‘The new ESPN looks innocent enough’

‘ESPN has discarded brilliant journalism for squirts of memebrain swill’

Aaron Timms at The Guardian

For a “certain segment of American sports fans, all change is automatically bad,” says Aaron Timms. The “outrage prompted by the latest upheavals at ESPN certainly fits the pattern of involuntary fan resistance to change.” Hiring influencers is the “latest move in ESPN’s drive to appeal to younger viewers,” but this “symbolizes a broader rot at the heart of ESPN.” A “company that once set the news agenda in sports is now just another sweaty social media setup.”

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‘Dr. Prasad, the FDA’s Grim Reaper’

The Wall Street Journal editorial board

The FDA’s Dr. Vinay Prasad is “killing life-saving experimental cancer treatments and undercutting biotech innovation,” says The Wall Street Journal editorial board. Prasad “wants drug makers to run bigger and longer trials to demonstrate with 100% certainty that medicines work, even if this means patients die because of the FDA’s delay.” The “biggest danger to public health these days is regulators like Dr. Prasad who loathe drug makers more than they care about helping patients.”

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‘Bad Bunny’s concert message is a lifeline to Puerto Ricans and Dominicans here, too’

Joa Rojas at The Philadelphia Inquirer

Bad Bunny’s concerts are “part of a global regreso — a worldwide virtual homecoming,” says Joe Rojas. Bad Bunny has “become a symbol of hope and resilience for the Puerto Rican diaspora.” His residency was “both a love letter to his homeland and a bold act of defiance against the tired narrative of a struggling island.” For an “island battered by hurricanes, earthquakes, and fiscal crisis, that surge was a vital shot of adrenaline.”

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‘Down and out on the crypto frontier’

Whitney Curry Wimbish at The American Prospect

Wyoming is the “underappreciated heart of the American cryptocurrency boom,” says Whitney Curry Wimbish. Lawmakers have “passed more than 50 industry-friendly laws over the last eight years, more than anywhere else in the country,” and “Wyoming’s political leaders want to base the entire state’s economy on crypto.” With “lawmakers in both parties falling all over themselves to win their favor and their campaign donations, you can understand the crypto elite’s delusions of grandeur, even amid enthusiastic ignorance.”

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