Source: The Dispatch
by Kevin D Williamson
“Ozzy Osbourne, whose funeral cortège will add some color as it processes through Birmingham today, once summarized a big chunk of his life thus: ‘I behaved f—ing badly.’ No doubt: Getting arrested for public urination is one thing, and Ozzy got arrested for public urination at the Alamo, right there on the Cenotaph. There was the infamous business with orally decapitating that bat. The sex and the drugs. The various Luciferian fixations. Helping to make reality television a thing. But the self-proclaimed Prince of Darkness’s last public act was helping to raise some $190 million for three charities, including a children’s hospital and a children’s hospice headquartered in his hometown of Birmingham. After that, he promptly went to his eternal reward. I imagine that the initial conversation with St. Peter was an interesting one.” (07/30/25)
https://thedispatch.com/article/ozzy-osbourne-music-life-death/
Source: Christian Science Monitor
by staff
“With a new academic year due to start in the United States, states and districts are seeking to manage students’ cellphone use during the school day. Proposals range from developing usage guidelines to implementing outright bans. Amid the discussion over what adults – educators, parents, policymakers – should do, students are signaling their ability to exercise individual agency. And they want nuanced and flexible approaches to help balance use and manage screen time. In a 2025 Pew survey in the U.S., 44% of teens reported cutting back on both social media and smartphone use. In 2023, that share was 39% (social media) and 36% (smartphones). A wider survey of 20,000 children ages 12 to 15 and parents across 18 countries found 40% of students taking deliberate breaks from their screens, up 18 percentage points from 2022. (07/29/25)
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2025/0729/Social-media-self-control-among-students
Source: San Diego Union-Tribune
“The Food and Drug Administration’s polarizing vaccine chief is leaving the agency after a brief tenure that drew the ire of biotech executives, patient groups and conservative allies of President Donald Trump. Dr. Vinay Prasad ‘did not want to be a distraction’ and was stepping down from his role as the FDA’s top vaccine regulator ‘to spend more time with his family,’ a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement late Tuesday.” (07/30/25)
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/07/30/fda-vaccine-chief-leaves-agency/
Source: Electronic Frontier Foundation
“Smashing the Tech Oligarchy.” (07/30/25)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/07/podcast-episode-smashing-tech-oligarchy
Source: Reason
by Jacob Sullum
“As a minority FCC member during the Bush administration, Carr condemned government interference with newsroom decisions.” (07/30/25)
https://reason.com/2025/07/30/fcc-chairman-brendan-carrs-meddling-in-broadcast-journalism-contradicts-his-own-avowed-views/
Source: Town Hall
by Stephen Moore
“The most recent Wall Street Journal political poll shows that Democrats have swerved into a deep ditch. Only three of 10 voters have a positive opinion of the Democratic Party, and that is the lowest this number has been for Democrats since Bill Clinton’s first term in office. Republicans aren’t very popular either — but they have a big lead over the donkeys. I’m not a cheerleader for the Republicans, and it’s clear the GOP is not the solution to all our nation’s problems. Republicans have been coconspirators in the runaway spending and debt crisis in Washington. What is concerning is that the Democrats have become what might be called a donut party: They have no middle. (07/30/25)
https://townhall.com/columnists/stephenmoore/2025/07/30/desperately-seeking-a-pro-growth-democrat-n2661131
Source: Reason
“Financial historian and attorney Richard E. Farley explains how political games, union power, and creative accounting tanked New York City in 1975 — and why it could happen again.” (07/30/25)
https://reason.com/podcast/2025/07/30/could-new-york-go-bankrupt-again/
Source: Fox News
“More than three decades after Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills avoided releasing approximately 6,000 pages of case files pertaining to the federal investigation into her alleged cocaine use, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) is seeking those very documents. The NRSC submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in April 2025, attempting to release the files relating to her suspected cocaine use trial amid suspicion that Democrats were recruiting her to jump into the state’s Senate race. While NARA initially told the NRSC they would review the request, they later claimed 3,000 pages of the files were under FOIA exemption, which preserves the secrecy of grand jury testimony.” (07/30/25)
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-governors-buried-cocaine-investigation-docs-hit-official-inquiry-questions-swirl
Source: Freedom and Flourishing
by Winton Bates
“There has been debate among economic historians about the point at which average real wages actually began to rise in England during the 19th century (even some discussion on this blog) but there can be no doubt that the industrial revolution was the beginning of a golden age of material well-being. Why does the myth [that the industrial revolution caused a great deal of misery] persist?” (07/30/25)
https://www.freedomandflourishing.com/2025/07/will-economic-freedom-continue-to.html
Source: Caitlin Johnstone, Rogue Journalist
by Caitlin Johnstone
“A liberal Israel apologist named Brianna Wu has made a mealy-mouthed tweet acknowledging the reality of what’s happening in Gaza that is so obnoxious I need to have a quick rant about it. Wu, who has managed to translate her public attention from the 2014 Gamergate harassment scandal into a role as a pro-Israel spinmeister, tweeted a screenshot from a New York Times headline titled ‘Total Failure: Israel’s Return to War Heaped Ruin on Gaza and Did Little for Israelis.’ … This enrages me in ways I’m struggling to fully articulate. ‘After countless exaggeration, the cries of wolf are actually true?’ So it wasn’t exaggeration or crying wolf then was it, you fucking asshole? Almost like you’ve spent two years defending A FUCKING GENOCIDE and attacking anyone who opposed it?” (07/30/25)
https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2025/07/30/those-who-were-wrong-about-gaza-should-admit-it-with-profound-humility/
