bob dylan, ed sullivan and the censors meet and disagree;

On May 12, 1963, the young and unknown Bob Dylan walked off the set of “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the country’s highest-rated variety TV show, after network censors rejected the song he planned on performing.

By the end of that summer, Bob Dylan would be known to millions who watched or witnessed his performances at the March on Washington, and millions more who did not know Dylan himself would know and love his music thanks to Peter, Paul and Mary’s smash-hit cover version of “Blowin’ In The Wind.” But back in May, Dylan was still just another aspiring musician with a passionate niche following but no national profile whatsoever. His second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, had not yet been released, but he had secured what would surely be his big break with an invitation to perform on “The Ed Sullivan Show.” That appearance never happened.

The song that caused the flap was “Talkin’ John Birch Paranoid Blues,” a satirical talking-blues number skewering the ultra-conservative John Birch Society and its tendency to see covert members of an international Communist conspiracy behind every tree. Dylan had auditioned “John Birch” days earlier and had run through it for Ed Sullivan himself without any concern being raised. But during dress rehearsal on the day of the show, an executive from the CBS Standards and Practices department informed the show’s producers that they could not allow Dylan to go forward singing “John Birch.”

While many of the song’s lyrics about hunting down “reds” were merely humorous—”Looked up my chimney hole/Looked down deep inside my toilet bowl/They got away!“—others raised the fear of a defamation lawsuit in the minds of CBS’s lawyers. Rather than choose a new number to perform or change his song’s lyrics, Dylan stormed off the set in angry protest.

Or so goes the legend that helped establish Dylan’s public reputation as an artist of uncompromising integrity. In reality, Bob Dylan was polite and respectful in declining to accede to the network’s wishes. “I explained the situation to Bob and asked him if he wanted to do something else,” recalls “Ed Sullivan Show” producer Bob Precht, “and Bob, quite appropriately, said ‘No, this is what I want to do. If I can’t play my song, I’d rather not appear on the show.’”

It hardly mattered whether Dylan’s alleged tantrum was fact or reality. The story got widespread media attention in the days that followed, causing Ed Sullivan himself to denounce the network’s decision in published interviews. In the end, however, the free publicity Bob Dylan received may have done more for his career than his abortive national-television appearance scheduled for this day in 1963 ever could have........https://www.theburningplatform.com/2025/05/12/this-day-in-history-bob-dylan-walks-out-on-the-ed-sullivan-show-1963-3/

 mr peters addresses the missing used car scene;

It’s important, as the saying goes, to remember the past – in order to understand the present. Why are cars – specifically, used cars – so expensive today? They weren’t once. In fact, there was once an abundance of used cars so cheap teenagers could commonly afford them.

It was unusual, at one time, for a 16-or-17-year-old to not have his own car. By the time it was time to leave home, pretty much everyone owned a car. Because how else were you going to leave home?

Those old enough to remember . . . remember.

Today, it is not unusual for a 22-year-old to not have a driver’s license – never mind a car. The stat bandied about is that roughly half of today’s 16-year-olds do not have a driver’s license. About fourth of those in the 18-22 bracket do not have one.

Probably because they cannot afford to own or even drive a car. So why bother with the license?

But why is that?

If anything, cars ought to be less expensive and more affordable today than they were back in the ’90s and before, when pretty much everyone who was old enough to drive did drive. The car – as such – is a mature technology, as the saying goes. Like computers, and microwave ovens, they ought to have become less rather more expensive. Instead, the reverse...........more..........

 the orange man just garnered lots more votes with this move;

President Donald Trump announced late on May 11 that he would sign an executive order which would reduce prescription drug prices in the US by 30% to 80% “almost immediately” while also raising drug prices “rise throughout the World in order to equalize and, for the first time in many years, bring FAIRNESS TO AMERICA!”

To achieve that, Trump would institute what he called a most-favored nation policy “whereby the United States will pay the same price as the Nation that pays the lowest price anywhere in the World.” Healthcare costs in the US “will be reduced by numbers never even thought of before,” he said..............more........

 i remember my initial impressions of yamiche upon her first appearance on pbs 'news' were not at all positive, back when i'd watch that 'show'. now she reinforces it here in an obvious way, unless you've already been sold to nancy pelosi radio consciousness;

The first group of white South African refugees arrived in the United States on Monday.

Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and DHS Deputy Secretary Troy Edgar welcomed the refugees, who are fleeing violence, racial discrimination and persecution.

MSNBC’s Yamiche Alcindor said a lot of people are appalled after the Trump Admin reportedly said South Africans assimilate better.

“So the Trump admin, they’re saying that essentially these white South Africans assimilate better, and they’re also not as much of a security risk,” Yamiche Alcindor whined. “That’s really causing a lot of of of people to be appalled, frankly.”

“And I also should tell people that this violence that they’re talking about that are dealing with these Afrikaners,” she said........more.........

 i now have questions about the neutralities of the supremes i didn't have previously with these two items;

Supreme Court Chief Justice Roberts took a veiled shot at President Trump on Monday during remarks at Georgetown Law.

This is the third time that Roberts has publicly rebuked Trump in recent months.

Roberts didn’t call out Trump by name but he decried ad hominem attacks against justices.

“The court has obviously made mistakes throughout its history, and those should be criticized, so long as it is in terms of the decision, really, and not ad hominem against the justices. I just think that doesn’t do any good,” Roberts said, according to Politico.

Politico reported:..........more.......

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was recently speaking at an event for the American Bar Association, when she took a not-so-thinly veiled shot at President Trump saying, “But right now, we can’t lose the battles we are facing.”

We? Who is “we” Justice Sotomayor?

Everyone knows that Justice Sotomayor is one of the liberal justices on the nation’s highest court, but Supreme Court justices traditionally have tried to at least appear as if they’re above partisan politics.

This comes just as Chief Justice Roberts made some questionable comments of his own.

ABC News reports:..........more.......

 delusional democrats still think south africa is a victim;

see..........

 larry johnson on the trump moves this week;

While Trump is not inclined to admit error, we now have two examples of Trump retreating by declaring victory… and it appears to be working for him. The first instance was the “capitulation” of the Houthis. Trump portrayed this as a victory of American military might, but the New York Times is out with a story that confirms my initial judgment that this was a victory in name only:

When he approved a campaign to reopen shipping in the Red Sea by bombing the Houthi militant group into submission, President Trump wanted to see results within 30 days of the initial strikes two months ago.

By Day 31, Mr. Trump, ever leery of drawn-out military entanglements in the Middle East, demanded a progress report, according to administration officials.

But the results were not there. The United States had not even established air superiority over the Houthis. Instead, what was emerging after 30 days of a stepped-up campaign against the Yemeni group was another expensive but inconclusive American military engagement in the region.

It did not help that two $67 million F/A-18 Super Hornets from America’s flagship aircraft carrier tasked with conducting strikes against the Houthis accidentally tumbled off the carrier into the sea.

By then, Mr. Trump had had enough.

Steve Witkoff, his Middle East envoy, who was already in Omani-mediated nuclear talks with Iran, reported that Omani officials had suggested what could be a perfect offramp for Mr. Trump on the separate issue of the Houthis, according to American and Arab officials. The United States would halt the bombing campaign and the militia would no longer target American ships in the Red Sea, but without any agreement to stop disrupting shipping that the group deemed helpful to Israel.........more........