Josh Hawley

Money Moves

Expressing alarm over Netflix–WBD merger's antitrust implications

In late 2025, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) put itself in play, drawing bids from Netflix, Paramount Skydance, and Comcast in a rare open bidding war over a century-old Hollywood studio. On December 5, 2025, WBD's board took Netflix's $72 billion cash-and-stock offer for its studios and streaming arm (HBO, DC, and Warner Bros. film and TV operations), excluding CNN and the cable networks.

Updated 6 days ago

Force in Play

Flipped vote after Rubio letter

Congress last declared war in 1942. Since then, presidents have ordered military strikes 212 times without formal declarations—but never quite like this. On January 3, 2026, U.S. special forces raided the Venezuelan capital, captured President Nicolás Maduro in his residence, and flew him to New York to face narcoterrorism charges. Eleven days later, Vice President JD Vance cast the deciding vote to kill a Senate resolution that would have required congressional authorization for further military action. Now, over a month after the raid, the operation faces mounting legal challenges: Maduro's defense team filed motions on February 4 questioning the federal court's jurisdiction over the extraordinary rendition case, while the International Court of Justice and UN human rights bodies have issued statements characterizing the operation as a violation of international law.

Updated Feb 6