‘Something I Said’ Archives
Right Thing the Wrong Way
from the series Something I Said... By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes ICE is doing the right thing the wrong way. The 2024 wholesale deportation of Tren de Aragua gang members videotaped terrorizing apartment residents of Aurora, Colorado was a desperately needed rescue action. It began a practice, though, by which, instead of targeting violent parasites who prey on those leading productive lives, federal law enforcement is, itself, wantonly destructive. For going on two years, South Minneapolis has seen Mexican immigrants and Mexican American citizens live in fear to the point of hysteria, making what used to be a humorous quip frighteningly real: because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Accordingly, it’s quite sensible that in January the Minneapolis City Council asked Gov. Tim Walz to institute an eviction moratorium. You go to work, get arrested and deported, you’re unable to pay rent. You don’t get deported but are detained too long, [...]
FREE LEONARD PELTIER
from the series Something I Said... By DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes Leonard Peltier was railroaded for FBI agents Jack Coler and Ronald Williams’ 1975 murder at the historic Pine Ridge Indian Reservation gunfight in South Dakota. Don’t take my word, look it up. You’ll find some interesting information. Peltier’s attorney, former Tennessee U.S. District Judge Kevin Sharp, told Native News Online in June, “Leonard did not shoot the agents, and the FBI knew this but withheld evidence. The court of appeals acknowledged this but couldn’t overturn the conviction due to legal standards”. During his trial, Darlene Nichols said Peltier told her about committing the crime. She later acknowledged receiving $42,000 from the FBI in connection with her cooperation on the case. No investigation looked into whether the testimony was perjured. FYI. She’s now married to a former FBI Chief Agent. At the trial, FBI agents changed their statements that they’d searched for a [...]
Deeper Blues
from the series Something I Said... Review by DWIGHT HOBBES Dwight Hobbes A longer version of this Deeper Blues review first appeared in the June issue of Blue Monday Monthly Entertainment Magazine. Andrea Swensson’s Deeper Blues: The Life, Songs and Salvation of Cornbread Harris (University of Minnesota Press) is a must-read. She brings acumen, insight and passion to bear on a beloved Twin Cities icon while Harris, crowding 100, is still around to enjoy it. Calling Cornbread Harris a living legend understates the case. At the dawn of Minnesota Rock & Roll, he co-wrote The Augie Garcia Quintet’s trash-talking hit “Hi Ho Silver”, a humorous take off on TV’s “The Lone Ranger”. And enjoys the distinction of that band upstaging Elvis Presley’s Twin Cities debut. Swensson documents, “Cornbread and Augie wore this incident like a badge of honor. Speaking to the Star Tribune in 1993, Augie recalled that ‘pulled me off stage by my jacket. There [...]
