Observations and random thoughts 26.1
By WILLIAM LEDFORD
We, Indian Country and music fans, have lost two giants. Both are irreplaceable.
A founding member of AIM, the American Indian Movement, Dennis Banks, has walked on. Dennis Banks was one of my inspirations in the struggle to regain our pride and status as human beings and real people. Think of Dennis Banks and always remember the Caravan of Broken Treaties, Wounded Knee and the Longest Walks. Keep your eye on us Dennis. We always need your guidance.
It’s been a sad time for me and many others who enjoyed the music of Tom Petty. Tom Petty departed this world at the age of 66, kinda young in people years but very old in rocker years. He leaves behind a catalog of wonderful music with the Heartbreakers and the Traveling Wilburys, plus his collaborations with Stevie Nicks and many others. I’m happy that my wife and I were able to see Tom Petty in concert. I left the arena very hoarse (I knew all the words and “sang” them very loudly) and very happy. Rest in peace Tom. We’re all gonna miss you.
With Aaron Rodgers’ injury. it would seem that Green Bay’s season might be over already along with his year. He was driven into the turf by a legal, but very overzealous, hit by a Vikings player resulting in a Tony Romo-like broken collarbone requiring possibly season-ending surgery. Of course it ends his season. After healing, he’ll have to work his injured shoulder back into playing condition, yep, he’s done. I say Green Bay’s season is over because I watched as much as I could of Brett Hundley’s performance before I stated, “Geez, this is worse than fingernails on a chalkboard, make it stop!” Kaepernick, calling Colin Kaepernick…
It never stops…I’m so tired of the BS…when will it stop? The Great Divider is at it again. This time the country’s largest cyberbully was picking on hurricane ravaged Puerto Rico and its people. Besides engaging in a one-sided Twitter war with the mayor of San Juan because she asked for assistance that he decided was already there, the POTUS also decided, and expressed, that the destruction and death didn’t equal a real catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina. He also stated to Puerto Rico’s governor that they were wreaking havoc on our national budget (hello…we don’t have one yet). He also tried to educate others about geography. Remember this? “Puerto Rico is an island…surrounded by a lot of water…ocean water…” I don’t know if he intentionally tries to come off as a buffoon, a rube, but he does such a darn good job convincing me. Then again, to his credit, he does toss a mean roll of paper towels.
Speaking of cyberbullying. In news from the Bizarro world, Melania Trump, the FLOTUS, America’s top legal immigrant, has created a First Lady cause for herself and is speaking out against cyberbullying. What tha…? Does she not see the irony here? Does she even know what the word irony means? I suppose not.
Harvey Weinstein, the heavyweight producer of some of Hollywood’s biggest hit movies and major financial donor to the Democratic Party, was recently fired from his own company, thrown out of the Motion Picture Academy and might be criminally charged for a long, long history of sexual abuse and alleged rape of actresses in Tinseltown. He has been described as “deplorable”, “a monster” and “a predator”. The list will continue to grow, stay tuned. The flies are starting to fall.
Fox News host Sean Hannity made a big bunch of rude noise over the length of time it took before the Clintons and Obamas denounced Weinstein. Sometimes, when you have no inkling of a person’s true nature you get all of the facts before you make a damning statement. Hannity has no problem running stories before all of the facts are in. He also had no problem with the actions of Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly, or Donald Trump for the same offenses but somehow that subject never comes up. Trump is accused of much of the same behavior but tosses it off as “locker room talk”. Not sure what locker rooms Trump has frequented but I’m thinking that Ailes, O’Reilly and Hannity were always invited. Maybe Weinstein was there. Along with Bill Cosby and Clarence Thomas.
Finally, in the world of You Can’t Make This Stuff Up, I was recently reading about a helicopter pilot dropping live turkeys out of his aircraft during an annual “turkey trot” somewhere in Arkansas. It seems that this thing has been going on for a few years and complaints have been filed. The FAA stated that they’ve heard the complaints but haven’t yet intervened because the birds aren’t considered “projectiles”. It all reminds me of an episode of “WKRP In Cincinnati” where the radio station was doing the same thing. Onsite, Les Nessman reported, “The turkeys were hitting the ground like bags of wet cement! Oh the humanity.” And Arthur Carlson, returning to the station very dazed, stated, “As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly”. Well, they can’t. Therefore…projectiles.
See you next time. Gotta go catch a flying turkey.
Ledford is an EBCI tribal member currently living in Albuquerque, NM.
