Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison has stepped in to personally guarantee $40.4 billion in Paramount Skydance’s latest effort to pry Warner Bros Discovery away from selling its prized Hollywood assets to streaming giant Netflix. The guarantee, disclosed in a filing on Monday, seeks to allay the Warner Bros board’s doubts about Paramount’s financing and the lack of full Ellison family backing, which had pushed it toward the competing cash-and-stock offer from Netflix. Here’s what analysts and market experts are saying about the latest development: SETH SHAFER, PRINCIPAL ANALYST AT S&P GLOBAL, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE “I don’t think the revised bid from Paramount Skydance significantly alters the current status quo. I doubt many WBD shareholders that are on the fence or planning to vote ‘no’ were holding out due to issues the revised bid addresses such as a guarantee from Larry Ellison on the funding front.” “We’re still likely months away from a shareholder vote on the Paramount offer and the planned closing date of the deal agreed with Netflix would be in the second half of 2026. There will likely be many more twists and turns ahead and both Paramount and Netflix have a chance.” MICHAEL PACHTER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, STRATEGIC PLANNING AT WEDBUSH SECURITIES, CALIFORNIA “The WBD Board rejected the last offer because they thought it was speculative and revocable. This one makes the offer irrevocable and directly addresses the Board’s concern. “If the board is rational and ethical (a big if), it must accept the offer, since the $108 billion PSKY offered is more than the $83 billion offered by Netflix. We;ll see what the Board does, but PSKY is right to make this offer directly to them.” “Yes, Paramount has a chance to win, approaching 100%” ROSS BENES, SENIOR ANALYST AT EMARKETER, NEW YORK “The updated offer from Paramount doesn’t change the fact that WBD’s executives prefer Netflix. The new offer does make Paramount’s case more compelling to the board and shareholders. But WBD executives will keep fighting to maintain the Netflix deal as long as they can. This battle will be prolonged.” PAOLO PESCATORE, ANALYST AT PP FORESIGHT, LONDON “Paramount remains in a precarious position and is making a last-ditch effort to avoid being left out in the shadows. It cannot afford to lose out and be a weaker player compared to its stronger rivals.” “The improved offer is a step in the right direction, but it is unlikely to be enough.” REUBEN MILLER, HEAD OF ANTITRUST AT DEALREPORTER, WASHINGTON DC “The financing from the sovereign wealth funds opens a regulatory box that needs to be checked. Having these players involved will bring another dimension of scrutiny, as well as a big diplomatic question – how far will using money from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds bring them into partnership with one America’s cultural touchstones?” “Paramount has claimed that any influence from the funds will be neutralised due to their lack of voting rights, but there are other questions at play which make the picture far murkier. Notably, the access of these funds, as key stakeholders, to WBD and Paramount’s data, as well as the wider diplomatic implications of foreign bodies having a vested stake in such a huge entity in U.S. media production and consumption.” (Reporting by Kritika Lamba in Bengaluru, compiled by Arpan Varghese; Editing by Anil D’Silva)

It’s Christmas break, so it seems like an appropriate time to discuss one of my favorite books: “The Screwtape Letters,” by C.S. Lewis. The book is all at once a deep rumination on religion, a high comedy rooted in the hilarity of both humanity’s flaws and Satan’s foibles, a tragedy about the nature of death, and a tale of redemption and everlasting life. It is a spectacularly good book. When you read “The Screwtape Letters,” there are a lot of truly funny moments. Lewis himself said, though, “Of all my books there was only one I did not take pleasure in writing,” calling it ‘dry and gritty going.’ “At the time, I was thinking of objections to the Christian life and decided to put them in the form ‘That’s what the devil would say.’ But making goods ‘bad’ and bads ‘good’ gets to be fatiguing.” The book is wildly entertaining because he is obviously writing in the voice of one of Satan’s minions. In Christian theology, Satan has a will of his own, and he’s rebelling against God, which makes him a really fascinating character. Lewis opens the book with a couple of epigraphs, one by Martin Luther: “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield the texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn,” and one by Sir Thomas More: “The devil, the proud spirit, cannot endure to be mocked.” The book is written from the perspective of Screwtape as letters to his nephew, Wormwood. Wormwood has been given the on-the-ground task of convincing a young man away from his incipient Christianity and Screwtape’s job to advise Wormwood on the best way to procure the young man’s soul. This gives Lewis extraordinary leeway to stick and move with Satan, to make fun, to mock, to play with the entire idea. And what emerges is a great work of literature. There are a bunch of large-scale arguments that Lewis makes in “The Screwtape Letters.” The first one is that Satan’s best weapon is the “real world.” That is correct. If you talk to secular people, they’ll always say that the spiritual world and God are unreal. The real world is the material world. But then, when you ask them about what’s important to them, they’ll talk about their feelings, which, of course, are inherently unreal in the same way the spiritual world is unreal. This is a point that Lewis makes: the definition of “real” is capacious and changing on a regular basis among secularists. Lewis believes that man’s draw to the divine can be rooted in reason, and that reason actually guides you toward something beyond yourself. It guides you toward the transcendent. That’s an idea that I heartily agree with. I believe that the notion of free will and free choice in the universe guides you toward the idea that there must be something beyond us, that there’s a logic to the universe that guides you to the question of questions: Who is the Chief Logician, who made the rules? Credit: HarperOne Lewis makes the same point, and then he says that the job of the secular materialist is to get you to focus on the thing-in-itself. Screwtape says, Even if a particular train of thought can be twisted so as to end in our favour, you will find that you have been strengthening in your patient the fatal habit of attending to universal issues and withdrawing his attention from the stream of immediate sense experiences. Your business is to fix his attention on the stream. Teach him to call it real life. Don’t let him ask what he means by real. Thus, keep the person focused on the immediate and the now. There’s nothing that’s done this more than the internet age, where our attention spans have been reduced to the next 15 seconds. Sitting and ruminating on life leads you to higher ideas, and if you can prevent people from doing that sort of stuff, you end up with a very materialistic society. So what exactly does reality mean? According to Screwtape, People ought to be taught that in all experiences which can make them happier or better, only the physical facts are real, while the spiritual elements are subjective and in all experiences which can discourage or corrupt them, the spiritual elements are the main reality, and to ignore them is to be an escapist. The idea is that when you’re thinking about death, the only thing that is real is the death itself. You’re not supposed to look at the spiritual element of death. Or, if you do look at something that makes you very happy, you’re not supposed to look at the spiritual element of what makes you very happy. Instead, focus on the pure materialism of the thing. The goal is to enmesh mankind in the world. Screwtape says, How disastrous for us is the continual remembrance of death with which war enforces. One of our best weapons, contented worldliness, is rendered useless in wartime. Not even a human can believe that he is going to live forever. The material world, then, is the chief ally of Screwtape because people desire not to think of God. God is a distraction. God has obligations. God has duties.  Screwtape says, Human beings hate every idea that suggests Him just as men in financial embarrassment hate the very sight of a passbook. (meaning a checkbook.) The idea is that if you’re not thinking about duty, and then you’re forced to think about duty, you don’t like it very much. The other thing that Screwtape tries to get you to focus on is the future — at all times. If you can focus on the future at all times, then people will be very neglectful of the present. So says Screwtape, It’s far better to make them live in the Future. … The Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time — for the Past is frozen and no longer flows and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays. Hence the encouragement we have given to all those schemes of thought like Creative Evolution, Scientific Humanism or Communism, which fix men’s affections on the Future, on the very core of temporality. Hence, nearly all vices are rooted in the future. The idea is, if you’re thinking about the future, then you’re not thinking about the spiritual consequences of the things you do in the here and now. You’re thinking about the material consequences of the things that you do in the here and now, and that allows you to do bad things in the name of a “better future.” Screwtape says the best thing you can do is convince people that their utopian thoughts are the things that are mandated by God. So on the one hand, you try to get people sunk in reality, and this drives them away from God. On the other hand, Screwtape advises Wormwood that people should be led to examine their own emotions constantly; if you can be narcissistic, checking yourself all the time, you’re going to end up without God. Lewis teaches that very often in life, we engage at the beginning of a task with great enthusiasm, and then the enthusiasm wears away. This happens all the time with a variety of tasks, and once that happens, that is when you encourage people to look into being morose, look into being depressed, to reject the spiritual aspect of their duty, to stop trying to take joy in the spiritual aspect of what they’re doing, and instead focus on the fact that it’s just sheer drudgery. Screwtape says that the rule of thumb for seducing mankind away from God is to encourage people to be unselfconscious when considering sin — to be unabashed, unashamed, blasé about your sin, but to be self-conscious and awkward when you consider acts of faith. This is modern society in a nutshell. The more you sin, the prouder you should be. You should engage in festivals celebrating your sin. When it comes to going to church, you should be shy: “I don’t want to be judgmental; I’ll make you feel ashamed. But when it comes to my sin, man, I will tell you about my sins all day long because we can all be comfortable; we can be the boys when we’re talking about our sins.” Screwtape also points out that one easy way to hell is to get people to disregard the individual human beings in front of them in the name of Mankind, writ large. This, obviously, is the project of the Left, which is willing to completely run over its neighbors in order to pursue a “better world” for everybody else. The book has wonderful pieces of advice, even for people who are not totally religious, about how to act better in your inner world, how to treat other people better, and how to have better relations with your spouse. It’s a beautifully written book. * * *

The trailer for Christopher Nolan’s highly-anticipated drama “The Odyssey” was released today. In the trailer, Matt Damon portrays Odysseus, King of Ithaca, based on the ancient Greek literature attributed to Homer. The film’s hero can be seen leading his soldiers home after the Trojan War in treacherous conditions. There’s also a brief moment showing Tom Holland as Odysseus’ son Telemachus and Anne Hathaway as Odysseus’ wife Penelope. “Promise me you will come back,” Penelope says at one point. “What if I can’t?” Odysseus replies. Other actors in the movie include Robert Pattinson, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Charlize Theron, Mia Goth, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, and John Leguizamo. Academy Award-winning director Nolan, known for critically acclaimed projects such as “Oppenheimer” (2023) and “Inception” (2010), spoke about the project during an interview with Empire magazine last month.  “I mean, it truly contains all stories,” Nolan said. “As a filmmaker, you’re looking for gaps in cinematic culture, things that haven’t been done before. And what I saw is that all of this great mythological cinematic work that I had grown up with — Ray Harryhausen movies and other things — I’d never seen that done with the sort of weight and credibility that an A-budget and a big Hollywood, IMAX production could do.” Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships He also described what it was like filming at sea for four months. “It’s vast and terrifying and wonderful and benevolent, as the conditions shift. We really wanted to capture how hard those journeys would have been for people. And the leap of faith that was being made in an unmapped, uncharted world,” Nolan told the outlet. “By embracing the physicality of the real world in the making of the film, you do inform the telling of the story in interesting ways…because you’re confronted on a daily basis by the world pushing back at you.” The saga hits theaters on July 17, 2026.

Democrats are shelving their 2024 election autopsy despite having completed it, and attempting to move forward as though nothing has happened — prompting people outside their camp and even some within it to ask what was so bad that they didn’t want anyone to see? A post-election autopsy — like an After-Action Review (AAR) in the military — is supposed to look at all aspects of any given election cycle and determine what went right and what went wrong. While it certainly can be useful to look at those factors after winning an election, often the most valuable lessons come from acknowledging what went wrong in an election that ended in loss. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin — who said as recently as February that he’d have no problem releasing the report — announced last week that he would not be releasing the completed report after all, claiming that the party was already showing gains and arguing that its release would not aid in their efforts to move forward. “We are aligned on what’s important, and that’s learning from the past and winning the future. Here’s our North Star: does this help us win? If the answer is no, it’s a distraction from the core mission,” he claimed. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) brushed off questions about the DNC’s decision during a Sunday morning appearance on CNN”s “State of the Union,” saying simply, “What went wrong is, we lost the election.” Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin on DNC’s refusal to release 2024 post-election autopsy: “What went wrong is, we lost the election.” pic.twitter.com/X5pTYPvSwl — State of the Union (@CNNSOTU) December 21, 2025 Democratic strategist and CNN commentator Xochitl Hinojosa backed Martin’s play as well, saying, “I could not agree more with this decision. We all know why Dems lost in 2024. The DNC has and should continue to make changes, and that is one of the reasons Dems have been winning up and down the ballot. Let’s stop looking back. Let’s look forward and continue winning.” But there were some rumblings from the Left as a few worried that former Vice President Kamala Harris would reap the most benefit from less scrutiny directed at the election she lost. Jeff Weaver, who managed Senator Bernie Sanders’s (I-VT) 2016 campaign, observed: “Kamala Harris certainly benefits from not having an open discussion.” Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships Rebecca Katz, adviser to Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), added, “How are Democrats going to learn from mistakes if we don’t have any concept of the depth and breadth of those mistakes?” “I suspect the reasons why this isn’t being released are precisely the reasons why it should be released,” Lis Smith, adviser to former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, said. CNN anchor Kasie Hunt asked a panel on Sunday’s “State of the Union” whether refusing to release the report would just give voters one more reason to feel like the Democratic Party was not listening to them. She asked whether it might feel like “a continuation of the reasons the public doesn’t trust the Democratic Party.” CNN panel melts down after host asks why Democratic party’s decision not to release their autopsy on losing 2024 election is “not a continuation of the reasons the public doesn’t trust the Democratic party?” Bakari Sellers: “This is laughable.” CNN host: “18% of Americans… pic.twitter.com/mu9UPEkeY7 — TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) December 22, 2025 On “The Big Weekend Show,” Fox News regular and Marine Corps veteran Joey Jones argued that the reason the Democrats lost in 2024 should be obvious: Kamala Harris was “a terrible messenger for a terrible message.” “A TERRIBLE MESSENGER FOR A TERRIBLE MESSAGE” – Democrats are refusing to release their 2024 autopsy report, saying there’s no point because it won’t help them win future elections. But @Johnny_Joey already knows why they lost and it’s all because of Kamala Harris. Do you agree? pic.twitter.com/WOLjytPmz4 — The Big Weekend Show (@BigWeekendShow) December 22, 2025 On Fox News panel show “The Five,” Tyrus suggested in mocking tones that he didn’t really blame Democrats for scuttling the report — largely because if he’d lost that badly, he wouldn’t be too keen on watching the replay either: “Some of the worst behind-whoopings of your life… you don’t sit down and break out the, ‘hey, let’s watch the video when Mom left Dad at Christmas for his uncle. Let’s break that video out.'” “Some of the worst behind-whoopings of your life… you don’t sit down and break out the, ‘hey, let’s watch the video when Mom left Dad at Christmas for his uncle. Let’s break that video out.” The DNC is getting slammed for killing their autopsy on what went so wrong in the 2024… pic.twitter.com/vecDQM2zZi — The Five (@TheFive) December 20, 2025 Democrat panelist Jessica Tarlov disagreed, arguing that the party was going against promises of transparency by refusing to release the report. “I wish they had released it. I don’t think you can give a slew of interviews saying ‘we need this’ and then tell people ‘it’s ok, it’s going to be fine,'” she said. ? Even Jessica Tarlov is calling out the DNC for not releasing their 2024 election autopsy report: “I wish they had released it. I don’t think you can give a slew of interviews saying ‘we need this’ and then tell people ‘it’s ok, it’s going to be fine’.” pic.twitter.com/k4NCfYMaQS — TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) December 20, 2025 Of course, the writing may have already begun to appear on the wall months earlier when it was revealed that the autopsy would not include a review of then-President Joe Biden’s insistence upon running for reelection, his spectacular implosion as a candidate, and then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ effective installation as heir apparent. The Democrats’ 2024 election autopsy will reportedly not examine the Biden fiasco or Harris’ quality as a candidate. Odd choice! pic.twitter.com/Bh3jyAjOw1 — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) July 25, 2025 Martin, according to The Washington Post, said at the time that he did not feel it was important to review those particular issues because he did not believe it likely that a similar set of circumstances would present in a future election.

Even alleged MS-13 gangbanger Kilmar Abrego Garcia will be home for the holidays. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis extended an order preventing federal authorities from re-detaining Abrego Garcia Monday. The federal judge cited concerns that the administration might try to arrest Abrego Garcia “in the middle of the night” before he could face justice, according to The Washington Post. “Once again, I’m making a finding that these representations, which are misrepresentations, are in bad faith,” she told Justice Department lawyer Ernesto H. Molina Jr., adding that she was “beyond impatient” with the Trump administration’s lawyers, whom she accused of putting false information in their legal briefs, the outlet reported. Xinis ordered Abrego Garcia’s release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, on December 11, saying that the federal government had no legal basis to detain him. The Trump administration deported Abrego Garcia to his home country of El Salvador in March due to an “administrative error.” Abrego Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2011, was brought back to the U.S. in June on human smuggling charges stemming from a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop. During the incident, Abrego Garcia was pulled over while hauling eight other passengers. Christmas Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships Authorities became suspicious when they didn’t see any luggage in the car, despite the group having traveled for days from Texas to Maryland. A responding officer noted that he suspected “a human trafficking incident.” They ultimately let Abrego Garcia go with a citation for driving with an expired license. The federal government now has until Friday to provide its plans for Abrego Garcia, his attorney said. “So, as of right now, Mr. Abrego Garcia is gonna return to his home with his wife and his children and his family members in Maryland. And he will be at home through Christmas and New Year,” the lawyer told a crowd of cheering supporters outside the courthouse Monday. Abrego Garcia quickly became a darling of many Democratic lawmakers, including Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who paid him a visit while he was detained in El Salvador. Along with the human smuggling allegations, Abrego Garcia was tagged as a member of MS-13 in a 2019 Maryland police report and a 2018 court filing. He was also twice accused of beating his wife, who previously applied for protective orders against him. She has since emerged as one of his most vocal advocates against his deportation.