When President Donald Trump decided to begin bombing Iran last June, he did not state a coherent or lawful reason for doing so. His director of national intelligence and his own CIA had publicly told him that Iran did not possess a nuclear weapon and had ceased building one in 2005.

His secretary of state told him that Iran and Israel had threatened each other, but he could not articulate how Iran imminently threatened the United States. Yet, since Israel planned to attack Iran, he wanted the U.S. to help Israel do so. This was not a lawful request as the U.S. has no treaty with Israel and, under treaties to which the U.S. is a party, the legal bases for all offensive wars can only be treaty compliance or prevention of an imminent attack.

When Trump addressed the nation, his helter-skelter rationale argued for replacing Iran’s government, destroying its civilian-use enriched uranium, destroying its ability to build a bomb it wasn’t building, and neutralizing its offensive and defensive weaponry. None of these goals was lawful; nor was attacking a Tehran girls school. There was no mention of an imminent attack on the U.S. or the economic effect of war on the vital international oil super-highway, the Strait of Hormuz.

No one in Trump’s inner circle registered disagreement, except his vice president and his director of counterterrorism. They told him there was no legal or constitutional basis for his war.

They were correct, but Trump had history on his side.

For much of American history, presidents have steadily accumulated the power to wage war while Congress has gradually surrendered the constitutional authority that the Framers explicitly entrusted to it. This transformation has weakened constitutional checks and balances, expanded executive power beyond its constitutional limits, claimed millions of lives, cost trillions of dollars, and repeatedly drawn the United States into conflicts that had little or nothing to do with defending America.

The Constitution is remarkably clear on the question of war. Article I grants Congress — not the president — the power to declare war. The president, under Article II, wages war, but only after Congress has authorized it.

James Madison argued that the executive branch is the branch “most interested in war, and most prone to it,” which is precisely why the Constitution deliberately divided the war power.

The Framers believed that no single individual should possess the authority to plunge the nation into armed conflict, yet over the past eight decades, presidents of both political parties have steadily ignored these constitutional limits.

President Harry Truman committed hundreds of thousands of American troops to combat in Korea without obtaining a declaration of war from Congress because he said U.S. troops there constituted a “police action.”

The pattern only intensified during the Vietnam War. Although Congress passed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, it was based on a fraud and effectively delegated its congressional constitutional responsibility to the president. The result was years of escalating conflict that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 58,000 Americans and millions of Vietnamese while achieving none of its stated objectives.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, fundamentally accelerated this trend. Congress passed the Authorization for Use of Military Force and the Patriot Act — the former granting the president broad authority to pursue those responsible for the attacks, and the latter substantially impairing rights protected by the Fourth Amendment.

What was presented as a targeted war authorization evolved into legal justifications for military operations across multiple countries against groups that did not even exist in 2001.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq illustrate the costs of this expansive approach. The war in Afghanistan lasted two decades before ending with the return of the Taliban to power. Iraq was invaded based on fabricated or erroneous intelligence assessments regarding weapons of mass destruction.

The proper role of government — according to Thomas Jefferson, its only role — is to protect life, liberty and property, not to remake foreign societies through military force. Wars of choice generate unintended consequences, empower new enemies, create refugee crises and expand government power at home.

The economic and human consequences are equally profound. Massive defense expenditures have pushed the debt of the federal government to nearly $40 trillion. A government willing to kill millions and spend trillions on foreign wars while borrowing money to pay the interest on borrowed money will one day collapse of its own weight; as have all empires.

A genuinely constitutional foreign policy would look very different. Military force should be reserved for defending the United States against actual or truly imminent attacks, not speculative threats or ambitious nation-building projects, or favors for other countries. Congress should debate and vote openly before committing American forces to any combat.

Strong national defense does not require perpetual war. A capable military can deter aggression. Diplomacy, commerce and peaceful engagement generally serve American interests more effectively than military intervention.

George Washington’s warning against entangling foreign commitments and John Quincy Adams’s declaration that America “goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy” remain relevant guides for a republic committed to liberty, rather than an empire committed to conquest. Of course, monsters abroad can follow you home.

The constitutional allocation of war powers exists not as a procedural rule but as a substantive safeguard for freedom itself. Every unnecessary war expands executive authority, enlarges government, consumes wealth, risks American lives without clear necessity and diminishes personal liberty.

The best protection against endless conflict is a less powerful presidency and a renewed commitment to the Constitution’s deliberate separation of powers and the principle that the United States should fight only when its own security imminently and genuinely requires it.

Is it any wonder that the U.S. is unwilling or unable to justify its recent killings of 163 Tehran school girls and their teachers?

Written by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano

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

Their alarm is warranted. The socialist program would be a catastrophe. So, here’s an awkward question: Why is a Republican administration quietly doing the public ownership of businesses part on its own?

Last week, the Commerce Department announced that letters of intent have been signed to provide federal incentives to seven more companies under the CHIPS program. Each letter of intent is conditioned on the government taking an equity stake. By a Cato Institute count, that brings the federal corporate portfolio to roughly 30 firms.

A year ago, these deals looked like improvisation — one-offs stitched together under pressure with President Donald Trump’s fluid negotiating style. Now, the department announces them in batches. Federal ownership of private companies has become routine, and it is happening on the right even as members busily point fingers at the left for its socialism.

To be sure, this is not the abolition of private property that some in the DSA would love to see. But strip away the label and look at the mechanism. Socialism’s defining move is to put ownership and decision-making in the same collective hands. A government equity stake does exactly that. Washington already regulates these firms, buys from them and subsidizes them. Now, it owns pieces of them. Every lever it controls — tariffs, permits, contracts, the next tranche of subsidies — moves the value of its own holdings.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, sees the implication of the government stake ownership more clearly than most Republicans do. “When government owns part or all of private companies,” he writes, “government is no longer just setting the rules — it becomes a player in the game and sets the rules to its own advantage and against the people.” Polis adds: “Socialism concentrates political and economic power in the same hands.” He is right, and it ought to sting.

Polis later asked during a Fox News segment where the Republicans denouncing this policy are. There are some, like Sens. Josh Hawley and Rand Paul, but it’s a fair question. The answer is probably that politicians condemn a thing only until their own side does it too. Still, the silence from most of the GOP on so fundamental an issue is truly baffling.

As Cato’s Tad DeHaven notes, “The seven nonbinding letters of intent would provide up to $874 million in CHIPS and Science Act research and development incentives.” Remember when most Republicans were against the CHIPS Act passed under former President Joe Biden? I do. And remember when they claimed to care about fiscal responsibility?

How about opposing ownership stakes simply because the right may not always be in charge? An executive branch that can hand out ownership at its discretion has acquired a permanent power, and such powers outlive the people who establish them. Picture a future Democratic president inheriting 30 companies’ worth of shareholder rights and the leverage that comes with these: board seats, emissions mandates, conditions bolted onto the next round of funding.

This is no paranoid fantasy. The Senate’s defense bill would give the Pentagon its own equity portfolio, which means Congress may write the administration’s practice into statute rather than kill it. The right is loading a gun and trusting that only its friends will hold it. LOL, as the young people say.

The economics of government ownership of company shares are worse than the politics. A government does not allocate capital to its highest-valued use; it allocates capital to its most politically valued use. A project that moves forward in a fair market does not need taxpayer money. A project that moves forward due only to government intervention is a loser that the taxpayer is buying.

Either way, the equity stake fixes nothing. It stacks a conflict of interest on top of a market-distorting subsidy. And once the Treasury owns a slice, a failing firm will always be ripe for a General Motors-style bailout.

Finally, you can spare me the national-security argument about needing the domestic chip capacity, steel and rare-earth materials that these companies provide. Government ownership is not the instrument. Procurement contracts and long-term purchase agreements can secure supplies without making the Commerce secretary a shareholder.

The DSA at least tells Americans clearly what it wants. The danger on the right is quieter: a government acquiring the means of production one letter of intent at a time, and a political party acting as though socialism is something only the other side can do.

Written by Veronique de Rugy

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

Athletes going public with personal health problems should always be viewed positively. Professional athletes are some of the best examples of the incredible things that the human body can do as they perform on the playing field or playing court. For pro athletes to reveal that they are dealing with significant health issues is a moment of vulnerability that should be applauded especially for male athletes. In sports, athletes are not expected to show vulnerability or weakness so coming forward about health issues is the opposite of what they have known to do as they have played their sport for decades as a kid, teenager, and then adult as a professional.

During the 2010s, one of the most exciting running backs in the National Football League was Chris Johnson. The former first round pick entered the NFL from a smaller conference school, East Carolina, and Johnson himself did not have the size of fellow first round running backs such as Darren McFadden, Jonathan Stewart or Rashard Mendenhall. However, Johnson’s rare speed set him apart from virtually every running back of his era. A scatback in the mold of former Eagles halfback Brian Westbrook, Chris Johnson was a homerun hitter who began his NFL career with six consecutive 1,000-yard rushing seasons. However, his second NFL season led to his nickname “CJ2K” being born when he ran for 2006 rushing yards in 2009 and displayed that his frame could hold up to be a featured back in a major way.

Finish story here; Chris Johnson’s public bravery deserves public recognition.

I watched the whole circus with a different set of eyes.

Some of that comes with age. Once you have lived long enough to see how grown men come apart, you stop finding the earnest ones so hilarious. I have buried friends who were cooler than Russ ever tried to be. And I have watched slick talkers with all the right one liners lose their families, their money, and eventually themselves. Nobody clipped their bad decisions and set them to funny music. The quiet ruin of a so called real one rarely trends.

So let me say the thing plainly. The corniness people mocked was never the flaw they pretended it was.

Think about what the ridicule was actually built on. Peel it back and you find a television routine, a slogan or two, a husband who bragged on his wife instead of stepping out on her, and a father figure who embraced his stepson and treated him like his own. Somewhere along the way we got these categories twisted. We started treating polish like weakness and treating chaos as authenticity. This culture will crown a brother who cusses out reporters and picks up DUIs while his marriage quietly falls apart. Then the guy who spends his time supporting families and sitting with sick kids at the hospital, him we decide is lame.

That math has bugged me for a long time.

Look at the actual record, not the memes. Across 14 NFL seasons, there were no publicly reported arrests attached to his name. Nobody leaked footage of him swinging on somebody in an elevator. There was no baby mama drama splashed across the blogs, no sideline meltdown that torched a career. He weathered the end of his Seattle run, getting benched and released in Denver, Pittsburgh moving on after one season, and the Giants turning to a rookie after three starts. Through all of it he stayed professional. In the press he kept his mouth clean. He did not go scorched earth on his old teammates on the way out. Knock the throws however you want. Off the field he was not a locker room problem, and he did not hand anybody an off-field reason to regret his signature.

We ought to sit with how rare that truly is.

I coach a little on weekends, youth ball, nothing serious. Those boys hear the same thing out of me every season. The world will hand you a hundred reasons to be angry and only a few reasons to stay steady. Anger is the easier road. It gets the laughs, draws the followers, and reads to everybody like it is keeping things a hundred. Steady looks boring from the outside. It reads as corny. Yet steady is what keeps a household together when the money gets tight and the phone stops ringing.

Here is what the jokes always missed. It takes real backbone to keep showing up as the same person after the crowd turns on you. When his time in Seattle ended, Russ could have gotten bitter and loud. Once things collapsed in Denver, he could have leaked his frustrations and played the victim on any podcast that would book him. Plenty of former stars have taken exactly that route. He chose to keep his family intact, keep his charity work going, and hold his composure while grown professionals openly mocked his contract. Say what you want. That is discipline most of us could not muster with cameras in our faces.

I return again to the family piece because that is where the double standard gets loudest. When a certain kind of athlete flexes his relationship, we swoon and call it love. Let Wilson do the exact same thing and we roll our eyes and call it performance. Why? What did all that scrutiny of that man’s marriage reveal except a husband who genuinely enjoys being a husband? He stepped into a ready made family and treated his stepson like his own blood. In a community that spends a whole lot of breath talking about absent fathers, we sure did give a hard time to a brother who volunteered to be present.

Somewhere our compass got demagnetized.

I am not here to canonize anybody. He fumbled real football moments. On the field he made choices that fans had every right to critique, and the money he was paid invited scrutiny. Criticize the play. Debate the deep ball and the sacks and the price tag. That is the fair game part. What I refuse to accept is the idea that his decency itself was a defect, that his refusal to self destruct made him less of a man than the wreckers we love to celebrate.

Let me tell you who my father was. A quiet cat who went to work, came home, kept his word, and not once put my mother in the position to explain his mess to the neighbors. Nobody made a viral clip out of him either. No one ever will. That kind of steadiness does not go viral, and that is precisely the sickness in how we measure worth now. We reward the spectacle and yawn at the substance.

Young brothers are watching this closely. They are learning, from the way we hand out our respect, that loud dysfunction earns more love than quiet reliability. The lesson sinking in is that a wild man is interesting and a faithful one is a joke. We are raising a whole generation to believe that being good is the same as being weak, and I promise you the bill for that lesson comes due.

More of us need to move like number three moved, and I say that without a trace of irony. Forget the slogans and the branding for a second. I mean the core of it. Handle your business. Protect your household. Serve the folks around you. Lose without becoming a bitter, blaming mess about it. Stay clear of the kind of trouble that follows a name around for years. If that reads as corny in this era, then maybe corny is exactly the medicine we have been avoiding.

I would rather my son grow up dull and dependable than exciting and gone. Better he be the punchline in some comedian’s bit than the cautionary tale at somebody’s funeral. Give me the water metaphors and the goofy optimism all day long over the smooth operator who leaves a trail of wreckage behind his charisma.

The people who laughed were never really laughing at a flaw. They were laughing at a mirror, at a standard most of them will never meet. Russell Wilson kept his family, his dignity, and his integrity through the public unraveling of the final stretch of his playing career. Go ahead and call that corny. Some of us just call it a whole man.

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.

Why Businesses Are Turning to Online Cheque Ordering During Tax Season

Online cheque ordering has become increasingly popular among businesses, particularly during tax season. The primary reason is the flexibility it offers in managing payments and maintaining accurate records, which is critical when preparing tax documents. Businesses that adopt a Holistic Financial Planning approach find that Order Cheques Online streamlines processes by integrating with digital accounting systems. According to a recent Forbes article, this integration can significantly enhance financial efficiency by reducing manual errors and increasing transaction speed.

Moreover, businesses utilizing sophisticated financial planning tools like the Asset Allocation Model can benefit from the seamless tracking and reporting features of digital cheque systems. This ensures that all financial activities, including cheque issuance, are aligned with strategic financial goals.

Convenience and Efficiency in Financial Management

The convenience of ordering cheques online cannot be overstated. Businesses save valuable time that would otherwise be spent on traditional cheque procurement processes. Utilizing an online platform allows for instant cheque customization and order placement, which is particularly beneficial during the hectic tax season. This efficiency is further enhanced when businesses implement a Monte Carlo Simulation, a method that helps predict the financial impact of different scenarios, ensuring that cash flow remains stable even during peak financial periods.

Additionally, businesses that adhere to the Fiduciary Standard—obliging them to act in their clients’ best interests—find that online cheque ordering provides a reliable way to ensure timely payments. This is crucial for maintaining trust and transparency with stakeholders, especially when financial obligations peak.

Cost-Effectiveness of Online Cheque Solutions

Cost-effectiveness is another compelling reason businesses choose to Order Cheques Online. Traditional cheque ordering can be expensive due to the costs associated with printing, shipping, and handling. Online solutions, however, offer competitive pricing models that can significantly reduce these expenses. Businesses that employ Dynamic Spending Strategies, which adjust spending based on current financial conditions, find that online cheque ordering aligns with their cost-saving objectives.

Moreover, by choosing to Order Cheques Online, businesses can take advantage of bulk purchasing discounts and avoid the hidden fees often associated with offline suppliers. This strategic financial decision supports the efficient allocation of resources, allowing businesses to focus on more critical financial planning activities.

Enhancing Security and Reducing Fraud Risks with Digital Cheques

Security is a top priority for businesses, especially during tax season when the risk of fraud may increase. Digital cheque systems offer enhanced security features such as encryption and secure access controls, which help protect sensitive financial information. This is particularly important for businesses engaged in Tax-Loss Harvesting, a strategy used to offset capital gains by selling securities at a loss. Ensuring secure and accurate transaction records is vital for such tax strategies.

Furthermore, Behavioral Finance—a study that examines psychological influences on investors’ behaviors—suggests that secure financial systems can improve decision-making by reducing the anxiety associated with potential fraud. Recent analysis from Investopedia highlights how secure digital transactions foster greater confidence among business owners and financial planners.

Conclusion

Businesses increasingly Order Cheques Online during tax season to streamline operations, cut costs, and enhance security. This approach not only supports comprehensive financial strategies but also aligns with modern financial planning practices. For businesses aiming to optimize their financial management during this critical period, adopting online cheque solutions is a strategic choice that promises efficiency and peace of mind.

Staff Writer; Bruce Jones

Open primaries let registered voters cast a ballot without being members of the party. Closed primaries allow only party members to vote. About 15 states now run genuinely open primaries. There are mixed systems that still help small numbers of voters nominate extreme candidates. Texas is one.

Texas started with an open primary in which incumbent Republican John Cornyn finished slightly ahead of Trump’s choice, Ken Paxton. But because neither got more than 50% of the vote, the top two candidates, Cornyn and Paxton, competed in a runoff. But under Texas rules, anyone who had voted in the Democratic primary could not participate in that contest.

Paxton had been impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House. His own top aides reported him to the FBI alleging bribery. And his wife filed for divorce citing adultery. Small wonder that recent polls show him trailing Democratic candidate James Talarico in a state said to be deep red.

Maine’s primary system is even less open, which explains how Graham Platner — he of the Nazi tattoo and creepy history with women — became the Democrat to oppose incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins. Platner was a creature propped up by the hyperactive Democratic Socialists of America.

After a plausible rape charge had him dethroned as the Democratic candidate, Platner was replaced with Troy Jackson. Jackson wasn’t chosen in a primary at all but by Democratic delegates at a special convention. Maine polls now have Jackson and Collins running neck-and-neck.

Most big American cities run open, “all-candidate” primaries rather than party primaries, which limit voting to party members. New York City is an exception. And that helps explain how the citizens ended up with the radical and increasingly unpopular Zohran Mamdani as mayor.

The formula for fringe groups, whether left or right, is to organize a march into thinly attended closed primaries and make their candidate nominee for a major party. That happened in New York on June 24, 2025, a day of record temperatures that made parts feel like 126 degrees. Older voters especially feared leaving their apartments.

The DSA took advantage of the situation and nominated Mamdani in a vote that was closed to the 21% of the voters registered as independents and the 11% who are Republican. Put another way, Mamdani wrangled the Democratic nomination in a primary in which only 8% of registered voters participated. Come Election Day, he got less than half the vote in an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

The city’s Charter Revision Commission adopted an interim report that suggested letting voters decide in November whether to move New York to open primaries. That’s how Boston and Seattle do it. They allow all eligible candidates that can be on the ballot and all registered voters to participate. The top two vote getters advance to the general election.

Mamdani opposes open primaries. “I am quite content with the system of primaries that we have thus far,” he said unsurprisingly.

Not content is John Opdycke, head of Open Primaries, a political-reform organization. “It’s ironic,” Opdycke said, “that Mayor Mamdani, who is raising important questions about the economic power of poor and working people, won’t advocate for their political power.” The group’s own polling shows even most city Democrats favoring open primaries.

There’s a reason fringe governance — from the right, the left or both — is driving so many of us crazy. Open primaries are a step toward saner majority rule.

Written by Froma Harrop

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

“On the advice of counsel, I respectfully decline to answer based upon my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution.”

Given the nature of the questions being asked about what I believe were deeply personal matters, I believe he was absolutely right to take that position.

Throughout the hearing, Republican members of the Committee were, in my view, unnecessarily rude and disrespectful. Yet Dr. Fauci remained calm and composed. He never raised his voice, never returned insult for insult, and conducted himself with the professionalism that has characterized his decades of public service.

Senator Rand Paul, an ophthalmologist, seemed more interested in performing for the cameras than engaging in a serious discussion with one of the nation’s most accomplished scientists and immunologists. Dr. Fauci led the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases from 1984 until 2022 and later served as Chief Medical Advisor to President Joseph Biden. His career has spanned multiple administrations, Republican and Democratic alike, and has been recognized by presidents of both parties as well as countless medical and scientific organizations.

When COVID-19 threatened the nation, Dr. Fauci offered medical guidance grounded in science. Americans may remember that President Donald Trump repeatedly suggested the virus would simply disappear as the weather became warmer. Most of us also remember other suggestions that left many Americans shaking their heads. Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of people understood that following the advice of medical professionals was far safer than following political speculation.

What troubled me most about this hearing was not simply the tone—it was the purpose. Members of the Senate, few if any of whom possess Dr. Fauci’s medical expertise, devoted their time to questioning him about a personal diary. A diary is exactly that—personal. It is often where people record their private thoughts, reflections, fears, hopes, and frustrations.

I understand that personally.

Years ago, someone had the audacity to find and read my diary and then question me about what I had written. In that moment, something that had been intensely personal was no longer mine alone. The violation was so painful that I destroyed the diary altogether. My journals contained thoughts intended for no one but me, and I can only imagine that Dr. Fauci’s diary served the same purpose for him.

That is why I believe this hearing crossed an important line. At a time when our nation faces enormous challenges—from economic uncertainty to international conflicts to pressing domestic concerns—it is difficult to understand why the Senate chose to devote its attention to a scientist’s private writings. The American people deserve better use of their elected officials’ time.

Before closing, let me update you on another influential Republican ally: Elon Musk. After recently saying he believed he had become “too involved in politics,” he has reportedly announced plans to spend millions of dollars in several key states during the upcoming midterm elections to support Republican candidates while working to defeat Democrats. Americans should remember the enormous influence that concentrated wealth can have on our political system and remain vigilant about who is shaping public policy and whose interests are being served.

We are living through a time when civility, respect, and common decency too often seem to take a back seat to political theater. Public servants who have devoted their lives to serving this country should be treated with fairness, whether we agree with them or not. Political disagreements are inevitable in a democracy. Personal humiliation should never become a substitute for meaningful governance.

That is why I ask again: Morals? They have none.

Written By Dr. E. Faye Williams

Official website; http://www.efayewilliams.com/

Bristol later wrapped the whole thing in the soft language of layoffs, part of a larger cluster of cuts tied mostly to ESPN integrating NFL Network and other media assets acquired from the league. Cam Newton got caught in it. Tom Pelissero too. Clark, though, refused to accept that framing. On The Pivot, he called it what he thought it really was. Fired. His case rested partly on timing. Clark was informed on Monday, while the larger round of layoffs was announced Tuesday, which told him that a decision about his future had been reached before the broader cuts gave ESPN cover to carry it out.

Whether he had that read right, I could not tell you. Grown men can disagree about internal politics none of us witnessed. What grabbed me, what should grab any of us who have watched gifted Black voices rise and fall inside institutions that were not built with us in mind, is the part of this story that happened long before the cameras cut away.

He saw this coming. Not the exact date, not the cruel staging of it, but the shape of the thing. Back in 2022, the former safety sat down with Fred Taylor and Channing Crowder and helped build something that belonged to their team. The Pivot. A show where retired players talked ball, talked life, talked to guests who would rarely get that real on a scripted network segment. It grew into a genuine presence. And here sits the quiet genius of the move. When the suits finally decided they were done with him, the chair was theirs to take. They could pull the salary, reportedly more than two million a year. The national television slot that put his face in living rooms every football season went right along with it. Yet one asset they could not touch was the independent platform he had helped build with his partners.

That is the whole lesson, and Black folks in media ought to write it somewhere they will read it every morning.

Visibility and independence are not the same currency. A network hands you the first. Only you can build the second. ESPN gave Ryan a stage, an enormous one, and there is no shame in accepting a stage when somebody offers it. Millions of viewers learned his name because of that association. But a stage you do not control is a rental, and the landlord can change the locks whenever the quarterly numbers get ugly or an executive decides your opinions rub him the wrong way. We have seen this particular movie more times than I care to count.

Think about how many talented brothers and sisters got their shine inside a building they had no claim to. The commentator with the sharp read on the game. A morning host with a loyal following. Some reporter who broke stories nobody else could get. When the institution decided the relationship was finished, most of them started from scratch, blinking in the daylight, wondering where the crowd went. That crowd was not theirs to begin with. It belonged to the logo behind their head.

Clark understood something plenty of peers miss until it is too late. The bond you build directly with people cannot be revoked by a memo. Nobody at Disney can email your listeners and tell them to stop caring about what you have to say. The audience Clark, Taylor, Crowder and their team cultivated through The Pivot remained connected to the platform they built. When the news hit, Clark did not go quiet. He turned the mic back on and spoke straight to that crowd, with nobody cutting him off for a commercial break.

Underneath all of this runs an older story, and I am not going to pretend it away. Black entertainers and athletes and artists have spent generations handing their best work to machines that other men owned. The old record labels did it to our musicians. Movie studios did it to our actors. Sports television has run a subtler version of the same play, elevating charismatic analysts into household names while the actual value, the brand, the archive, the viewer data, stayed firmly in corporate hands. Sam Cooke figured out he needed control over his publishing and business affairs before much of the industry caught up. The principle has not changed. Only the medium has.

What makes this moment different is that the tools finally sit within reach of regular folks. You no longer need ESPN to reach a nation. A camera, a decent microphone, a point of view worth hearing, and the discipline to show up week after week can build something no HR department gets to dissolve. Ryan and his partners proved it. They did not wait for permission. Nor did they assume the good years at a corporation would stretch on forever, because deep down we all understand they never do.

Let me be careful here, because I am not preaching that anybody should turn down opportunity out of pride. Take the job. Grab the exposure. Cash the checks while they clear. Use that big stage to introduce yourself to people who would otherwise not find you. Just do not confuse the borrowed spotlight for a home you actually own. Build the home on the side, brick by brick, while the borrowed light is still shining on you. That is the whole move. It is what separates the folks who bounce back from the ones who vanish.

The men and women who own their distribution get to survive endings like the one Ryan just lived through. They get to grieve the loss of a good gig without grieving the loss of their entire public life, because those two things were never bundled together in the first place. He lost a job. What he did not lose was his voice. His people stayed right where they were. The network handed him a painful education and a strange sort of gift in the same breath, a reminder that everything he truly needed, he had already helped put together himself.

So watch what he does next. My money says he lands fine, maybe better than fine, precisely because the most valuable thing in his possession was never printed on a contract in Bristol. It was printed on the loyalty of everyone who follows him wherever he decides to go. That is ownership. It is the only real security this business has ever offered. And every Black creator watching this play out should be taking notes.

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 purpose here was the trap. Sen. Paul was open about it. He told reporters before the hearing that any statement made by Dr. Fauci at the hearing would not be protected by the presidential pardon — so if there were any inconsistency between what Dr. Fauci said now and then, no matter how small or insignificant, it could be the basis of a perjury charge. Paul has made no bones about his desire to see Dr. Fauci behind bars. Not that he can single-handedly succeed at doing so, but he got a gaggle of Republican senators who should have known better to follow his lead.

It is the purpose of the Fifth Amendment to prevent such persecutions. That’s what this was, pure and simple, and thankfully we have a Constitution to invoke to stop it.

Not that Fauci was able to escape entirely unscathed. His lawyer — who happens to have a stellar reputation in Washington — got thrown out of the hearing. Some attorney general from the South threatened to prosecute him. For what? Invoking the Fifth. Paul wants to hold him in contempt for that. Again, I ask, for what? Since when is rightly invoking the Fifth because you rightly fear investigation and persecution, if not lawful prosecution, an offense that can land you behind bars? Punishing constitutionally protected activity as a crime?

Of course, there will always be people who say that only the guilty invoke the Fifth, and that’s what they’re saying about Dr. Fauci. When you’re the target of a witch hunt, invoking the Fifth is an act of courage, calling your persecutors on their case.

Paul tried to smear Dr. Fauci by releasing excerpts from his diary in advance of the hearing. Some of his comments about the president were insulting. Big surprise. Not a crime. He was, it appears, impressed and taken by all the media attention he was receiving. A “narcissist,” one of the Republican senators called him. Since when is that a crime in Washington?

For me, Dr. Fauci will always be a dedicated public servant who spent his life saving lives. There is no full accounting I’ve seen of the millions of lives he saved in the AIDS and COVID epidemics. Did his agency fund research at the lab in Wuhan that Paul is so sure was the source of a “lab leak”? It did, but as countless experts have tried to explain to Paul, it was not the kind of research that could have led to the COVID leak. What do you do with a man who prefers spite over science?

You ignore him, which is what the Senate, and the public, should do with Rand Paul.

Written by Susan Estrich

Let that word sit for a second. Earned.

We are talking about a kid from Akron who walked into the league as a teenager carrying the weight of a whole city on his back, and who somehow carried more each season after. Four rings across three franchises. Regular season MVP trophies, four of them. Twenty two All Star selections, a run longer than plenty of careers last from the first whistle to the goodbye. The all time leading scorer in NBA history, a number nobody thought would ever fall until he simply refused to slow down. Twenty three seasons already completed, with a record twenty fourth waiting for him in Philadelphia. Two full decades as the face of a billion dollar business, the poster on the wall, the reason casual fans tuned in at all.

And still hated.

That part deserves honesty, because it is the strange truth sitting underneath his whole run. Plenty of grown men cannot stand the guy. Some of them look just like us. Brothers who came up watching him, who own the jersey, who quote the highlights, will turn around and tell you with a straight face that they never rocked with him. Ask them why and the reasons get thin fast. Something about the way he left Cleveland that summer. Maybe it is that he got handed too much too soon. For others it comes down to him not being that other fella who wore forty five and twenty three before him. Scratch any of those excuses and the same thing sits underneath. Resentment. Plain old resentment. A brother kept betting on himself, kept cashing those bets, and it drove people crazy that he never once waited on anybody’s permission to do it. For a certain type of person, that alone is unforgivable. We watch that jealousy dress itself up as basketball opinion, and we nod along as if it fools anybody.

Now here comes the last chapter, and watch how the same crowd handles it.

He did not chase a bag to Philadelphia. Eight million dollars over two seasons is pocket change for a man who prints money in his sleep, and the King knew that the moment the pen hit paper. What LeBron wanted instead was a feeling. A locker room stacked with All Star talent, Joel Embiid anchoring the middle and Tyrese Maxey buzzing on the wing, plus rising second year guard VJ Edgecombe soaking all of it up. Even Jaylen Brown is there now, the former Boston rival who used to trade playoff scars with him, an All Star and a proven champion, suddenly wearing the same jersey. A packed arena filled with a fan base that has been starving for another reason to believe. One real shot at a banner before the body finally says no more. Rich Paul called it basketball happiness, and honestly that phrase says everything. None of this is running away. He is walking straight toward the thing that still makes his heart pound inside a gym.

That is his business. Nobody voted on it. No panel in a studio needs to bless it.

Which brings me to the loudest room in all of this, the sports media machine that treats every move the King makes as a crime scene. For more than twenty years these people have built entire livelihoods off his name. They scream about his clutch gene one night, then question if he ducked a rival the next, then argue his jewelry count against a ghost from the 90s. A villain moves the needle. Outrage sells, plain and simple, and they manufactured plenty of it. So they poked and prodded and framed his choices as betrayals when the truth is much simpler. A working professional went where he wanted to go. That is it. Nothing else to the story. Yet somehow the panels will burn a week deciding whether he owed it to Los Angeles to fade away in purple and gold, as if that franchise ever owed him a graceful exit in return.

Let me say the quiet part plainly. He does not owe any of us a thing.

Not a farewell tour. No tidy finish in the city we picked for him. And certainly no retirement podium scheduled around our convenience. This is a person who gave the sport everything for more than two decades. No major off court scandal ever swallowed his career. His sons grew up watching their father put in work. There is a public school back home created through his foundation’s partnership with Akron Public Schools. Whole neighborhoods the country wrote off saw real money from him. And through all of it, the shots kept coming and he kept standing. If somebody like that decides his final act happens in a red and blue uniform on the other side of the country, the only correct response from the rest of us is respect.

I think about my own father when this stuff plays out. Forty years he gave to that job. When his time came, the old man did not poll the room about the proper way to bow out. He shook a few hands that meant something to him. The rest he left behind without a second thought, then pointed the car home for good. No one demanded an explanation. Everybody understood the exit was his call and nobody else’s. We grant that grace to plumbers and teachers and bus drivers without blinking. Why the greatest to ever lace them up somehow has to justify his last stop is a question worth sitting with, and the answer usually reveals more about the person asking than about the fella they are dragging.

So he is a Sixer now. Wild to type, but here we are. Maybe it wraps with a parade down Broad Street. Or maybe it ends with a first round exit and a soft goodbye. Either way the pen belongs to the King, and it always did. The rest of us are just readers hoping to catch the final pages before the book shuts. We do not get a vote on the closing lines, and honestly, we never should have.

More than two decades bought him that. Every bruise, each buzzer, all those late nights dragging a roster past its ceiling, every summer somebody swore he was cooked, added up to a plain privilege that too few folks want to hand over. The freedom to decide when the story ends, and the freedom to decide where.

Let the man write his own last page. He paid for that ink with his whole life.

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.