“Netflix is revising its $72 billion offer for Warner Bros. Discovery to make it an all-cash transaction. Netflix initially put forth a cash and stock deal valued at $27.75 per Warner Bros. share, giving it a total enterprise value of $82.7 billion, including debt. Netflix and Warner Bros. said Tuesday that the revised deal simplifies the transaction structure, provides more certainty of value for Warner Bros. stockholders and speeds up the path to a Warner Bros. shareholder vote. The companies said that the all-cash transaction is still valued at $27.75 per Warner Bros. share. … Netflix has been in a tussle with Paramount Skydance for Warner Bros., with Paramount taking another step in its hostile takeover bid of Warner Bros. last week, saying that it would name its own slate of directors before the next shareholder meeting of the Hollywood studio.” (01/20/26)
“One of the most difficult areas in church–state law involves the conflict between freedom of speech and freedom of religion. In the United States, at least at the level of basic principle, that conflict has been largely resolved for decades. Ever since Cantwell v. Connecticut, we have accepted that people don’t have a right to be free from criticism — or even offense — directed at their religious beliefs. Speakers may criticize religion, ridicule religious doctrines, and even confront believers directly, so long as they respect ordinary time, place, and manner restrictions and do not incite imminent violence. In other words, in American constitutional law, freedom of speech generally trumps claims that religious sensibilities have been wounded. The First Amendment does not contain a right not to be insulted. The situation in Europe is more complicated.” (01/20/26)
“Seven members of the Netherlands’ far-right Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders have split from the party’s 26-member faction in parliament and will form their own group, citing dissatisfaction with his leadership, Wilders and the lawmakers said on Tuesday. The split is the most serious challenge to Wilders'[s] control over his party since its foundation in 2006. Wilders told reporters in The Hague that the seven ‘thought Freedom should be more constructive and work together with the new governing coalition instead of conducting hard opposition.’ ‘We’re not planning to do that.’ He said his party would survive the crisis. The split comes as the centrist, pro-EU D66 party, which won the election last October, is in talks to form a minority government in coalition with the conservative Christian Democrats and the right-wing VVD.” (01/20/26)
“The United States and China are the world’s two great powers. The US boasts the largest economy, the global reserve currency, the leading AI firms, and a military with unmatched worldwide reach. China has the globe’s second-largest economy (far ahead of third-place Germany); commanding positions in key fields such as drones, batteries, and rare earths; an increasingly formidable navy; and, by virtue of its export dominance, substantial leverage over global trade. Cold War II is taking shape. Or is it? Dig deeper, and both nations start to look like surprisingly fragile societies drifting slowly but steadily toward disaster.” (01/20/26)
“Food, which generally originates with a farmer, gardener, or orchardist, is fast losing its hands-on persona and increasingly gaining a mechanical, chemical platform. Over the last decade, the United States has lost about 28,000 farms annually. While some of the loss is due to urbanization, most of the land remains farmland, either managed by other farmers or simply abandoned. While there are 1.3 million farmers over age 65, only 300,000 are 35 or younger. In 2022, the average American farmer was 58—years older than the average age in other vibrant economic sectors. The American business landscape is largely anti-people. The current rush to artificial intelligence reflects how eagerly most businesses seek to eliminate people. The farming sector illustrates this trend better than most.” (01/20/26)
“Australia’s Parliament on Tuesday passed new gun restrictions and began debating draft anti-hate speech laws proposed after two shooters killed 15 people at a Jewish festival in Sydney last month in an attack that authorities say was inspired by the Islamic State group. The gun laws create new restrictions on gun ownership and create a government-funded buyback program to compensate people forced to hand in their firearms. Anti-hate speech laws would enable hate groups that don’t fit Australia’s definition of a terrorist organization, such as Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir, to be outlawed.” (01/20/26)
Source: Future of Freedom Foundation
by Jacob G Hornberger
“Will Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado return to her country, as she has vowed? If so, how exactly would she do that? Does she sneak into the country and remain hidden, as she has done ever since the Chavista regime began arresting and brutalizing protestors after the country’s 2024 presidential election? Or does she get on a plane and fly publicly into the country and live openly without fear of being arrested by the Chavista regime to face pending criminal charges against her? It seems to me that given the position of servile subserviency into which she has placed herself with respect to her relationship with President Trump, she would almost certainly feel compelled to ask his permission to return to her home country.” (01/20/26)
