0:03
States sue to block Paramount/WBD merger that was approved by Trump admin
A group of 12 states led by California sued Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery today in an attempt to block a $111 billion merger that was greenlit by the Trump administration last month.
"The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the US," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
The merger would combine two of the largest movie studios and merge streaming service Paramount+ with HBO Max. Netflix previously had a deal to buy WBD's streaming and movie studios businesses, but Paramount succeeded in a hostile takeover bid helped along by support from the Trump administration.
0:24
States sue to block Paramount/WBD merger that was approved by Trump admin
A group of 12 states led by California sued Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery today in an attempt to block a $111 billion merger that was greenlit by the Trump administration last month.
"The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the US," California Attorney General Rob Bonta said.
The merger would combine two of the largest movie studios and merge streaming service Paramount+ with HBO Max. Netflix previously had a deal to buy WBD's streaming and movie studios businesses, but Paramount succeeded in a hostile takeover bid helped along by support from the Trump administration.
0:45
Solution to Feynman's reverse sprinkler puzzle also applies to "silly sprinklers"
Watering your lawn in the summer can be both pragmatic and fun with so-called "silly sprinklers," designed to create amusing loops and spirals of water jets. And there's some fascinating physics at work to boot. Researchers at New York University's Courant Institute conducted a series of experiments with different silly sprinkler designs to find the answer to a longstanding problem in fluid dynamics, according to a new paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
As previously reported, the reverse sprinkler problem is associated with physicist Richard Feynman because he popularized the concept, but it actually dates back to a chapter in Ernst Mach’s 1883 textbook The Science of Mechanics (Die Mechanik in Ihrer Entwicklung Historisch-Kritisch Dargerstellt). Mach’s thought experiment languished in relative obscurity until a group of Princeton University physicists began debating the issue in the 1940s.
Feynman was a graduate student there at the time and threw himself into the debate with gusto, even devising an experiment in the cyclotron laboratory to test his hypothesis. One might intuit that a reverse sprinkler would work just like a regular sprinkler, merely played backward, so to speak. But the physics turns out to be more complicated. “The answer is perfectly clear at first sight,” Feynman wrote in Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman (1985). “The trouble was, some guy would think it was perfectly clear [that the rotation would be] one way, and another guy would think it was perfectly clear the other way.”
1:23
States Sue to Block Paramount-Warner Bros Merger, Defying DOJ
A coalition of 12 states led by California is suing to block the $111 billion Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. merger, arguing it would reduce competition in theatrical distribution, blockbuster films, and basic cable licensing. The challenge (PDF) defies the DOJ's approval of the deal. Variety reports: The coalition, led by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, alleges that the $111 billion transaction violates the Clayton Act by lessening competition in three distinct markets: wide-release theatrical distribution, "top-grossing" theatrical distribution, and basic cable licensing. "The unlawful merger of these two entertainment behemoths would lead to higher prices, lower quality, and less content for film and television, harming movie theaters, basic cable distributors, and ultimately, audiences on every sofa and movie theater seat in the U.S.," Bonta said in a statement on Monday.
The suit argues that the combined company will control 27% of the wide-release theatrical distribution market, 30% of the submarket comprising "anticipated blockbuster films," and 27% of the basic cable bundle. The states argue that such consolidation will harm theaters and cable and satellite providers that rely on competition among distributors. Paramount and Warner Bros. are two of the five remaining legacy studios. Together, all five -- including Disney, Sony and Universal -- control 86% of theatrical distribution and 90% of blockbuster distribution, the states said. Warner Bros. and Paramount are also the second- and third-largest basic cable distributors, respectively.
[...] The states are expected to seek an injunction to block the transaction, which Paramount expects to close sometime after July 22. The 12 states in the coalition are Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington. [...] All are represented by Democratic attorneys general. "Consolidation here not only leads to higher prices -- it also leads to fewer opportunities for important stories to come to life, and fewer ways for audiences to encounter stories, ideas, and perspectives beyond their own experiences," Bonta said. "In this country, no one is above the law. With this lawsuit, California and our sister states are fighting for free and fair markets, not rigged markets. America has no kings in government or our economy."Read more of this story at Slashdot.
2:21
States sue to block Paramount-Warner Brothers Discovery merger
A dozen state attorneys general on Monday filed a joint lawsuit seeking to block Paramount’s pending takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery, the sprawling media company that owns one of the world’s largest movie and television studios and cable news channel CNN. The deal would harm competition and have a negative impact on the business of…
2:31
Trump urges Senate to pass CLARITY Act amid US-China competition concerns
The CLARITY Act's passage could redefine digital asset regulation, impacting U.S. economic strategy and global tech leadership amid China rivalry.
The post Trump urges Senate to pass CLARITY Act amid US-China competition concerns appeared first on Crypto Briefing.
2:40
Trump Urges Senate to Pass Clarity Act for Lindsey Graham
I just read about this thing with Trump and the Clarity Act. So, it turns out Trump posted on Truth Social saying the Senate should pass this act in honor of Lindsey Graham, who was a big supporter of the crypto market structure bill. Graham was the chair of the Senate Banking Committee and a Republican from South Carolina. He passed away on July 11th, and Trump's basically using this as a way to get the Senate to pass the act. I'm not sure what's behind this move, but it's definitely an interesting dynamic.
2:54
‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 Just Confirmed a Huge Change to One Character’s Ending
Season 3, episode 4 finally settles the long‑running question about Sunfyre: the golden dragon is dead. Aegon and Larys stumble onto the rotting remains at Rook’s Rest, and Aegon even pulls a golden scale as a keepsake. The show had hinted the beast was wasting away, but fans kept hoping it might survive, as it does in George R.R. Martin’s “Fire & Blood.”
In the books Sunfyre is badly wounded at Rook’s Rest, nursed back to health, and later used by Aegon to execute Rhaenyra—burning her alive and then devouring her. The series’ decision to kill Sunfyre now throws that whole sequence into doubt. If the dragon truly perished, the writers need a new way to bring about Rhaenyra’s fate, which the show has already signaled will end violently.
There are a couple of likely workarounds. One is a fake‑out: Aegon might still claim the dragon lives, leaving the audience to wonder if the death was a misdirection. More plausible is that Aegon will acquire another dragon. The series has already introduced a wild, black dragon nicknamed “The Cannibal” that feeds on dead dragons; it could bond with Aegon and serve the same narrative purpose.
Either way, Sunfyre’s demise reshapes the final season’s climax, keeping the showdown between Aegon and Rhaenyra as a central mystery. The show continues to diverge from the source material, but the stakes remain as high as ever.
3:28
Disney's Live-Action Moana Bombs at the Box Office With Opening Weekend That Barely Beats Snow White
Disney’s live‑action take on Moana opened to a global total of about ninety‑five million dollars, just edging out Snow White’s under‑performing eighty‑seven‑point‑three million from its 2025 debut. The split looks like roughly forty‑three million domestically and fifty‑two million from overseas markets, enough to keep it on top of the mid‑July weekend but far short of the sixty‑to‑sixty‑five million domestic and seventy‑five million international numbers Disney had hoped for. With a reported production budget near two‑hundred‑fifty million, the opening feels more like a soft splash than the wave the studio was aiming for.
The film stars Catherine Laga’aia as the titular heroine and brings Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson back as Maui, but even their star power couldn’t lift the box office to the levels Disney’s live‑action pipeline was counting on. The modest debut adds pressure to the slate of upcoming remakes, which includes a Tangled release slated for 2028 and other projects like live‑action Bambi, Hercules, a sequel to Lilo and Stitch, and a Beauty and the Beast spin‑off focused on the villain Gaston.
Meanwhile, Universal and Lionsgate’s Michael Jackson biopic broke a new record by crossing the one‑billion‑dollar mark worldwide, becoming the first biopic to do so. Toy Story 5 is not far behind, pulling in eight‑hundred‑seventy‑nine million after its fourth weekend, while Warner Bros.’ Supergirl still lags at about one‑hundred‑fifteen million, well under the two‑hundred‑million target that would have marked a healthier return for the DC franchise.
All in all, Moana’s live‑action version is struggling to find its sea legs, and the numbers suggest Disney may need to rethink how it approaches these big‑budget remakes moving forward.
4:11
House Of The Dragon Season 3 Teases The Debut Of Missing Targaryen George R.R. Martin Warned About
House of the Dragon is gearing up for a surprise in its fourth episode of season three. The show is set to finally bring a long‑missing Targaryen onto the screen, a character fans have only ever seen hinted at in the books. This addition feels like a big step toward tying the series back to the deeper lore that many readers have been waiting for.
The move has stirred up some tension behind the scenes. George R.R. Martin, the creator of the original novels, recently left a note on his website that was later taken down. In it he cautioned the showrunner about the ripple effects that even tiny tweaks can cause in a story as intricate as this one. He used a metaphor about butterflies, warning that a small change might end up reshaping the whole narrative in ways the creators might not anticipate.
Fans are already speculating who this newcomer might be—some think it could be a previously unseen sibling of the main dragon‑riders, while others suspect a hidden heir with a claim to the Iron Throne. Whatever the identity, the episode promises to weave this character into the existing power struggles, potentially shifting alliances and adding fresh tension to the already volatile court.
If the warning holds true, we might see the series taking a more careful approach to the canon, balancing the need for dramatic twists with respect for the source material. Either way, the episode should deliver the kind of intrigue that keeps viewers glued to the screen, and it’ll be interesting to see how the newly introduced Targaryen reshapes the game of thrones.
