Ever-shifting Short Seller Claims

The short sellers attacking RILY in 2023-2024 have been relentless (currently 57% of float sold short per FinViz), with an ever-shifting list of wild accusations.
It's sickening to watch them compile a never-ending list of baseless wild theories and claims to support their short positions, which are demonstrably false. But as each is proved false, they pivot to new claims, and/or change the goalposts.
The sheer volume of shifting claims makes it hard to track how despotic they are with their "platform," and how many falsehoods they've spun. Even for someone who watched it in real-time, for almost a year

Compiled & Debunked

Sunlight kills vampires. To that end, I've compiled a list of (i) claimants (ii) claims (iii) reality (iv) definitive source proving reality.

Why Did They Target RILY?

One of the most vocal short sellers, Nate Koppikar (who also introduced Marc Cohodes to the "opportunity") has a fund Orso Partners. Based on their SEC registration document, this is their investment thesis:
"The Account’s investment objectives are to achieve capital appreciation primarily by identifying and selling short marketable equity securities of underfollowed and complex companies with misleading or corrective disclosures through a research-intensive process. The Account employs a short-biased investment strategy with an emphasis on primarily small to mid-cap companies that are underfollowed and complex (i.e., companies with market capitalizations of less than $5 billion which the market does not yet have a wellformed bull and/or bear perspective)."
RILY fits their description. The icing on the cake was the relatively large market cap, and the relatively small float. Given extremely high insider ownership (32.9% of shares per the proxy), and limitations on when and how insiders can trade, the "free float" of the stock (i.e., the shares that regularly trade) is very small for the size of the company. Moreover, the setup would only get better - given insiders have consistently used their free cash to buy additional shares hand-over-fist (further reducing the float).
That meant, with relatively small amounts of capital, the short sellers could shove around the stock price. That ability to move price opens another profit avenue - taking large derivative positions (buying puts, and selling calls), and shoving the price (or allowing it to drift up) to profit all along the way. It looked so good, the stock has been the highest-shorted on the US indices for several months. Even after the release of the 10-K, shares remain "hard to borrow" with elevated borrow fees.

Debunked Claims

The claims made by vocal short sellers could fill a book. Most were outrageous and fanciful when they were proposed. Virtually all have objectively debunked. This isn't a comprehensive list, as their claims are too numerous and varied. But it paints an illuminating picture.
With a track record this poor, one would expect the short sellers to exit - rather than continuing to spin new narratives. Perhaps the continued attacks are their exit strategy to avoid bankruptcy... Well, #Bullish.
With the highest short interest of all US stocks (albeit likely decreased from the highs of ~76% of the float), I think this is more than ripe for a return to fair value - or well above, if a short squeeze occurs.
Note: this sub disallows image posts. There is a similar post in the RILYStock sub which contains virtually all source images for the claim in the comments (too many images to embed in the post). The source images are illuminating.
Note that the list below deliberately excludes three types of posts/claims from the short sellers:
A) Juvenile personal attacks and attempts to character assassinate and dox a long list of people (RILY CEO, RILY new hires, RILY clients, Marcum the auditor, Marcum's lead audit professional, any firm or individual publicly posting a bull thesis on RILY, etc.).
B) Those that make no objective claims, but simply exist as a product of malicious degeneracy (like pictures of roasted pigs in ovens labeled Bryant Riley the CEO, photoshopped pictures of the CEO in prison chains next to convicted felons, video of an obese woman barely able to walk being gored by a bull labeled Mrs. Riley the CEO's wife, etc.).
C) Those that are impossible for short sellers to know, and impossible to objectively verify (e.g., Marc Cohodes claiming a single RILY trader front runs the CEOs personal short trades in front of clients taking following the firm's bullish advice on those stocks, to guarantee profits).

Claimant	Claim	Reality
1) Wolfpack	Wolfpack “RILY will record investment losses of up to ~$700 million in 2023” FALSE 10-K	FALSE
2) Wolfpack	“new loan to CORZQ will work out just as badly as the last and end in default (again) before June 2023”	Repaid in fullFALSE , early, on 1/6/2024.
3) Wolfpack	“The coupon rate on RILY’s seven issues of baby bonds ranges from 5% to 6.75%, which we believe to be far too low to compensate investors for the existential risk that accompanies these securities.”	Full redemption FALSE of May 2024 came early. Far more than sufficient cash to cover debt payments.
4) Wolfpack	“According to our analysis, 4 of RILY’s largest 7 corporate borrowers with outstanding loan balances of $295.3 million are at a high risk of default, or in the case of CORZQ, is already in default.”	Core Scientific IncExela Technologies Arena Group Holdings FALSE a. . repaid early and in full ($111MM of the “risk”) b. repaid term loan in full ($55.8MM of the “risk”) c. debt retired in full ($99MM of the “risk”). Publicly disclosed in the most recent 10-K for each company (search for "Riley" in the filing)
5) Wolfpack	“RILY’s NAV is Far Below the $1.1 Billion Minimum NAV Requirement That Is Required for the Nomura Credit Agreement Putting RILY at Risk of Collapse in 2023”	is in full compliance FALSE RILY with the Nomura credit agreement. Moreover, reflecting the strength of the relationship, Nomura even granted a no-fee extension when the 10-K filing was delayed. Also see 10-K for current status.
6) Wolfpack	“Over $200 Million of the Goodwill and Intangible Assets on RILY’s Balance Sheet is Attributable to its Telecom Rollup, which is Centered on Dial-up and DSL Internet:” - criticizing them as dying businesses with no value	extremely valuableFALSE Segment is . From just 2020 to 2023, the communications segment has returned over $212.2MM in adjusted EBITDA.
7) Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	RILY committed fraud with loans and closing the FRG acquisition. "The fact $RILY closed the FRG deal while hiding the Kahn loan - an all PIK defaulted loan backed by $FRG shares - is a Hall of Fame worthy act of fraud. I thought after Enron/Sarbox we couldn't have something like this happen in US markets."	FALSE A law firm led an internal investigation, and an independent external investigation both found “The review confirmed what the Company previously disclosed: that the Company and its executives, including Bryant Riley, had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Prophecy.” “The results of the independent investigation confirmed that the Company and its executives had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Mr. Kahn or any of his affiliates. This independent investigation was conducted subsequent to the Company's February 22, 2024 disclosure of the internal review performed with the assistance of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as outside counsel.” Also see 10-K
8) Marc Cohodes (AlderlaneEggs), ParrotCapital, Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	The 10-K will never be filed. They can't produce audited financials.	Audited 10-K FALSE was filed. Delay was due to Audit committee fulfilling its responsibilities and proactively conducting investigations (internal and external).
9) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs) + Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate) + ParrotCapital	Sullivan and Cromwell knew about Massive Fraud, and did a "sham investigation"	Sullivan and Cromwell FALSE is one of the most respected law firms, in the US and worldwide. "Sullivan & Cromwell continues to lead all law firm advisers in announced and completed global deals in 2023, according to Bloomberg and LSEG. The Firm advised on global announced deals totaling more than $345 billion, representing a 12.1 percent market share, per Bloomberg, and on completed global deals totaling more than $431 billion, representing a 16.9 percent market share, per LSEG." They're not compromising themselves for a relatively small client.
10) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear), Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Parrot Capital	Marcum is enabling Massive Fraud	MarcumFALSE is a respected audit firm, and 13th largest by revenue. "Marcum LLP advanced into the Top 15 in the 2023 Vault Accounting list of top-ranked accounting firms. Marcum climbed six levels to the No. 13 ranking overall and earned a ranking of 14 in prestige. The Firm also won Top 20 rankings across all Practice Area, Quality of Life, and Diversity categories, including several new classifications added this year."
11) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	Nomura is enabling Massive Fraud	NomuraFALSE is a global financial services company, and the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. They operate in a highly regulated industry. They're not putting themselves on the line for a relatively small client.
12) Parrot Capital	"The list of $RILY enablers is massive: Marcum LLP, Sullivan and Cromwell, Seeking Alpha, Holbrook Holdings, $AX Axos Bank, Many, many more."	FALSE There's no global conspiracy whereby these companies - all respected law firms, auditors, banks, and media outlets - are collectively colluding to enable RILY to commit fraud. Requires only two brain cells and one functioning synapse to know there's no grand collusion cabal between these disparate companies.
13) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Jonathan Weil at WSJ	Franchise Group shares used to secure Kahn loan: "It is unclear whether Kahn pledged the same shares twice—to both Prophecy and B. Riley."	stated by the company UCC search FALSE As , Simple disproves this. UCC # 202302295747
14) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	“Bryant Riley is on the Road, telling people the ‘audit partner at Marcum left’ and that ‘I have made mistakes’ “	hit the 5yr SEC ruleFALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had , so he was never working on this year’s audit.
15) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"So it turns out James La Rocca was Fired by MarcumLLP If nothing was wrong with prior $RILY Audits, why is he gone? This will be great in discovery of what exactly went on.	hit the 5yr SEC ruleFALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had , so he was never working on this year’s audit.
16) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“So Bryant Riley did disseminate MNPI back in March” in response to Cohodes claim that he told people the Marcum partner left	5 consecutive yearsFALSE Cohodes claimed Bryant Riley was telling people the Marcum auditor left. Koppikar called that disseminating MNPI. Cohodes statement was false (and thus Koppikar's derivate claim is also false). A different auditor worked on RILY, as Marcum follows the SEC rules; the lead auditor can only serve the client for . As such, Koppikar’s derivative claim of disseminating MNPI is false.
17) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“He appears to still not be familiar with the voting interest model of consolidation… why is a life science and tech partner signing an extremely complex investment company / broker dealer audit ???” i.e., auditor is unqualified	Marcum is a highly respected auditorFALSE The auditor is fully qualified. ; they don't hire unqualified people, or assign them to clients they're unqualified to audit. RILY is continuing to use Marcum as the 2024 auditor.
18) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"Now that the $RILY dividend is going away, this omission is serious stuff"	reduced 24Q1FALSE The dividend did not go away. It was from $1.00/share to $0.50/share, to allow them to opportunistically allocate capital. 23Q4 and

There are too many source images for the claims above to embed in a reddit post, and this sub doesn't allow images in comments. Images can be seen on a version of this posted to a sub that discusses RILY in the comments (~55 images). All claims can be sourced on the various social media venues and websites utilized by the short sellers. Other sources include: https://wolfpackresearch.com/research/rily/ and here https://friendlybearresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/RILY-Analyst-Day-Questions-12_11_13-Final.pdf and https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2cpgaejc45gocvoqb1ngg/corner-office/how-b-riley-garnered-the-biggest-short-interest-of-2023 and https://www.wsj.com/finance/how-an-unremarkable-deal-became-a-big-threat-to-a-small-investment-bank-f819a169 . https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/304196 form ADV. This is not financial advice. All claim summarizations reflect my interpretation of the short seller claims, and should be verified against original sources, along with all counters.

I decided to make a short post about how music IS haram, as someone who’s believed it’s halal my entire life until recently.
The Hadith
The main Hadith used to source that music is haram is the following;
“Among my ummah there will certainly be people who permit zina, silk, alcohol and musical instruments…” (Narrated by al-Bukhari ta’liqan, no. 5590; narrated as mawsul by al-Tabarani and al-Bayhaqi. See al-Silsilah al-Sahihah by al-Albani, 91)
How come now in today’s world there *are* people who permit musical instruments nowadays? Just like what prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said? Indeed there are no coincidences in the Quran. One argument against this Hadith is that the prophet (peace be upon him) is referring to musical instruments accompanied by zina, silk, oand alcohol, but that’s just not true because that’s not what he said. Another argument is that it’s okay to listen to musical instruments but not playing them cause of how for example you can’t drink alcohol but you can watch someone else drink alcohol. While this argument does have merit, this next Hadith kind of disproves it:
“And of mankind is he who purchases idle talks (i.e. music) to mislead (men) from the path of Allah…” [Luqman 31:6]
It disproves the argument because it says purchasing music, not playing musical instruments.
—
Therefore, music is haram.
Now, how to quit music? Here’s a guide I wrote on another site.
ᯓ★ (step 1 - acceptance) ᯓᡣ? ! ༘⋆
first of all, you’ll need to accept that it’s haram. for so long I would specifically search for sources that say it’s halal instead of accepting the facts I naturally found. the hadiths clearly state it is and yes there is a chance it’s not, but it most likely is. you as a Muslim should take what it most likely is as your belief. this life is temporary but the afterlife will be permanent, do your best to go to jannah. take this: how come the hadith which says it’s haram was saying that there will be people who will consider musical instruments as permissible and there will be punishment for them, and musical instruments is what some people now consider as permissible? Indeed there are no coincidences in the Quran.
———————
ᯓ★ (step 2 - stopping) ᯓᡣ? ! ༘⋆
well, yeah, step 2 is where it begins. just.. stopping. at the beginning, just.. stop. don’t listen to music. you’ll find it easy at the beginning but then the silence might start to break you because you’re so used to having music in the background 24/7. when you’re at that point, don’t give in. just don’t. try listening to some nasheeds, nasheeds work great as a substitute atleast for me, and they are a great way I’m getting through this stage of quitting. and no, you don’t have to leave your favorite music artists, you can search for acapella versions of their songs and your likely to find some. while you won’t find every song, you can possibly upload some yourself using AI tools to extract vocals and uploading as podcasts however you may wanna look into copyright issues with that !!. acapella songs will inevitably not feel the same. you might find yourself craving the normal versions of those very songs but remember: all of this is for a reason, Allah knows best and you’re doing this for jannah. the songs that you’ll avoid in this world are the ones you can listen to in the next. though, here’s a tip, nasheeds fill in the gap of music better then acapella cause of the way vocals are placed in the background, so try to listen to them more -`♡´-
———————
ᯓ★ (step 2-2 - stopping for musicians) ᯓᡣ? ! ༘⋆
you can skip this part if you aren’t a music producer or musician or someone who wanted to learn instruments.
I recommend that you watch other videos and stuff for help on this as I’m really not the best person to give advice on how to quit music for musicians, but I’m putting this here anyways. this might be incredibly painful for you and I assume you tried to convince yourself it’s halal more then anyone else. if you’ve been learning instruments for years it might be really difficult to accept this but just put the instruments away and think. try to remember that this world is just a test. you’ll be able to play these instruments in the next world, and it may feel like all this effort in learning has been wasted but it’s not, you can use that effort in jannah inshallah. I personally have a guitar that I planned on learning but it has sat in my closet for a while, and now I know it’s gone to waste hurts me alot I won’t lie, I cried last night because of it. but I came to terms when I remembered what this is for, what IM for. life is a test and never forget that. it may be incredibly painful to quit, leave, and forget music especially for you as a music producer or musician, but it’s all worth it I promise you.
———————
ᯓ★ (step 3 - removing music from your ugc) ᯓᡣ? ! ༘⋆
ugc stands for user generated content. now you’ll need to remove the music from the content you have posted on sites such as youtube, etc. for youtube, look for tutorials on how to replace audios from already posted youtube videos, I can’t explain it in text lol. it’s really easy to remove audios from yt videos luckily. some other sites come to mind but I don’t have time to mention all of them, so just look for tutorials and stuff. the reason you need to remove the music from all ur ugc is because correct me if I’m wrong, the bad deeds of those who listen to the music from ur ugc will be on you.
———————
ᯓ★ (step 4 - avoiding music) ᯓᡣ? ! ༘⋆
now for avoiding music. music is EVERYWHERE and it’s incredibly difficult to avoid it. try to not go to restaurants and places that play music but if you can’t then just cover your ears, if you can’t do that then try to ignore it, and if you can’t do that then just try to not care about it and pretend it doesn’t exist even if it’s hard to ignore. when watching stuff like YouTube shorts, mute ur audio, check the video/sound if you’re pretty sure it doesn’t have music, unmute, then repeat.
———————
So uh yeah that’s it bye! Also feel free to argue against my points or correct any mistake I made. This is just my observation of music and Islam as someone who has had an obsession with music and as someone has believed it’s halal for a long portion of my life.

There is a curious dynamic at work in politics these days. Trump does not appear to be trying to court voters to his standard. If he were, he would be reaching out to Nikki Haley voters and trying to moderate his stances. Instead, he is rejecting her voters and doubling down on extreme positions. Rather than trying to appeal to swing voters, he seems to be trying to whip up his right-wing base to engage in violence on his behalf. In Minnesota on Friday, Trump echoed fascists when he told supporters, "No matter how hateful and corrupt the communists and criminals we are fighting against may be, you must never forget this is not a nation that belongs to them. This is a nation that totally belongs to you. It belongs to you. This is your home, this is your heritage." Saturday, at the annual meeting of the National Rifle Association in Dallas, Texas, Trump floated the idea that he could throw out the constitutional amendment limiting a president to two terms. “You know, FDR 16 years—almost 16 years—he was four terms. I don’t know, are we going to be considered three-term? Or two-term?” he asked the crowd. Some yelled, “Three!” In the same speech, Trump told attendees that the Second Amendment “is very much on the ballot” in November, and he urged gun owners to vote and to “be rebellious.” Then he told the crowd that Biden’s actions were such that if he “were a Republican, he would have been given the electric chair, they would have brought back the death penalty.” This evening, Trump’s Instagram account posted a video of what a newspaper would look like after a 2024 MAGA win. Under the headline “WHAT’S NEXT FOR AMERICA?” were the words “INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED DRIVEN BY THE CREATION OF A UNIFIED REICH,” a clear reference to fascism and German dictator Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. It is not clear to me how anyone can any longer deny that Trump is promising to destroy our democracy and usher in authoritarianism. But it is also not clear that he is still a figure that any but the extremes of his base will follow to that end. Hence his emphasis on turning them to violence. His lies have become increasingly outrageous. On Friday he told a crowd in Minnesota that he won the state by “a landslide” in 2020 even though he actually lost it by more than 7 points. At the NRA annual meeting, Trump claimed that his former physician told him he is “healthier” and “a better physical specimen” than the famously athletic former president Barack Obama. At that same event he boasted that he won 31 club golf championships; the day before, he boasted that he won 29. Significantly, he continues to insist that the area around the courtroom is like “Fort Knox.” “There are more police than I’ve ever seen anywhere because they don’t want to have anybody come down,” he said today, “There’s not a civilian within three blocks of the courthouse.” But this is, quite simply, a lie. Virtually no one has turned out to support him. As conservative lawyer George Conway noted today, “There is virtually complete freedom of movement around that courthouse.” Social media contributor Eddie Smith, who filmed the handful of Trump protesters in New York today, put it more colorfully. After noting that “MAGA’s not repping in New York,” he added: “Wait a minute! You guys hear that? There is a mouse pissing on a ball of cotton in China. That’s how quiet it is out here.” Republican lawmakers are stepping in where Trump’s base followers are not. Republicans attacked as unfit for office 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton for her use of a private email server. They tried to impeach current president Biden on unfounded accusations that he took bribes from foreign countries. Now they find themselves forced to defend a man who is currently the defendant in a criminal trial that is showing that his associates acted like a criminal gang. As Tom Nichols put it today in The Atlantic, that defense is partly because they are afraid of their own voters. Nichols also called out those “now circling Trump like the cold fragments of a destroyed planet” who “resent the people who stuck to their principles.” Those MAGA Republicans lawmakers are, like Trump, trying to gin up anger with lies. Representative Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who went to Trump’s Manhattan trial to support him on Thursday, told Jesse Watters of the Fox News Channel and later posted on social media that “[t]hey’re trying to keep cameras out of the courtroom so that the American people don’t see what’s happening.” Former federal prosecutor Ron Filipkowski noted in response that “New York has banned cameras in courtrooms since June 30, 1997.” The most important of their lies, though, is that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and that to protect the 2024 election, it is imperative to police the election. This is the same tactic Trump used in 2020, claiming exactly four years ago that “they send in thousands and thousands of fake ballots.” Those lies have resulted in a huge increase in threats against those whom MAGA perceives as an enemy. Danny Hakim, Ken Bensinger, and Eileen Sullivan reported in the New York Times yesterday that last year, threats against federal judges increased 150% over 2019: 450 federal judges were targeted. Since 2018, threats to members of Congress have increased by 50%, with more than 8,000 such threats last year. More than 80% of local officials also say they have been threatened or harassed. MAGA lawmakers refuse to say they will accept the results of the 2024 election. On Saturday, Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson refused to commit to that fundamental tenet of our democracy. On Meet the Press on Sunday, Florida senator Marco Rubio also declined to say he would accept the election results. Those vying for the Republican vice presidential nomination, including North Dakota governor Doug Burgum and South Carolina senator Tim Scott, have refused to say they would accept the results. Their tactics are working among the Republican base. A CBS News/YouGov poll released this weekend showed that only 47% of Arizona Republicans say they will accept the results of the 2024 election no matter who wins. An equal number—47%—say they will challenge the results if the other side wins. That result is not symmetrical with the Democrats: 82% of them say they will accept the results, while only 14% say they will challenge the results if their opponents win. But people are pushing back against the MAGA narrative. On May 15 the Texas Tribune and ProPublica published a story by Jeremy Schwartz about Courtney Gore, a woman who ran for a Texas school board to combat pornography and critical race theory in the schools, only to find there wasn’t any. When she told the public, her former colleagues turned on her. “I’m over the political agenda, hypocrisy bs,” Gore wrote. “I took part in it myself. I refuse to participate in it any longer. It’s not serving our party. We have to do better.” Steve MacLaughlin, a meteorologist for NBC 6 News in Miami, reported on a new law Florida governor Ron DeSantis signed into law last week that will remove references to climate change from state law. “On Thursday, we reported on NBC 6 News that the government of Florida was beginning to roll back really important climate change legislation and really important climate change language in spite of the fact that the state of Florida, over the last couple of years, has seen record heat, record flooding, record rain, record insurance rates, and the corals are dying all around the state,” MacLaughlin said. “The entire world is looking to Florida to lead in climate change, and our government is saying that climate change is no longer the priority it once was. Please keep in mind, the most powerful climate change solution is the one you already have in the palm of your hands: the right to vote. And we will never tell you who to vote for, but we will tell you this: We implore you to please do your research and know that there are candidates that believe in climate change and that there are solutions, and there are candidates that don’t.” On May 17, former lieutenant governor of Georgia Geoffrey Duncan noted on Amanpour & Company that Trump had done less for rural voters than any other president in modern history. “At the end of the day,” he said, “we just cannot get into the business in America of electing dishonest human beings to represent us…. The world’s watching us. I’m hoping we get this right.” Tonight, Sarah Matthews, who was deputy press secretary for the Trump administration, wrote: “Trump’s continued use of Nazi rhetoric is un-American and despicable. Yet too many Americans are brushing off the glaring red flags about what could happen if he returns to the White House. When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” — Notes: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/may/19/trump-nra-convention-dallashttps://www.rawstory.com/trump-threat-biden/https://nymag.com/intelligencearticle/the-nra-is-weaker-than-ever-how-much-does-that-matter.htmlhttps://time.com/6979795/trump-receives-nra-endorsement-urges-gun-owners-vote/​​https://apnews.com/article/election-2024-trump-minnesota-4f7ebfe7a2e1949d38a7c9894616a985 https://apnews.com/article/trump-election-2024-rhetoric-germany-antisemitism-31002afb91b642c0314223d19e51f427https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/marco-rubio-joins-republicans-hedging-accepting-election-results-rcna153011 https://presswatchers.org/2024/05/trump-choosing-not-to-testify-in-his-defense-should-be-a-banner-headline/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/19/us/politics/political-violence.htmlhttps://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4675594-florida-meteorologist-ron-desantis-climate-change-roll-back/https://captimes.com/news/elections/top-wisconsin-republicans-mixed-on-accepting-2024-election-results/article_2ae8f1e4-1538-11ef-a217-d7802fd5a882.htmlhttps://www.reuters.com/world/us/donald-trump-fire-up-supporters-nras-annual-us-gathering-2024-05-18/,accepted%20the%20influential%20group's%20endorsement)https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2024/05/the-maga-memory-hole/678435/https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/15/texas-granbury-isd-school-board-courtney-gore/X: BidenHQ/status/1791469492440072359RonFilipkowski/status/1792195770374099083samstein/status/1792188951920361645HueyRey/status/1792635408506912824mkraju/status/1792515853314904293gtconway3d/status/1792548740525363276eddsmitty/status/1792573721615434037atrupastatus/1792626209118884346BidensWins/status/1791609511435714795BidenHQ/status/1792209690664845569BidenHQ/status/1791946911340999113CarlosGSmith/status/1792207611733172238Tim_Walz/status/1791620309105119419BidenHQ/status/1791949552469082444AccountableGOP/status/1791661408641298808SarahAMatthews1/status/1792760772193374274

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/may-20-2024

TL;DR: What if Shizuku wrote Howls moving castle?
This is a headcanon that I came up with recently and wanted to share with the community :) marked for spoilers just in case though both movies have been out for a while since I’ll also be bringing up bits and bobs from the howls moving castle book ( I haven’t read the books for whisper of the heart so I can’t really comment on them). This headcanon is pretty much based on two sequences from the movies, both taking place in the main characters dreams, both featuring tunnels covered in knickknacks, - although in whisper of the heart it’s gems and stones (see images attached). Admittedly, this may be just a narrative point which the creators enjoy reusing to portray the characters feelings of tension (I won’t go into too much detail on this since it’s not the focus of the post), but I think a fun concept could be the following: Shizuku writes stories, and though I’m personally not aware whether she becomes a writer after the events of her movie, if she does, it’s possible that she ends up writing Howls Moving Castle. In the irl book, the world in which it is set is accessed through a portal from the real world, - that’s how Howl ends up there, and he’s able to return to the real world. If memory serves correctly, the world is very much based on rather traditional fairytale narratives, e.g. three sisters (of which Sophie was the oldest I think? And she broke the usual narrative and did significant things rather than being overshadowed by the youngeyoungest sister), etc. I don’t recall if this is actually the case in the original text, but what if the portal leads INTO a book, or a world set in a book? Possibly… Shizuku’s book? The ideas and concepts would track with Shizuku’s fascination with fictional stories, and the strong older sister image she’s got within her own family (within the movies their relationship is a bit tense, though for the sake of my headcanon I’d like to imagine they become much closer with age, as a lot of siblings with an age gap tend to, at least in my experience). This is where the dream sequences become relevant: what if Shizuku used her own dream at a time of stress and tension for inspiration of Sophie’s respective stress and tension, or as a point of narrative development? On top of that, I feel like the scene of Shizuku flying with Baron (albeit in her imagination/story) is also similar to how Sophie flew above the town with Howl at the start of the movie. Small connections and similarities my beloved :) There’s not much else to this headcanon so far, but I feel like it’s a fun way to connect two movies/stories that I personally really love. Obviously I understand if the connection between the two may seem pointless to some, but then again, this was just for fun :)
Let me know your thoughts in the comments! Do you have any ghibli headcanons?

SENUA RETURNS IN A BRUTAL SAGA OF SURVIVAL

• Intent on saving those who have fallen victim to the horrors of tyranny, Senua faces a battle of overcoming the darkness within and without.
  
• Sink deep into the next chapter of Senua’s story, a crafted experience told through cinematic immersion, beautifully realised visuals and encapsulating sound.
  

MetaCritic - 81 as of posting
IGN - 8/10

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II delivers a spellbinding adventure packed with cinematic spectacle and story surprises that maintains a surging sense of forward momentum and never wastes a second of its slender run time. Its combat manages to feel consistently intimidating and immediate despite its mechanical simplicity, and its perspective-based puzzles regularly scratch cerebral itches even though they largely rehash or rework concepts from Senua’s previous story. A journey as brutal as it is beautiful delivered with hardware-pushing visuals and persistently absorbing audio, Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is another Viking-worthy feast for the senses that meets the high bar set by its predecessor, even if it never really manages to clear it.

The Gamer - 3/5

It's easy to focus on Hellblade 2's flaws because they are so surface level. Combat is repetitive and made an unnecessary focal point. The extra characters dilute instead of adding. I'm still not sure what Hellblade thinks it is, or wants to be. But deeper than that, there is some quality worth rooting for - an interesting protagonist powered by a brilliant performance, ingenious use of the environment for exploration and puzzles, a true electric miracle of motion capture unfolding before our eyes.

VGC - 3/5

Ultimately, Hellblade 2 has to be considered a stumble as Xbox gets its first-party story back on track. The game will likely receive some acclaim during the coming awards season, but this will almost certainly be on a technical basis, and not related to how the game actually plays.

GameRant - 4/5

Senua’s Saga: Hellblade 2 swings for the fences with a unique narrative, complex themes, top-tier graphics, superb sound design, and crisp animation. In trying to curate a cinematic experience, though, the game can feel less interactive and more prescribed. Combat is chunky and vicious, but it is not as involved as most character action games. You merely go through the motions when solving its puzzles, even if they are visually interesting. And moving from point A to point B doesn’t offer much to do except keep holding forward. If you didn’t enjoy the first game, then the sequel is unlikely to make a believer out of you.

NME - 3/5

Mostly, Hellblade 2 seems like a victim of its own scope, which is a strange thing to write about a six-hour-long video game. It never knows when to stick with one idea, character, or plotline. The presence of Giants is woven well into the start of the story, but after a touching bit of character development and an epic, tragic boss fight that could have been worked into a perfect climax, the game outstays its welcome by throwing more characters, more combat, more puzzles, and more walking at you.

There was a data push today, only to version 11.4. Those who are still using 11.3.1 are out-of-luck. The changes are:

• A bunch of narratives have been added to the English language texts only. They don't exist in the other languages. Probably an oversight that will be fixed later.

"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_1_1",
"{NPC_ENTER:zomboss}{SAY:zomboss}Roll up, roll up, puny mortals, to my undead extravaganza!",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_1_2",
"{SAY:zomboss}Behold, my monstrous performers shall steal the show, literally. Muhuhahaha!",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_1_3",
"{NPC_EXIT:zomboss}{NPC_ENTER:wallnut}{SAY:wallnut}Oh no! Our show is being hijacked. My performance was next.",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_1_4",
"{NPC_ENTER:sunflower_r}{SAY:sunflower_r}Who knew Zomboss had such a flair for dramatics?",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_1_5",
"{SAY:sunflower_r}But I guess we have to show Zomboss how its actually done.",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_1_6",
"{NPC_EXIT:wallnut}{NPC_EXIT:sunflower_r}{NPC_ENTER:zomboss}{SAY:zomboss}Without sun there is no stopping me today! Minions!",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_2_1",
"{NPC_ENTER:peashooter}{SAY:peashooter}Looks like we managed to outshine the zombie act.",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_2_2",
"{NPC_EXIT:peashooter}{NPC_ENTER:zomboss_r}{SAY:zomboss_r}Blast it all! You may have stopped my act.",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_2_3",
"{NPC_EXIT:zomboss_r}{SAY:zomboss_r}But this isn't the end and my evil plans will go on!",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_2_4",
"{NPC_ENTER:wallnut}{SAY:wallnut}And stretch, and roll...wait...",
"NARRATIVE_CIRCUSACT4_LTE_2024_2_5",
"{SHOUT:wallnut}...uh oh...can't stop rolling...no no no...HELLPP!",
"NARRATIVE_PLTE_MAYBEE_1_1",
"{NPC_ENTER:winnie}{SAY:winnie}Maybee shoots bee-like projectile that damage and mini-stuns the target.",
"NARRATIVE_PLTE_PEAPOD_1_1",
"{NPC_ENTER:winnie}{SAY:winnie}Pea Pod can be placed in the same position upto 5 times.",
"NARRATIVE_PLTE_PEAPOD_1_2",
"{SAY:winnie}Strategic distribution in different places will be key to victory.",
"NARRATIVE_PLTE_POISONPEASHOOTER_1_1",
"{NPC_ENTER:winnie}{SAY:winnie}Goo Peashooter shoots peas that both slows and damages zombies overtime.",
"NARRATIVE_PLTE_REPEATER_1_1",
"{NPC_ENTER:winnie}{SAY:winnie}Repeater shoot 2 pea-like projectiles at a time to damage the zombies.",

• There is one new "missing string" - i.e., a product is referencing some text that doesn't exist in the text strings file:

PRODUCT_SG_GUARDSHROOM_CONSUME_G

• Shop offers for Reinforce-mint and for Guard-shroom (with progressively increasing prices for the latter, again capped at 25 purchases) have been added. They have been added with yesterday's date, indicating that their absence was indeed an oversight; they had to appear yesterday. Upcoming Offers for Gems in the Shop

Ever-shifting Short Seller Claims

The short sellers attacking RILY in 2023-2024 have been relentless (currently 57% of float sold short per FinViz), with an ever-shifting list of wild accusations.
It's sickening to watch them compile a never-ending list of baseless wild theories and claims to support their short positions, which are demonstrably false. But as each is proved false, they pivot to new claims, and/or change the goalposts.
The sheer volume of shifting claims makes it hard to track how despotic they are with their "platform," and how many falsehoods they've spun. Even for someone who watched it in real-time, for almost a year

Compiled & Debunked

Sunlight kills vampires. To that end, I've compiled a list of (i) claimants (ii) claims (iii) reality (iv) definitive source proving reality.

Why Did They Target RILY?

One of the most vocal short sellers, Nate Koppikar (who also introduced Marc Cohodes to the "opportunity") has a fund Orso Partners. Based on their SEC registration document, this is their investment thesis:
"The Account’s investment objectives are to achieve capital appreciation primarily by identifying and selling short marketable equity securities of underfollowed and complex companies with misleading or corrective disclosures through a research-intensive process. The Account employs a short-biased investment strategy with an emphasis on primarily small to mid-cap companies that are underfollowed and complex (i.e., companies with market capitalizations of less than $5 billion which the market does not yet have a wellformed bull and/or bear perspective)."
RILY fits their description. The icing on the cake was the relatively large market cap, and the relatively small float. Given extremely high insider ownership (32.9% of shares per the proxy), and limitations on when and how insiders can trade, the "free float" of the stock (i.e., the shares that regularly trade) is very small for the size of the company. Moreover, the setup would only get better - given insiders have consistently used their free cash to buy additional shares hand-over-fist (further reducing the float).
That meant, with relatively small amounts of capital, the short sellers could shove around the stock price. That ability to move price opens another profit avenue - taking large derivative positions (buying puts, and selling calls), and shoving the price (or allowing it to drift up) to profit all along the way. It looked so good, the stock has been the highest-shorted on the US indices for several months. Even after the release of the 10-K, shares remain "hard to borrow" with elevated borrow fees.

Debunked Claims

The claims made by vocal short sellers could fill a book. Most were outrageous and fanciful when they were proposed. Virtually all have objectively debunked. This isn't a comprehensive list, as their claims are too numerous and varied. But it paints an illuminating picture.
With a track record this poor, one would expect the short sellers to exit - rather than continuing to spin new narratives. Perhaps the continued attacks are their exit strategy to avoid bankruptcy... Well, #Bullish.
With the highest short interest of all US stocks (albeit likely decreased from the highs of ~76% of the float), I think this is more than ripe for a return to fair value - or well above, if a short squeeze occurs.
Note: this sub disallows image posts. There is a similar post in the RILYStock sub which contains virtually all source images for the claim in the comments (too many images to embed in the post). The source images are illuminating.
Note that the list below deliberately excludes three types of posts/claims from the short sellers:
A) Juvenile personal attacks and attempts to character assassinate and dox a long list of people (RILY CEO, RILY new hires, RILY clients, Marcum the auditor, Marcum's lead audit professional, any firm or individual publicly posting a bull thesis on RILY, etc.).
B) Those that make no objective claims, but simply exist as a product of malicious degeneracy (like pictures of roasted pigs in ovens labeled Bryant Riley the CEO, photoshopped pictures of the CEO in prison chains next to convicted felons, video of an obese woman barely able to walk being gored by a bull labeled Mrs. Riley the CEO's wife, etc.).
C) Those that are impossible for short sellers to know, and impossible to objectively verify (e.g., Marc Cohodes claiming a single RILY trader front runs the CEOs personal short trades in front of clients taking following the firm's bullish advice on those stocks, to guarantee profits).

Claimant	Claim	Reality
1) Wolfpack	Wolfpack “RILY will record investment losses of up to ~$700 million in 2023” FALSE 10-K	FALSE
2) Wolfpack	“new loan to CORZQ will work out just as badly as the last and end in default (again) before June 2023”	FALSE Repaid in full, early, on 1/6/2024.
3) Wolfpack	“The coupon rate on RILY’s seven issues of baby bonds ranges from 5% to 6.75%, which we believe to be far too low to compensate investors for the existential risk that accompanies these securities.”	FALSE Full redemption of May 2024 came early. Far more than sufficient cash to cover debt payments.
4) Wolfpack	“According to our analysis, 4 of RILY’s largest 7 corporate borrowers with outstanding loan balances of $295.3 million are at a high risk of default, or in the case of CORZQ, is already in default.”	FALSE a. Core Scientific Inc. repaid early and in full ($111MM of the “risk”) b. Exela Technologies repaid term loan in full ($55.8MM of the “risk”) c. Arena Group Holdings debt retired in full ($99MM of the “risk”). Publicly disclosed in the most recent 10-K for each company (search for "Riley" in the filing)
5) Wolfpack	“RILY’s NAV is Far Below the $1.1 Billion Minimum NAV Requirement That Is Required for the Nomura Credit Agreement Putting RILY at Risk of Collapse in 2023”	FALSE RILY is in full compliance with the Nomura credit agreement. Moreover, reflecting the strength of the relationship, Nomura even granted a no-fee extension when the 10-K filing was delayed. Also see 10-K for current status.
6) Wolfpack	“Over $200 Million of the Goodwill and Intangible Assets on RILY’s Balance Sheet is Attributable to its Telecom Rollup, which is Centered on Dial-up and DSL Internet:” - criticizing them as dying businesses with no value	FALSE Segment is extremely valuable. From just 2020 to 2023, the communications segment has returned over $212.2MM in adjusted EBITDA.
7) Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	RILY committed fraud with loans and closing the FRG acquisition. "The fact $RILY closed the FRG deal while hiding the Kahn loan - an all PIK defaulted loan backed by $FRG shares - is a Hall of Fame worthy act of fraud. I thought after Enron/Sarbox we couldn't have something like this happen in US markets."	FALSE A law firm led an internal investigation, and an independent external investigation both found “The review confirmed what the Company previously disclosed: that the Company and its executives, including Bryant Riley, had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Prophecy.” “The results of the independent investigation confirmed that the Company and its executives had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Mr. Kahn or any of his affiliates. This independent investigation was conducted subsequent to the Company's February 22, 2024 disclosure of the internal review performed with the assistance of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as outside counsel.” Also see 10-K
8) Marc Cohodes (AlderlaneEggs), ParrotCapital, Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	The 10-K will never be filed. They can't produce audited financials.	FALSE Audited 10-K was filed. Delay was due to Audit committee fulfilling its responsibilities and proactively conducting investigations (internal and external).
9) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs) + Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate) + ParrotCapital	Sullivan and Cromwell knew about Massive Fraud, and did a "sham investigation"	FALSE Sullivan and Cromwell is one of the most respected law firms, in the US and worldwide. "Sullivan & Cromwell continues to lead all law firm advisers in announced and completed global deals in 2023, according to Bloomberg and LSEG. The Firm advised on global announced deals totaling more than $345 billion, representing a 12.1 percent market share, per Bloomberg, and on completed global deals totaling more than $431 billion, representing a 16.9 percent market share, per LSEG." They're not compromising themselves for a relatively small client.
10) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear), Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Parrot Capital	Marcum is enabling Massive Fraud	FALSE Marcum is a respected audit firm, and 13th largest by revenue. "Marcum LLP advanced into the Top 15 in the 2023 Vault Accounting list of top-ranked accounting firms. Marcum climbed six levels to the No. 13 ranking overall and earned a ranking of 14 in prestige. The Firm also won Top 20 rankings across all Practice Area, Quality of Life, and Diversity categories, including several new classifications added this year."
11) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	Nomura is enabling Massive Fraud	FALSE Nomura is a global financial services company, and the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. They operate in a highly regulated industry. They're not putting themselves on the line for a relatively small client.
12) Parrot Capital	"The list of $RILY enablers is massive: Marcum LLP, Sullivan and Cromwell, Seeking Alpha, Holbrook Holdings, $AX Axos Bank, Many, many more."	FALSE There's no global conspiracy whereby these companies - all respected law firms, auditors, banks, and media outlets - are collectively colluding to enable RILY to commit fraud. Requires only two brain cells and one functioning synapse to know there's no grand collusion cabal between these disparate companies.
13) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Jonathan Weil at WSJ	Franchise Group shares used to secure Kahn loan: "It is unclear whether Kahn pledged the same shares twice—to both Prophecy and B. Riley."	FALSE As stated by the company, Simple UCC search disproves this. UCC # 202302295747
14) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	“Bryant Riley is on the Road, telling people the ‘audit partner at Marcum left’ and that ‘I have made mistakes’ “	FALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had hit the 5yr SEC rule, so he was never working on this year’s audit.
15) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"So it turns out James La Rocca was Fired by MarcumLLP If nothing was wrong with prior $RILY Audits, why is he gone? This will be great in discovery of what exactly went on.	FALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had hit the 5yr SEC rule, so he was never working on this year’s audit.
16) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“So Bryant Riley did disseminate MNPI back in March” in response to Cohodes claim that he told people the Marcum partner left	FALSE Cohodes claimed Bryant Riley was telling people the Marcum auditor left. Koppikar called that disseminating MNPI. Cohodes statement was false (and thus Koppikar's derivate claim is also false). A different auditor worked on RILY, as Marcum follows the SEC rules; the lead auditor can only serve the client for 5 consecutive years. As such, Koppikar’s derivative claim of disseminating MNPI is false.
17) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“He appears to still not be familiar with the voting interest model of consolidation… why is a life science and tech partner signing an extremely complex investment company / broker dealer audit ???” i.e., auditor is unqualified	FALSE The auditor is fully qualified. Marcum is a highly respected auditor; they don't hire unqualified people, or assign them to clients they're unqualified to audit. RILY is continuing to use Marcum as the 2024 auditor.
18) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"Now that the $RILY dividend is going away, this omission is serious stuff"	FALSE The dividend did not go away. It was reduced from $1.00/share to $0.50/share, to allow them to opportunistically allocate capital. 23Q4 and 24Q1

No source images included for the claims, as this sub disallows images in posts and comments. Images can be seen on a version of this posted to a sub that discusses RILY. All claims can be sourced on the various social media venues and websites utilized by the short sellers. Other sources include: https://wolfpackresearch.com/research/rily/ and here https://friendlybearresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/RILY-Analyst-Day-Questions-12_11_13-Final.pdf and https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2cpgaejc45gocvoqb1ngg/corner-office/how-b-riley-garnered-the-biggest-short-interest-of-2023 and https://www.wsj.com/finance/how-an-unremarkable-deal-became-a-big-threat-to-a-small-investment-bank-f819a169 . https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/304196 form ADV. This is not financial advice. All claim summarizations reflect my interpretation of the short seller claims, and should be verified against original sources, along with all counters. Due to Reddit image attachment limits, not all source images are included (but any missing can be found on TwitteX or other publicly available sources).

Ever-shifting Short Seller Claims

The short sellers attacking RILY in 2023-2024 have been relentless (currently 57% of float sold short per FinViz), with an ever-shifting list of wild accusations.
It's sickening to watch them compile a never-ending list of baseless wild theories and claims to support their short positions, which are demonstrably false. But as each is proved false, they pivot to new claims, and/or change the goalposts.
The sheer volume of shifting claims makes it hard to track how despotic they are with their "platform," and how many falsehoods they've spun. Even for someone who watched it in real-time, for almost a year

Compiled & Debunked

Sunlight kills vampires. To that end, I've compiled a list of (i) claimants (ii) claims (iii) reality (iv) definitive source proving reality.

Why Did They Target RILY?

One of the most vocal short sellers, Nate Koppikar (who also introduced Marc Cohodes to the "opportunity") has a fund Orso Partners. Based on their SEC registration document, this is their investment thesis:
"The Account’s investment objectives are to achieve capital appreciation primarily by identifying and selling short marketable equity securities of underfollowed and complex companies with misleading or corrective disclosures through a research-intensive process. The Account employs a short-biased investment strategy with an emphasis on primarily small to mid-cap companies that are underfollowed and complex (i.e., companies with market capitalizations of less than $5 billion which the market does not yet have a wellformed bull and/or bear perspective)."
RILY fits their description. The icing on the cake was the relatively large market cap, and the relatively small float. Given extremely high insider ownership (32.9% of shares per the proxy), and limitations on when and how insiders can trade, the "free float" of the stock (i.e., the shares that regularly trade) is very small for the size of the company. Moreover, the setup would only get better - given insiders have consistently used their free cash to buy additional shares hand-over-fist (further reducing the float).
That meant, with relatively small amounts of capital, the short sellers could shove around the stock price. That ability to move price opens another profit avenue - taking large derivative positions (buying puts, and selling calls), and shoving the price (or allowing it to drift up) to profit all along the way. It looked so good, the stock has been the highest-shorted on the US indices for several months. Even after the release of the 10-K, shares remain "hard to borrow" with elevated borrow fees.

Debunked Claims

The claims made by vocal short sellers could fill a book. Most were outrageous and fanciful when they were proposed. Virtually all have objectively debunked. This isn't a comprehensive list, as their claims are too numerous and varied. But it paints an illuminating picture.
With a track record this poor, one would expect the short sellers to exit - rather than continuing to spin new narratives. Perhaps the continued attacks are their exit strategy to avoid bankruptcy... Well, #Bullish.
With the highest short interest of all US stocks (albeit likely decreased from the highs of ~76% of the float), I think this is more than ripe for a return to fair value - or well above, if a short squeeze occurs.
Note that the list below deliberately excludes three types of posts/claims from the short sellers:
A) Juvenile personal attacks and attempts to character assassinate and dox a long list of people (RILY CEO, RILY new hires, RILY clients, Marcum the auditor, Marcum's lead audit professional, any firm or individual publicly posting a bull thesis on RILY, etc.).
B) Those that make no objective claims, but simply exist as a product of malicious degeneracy (like pictures of roasted pigs in ovens labeled Bryant Riley the CEO, photoshopped pictures of the CEO in prison chains next to convicted felons, video of an obese woman barely able to walk being gored by a bull labeled Mrs. Riley the CEO's wife, etc.).
C) Those that are impossible for short sellers to know, and impossible to objectively verify (e.g., Marc Cohodes claiming a single RILY trader front runs the CEOs personal short trades in front of clients taking following the firm's bullish advice on those stocks, to guarantee profits).

Claimant	Claim	Reality
1) Wolfpack	Wolfpack “RILY will record investment losses of up to ~$700 million in 2023” FALSE 10-K	FALSE
2) Wolfpack	“new loan to CORZQ will work out just as badly as the last and end in default (again) before June 2023”	FALSE Repaid in full, early, on 1/6/2024.
3) Wolfpack	“The coupon rate on RILY’s seven issues of baby bonds ranges from 5% to 6.75%, which we believe to be far too low to compensate investors for the existential risk that accompanies these securities.”	FALSE Full redemption of May 2024 came early. Far more than sufficient cash to cover debt payments.
4) Wolfpack	“According to our analysis, 4 of RILY’s largest 7 corporate borrowers with outstanding loan balances of $295.3 million are at a high risk of default, or in the case of CORZQ, is already in default.”	FALSE a. Core Scientific Inc. repaid early and in full ($111MM of the “risk”) b. Exela Technologies repaid term loan in full ($55.8MM of the “risk”) c. Arena Group Holdings debt retired in full ($99MM of the “risk”). Publicly disclosed in the most recent 10-K for each company (search for "Riley" in the filing)
5) Wolfpack	“RILY’s NAV is Far Below the $1.1 Billion Minimum NAV Requirement That Is Required for the Nomura Credit Agreement Putting RILY at Risk of Collapse in 2023”	FALSE RILY is in full compliance with the Nomura credit agreement. Moreover, reflecting the strength of the relationship, Nomura even granted a no-fee extension when the 10-K filing was delayed. Also see 10-K for current status.
6) Wolfpack	“Over $200 Million of the Goodwill and Intangible Assets on RILY’s Balance Sheet is Attributable to its Telecom Rollup, which is Centered on Dial-up and DSL Internet:” - criticizing them as dying businesses with no value	FALSE Segment is extremely valuable. From just 2020 to 2023, the communications segment has returned over $212.2MM in adjusted EBITDA.
7) Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	RILY committed fraud with loans and closing the FRG acquisition. "The fact $RILY closed the FRG deal while hiding the Kahn loan - an all PIK defaulted loan backed by $FRG shares - is a Hall of Fame worthy act of fraud. I thought after Enron/Sarbox we couldn't have something like this happen in US markets."	FALSE A law firm led an internal investigation, and an independent external investigation both found “The review confirmed what the Company previously disclosed: that the Company and its executives, including Bryant Riley, had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Prophecy.” “The results of the independent investigation confirmed that the Company and its executives had no involvement with, or knowledge of, any of the alleged misconduct concerning Mr. Kahn or any of his affiliates. This independent investigation was conducted subsequent to the Company's February 22, 2024 disclosure of the internal review performed with the assistance of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP as outside counsel.” Also see 10-K
8) Marc Cohodes (AlderlaneEggs), ParrotCapital, Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Various	The 10-K will never be filed. They can't produce audited financials.	FALSE Audited 10-K was filed. Delay was due to Audit committee fulfilling its responsibilities and proactively conducting investigations (internal and external).
9) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs) + Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear) + Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate) + ParrotCapital	Sullivan and Cromwell knew about Massive Fraud, and did a "sham investigation"	FALSE Sullivan and Cromwell is one of the most respected law firms, in the US and worldwide. "Sullivan & Cromwell continues to lead all law firm advisers in announced and completed global deals in 2023, according to Bloomberg and LSEG. The Firm advised on global announced deals totaling more than $345 billion, representing a 12.1 percent market share, per Bloomberg, and on completed global deals totaling more than $431 billion, representing a 16.9 percent market share, per LSEG." They're not compromising themselves for a relatively small client.
10) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Nate Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear), Bill Abbate Jr. (JrAbbate), Parrot Capital	Marcum is enabling Massive Fraud	FALSE Marcum is a respected audit firm, and 13th largest by revenue. "Marcum LLP advanced into the Top 15 in the 2023 Vault Accounting list of top-ranked accounting firms. Marcum climbed six levels to the No. 13 ranking overall and earned a ranking of 14 in prestige. The Firm also won Top 20 rankings across all Practice Area, Quality of Life, and Diversity categories, including several new classifications added this year."
11) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	Nomura is enabling Massive Fraud	FALSE Nomura is a global financial services company, and the oldest brokerage firm in Japan. They operate in a highly regulated industry. They're not putting themselves on the line for a relatively small client.
12) Parrot Capital	"The list of $RILY enablers is massive: Marcum LLP, Sullivan and Cromwell, Seeking Alpha, Holbrook Holdings, $AX Axos Bank, Many, many more."	FALSE There's no global conspiracy whereby these companies - all respected law firms, auditors, banks, and media outlets - are collectively colluding to enable RILY to commit fraud. Requires only two brain cells and one functioning synapse to know there's no grand collusion cabal between these disparate companies.
13) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs), Jonathan Weil at WSJ	Franchise Group shares used to secure Kahn loan: "It is unclear whether Kahn pledged the same shares twice—to both Prophecy and B. Riley."	FALSE As stated by the company, Simple UCC search disproves this. UCC # 202302295747
14) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	“Bryant Riley is on the Road, telling people the ‘audit partner at Marcum left’ and that ‘I have made mistakes’ “	FALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had hit the 5yr SEC rule, so he was never working on this year’s audit.
15) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"So it turns out James La Rocca was Fired by MarcumLLP If nothing was wrong with prior $RILY Audits, why is he gone? This will be great in discovery of what exactly went on.	FALSE Marcum audit partner was working on the audit the whole time; the original audit partner had hit the 5yr SEC rule, so he was never working on this year’s audit.
16) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“So Bryant Riley did disseminate MNPI back in March” in response to Cohodes claim that he told people the Marcum partner left	FALSE Cohodes claimed Bryant Riley was telling people the Marcum auditor left. Koppikar called that disseminating MNPI. Cohodes statement was false (and thus Koppikar's derivate claim is also false). A different auditor worked on RILY, as Marcum follows the SEC rules; the lead auditor can only serve the client for 5 consecutive years. As such, Koppikar’s derivative claim of disseminating MNPI is false.
17) Koppikar (TheFriendlyBear)	“He appears to still not be familiar with the voting interest model of consolidation… why is a life science and tech partner signing an extremely complex investment company / broker dealer audit ???” i.e., auditor is unqualified	FALSE The auditor is fully qualified. Marcum is a highly respected auditor; they don't hire unqualified people, or assign them to clients they're unqualified to audit. RILY is continuing to use Marcum as the 2024 auditor.
18) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"Now that the $RILY dividend is going away, this omission is serious stuff"	FALSE The dividend did not go away. It was reduced from $1.00/share to $0.50/share, to allow them to opportunistically allocate capital. 23Q4 and 24Q1
19) Marc Cohodes (AlderLaneEggs)	"$RILY doesn't make it till Easter... I will say it again and again.."	FALSE They made it, filed a 10-K and paid a dividend, filed a 10-Q and are paying a dividend, and are chugging along. With stock price 50% higher than when this claim was made.

A sampling of the source claims listed above can be found in the images embedded in comments below this post, with additional claims found here https://wolfpackresearch.com/research/rily/ and here https://friendlybearresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/RILY-Analyst-Day-Questions-12_11_13-Final.pdf and https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2cpgaejc45gocvoqb1ngg/corner-office/how-b-riley-garnered-the-biggest-short-interest-of-2023 and https://www.wsj.com/finance/how-an-unremarkable-deal-became-a-big-threat-to-a-small-investment-bank-f819a169 . https://adviserinfo.sec.gov/firm/summary/304196 form ADV. Additional claims can be sourced on the various social media venues and websites utilized by the short sellers. This is not financial advice. All claim summarizations reflect my interpretation of the short seller claims, and should be verified against original sources, along with all counters. Due to Reddit image attachment limits, not all source images are included (but any missing can be found on TwitteX or other publicly available sources). Was unable to embed images in the post itself due to a Reddit limitation/bug.

Title: Silent Symphony
INT. BOARDROOM - DAY
SETTING: A sleek, modern boardroom with a large glass table at the center. Framed posters of the company's past audio products line the walls. A large screen at the front displays sales graphs and customer demographics.
CHARACTERS:

1. JACKSON - CEO, early 50s, sharp and decisive.
2. LUCY - Chief Marketing Officer, mid-40s, insightful and creative.
3. TOM - Head of Product Development, late 30s, tech-savvy and innovative.
4. EMMA - Chief Financial Officer, early 40s, analytical and detail-oriented.
5. RACHEL - Customer Insights Analyst, late 20s, data-driven and perceptive.

INT. BOARDROOM - DAY
The executives are seated around the table. JACKSON stands by the screen, looking at the latest customer insights.
JACKSON Alright team, let's dive into this quarter's sales report. Rachel, what can you tell us?
RACHEL (clicking through slides) Our home AV equipment sales have seen a significant uptick, especially among customers aged 30 to 45. However, we've noticed a strange trend—many of these customers also report decreased usage after purchase.
LUCY Any idea why that might be happening?
RACHEL (nodding) We've done some follow-up surveys. Turns out, a lot of these customers are parents with young children. They're buying top-of-the-line AV systems, but then they can't use them because of noise concerns.
EMMA So they have the equipment, but can't enjoy it due to family constraints. Interesting.
TOM Sounds like a classic case of unmet needs. What if we develop a product to bridge that gap?
JACKSON You mean like more family-friendly AV setups?
TOM (shaking his head) Not exactly. What if we shift our focus to high-quality, wireless headphones? Something that lets parents enjoy their AV systems without disturbing the kids.
LUCY Wireless headphones with the same premium audio quality as our home systems. It could be a game-changer.
JACKSON Rachel, do we have data to support this shift?
RACHEL (nodding and clicking to a new slide) Absolutely. Our surveys show a strong interest in premium wireless headphones, especially from our existing customers. They trust our brand and would be keen on a solution that fits their new lifestyle.
EMMA From a financial perspective, it's viable. We already have the core audio technology. The investment would mainly be in the wireless components and design.
JACKSON (thoughtful) Alright, let's flesh this out. Tom, start on the technical feasibility. Lucy, I want a marketing plan that targets these parents. Emma, work on the financial projections. Rachel, keep gathering customer insights.
LUCY We should emphasize seamless integration with our existing AV systems. A complete, uninterrupted experience.
TOM And comfort. Parents will likely be wearing these for extended periods. We need them to be top-notch in both sound and comfort.
EMMA And let's not forget battery life. Long-lasting power for those late-night movie sessions.
JACKSON (smiling) Looks like we have a plan. Let's make it happen, team. We’re going to bring the cinema experience to their ears, without waking the kids.
The team nods, energized by the new direction.
FADE OUT.
INT. BOARDROOM - MONTHS LATER
SETTING: The same boardroom, now filled with prototypes of sleek, modern wireless headphones. The screen shows a promotional video of the headphones in use.
JACKSON Alright, team. Let's see what we've got.
LUCY (pressing play on the video) Introducing the Symphony Wireless Headphones. Engineered for exceptional audio quality, designed for ultimate comfort, and perfect for parents who refuse to compromise.
TOM These headphones feature our signature sound quality, advanced noise-canceling technology, and a 30-hour battery life.
EMMA Financials are solid. Projected sales are strong, and our existing customer base is eager to purchase.
RACHEL Feedback from our focus groups has been overwhelmingly positive. Parents love the integration with our AV systems and the ability to use them without disturbing their children.
JACKSON (nodding, pleased) Well done, everyone. Let's launch the Symphony Wireless and give our customers the best of both worlds. Quiet for the kids, symphony for the parents.
FADE OUT.
INT. LIVING ROOM - NIGHT
SETTING: A cozy, modern living room. A young parent sits on the couch, wearing the Symphony Wireless Headphones, watching a movie on a high-end AV system. A baby sleeps peacefully in a nearby crib.
NARRATOR (V.O.) Introducing Symphony Wireless Headphones. Experience your home audio like never before, without waking the little ones.
The parent smiles, completely immersed in the movie.
FADE TO BLACK.
TEXT ON SCREEN:
"Symphony Wireless Headphones - Where Silence Meets Symphony"
FADE OUT.
THE END

First, be aware that this is a complex topic and summaries are not a realistic reflection of the Stoic position about the self.
Second, try to let go of your biases. In Europe and in America the dominant narrative is the dualist one: humans have a body and a soul, the latter being your true essence. If you approach Stoicism without letting go of that background you’re likely to make mistakes.
So what are we, according to the Stoics?
 

A psychophysical composite

That expression is based on Christopher Gill's reasoning in The Structured Self(2006) as well as A. Long's Soul and Body in Stoicism (1982) and Hierocles' Elements of Ethics. So the Stoic self would be defined as a structured whole, a concept that is incompatible with the essentialist view of other schools.
Hierocles (Elements of Ethics 4.30 ff.) says that the mind is a cohesive force, and that animals are nothing else than a composite (syntheton) of body and mind. Note that, as I'll mention below, "body" and "mind" are further divided by the Stoics in several others parts.
With that understanding it would not be possible to claim that a human being is only one part of a larger composite. Instead, the human being is the totality of that composite.
 

Psychē as a body

A brief but significant axiom is that for the Stoics the mind (psychē) is corporeal. Any distinctions between body and mind that we see in the texts are made on a conventional level of speech (i.e. exoteric, directed at a general audience or at amateur readers). On an absolute level of speech both the mind and the body are "bodies".
The consequence of this is that the mind is mortal and changeable. More on this later.
 

Eight parts

In some sources we find that what constitues the human being is a composite of eight parts. More appropriately, the self/psychē is eightfold:

• the five sense faculties (aisthētēria),
• the part of speech (phonētikos),
• the part of thinking (dianoētikos/logistikos),
• and the part of reproduction (gennētikos).

Furthermore, the thinking part is considered the regent of the mind and further divided into several other parts, namely:

• Appearance (phantasiai): in humans, all appearances are logikai (Diogenes Laertius 7.51).
• Impulse (hormai): in humans, impulses are produced by logos (Diogenes Laertius 7.86).
• Assent (synkatatheseis): in humans it's related to lekta ("""meaning"""/"""sayable""") and also dependent on logos.
• Reason (logos): among mortals, only humans have this part.
• Perceptions (aisthēseis): in humans, the information from the senses is integrated and interpreted by the thinking part.

Source: Diogenes Laertius 7.110 and 7.157; the SVF also offers a whole list of sources about this starting at 2.823.
 

Eight parts, addendum

In relation to the first point I mentioned above, do note that also in these multiple parts we see an expression of Stoic holism. The reproductive part, for instance, isn't just a single organ but rather a power, or faculty, that draws pneuma from the entire body, and reproduction itself doesn't happen without the other parts (such as the senses).
We shouldn't view these parts as separate objects as one would e.g. in a mechanistic worldview.
Similarly, rationality permeates everything in a human self, and even phenomena that some other schools would consider negative due to their "irrational" tone, such as impulses, are ultimately influenced or created by the human logos.
To be clear: human irrationality is not caused by a "bad" or "dark" part of one's self, but rather by a diseased reasoning faculty.
So at this point I'd like to reiterate my initial comment that trying to understand Stoicism from a dualist worldview is harmful to one's understanding – be such dualism Platonic, Manichaeist, Gnostic, Christian, Cartesian, Marxist etc.
 

As graspable as water

In Seneca's Letter 58.22-24 we see the description of the self as a very fluid, changeable, and fuzzy instance of a person.
This is not a novel concept in Stoicism. As you may know, the Stoics had a very unique approach to time, even stating (according to doxographers) that the "now" i.e. the "current moment" does not exist. The "now" is a fluid intersection between all the past and all the future, with nothing in between, and the same thing seems to be applied to their idea of self: it's an individual instance in time that is constantly being superseeded by another instance.
 
 
This is a complex topic. Bonhöffer (Epiktet und die Stoa, p. 40-41) lists several different descriptions of a "self" among some the later Stoics, but this is not to say that there's no consensus. Rather, there are subtleties to which we don't have access. Even so, there are several sources who do describe the "self" as a composite of multiple parts, and that's meaningful as well as sufficient for us to have a general understanding of the idea.
Furthermore, if we approach the Stoic self from Stoic physics, it becomes clear that neither dualist nor essentialist views are tenable – the Stoic cosmology doesn't support it.
I can get more sources if you'd like, but it might take me a while to respond in the next few days.

This was my first Mother’s Day. My son is the only biological family I’ve met. I think being post partum and the triggers of being a new mom ended with me giving my adopted parents an ultimatum.
It didn’t start at that as first. I tried to ask them questions about my adoption. My “adoption” was done informally in Mexico. They had the doctor write down that I am their bio child and that my adoptive mother gave birth to me. I don’t know if any of this is true, but they didn’t tell me of my adoption until I was 19 and then proceeded to stress the importance of staying quiet because I’m my fathers words, “we will go to jail! Do you want us to go to jail!”
Everytime I ask them questions about my adoption they give me different conflicting answers. I finally told them all the pain this has caused me and how I deserve to know and that I’m going to search and whatever legal troubles they run into is their own fault (they were fully aware adults when they decided to be an accomplice in this) and I’m done feeling guilty for them and trying to comfort them when they are my parents and they should have been there to comfort and help me. They proceeded to ignore me and then follow up with how they can no longer offer me financial support, which I’m financially independent from them.
I responded to my mom saying I’m done. That I want answers on my situation and how sketchy it all sounds. That they cannot play grandma and grandpa to my son if they cannot have a working relationship with me first and be parents to me. That I will not respond to any texts until they start being honest about the situation and give me answers.
They have continued to ignore me.
I cannot believe these people who claim to love me are being this way.
Also, they’re fucking weirdos for not adopting through a legally appropriate way. They don’t see themselves as predatory for “getting around” the adoption process. They say the same thing, “we saved you! You would’ve ended up in the state foster care and it would have been so much worse.” (They’re just reinforcing their own narrative that helps them feel at peace with their decision.)
They act like their my saviors and advocates when no one was their to advocate for little baby me to make sure the appropriate steps were taken. I’m sorry, but if you’re sooo eager to adopt that your willing to do it illegally, your fucking predatory and care more about your own wants then the well being of said child.
I’m hurt but I’m glad to be fucking done.

Changelog:

https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/releases/tag/1.58.0

• Interface
  
  • Improve dashboard layout at high zoom factor
  • Add a console pane to the logger
  • Fix bad date computation in auto-comment feature
  • Fix regression breaking import of file:// lists
• Core
  
  • Add checksum validation when loading trie buffers in selfie
  • Fix potential corruption when reading serialized data
• Scriptlets
  
  • Improve trusted-click-element scriptlet
  • Catch exceptions in API calls for the sake of old Chromium versions
  • Add accept/reject to set-local-storage-item (by @ryanbr)
  • Improve noeval-if scriptlet
  • Improve trusted-set-local-storage-item scriptlet
  • Improve remove-[attrclass] scriptlets
  • Improve spoof-css scriptlet
  • Add trusted-replace-outbound-text scriptlet
  • Improve [trusted-]set-cookie scriptlets
  • Fallback to requestAnimationFrame when requestIdleCallback is not available
• Filters
  
  • Replace EasyDutch with AdGuard Dutch
• Building
  
  • Use raw string for regex patterns in python scripts

Visit GitHub releases page for more information.
Extension will be auto-updated after browser restart! (when available for your platform)
If you want to update manually:

• Do not use links from release page "Assets" section - these are not signed.
• Use add-on store or links in release description on GitHub releases page when they are available (basically - they will be add-on store links).
• In some cases, installation may be blocked until browser restart. This is protection against accidental mid-session reloads, Issue #717.

Q: Why no release for Firefox yet?
A: Review pending.
uBO is a recommended extension on AMO, and as such it must undergo a formal code review each time a new version is published.
Q: Why Chrome/Chromium/Brave is not updating uBlock Origin?
A: Review pending.
Auto update will occur in stages - to spot and react on possible bugs.
Q: When Opera version will be updated?
A: Submission pending.
Usually it's submitted a week after bug-free version is published in AMO.
Q: When Edge Chromium version in the Microsoft Store will be updated?
A: Submission pending.
Microsoft Store submission is controlled by nikrolls.
This is official version and will be kept updated, see Issue #890 (comment) and following comments.
Warning: importing profile from Chrome may cause issues - you may need to reinstall uBO on Edge to fix this. You can transfer settings by saving them to file in uBO Dashboard -> bottom of the Settings tab.
^{Previous announcement thread https://www.reddit.com/uBlockOrigin/comments/1bquaw8/ublock_origin_157_announcement_thread_please/}

​

Posting Guidelines Subreddit Rules Removal of the "Purge all caches" button

​

I was considering going no-contact with my family minus a brother I’m close to 3 years ago and was almost out until my father died in a freak accident and I got roped back in. My sister has spent the last 30 years making my life a living hell and my parents never stuck up for me or protected me from her. My mother, now alone, is terrified of her. We had a shitty childhood and all have different survival tactics, but after going to therapy for four years now, I’ve gotten away from those and surround myself with happy, healthy, amazing, supportive people. In regard to family, I keep my distance when I can (living 3.5 hours away helps), but often am the one everyone turns to when shit goes sideways to fix everything, calm people down, figure out what to do next. I’m tired of it, especially now realizing no one does the same for me.
I recently got married and had a 40 person head count, with 38 yeses. After a bunch of random crap, 13 of my 20 invitees flaked 3 days to 2 hours before the party, all of which were very, very close family members including a brother and two of my BILs. Had I known this, with ample timing, I would have invited more friends who WOULD have shown, but due to family taking up so much of the headcount, I couldn’t extend invites to them all. I vented to my mother who said at least I have my sister coming, who I said was only invited since the others were and she has never been nice to me or my husband - which my mother agreed with and said was a self-centered survival thing. I said she should learn a little kindness which would get her far. She despises my husband, who is genuinely as nice as can be, even to a fault. Doesn’t have a bad bone in his body, god bless him. But he supports me and loves me and we do well off each other and thrive, which she doesn’t like. Other siblings have commented on the fact she treats him so poorly when he is nothing but so kind to her.
Come party, 2 hours in and she’s nowhere to be seen. We’re waiting around to cut cakes since her household consisted of 5 people and we didn’t want to have people randomly walk in on it and ruin the photographs, miss the momentous moment, etc. My brother gets in touch with her and relays the message that I’m a monster, I’m childish and horrible and never welcome her to anything and I’m irrelevant and no one likes me which is why everyone bailed on me and I should be embarrassed. The only person I said those things to was my mother (who couldn’t come to party due to health reasons). I spent a majority of my wedding party crying on a fire escape because I was so upset by her words, so upset that everyone bailed, and so upset I didn’t follow my gut inviting other friends who would have come over obligatory family invites. I blocked my sister and her friend who joined in on her meanness. She has taken to emailing and texting me under spoof emails and phone numbers. Calling me irrelevant, embarrassing, disgusting, ugly, childish, greedy, no one showed up because they don’t like me, never been liked, etc.
My mother has spoken to her, but hasn’t reached out to me since the party when I said I was hurt at what she shared in confidence and need to think about what I want from this family anymore. My mother swears she went through her phone and saw the messages, but other parts of her (mothers) story don’t align. My mother historically has victim mindset over everything and could do no wrong. I try to do nothing but support my mother but she can never ever see how she’s in the wrong - ever. For example, she put her electric bill under my name and SS and defaulted on it for years. When I called her out on it after the company started reaching out to me, she said it’s always been like this, I didn’t say anything years ago so what’s the difference now, she’s doing no wrong and if I want her to go without electric and ruin the family then by all means go ahead and shut it off if I want.
I’m hurt, I’m upset. My husband has been amazing, but he doesn’t have any family that we could lean on ever. I’m torn between going fully no contact between my siblings who enable my sister, my mother who is emotionally abusive and enables her and doesn’t protect the rest of us, and calling it a day. Or going no contact with siblings, low contact with my mother, and never returning until they get their shit together and go to therapy. I just don’t know what is best anymore since I know my mom will never stand up to her. Family is all I’ve ever really had outside a close knit group of 3 friends, so it’s hard to go from everything to nothing in the blink of an eye.
Ever since my dad died and my sister took over, I have felt like I don’t have a spot in the family anymore. My sisters best friend of 15 years has always wanted to be apart of our big family since she had a dysfunctional one herself, and joins us on family vacations, Christmas, every waking moment. She is just as bad as my sister, and my sister is her only friend so she bows down to her. Since dad died, it’s like my sister and her friend don’t want me in the family and want to give the bff my daughter spot and to ostracize me. All of this is making me spiral and spiral and spiral. I haven’t been this bad mentally in a really, REALLY long time and it’s triggering me a lot.
I feel like as a woman, I’m held to a different caliber than the others. My brothers could do whatever they damn well please, and they do, and everyone turns a blind eye. With my sister being the oldest, she gets the same treatment. I am overwhelmed with what this family puts me through. My husband doesn’t have any family anymore for us to lean on, spend holidays with, etc. How do you move on? How do you find peace? How do you be okay with the fact nothing will ever change in this dynamic so it’s all or nothing?
FWIW - have an amazing therapist, amazing support group. Am ok, just sad and upset.

1. Parallelismus Membrorum:

- *Definition:* A rhetorical device where phrases or sentences are structured in parallel form. - *Example:* Create a poem using parallelismus membrorum to emphasize a profound truth or observation. 

1. Rubaiyat:

- *Definition:* A form of Persian poetry with quatrains and a specific rhyme scheme. - *Example:* Write a rubaiyat exploring the themes of love, mortality, or philosophical reflections. 

1. Blues Poem:

- *Definition:* Poetry inspired by the musical and emotional elements of blues music. - *Example:* Craft a blues poem expressing the struggles and resilience of everyday life. 

1. Erasure Poetry:

- *Definition:* Creating poetry by erasing or blacking out existing text, leaving only selected words visible. - *Example:* Create an erasure poem using a page from a newspaper or a novel, transforming it into a new narrative. 

1. Anaphora:

- *Definition:* A rhetorical device involving the repetition of a word or phrase at the beginning of successive clauses. - *Example:* Write a poem using anaphora to convey a sense of urgency or reflection. 

1. Tetractys:

- *Definition:* A five-line poem with a specific syllable count (1, 2, 3, 4, 10). - *Example:* Craft a tetractys exploring the stages of personal growth or a transformative experience. 

1. Sijo:

- *Definition:* A traditional Korean poetic form with three lines, each with fourteen to sixteen syllables. - *Example:* Write a sijo capturing a moment of beauty or introspection. 

1. Blitz Poem:

- *Definition:* A form of poetry with a rapid, stream-of-consciousness style and repetition. - *Example:* Create a blitz poem exploring the chaos and beauty of urban life. 

1. Epitaph:

- *Definition:* A short inscription on a tombstone or a commemorative poem for the deceased. - *Example:* Write an epitaph honoring a fictional or historical figure with a poignant message. 

1. Prothalamion:

- *Definition:* A poem celebrating a forthcoming marriage or wedding. - *Example:* Craft a prothalamion capturing the anticipation and joy surrounding a wedding day. 

I suspect my sister is narcissistic with enabling parents. I was considering going no-contact with my family minus a brother I’m close to 3 years ago and was almost out until my father died in a freak accident and I got roped back in. My sister has spent the last 30 years making my life a living hell and my parents never stuck up for me or protected me from her. My mother, now alone, is terrified of her. We had a shitty childhood and all have different survival tactics, but after going to therapy for four years now, I’ve gotten away from those and surround myself with happy, healthy, amazing, supportive people. In regard to family, I keep my distance when I can (living 3.5 hours away helps), but often am the one everyone turns to when shit goes sideways to fix everything, calm people down, figure out what to do next. I’m tired of it, especially now realizing no one does the same for me.
I recently got married and had a 40 person head count, with 38 yeses. After a bunch of random crap, 13 of my 20 invitees flaked 3 days to 2 hours before the party, all of which were very, very close family members including a brother and two of my BILs. Had I known this, with ample timing, I would have invited more friends who WOULD have shown, but due to family taking up so much of the headcount, I couldn’t extend invites to them all. I vented to my mother who said at least I have my sister coming, who I said was only invited since the others were and she has never been nice to me or my husband - which my mother agreed with and said was a self-centered survival thing. I said she should learn a little kindness which would get her far. She despises my husband, who is genuinely as nice as can be, even to a fault. Doesn’t have a bad bone in his body, god bless him. But he supports me and loves me and we do well off each other and thrive, which she doesn’t like. Other siblings have commented on the fact she treats him so poorly when he is nothing but so kind to her.
Come party, 2 hours in and she’s nowhere to be seen. We’re waiting around to cut cakes since her household consisted of 5 people and we didn’t want to have people randomly walk in on it and ruin the photographs, miss the momentous moment, etc. My brother gets in touch with her and relays the message that I’m a monster, I’m childish and horrible and never welcome her to anything and I’m irrelevant and no one likes me which is why everyone bailed on me and I should be embarrassed. The only person I said those things to was my mother (who couldn’t come to party due to health reasons). I spent a majority of my wedding party crying on a fire escape because I was so upset by her words, so upset that everyone bailed, and so upset I didn’t follow my gut inviting other friends who would have come over obligatory family invites. I blocked my sister and her friend who joined in on her meanness. She has taken to emailing and texting me under spoof emails and phone numbers. Calling me irrelevant, embarrassing, disgusting, ugly, childish, greedy, no one showed up because they don’t like me, never been liked, etc.
My mother has spoken to her, but hasn’t reached out to me since the party when I said I was hurt at what she shared in confidence and need to think about what I want from this family anymore. My mother swears she went through her phone and saw the messages, but other parts of her (mothers) story don’t align. My mother historically has victim mindset over everything and could do no wrong.
I’m hurt, I’m upset. My husband has been amazing, but he doesn’t have any family that we could lean on ever. I’m torn between going fully no contact between my siblings who enable my sister, my mother who is emotionally abusive and enables her and doesn’t protect the rest of us, and calling it a day. Or going no contact with siblings, low contact with my mother, and never returning until they get their shit together and go to therapy. I just don’t know what is best anymore since I know my mom will never stand up to her. Family is all I’ve ever really had outside a close knit group of 3 friends, so it’s hard to go from everything to nothing in the blink of an eye.
Ever since my dad died and my sister took over, I have felt like I don’t have a spot in the family anymore. My sisters best friend of 15 years has always wanted to be apart of our big family since she had a dysfunctional one herself, and joins us on family vacations, Christmas, every waking moment. She is just as bad as my sister, and my sister is her only friend so she bows down to her. Since dad died, it’s like my sister and her friend don’t want me in the family and want to give the bff my daughter spot and to ostracize me. All of this is making me spiral and spiral and spiral. I haven’t been this bad mentally in a really, REALLY long time and it’s triggering me a lot.
I feel like as a woman, I’m held to a different caliber than the others. My brothers could do whatever they damn well please, and they do, and everyone turns a blind eye. With my sister being the oldest, she gets the same treatment. I am overwhelmed with what this family puts me through. My husband doesn’t have any family anymore for us to lean on, spend holidays with, etc. How do you move on? How do you find peace? How do you be okay with the fact nothing will ever change in this dynamic so it’s all or nothing?
FWIW - have an amazing therapist, amazing support group. Am ok, just sad and upset.