After the success of the inaugural immersive event last year, FocusFest returns to the Universal Studios Lot on Oct. 10. for a day full of screenings, special guests and immersive fan experiences.
Television host Justin Sylvester will host. The event will spotlight Focus Features films, old and new, along with themed food and beverage offerings, exclusive merchandise and interactive activations. Tickets are available at the Focus Features website and Focus Insiders will receive exclusive early access to purchase tickets.
Daisy Edgar-Jones and Esmé Creed-Miles are set to attend an early advance screening of Georgia Oakley’s new take on Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility.” In the film, the women play sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood navigating love, heartbreak and financial hardships in 19th-century England.
For classic romance lovers, Joe Wright’s take on Austin’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Autumn de Wilde’s “Emma” will also be shown.
Focust Fest 2026
Focus Features
Alexander Payne’s 2023 film “The Holdovers” will be screened along with an early advance screening of “Elsinore” from Simon Stone, starring Andrew Scott. “Elsinore” tells the story of the actor Ian Charleson (Scott) who faced incredible odds while preparing to give the performance of his life in Hamlet at the National Theatre in London.
Thrill seekers can settle in for Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu” and Curry Barker’s “Obsession,” which was screened at last year’s FocusFest and has become Focus Features’ highest-grossing film of all time.
Focus’s 2026 slate includes “Obsession,” Eggers’ “Werwulf,” “The Uprising” from Paul Greengrass, “Elsinore” and “Sense and Sensibility.”
British banking giant Standard Chartered continues to keep an eye on altcoins with upside potential, in addition to Bitcoin and Ethereum.
At this point, one of these altcoins was $ARB, the token of Ethereum’s second-layer network, Arbitrum.
According to The Block, Standard Chartered recently evaluated Arbitrum and predicted that the $ARB token, currently trading at approximately $0.14, will reach $10 by the end of 2030.
This represents an increase of more than 70 times from its current level of approximately $0.134.
Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s global head of digital asset research, described Arbitrum as “Blockchain for Traditional Finance,” noting that its business model, which helps traditional finance firms move to the blockchain, is well-positioned to benefit from the rapid growth in tokenized assets.
Kendrick also sees Robinhood Chain as a major growth driver, early evidence that Arbitrum could become a significant blockchain infrastructure provider for traditional financial institutions.
“We are seeing a shift in digital assets from a situation where revenue was still insignificant to one where it is critical. Arbitrum’s business model is largely revenue-focused, and therefore the $ARB token will benefit from this. Furthermore, the early success of Robinhood Chain increases the likelihood of similar TradFi chains being launched on the Arbitrum technology infrastructure. Therefore, the Robinhood Chain launch demonstrated Arbitrum’s potential to become the number one choice in traditional finance for moving assets to the chain.”
In this context, Geoff Kendrick stated that the bank predicts $ARB will outperform Bitcoin and Ethereum throughout its forecast period. The bank estimates that ETH will reach $4,000 by the end of 2026 and $40,000 by the end of 2030, while BTC is projected to reach $100,000 by the end of 2026 and $500,000 by the end of 2030.
Standard Chartered also added that the tokenized real-world asset market is expected to reach $4 trillion by 2030, and that Arbitrum has a significant competitive advantage in this environment.
Streaming guide JustWatch Group will debut its Advertising-Based Video on Demand (AVOD) streaming service, JustWatch TV, this October.
“Every day, millions of people come to JustWatch searching for simpler ways to watch and discover hundreds of thousands of movies and TV shows,” said David Croyé, the founder and CEO of the JustWatch Group. “For over a decade, our mission has been to connect fans with their favorite films and shows, particularly the hard-to-find and previously unavailable titles. With the launch of JustWatch TV, we aim to make content discovery, access and engagement even easier.”
JustWatch TV can be accessed directly through the JustWatch app and website, becoming available to all existing JustWatch users in October. The streaming service will also feature rental and ad-free subscription options, and, with its unique model, will encourage viewers to watch titles both directly on the streaming platform or on their preferred streaming services.
“JustWatch TV is designed to meet that demand head-on, offering a straightforward solution at a time of fragmentation,” said Quentin Carbonell, the senior vice president of global content acquisitions and strategy at JustWatch. “We are curating film and TV hits and hard-to-find gems that you can watch for free or rent on JustWatch, or easily rediscover them on your favorite services. This way, JustWatch TV aims to support the whole industry, from filmmakers to distributors to streaming platforms across the world.”
Serving as the operator of the world’s largest streaming guide, JustWatch Group is partnering with Paramount, New Regency, Fremantle, Bleecker Street, Vortex Media and additional companies for the launch of JustWatch TV. The streaming guide announced the news at the Toronto International Film Festival’s new content marketplace, TIFF: The Market.
JustWatch TV will be available across the U.S., Canada and in select European countries.
Though she’s been on the sidelines of the negotiations, Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Senate Banking Committee’s top Democrat, told reporters on Tuesday that the legislation pushed over the weekend by Republicans “was not negotiated with the Democrats.”
“It was between the Republicans and White House, and the changes were nonsense,” said Warren, who has been a steady critic of the legislation and of the industry behind it. “In each case, they put in some new words that pretended to solve the problem, and then just either left the problem intact or expanded it later on.”
Washington policy analysts were affixing long odds on the voting process Tuesday.
“With Democrats largely skeptical of the GOP’s latest offer, it’s unlikely they will provide the necessary votes to advance the bill later today, barring significant changes,” Beacon Policy Advisors wrote in a client note. “While the party could hypothetically vote to advance the bill to continue negotiations — reserving the ability to vote it down if things move further in their direction this month — we think that pathway is narrow.”
Some hours remain before the 2:15 p.m. planned vote, and such legislative negotiations have been known to strike deals in the final seconds. But some industry insiders are unsure whether the talks can be salvaged, and leaders like Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong have spent recent days arguing that a failed bill won’t halt regulatory progress.
Ahead of the November 2026 U.S. midterm elections, Postmaster General David Steiner said there are ways he’d block mail-in ballots. As a result, voters should skip the mail and instead deliver completed ballots in designated drop boxes.
Rating:
What’s True
During a June 2026 congressional hearing, Steiner said a proposed rule would mean the Postal Service would not mail out ballots in states that failed to hand their absentee voter lists to the federal government. The service created the rule to comply with an executive order President Donald Trump signed in March, supposedly to ensure “citizenship verification and integrity in federal elections.” Stipulations in the order included the use of secure envelopes with barcodes and a demand that states send their voter rolls to the service for eligibility verification purposes. However …
What’s False
… The Postal Service confirmed the new rule pertained only to determining voter eligibility in the mailing out of blank ballots, not returning completed ballots. Also, Steiner didn’t appear to provide multiple “ways” (plural) to block the delivery of mail-in ballots, as users alleged.
What’s Undetermined
As of this writing, the rule was in legal limbo, meaning its effectiveness and implementation was still in question for the upcoming elections.
In early September 2026, people alleged the U.S. postmaster general, David Steiner, said there were ways he’d block mail-in ballots for the upcoming midterm elections. As a result, posts sharing the claim said voters should skip the mail and instead deliver completed ballots to designated drop boxes.
Snopes readers emailed us to ask about this rumor, with some of them attaching a screenshot of a Threads post. The screenshot, showing a partial profile image, read:
Postmaster General has already said there are ways he WILL block mail-in ballots, so… The minute you get your ballot, fill it our and take it to the nearest drop box, usually near libraries. Do NOT mail your ballot through USPS!
A Threads search found the original post (archived) matching the partial profile image from the above screenshot. That user presented the claim and the advice to avoid mailing completed ballots on Sept. 2:
(@kirkanthonyb2020 via Threads)
A search on X for similar text located a popular post (archived) from June 25 that contained a version of the claim about the postmaster general, without the advice to use designated drop boxes. That post read, “JUST IN: U.S. Postmaster General CONFIRMS he’ll BLOCK mail-in ballots to states refusing to share citizenship and voter data with the Trump administration”:
(@jackunheard via X)
On June 24, one day before that X post, Steiner was a witness in a televised hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee. During the hearing, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., asked Steiner, “Yes or no: If a state refuses to turn their absentee voter list over to the federal government, will the Postal Service still mail their ballots under this proposed rule?”
Steiner answered, in part, “Under our proposed regulation, no.” (The full hearing is available on YouTube, with pertinent remarks beginning at the 30:37 mark.)
In sum, this rumor about the postmaster general’s alleged statements and guidance on voters delivering their completed ballots mixed truth and falsehood, as well as undetermined elements.
It’s true that, during the June hearing, Steiner confirmed one way the Postal Service might block, or decline, the delivery of mail-in ballots. At the time, Steiner was referencing a proposed rule. The rule was supposed to take effect in August, but legal challenges have kept it from going into effect as of this writing.
That rule, which may restrict mail-in voting, stemmed from an executive order President Donald Trump — who has repeatedly promoted false claims of massive voter fraud — signed in March. Part of that order mentions of the use of secure envelopes with barcodes. It also stipulates that states that intend to use the Postal Service to deliver mail-in or absentee ballots should send their voter rolls to the service so that it can verify voters’ citizenship and eligibility to vote in federal elections.
However, the claim that voters should avoid mailing their completed ballots through the Postal Service and instead directly deposit them into designated ballot drop boxes doesn’t accurately reflect what the new rule means in practice. The Postal Service confirmed the new rule pertained only to determining voter eligibility before mailing out blank ballots — not when completed ballots are mailed back in — meaning that while there’s nothing wrong with using drop boxes to ensure delivery of completed ballots, the reason some users recommended them was not reflected in the rule.
Additionally, Steiner didn’t appear to provide multiple “ways” (plural) to block delivery of ballots, as users alleged.
As of this writing,ongoing court mattersinvolving rulings from judges and the Supreme Court, as well as Trump administration appeals and a whistleblower complaint, indicated the effectiveness and implementation of Trump’s executive order via the Postal Service rule was still in question for the upcoming elections.
Snopes contacted the Postal Service to request comment about the rumor, and spokesperson Nikolaj Hagen shared the following statement in an email:
The Postal Service is committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process when public policy makers choose to utilize us as a part of their election system. We rely on longstanding, robust and tested policies and procedures, which have proven successful in the secure and timely delivery of Election Mail. Through August 28, the Postal Service has delivered 233.3 million pieces of Election Mail nationwide during Fiscal Year 2026, with an on-time score of 97.94%.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said via email of the rumor, “This is untrue,” without providing further explanation.
‘Misinformation and speculation’
In a Sept. 4 news release, Steiner addressed what he called “misinformation and speculation” about the issuance of the Postal Service rule and defended the service’s duty to comply with Trump’s executive order.
The release also featured a recent whistleblower complaint that warned of “potentially catastrophic problems in the development of the United States Postal Service’s new system for handling federal election ballot mail.” The complaint specifically referenced the service’s new rule establishing a voter verification system that officials would use to determine which voters receive blank ballots via mail.
One part of the complaint alleged that if one barcode on a single ballot in a bulk mailing of 10,000 blank ballots failed to properly scan during the verification process, the entire batch would be rejected and sent back to the state, meaning none of those voters would receive their ballots.
Steiner said the Postal Service “takes these concerns seriously,” as well as that, “Regardless of political party or perspective, we share a common goal: ensuring that Americans can have confidence that their election mail will be handled securely and delivered reliably should their election officials choose to use the mail for ballot delivery.”
For further reading, we previously reported about the many details of the new Postal Service rule, Trump’s executive order and the beginning of the many legal challenges associated with the matter.
Sources
“Ballot Mail for Federal Elections.” U.S. Federal Register, 26 Aug. 2026, https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/08/26/2026-17238/ballot-mail-for-federal-elections.
Brown, Bridget, et al. “Second Federal Judge Freezes Trump Mail Ballot Order with Supreme Court Poised to Weigh In.” NBC News, The Associated Press, 14 Sept. 2026, https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-election/second-federal-judge-freezes-trump-mail-ballot-order-supreme-court-rcna597633.
“Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.” The White House, 31 Mar. 2026, https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/03/ensuring-citizenship-verification-and-integrity-in-federal-elections/.
Howe, Amy. “Trump Administration Again Appeals Mail-in Ballot Dispute to the Supreme Court.” SCOTUSblog, 6 Sept. 2026, https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/09/trump-administration-again-appeals-mail-in-ballot-dispute-to-the-supreme-court/.
“JUST IN: Trump’s Postmaster General David Steiner Gets Grilled In Senate Homeland Security Committee.” YouTube, Forbes Breaking News, 24 June 2026, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4dAsvxBnq8.
Kim, Seung Min, et al. “Trump Signs Order Directing Creation of a National Voter List, a Move Already Facing Lawsuit Threats.” The Associated Press, 31 Mar. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-mail-voting-elections-47cc334b1fb7742244a9c4f176b355cd.
Riccardi, Nicholas. “Postal Service Work to Comply with Trump’s Executive Order Is Rushed and Sloppy, a Whistleblower Contends.” The Associated Press, 6 Sept. 2026, https://apnews.com/article/midterm-elections-postal-service-mail-voting-7f7cf4fdf2e9cf369ae96f96fbda03f2.
Sella, Adam. “Postmaster General Confirms Plan to Hold Back Mail Ballots Under Proposed Rule.” The New York Times, 24 June 2026, https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/24/us/politics/postmaster-mail-ballot-rule-trump-elections.html.
Steiner, David. “Statement from USPS Postmaster General David Steiner Regarding Concerns about Ballot Mail for Federal Elections.” U.S. Postal Service, 4 Sept. 2026, https://about.usps.com/newsroom/statements/090426-statement-from-usps-pmg-david-steiner-regarding-concerns-about-ballot-mail-for-federal-elections.htm.
U.S. Postal Service. “Frequently Asked Questions: USPS Final Rule on Ballot Mail for Federal Elections.” 27 Aug. 2026, https://about.usps.com/what/government-services/election-mail/pdf/faq-usps-final-rule-ballot-mail-federal-elections.pdf.
“U.S. Postal Service Whistleblower Disclosure.” U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, 31 Aug. 2026, https://www.blumenthal.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2026-08-31_final_letter-disclosure.pdf.
An image authentically shows an interview with a man with a massive face tattoo of U.S. President Donald Trump, claiming he was rejected for a job because of his red MAGA hat.
Rating:
In September 2026, an image spread online of what appears to be a screen capture of a man with a large face tattoo of U.S. President Donald Trump being interviewed on TV wearing a red MAGA hat.
A chyron near the bottom of the image stated, “Man said he was rejected for a position after interviewer saw his MAGA hat.” It continued with a purported quote from the man: “I was wearing it outside the building.”
(X user @Miketrenchezs)
The image spreadacross social media, with many online taking it (archived) it as real, and Snopes readers asked us to verify its authenticity.
(DONG PAC Satire)
The above image is fake. It originated with a satirical source, as evidenced by the logo at the bottom right that says “DONG PAC Satire” (though in many posts the logo and satire label were edited out, obscuring their origin). The image also features several signs that it was generated by artificial intelligence.
In the background, there appear to be two identical framed posters with a red heart underneath illegible wording hung side-by-side at the top right of the image. Second, the man’s cheek and ear appear unnaturally widened. The Trump tattoo also appears superimposed over the face as it does not account for the slight bump that is natural over a jawline. We also noted an odd discoloration along the man’s chin.
We ran the image through OpenAI’s research tool that can determine whether an image was generated by OpenAI. The tool found “a SynthID watermark that originated from OpenAI.”
Snopes also searched online for evidence that an actual TV interview with this man took place. We looked up examples of people allegedly losingjobs for supporting Trump and this man’s story and face tattoo was not featured in any publicly reported cases.
Snopes has covered numerous examples of satirical content, including other fake images of men in MAGA hats. Read more about why we report on satirical content on our site.
Sources
DONG PAC | Defenders Of National Greatness. https://dongpac.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
Lee, Jessica. “Why Snopes Covers Satire and Parody.” Snopes, 26 July 2024, https://www.snopes.com//notes/snopes-satire-parody/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
Liles, Jordan. “Don’t Fall for Fake Image of Man in MAGA Hat Blocking Trans Person from Women’s Restroom.” Snopes, 16 Feb. 2026, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/maga-hat-trans-restroom-photo/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
“School Bus Driver Quits Job over MAGA Hat Dispute.” Newsweek, 16 Mar. 2026, https://www.newsweek.com/school-bus-driver-quits-job-over-maga-hat-dispute-11684253. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
“Worker Says He Was Fired from Shipyard for Wearing Trump Hat.” Associated Press, 3 Sept. 2020, https://apnews.com/general-news-a1a96d0b7fd6359b73a5c318de8e352e. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
AI Detector: Free AI Checker for ChatGPT, Claude & Gemini | Pangram. https://www.pangram.com. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
“Donald Trump in 1987, Flying Aboard His Puma Helicopter from NYC To…” Getty Images, 28 Oct. 2020, https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/donald-trump-in-1987-flying-aboard-his-puma-helicopter-from-news-photo/1282707151.
Eder, Steve, et al. “What to Know About the Origins of Jeffrey Epstein’s Wealth.” New York Times, 16 Dec. 2025, https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/16/magazine/jeffrey-epstein-wealth-origins-investigation-takeaways.html.
Google Images. https://images.google.com/. Accessed 14 Sept. 2026.
Pandell, Lexi. “Pangram Has Emerged as the Gold Standard of AI Detection. Should You Trust It?” Wired, 2 Sept. 2026. www.wired.com, https://www.wired.com/story/pangram-has-emerged-as-the-gold-standard-of-ai-detection/.
The Oldenburg Film Festival has made a late edition to its line-up, adding Ned Crawley‘s Drop Dead to its official selection. The film will have its world premiere at Oldenburg, Germany’s leading indie film fest.
The high-concept horror thriller, according to the movie’s publicity material, follows a group of eight strangers who „board a freight elevatorn and find themselves trapped in an ever-worsening life-and-death predicament that ultimately reveals they are all linked together in a sinister, supernatural, or even biblical nightmare.”
The low-budget feature is Crawley’s follow up to his supernatural Western Killing Faith (2025) starring Guy Pearce, DeWanda Wise, and Bill Pullman, which has been a major streaming success, reaching number 2 on HBO Max’s worldwide movie charts and hitting number one in several territories, including Argentina and Brazil.
Killing Faith got a boost from fan Stephen King, who, shortly after its premiere at Beyond Fest, posted a review on X, calling it “a quasi-supernatural Western that has echoes of Cormac McCarthy.” King ranked it as one of his favorite films of the year.
For Drop Dead, Crawley said he decided to shift away from “sweeping landscapes and A-list actors” to “create something equally compelling within the confines of a locked, claustrophobic 15 foot steel box, driven by the performances of relatively unknown actors.”
‘Drop Dead’
Ned Crawley
The film features an ensemble cast including Melissa Neal, Daniel Adeosun, Victor Rivera, Christina Tam, Alexandra kate, Roger Ajogbe, John O’Mahony, and Elijah Craft.
Drop Dead is Crawley’s third feature as a director after Killing Faith and his 2016 debut Middle Man, a crime comedy starring Jim O’Heir, Andrew J. West, and Josh McDermitt.
The 33rd Oldenburg International Film Festival runs Sept. 16-20.
The Chicago International Film Festival has unveiled the international competition selections for its 62nd edition, with new films from Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Hirokazu Kore-eda and Lee Chang-dong among the highest-profile titles in the lineup.
Hamaguchi’s All of a Sudden, Kore-eda’s Look Back and Lee’s Possible Love will compete for the Gold Hugo in the International Feature Competition. The 13-film section also includes Radu Jude’s The Diary of a Chambermaid, Clio Barnard’s I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, Valeska Grisebach’s The Dreamed Adventure and Andrea Pallaoro’s The Echo Chamber, which will have its North American premiere in Chicago.
The festival, which runs Oct. 14-25, said the competitive program includes 25 North American or U. S. premieres across its International Feature, New Directors, Documentary and OutLook sections. Films from Germany, Japan, Spain, the Central African Republic, Brazil, Nigeria and Turkey are represented.
Four selections have been submitted by their countries for the best international feature Oscar: All of a Sudden, Sandra Wollner’s Everytime, Ahmed Hassouna’s documentary Citizen Osama and Lee’s Possible Love. The festival’s fourth annual International Contenders Panel, bringing together filmmakers behind national Oscar submissions, will be moderated by The Hollywood Reporter‘s Seth Abramovitch on Oct. 17.
The New Directors Competition includes Arie Esiri and Chuko Esiri’s Clarissa, Ashgan El-Hamus’ Al Baraneya, Rafiki Fariala’s Congo Boy, Gessica Geneus’ Marie Madeleine and The Riverbank from Enock Carvalho and Matheus Farias. Other selections include Anna Foglietta’s A Common Story, Valentina Maurel’s Forever Your Maternal Animal and Bruno Santamaria Razo’s Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building.
Documentary contenders include Alessandra Sanguinetti’s The Illusion of an Everlasting Summer, Erik Shirai’s Sumo: Spirit Weighs Nothing and Mila Aung-Thwin’s The Ultra Runner. Citizen Osama, Mariinka, Summer Drift and Tricontinental, Letter to Open in Case Of will make their North American premieres.
The festival’s OutLook Competition, devoted to LGBTQ+ stories and perspectives, includes Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, Kōji Fukada’s Nagi Notes, Corrin Evans’ Corpus, Abinash Bikram Shah’s Elephants in the Fog and Kris Rey’s Trash Mountain. The Riverbank, Six Months in a Pink and Blue Building and Summer Drift will compete in both OutLook and another international section.
Recent Chicago winners that went on to Academy Award recognition include Sirat, The Voice of Hind Rajab, The Seed of the Sacred Fig, Close, Drive My Car and The Worst Person in the World, all nominated for best international feature, as well as best documentary nominee Four Daughters.
The complete festival lineup will be announced Sept. 17. Jordan Firstman’s Club Kid will open the festival, while Mouse, from filmmakers Kelly O’Sullivan and Alex Thompson, has been selected as the centerpiece presentation. Tickets for the remaining programs go on sale Sept. 28, following a Cinema/Chicago members presale beginning Sept. 18.
TL;DR: Pok Pok is a Montessori-inspired app that gives kids ages 2 to 8 open-ended digital toys with no ads, no in-app purchases, and no meltdowns when playtime ends. A lifetime subscription is on sale for $59.99.
Most children’s apps push ads and in-app purchases to young kids, and they rely on flashy overstimulation to hold attention. Pok Pok is a Montessori-inspired app that gives kids ages 2 to 8 a set of calm, open-ended educational toys instead, and a lifetime subscription is on sale for $59.99 (reg. $250).
Pok Pok gives kids a set of open-ended digital toys with no levels, no scores, and no way to win or lose. Children learn by experimenting rather than competing, building skills in STEM, numbers, cause and effect, problem-solving, and language along the way. Because there are no menus or text to read, a two-year-old can open it up and explore without any help. Everything works offline too, so a long car ride or a flight stays covered.
Your subscription includes the full catalog, from Space and Dinosaurs to Shapes and World Puzzle, with new toys and seasonal updates added regularly. One account works across up to 10 devices and includes a surprise physical gift.
Prices subject to change. PCMag editors select and review products independently. If you buy through StackSocial affiliate links, we may earn commissions, which help support our testing.
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