“Matthew McConaughey filed trademark applications to prevent his likeness from being used by AI companies without permission, and the US Patent and Trademark Office has approved eight so far. According to the Wall Street Journal, the trademarks were for video and audio clips featuring the actor staring, smiling and talking. One was for a video of him standing on a porch, while another was for an audio recording of him saying ‘alright, alright, alright,’ his signature catchphrase from the movie Dazed and Confused. Under the law, it’s already prohibited for companies to steal someone’s likeness to sell products. However, McConaughey is taking a proactive approach due to the nebulous rules around the use of someone’s likeness for artificial intelligence and what’s considered commercial use involving the technology.” (01/14/26)
“Limited government proponents should feel uneasy. On the right, populists deride economic liberty’s supporters as anachronistic ‘market fundamentalists.’ The free market, they suggest, is not aligned with the preferences or interests of the Republican Party’s new working-class coalition. Many of these populists are eager to abandon freedom for tariffs and other forms of ‘industrial policy’ — a euphemism for granting the state authority to pick economic winners and losers. Unfortunately, trends on the left may be even worse. With populists embracing new state interventions and untrammeled executive power, freedom advocates find their influence on the right at a nadir. Perhaps overtures to the center-left are in order? Having lost the last presidential election to a very flawed Republican candidate, maybe Democrats will be inclined to move toward the center. There is some historical precedence for this.” (01/14/26)
“For decades, the world has viewed Iran through a series of familiar, if increasingly obsolete, lenses. From the ‘clash of civilizations’ to the ‘struggle for reform’ and the poignant aesthetics of ‘Women, Life, Freedom,’ Western observers have sought a narrative that fits their own political taxonomy. But today, as the Islamic Republic plunges the country into total digital darkness … a new reality is hardening in the silence. The information that trickles out via Starlink and clandestine dispatches reveals a fundamental shift that many in the West find difficult to reconcile with their existing frameworks: Iranians are no longer asking for a seat at the table. They are demanding a different table entirely. The movement that has gripped Iran since December 28 is not a plea for human rights within a theological framework, nor is it a subset of global identity politics. It is a profound, pragmatic, and increasingly radical return to secular nationalism.” (01/14/26)
“[T]here is an enormous amount of repressed fetishism happening within the celebration of ICE violence. They find unchecked, unaccountable power enticing. Its sadism is intoxicating because it allows them to disassociate from the crushing weight of their own inner turmoil. And because virtually none of them have ever taken the time to examine their own shadows, they project them onto everyone and everything. This psychology of sadomasochism is not the kind one finds in consensual BDSM relationships or communities. Quite the opposite. The people who participate in consensual BDSM do it because it is cathartic. Because it is fun. Because they trust their partner. But the kind we see among far-right and fascist groups is solely about demeaning those who have not submitted to the state or to a mob.” (01/14/26)
“China had its biggest trade surplus ever last year at almost $1.2 trillion, according to data released Wednesday, defying tariffs President Donald Trump has imposed on the world’s second-largest economy. China is sending more exports to other parts of the world, even as it struggles with domestic economic troubles. China’s foreign trade in goods last year totaled 45.47 trillion yuan ($6.51 trillion), up 3.8% from the year before, state media reported, citing figures from the General Administration of Customs. That included 26.99 trillion yuan ($3.8 trillion) in exports and 18.48 trillion yuan ($2.6 trillion) in imports. Exports grew 6.1% compared with the previous year, while imports grew 0.5%.” (01/14/26)
