The Times

Come senators, congressmen Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt Will be he who has stalled.
The battle outside ragin’
Will soon shake your windows And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’

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24 thoughts on “The Times”

  1. sturge, i took poetic license so to speak with your draft figuring you were tee-ing up that excellent work of verse you shared with us yesterday morning.  hope you don’t mind. 

    my excuse: due to working myself into a frenzy, finally figuring out and finishing maddening fed & state tax forms last night, then finding the printer/copier blew a gasket (so i couldn’t mail them this morning as planned) I was in no shape to come up with a thread suitable for respectable company.  anyway i thought dylan’s lyric definitely deserved an encore given the lack of action on the gun epidemic .  so there.

  3. from the guardian this morning on other tragedies of today’s times

    Zelenskiy makes appeal to international leaders over beheading videos
    Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued a strong statement urging international leaders to act after videos circulated on social media that appeared to show Ukrainian soldiers beheaded by Russian forces.
    Zelenskiy issued a video on his social media channels in which he said:

    There is something that noone in the world can ignore. How easily these beasts kill. This video, the execution of a Ukrainian captive. This is a video of Russia as it is. What kind of people there are.

    There are no people for them. A son, a brother, a husband, someone’s child. This is a video of Russia just trying to make that the new norm. Such a habit of destroying life.

    This is not an accident. This is not an episode. This was the case earlier. This was the case in Bucha. Thousands of times. Everyone must react. Every leader.

    Don’t expect it to be forgotten. That time will pass. We are not going to forget anything. Neither are we going to forgive the murderers. There will be legal responsibility for everything. The defeat of terror is necessary.

    No one will understand if the leaders don’t react. Action is required now.

    And we in Ukraine must focus on the frontline as much as possible. Help as much as possible. Expel the occupier from our land.

    The main goal is to win. The main goal is strength for Ukraine to win. Defeat of the occupier, sentences to murderers. Tribunal for the evil state. Eternal memory to every person whose life was taken by the Russian terror. Glory to all who fight against this evil. Glory to Ukraine.

    One video being circulated appears to show the beheaded corpses of two Ukrainian soldiers lying on the ground next to a destroyed military vehicle. A voice says: “They killed them. Someone came up to them. They came up to them and cut their heads off.”
    A second clip, which may have been filmed in summer last year, judging by the appearance of foliage in the clip, claims to show a member of Russian forces using a knife to cut off the head of a Ukrainian soldier.
    The Guardian has not independently verified the origins and veracity of the two videos, but Ukrainian authorities are treating them as genuine.

  4. however, in more “news” from the guardian today there’s Pearl:

    The chihuahua Pearl of Orlando, Florida, is now the world’s shortest living dog, according to Guinness World Records.

    What do you call a chihuahua dog that’s shorter than a popsicle stick and can fit in your pocket? The planet’s shortest living dog, Guinness World Records has announced.

    Pearl qualified for the title after a veterinarian at the Crystal Creek animal hospital in Orlando, Florida, where she was born, used a special dog-measuring wicket to determine she was just under 3.6in (9.14cm) tall and 5in (12.7cm) long. Those dimensions mean she is shorter than the standard television remote and about as long as a dollar bill, Guinness said in a statement.

    […]

    Calling her dog “a bit of a diva”, Semler said Pearl is “small like a ball” and barely taller than a teacup. Pearl kept calm in the face of the audience’s applause, which impressed the crowd because chihuahuas have a reputation of being feisty and temperamental.

    Semler said Pearl remains “a child at heart” though she is due to turn three later this year,….

    […]

    Pearl is at least the second chihuahua in the US to grab international headlines since late last year. In January, Guinness publicly announced that the Ohio-based, 23-year-old chihuahua mix Spike was the world’s oldest dog.

    But a couple of weeks later, a 30-year-old livestock guard dog from rural Portugal who is named Bobi snatched that title away from Spike, according to Guinness.

  5. Pat…..it’s a bloody coincidence…….I was trying my best to leave one yesterday and phone kept not making it happen and so I finallty gave up……the post I was trying to leave involved The Times and what they’re doing, and a stanza or two.
    True story.

  6. sturge, I didn’t know whether you meant the NYTimes (and their latest coverage on all things *rump) or the times we’re in when i first saw your drafts until i luckily remembered your poem/lyrics comment.  thank you for posting — fresh blood is always appreciated as the Count would say.

  7. I have nothing to say about the New York Times, nor any other newspaper.  If you can’t say something nice, etc.    and lol. 
    But nice to know it wasn’t a bloody coincidence. Coincidences can be somewhat off-putting.

  8. “times they are a-changin’” for GOP for sure, and it’s just a matter of time.

    GenZ voters (18-27yo) want nothing to do with Republicans, who are on the wrong side of their top issues: guns, abortion, climate change and gay/transgender rights. And they are showing up at the polls, even in the Wisconsin Supreme Court election.

    GOP is like FOX, where prime time audience median age is 68yo. Just a matter of time.

  9. Dylan was right then (1964–year of the Beatles). And now seems to have rolled around to being Right Again.

  10. Dylan wanted to be a Beatle and Lennon wanted to be a Dylan is one perspective of back then.  

    Dylan did what he had to do at first but his main thing was he wanted to play music in a band. The Band.
    ( And not go back to Minnesota)

    With Ed Bradley he called himself “a song and dance man”.

  11. Managed to crank out some good words here and there while he was waitin’ around for the band to show up. 

  12. https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/12/politics/e-jean-carroll-trump-lawyers-trial/index.html

    “Lawyers for former President Donald Trump asked a judge to delay the start of a sexual assault and defamation trial for one month to allow a “cooling off” period following the historic indictment charging Trump with falsifying business records.”

    “To be sure, President Trump is a persistent subject of media coverage. But the present situation is unique because, as stated above, the recent coverage pertains to alleged sexual misconduct, the same issue at the heart of this litigation,” Tacopina said in his letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan.”

    So, what Joey Pudding is saying about his orange client, is that there’s a pattern of sexual misconduct.

  14. Funny, I asked Jim Jordan’s press office about his claim on Hannity that NYC crime up 22%: 

    “What’s your source? NYPD reports it’s down 5.6%:

    https://www.nyc.gov/site/nypd/news/p00075/nypd-citywide-crime-statistics-february-2023

    They non-responded with this:

    “Suspect sought after 17-year-old shot and injured in Manhattan.”

    “Police investigating after shots fired in Hell’s Kitchen.”

    “Man shot in the head in East Harlem.”

    Fair assumption they have no source because they made it up.

  15. If Gym’s staff is as stupid as he is (now there’s a scary thought – and somewhat implausible) their source is the POAFF (first cousin to the BBFF).
     
    Renee – that meme should be on billboards nationwide.

  16. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/11/texas-legislature-higher-education-political-bill/

    “This session, there was no question that we would ban the teaching of CRT in Texas universities,” Patrick said. “Liberal professors, determined to indoctrinate our students with their woke brand of revisionist history, have gone too far.”

    “SB 16 does not explicitly mention critical race theory, but Hughes said it targets the same concepts. “Critical race theory is a shorthand way to refer to the bill … but it’s about discrimination in higher education,” Hughes said Tuesday.”

    “Senate Bill 16 would bar university professors from compelling students “to adopt a belief that any race, sex, or ethnicity or social, political, or religious belief is inherently superior to any other race, sex, ethnicity, or belief.”

    “This is censorship masquerading as academic freedom,” said Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, on the Senate floor Wednesday. “We will be assuring that our Texas institutions of higher education are nothing but echo chambers, incapable of welcoming the full marketplace of idea … and uninterested in challenging our worldview with a larger one.”

    “Senate Bill 17 would prohibit diversity, equity and inclusion offices, programs and training on public college campuses. The Senate higher education subcommittee approved that bill last week. It now heads to the full education committee for approval.”

    Texas. Pffft.

  18. https://abc7ny.com/nyc-rats-rodents-rat-czar-kathleen-corradi/13117468/

    Rat Tsar Appointed:

    “…Kathleen Corradi — a land use expert who specializes in urban sustainability and currently works at the Department of Education — as the Director of Rodent Mitigation.”

    “…Corradi will coordinate across city government agencies, community organizations and the private sector to reduce the rat population in NYC.”

    “Corradi was most recently its director of space planning and cracked down on rats in schools. “Destiny was calling, you see, I have a long history with rats,” she said.

    Maybe she can help Bragg with a big, orange rat.

  19. Any “vast reputations harm” is due to Orange Adolf’s own words and actions.  

    Yeah, this is definitely an attempt to intimidate. 
     

    One would expect no less from a mobster.

  20. https://variety.com/2023/film/news/judy-blume-roald-dahl-censorship-book-bans-queer-books-1235570001/

    “Of course, Blume’s books are censored for completely different reasons than Dahl’s. Her 1970 novel “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” has been banned for featuring middle schoolers talking about the menstrual cycle, while in 1973’s “Deenie,” teenage girls learn about and engage in masturbation. “Forever” (1975) follows a high school senior who learns to stop fearing sex as she enters her first serious relationship.”

    “It was bad in the ’80s, but it wasn’t coming from the government. Today, there are laws being enacted where a librarian can go to prison if she or he is found guilty of having pornography on their shelves,” Blume said. “Try and define pornography today and you’ll find that it’s everything.”

    ps – Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret is now a movie.

    https://www.itsmemargaret.movie/

  21. “ GenZ voters (18-27yo) want nothing to do with Republicans”
     
    Yeah, but:
     
    Republicans are consolidating power in state legistlatures, not losing it, because find me the 27 year old who knows or cares who their STATE representatives are, and if such a person exists and votes in a rural/suburban district, their influence is limited, anyway
     
    So yeah, the majority is in the metro areas, but the power is in the sticks

  22. Well, Tennessee ( third lowest of the sink into the cesspool after Mississippi and Alabama) decides to reinstate the two Dems (Black by the way).  Excuse me – they were expelled, removed from office, no longer seated. The two were voted to represent their districts and presented to the legislators as new representatives to fill the seats vacated by the removal of the previous two representatives (Black by the way).  Nope, these two are new representatives, not reinstated reps.  Screw the idiots.
     
    SFB is having his attorneys do everything they can to stall his court cases.  Yup, the judges are all going, sorry dude, you be out of your mind (and that is your best and only defense).
     
    At some time in the future I will talk about my experiences with magat’s gay guys.  Yeah, there are a lot of self-loathing people.  Any person who has skin darker than store bought white bread, joining the greedy old perverts deserves to be hurt.  And, the white supremacists, kkk, john birchers, anti-Jewish, will still hate you.

  23. Kyle Griffin on Twitter: “BREAKING on @MSNBC: Another threatening letter has been sent to Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg and his office. The envelope was addressed to Bragg and contained a white powder. The NYPD was called in. Preliminary testing has deemed the powder non-hazardous.”

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