When it mattered most, Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell chose power over the country — TRADING IS AS MUCH ART AS IT IS SCIENCE. No matter what the analysis, the charts, or the algorithms say, sometimes a trader goes with their gut. Maybe it’s a feeling about the market’s direction or stock that doesn’t feel right. Other times, it’s a hunch regarding a merger that…

Wallace’s interview with Nikole Hannah-Jones put white America’s denial of the country’s racist history on full display — This piece was first published on The Journeyman, my Substack publication, prior to the announcement that CNN+ will shut down after less than a month of operations. My mother had an amazing green thumb. She could turn the sickliest plant into beautiful flora. The wrap-around porch of our Pine Bluff…

There’s a lot more to astronomical financial success than “hard work” — A few days ago, my daughter made an odd sound; actually, it was more of a noise. Whatever the classification, I’m sure it’s something every parent has heard before. It is the sound of disapproval, unique to young people transitioning from adolescence to adulthood — something between ‘pshaw’ and ‘ugh.’ …

On nicknames, soda machines, and the death of my innocence — I grew up in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, in a primarily Black neighborhood walking distance from downtown. In the early seventies, we moved from Little Rock after our parents began jobs as managers in the menswear and womenswear departments at the local Dillard’s Department Store. Although I spent equal amounts of…

When the refugees are blonde-haired and blue-eyed, the reception is very, very different — Like virtually every person in the free world, I’m pulling for the citizens of Ukraine. Their plight is the real-life embodiment of David versus Goliath — good versus evil. I find myself pulling for them, despite their ridiculously long odds. What is especially compelling to observe is the evolution of…

Almost every move they make reaffirms my decision to boycott the ‘Big Game.’ — I stopped watching NFL football six or seven years ago. The one exception to my boycott is the Super Bowl. If we’re being honest, we have to admit the NFL’s signature clash is more an event than a game. …

In America, if you happen to be Black, Latinx, or a poor white person, you’re only a misstep away from some form of incarceration — I recently learned that one of my brothers got arrested a few years ago. He was driving around the streets of Little Rock, Arkansas, and BOOM! the “Blue Light Special.” Since he was driving his friend’s flashy luxury car, he assumed that was the reason for the stop. It wasn’t…

“The Democrats made us do it” is the latest conservative explanation for the Republican Party’s descent into authoritarianism — As you probably know by now, last month, former U.S. Senator and Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole passed away. While I disagreed with him politically, Dole was a legendary political figure and one of the last old-school Republicans alive. …

Like a crew of b-movie villains, Team Trump won’t stop telling us about their fiendish plot. — In every James Bond film, there comes a moment when the criminal mastermind has the irresistible urge to reveal the details of their evil plot. The desire is so overwhelming the villain can’t resist letting the cat out of the bag. For example, in the 1964 film Goldfinger, Bond stumbles…