Federal Judge Quotes Bob Dylan

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

I like judges who read outside of the law library.

Senator Mark Kelly and five members of Congress released a video in November of last year in which they correctly informed members of the United States military that their oaths were to the US Constitution and not to political leaders, and they made it clear that troops do not have to follow illegal orders, and, in deed, should not do so.  Donald Trump and our tattooed and inexperienced Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, did not agree, loudly, and Trump referred to the act of creating the video as "seditious behavior" and called the members of the US House and Senate who took part in it "traitors."

In early January of this year Hegseth announced plans to censure Senator Kelly and potentially reduce his rank (Navy Commander) and his retirement pay.  Senator Kelly, a former combat pilot and astronaut, was not in the mood to tolerate adolescent abuse from a former Fox News weekend host, and instead took the matter to court.

Yesterday a federal judge blocked Pete Hegseth from punishing Senator Mark Kelly.  US District Judge Richard Leon ruled that the Pentagon "trampled" on Senator Kelly's First Amendment rights.  In his comments on the case, Judge Leon quoted American poet and songwriter (and winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature) Bob Dylan with a line from Dylan's 1965 hit,"Subterranean Homesick Blues."  In referencing the Pentagon's trumped-up case against the senator, Judge Leon took note of the true motive of trying to silence free speech, and said, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows."

Trump and Pete Hegseth have clearly lost it, but Dylan never will!

Now, for a walk down memory lane:

Subterranean Homesick Blues

by Bob Dylan   (1965)

Johnny's in the basement, mixin' up the medicine

I'm on the pavement thinkin' about the government

The man in a trench coat, badge out, laid off

Says he's got a bad cough, wants to get it paid off

Look out kid, it's somethin' you did

God knows when, but you're doin' it again

You better duck down the alleyway, looking for a new friend

The man in the coon-skin cap in a pig pen

Wants eleven dollar bills, you only got ten

Maggie comes fleet foot, face full of black soot

Talkin' that the heat put plants in the bed, but

The phone's tapped anyway.  Maggie says that many say

They must bust in early May, orders from the DA

Look out kid, don't matter what you did

Walk on your tip-toes, don't try NoDoz

Better stay away from those that carry around a fire hose

Keep a clean nose, watch the plainclothes

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows

Oh, get sick, get well, hang around a inkwell

Hang bail, hard to tell if anything is gonna sell

Try hard, get barred, get back, write braille

Get jailed, jump bail, join the Army if you fail 

Look out, kid, you're gonna get hit

By losers, cheaters, six-time users

Hanging 'round the theaters

Girl by the whirlpool's lookin' for a new fool

Don't follow leaders, and watch the parking meters

So sayeth the Nobel laureate.  How's that for "woke," Pete?  Piggy?