Observations and random thoughts.
By WILLIAM LEDFORD
Another month, another burst of news, another book out, a Supreme Court justice, President Trump’s tax history and a debate hit the news. Distractions, distractions and distractions follow. The funniest thing, irony funny not humor funny, is that neither side is budged by the influx of new revelations. The undecided, and amazingly, there are still undecided, have to sift between both candidates during a deluge of political ads. I’ve become faster with the mute button on my remote than I ever was with my six-gun Colt at Frontierland, and I got pretty darn fast. I had plenty of time to practice. Now, on with the show.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Supreme Court justice, walked on at age 89. In her last years she was frequently hospitalized for treatment of recurring cancer and other ailments but she tried valiantly but unsuccessfully to hang on until Trump left office. She was a giant for Women’s Equality rights and although she was diminutive in size will leave giant shoes for someone to fill. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is dead set upon trying to do just that before Trump gets voted out of office in November. Stay tuned.
Taxes. If President Trump were a baseball player he’d play for the Dodgers! See how easy that was? The NY Times got more than 20 years of President Trump’s tax forms. You know, the ones that he promised to release while running for office but reneged once in? Those. So, in 10 of the last 15 years he paid $0.00. Yep, zero dollars. One year he paid 750 bucks. In another year he got a 72.9 million dollar tax refund. What? That refund is the basis for the audit he mentions from time to time. The bottom line, he is a terrible businessman and his properties lose tremendous amounts of money.
Debate. The first, and I wish last, debate occurred the other night. President Trump continually butted in while former Vice President Biden was trying to answer and made childish comments and tried to get under Biden’s skin by making personal attacks on his son. You know, the only child he has left after losing one to a car crash and cancer? Vice President Biden finally just told him to “shut up” and called him a clown. This whole thing from top to bottom was a show. There’s another word that goes in front of that but for decency’s sake I left it out. Feel free to re-insert any word you want in front of show. Only one fits.
The debate or debacle, your choice, made me aware of a glaring problem with politics and people. Imagine if you will, Hillary Clinton (former First Lady and New York Senator) responding to President Trump’s BS the way that Vice President Biden did. People, Republican and Democrat, would lose their minds. Why? Because women are held to a different standard. If a female responds appropriately to crap from men they get tagged with that good ol’ B-word while the repulsive behavior of men like Trump are excused. I’m sorry folks but the “act like a lady” standard is hopefully long gone after Senator Kamala Harris (California) wipes the floor with Vice President Mike Pence in the VP debate. Ain’t watching that either.
Uh oh!!!…flu season is upon us. I hate to sound like Doctor Doom (comic book readers, stand down!) but we have a coronavirus raging through the country and we have no clue, none, about how having the Covid and the seasonal flu hitting the country simultaneously are going to play out. Advice? Go up to the CIH and get a flu shot and never forget to wear the mask. Protect yourselves and your families from you and others.
Here’s a novel concept. Wearing a mask is the patriotic thing to do. Not the other way around. A true patriot tries to protect his fellow Americans, not put them in danger with hokey beliefs and actions. Individual rights vs civil rights is the way I see it. Try telling that to one of those jerks flying those huge flags in their smoke spewing trucks. On second thought, leave them alone, if all goes well, they’ll go away after November. Back under the rocks from whence they came.
As Porky Pig would say, th…th…th…th…that’s all folks. See ya soon.
Ledford is a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians currently living in Albuquerque, N.M.
