Which is why watching the rest of this country finally wake up feels a little surreal. The sport isn’t coming here anymore. It already arrived, and the World Cup just made it impossible to ignore. The whole thing is unfolding right here as I write this, spread across the United States, Mexico, and Canada, the first World Cup shared by three host nations. Sixteen cities are carrying the tournament, including eleven in the United States, with stadiums filling up with people who painted their faces and learned chants in languages they don’t speak. And credit where it’s owed, the host nation has shown out. Fan zones packed shoulder to shoulder, strangers from forty different countries swapping jerseys outside the gates, volunteers walking lost visitors to the right train without breaking a sweat. We don’t always nail the big stuff, but we know how to throw a party, and the planet is finding that out in real time.

My neighbor, a man who spent twenty years swearing the beautiful game was boring, texted me at midnight after Türkiye dropped three on the United States. “Bro I’m hooked.” Three to two, last second drama, and suddenly he gets it. That is the part nobody warns you about. You don’t choose this thing. It chooses you, usually when you weren’t even looking.

Folks overseas have known forever. Walk through any neighborhood in São Paulo, Lagos, Naples, or Manchester and you’ll find children using two backpacks as a goal, dreaming the exact same dream. For them this was never a question. The planet stops for a month every four years, schools empty out, grown men weep in the street. America was the last big holdout, the cousin at the cookout who swore he didn’t like the music until the right song finally dropped.

And here’s the bit that still cracks me up. The entire world calls it football. Makes perfect sense, seeing as you play it with your feet. Then we came along, looked at a sport where a fella cradles a ball shaped like an egg in his arms and sprints, and decided that was football. The audacity. We took the one word that already had a job and handed it to a contest built on throwing and tackling. Beautiful country, terrible naming committee.

Respect has to be paid where it’s owed, though, and the names alone tell you why the rest of the globe never doubted. Pelé turned this into art before color television could keep up. Maradona carried an entire nation on one fierce, brilliant left foot. The Brazilian Ronaldo, the original, moved like a man who knew gravity was optional. Zidane had violence and grace living in the same body. Ronaldinho grinned so wide you forgot he was embarrassing grown professionals on national TV.

The current crop is no joke either. Messi spends his weekends in Miami now, suiting up in MLS of all places, which still feels like a typo whenever I say it out loud. The little maestro chose to live among us, and casual viewers are only beginning to grasp what they ignored for so long. Cristiano Ronaldo built himself into a machine through nothing but stubborn will, still banging them in deep into his forties like the calendar owes him money. Kylian Mbappé, a forward for La Liga club Real Madrid and the France national team, runs like a sports car with a conscience. Vinícius makes defenders look stuck in wet concrete. Haaland, a striker for Premier League club Manchester City and the Norway national team, scores the way the rest of us breathe. Lamine Yamal, a right winger for Barcelona and Spain, is barely old enough to vote and already bending matches to his will. Jude Bellingham, a midfielder for Real Madrid and England, struts around like he owns whatever pitch he stands on, and most nights he does.

We’ve grown our own too, which the doubters love to forget. Clint Dempsey competed with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas. Landon Donovan gave us that goal against Algeria, the one that had office workers losing their minds on a Wednesday afternoon. Tim Howard once made sixteen saves in a single match and briefly turned into a folk hero. Now Christian Pulisic carries the badge, a kid from Pennsylvania holding his own among Europe’s finest, proof this place can produce more than skeptics.

What changed? The young changed it. A whole generation came up with the Premier League on Saturday mornings, La Liga and Serie A a click away by lunch, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 humming in the background, with video games that taught them who plays where, with phone clips of impossible finishes looping past midnight. Major League Soccer grew up right in their backyard while the old heads weren’t paying attention. They never needed convincing. They walked in already fluent. Grandparents griped, parents shrugged, and the youngest among us quietly built a culture while everybody else argued about whether a draw was somehow un-American.

I think about my old high school squad sometimes. We were a mix of everybody, kids whose families came from Mexico, Ghana, El Salvador, and a few like me whose roots ran straight through the American South. On that field none of it mattered. You either passed the ball or you didn’t. This sport has always done that, flattened the differences, handed a common language to people who couldn’t otherwise order lunch together. That’s the secret the rest of the globe figured out generations back, and it’s the lesson landing in living rooms here right now whether folks asked for it or not.

The skeptics will hold out a while longer. Some of them always will, and that’s fine. But the tide already turned. You can feel it in the bars going dead silent before a penalty, in the office betting pools, in the way my once-stubborn neighbor now sends me tactical theories at two in the morning like he personally invented the back three. Conversion looks like that. Loud, sudden, slightly embarrassing.

So welcome, late as usual, but you made it. Pour into the seats, butcher the chants, fall hard for some defender on the other side of the planet you’ll be defending in arguments by August. The rest of us, the ones who loved this through every lean year, we’ll save you a spot. Just do me one small favor while you’re here.

Try, at least once, calling it football. The whole world is waiting on you.

Staff Writer; J.G. Lacour

Covering the NBA, NFL, college basketball, college football, and Major League Baseball from a Black man’s perspective. He loves the full world of sports, but the NFL remains his favorite.

Need to contact this bro, feel free to use this email address; JGLacour@ThyBlackMan.com.

The Traditional Auditing Paradigm: BSI and SGS

For decades, traditional certification bodies have relied on a highly manual, consultant-heavy approach. This process typically begins with months of preparation, during which internal teams manually gather evidence, draft policies, and organize spreadsheets. When the audit phase arrives, external auditors from legacy firms conduct extensive on-site or remote interviews, manually reviewing hundreds of documents.

While thorough, this traditional model introduces significant friction. The back-and-forth communication over email, the risk of human error in document tracking, and the sheer administrative overhead often lead to prolonged timelines. For small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the resource drain can divert critical focus away from core business operations, making compliance feel like a burden rather than a strategic advantage.

The Rise of AI-Driven Compliance

In contrast, modern compliance platforms leverage artificial intelligence and automation to transform how audits are prepared and executed. By integrating directly with an organization’s existing cloud infrastructure, task managers, and HR systems, these platforms can continuously collect evidence and monitor compliance posture in real time.

Instead of waiting for an annual audit to discover gaps, businesses can use intelligent dashboards to identify and remediate issues instantly. This proactive approach shifts compliance from a stressful, point-in-time event to a continuous, seamless business process.

Head-to-Head: AI-Driven Platforms vs. Manual Auditing

When comparing an innovative AI-driven ISO audit platform like Stratlane against traditional manual methods, several key differences emerge:

• Audit Speed and Efficiency: Traditional audits can drag on for months due to manual scheduling, document sampling, and report writing. By automating evidence collection and pre-assessing documentation, Stratlane reduces audit times by up to 45%. This dramatic reduction in timeline allows companies to secure their certifications and unblock sales cycles much faster.
• Continuous Monitoring vs. Point-in-Time Checks: Legacy audits only assess a company’s compliance posture at a single moment in time. AI-driven platforms provide continuous visibility, ensuring that security controls and quality processes remain active and effective 365 days a year.
• Resource Allocation: Manual preparation requires hundreds of hours of internal staff time to organize folders and chase down approvals. Automation handles the heavy lifting of evidence gathering, freeing up valuable engineering and operations talent.
• Predictable Costs: Traditional auditing often involves hidden costs, including travel expenses for auditors and unexpected consultant fees. Modern platforms offer transparent, predictable pricing structures that align with business growth.

Why Modern Businesses are Choosing Stratlane

Stratlane represents the next generation of compliance. By combining advanced AI-driven audit tools with a global network of experienced auditors, Stratlane delivers a high-quality, rigorous assessment process without the administrative drag of legacy providers. The platform’s intelligent systems guide users through the exact requirements of standards like ISO 9001, ISO 27001, and ISO 42001, ensuring that preparation is complete and accurate before the formal audit even begins.

This hybrid approach—pairing cutting-edge technology with human expertise—ensures that audits are both highly efficient and fully compliant with international standards. Organizations no longer have to choose between speed and thoroughness.

Conclusion: Embracing the Digital Compliance Era

While traditional certification bodies like BSI and SGS will always hold a place in compliance history, the manual methods they rely on are increasingly out of step with the needs of modern, agile businesses. Transitioning to an AI-driven compliance model is no longer just an option for tech startups; it is a strategic necessity for any organization looking to scale efficiently. By reducing audit times by up to 45% and replacing manual chaos with automated clarity, platforms like Stratlane are redefining what it means to be certified.

Staff Writer; Brian Brown

First, we have the foreigners visiting the U.S. to cheer on their teams in this year’s World Cup soccer championship. As I wrote last week, it’s been heartwarming to see how much these people love America, and how surprised they’ve been to find that Americans are warm, welcoming, generous and kind people.

Another aspect of America that has astonished our guests is the number, size and variety of our businesses: restaurants of every type, small boutiques, “big box” supermarkets and corner grocers, food trucks, outdoor equipment and hunting stores (with their ubiquitous guns and ammo), mom-and-pop shops, little kids’ lemonade stands, delicatessens — you name it. Social media is filled with posts and videos in which visitors express their amazement at the quality of the food (and portion size!), “free” appetizers and soda refills, and the uncountable options and choices among America’s products and services.

That, my friends, is a consequence of America’s culture of entrepreneurship — a fact that some of the foreigners here have recognized and remarked upon with envy. One Canadian described us as “the most opportunity-dense country ever.”

He’s right.

So I was disappointed (though not surprised) when Pope Leo XIV posted on X a few days ago that food, water and health care shouldn’t be “commodities” that are subject to “market considerations.” In his follow-up post, he “appealed to governments” to “increase the resources dedicated to combating hunger and its root causes.”

Seriously? Governments are the chief “root causes” of hunger.

The key to adequate food production is not government but small business. Sorry, Holy Father, but food, water and health care are “commodities,” because their provision, for the most part, depends upon the work of other human beings. I would love to hear the pope praise and promote the market, individual initiative and entrepreneurial capitalism as the tickets to human flourishing that they are, instead of treating them as tawdry institutions to be tolerated at best, while government is hailed as the answer to every human problem.

Entrepreneurship meets human needs far better than governments ever have or ever will. This is true even in the world’s poorest nations. There, like everywhere else, people can start little businesses. But officials, regulations, laws, paperwork, permits, fees and taxes — all of which benefit the rich and promote corruption and fraud — stymie the growth of those businesses. When poor people are permitted to grow their businesses, they don’t stay poor.

That only happens when government gets out of the way.

As an American, Pope Leo should know better. But he apparently has a lot of company, even here in the States. In this week’s Democrat primaries in New York City, not one but three socialist candidates won their races.

Aber Kawas, a Muslim Palestinian activist and member of Democratic Socialists of America who has stated that the U.S. deserved 9/11 because of “white supremacy” and “Islamophobia,” won her primary for a New York state Senate race. Self-professed communist Darializa Chevalier defeated incumbent Adriano Espaillat to win the primary for the congressional seat in New York’s 13th district. Chevalier is a convert to Islam and a founder of Columbia University (why am I not surprised?) Apartheid Divest, which calls for an “international intifada” and the “eradication of western civilization,” the abolition of the police and immediate citizenship for all illegal aliens. And socialist Brad Lander defeated incumbent Dan Goldman for New York’s 10th district congressional seat. Lander, too, wants to abolish immigration enforcement, as well as pack the U.S. Supreme Court and pass $2 trillion in student loan debt onto the American taxpayers.

The DSA claims it’s only targeting “millionaires and billionaires” (and the world’s only trillionaire — at least on paper). If you believe that, your head is firmly wedged in your nethermost orifice. Time to read some real history — not the propaganda Western Leftists can get away with only because private enterprise insulates them and the societies they infect from the worst consequences of their ideologies.

Here’s the truth: Socialists and communists neither know how to make anything nor how to build an organization that provides goods or services people are willing to pay for. (Nope, a campaign isn’t the same thing.)

What they do instead is traffic in grievances for their personal aggrandizement.

They exploit ignorance and foster resentment, telling their followers that the only reason they have less is because others have more, and that it’s been stolen or gotten through greed and exploitation. In that vein, they love to focus on major multinational corporations and their extremely wealthy owners and CEOs, even though the backbone of American business is family-owned and small — the vast majority (80%-plus) of companies with employees have fewer than 20.

They preach that wealth is a zero sum game and a limited pie, and refuse to acknowledge that enterprise creates wealth that didn’t exist before, even though the evidence is everywhere. (Did we have the automotive industry 150 years ago? The personal computer industry 100 years ago? The smartphone industry 50 years ago?)

Socialists promise what they can never deliver: an unlimited supply of high-quality goods and services that are cheap or free. And they drive up costs for producers with restrictive regulations and taxes while demanding that prices cannot rise to keep up with those increasing costs.

The result is that businesses are forced to leave or close. Not the big corporations — at least, not at first — but the small ones that house, feed, employ and create the middle class. Then they raise taxes and costs even higher to make up the difference.

Sometimes they take over the businesses. Or even entire industries. That’s the beginning of a precipitous decline.

They don’t understand production, inventory management or balance sheets. With no competition, there’s no need for quality or customer service. So the production declines, the quality declines, the management declines and the rationing starts.

Complainers are smeared as greedy individualists or capitalist throwbacks who don’t want everyone to be “equal” and don’t understand that sacrifices have to be made for “progress.”

No one should be fooled by the presence of the erudite “intellectuals” leading these movements at the beginning. Those self-loathing, upper-class graduates of the best schools don’t last long, because unhappy masses can’t be kept in line (bread or otherwise) by pious platitudes.

No, that takes force. And that’s when the thugs take over.

This is what’s meant when pundits say, “You can vote yourself into socialism or communism, but you have to shoot your way out.”

The America that our World Cup visitors are marveling at was built by freedom-loving entrepreneurs operating within the reasonable structures of a limited government — people of every background who were willing to sacrifice much to build their American dream. We are all the beneficiaries of their hard work.

But what took 250 years to build can be destroyed by socialists within a very short time.

Written by Laura Hollis

Official website; http://law.nd.edu/directory/laura-hollis/

In the House, it narrowly passed 218-214.

Not one Democrat voted for it in either chamber.

President Donald Trump signed it into law on July 4, 2025.

One provision in this narrowly passed law had the potential to help school children all across the country. It was the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program. This program, now set to begin in 2027, will give Americans a nonrefundable tax credit of up to $1,700 per year for making donations to support school-choice scholarships set up in the states.

“Under the program,” explains the Congressional Research Service, “taxpayers will be eligible to receive a tax credit of up to $1,700 for the value of cash contributions to certain scholarship granting organizations (SGOs). These organizations, in turn, will be required to use these contributions to grant scholarships to students at private and public elementary and secondary schools located within their states.”

Recipients of these scholarships would be subject to a family income limit. “Eligibility for scholarships,” said the CRS, “will be limited to students whose family income is below 300% of their area median income.”

Recipients will be able to use the money from these scholarships to cover basic educational costs, including tuition and books, at elementary and secondary schools, whether they are “public, private or religious.”

Whether or not to participate in this school-choice scholarship program was left to the states themselves. “States (and the District of Columbia) may choose whether to recognize eligible SGOs within their jurisdictions,” explained the CRS report. “To qualify for the credit, a contribution must be made to a state-sponsored SGO (which need not be located in the same state as the taxpayer), and the organization must only provide scholarships to students located within the state that recognized it. This effectively allows states to decide whether to make students who live within their borders eligible for the program.”

Why would the political leadership of a state prevent students in their state from receiving scholarship money voluntarily contributed by individual Americans? Because they want to prevent families, who would otherwise lack the necessary resources, from choosing to send their children to private or religious schools rather than to government-run schools.

By contrast, Republican Gov. Jim Pillen of Nebraska wasted little time in signing his state up for these scholarships. On Sept. 29, 2025, he went to St. Teresa Catholic School, not far from the Nebraska capital, and signed an executive order backing his state’s participation in the program. “This program is a game-changer for Nebraska students and their families, generating funds that will help send students to the school of their choice,” he said.

South Dakota soon followed Nebraska. Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden announced on Nov. 14, 2025, that his state also would be joining the school-choice scholarship program. “Parents should have the freedom to choose the learning environment that sets their kids up for success,” he said. “I am grateful that President Trump has the same conviction and is helping us create more opportunities for our students.”

Yet it was not just Republican governors who had their states join the program. The Colorado Sun reported on Dec. 5, 2025, that Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis “said it was a no-brainer for the state to take advantage of the federal tax credit scholarship program, describing it as ‘a real boom of investment in kids.'”

“I mean, it would be crazy not to,” he said.

When the Kentucky state legislature passed a bill in March that opted their state into the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear took a different approach. He vetoed the bill. “Kentuckians have been firm that public dollars should only be used for public education,” Beshear said.

“Kentuckians love our public schools,” he said.

The Kentucky legislature overwhelmingly disagreed — with the state senate voting 31-5 and the state house voting 77-14 to override Beshear’s veto.

What did California, the nation’s most populous state, do about the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program? Republican Rep. Vince Fong of California sent Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom a letter in January urging him to bring their state into the program. “By electing to participate, you would ensure this new federal education benefit will flow to California students, regardless of whether they attend a public or private school, and at no cost to the State,” Fong wrote to Newsom.

The IRS published a list indicating that, as of June 22, there were 28 states that had signed up to participate in the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit Program. Newsom’s California was not one of them.

Newsom, as this column has noted before, attended Notre Dame des Victoires, a Catholic grammar school in the heart of San Francisco.

When that school marked its 100th anniversary in 2024, Newsom recalled the remarkable opportunity it had provided him.

“Attending Ecole Notre Dame des Victoires was a transformative experience,” he said. “It was here that I learned not only how to conjugate verbs in French, but also about the rich tapestry of French Catholic history. This foundation has stayed with me throughout my life, and I am grateful for the lifelong connections and values instilled in me during my time at NDV.”

So, why is he not supporting a program that would provide funding to help children in San Francisco today embrace a similar experience?

The 2025 National Assessment of Educational Progress “long-term trend” tests showed a continuing pattern in American education: Catholic school students outscored public school students in reading and math. Among 13-year-olds, the average reading score among public school students was 255 out of 500. Among Catholic school students, it was 276 out of 500. The average mathematics score among 13-year-olds in public schools was 269 out of 500. Among Catholic school students, it was 291 out of 500.

Embracing unlimited school choice, where every student gets a voucher equal to the full per-pupil expenditures in the local public schools, would be good for students and for our country.

Written by Terence P. Jeffrey

Official website; http://twitter.com/terryjeffrey

The Chinese leader’s assessment of the United States may have been self-serving, but it is a true. The United States as a world superpower is on the decline. Our respect on the world stage is diminished, and we are humiliated over the events and negotiations surrounding the Iran war. Any person can be quick to defend the United States against criticism or against things said that would place the nation in a negative light.

Some will go as far as to reframe the truth to avoid having America’s weaknesses and moral failures exposed. In other words, they will outright lie without reservation.  In a follow-up post to Truth Social, Trump said, “When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct.”

There was no indication that Xi was referring to Biden in his comments.  When the President of the United States habitually lies to the American people without hesitation, it not only shows the disrespect he personally has for the office he holds, but it becomes evidence to show how we are a nation in moral decline. Unfortunately, the president is not the only high-ranking official within the administration who produces reckless lies.

Vice President JD Vance falsely denied that Black history is being erased from public spaces under the Trump-Vance administration during a televised interview on the “The View”. While being pressed by hosts Whoopi Goldberg and Sunny Hostin, Vance was challenged on the administration’s polices to censor or remove Black history exhibits across the country, and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs for Black Americans as a result of President Trump’s executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs. He was challenged on cuts to the federal workforce, where Blacks have been overrepresented for decades. When pressed further, Vance denied that the White House made efforts to eliminate Black history, telling “The View” hosts, “Black history is not erased from public spaces.”

Black prosperity is part of what makes America great. It is Black resilience that makes America great. The fact the enslaved Blacks built the U.S. Capitol, and their descendants would later occupy it as elected lawmakers is part of the Black experience that makes America great. These are the true stories about the Black experience that JD Vance and others are attempting to whitewash.

One of the reasons United States has become a nation in decline domestically comes from the decision to erase Black history and hold back Black progress. It may not be the political decline referred to by the leader of China, but it becomes a moral decline resulting from implementing white supremacy goals and objectives. “JD Vance can play confused on television all he wants, but we’ve seen this administration spend 18 months erasing Black history from our military, museums, and monuments,” said Brandon Weathersby, a spokesperson for American Bridge 21^st Century, a Democratic research think tank.

We just celebrated the Juneteenth holiday. But does the true meaning hit home with us or is it just another day? The history behind Juneteenth is complex, and is another truth about the Black experience many people would like to see forgotten. Many of us are familiar with the story of how the Emancipation Proclamation took effect, yet in Texas slavery continued in practice for more than two additional years.

It wasn’t until federal troops arrived in Galveston on June 19, 1865 that an estimated 250,000 enslaved Black people learned of a freedom that had already been declared over two years earlier. The delay was structured by power and greed, not by accident: those who benefit from slavery used the delay as a tool to keep extracting labor and wealth from Black bodies. Juneteenth exposes an entrenched unwillingness to grant Black people full justice and freedom, even after laws legally changed.

There are immediate and long-term consequences resulting from the overall anti-Black agenda that we are witnessing today. Every Black high school student and young adult should take a hard look at the fact that Black history is being erased, but also consider how the type of denial by the vice president plays a major part in the moral decline of our nation. They need to fully understand the policy shift by seeing how the Trump administration moved aggressively to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion efforts across federal agencies, contractors, and schools receiving federal dollars. They need to reflect how these policy shifts will impact their future career goals, dreams and aspirations as a person of color. Teenagers and young adults need to stay informed. The same agenda to withhold justice and freedom to enslaved Blacks still exists today, but under a different covering.

Written by David W. Marshall

Official website; https://davidwmarshallauthor.com/

One may purchase his book, which is titled; God Bless Our Divided America: Unity, Politics and History from a Biblical Perspective.

This is what the 2026 FIFA World Cup looks like on the ground across America, and it has been something to watch. Not just the matches, though those have delivered plenty, but the way ordinary Americans in city after city have met the world at the door and genuinely meant it. Nobody planned any of this. There was no campaign, no committee, no branded hashtag telling people to be kind to visitors. It just happened, because that is what a lot of Americans do when someone shows up needing help or a meal or a ride or just a reason to feel like they landed somewhere good.

In Chattanooga, Tennessee, locals and fans have waited for hours around Spain’s team hotel and public team events just to wave at Spain’s national team. In Greensboro, North Carolina, Norwegian fans rolled into town and found the local scene ready to welcome them, with Americans who had never given soccer much thought suddenly showing up in Viking colors ready to cheer. In Spokane, Washington, young fans got to see Mohamed Salah this month, one of the most famous footballers on the planet, simply because Egypt picked the city as its training base and people went down to see what was happening. In Dallas, Croatia got a downtown fan parade and a flag so big it needed several people just to keep it off the ground. These are not the cities that usually get written about in international dispatches. They showed up anyway.

Out on the roads between the big host cities, something even less expected has been happening. International visitors who rented cars and drove across rural Texas or through the Deep South between matches came back with stories they couldn’t stop telling. There have been stories of restaurant owners helping foreign fans get where they needed to go because their rides fell through, small-town spots welcoming British tourists with free food simply because they had come so far, and Alabama firefighters giving visiting supporters a full station tour and sending them away with free merchandise. None of this was organized. None of it was sponsored. People just did it.

The reaction from international visitors has been, in a word, stunned. Not in a bad way. Fans from Germany and Brazil have been posting videos of themselves inside Buc-ee’s like they stumbled into something sacred, which, if you’re from Texas, you understand completely. Free refills get their own reaction videos. So do the ice machines. So does the fact that someone behind a counter smiled at them without being required to. Marina De Buchi, a British entrepreneur living in California, told ABC News it keeps catching visitors off guard even when they think they’ve prepared themselves for it. “A lot of people say Americans are fake,” she said. “I just don’t think that’s true. I think Americans are just really nice and friendly.” She has lived here long enough to know the difference. She also said that for Americans themselves, hearing it has clearly meant something. “They hear a lot of bad at the moment. I’m glad to be seeing the rose-tinted-glasses side of it.”

That part is true and worth sitting with for a second. America has had a rough few years of looking at itself, and most of what it has seen has not been flattering. The World Cup has pointed the mirror a different direction, and what is coming back is a country that still knows how to open a door. Six players on the US Men’s National Team roster were born outside the United States, and the team reflects a larger immigrant and diasporic American story. Many of the people working the stadiums and driving the fans around and pouring the drinks came from somewhere else too, or are the children of people who did. That is not a footnote. That is the reason all of this works as well as it does.

Content creator Shawn Moran in Boston said his entire social media feed transformed overnight from its usual noise into something he barely recognized. “Seeing nothing but pure joy and happiness for a whole week has been the greatest thing,” he said. Hard to disagree. Boston Globe reporter Emily Sweeney put it the way most people in that city are feeling it right now: “With all the crazy things going on in the world, it’s really nice to just see people from all different places getting along.”

Visiting fans will forget the final scores long before they forget the person who drove them to a match, or bought them a drink, or put a traffic cone on a statue’s head and laughed about it with them. A World Cup lasts a few weeks. The memory of how a country made you feel lasts considerably longer.

America is not perfect. Anyone paying attention already knows that, and this summer has had its complicated chapters too. But the version of this country that has shown up at this World Cup, in its firehouses and dive bars and roadside travel centers, has been generous and curious and genuinely glad the world decided to come. That matters. And right now, the world is noticing.

Staff Writer; L.L. McKenna

Politics explained through the lens of justice and equity. Offering perspective that informs, challenges, and empowers.

One can contact this brother at; LLMcKenna@ThyBlackMan.com.

Politically, I consider him a liberal, though he would argue the point, but I digress.

He wanted to know my thoughts about ESPN sports commentator, Stephen A. Smith.

Smith and I travel in the same circles, but he has yet to have the pleasure of meeting me.  I find this amazing since we have actually been at several events at the same time.

But as usual, all things in due season.

My thoughts on Smith are based on my personal observations, conversations with industry insiders and those who have personal relationships with him.

My primary and most important thought on Smith is that he is greatly OVEREXPOSED!  Last time I checked, he was not Jamaican, but yet he has a million jobs.

He has shows on ESPN, YouTube, XM Sirius.  He is constantly being interviewed in one media format or another.

For those who do not know, I make a living by helping high profile people navigate all things media.

Smith’s trajectory is unsustainable and unnecessary.

I am not one to count other people’s money, but if media accounts are accurate, he recently signed a deal with ESPN that made him one of the highest paid individuals in sports media.  Included in his deal is the right to have his own production company and produce outside content that is not owned by ESPN.

This is not an uncommon arrangement with elite entertainers like him, but it is unnecessary.  At this point it is all about ego.  He is definitely not worried about paying his light bills every month.

I have had many clients go down this path and all have been destroyed by the ego associated with drinking from the cup of fortune and fame.

I tell every one of my clients, “Fortune and fame is like soap, the more you use it, the less you have.”

My advice to Smith is to focus on being even better on ESPN and not dilute his talents by being spread too thin.

A few outside projects every now and then is OK, but I see and hear him way too much.  When was the last time you heard the name Lizzo?  She is exhibit A in overexposure and then puuuffffff!

And this idiotic talk about him running for president?  Boy, please!!!

I understand why he is promoting and encouraging this type of speculation, but it will prove to be counter-productive to his brand.

One of the most insidious down sides of social media is that in order to continue to get subscribers, likes, and followers, you must constantly feed the beast!

How do you feed the beast?  Controversy!

You have to constantly engage in petty online fights with high profile people who you have never met or create show topics involving the underbelly of race, homosexuality, or sex.  The bigger you get, the more extreme your behavior must be.

Podcasters Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson are two exceptions to this rule.  They are so genuine and substantive in their content that there is no need for them to play the fool for clicks and likes.  They feed the beast with their substance and it works for them.

If Smith were totally focused on his role with ESPN there would be no need for him to get into public pissing matches with people like former ESPN colleague, Jason Whitlock.

I have never nor will I ever understand how adults can get into a public feud with people that have absolutely no contact with their lives.  All parties come out looking like fools.

But this childish behavior feeds the beast.

Again, I do understand why Smith is encouraging this talk about running for president.  In political circles he is mocked and ridiculed because he is not a well-read person and it shows.

Smith reminds me of people like Jasmine Crockett, LeBron James, Steve Kerr to name a few.  Just because you have a platform to speak from does not mean you need to comment on everything.

Sometimes silence is the loudest statement one can make.

I have heard Smith pontificate on political issues that made me cringe.

Solomon once told me in Proverbs 4:7, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.”

It is not enough for someone like Smith to quote statistics, though sometimes they come in handy.  He needs to be able to demonstrate that he has the understanding to go along with the statistics.

He who knows how will always have a job.  He who knows why will always be his boss.

There is no question that Smith has the how down pat.  He is a very intelligent person, but he needs to do much better on the why part.

He has carved out a niche for himself in media and he should be proud of his accomplishments.  He has worked his butt off and deserves all the accolades and money he can get.

But he must not lose focus on what got him to this point in his career—sports.  Not politics, pop culture, or foreign affairs.

My friend I was having dinner with finally told me why he had a sudden interest in my views of Smith.  For various reasons he assumed that I had a personal relationship with Smith and he trusted me to deliver a discreet message to him.

The top executives at ESPN also think that Smith is doing too much but they are afraid to have this conversation with him because they are terrified of any possible racial implications that could end up in a lawsuit.

This is what America has come to when it comes to race relations.  A major company like ESPN and its white executives are too afraid to have a man-to-man conversation with one of their top employees because he is Black.

Stephen, we have many mutual friends and so I am quite sure this column will somehow get to you.

I do not know if you have surrounded yourself with people who tell you what you want to hear or those who tell you what you need to hear.  Far too often it is the former and not the latter.

My unsolicited advice to you is to get back to your first love—sports journalism.  This social media is going to further damage your brand.  I think you are better than that.

With your production company, I would love to see you do documentaries and in-depth feature reporting.  Social media could be used to compliment this long form of journalism.

This will also make you more valuable to ESPN.

Social media is like the tinkling cymbal or the sounding brass full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

I can easily see you being a billion-dollar enterprise if you get back to your roots and not try to be all things to all men.

Stay thirsty my friend.

Staff Writer; Raynard Jackson

This talented brother is a Pulitzer Award nominated columnist and founder and chairman of Black Americans for a Better Future (BAFBF), a federally registered 527 Super PAC established to get more Blacks involved in the Republican Party. BAFBF focuses on the Black entrepreneur. For more information about BAFBF, visit www.bafbf.org. You can follow Raynard on Twitter; RealRaynardJ; on Gettr: RaynardJackson.

Can also drop him an email at; RaynardJ@ThyBlackMan.com.

It would be hard to find a passage that better reflects this year’s World Cup soccer (OK, OK — “football”) championship, which the U.S. is hosting for the first time since 1994.

But not because the other nations participating in this year’s World Cup are our “enemies.” To the contrary, the reactions of the athletes and fans from other countries who have traveled to and through the U.S. to compete and to cheer on their favorite teams have been nothing short of astounding; in fact, they have taken social media by storm, and Americans by surprise.

Turns out, our guests love America and Americans, and they’re telling us why.

I’ll just mention a few instances.

FIFA has, of course, placed teams in cities where they have access to proper-sized practice fields. In many cases, that has meant college towns. Lawrence, Kansas, for example, home to the University of Kansas, is hosting the Algerian national team and has welcomed them with open arms. The Jayhawks’ marching band learned the Algerian national anthem to welcome the team to the field. Lawrence residents have regularly shown up at the stadium waving Algerian flags and cheering on the players, who reciprocated by inviting local children to practice with them and autographing soccer balls.

Aspects of American culture that have amazed and delighted World Cup fans visiting our country include “big box” stores like Costco, Buc-ee’s and Bass Pro Shops, free chips and salsa at Mexican restaurants, Waffle House, soda machines with dozens of flavor add-ins, free soda refills (and OMG, all the ice), the number of screens at our sports bars, Texas barbecue, Southern sweet tea, biscuits and gravy, the size of college and high school (American) football stadiums, Portillo’s in Chicago, hamburgers (everywhere) and the French Quarter in New Orleans. (They were understandably less thrilled with the heat and humidity in the South and the horrendous thunderstorms and tornados that are endemic to the American Midwest in the summer, but they’ve been troopers about it.)

Other World Cup highlights so far have included the Norway team’s incomparable Viking photo, Scotland fans (the “Tartan Army”) renting a boat in Boston Harbor for a “booze cruise” and drinking the bars in downtown Boston dry, fans from Japan cleaning up stadiums after a game, Dutch revelers singing “Sweet Caroline,” a Dallas pub handing out “World Cup passports” and giving stamps for every game guests watch there, and the Czech national team attending a rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas.

This World Cup is, quite frankly, the best thing to happen to international relations in decades.

Some of the foreign soccer fans visiting the States have posted so frequently that they’ve acquired an enormous fan base here. Tommo from England, Freddy from Germany and Shaun from Scotland have been surprised at the joy and generosity their heartfelt posts have inspired among Americans. But buried within some of these posts is a big reason: They — and others — have acknowledged that much of what they’d previously heard about America was negative. It’s only now that they’ve traveled here and seen things for themselves that they’re realizing what they were told isn’t true.

They aren’t the only ones. Watching, reading and listening to our foreign guests sing our praises has made many of us realize just how much of what we hear about ourselves is negative and false.

Where do we hear this from? The same places the Europeans do: the press, certain politicians and intellectuals harangue us 24/7/365 with their opinions that America is a country founded on “systemic racism” and only prosperous because of “white supremacy”; that Americans are greedy individualists who are racist, sexist and fill-in-the-blank-phobic; that we “hate brown people,” that we’re infected with “toxic masculinity,” and that our national pride is a tool of oppression.

Seeing the robust nationalism of the French, Germans, Italians, Swedes, Japanese, Norwegians, Greeks, Algerians, Scots and countless others while simultaneously being on the receiving end of so many kind and grateful observations from them about our country and our people has been a real eye-opener and a shot in the arm. To be blunt, it’s like having been in an abusive relationship for years with someone who hates you and realizing — finally — that you can get out.

That’s not hyperbole. American institutions dominated by the political Left — which include the media, entertainment industry and academia — have spent the past 50 years telling us how awful we are and that the rest of the world justifiably hates us.

Too many Americans believe that and behave accordingly, with incensed TikToks, constant protests, riots and shrill demands to “tear down” the American economic and political systems and replace them with collectivism that is “less selfish” and “more compassionate.” The rest may not swallow the self-loathing propaganda but have nevertheless felt beaten down, marginalized, silenced and frustrated.

And now: a break in the clouds; a ray of sunlight; a glimpse of the truth; an epiphany that is a shock to the system in the best possible way. Americans are being told by the very people we were assured despised us that our country is beautiful and diverse; that our parks are family-friendly and our athletic facilities are second to none; that our traditions (and yes, we have them) are meaningful and distinctive; that our food is delicious and our restaurants and bars are bountiful; that our superstores are marvels of supply and organization with bathrooms so clean you could eat off the floor; that the workers in our service industries take real pride in excellent service.

And that we as a people are generous, kind, funny, inclusive, helpful, positive, warm and welcoming.

The professional malcontents who’ve built their lucrative careers making us hate ourselves are the selfish ones. Those deceitful frauds — not the citizens of other nations — are the “enemies” of Psalm 23 who are wailing and gnashing their teeth as the Lord shows us — through the eyes of our foreign visitors — that though we are imperfect, we are still good and decent and richly blessed.

It’s time to reject, once and for all, the hollow accusations of the Left, as well as the shackles that come with them. Our nation’s 250th birthday is next month; this World Cup is the best present ever.

Written by Laura Hollis

Official website; http://law.nd.edu/directory/laura-hollis/

Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration in three days while staying at a rooming house in Philadelphia. He had been greatly influenced by the British philosopher John Locke. Locke is the godfather of the theory of natural rights, which he extrapolated from the natural law teachings of Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) did not argue that humans have inherent natural rights, but rather that the concept of justice demanded by human nature should be “naturally just” when addressing claims for protection of persons and property, whether those protections were legislated or not. The “whether legislated or not” is the first known articulation of a higher civil law, higher than the government’s own laws.

St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.) also did not define explicitly the existence of natural rights, but he did argue that norms of human behavior are knowable from the exercise of reason aided by revelation. He is the seminal thinker to express the view that right and wrong is knowable to all persons, whether legislated or not; and this knowledge — because it is common to all — is itself a higher law. He called this universal knowledge the natural law.

St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274 A.D.) did not articulate natural rights, but he did proceed deep into the ideas of Aristotle and Augustine and taught that all human beings possess innate moral claims and innate moral obligations to honor the moral claims of other persons; and these claims and obligations are knowable by the exercise of reason.

John Locke (1632-1704), whose writings Jefferson read at the College of William and Mary, and James Madison read at Princeton, drew upon all three philosophers to argue that Aquinas’ moral natural law claims are really natural rights, and these, too, just like knowing right from wrong, are inherent in our humanity and are superior to the government.

Locke further argued that rights are claims against the whole world. Thus, your right to be alive, to think as you wish, to say what you think, to publish what you say; to worship as you wish or not to worship; your right to associate with others; your right to protect yourself and your property; your right to be left alone; your right to own and possess and control property; your right to travel; and your right to fairness from the government are all natural rights, and the exercise of these rights does not require government permission.

From all of this, Jefferson wrote that our rights are divinely gifted, individually possessed and inalienable. This is the first value we celebrate on July 4.

The second value also stems from human nature. Locke taught and Jefferson believed that the ownership of property is absolute. That is, the owner can use his property as he wishes — without harming others; he can sell or lease it; and he can exclude anyone he wishes for any unstated reason — including the government.

From that view, Jefferson recognized that the only morally licit government was one affirmatively consented to by the governed. Eleven years later, Madison was the scrivener at the Constitutional Convention; and two years after that, he crafted the Bill of rights. Jefferson, Madison and their colleagues recognized the divine hand in the human origin of personal freedom, the natural rights of all persons and the limited nature of the republic they created.

Then, along came war — the great scourge of natural rights and limited government.

The extraconstitutional growth of government comes during war and war-like crises, from the never-declared war with France in the 1790s that spawned the Alien and Sedition Acts, which punished speech critical of the government; to the arrest of journalists without charge or trial during the Civil War; to the prosecution of pamphleteers against the draft during World War I; to incarceration of Americans in American concentration camps based on race during World War II; to the war on terror, which spawned the Patriot Act and its warrantless spying; to the present era’s undeclared wars on presidential whim, and the expansion of America’s 750 foreign military bases into 80 countries.

To Jefferson and Madison, a natural right was truly inalienable and exercisable against the whole world. It may only morally and legally be curtailed after a jury trial and upon conviction for violating someone else’s natural rights. Any law or executive command that impairs natural rights was invalid and there was no obligation to comply with it. On this, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Locke, Jefferson and Madison all agreed.

In a constitutional republic, government may only take liberty and property pursuant to law and only from those who have consented by granting those powers to the government in the constitution that created it; and any exercise of any powers not consented to by the governed is assaultive of natural rights, is beyond the government’s moral and constitutional authority, is morally illicit and of no legal validity.

In an empire, the government has no limits. It does whatever the head of state wants. It denies the enforceability of international norms, enriches itself at the people’s expense, takes property without the consent of the governed, violates natural rights, starts wars to please constituent groups, murders people without trial whom it claims have violated its laws, suppresses foreign people and tells them how to live, and even kidnaps their leaders. It floods the money supply with cash, thereby devaluing all private property; it monitors all communications, and builds hundreds of military bases around the globe. Its legislature is weak and bullied by the head of state, who imposes his own taxes, promotes blood sport and builds garish monuments to himself.

Which form of government are we celebrating next month?

Written by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

Official website; https://twitter.com/Judgenap

Tax season brings these details into sharper focus because every figure must be organized, supported, and ready for review. For many growing brands, handling this work internally can take time away from planning, operations, and customer experience. Tax preparation outsourcing gives businesses a more structured way to manage tax-related documentation and preparation. 

It helps organize financial records so owners can stay focused on growing the brand. Let’s look at why this approach is becoming relevant for beauty and fitness businesses. 

5 Reasons Beauty and Fitness Brands Need Tax Preparation Outsourcing

Beauty and fitness brands handle fast-moving sales, campaigns, and customer demand. A structured tax process can help owners manage these records with better clarity. 

    1. Manage Multiple Income Streams

Beauty and fitness brands often earn through several channels. A beauty brand may manage product sales, treatment packages, subscriptions, gift cards, retail partnerships, and promotional campaigns. 

A fitness brand may handle membership plans, digital programs, product sales, merchandise, wellness packages, and recurring customer payments. Each income stream needs proper classification during tax preparation. 

When service revenue, product sales, and recurring payments mix, review work can take longer. Tax preparation outsourcing helps organize these categories with a clearer process. It supports cleaner reporting and gives accountants better context while reviewing business activity.

     2. Payroll, Tips, and Contractor Payments Need Careful Tracking

Beauty and fitness brands often work with mixed team structures. They may work with full-time employees, commission-based teams, consultants, creators, trainers, product specialists, and independent professionals.

Each arrangement creates different payment records. Payroll, commissions, reimbursements, contractor payments, and incentive payouts need clear documentation throughout the year.

Tax preparation outsourcing can support a more organized workflow for these details. It helps teams collect payment summaries, staff records, and supporting documents in one place.

     3. Busy Seasons Can Overlap With Tax Deadlines

Beauty and fitness brands often experience demand spikes during specific months. Beauty brands may see stronger sales around holidays, weddings, seasonal launches, and gifting periods. Fitness brands may see higher demand around New Year, summer, and wellness-focused campaigns.

Tax season can arrive while teams already manage campaigns, customer demand, inventory planning, and daily operations. Owners may need to review reports, collect receipts, track payroll details, and answer tax questions together.

Tax preparation outsourcing helps create a defined support process during these demanding periods. Experienced professionals can help organize records, prepare working files, and manage document requirements.

     4. Expenses Need Proper Documentation

Beauty and fitness brands usually manage several business expenses. These may include rent, utilities, insurance, supplies, product inputs, packaging, equipment, software, uniforms, and marketing costs.

Every expense needs reliable support before accountants can review it properly. Invoices, receipts, vendor records, and payment confirmations help create a stronger preparation base.

Tax preparation outsourcing can help arrange these documents into clear categories. It can also help identify missing records early, giving teams enough time to collect them before filing season.

     5. Growth Can Make Tax Preparation More Detailed

A growing beauty or fitness brand may manage records with a small internal team at first. Growth changes that process quickly. New locations, sales channels, added staff, more vendors, and larger customer volumes can create extra reporting needs.

Each channel or business unit may have separate revenue reports, payroll details, sales records, expenses, and operating patterns. Tax preparation outsourcing helps standardize how records are collected and reviewed.

It can support consistent workflows for sales reports, payroll summaries, expense files, and supporting documents. This helps owners prepare for filing with better control.

Key Tax Preparation Services Beauty and Fitness Brands Should Consider

Choosing the right outsourcing support starts with understanding which services can match your business structure, systems, and growth plans.

     1. Individual and Business Return Preparation Support

Beauty and fitness brands may operate as sole proprietorships, partnerships, Limited Liability Companies, S corporations, or C corporations. A tax preparation partner should be able to work with the right return type and organize the records needed for review. 

     2. Account Finalization and Financial Statement Support

Year-end tax work depends on complete and accurate financial records. Support with account finalization and financial statements can help create a clearer base for filing. 

     3. Multi-state and Local Filing Coordination

Brands operating across multiple locations or channels may need added coordination for filing requirements. The right partner can help arrange federal, state, and local records in a structured way. 

     4. Technology-friendly Workflows

Beauty and fitness brands often use accounting, payroll, booking, sales, and customer management systems. The outsourcing process should work smoothly with these platforms to make data collection easier. 

     5. Quality Checks, Security, and Clear Pricing

Tax preparation involves sensitive financial information, so the process should be secure and well defined. Look for quality checks, clear timelines, transparent pricing, and proper control over shared data. 

Make Tax Preparation Easier for Growing Brands 

Beauty and fitness brands need tax preparation support that understands service operations, team structures, customer demand, and multi-stream revenue. A structured process can help owners manage records, reporting, documentation, and coordination with greater confidence. 

It can also help accountants review cleaner information and spend more time on meaningful guidance. The right partner should offer skilled tax professionals, secure workflows, smooth system integration, transparent pricing, and quality-focused support. 

Outsourcing partners like Befree can help beauty and fitness businesses create a more organized approach to tax season. With the right support, owners can keep financial preparation aligned with daily operations, customer experience, and long-term growth.

Staff Writer; Larry Harris