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(ThyBlackMan.com) A home remodel is one of the largest investments most Los Angeles homeowners will make, and the outcome rests heavily on a single early choice: which contractor you hire. Whether you’re planning a full kitchen remodeling project, a bathroom overhaul, or a whole-home renovation, the right contractor keeps the work organized, compliant, and on budget. The wrong one can turn a few months of construction into a year of frustration. Here’s how […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Donald Trump has been the greatest, most clear-eyed and most transformative foreign policy president of my lifetime. But Trump is also the famed businessman who wrote “The Art of the Deal” four decades ago. There has therefore always been the risk that the president’s novel and often unorthodox approach to foreign policy could be subsumed by a greater dealmaking imperative. Prudent statesmanship on the world stage requires setting clear […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Barack Obama and Michelle Obama were never carried through the White House years on pillows. Folks who remember that season without dressing it up know better. Those years had heat on them. Health care had people hollering at town halls. Race stayed near the front door whether some wanted to admit it or not. War, immigration, police, marriage, religion, debt, schools, taxes, and the meaning of American citizenship all […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) History is filled with political movements born from noble promises. Few have been more appealing in theory than socialism. At its heart, socialism promises greater equality, economic fairness, and protection for those who struggle in a competitive marketplace. It speaks to the desire for justice and the belief that no person should be left behind.   Yet history also teaches a sobering lesson: While millions have voted for socialism, millions […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Psalm 23:5, one of the best-known biblical passages, says, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup overflows.” 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 […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) I have never been much for flag-waving patriotism. I respect the rituals, and I understand why some people are moved by them. But my own relationship with patriotism has always been complicated, even chilly. It is difficult to be sentimental about a nation that enslaved my ancestors, exploited their labor, denied them citizenship, terrorized them for seeking freedom, and then asked their descendants to celebrate as if history were […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) We can thank China that gasoline prices aren’t higher than they are. By last month, China had cut imports of oil by 3 million barrels a day, the daily consumption of Italy and France combined. China’s economy, meanwhile, hums along. Americans agonize over how the price of oil affects gas at the pump. Were it not for China, a tank of gas would cost considerably more. “China is Propping […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The new “Global Justice Report” by the World Inequality Lab in France — which calls for caps on economic growth in rich countries, top income-tax rates of 90% and a World Sovereign Fund to redistribute wealth to the Global South — has reignited one of the oldest debates in economics: How do we actually lift people out of poverty? The data have never left much question. The answer is […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, embraces two value sets. The first is natural rights, and the second is limited government. After 250 years, neither value has survived, and the opposite of each currently prevails in America. 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 […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Aretha Franklin did not simply sing soul music. She carried it like a woman walking into church with a Bible in one hand and somebody’s broken heart in the other. Her voice had thunder in it, but also kitchen table truth, front porch memory, mother wit, and that deep sanctuary training nobody can fake. Down South, folks know when a voice has been through something. We can hear the […]