More than 1,000 celebrities, many of whom are overwhelmingly leftist, expressed their “unequivocal opposition” to the upcoming merger between Warner Bros. and Paramount. Actors Bryan Cranston, Alyssa Milano, Cynthia Nixon, Jane Fonda, Kathy Griffin, Rosie O’Donnell, Glenn Close, Ben Stiller, Don Cheadle, Jason Bateman, and Ted Danson added their names to the letter, along with big-name directors like J.J. Abrams, David Chase, and Denis Villeneuve. “This transaction would further consolidate an already concentrated media landscape, reducing competition at a moment when our industries — and the audiences we serve — can least afford it,” the letter says. “The result will be fewer opportunities for creators, fewer jobs across the production ecosystem, higher costs, and less choice for audiences in the United States and around the world. Alarmingly, this merger would reduce the number of major U.S. film studios to just four.” It goes on, “We are deeply concerned by indications of support for this merger that prioritize the interests of a small group of powerful stakeholders over the broader public good. The integrity, independence, and diversity of our industry would be grievously compromised.” The letter ends with a call to action, namely that California Attorney General Rob Bonta and other regulators block the deal. Paramount released a response Monday morning. They promised to “create a company that can greenlight more projects, back bold ideas, support talent across multiple stages of their careers, and bring stories to audiences at a truly global scale.” “We hear and understand the concerns that some in our creative community have raised and respect the commitment to protecting and expanding creativity,” their letter states.  “We understand the concerns raised as a result of the disruptions caused to our industry by COVID, entry of big-tech, and changes in consumer behavior, but we promise this: Paramount remains deeply committed to talent, and this merger strengthens both consumer choice and competition, creating greater opportunities for creators, audiences, and the communities they live and work in.” Warner Bros. agreed in December to an $82.7 billion deal with Netflix. Paramount responded with several hostile takeover bids over the following months, culminating in a surprise twist as the streaming giant bowed out in February. “… this transaction was always a ‘nice to have’ at the right price, not a ‘must have’ at any price,” Sarandos and Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said in a statement at the time, as The Daily Wire previously reported.

In 1773, a tax on tea was enough to push people over the edge. Not because of the cost, but because of what it represented. A government reaching too far into the pockets of its citizens. So they dumped it into the harbor. Every April, the government makes sure that it gets its cut. You don’t get a say. You just get a smaller number at the bottom. Today, the taxes are higher, broader, and unavoidable. Americans are taxed when they earn, when they spend, and when they try to hold onto what’s left. And yet, every April, the response is the same. You file. You pay. You move on. Same as last year. Same as the year before. The Trump administration is citing its highest year in tax refunds as a success, but when you have to pay as much as you do, is that really a win? What’s changed isn’t the burden, though that has gotten progressively higher. It’s the reaction. The protest is gone. What’s left is the decision that comes after: what you do with the money that didn’t get taken. Because while you don’t control the system, you still control where your money goes next. Nobody’s overthrowing anything today, but maybe you have some money left over — and the Daily Wire Shop has a few ideas about what it could get you. At Jeremy’s Razors, the Precision 5 Razor for men isn’t trying to save the climate by destroying the economy or teach you something a writers’ union can’t wait to shoehorn into a formerly beloved series. It shaves your face. Exceptionally well. That’s the whole pitch. 5 stainless steel blades, aloe vera & Argan oil lubrication, and a handle that feels like a firm handshake. Beyond shaving, the lineup has expanded into everyday essentials that respect your values and your sensibilities. Shampoo, Shave Cream, and the Aluminum-Free Deodorant all land in the same category: straightforward products that work hard without trying to make a statement on your behalf. Even the newer additions — like the All Purpose Cleaner and Hand Soap — keep that same approach, cleansing your home and your hands without the harsh ingredients or lectures. Just something you can use without thinking twice about it. Meanwhile, as conservative media talk a lot about winning the culture, the Daily Wire decided to actually try. Michael Knowles’s hit Yes or No Game continues to be The Daily Wire’s Best Seller for a reason — join the thousands of players dying to know how well they know the people around them, and pick up one of the 3 expansion packs to dive deeper. The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin Official Board Game brings the world of the Daily Wire’s biggest production yet to your home’s table. Explore the sacred isle filled with enchantments as you race to discover which character, location, and weapon hold the secret of the Grail. Use cunning deduction and your character’s special power to unmask the truth before your rivals do. And for those who want something quieter, facts don’t care about your feelings, but they can change your atmosphere. The Palo Santo & Cashmere and Myrhh & Smoky Amber candles are the kind of thing you light once and keep coming back to. No one’s dumping tea into the ocean this year. But the instinct behind it hasn’t disappeared. It just shows up differently now — in smaller decisions, made individually. Code THEFT. 20% off, 24 hours only.  Spend what’s left like it belongs to you — because it does.

Candidates will likely take aim at health insurance companies on the campaign trail this election cycle, according to new polling. Eighty-one percent of likely voters said they “would be more likely to vote for a candidate who wants to cut out waste, fraud, and abuse in government health care and health insurance programs,” according to a new survey conducted by the Insurance Watchdog Coalition and OnMessage Public Strategies. “The cost of health insurance is near the top of the list of affordability issues now, for a big chunk of American voters,” OnMessage pollster Wes Anderson told The Daily Wire. “I’m sure the insurance companies want themselves not to be in the spotlight, but I think gravity is gonna take us that way, because for too many middle-class families, their health insurance costs are starting to rival their mortgage payments,” Anderson added. The poll also found that Americans have a 78% unfavorable opinion of health insurance companies, with only 17% viewing them favorably. Respondents said Congress should prioritize health insurance companies, while pharmaceutical companies were also cited as an industry deserving greater scrutiny. Support for more aggressive action against insurers was also high. Ninety percent of those polled said they believe health insurance companies should be broken up, and 70% said they would be “more likely” to back a political candidate who supports such a move. Similarly, 84% of respondents said they would back a candidate who “takes on insurance companies to lower costs,” while 86% said they would be “less likely to vote for a candidate funded by big insurance companies.” The findings come as healthcare costs remain a major issue in Washington. The Trump administration in February launched what it calls “TrumpRx,” an initiative to “find the world’s lowest prices on prescription drugs.” Broader healthcare policy debates are continuing following the expiration of some Affordable Care Act subsidies at the end of last year. The administration has also proposed drastic changes to the current system through what it has branded “The Great Healthcare Plan.” “The Great Healthcare Plan stops sending big insurance companies billions in extra taxpayer-funded subsidy payments and instead send that money directly to eligible Americans to allow them to buy the health insurance of their choice,” according to the White House, adding that the plan would also include “a cost-sharing reduction program for healthcare plans.” The path forward on health insurance policy will likely fall on Congress, as both parties are in a heated battle for control of the legislative branch for the second half of Trump’s term. Republicans currently hold narrow majorities in both chambers, and issues like healthcare could be deciding factors for voters in November. The survey was conducted from April 8-11 among 1,000 likely voters across the United States and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.

Daily Wire host Michael Knowles took the stage at Villanova University, Pope Leo’s alma mater, on Tuesday night and addressed the ongoing feud between the president and the pontiff. Knowles acknowledged that the fight between President Donald Trump and Pope Leo has placed “MAGA Catholics” such as himself in a “tricky position,” but he added Trump ripped Pope Leo earlier this week after the pope condemned the president’s immigration policies and the war in Iran. Knowles warned that any lasting division between Trump and the pope would affect the whole country, not just American Catholics, and benefit the “dark forces” that oppose Christianity and conservative political principles. Even in America’s modern society dominated by secularism, there are moral and spiritual authorities competing for influence over politics, Knowles argued. The Daily Wire host highlighted leftist organizations that act as religious authorities, such as Planned Parenthood and LGBTQ activist centers. “We will have rulers and we will have priests of one sort or the other,” Knowles said. “In an age of intensifying political and spiritual struggle, the president and the pope need to work together to illumine the earthly sphere because the alternative is that they work against one another to the sole benefit of the many dark forces that oppose us all.” WATCH: MICHAEL KNOWLES AT VILLANOVA For Trump and the pope, there are far more issues that bring them together than divide them, the Daily Wire host told students at the Catholic university near Philadelphia. Besides the pope’s more Left-leaning position on immigration, the pontiff’s views on nearly every social issue are to the Right of many Republicans, Knowles continued. He pointed out that America remains the most religious country in the West, and its Catholic presence is only growing. Knowles said that even if there wasn’t a Catholic influence in the United States, there would still be “a tension between the spiritual and the temporal authority, between the president and whatever pastor, preacher, or layman stood in inevitably to make spiritual claims.” Even in the middle of a spat between the White House and the Vatican, conservative Catholic Americans can balance support for President Trump’s policies with respect for Pope Leo, Knowles said, citing a passage from Dante, who revered the papacy but was a political enemy of Pope Boniface VIII. “You might say, in fact, that Dante found himself in exactly the same tricky position that MAGA Catholics find ourselves in this week,” Knowles said. “And with characteristic subtlety and sophistication, Dante offers us an example of how to deal with this dilemma in the very last lines of ‘Monarchia.” In that passage, Dante wrote, “Let Caesar honor Peter as a first-born son should honor his father, so that, refulgent with the light of paternal grace, he may illumine with greater radiance the earthly sphere over which he has been set by Him who alone is Ruler of all things spiritual and temporal.”

Shares of Allbirds surged 600% after the footwear company announced it was pivoting towards AI computing infrastructure.  At its IPO in November 2021, Allbirds was valued as a $4B shoe company but was recently sold for $39M. Allbirds shoes will continue to exist, but the brand, intellectual property, and inventory were sold to American Exchange Group on March 30. Left behind was a stock ticker, shareholders, and a stock market listing, allowing Allbirds’ CEO Joe Vernachio to effectively start a new public company, bypassing the traditional process of raising capital and going public through an IPO. Traders buying shares today are no longer buying a shoe company but a newly formed AI venture which is built on the remnants of a failed retail brand. At market open, the stock was $4.40, hitting an intra-day high of $24.31 per share. The stock has since pulled back and is currently hovering under $20 a share.  Allbirds, which will be renamed “NewBird AI,” secured $50 million to build the new AI company in a convertible financing facility allowing the investor to convert the debt into equity if desirable. The company states it will use the $50 million to purchase GPUs and rent them out to companies in need of computing power, positioning itself as a player in the AI cloud infrastructure market. If successful, Allbirds would ultimately be competing with dominant cloud providers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Google. The pivot is contingent on shareholder approval at a special meeting scheduled for May 18. If approved, and once the financing is completed, the company will move into the execution phase of its AI strategy. The brand’s announcement shows the market’s appetite for companies tied to artificial intelligence, with it valuing the company tens of millions of dollars higher before the company has earned a single dollar from its new venture. Some see this enthusiasm as evidence of an emerging AI bubble driven more by hype than fundamentals. Michael Burry, the investor famous for predicting the housing market crash in 2008, warns the AI boom is a bubble. “The government will put all the stops to save the AI bubble to save the market to save the economy,” he said. “The problem is too big to save.”  Others disagree. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has called AI a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” while BlackRock CEO Larry Fink says he does “not believe we have a bubble at all.” Supporters argue that, unlike the dot-com era, many AI companies today are already profitable and generating cash. Critics, however, contend that the technology has yet to produce value commensurate with the hype.