Rant #1,688: Something's Happening ...

I was in and out last week, and now that I am settled in, there are a few stories that I would like to talk about here during the first Rant of the week.

Prince Actually Died of a Drug Overdose: No, Prince did not use illegal drugs. He was very well known to not have been a user, which is something unique in the world that he lived in.

But like many Americans, he fell victim to abusing legal, generally prescribed drugs, and his self medication probably led to his demise.

Toxicology tests link his death to the opioid fentanyl, which is prescribed by doctors for cancer treatment.

Where he got his stash of this drug is unknown, but he evidently used it to lessen his pain that he had in his joints from years of live performances, where he did some acrobatics, including jumping, that wore down his 5-foot, 3-inch, less than 120 lbs. frame.

This guy, like Michael Jackson, was a great talent, but also like Michael Jackson, he got into things that he knew little or nothing about.

And when you reach a certain level in this world, you can basically get whatever you want, usually from “yes-people” who will do your bidding for you, no matter what you need.

But also like Jackson, you have to blame Prince 100 percent for doing this to himself. He is simply another victim of his own eccentricities, just like Jackson was.

Eccentricities are OK if they are harmless; in Prince and Jackson’s case, their need to lessen pain led them to their deaths.

These drugs are powerful, and that is why they should not be taken like candy, even with a doctor supposedly watching over you, which happened in Jackson’s case.

In Prince’s case, there is a story to tell, and I am sure the authorities will delve into this case and find out just how he was able to do this to himself.

And again, there are no “accidental” drug overdoses, no matter if the drug is legal or illegal.

You play with fire, you are gonna get burned.

My Alma Mater Closes … Or Will It Be Saved?: This story probably did not get much press out of the Metropolitan New York area, but Dowling College is preparing to close after 48 years of educating students.

The four-year school has had financial pressures dating back to the 1970s, when I went there for my undergraduate studies.

It was a good school, right on the shores of the Connetquot River in the town of Oakdale in Long Island’s Suffolk County, and I have a lot of good memories of going there from 1975 to 1979.

I feel for the students, who at the last minute, have to find somewhere else to continue their schooling.

But now I hear that a British educational firm has some interest in financing the school, keeping it afloat and putting it under its own umbrella.

This company literally might be coming at past the 12th hour for the college, but they have the capital, they have the desire, and the end of Dowling College might not be written in stone.

But to come at this late time, when students are already in the process of looking for another college to accept them, must be a bitter pill to take, and I know that if I was a student there now, I would stay the hell away from the school until I got assurances that it was viable again.

There are a lot of other things that led the school to its demise than I am not going into here, but to have your alma mater close is not too happy a situation. I wish the kids there well, and I hope the school can be rescued and can continue to educate students today and into the future.

Muhammad Ali Passes: Yes, it was very sad that the boxing great died the other day, at the relatively young age of 74. The world clearly lost the greatest boxer of all time when he left us.

But so many of us deal in revisionist history, and with Ali, his entire life seemed to be governed by remembering what we wanted to, and either totally forgetting or glossing over other details of his life that stand out like a sore thumb.

I realize that it is not PC to knock Ali in any way, shape or form, but let's be honest about it: he wasn't the angel that he was perceived to be.

Ali embraced the world of Islam during the height of his boxing prowess, and embraced Malcolm X and his teachings, which were anti-white, anti-Semitic and as racist as they could be.

He also announced that he would not serve in our war effort in Vietnam, because "no Viet Cong ever did nothing to me" or something like that.

Yes, he ended up wasting three years of his boxing career to fight his desire to be a conscientious objector, but how many young men of his age, who also didn't agree with the war, went anyway, and unfortunately, died in the effort?

Look, as a celebrity, he had the wherewithal to fight this, and if he would have gone into service, also as a celebrity, I seriously doubt he would have been sent to the front lines.

He could have also served in the reserves, which many celebrities did, serving their country on weekends and for a few weeks a year.

Whether he was wrong or right in what he did is not the story here. But while he did what he did, his peers also did what they did, and many died for doing what they did.

And during his first fight with Joe Frazier, he painted himself as the Black Messiah and Frazier as an Uncle Tom, which many people took literally, too literally.

I remember that in school, if you were asked who you were backing in the fight, and you said Frazier, you would get punched. We learned just to say Ali to protect ourselves.

Ali made the fight, one black man versus another, into as much of a racial event as the O.J. Simpson case became, and really for no reason, further fanning racial tensions.

So let's not make Ali into the God that he wasn't. 

Yes, I know, as he got older, and sicker, he toned down the rhetoric, and he turned over a new leaf, and yes, he became an ambassador for good, in particular in the fight against Parkinson's disease.

But for much of his life, he was more a devil than a God, anyway, but in this PC world, people simply won't admit that.

But I will.

So there you have it ... Prince, my alma mater, and Ali, all in one Rant.

Where else would you get such coverage of such disparate subjects in one entry?

But I have one more to add ...

Monkees' New Album Hits Billboard Chart: And before I forget, the Monkees' new album, "Good Times!" is near the top of the Top Albums chart in Billboard, quite an accomplishment, their first album of new music in 48 years to hit the chart's Top 10. 

If that doesn't solidify their legacy, I don't know what does.

And its significance is substantial. It is the first album to reach such lofty heights that was entirely pushed by social media. 

What more can I say about this album? Get it, listen to it, and enjoy.

It is the perfect summer listening pleasure, and it will be money well spent.

Speak to you tomorrow.