Rams hype train ended quicker than Rodger's achilles- Charlie
JUDGE CALLS $245 MILLION CRYPTO HEIST 'FERRIS BUELLER GONE BAD'
Malone Lam was 20 in August 2024 when he and his friends talked a Washington, D.C., investor out of more than 4,100 bitcoin by impersonating Google and Gemini staff. On September 8 he pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of RICO conspiracy, tied to a scheme the Justice Department puts at more than $245 million. The funny part is nobody cracked a wallet here, the crew just made phone calls and sounded official enough for someone to hand over generational wealth. The spending is why U.S. Magistrate Judge Alicia Valle, after hearing prosecutors read the list at his first appearance, said she could only think of "Ferris Bueller gone bad." Lam and his friends ran through $4 million at Los Angeles nightclubs in a single month, including one $569,000 evening. The FBI says he also bought a $2 million watch and more than 30 cars, custom Porsches, Lamborghinis and Ferraris, plus mansions, private jets and security guards. Operational security was not in the budget. Co-defendant Jeandiel Serrano set up an exchange account holding close to $30 million without hiding his IP address, then got arrested at LAX wearing a $500,000 watch. Another defendant later used stolen proceeds to pay Lam's legal bills, so the theft was still funding itself after the arrests. Eighteen people have been charged, Lam is the 11th to plead guilty, and he faces up to 20 years.
AI BOSSES BEG SOMEONE TO SLOW THEM DOWN, PRESIDENT SAYS NAH
Dario Amodei runs one of the companies building the most powerful AI on the planet, and on Saturday he published an essay asking the industry to please stop doing that so fast. It's called "We Must Pace the Frontier," and it argues labs must slow the pace at which they improve model capabilities. The sales pitch is bleak, Amodei wrote that a capable enough swarm of AI agents could take over the internet with a persistent botnet within six to 12 months, with damage potentially reaching hundreds of billions of dollars. His opening move: Anthropic will give third-party evaluators permanent, employee-level access to its systems. Then came the part nobody saw coming. Altman said he agrees and that OpenAI will give independent evaluators the same access. Musk, who sells Grok on having fewer restrictions, posted three words: "Dario is right." Google DeepMind's Demis Hassabis nodded along too. Washington did not nod. Trump, talking to reporters at the Irish Open at his own golf resort, said the US is leading China and "whoever wins AI wins." He also claimed he came up with the expression. He blamed "negative forces" for raising things he says won't happen. Speaker Mike Johnson ruled out a moratorium because "China will overlap us," and said tech companies should lead on safety themselves. Kevin Hassett said the bigger worry is a "malevolent actor" having better AI than ours. Obama, meanwhile, told Democrats at a private fundraiser to put AI regulation at the center of their agenda. Everybody is certain, nobody agrees.
RAMS TRADE JARED VERSE AND THREE PICKS FOR KNEE SURGERY
Myles Garrett made his Rams debut Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and finished with zero sacks, zero tackles and zero quarterback hits. Thirty-nine snaps, three hurries by PFF's count, and a box score you could scroll past without knowing he dressed. On Sunday the explanation arrived: arthroscopic knee surgery and injured reserve, minimum four games. Los Angeles sent Jared Verse, a 2027 first, a 2028 second and a 2029 third to Cleveland in June for the reigning Defensive Player of the Year, a guy coming off a record 23 sacks. One week in, the return on that haul is a scoped knee and Garrett telling reporters it was "the worst version of myself that I've put out there." The team spent camp calling the knee swelling and maintenance. Turns out maintenance means surgery. The actual game was no better. The Rams got beat 27-7, Brock Purdy threw three touchdowns with time to check his phone between reads, and the preseason Super Bowl favorites are 0-1 after flying halfway around the planet the day before kickoff, and being hyped up like the Greatest Show on Turf was coming back. Garrett now misses the Giants, Broncos, Eagles and Bills, and is eligible to return in Week 6 against Arizona. Aaron Donald came out of retirement for this defense and didn't play in the opener either, so to be fair the terrifying front everyone spent the summer hyping still has not appeared on a field together.
Sources (3)
- sports.yahoo.com - Myles Garrett to reportedly undergo knee surgery, miss at least 4 weeks after struggling in Week 1 loss
- nfl.com - NFL Network: Rams' Myles Garrett to undergo knee surgery, miss at least 4 games while on IR
- foxnews.com - Hits keep coming as Rams lose Myles Garrett for at least four games after looming knee surgery
TRUMP SAYS THE IRAN WAR ENDS IMMEDIATELY AFTER ELECTION DAY, VERY CONVENIENT
Trump told reporters Wednesday that the war will end "immediately after the election, because they can't hold out any longer." Six months into a war he launched on February 28 expecting a few weeks of work, the president has landed on an end date that happens to match the congressional calendar. The same day, the Wall Street Journal reported that top White House officials have warned him it could run through the rest of his term. Which if you're not great with dates are twovery different timelines. Here is the week that produced the prediction. US forces struck five Iranian tankers, four damaged and one sunk, and Trump told reporters "we knocked out nine of their ships" and described a lot of Iran's tankers as "gonzo." Iran answered with 20 ballistic missiles at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan. Jordan says it engaged all 20 and destroyed 18, a fine percentage until you meet the other two. One A-10 Warthog came out with a wing blown off and about eight F-15E Strike Eagles took light damage and went back into service. US officials called the equipment impact "minimal," said nobody was killed, and cautioned that some troops may have brain injuries. The IRGC said it hit the areas where fighter jets get maintained and prepped. . Brent crude cleared $100 on Wednesday. Gas hit a $4.29 national average, up from $2.98 before the war, and diesel set a record at $6.05. Iran, per Trump, is the side that can't hold out.
CHICAGO WAITED 14 YEARS FOR CHIEF KEEF AND GOT A WORK EMAIL
Chief Keef hadn't headlined inside Chicago city limits in 14 years, so Saturday's tour opener at Huntington Bank Pavilion was supposed to be the moment. Fans came in from Chicago and beyond in their best outfits. The venue posted a delay notice around 6 p.m., then followed up an hour later to say he wasn't performing at all, and the email announcing the postponement went out at 7:14 p.m. for a 7:30 p.m. show, with no reason and no new date attached. Sixteen minutes of notice, delivered to people standing in front of security guards blocking the entrances. Then came two explanations. Swank PR, handling the tour, said Keef's flight was delayed to a touchdown of around 10:30 p.m., and the venue postponed because he'd have landed right at curfew. Keef's version, posted to Instagram, was spicier: he blamed a "pilot who got very racist at the clear port," said the pilot canceled his plane, and described his people scattering to find new jets until it was too late to land and do a full show. Clearly the pilot did not love Sosa. He did say his team and the city weren't to blame, which is a generous read on a man who booked one flight. "But we back on for the 23rd mark my words," he wrote. Which is very convienent for everyone who made travel plans.
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