The President of the United States Is a Wretched Cur!

Trump’s Insults Toward Rob Reiner and Hardy’s Henchard

A few weeks ago, I penned a Substack piece in which I described the United States President as a “wretched cur!” It was a reference from a novel I was required to read as a high school senior, titled The Mayor of Casterbridge, written by Thomas Hardy, about a once very popular mayor, Michael Henchard, who had fallen out of office and was on hard times. He sold his wife at the town fair. This act is akin to a 21st-century American President burying his first wife on his golf course so he can receive a tax break on the golf course property. read more

Pete Skandalakis and the Tale of Two Politically Charged Cases

Inheritance by Fire

When Pete Skandalakis stepped into the Rayshard Brooks case in 2020, he did not inherit a neutral file. He inherited a fire.

The summer had already scorched Atlanta: Brooks, a 27-year-old Black man, was shot in the parking lot of a Wendy’s after a DUI stop escalated into a struggle. Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, facing reelection, charged officer Garrett Rolfe with felony murder and officer Devin Brosnan with aggravated assault. The charges were sweeping, the city was raw, and the case became a symbol of the national reckoning over policing. read more

The Dog That Hadn’t Barked

Silence, Complicity, and the Politics of Absence

In April 2011, Jeffrey Epstein wrote to Ghislaine Maxwell: “I want you to realize that that dog that hasn’t barked is Trump. [Victim] spent hours at my house with him; he has never once been mentioned.” The metaphor, borrowed from Arthur Conan Doyle’s Silver Blaze, is telling. In that story, Sherlock Holmes solved a mystery by noticing what did not happen: the watchdog failed to bark at the intruder because it recognized him. Silence became the clue. read more

Black Gold and Red Shadows, Part I

Britain’s Grip on Nigeria’s Oil

When the First World War ended in 1918, Britain emerged battered but still clinging to its empire. The war had revealed a new truth: oil was no longer just a commodity; it was the bloodstream of modern power. In Nigeria, still a colonial possession, the story of oil was only beginning. Yet the structures Britain built in the aftermath of the war ensured that when oil did flow, it would do so under imperial control. read more

Introducing Nigerian Black Gold and Red Shadows

A Four-Part Series

Oil is never just oil. In Nigeria, it has been the empire’s prize, the war’s engine, and the people’s paradox. From the First World War onward, Britain tightened its colonial grip on Nigeria’s oil future, laying pipelines of power that still shape the nation today. The Soviet Union, although it never drilled a barrel, cast its own shadow, training minds, seeding ideas, and offering an ideological counterpoint during the Cold War. read more

How Money and Sex Derailed the Trump Prosecution in Georgia

Fani’s Folly

In the annals of prosecutorial missteps, few have unraveled with the operatic flair of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s fall from the Trump case. What began as a historic indictment—charging Donald Trump and 18 others with racketeering for their alleged efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results—has now been eclipsed by a scandal of intimacy, impropriety, and institutional consequence. read more

Hoax Versus Reality: The Epstein Case and the Cost of Indifference

Examining the Impact of Real-World Consequences in the Face of Political Evasion

Introduction

In a world awash with information, the line between hoax and reality is often blurred. Rumors, conspiracies, and fabrications coexist alongside genuine tragedies and historic events, sometimes clouding our collective understanding and undermining the gravity of real suffering. This dynamic is particularly evident in the ongoing controversy surrounding Jeffrey Epstein, whose life and crimes have become the focal point of both fevered speculation and undeniable trauma. read more

Promises, Pivots, and Power Play: Unpacking Trump’s Russia-Ukraine War Rhetoric

From “Day One” Resolution to Listening Tours with Putin—What Changed?

In the fraught theater of international relations, words are weapons, and presidential promises are often the first shots fired. Nowhere has this been more evident than in former President Donald Trump’s approach to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war—a conflict that has reshaped Europe’s borders, tested the mettle of NATO, and exposed the fragility of the global order. From bold declarations on the campaign trail to recent statements signaling a more reserved approach, Trump’s rhetoric has shifted in ways that invite scrutiny, skepticism, and, above all, questions about what lies beneath the surface. read more

We the People, Stolen in Plain Sight

An essay in Curtis Mayfield’s time

Curtis Mayfield didn’t write anthems—he wrote indictments, love letters, cautionary tales. He summoned brass and bass to sketch the contours of a democracy that refused to hear its drumline. This essay riffs off Mayfield’s enduring question—“We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue”—to argue that the republic is not merely in peril, but being quietly repossessed by those who mistake governance for grift. “Are we going to stand around this town,” as Mayfield intoned, “and let what others say come true, … pardon me, brother, as I tell the whole story.” read more

From Armies of the Night to Armies of the State

A Tale of Two Washingtons

In 1967, Norman Mailer stood outside the Pentagon, half-participant, half-provocateur, chronicling the anti-war protest that would become The Armies of the Night. He cast himself as both historian and character, capturing the surreal theater of dissent in a city where symbolism and state power collide. read more