Mel Brennan
@segunirora.bsky.social
Director. Author. Speaker. Founder.
My Substack: https://segunirora.substack.com/
My Linktree: https://linktr.ee/iammelbrennan
My Substack: https://segunirora.substack.com/
My Linktree: https://linktr.ee/iammelbrennan
Pinned
Mel Brennan
@segunirora.bsky.social
· Nov 14
Ṣẹ́gun Irora | Mel Brennan | Substack
Ṣẹ́gun Irora. Means "Conquer/Overcome the pain."
Combining ideas, submissions and rebellious sentiments in a time of tyranny and ascending hate in sport and in society into a thought-refuge and platf...
segunirora.substack.com
Hello, I'm a real person who writes seeking to combine ideas, submissions and sentiments in a time of tyranny into a thought-refuge and platform from which to build and deliver a better world. Do you want the same thing? Then please subscribe to my Substack: segunirora.substack.com
In the 98th minute, every single person watching saw something they’d never seen before.
Ever.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Ever.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Why We Watch
If it were up to FIFA, we'd have left years ago. Luckily, it isn't.
open.substack.com
January 30, 2026 at 6:24 PM
In the 98th minute, every single person watching saw something they’d never seen before.
Ever.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Ever.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Next Best Thing
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Next Best Thing
No Justice...well, you know the rest. Get out your mirror and your map.
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 5:57 PM
The Next Best Thing
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
This is us. This is the divided reality of America: where one community weeps and demands change, another applauds the killer and labels the victims and their defenders as traitors:
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
This Is Us
The Final Season
open.substack.com
January 25, 2026 at 5:05 AM
This is us. This is the divided reality of America: where one community weeps and demands change, another applauds the killer and labels the victims and their defenders as traitors:
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
It Is Finished
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
It Is Finished
The Americanized Jesus is Gone. Where He Was, Only Heresy Remains.
open.substack.com
January 21, 2026 at 11:38 PM
It Is Finished
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Over time, it became shorthand for justice stripped to essentials, and, too often, a revealing; one of due process stripped entirely away.
Have you heard the drums?
Have you heard the drums?
Drumhead Revisited
America in early 2026 is unrecognizable from even a year ago
open.substack.com
January 18, 2026 at 5:48 PM
Over time, it became shorthand for justice stripped to essentials, and, too often, a revealing; one of due process stripped entirely away.
Have you heard the drums?
Have you heard the drums?
Trump’s flag-waving and bluster cannot reverse the erosion of American leadership – they only underscore its fragility. History’s verdict is clear: late-stage empires lash out abroad to mask weakness at home, hastening their own end...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Empire Strikes Out
In the Late-Stages, Far From a Shining City On a Hill, This America Ends Up Typical
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 3:21 AM
Trump’s flag-waving and bluster cannot reverse the erosion of American leadership – they only underscore its fragility. History’s verdict is clear: late-stage empires lash out abroad to mask weakness at home, hastening their own end...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Did you know that history is just a memory / And we are the present memories of future centuries? / ...So since history is a record of past events / Let’s give the future something it can respect… open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
If This Is To Continue
A 250-Year Reckoning with Power, Profit, and Human Worth
open.substack.com
January 2, 2026 at 2:33 AM
Did you know that history is just a memory / And we are the present memories of future centuries? / ...So since history is a record of past events / Let’s give the future something it can respect… open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Under Trump, the American state began to [move toward the Chinese model and] redefine who safety was for and who it was from…
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Gǎnzhī, Xiànshí yù Zhēnxiàng
"Perception, Reality and Truth"
open.substack.com
December 29, 2025 at 11:54 PM
Under Trump, the American state began to [move toward the Chinese model and] redefine who safety was for and who it was from…
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
All the signs and signals...point to an Age ending. The “American Century” that began in 1776 is now closing.
Yet the century’s final act could, Du Bois suggested, birth something new... open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Yet the century’s final act could, Du Bois suggested, birth something new... open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Finis Pax Americanae
The Nation Is Dead; Long Live the Nation.
open.substack.com
December 28, 2025 at 8:38 PM
All the signs and signals...point to an Age ending. The “American Century” that began in 1776 is now closing.
Yet the century’s final act could, Du Bois suggested, birth something new... open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Yet the century’s final act could, Du Bois suggested, birth something new... open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Cruelty is not solving a problem. It is performing an identity.
Which brings us to the most uncomfortable question of all: cui bono?
Who benefits, really?
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Which brings us to the most uncomfortable question of all: cui bono?
Who benefits, really?
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Desert of the Unreal
Power, Desperation, and the American Alibi
open.substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Cruelty is not solving a problem. It is performing an identity.
Which brings us to the most uncomfortable question of all: cui bono?
Who benefits, really?
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Which brings us to the most uncomfortable question of all: cui bono?
Who benefits, really?
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
I worked as a confidential investigator at a time when the city’s political establishment had already decided how far justice would be allowed to go.
How far, I soon learned, was not far; yet that distance illuminated much of my career...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
How far, I soon learned, was not far; yet that distance illuminated much of my career...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Investigator in Me
Justice and Truth over Power and Privilege
open.substack.com
December 15, 2025 at 11:28 PM
I worked as a confidential investigator at a time when the city’s political establishment had already decided how far justice would be allowed to go.
How far, I soon learned, was not far; yet that distance illuminated much of my career...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
How far, I soon learned, was not far; yet that distance illuminated much of my career...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
THE END OF SPORT
Through FIFA’s Looking Glass Into a Crippled Land of Narcissism
open.substack.com
December 9, 2025 at 6:54 PM
My wife often reminds me of the research showing that gratitude itself is powerful—So even if it weren’t easy to be thankful for you, it would still be healthy. But the truth is: it is easy. Very easy. I’m grateful for this community every day.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Giving of Thanks
The Truth is, it is Easy to be Thankful for You
open.substack.com
November 27, 2025 at 5:40 PM
My wife often reminds me of the research showing that gratitude itself is powerful—So even if it weren’t easy to be thankful for you, it would still be healthy. But the truth is: it is easy. Very easy. I’m grateful for this community every day.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
If we want to elevate anyone at Year 250 of America, it ought to be this man...
An American Complete
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
An American Complete
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
An American Complete
If we want to elevate anyone at Year 250 of America, it ought to be this man
open.substack.com
November 20, 2025 at 4:37 PM
If we want to elevate anyone at Year 250 of America, it ought to be this man...
An American Complete
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
An American Complete
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
On January 6, 2021, amid a chaotic siege on the U.S. Capitol, insurrectionists hoisted crosses and banners...At first glance, this blending of religious symbols with raw political aggression seemed shocking. In truth, it was the latest chapter in a centuries-old narrative...
tinyurl.com/59b7t7es
tinyurl.com/59b7t7es
A Doctrine of Discovery
How a 15th-century theology of conquest still shapes America’s soul
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:22 PM
On January 6, 2021, amid a chaotic siege on the U.S. Capitol, insurrectionists hoisted crosses and banners...At first glance, this blending of religious symbols with raw political aggression seemed shocking. In truth, it was the latest chapter in a centuries-old narrative...
tinyurl.com/59b7t7es
tinyurl.com/59b7t7es
Walk into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda and look up. Eight large historical paintings ring the space. The problem isn’t what’s there. The problem is what isn’t…
Reimaging Our Rotunda open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Reimaging Our Rotunda open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Reimaging Our Rotunda
Images Matter.
open.substack.com
November 18, 2025 at 6:17 PM
Walk into the U.S. Capitol Rotunda and look up. Eight large historical paintings ring the space. The problem isn’t what’s there. The problem is what isn’t…
Reimaging Our Rotunda open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Reimaging Our Rotunda open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Hello, I'm a real person who writes seeking to combine ideas, submissions and sentiments in a time of tyranny into a thought-refuge and platform from which to build and deliver a better world. Do you want the same thing? Then please subscribe to my Substack: segunirora.substack.com
Ṣẹ́gun Irora | Mel Brennan | Substack
Ṣẹ́gun Irora. Means "Conquer/Overcome the pain."
Combining ideas, submissions and rebellious sentiments in a time of tyranny and ascending hate in sport and in society into a thought-refuge and platf...
segunirora.substack.com
November 14, 2025 at 2:23 PM
Hello, I'm a real person who writes seeking to combine ideas, submissions and sentiments in a time of tyranny into a thought-refuge and platform from which to build and deliver a better world. Do you want the same thing? Then please subscribe to my Substack: segunirora.substack.com
For the last eleven months, Donald Trump has been America’s blacklight...We are seeing who we are. Not the filtered photograph we send to the world, but the raw exposure beneath it...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Blacklight
We are seeing who we are.
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 11:18 PM
For the last eleven months, Donald Trump has been America’s blacklight...We are seeing who we are. Not the filtered photograph we send to the world, but the raw exposure beneath it...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
...I knew…Warner…would never voluntarily give up power, never orient FIFA’s resources democratically...
These were men who sought to be Kings, or at least Little Princes; masters, forever, of their own fiefdoms in a feudal sporting system…
These were men who sought to be Kings, or at least Little Princes; masters, forever, of their own fiefdoms in a feudal sporting system…
Black President
A Sample From My Upcoming Book FIXING FOOTBALL (SAVING SOCCER)
open.substack.com
November 8, 2025 at 7:28 PM
...I knew…Warner…would never voluntarily give up power, never orient FIFA’s resources democratically...
These were men who sought to be Kings, or at least Little Princes; masters, forever, of their own fiefdoms in a feudal sporting system…
These were men who sought to be Kings, or at least Little Princes; masters, forever, of their own fiefdoms in a feudal sporting system…
What do we owe each other simply by virtue of being Americans?
At its heart, this question defines the unspoken spine of our politics and society…
The Great Questions | Part Four
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
At its heart, this question defines the unspoken spine of our politics and society…
The Great Questions | Part Four
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Great Questions | Part Four
What Do We Owe One Another?
open.substack.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:35 PM
What do we owe each other simply by virtue of being Americans?
At its heart, this question defines the unspoken spine of our politics and society…
The Great Questions | Part Four
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
At its heart, this question defines the unspoken spine of our politics and society…
The Great Questions | Part Four
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Great Questions | Part Three
Americans often celebrate liberty as a personal right...no matter the cost. But...if one person’s “freedom” endangers others’ health or safety, is it really freedom?
Today our nation is grappling with this tension.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Americans often celebrate liberty as a personal right...no matter the cost. But...if one person’s “freedom” endangers others’ health or safety, is it really freedom?
Today our nation is grappling with this tension.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Great Questions | Part Three
Is Freedom a Private Possession, or a Public Trust?
open.substack.com
October 26, 2025 at 4:12 PM
The Great Questions | Part Three
Americans often celebrate liberty as a personal right...no matter the cost. But...if one person’s “freedom” endangers others’ health or safety, is it really freedom?
Today our nation is grappling with this tension.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Americans often celebrate liberty as a personal right...no matter the cost. But...if one person’s “freedom” endangers others’ health or safety, is it really freedom?
Today our nation is grappling with this tension.
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Can America Be Redeemed Without Truth and Repair?
The Great Questions | Part Two
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Great Questions | Part Two
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Great Questions | Part Two
Can America Be Redeemed Without Truth and Repair?
open.substack.com
October 22, 2025 at 7:50 PM
Can America Be Redeemed Without Truth and Repair?
The Great Questions | Part Two
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
The Great Questions | Part Two
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
We must finally ask – and answer – the Questions that tell us what we will be...
Less Imperfect: The Great Questions
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Less Imperfect: The Great Questions
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Less Imperfect: The Great Questions
We must finally ask – and answer – the Questions that tell us what we will be
open.substack.com
October 20, 2025 at 2:07 AM
We must finally ask – and answer – the Questions that tell us what we will be...
Less Imperfect: The Great Questions
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...
Less Imperfect: The Great Questions
open.substack.com/pub/seguniro...