THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR AUGUST 27, 2026

                                        

                                           CASH MICHAELS

                                                                               

                                             DORIS "DORIE"MILLER                     

                            HONOR AMERICAN COURAGE AND PRIDE,

                                     NOT COWARDICE AND THIEVERY

                                 By Cash Michaels

When I was growing up a little Black kid in Brooklyn, NY decades ago, I watched a lot of World War II movies on TV. That’s what was on all the time. Great white American heroes like Tyrone Power, Rock Hudson (who actually did serve in the US Navy), Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, and John Wayne (who never served a day in the real military in his life, by the way).

I left Wayne for last, because out of all of them, he actually made a World War II film about the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by Japanese warplanes titled “In Harm’s Way.” Released in 1965 and directed by Otto Preminger, the film featured everything about that fateful day in American History, December 7th, 1941.

Well, almost everything.

Fortunately, as a kid, I didn’t count on that or any other movie to teach me about American history. Why? Because in not one of the many, many Hollywood films about World War II, did I ever see anyone who looked like me being brave, fearless and displaying love of country. And I know there were many.

That is until 1970, when an extraordinary joint production by 20th Century Fox and the Toho Company of Japan titled “Tora, Tora, Tora” was released, retelling the story of Pearl Harbor from both the American and Japanese military perspectives.

It was in this movie that I first heard the name “Dorie Miller” and saw the portrayal of the courageous actions of a true American hero. Messman Second Class Doris “Dorie” Miller, 22, a grandson of slaves and the son of sharecroppers, who did white officers’ dirty laundry, shined their shoes and served them their meals. A mess attendant aboard the battleship USS West Virginia in America’s segregated U.S. Navy, who during the Japanese attack, tended after the seriously wounded captain of the West Virginia, helped carry wounded sailors to safety, and then with no prior training or permission, got behind an anti-aircraft gun and according to US Navy records, shot down at least one attacking Japanese aircraft (some witnesses say Miller actually downed four, maybe six).

You know what the best thing about seaman Dorie Miller of Waco, Texas was?

He looked just like me, and back then, sailors who looked just like me were not allowed to handle weapons to defend their country like their white counterparts. Shoe polish, pots and pans and the captain’s dirty underwear, but no guns, grenades or rifles. And certainly no heavy artillery. The Black sailor who was segregated to the battleship galley (kitchen) below showed up with a big, fat  “S” under his US Navy uniform during that “date which will live in infamy,” and started saving his crew members and defending his country, and it took a 1970 Amiri-Japanese made movie to allow me to see this, and brag about it to my high school buddies (I’d have to wait until 2001 to see it dramatized once more when Academy Award winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. portrayed Dorie Miller in director Michael Bay’s big-bang production of  “Pearl Harbor.”)

It has now taken 56 years for me to learn that all Dorie Miller got as gratitude from a "grateful" nation for his bravery and heroism was the distinguished Navy Cross, when he damn well deserved the much more prestigious Medal of Honor, and was nominated for it by members of Congress. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made sure Miller was the first Black man in history to have the Navy Cross pinned to his chest. But Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox was against Miller getting the Medal of Honor, let alone anything denoting his bravery because he was opposed to Black people serving in the US military in the first place. So was quite ironic when a promoted Cook Petty Officer Doris “Dorie” Miller went on to serve aboard the escort carrier Liscome Bay, and lost his life when that ship was attacked by the Japanese in November 1943. Miller was among over 600 brave sailors who went to their watery graves during that attack, and without the due honor he deserved because some white supremacist wouldn’t let it happen.

Funny thing, right after the Pearl Harbor attack, the Navy wasn’t brave enough to publicize Miller’s name for four months, choosing instead to refer to him as “an unknown Negro sailor.” It took a Black newspaper to dig up the truth and reveal Dorie Miller’s name to the world for him to finally receive his due respect.

Now if the Dorie Miller story stopped right there, it would indeed be a sad tragedy. 

What’s happening now to the memory and brave sacrifice of this young Black serviceman is even sadder.

Acting Secretary of the US Navy Thomas Modly proudly announced on MLK Day 2020 that the next Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear aircraft carrier to be built  - one of the mightiest symbols of American military power on the high seas - will not be dedicated for a deceased president or a state as they traditionally are, but after the beloved Pearl Harbor hero, the USS Doris Miller. This would be a tremendous honor, making seaman Miller the first African-American ever to have a naval vessel named for him.

    And there was also talk of Miller finally getting his well-deserved, long overdue Medal of Honor posthumously, too.

  But now it’s being reported by CNN and other news organizations that very well may not happen. Reportedly the Navy has decided to rename the USS Doris Miller aircraft carrier after...Donald Trump.

To be clear, no naval vessel has ever been named for a president while he was still in office, let alone one convicted of 34 felonies, and charged with other alleged state and federal crimes.

    So instead of doing the right thing in honoring the legacy of a brave American of color who had the courage to stand up for his country when needed the most in time of war, we’re about to see an American president who is a convicted felon, convicted sexual abuser, and all-around thief be honored instead for something he never did - serve his country in an honorable capacity, including during a war he started, and has arguably and shamefully lost.

In fact, we dare say we could call Trump President “Draft Deferment” for skipping the Vietnam War; President “Bone Spurs” noting the flaky health reason he gave for not allowing himself to be drafted for military service; and President “Final Disqualification” for pulling every trick in the book to not serve his country until, as a privileged white kid, he could get elected and rob it blind. As far as Donald Trump is concerned, not allowing a nuclear aircraft carrier to be named for a true Black American hero is just one more fitting way to further stab DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) in the heart. And he’s doing it with a gold-encrusted knife with his name on it, too.

The same with Trump’s stooge at the Pentagon, the fearless “Dept. of War” Secretary Pete “Mr. Testosterone” Hegeseth, who has made it very clear he wants no generals who are Black or females in the ranks because he doesn’t believe they’re good enough.

It’s the disgrace I just can’t get over. The proud legacy of Dorie Miller is something we should all celebrate and be proud of. When that poor Black man from Waco, Texas stood up from imposed government segregation to risk his young life for his country, he stood up for ALL of us, regardless of the social implications. Something ALL of us should teach our children. Heroes like Miller, the Tuskegee Airmen and the Buffalo Soldiers, to name a few in American history, ALL loved a country that didn’t always love them back.

And now we have a joke of a president wiping his feet on the legacy of a true American hero, just because he can. In the words of NAACP President/CEO Derrick Johnson, "Doris Miller earned his place in American history through courage, sacrifice, and service. Donald Trump only wants to serve himself. This is a slap in the face to every war hero and every service member who has worn the uniform. It's beyond comprehension for a president to want his own name on a Navy ship while our armed forces are living in deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.

          "For generations, millions of Black women and men have proudly served in the United States military, defending freedoms that too often were not even afforded to them, their families, or their communities. Donald Trump is making a mockery of that legacy by treating military service as another opportunity for personal branding. Our brave service members signed up to defend the nation, not the fragile ego of one man. America deserves better than this."

  If this Dorie Miller controversy disgusts you like it does me, then do something about it, and VOTE this November for the change we need. Our courageous military men and women of all colors and backgrounds deserve respect. Let’s honor American courage, not sniveling cowardice and corruption. We can do much, much better than Donald Trump and his obnoxious band of incompetent criminals.

           So many people are pointing towards how the now late, but certainly great American icon, Dolly Parton, lived her life wanting the best for everyone. Let's try to follow her example. VOTE THIS FALL FOR AN HONORABLE AMERICA! The kind of America Dorie Miller gave his life for!

-30-

THE CASH STUFF FOR AUGUST 27, 2026

SUNDAY VOTING DITCHED IN

20 COUNTIES BY STATE GOP-LED

ELECTIONS BOARD

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

In a daylong, at times contentious August 20th meeting, the NC State Board of Elections last week voted to eliminate Sunday early voting in 20 counties for this fall’s elections. Eighty other county boards voted unanimously on their early voting policies, not needing state Election Board review. The move is seen as a direct assault on “Souls to the Polls,” critics say, the traditional Southern Black church practice of taking African-American congregations to early-voting sites by church vans so that they could vote en masse.

Republicans, who hold the majority on the state Election Board and all 100 county election boards throughout the state,  have long targeted Sunday voting for elimination because of “Souls to the Polls” and the tendency of Black voters to mostly vote Democratic. In previous litigation, Republican lawmakers have admitted to seeking to stop Sunday voting  in order to hurt Black voter turnout.

On Thursday, Matt Longworth, a current Republican member of the state Election Board said, “By having Sunday voting, we are requiring people to work on the Lord's Day, and I do believe that the downfall of this country will be contingent on what we do with God.”

Republicans on the GOP-majority state Elections Board also voted against several on-campus sites throughout the state. Those board members say that in both cases there are administrative reasons why they voted to eliminate, but critics counter that Republicans did so in a effort to limit voting against their candidates. 

The state Elections Board also voted to change Saturday early voting hours at several locations, saying that doing so, like the elimination of Sunday voting, saved counties money.

These early voting changes come as the Republican-led legislature has voted to cut the early-voting period for primaries down from 17 days to just 10. GOP lawmakers have also voted to give State Auditor Dave Boliek addition powers to review elections after they’re completed, and to make it easier to challenge election results.

-30-

 ST. AUG WILL NOT OFFER

ANY EDUCATION CLASSES

THIS FALL

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

After 158 years in the business of teaching Black students degreed courses, St. Augustine’s University (SAU) in Raleigh is now a literal shell of itself, having lost its accreditation and filing for bankruptcy.

Now add one more log to the burning fire. The small, historically Black Episcopalian university, which did not conduct on-campus classes last semester, preferring instead to conduct non-degreed courses online, this fall won’t even do that.

SAU will not offer any educational classes at all this semester. The school had planned to offer eight online classes in artificial intelligence, public health and computer programming at between $1,100 and $4,500 each. But now, according to SAU, that won’t happen.

All of this is the result of a fiscal restructuring at the school after SAU announced last April it would enter a voluntary Chapter 11 process and end its legal fight to restore its permanent accreditation.

On August 20th, SAU Attorney Clara Rogers told US BankruptcyJudge David Warren that not going through with the online classes and educational programs would help reduce payroll and other expenses.

Judge Warren responded by saying SAU is “essentially closed.”

Published reports note that SAU is still considering ways to monetize its 105 acres in real estate, valued at $200 million.

        According to published reports from the May 12th bankruptcy hearing in federal court,  SAU Attorney Rogers reiterated that the school owes between $50 million to $100 million in debts to well over 300 creditors. “There are some initial thoughts that there will be some sale of real and personal property that the university does not need at this point,” Atty Rogers told the court about the early stages of a plan under consideration. “The hope is, of course, to be able to keep the core campus of the university and maybe sell some of the periphery.”

Currently, SAU is bringing in at least $10,000 per month from the rental of some of its apartment property in the neighborhood, and revenue from some other small properties owned elsewhere.

However, parts of the SAU campus are listed on the National Historic Registry, which would complicate any potential sale, Atty Rogers added.

-30- 

THE CASH COMMENTARY FOR THURSDAY, AUGUST 20TH, 2026

 

                                                                   CASH MICHAELS

                                      HE’S DESPERATE TO LIVE FOREVER

       by Cash Michaels

There’s so much absolute nonsense flying around these days involving the crookmeister-in-chief, it’s hard to know where to begin sometimes. This guy is doing, AND getting away, with so much thievery, so much tyranny, so much dishonesty, there are days when it’s simply hard to take or keep up with.

But one thing has stood out to me that I just can’t shake, and I think that monster ballroom and underground bunker Trump is proudly and illegally building as part of the White House complex is key to understanding what he’s really rushing to do with all of these crazy moves.

Trump isn’t just building monuments to himself.

When his term in office ends in 2028, he doesn’t plan to leave the White House grounds. He plans to be buried IN the White House grounds. I mean, why fancy the place up with gold-plated this and diamond-studded that so someone else can get the glory?

No, my guess, and I readily admit that it’s a wild one, is he plans to be entombed there so that no matter what happens, he never leaves the place of his greatest power, and the nation and the world will always see the renovated White House and bunker as his personal sanctuary, no matter who succeeds him.

Now you may be asking yourself, “Where does Cash get this stuff from?” But if you think about it, and all of the stuff Trump has done to Washington, DC to remake it in his image, it only stands to reason that since he sees himself as “one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known,” he’ll want to take that all the way to the end, and believes there’s nothing we can do to stop him.

Don’t forget, the guy was gifted a brand new $400 million Air Force One by a foreign nation he’s keeping when he leaves office. Damn thing can’t even defend itself flying from Washington to New Jersey. But what it lacks in missile defense it more than makes up for in filthy, disgusting luxury. That should have been our first clue that he’s not going anywhere after his term is over.

So for now, while Trump technically remains in office for the remainder of his four-year term, he’ll continue to do whatever he believes will build his legacy, not just, in his mind, as the “greatest” American president who ever lived, but now, the “greatest world leader in history” who ever walked the Earth.

Trump builds those false legacies in his mind and around Washington, DC (albeit with hundreds of millions of OUR tax dollars) now. And then, after he’s gone, Trump believes he still lives on through all of the monuments and self-tributes he’s making sure get built and finished by 2028.

And I’m thoroughly convinced that his body will some way be entombed in the underground portion of that gaudy White House ballroom/bunker complex he’s building. You know, the monstrosity Trump has now labeled “the Great National Security Facility and Ballroom.” That ridiculous plan explains all of the wild, off the rails behavior the 80-year-old monarch-in-chief has been exhibiting. Given how broken down Trump’s been looking lately, I think he’s psychologically and physically racing a clock. He knows his days are few, and he’s trying to make it to the finish line with some spectacular stunt he believes the world will be talking about forever. That’s his style.

Make no mistake, Trump’s second act is that he “lives” forever after his death, and he’s laying that groundwork now.

All of the monetizing of government, all of the big international power moves starting wars and tariff battles with the rest of the world, all of the institutional changing of history, education and civil rights policy, is all for a reason. To mark the nation with his brand for the rest of our days. And make no mistake, Trump has also gotten his children into the act, counting on them to somehow carry out the parts of his plan he can’t finish.

To Trump, he's destined to live twice, and he’s doing everything he can to make sure that he does. Trump has no plans to be buried at Arlington with anybody else, because he feels that he’s GREATER than everybody else. 

No, Trump is making plans to go out being hailed as the “Supreme Leader of the World.” I know, I know, it all sounds like a bad villain from an old  James Bond movie, but I’m convinced Trump stays up at night dreaming this stuff up.

We seriously need folks on our side of the table to think out of the box, and think like him, so that Trump can be stopped before he finishes what I truly believe is his master plan. And make no mistake, there IS a master plan afoot. He’s even ignoring the courts because he feels that he can, and is entitled to. I’m certain Trump thinks he’s already figured out a way around a Democrat-controlled Congress. But that doesn’t mean we just sit back and let this maniac get away with this stuff.

We can put a stop to this madness by changing Congress regardless of how slick Trump thinks he is. All of us vote because we must. All of us vote because we need to start back down the path towards getting things back to  normal. All of us vote because we must bring back the rule of law to govern ourselves. All of us vote because we must make America a country that believes in freedom, justice and equality once again.

If Donald Trump wants to spend his last failing days planning his own funeral, then let him. If he wants to be buried in an underground mausoleum at the White House, fine with me. And if he wants to build tributes and monuments to himself all over Washington, D.C., then by all means.

What goes up, can just as easily be torn down once sane and ethical leadership is back in control. But none of that can happen unless we VOTE and mean it.

After all, try as we might, you and I can only live once. Let’s VOTE this fall to make the only life that we all share, a good one!

-30-

THE CASH STUFF FOR THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 2026

           DR. EDDIE GLAUDE TAKES QUESTIONS AFTER KEYNOTE SPEECH IN WILMINGTON

EXCLUSIVE

EDDIE GLAUDE SAYS WE

ARE THE LEADERS WE’VE

BEEN LOOKING FOR

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

  “We are witnessing, I believe, the dismantling of the world that made our lives possible,” distinguished author, commentator and professor, Dr. Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., told the Black lawyers and Black doctors attending last weekend’s 2026 Annual Continuing Legal/Medical Educational Conference in Wilmington.

“Everything that was put in place to allow you to be in this room today, they are destroying,” Glaude continued, making veiled reference to the Trump Administration’s elimination of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies , and destruction of established civil rights laws in the public and private sectors across the country.

“Of course there’s the attack on American history itself. They want to tell themselves a story [that] this nation has absolved them of responsibility and accountability.”

“They want to be white …without judgement!” Dr. Glaude declared, to applause.

The popular MS NOW political television analyst continued to rattle off the various ways the Trump Administration has allegedly violated the rule of law, sought to deprive American citizens of their constitution rights, and monetize governance into extraordinary wealth while a nation suffers from higher prices and few cogent public policies.

“W.E.B. Dubois once said if you really want to know what white supremacy really means, in our day, all you need to know is who is more susceptible to early death,” Dr. Glaude, author of the current bestseller, “America, U.S.A.:How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries” [Penguin Random House], said to even more applause.

“In short, our democracy is in deep trouble, and I say this not as a partisan, but to offer a description of a hard reality we all must confront in the 250th year of this fragile experiment. We find ourselves standing on the precipice. In the 250th year of this country, we have to deal with this sh-t again!”

“I’m wondering if this democracy can survive. And the present question, at least to me, is, ‘What will we do about it?'”

Dr. Glaude reminded attendees of what happened after the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May 2020, and how there was a deep “racial reckoning” throughout the nation, so much so that leading corporations began pushing DEI policies within their ranks as a sort of “apology” for the racist act.

Many in the Black Lives Matter movement didn’t buy it, Glaude said, demanding accountability for past acts of discrimination.

But that so-called “apology” didn’t last very long, because it was followed by a swift backlash to any establishing of equal opportunity, Dr. Glaude recalled, exposing what the true feeling of the American hierarchy was. 

“The only thing one can conclude given the swiftness of the backlash, is that folk were lying!” Dr. Glaude said. “They weren’t telling the truth.”

The current “storybook” celebration of the nation’s 250th year “requires a banishment of Black people from view, or a reduction of our role in the country’s history to affirm America’s quest to be a more perfect union,” he continued.

“But what might it mean to confront honestly that [America is] not a beacon of freedom?” Glaude rhetorically asked, noting that the nation continues to grasp the legacy of slavery without honestly acknowledging the evil that it caused.

“[To them], our story has to affirm the “innocence” of the nation,” allowing people like those in the Trump Administration to be “comfortable” in their hatred,” Dr. Glaude maintained.

“History calls us in this moment, and we will answer with courage and conviction. Did folks struggle for us to be in this room?,” Gaude rhetorically asked, “…so you can claim that you put your feet under white folks’ tables? Did folk die for that?”

“Ours is the moment of reckoning. You must rise to the occasion. We hold the responsibility of getting our babies to the other side.”

Glaude called for a reinvigoration of Black civil society and Black institutions in order to help save the Black community against the current onslaught by the Trump Administration and others to destroy any vestige of Black progress and history.

“Are we going to betray the tradition that made us who we are?” Dr. Glaude asked? “We cannot wait for these people to come to their senses!” 

“What are you going to do?”

-30-

                                                       ASSOCIATE JUSTICE ANITA EARLS

                                      HOUSE DEMOCRATIC LEADER ROBERT REIVES JR.

 EXCLUSIVE

BLACK LAWYERS, DOCTORS

TOLD “WE’VE GOT TO DO MORE”

By Cash Michaels

Contributing writer

It was a weekend of tribute, commemorating history, and preparing for a future of continued struggle and needed unity.

Last weekend, the 2026 Joint Annual Conference of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers (NCABL) and the Old North State Medical Society convened at the Hotel Ballast in Wilmington under the theme “Bridging Justice and Health: Collaborative Leadership in an Era of Uncertainty.”

“There is perhaps no better place to explore this theme than Wilmington, a city whose history reminds both of the extraordinary progress we have made and the work that still remains,” said NCABL President Kimberly Moore in a welcome letter to conference attendees.

“This conference is not simply about reflecting on history,” she continued.” It is about learning from history so that we can shape the future.”

And learn attendees did, with a weekend of CLE (continuing legal education) instruction; awards honoring outstanding legal practitioners throughout the state; presentations and panel discussions about important community challenges; and speakers giving their perspectives about access to healthcare, legal and legislative priorities.

On legislative priorities, two of North Carolina’s top Black judicial and legislative leaders warned of decisions and policies from both the Republican-led NC Supreme Court and the NC General Assembly that negatively impact Black North Carolinians.

“We have to be real about what we’re facing,”admonished NC Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls, one of two Democrats currently serving on the state’s high court and the Supreme Court’s only African-American. Justice Earls is currently running for re-election for a second term.

During her  “view from the bench,” Justice Earls reminded attendees about the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling effectively crippling the 1965 Voting Rights Act and doing away with so-called majority-minority voting districts. Justice Earls added that she’s traveling the state during her campaign to make sure African-Americans understand why that ruling is important to them, and why they need to ”recognize and understand” what is happening at the state level.

“And how the state Supreme Court has contributed to the challenges [that we face],” she said.

` Justice Earls recounted how the state’s Republican-led high court reversed the Leandro decision, which a previous Democratic-led state Supreme Court upheld to ensure that public schools in North Carolina’s poorest counties receive the same funding as the state’s richest counties to uphold the North Carolina constitutional guarantee that every child has the right to receive “a sound basic education.”

“People need to understand that while it’s the legislature’s role to enforce education policy, it’s the court’s role to enforce educational rights,” Justice Earls said.

Earls also talked about how the court has allowed utility companies in the East charge exorbitant rates to the point where people with no air conditioning and no fans can’t afford their electric bills in 100 degree heat, and are having their power cut off until they pay their outstanding bills off in full.

One Black family in Rocky Mount who was behind in their electric bill, died from the fumes of a gas-powered generator that was inside their trailer home.

Earls said state law requires that energy rates should be set at the lowest for consumers, and the state high court is not enforcing the state law to protect.

Justice Earls said things in North Carolina are “so extreme right now,” that it is “easier to vote in Mississippi than in North Carolina.” She added that funding for legal aid, which helps those who need legal assistance to address evictions and domestic violence but can’t afford it, has been been cut by the legislature.

Earls also cited HB 377, a bill that allows Chief Justice Paul Newby to suspend without pay any trial judge under investigation in the state, a power that Justice Earls says no other chief justice in the country has. 

When Justice Earls was under investigation for alleged comments she made about how the Republican-led state Supreme Court operated, if HB 377 had been in place, she would have been suspended by Newby without pay.

On Monday, Gov. Stein vetoed HB 377, saying that it would have a “chilling effect” on the state’s judicial independence.” He also vetoed House Bill 958, which made several changes to early primary voting. 

Finally, Justice Earls shared more data that she said was “distressing” that Black attorneys would understand.

“From January 2023 when Republicans took charge of our [Supreme Court] until December 2025, during those three years, our court issued opinions in 66 criminal cases, and we ruled for the state in 63. We never ruled for a retrial in any one of them.”

“We are really [seeing] a concentration of power in the hands of a few in a way that is really hard for the public to understand,” Earls said. “We really are facing a challenge.”

NC Democratic Leader Robert Reives (D - Chatham) delivered the view from the NC House, and his message to his colleagues was simple - “We’ve got to do more.”

Reives recounted how the Republican majority in the NC House has done damage eliminating DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) from state government agencies, schools and universities. Leader Reives said yes, the community must vote come November, but in order to bring about the real change that is needed, more must be done beyond voting.

“We’re only one generation in for having rights,” Rep. Reives told his Black legal and medical colleagues, warning them that government is being weaponized against their community. “We have got to get involved. You say it’s time to vote? It’s way past that time! You are leaders in your community. You are a professional in your community. Your community is good to you. Let’s be good to our community. Let’s do more than vote. Let’s get active!"

-30-