As if we haven’t had enough Odyssey controversies over the past week, the latest cultural faux pas comes courtesy of The Odyssey actress Zendaya, who wore a 3000-year-old pair of earrings to a photocall in London earlier this month. And as usual, the Left is losing it. A reporter for Buzzfeed called her fashion statement “American audacity at its best,” while writers at Hyperallergic observed that the earrings reveal a “controversy within a longer pattern of Western indifference to the ethics of trading.” Commenters on X were quick to point out that Zendaya’s earrings come from “a white jeweler based in london who loots countries in africa and the middle east of ancient artifacts,” which, as @themeulemeester sneers, is “typical of the british but extremely low for two black ppl to support.” While it is tempting to roll our eyes at our leftist friends and their ongoing obsession with colonialism, they may have a point. I don’t agree with the Left’s characterization of Zendaya as some sort of unethical desecrator of ancient culture, nor do I buy the framing of her fashion choices as a manifestation of Western imperialism. I do, however, believe that there is a broader conversation to be had about our society’s fundamental inability to respect traditional institutions and the valuable artifacts that define our cultural heritage. According to Barron London, Zendaya’s earrings are “a pair of Ziwiye gold medallion plaques, circa 1st millennium BC Iran.” Hyperallergic reports that the earrings were looted from an archaeological site home to “gold, silver, and ivory objects reputedly discovered by local villagers in northwestern Iran.” These circumstances have led many commentators to conclude that the earrings would have likely made their way to a museum had a proper excavation taken place — at the very least, they might have been treated with more care before being immediately fashioned into an accessory for consumption by Hollywood celebrities. In other words, our culture has a fundamental lack of respect for the traditions of antiquity — and this attitude extends well beyond archaeological artifacts. The same impulse to refashion the past according to contemporary tastes has also shaped one of this year’s biggest cultural phenomena — Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey — and explains the broader debate surrounding the film. It’s true that many reviewers on the Right came away from the film with glowing reviews. Daily Wire’s own Ben Shapiro called the film a “masterpiece,” and Dave Rubin echoed these same words on X. But Christopher Rufo’s mixed review calls attention to a greater issue within the world of the film that reveals our culture’s general defiance of tradition: Rufo acknowledges that the film was “engaging” but laments the departure from the source material. And therein lies the heart of the controversy about Nolan’s most recent hit: as a culture, we approach the past as editors rather than as heirs, compulsively updating ancient traditions to adhere to our contemporary values. In this case, we refashioned Homer to reflect our own moral and psychological assumptions rather than asking what Homer intended to teach us about his own world. There is, of course, nothing wrong with artistic adaptation on its own. Every generation has staged Shakespeare and painted Biblical scenes in styles that resonate with the changing times. But there’s a difference between reimagining an ancient story and reshaping its moral universe — and Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey veers toward the latter. Anyone who has read The Odyssey knows that much of Greek culture is bound up with pride and glory; the Greeks repeatedly explored the idea of hubris — pride taken to a dangerous extreme — in their many mythological creations. The myth of Icarus, for instance, depicts a young man who dares to fly too close to the sun and is shot down by the gods; in the Arachne story, Arachne believes that she can beat Athena in a weaving contest and is consequently transformed into a spider. It is reasonable to conclude, therefore, that a Greek hero from Homer’s time would have wrestled with the distinction between pride and hubris, and the great translations of Homer’s Odyssey into English — from Chapman’s 17th-century translation to Fagles’ more contemporary interpretation from the 1990s — echo this heroic sensibility. The Odysseus we see in Nolan’s adaptation, however, lacks the heroism that defines Homer’s great warrior. In the poem, Odysseus repeatedly revels in his victory at Troy — perhaps even to a fault. In the film, on the other hand, Odysseus regrets his actions at war and suffers from a PTSD-like trauma that seems more appropriate for a Vietnam War vet than a Hellenic hero. At one point in the film, Odysseus is even referred to as a “veteran,” a term that better suits the ethos of a contemporary audience rather than the world of Homeric Greece. Throughout the film, Zendaya’s Athena haunts him in the form of a young girl his men behead during the sack of Troy, and by the time he reaches home, Odysseus breaks down in tears before his wife Penelope. Filled with sorrow and regret, he suggests that the Trojan War was ultimately fought for nothing. The overall result is a softer, more traumatized Odysseus — but certainly not a characterization that stays true to the legacy of the Ancient Greek world. Nolan’s film is a fantastic standalone piece of cinema, but one can’t help but feel disappointed at his sharp departure from the source material. Instead of portraying Odysseus as the glory-seeking hero we’ve known for centuries, Nolan updates his character to become more palatable to a modern audience, tailoring his film for contemporary consumption — but only at the cost of doing a great disservice to the heritage of Ancient Greece. Taken in tandem with the broader debate about The Odyssey, the Zendaya controversy becomes especially revealing of our constant urge to repurpose the past according to the priorities of the present. Perhaps that’s why so many people instinctively felt uncomfortable seeing a 3,000-year-old artifact dangling from a celebrity’s ears — some things are simply too valuable to become vehicles for exploring our own modern sensibilities. Because at the end of the day, inheritance requires both stewardship and cultural understanding. The Greeks understood that they were custodians of a civilization larger than themselves. We would do well to recover that same reverence. *** Liza Libes is a writer and the founder of Pens and Poison. She holds degrees in English from Columbia University and writes about literature and culture at pensandpoison.org. Follow her on X @pensandpoison.

Ask your average conservative how he came to be Republican, and he might say he reached an epiphany after reading Thomas Sowell’s “Basic Economics.” Maybe she remembers watching Charlie Kirk on YouTube or witnessing the likes of Ben Shapiro destroying leftists in debate. For me, I attribute my path to conservatism primarily to Pokémon. It all started when I was gifted by one of my friends a trading card of the Pokémon Fletchinder. I remember holding that worn cardboard card in my hands, cherishing the delicate beauty of its artwork. From that moment on, I was determined to make an impressive card collection. Thanks to the generous support of my grandparents and aunts, I was able to amass a collection that would make any other 10-year-old jealous (I recently appraised it and found it to be worth up to $2,000).  Before my Pokémon craze, I was a recovering public school student. I spent a year in the local elementary school, where I was brainwashed by my leftist elementary school teacher. I was taught not to talk about my faith in Christ — in order to not be seen as hateful — and to be more germaphobic than Dr. Fauci. My mom recovered an essay from that time in which I parroted the teacher and said that if I were president, “I would focus on science and make everything free.” I was the poster child for the perfect Democratic youth. After that ordeal, our family started homeschooling. Every Friday, we went to a local homeschool co-op, where I found a small but passionate group of fellow card collectors, who would congregate and trade every lunch. Seeing many of my rare cards (especially my $150 full-art promotional Pikachu EX card), they happily welcomed me into their group. Within a few years, the Pokémon trading card community I joined grew to impressive levels and I met many of my friends through the hobby. Even today, my friends joke that I was the “Godfather of the Pokémon cards” in that group. I fondly remember welcoming in students new to the co-op to the trading card game, appraising the value of their cards for them, and chatting about my favorite Pokémon.  The beginning of the end happened when my co-op leader saw the thriving card market and was filled with worry and disdain. She was likely concerned about Pokémon cards being a distraction during class hours and the fact that younger children could get scammed by older students.  These were points I agreed with, and I was willing to work with the higher-ups to make sure the Pokémon market was properly regulated. I commanded the love and obedience of the other collectors, and I could make sure they did not let Pokémon become a problem. But the co-op leader’s main argument was that Pokémon was satanic — not because of any designs, but because the Pokémon card game has “energy” cards. That energy reminded her of chi from eastern spirituality, which she saw was directly from the devil himself. She walked up to the front of the auditorium at lunch break one day, and told the co-op’s 200 or so members that Pokémon would be illegal from then on. When she announced her Pokémon ban, I felt disheartened. It wasn’t just about the cards; it was about the community we made around them. I knew that the culture of the co-op would wilt because of her decision, and as the de facto leader of the thriving Pokémon industry, I knew something had to be done. So I made a petition, going to each of my peers trying to get signatures. A few said that I should just listen to the co-op leader and not rock the boat. But many of them, even those I’d never met, said they liked what I was doing in trying to get the community back and signed their names. I proudly delivered the petition to the co-op leader to her surprise, but she ignored it. Even worse, she forced me and my friends who helped with the petition to spend the next few lunches being reeducated on why Pokémon was evil. I tried crafting a logical defense, but I was unskilled then in research and debate. I only later learned Pope John Paul II gave Pokémon his blessing, saying that Christians should not worry about “any harmful moral side effects” with the trading cards and telling parents the game was “based on ties of friendship.” During the whole adventure, I learned major tenets of conservatism. The destruction of civilization comes from people who think they are more enlightened than the average person, who have a hatred for the values normal people espouse. Rule by enlightened, unelected experts is tyranny. It doesn’t matter if they come with good intentions or from an ostensibly religious high ground. We will always have to legislate morality. When we pass laws, we indicate what we believe is right and good. However, moral issues must be deliberated within families and churches, and the government in place must take heed to follow the moral sentiments of the people. Tyranny happens when a ruling body imposes a foreign idea of what is right and wrong. Tyranny also exists when a government tries to save people from themselves. Tyranny relies on the stifling of free expression, the labeling of organic movements as destructive, and the imposition of words and ideas as “hate speech.” Free markets are one of the greatest methods of creating human flourishing and liberty. The capitalistic system isn’t inherently good, and it requires some guidelines for the protection of buyers and sellers. But in the long run, an economic system built on voluntary transactions will make everyone happier. Virtue-signaling exists. People use it to gain favor with those in power or do it out of fear of punishment from the powerful. Lastly, to save civilization, we need a group of self-governing citizen activists who actively monitor the government for tyranny. It is a government by the people, for the people, for a reason; we will not get representation unless we act as an active check on state, local, and national officials. Citizens must be educated on civics and have the ability to winsomely defend their ideas. I was determined from then on to be equipped to defend what is true, good, and beautiful the next time the need came around. To be a better speaker, I went through homeschool speech and debate for two years. I then signed up to intern at the Convention of States: Emerging Leaders Program to learn with other interns about how to become a more self-governing citizen. For me, Pokémon is not just a children’s game, but a symbol of the beauty of free markets, the good of self-governance, and the need for resistance to tyranny. Leftism focuses on ungrounded ideals of goodness and truth that ruin civilization when applied. My Pokémon journey taught me that conservatism provides a logical road map for the realities of human nature and life.  *** This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

Victoria’s Secret angel and Sports Illustrated swimsuit supermodel Heidi Klum may be the last person you’d assume would have a healthy self-image. But at 53, after adding a few pounds to her former size 24 figure, she’s loving the woman she sees in the mirror. “What makes a person sexy is knowing their self-worth and knowing who they are,” she told Us Weekly. “When people are looking at every measurement of their booties, [or] at cellulite, it’s like, ‘Is this really what makes me who I am? There’s so much more to me.’ It’s about feeling great in your skin and knowing what you can do.” If it all sounds like she’s just reading a Post-It on her bathroom mirror, this mom of four practices what she preaches. The host of “Project Runway” and “Germany’s Next Top Model” recently opened up about Ozempic culture and whether or not she would ever consider using GLP-1s in cult-like solidarity with the rest of Hollywood’s shrinking celeb set. While she asserts that she supports others who use weight loss drugs to feel good about their bodies, for her, the answer is a definite no. “I’m not interested at all,” she explained. “I’ve gained weight over the years. I’m no longer a size 24 jean. But I think with age, we look better when we’re not as skinny.” It was her husband, German pop-rock musician Tom Kaulitz of the band Tokio Hotel, who convinced her to eat a sandwich, so to speak. “He said, ‘You should eat more; you would look better if you had more meat on your bones.’ I was like, ‘What?’ This is not something you’re told in the industry, ever, because you’re always supposed to be skinnier than you are. When I look back at photos, I’m like, ‘He’s right!” Proportion-wise, I look better bigger.’” Klum launched her modeling career in the early ’90s at a time when ultra-skinny “heroin chic” was en vogue. Klum didn’t fit the mold. At 5’9,” she was labeled as short, too “bosomy,” and “heavy.” She was even criticized for her “stupid” smile. She still beat out 25,000 other women to win a television competition called “Model ’92” and has enjoyed massive success ever since. “When I looked in the mirror, I was like, ‘I don’t know what the heck they’re talking about. I don’t look fat.’ I wore a size 24 jean, and I’m 5-foot-9-and-a-half; how is that fat? I never understood the size zero thing. You don’t exist if you are a size zero,” Klum says.  “I had photo shoots back in the day where photographers would make me cry,” the TV personality recalled. “You can’t please everyone, and not everyone is going to like what you do, but you have to look in the mirror and be happy with who you are. I did find my niche, and look who’s still here.”    But no amount of industry accolades could protect her from backlash in the press. Once she appeared with extra curves, some called her fat while the bobbling skeletons of Demi Moore, Olivia Wilde, and even Oprah were propped up and praised for being fit. Someone commented that Klum looked “pregnant” at the Venice Film Festival in 2025, and others seemed to suggest she was letting herself gain fat because of her age. Making matters worse, she’s openly happy about maintaining a healthy weight for her age. The nerve. It’s a stark contrast to the time society spoke obesity to power during the so-called body positive movement of the 2010s. Weren’t we just saying all bodies were beautiful?  Klum’s take on her weight feels more balanced and middle-of-the-road than much of what Hollywood is currently trying to pump into our veins. Perhaps it’s an indication that the extreme pendulum swings of diet culture have left most of us wanting something realistic to believe in. Something more akin to good health. While she seems to be enjoying married life with her much younger hubby (he’s 36), for Klum, the bigger story may have something to do with hormones. With most women entering menopause in their early fifties, Klum could be experiencing the symptoms of musculoskeletal syndrome as her body loses muscle with every passing year. Noting that women often notice a weakening in muscle mass and strength, orthopaedic sports surgeon Vonda Wright, MD, said, “Although it’s critical at this time of life to make muscle, we make it less effectively.”  Hormone replacement therapy, targeted nutrition, and weight lifting can be beneficial in maintaining muscle as the body naturally loses estrogen. Wright even recommends low-dose testosterone to her female clients. “I encourage all of my patients to go on hormone optimization with estradiol [and] … with micronized progesterone,” she explains, advising that your own doctor can suggest the best intervention. “Women just want to feel like themselves and do what they’ve always done.” For the record, it seems that Klum is doing what she’s always done, and more. She regularly strikes a pose for major brands including L’Oreal Paris, hits the red carpet whenever she can, and judges aspiring fashion designers within an inch of their lives. Squeezing into a size 24 no longer fits into her packed schedule, and that’s okay with her. She even collaborated with German brand Funny Frisch for her own line of potato chips.  “I love being with my husband on a beach, eating and drinking … and swimming through the water. I feel so free,” Klum said. “I’m 53 and just getting started.”

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed suggested he could build an unlikely coalition that includes supporters of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), arguing that many voters who follow the Georgia Republican will ultimately back his campaign. The comments come as El-Sayed, a Democratic socialist backed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and now Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), continues to rack up high-profile endorsements in Michigan’s closely watched Democratic Senate primary against Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI). During an interview with Politico’s Dasha Burns, El-Sayed was asked about ideological overlap between himself and Greene, including opposition to AIPAC, skepticism toward continued U.S. funding for Israel, and criticism of rising healthcare costs. Burns asked whether those similarities could help him build “this new coalition with people like MTG.” “Look, she’s said a lot of things I disagree with too,” El-Sayed replied. “I will just say this: I wouldn’t be surprised. When you ask me about why establishment, elite Democrats are so worried about me, it’s because there are a lot of people who listen to her who are going to vote for me in the general election.” “They’re not afraid I’m going to lose,” he continued. “They’re afraid I’m going to win.” Rather than distancing himself from Greene’s audience, El-Sayed argued that many of the issues motivating her supporters also resonate with his left-wing campaign. “The fact that MTG agrees with those points should not be all that uncommon, because they’re just obvious things to say,” El-Sayed said while discussing healthcare costs and foreign policy. He went on to argue that both major parties have been captured by corporate interests, singling out pharmaceutical companies, health insurers, hospitals, and the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC. “When you have a public consensus that’s here … and then a political consensus that’s over here, the difference is usually somebody’s money,” he said. Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on Marjorie Taylor Greene: “There are a lot of people who listen to her who are going to vote for me in the general election.” He tells @dashaburns their common ground on issues like Israel and health care “should not be all that… pic.twitter.com/d22Q8RelEo — POLITICO (@politico) July 20, 2026 The interview comes as left-wing leaders continue to flock to El-Sayed in one of the Democratic Party’s highest-profile ideological primary battles of the 2026 cycle. Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez headlined a campaign rally for El-Sayed in Michigan over the weekend as part of their “People versus the Powerful” tour. “Right now, there is a very clear choice before us,” Ocasio-Cortez told supporters. “We can choose $50 million and counting in dark money trying to buy the state of Michigan, or we can choose Dr. Abdul El-Sayed.” Sanders likewise framed the race as a test of whether outside spending could determine the Democratic nominee. “This is an election which will show the nation whether AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super PACs can spend tens and tens and tens of millions of dollars to buy a U.S. Senate seat,” Sanders said. On Monday, Warren became the latest national figure to endorse El-Sayed, praising his pledge to reject corporate PAC money while taking aim at Stevens’ outside support. “Michiganders deserve a senator who will fight for you, not for special interests running millions of dollars in TV ads to buy this seat,” Warren said in a video announcing her endorsement. “Abdul is the only candidate in this race who can build the grassroots movement needed to win in November.” The race has emerged as a proxy battle between the Democratic Party’s democratic socialist wing and its establishment leadership. While Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, and Warren have lined up behind El-Sayed, Stevens has secured endorsements from retiring Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). The winner of the August 4 Democratic primary will likely face former Republican Congressman Mike Rogers in November in one of the Democrats’ top Senate pickup opportunities as they seek to reclaim the majority.

The Justice Department announced Monday that it seized more than 1,000 internet domains used to illegally stream matches during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. The crackdown, dubbed “Operation Offsides,” ran throughout the month-long tournament and resulted in the seizure of more than 1,000 websites and the blocking of nearly 2,000 domains, according to the DOJ. Investigators said they received more than 3,000 leads.  “The sustained effort to seize more than a thousand domains dedicated to illegally streaming the World Cup confirms the administration’s commitment to intellectual property rights and to the success of the 2026 FIFA World Cup,” Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Criminal Division said in the release. Homeland Security Investigations Deputy Executive Associate Director Matthew Millhollin warned that many illegal streaming sites also expose users to malware and payment theft.  “Criminals operating these unauthorized platforms are already willing to break the law when they stream copyrighted World Cup games, they might also be planning to inject malware or steal your payment information,” Millhollin said. “Protect your online presence and enjoy the finals with official streaming partners.” The DOJ said the seized domains were “illegally offering users copyright-protected content in the form of real-time streams”. FIFA, beIN Media Group, NBC Universal, the Motion Picture Association’s Alliance for Creativity and Entertainment, Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Warner Brothers helped investigators identify the sites. The DOJ replaced and seized websites with a federal seizure notice.  U.S. Department of Justice The operation expanded on an enforcement action announced last month that resulted in the seizure of nearly 400 domains. Separately, the DOJ said its International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property program participated in “Operation Red Card,” an international effort targeting digital piracy and counterfeiting linked to the World Cup in Colombia.