TLP Weekend Edition (July 5-6, 2025)

What we're reading and checking out.

Black Sabbath in 1970: Geezer Butler, Tony Iommi, Bill Ward, and Ozzy Osbourne will be back together for one final show at Villa Park in Birmingham, England this Saturday. (Photo: Chris Walter/WireImage)

🇺🇸 “Why does your family celebrate the 4th of July?” by Eli Steele. This Independence Day reflection examines the historical question, “Is the 4th of July for everybody in America?” Indeed it is, writes Eli Steele on his Substack:

My family celebrates the 4th—it is a favorite holiday. America oppressed my ancestors for centuries, yet we celebrate because this same America made my family possible…

There was no question in my family’s mind that America was the greatest country in the world. My grandfather born to slaves said it. My other grandfather, a holocaust survivor, said it. One grandfather had been oppressed by America and the other had been rescued by America, and yet both grandfathers said that America was the greatest country in the world.

This complexity never troubled me. But it troubled others.

When I was at Claremont McKenna College I told the story of my grandfathers in a class where we were discussing Frederick Douglass’ 4th of July speech. That speech—“What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?”—critiqued the racial hypocrisies within America mercilessly, especially the false virtue of a nation that celebrated liberty while denying freedom to millions.

When I concluded my story, a classmate asked, “Why does your family celebrate the 4th of July?”…

The tone behind the student’s question implied that I should harbor resentment over how America treated the black side of my family—that I should get with the times and embrace the bad faith that America was still racist.

It seemed like everyone was turning on America. It became socially virtuous to diss America. It became profitable—books, careers, speeches—to sell out America. Other flags replaced the stars and stripes. Our education system shifted from merit to identity (of victimization). The racist past cast a large shadow over the present and the shame was thick to the point where I could hardly find anyone who identified as just an American—even to this day.

But how could I turn on America who made my family possible?

I never betrayed America or doubted her….

My grandfather, born to former slaves, marched for equal rights for all because he believed in the American principles despite being denied them. Born dirt poor, he educated himself by reading every book there was and could have been a college professor.

He met my grandmother at one of the first CORE civil rights meetings. She was younger than him and from a well-to-do family in Ohio. She could have led a comfortable well-to-do life but was driven by a strong sense of justice….

On the other side of my family, my maternal grandparents spent six years escaping Nazis, Ukrainians, Poles, and Russians who wanted to kill them for simply being Jews.

It was America that sacrificed many of her young men and women to free Europe from Nazi Germany.

Living in a displacement camp in Germany after the Holocaust, my grandfather crossed out “Palestine” on his destination papers. He wrote in “USA.” (I have the document with his writing.)…

Principles are principles. They are our guiding light. The fact that many American citizens fell short was a failure of the people and not the principles.

America is only as good as her people. The road ahead is long, but there are many good people striving to make this imperfect nation of ours a better one.

That is why I celebrate the 4th of July—as an independence from the sins of the past and for the hope that we can better this imperfect nation for all.

🌎 "No, the world doesn't hate America," by Chris Arnade. In another Independence Day reflection, Chris Arnade, who has traveled the world over and never shied away from criticizing America when he has seen it falling short of its promises, offers a hopeful look at our country from those living in other places:

Lurking behind the denial of U.S. cultural dominance, or at least the global appreciation of U.S. culture, is a belief that most of the rest of the world hates America, and consequently Americans.

That the U.S. is loathed, and as an American you will be bombarded with criticism if you travel abroad, is something you hear a lot from U.S. elites, and while true if your trip is limited to the Sociology department of a foreign university, it’s not the case at all with “normies” in almost every country, who have a great affection for America, or at least the idea of it, because they are not obsessed with current events, and more importantly, are capable of separating politics, and the policies of a political class, from a country’s citizens…

I’ve never, not once, been greeted with anything other than generosity, curiosity, and admiration, during my years of walking around the world, including in countries such as Vietnam, Peru, Bulgaria, that have strong historical reasons to hold a grudge against America. Why? Because as I’ve written before: “…what the U.S. is selling (space, freedom, meritocracy), has a lot of buyers across the globe, including in Europe. Or to put it another way, the rest of the world (other than academics) really, really love the U.S. Or, at least they love the idea of the U.S.”

💊 "The Liberal Misinformation Bubble About Youth Gender Medicine," by Helen Lewis. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court's Skrmetti decision, which upheld a Tennessee law banning the use of certain gender-related interventions to treat gender dysphoria, many on the left have been caught seemingly flat-footed, unaware of just how out of step with the rest of the country they have become on transgender issues. Over at The Atlantic, Helen Lewis writes about how the side that often proclaims it "believes in science" has been blinded to the scientific realities surrounding this topic due to existing in their own misinformation bubble.

Advocates of the open-science movement often talk about “zombie facts”—popular sound bites that persist in public debate, even when they have been repeatedly discredited. Many common political claims made in defense of puberty blockers and hormones for gender-dysphoric minors meet this definition. These zombie facts have been flatly contradicted not just by conservatives but also by prominent advocates and practitioners of the treatment—at least when they’re speaking candidly. Many liberals are unaware of this, however, because they are stuck in media bubbles in which well-meaning commentators make confident assertions for youth gender medicine—claims from which its elite advocates have long since retreated.

Trans-rights activists like to accuse skeptics of youth gender medicine—and publications that dare to report their views—of fomenting a “moral panic.” But the movement has spent the past decade telling gender-nonconforming children that anyone who tries to restrict access to puberty blockers and hormones is, effectively, trying to kill them. This was false... It was also irresponsible.

🤘🏼 “Back to the Beginning,” Black Sabbath’s final show at Villa Park. The original Black Sabbath lineup is getting back together for one final concert in the city where the metal legends got their start—Birmingham, England. Event organizer and musical director Tom Morello calls Saturday’s festivities “the most important day in the history of heavy metal music,” with acts leading up to Sabbath including Metallica, Guns N’ Roses, Slayer, Anthrax, Pantera, Tool, and other promised surprises. You can stream the concert in the link above starting at 10AM EDT, and all proceeds go to Cure Parkinson’s, the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and Acorns Children’s Hospice.

🎶 "There's a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere," played by Elton Britt. No 4th of July weekend is complete without a spinning of this patriotic record from 1942. Elton Britt’s country version of the hit sold more than one million copies. Happy Independence Day weekend!