy protests were facing up to 10 years in prison.

Nike, Starbucks and GM have lost ground in China as domestic rivals, geopolitics and changing consumer preferences reshape the market.