Chamblee54

So I get in from my walk. I started out by walking up to the Cemetery on 8th Street, and picking up trash. I was listening to an amazing story from Jesse and Katie. A Finnish beauty queen got caught. Someone posted a picture of her, and she was making these slitty eyes on her face, and someone wrote a tasteless caption. FBQ later explained that she had a migraine. Stretching her eyes out made the migraine feel better. … I got home and I washed my hands. I had about 10 minutes left on my timer, and the player automatically went to the next show. It turned out to be Gilbert Gottfried and David Steinberg … two old Jews in the home telling each other the same stories over and over.
Since there is a war going on, and oil is involved, it’s important to keep an eye on the price of oil and of the Dow Jones. The price of oil has gone down $10.20 a barrel since I last looked at it, and the Dow Jones is up 186 points. This is not a long-term trend. We’re just getting started on this killing party, and it might last for a while. Iran has the Straits of Hormuz shut down, and there’s no telling what our idiot leaders are going to be able to do about it. Meanwhile, there is always Twitter.
“@kelevitch November 2025: Netanyahu sets the goal of assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader. – December 2025: Lockheed Martin begins ramping up weapons production “months” before the war. – December 22: Senator Boozman (Chairman of Military Appropriations) buys RTX stock. Senator Williams buys defense stocks. – December 29: Senator Mullin (Armed Services Committee) buys $15,000-$50,000 of RTX stock. – January 2026: Lockheed signs “landmark” deal to TRIPLE PAC-3 and QUADRUPLE THAAD production. – January 9: Rep. Cisneros buys RTX stock. – January 12: US activates new joint missile defense center at Al Udeid, Qatar. – February 27: Oman’s FM announces “breakthrough” Iran agrees to dilute uranium and accept IAEA verification. Peace is “within reach.” – February 28: Bombs fall. – March 1: Defense stocks hit ALL-TIME HIGHS. $25-30 billion in shareholder wealth created in ONE DAY. – March 6: Trump hosts CEOs of 7 defense contractors at the White House. Lockheed: “We agreed to quadruple production.” – March 9: Oil hits $119. Markets crash globally. 1,850+ dead across 16 countries. And the War Powers Resolution? Voted down 47-53. By the same Congress that bought the stocks. That got the briefings. That took the AIPAC money.
Read that timeline again: — Netanyahu planned it in November — Lockheed prepared in December — Congress bought stocks in December-January — The peace deal was announced on February 27 — The bombs fell on February 28. Peace was “within reach” at 6 PM. The bombs fell at midnight. They didn’t fail at peace. They CHOSE war. While their stocks were already positioned. While the weapons were already built. While the kill target was already selected. And you? You get $3.50 gas. A crashing stock market. Dead soldiers. And a president who calls you a “FOOL” for worrying about it. They chose war. They profited from war. And they’re billing YOU for war. The only question left: what are you going to do about it?”
“@ComicDaveSmith You know Mehdi, I used to mourn the death of the American antiwar left during the Obama years. They were largely silent on the US created catastrophes in Libya, Syria, Somalia and Yemen. When the antiwar left returned on Gaza, I never thought to start lecturing them about voting for Biden in order to pat myself on the back and foolishly pretend that this proves their idiocy or guilt or whatever. I was just happy that they were good on such an important issue. Here you have the most influential guy in the country calling out this disastrous war and this is your response? Especially when YOU voted for genocide Joe and Kamala who supported the whole thing. Obviously I’m biased here. Joe is my guy and I also foolishly supported Trump but I think I’m right here.”
“@RealMassguy Someone just told me about this woman on Instagram who genuinely thought “JFC” stood for “just for clarification.” She’d been dropping it casually in professional emails for years. It instantly reminded me of my own mom, who for the longest time was convinced “LOL” meant “lots of love.” I swear to God, she once commented on a Facebook post where someone had shared tragic news: “So sorry for your loss. LOL.””
“@InsideLucysHead How would the Church of England deal with the statement that “The cat sat on the mat” if it appeared in the Bible? The liberal theologians would point out that such a passage did not, of course, mean that the cat literally sat on the mat. Also, cat and mat had different meanings in those days from today, and anyway, the text should be interpreted according to the customs and practices of the period. · This would lead to an immediate backlash from the Evangelicals. They would make it an essential condition of faith that a real physical, living cat, being a domestic pet of the species Domesticus, and having a whiskered head, a furry body, four legs and a tail, did physically place its whole body on a floor covering, designed for that purpose, and which is on the floor but not of the floor. The expression “on the floor but not of the floor” would be explained in a leaflet.
Meanwhile, the Catholics would have developed the Feast of the Sedentation of the Blessed Cat. This would teach that the cat was white, and majestically reclined on a mat of gold thread before its assumption to the Great Cat Basket of Heaven. This is commemorated by singing the “Magnificat” and “Felix namque”, lighting three candles, and ringing a bell five times. · This would cause a schism with the Orthodox Church, which believes tradition requires Holy Cats Days (as it is colloquially known) to be marked by lighting SIX candles and ringing the bell FOUR times. This would partly be resolved by the Cuckoo Land Declaration, recognising the traditional validity of each. · Eventually, the House of Bishops would issue a statement on the Doctrine of the Feline Sedentation. It would explain that traditionally, the text describes a domestic feline quadruped superjacent to an unattached covering on a fundamental surface. For determining its salvific and eschatological significations, we follow the heuristic analytical principles adopted in dealing with the Canine Fenestration Question (How much is that doggie in the window?) and the Affirmative Musaceous Paradox (Yes, we have no bananas). · The General Synod would then commend this report as helpful resource material for clergy to explain to the man in the pew the difficult doctrine of ‘The cat sat on the mat.’”
“Human Rights Watch Accuses Israel of White Phosphorus Use Over Lebanese Homes · Human Rights Watch verified images from March 3, 2026, showing Israeli artillery firing white phosphorus munitions over the southern Lebanese village of Yohmor, dispersing incendiary particles up to 250 meters amid clashes with Hezbollah. The group called the use unlawful in populated areas, warning of severe civilian risks despite no confirmed injuries, as Israel had ordered evacuations that morning. This incident follows Hezbollah rocket attacks on Israel since March 2.”
“@MaxBlumenthal WaPo reports the Anti-Defamation League and Trump admin are freaking out about the viral popularity of Operation Epstein Fury. I launched the name for Israeli-US terrorist war on Iran at 4:54 AM on February 28 and demand some credit, @JGreenblattADL … “The conflict has also sparked a sharp rise in antisemitic content, according to researchers from the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization — some of it seeking to link Epstein, who was Jewish, to the conflict. · “Pretty quickly after the conflict began, this conspiratorial rebranding of Operation Epic Fury” — the U.S. military’s official name — into ‘Operation Epstein Fury’ started circulating on social media platforms,” said Oren Segal, the ADL’s senior vice president of counter-extremism and intelligence. An ADL report found that the phrase “Epstein Fury” was mentioned more than 90,000 times by some 60,000 different accounts on X within the conflict’s first three days. … Other disinformation researchers have also taken note of the campaign to link U.S. and Israeli leaders to Epstein. Posts on X that used the phrase “Epstein regime” — a derogatory reference to the U.S.-Israel alliance — increased one hundred-fold on the first day of the missile strikes, said Emerson Brooking, director of strategy at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. Several of the most popular posts to use the phrase came from Owens.”
“@LealIris_ It’s scary to admit this, but the war got complicated as expected, and I’m not at all sure the Iranians will stop when Trump decides it’s over. We’re stuck in a nightmare because a cynical man indifferent to our existence whispered in the ear of an clueless infant and convinced him to embark on a failed military adventure. I assume the euphoria is over, cuties.” (Translated from Hebrew)
“@YoelH5 First time identifying signs of slackening and disappointment in the Netanyahu government on the Iranian front. In the immediate term, this is bad for a million children in Gaza. The Americans put a sweeping veto on bombing oil fields. Disagreements are emerging between the armies over some of the failures in Tehran. This is a nightmare for Gaza. Whitkopf will arrive in Jerusalem next week to mark an expiration date for the war in Iran. The frustration in the IDF will be dumped, as always, on the concentration camp in Gaza.” (Translated from Hebrew) … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Arthur Rothstein took the social media picture in June 1942. “Queens, New York. Nursery school at the Queensbridge housing project. Nursery worker helping children eat lunch” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

This content was published February 11, 2015. … As you may have heard, a man killed three of his neighbors in North Carolina. The victims were Muslim, and the alleged perp is white. Since America is now a nation of media critics, the way this incident is covered is getting as much chatter as anything else. The usual comments about lack of media coverage, and the different ways the race of the perp affects what the media calls the person, are being made.
Some stories report that a dispute over parking spots was behind the slayings. While this may seem trivial to some, parking disputes can be heated. Did the condo community have enough parking spaces? Is killing over a parking spot any sillier than killing because of differing opinions about God?
The Washington Post has a story about the killing, “Chapel Hill killings shine light on particular tensions between Islam and atheism”. “The alleged assassination by an outspoken North Carolina atheist of three of his Muslim neighbors is shining a light on particular, deep tensions between two tiny American faith groups: Muslims and atheists.”
Is that tiny America, tiny faith, or tiny groups? How can atheists be called a “faith group?” Maybe we should go back to saying religion, instead using faith as a semantic substitute. Or maybe, just maybe, we should quit labeling people based on their opinions about God. Is it really any of your business?
The WP story has a link to the facebook page of alleged killer Craig Stephen Hicks . There are numerous comments criticizing the Abrahamic religions. There is also a puzzle, a video about New Zealand, and a link to a story about what occupations the 50 states have. The Hicks page is not different from most facebook pages.
Perhaps the facebook page has a clue to the real motive for the killing. Mr. Hicks is a Pittsburgh Steeler fan. Mr. Hicks is married, and went to Disneyworld two months ago. Mr. Hicks is in two facebook groups: Atheism on Youtube, and LET’S REACH 1 MILLION PEOPLE CAMPAIGN…It’s a start! LGBT EQUALITY. Mr. Hicks likes the movie “12 Years a Slave.”
This incident is tough to wrap your head around. Mr. Hicks probably did not need to own a firearm. Since he is white, the media guide says he is a troubled individual, which does not seem to be in question. If he had been black or brown, Mr. Hicks would be labelled thug or terrorist. Those two labels also seem to fit, regardless of whether or not this was a hate crime.
On June 12, 2019, Craig Stephen Hicks was convicted of first degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison. 1456389 is currently held at Central Prison, Raliegh NC. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media pictures in August 1941. “Children of Albert Lynch, FSA client of Dummerston, Vermont” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

“If our Christianity causes kids to go hungry, the sick to go without healthcare, the stranger to be unwelcome, and the needy to be treated as “parasites,” all while billionaires get richer, we’ve ignored the most basic elements of Jesus’ teachings.” A meme based on this quote appeared on my facebook feed. Strange things to turn up when you take a closer look. God/Satan is in the details.
Where the original says “our Christianity”, the facebook version says “your”. The original says “we’ve”, while facebook says “you have”. “The needy” becomes “the elderly on social security”. The original is on the instagram of Benjamin R. Cremer. BRC “is a Wesleyan pastor, theologian, and writer based in Idaho. He currently serves as the Amity campus pastor at the Cathedral of the Rockies.”
The meme has the logo of Brian Tyler Cohen, and is on his facebook page. Rev. Cremer is not mentioned. As you might surmise, BTC is Jewish. Some would question the propriety of a Jew lecturing people on how to be Christian. Maybe that is why BTC changed “our” to “your”.
BTC is a curious character. He is the co-founder of Chorus Creator Incubator Program, a “dark money” effort to promote progressive influencers. “(Stuart) Perelmuter cofounded Chorus with Democratic influencer Brian Tyler Cohen, who has over 4.6 million subscribers on YouTube and leads messaging check-ins for the creator cohort on “rapid response days.”
There is also this: “Former David Pakman producer reveals that he, Brian Tyler Cohen, and Meidastouch decided to suppress coverage of Gaza because it was “too divisive” at White House meeting with Kamala Harris … I actually have an email from him after he visited the White House last year on the day of Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. … And he told me in an email that they talked amongst themselves and came to the conclusion that the topic is too divisive, it might drag down their channels, that it’s a poison pill, and that it’s better if they just don’t talk about it at all.” The colossal tragedy of Israel’s war of annihilation in Gaza was too divisive for Democrats to talk about. (FWIW, David Pakman is a Chorus content creator.)
BTC may have the “right” to tell us how to be good Christians. A better question might be why we should care. All we know about the “teachings of Jesus” is what the Bible says. Not that this matters to “some” Christians. The church mostly talks about “Salvation,” not what Jesus said when he was alive. Logical consistency doesn’t matter when you are trashing MAGA.
Pointing out examples of hypocrisy is very boring. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Jack Delano took the social media picture in August 1941. “Having dinner at the home of Ray Lyman, FSA client near Castleton, Vermont” ©Luther Mckinnon 2026 · selah

This content was published February 24, 2022. … The writing workshop announcement appeared before the event. I went to the signup, and was checked in at 7:27. Tonight’s prompt is to write a “golden shovel.” The gs poem is going to be 25 lines long. Every word in the original piece will appear at the end of a line. The seminal poem is by Dr. Doris Derby. … Pale green husks, Of corn grow, Tall and proud, As the young kernels, Of each one, Emerge from darkness, With bright faces, Bathed in Sunlight. … I finish the first draft at 7:55. I will now edit, until the workshop says to stop.
Seeking the beauty beyond the Pale, blue shimmering waves of green, another shucker looking for husks, recovering from the harvest Of, telepathic aromatic corn, after the earth is done with grow, yesterday’s yellow Tall, and wide and fragrant and, retro rainbow standing proud, wearing polyester of the nines As, whimsical overtures of the, quasi legal sticky ripe young, wallowing in the southern kernels, escaping from the yankee sludge Of, teach one reach one each, five four three two one, fighting and kicking to Emerge, out of the twilight from, the placebo darkness, driving out the donald With, fibonaccian synchronistic bright, well scrubbed faces, dark golden moonlight Bathed, over toes and behind ears in, radiant convulsive Sunlight, just, a suggestion she tells me now.
The day started with breakfast, and medications. I looked on Twitter and I saw this: @robstiles1 “All tyrannies rule through fraud and force. Once the fraud is exposed they must then rely solely on force.” – George Orwell” There are a lot of flaky Orwell quotes. The Orwell wikiquote does have a similar quote, and a source. I did a search of the TLDR document, and found the quote that uses “fraud.”
“Totalitarianism, however, does not so much promise an age of faith as an age of schizophrenia. A society becomes totalitarian when its structure becomes flagrantly artificial: that is, when its ruling class has lost its function but succeeds in clinging to power by force or fraud. Such a society, no matter how long it persists, can never afford to become either tolerant or intellectually stable. … The mere prevalence of certain ideas can spread a kind of poison that makes one subject after another impossible for literary purposes. Wherever there is an enforced orthodoxy … good writing stops. …”
The second quotable is more relevant today. “The mere prevalence of certain ideas can spread a kind of poison that makes one subject after another impossible for literary purposes. Wherever there is an enforced orthodoxy … good writing stops.” The free flow of information, and entertainment, is currently under fire from many sources. The government, working in tandem with big data, has one agenda. Social Justice Jihad has a powerful ideology, upon which one trespasses at one’s own peril. With all these regulators of information, it is a miracle we hear anything other than football scores.
A poem was well on its way to completion. The soundtrack was a new episode of the Bret Easton Ellis podcast. The poem is a series of nine images, with text added at the bottom. When you finish a picture, the first reaction is to go look at facebook and twitter.
Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, and find line 4. The book is the Holy Bible, with Jean D. Mckinnon in gold letters. Page 18/line 4: Genesis 18:15 “Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.” Line 4 is underlined.
18:15 is just another verse from Genesis, and did not do much for me. What made me cry was the presentation page. “Presented to Jean, by Luke, 7-23-56” This was in my father’s challenging handwriting, on my mother’s birthday. 7-23-56 was a few weeks after my brother was born.
The guest on the BEE podcast was another writer, Jarett Kobek. The desperate state of modern publishing was lamented. The chat picked up when Mr. Kobek asked BEE if he heard about the amateur American Psycho porn. The video features two women having fun, while reading, out loud, a murder scene from American Psycho. It is moments like this, when you want to see the BEE reaction, that podcasting shows a weakness. Bret recovered fast enough, and said “I hope they were hot.” Soon another image was finished, and it was back to twitter. … 2026 update: The show is currently behind the impenetrable BEE paywall.
Kyle Rittenhouse Reveals He Intends On Suing LeBron James. Announcing intention to sue online might not be a good legal strategy. Of course, we are talking deep pockets, and a deep throat. After the televised testimony of Mr. Rittenhouse, this tweet appeared: @KingJames What tears????? I didn’t see one. Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court. 🤣🤣
Mr. James likes to express his opinions. “James also made waves back in April for suggesting … that an officer was racially motivated for fatally shooting 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, who was, at the time, attempting to stab another girl. … I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY.” You should be careful what you wish for. Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Sheldon Dick took the social media picture in 1938. “Shenandoah, Pennsylvania. Some men having beer at Filipek’s bar” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was published February 6, 2018. … Brave is the book that Rose Arianna McGowan is promoting. Whenever there is a fresh controversy, there is usually product to sell. Chamblee54 has written about RAM 3 times: Rose McGowan Misogygate, A Rose By Any Other Blame, and The Rose And Bret Show. Someday, I will see one of her movies.
Recently, during a promotional event, push came to shove. RAM fought back, against the trans activist who verbally assaulted her from the audience. While RAM, and her opinions, can be highly annoying, it was fun to see someone push back at a troll. RAM said a few things about labelism.
“Don’t label me, sister.” Don’t put your labels on me. Don’t you f—ing do that. Do not put your labels on me. I don’t come from your planet. Leave me alone. I do not subscribe to your rules. I do not subscribe to your language. You will not put labels on me or anybody. Step the f— back. What I do for the f—ing world and you should be f—ing grateful. Shut the f— up. Get off my back. What have you done? I know what I’ve done, God dammit.”
Andi Dier is the trans activist who made a scene. There are unconfirmed rumors of bad behavior on their part. @PopCrave “Andi Dier the woman who heckled Rose McGowan at her book signing is now being accused of sexual assault by multiple women.”
Some reports on the B&N episode note trans-problematic comments made on RuPaul’s “What’s the Tee?” podcast. In the last part of the show, RAM makes comments about trans women not having periods as teenagers. Is that transphobic? As a certified cis-male, I am the wrong person to ask.
The rest of the show was fun to listen to. RuPaul made sage observations about the illusionary nature of show business. RAM made one comment, at 51:11, that is easily refuted. “60% of gun violence deaths in this country are women.” The FBI issues a report every year. The homicide numbers for 2016: Total 15,070 male 11,821 female 3,208. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in February 1939. “Mexican boy drinking out of water faucet. There were five of these faucets to supply water for about fifty Mexican families averaging five members each. They live in five units. Robstown, Texas” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

This content was published Februray 4, 2022. … How ‘Strange Fruit’ Killed Billie Holiday turned up in a facebook feed yesterday. The article states that Harry Jacob Anslinger “the first commissioner of the U.S. Treasury Department’s Federal Bureau of Narcotics,” ordered Billie Holiday to quit performing “Strange Fruit.” When the chanteuse declined, Mr. Anslinger had her arrested for heroin possession. Later, Mr. Anslinger was allegedly responsible for busting Miss Holiday on her deathbed.
The Hunting of Billie Holiday was the source given for the claim about Mr. Anslinger and “Strange Fruit.” The Politico article does not say that Mr. Anslinger ordered Miss Holiday to quit singing “Strange Fruit .” It does say that Louis McKay, one of the many no-good men in Miss Holiday’s life, narked her out. The bust was in 1947, after she had been performing “Strange Fruit” for several years. (Lady Sings The Blues says that Louis McKay was not in Miss Holiday’s life in 1947.)
Politico had one comment that set off the bs detector. “One day, Harry Anslinger was told that there were also white women, just as famous as Billie, who had drug problems—but he responded to them rather differently. He called Judy Garland, another heroin addict, in to see him.” Frances Gumm was well known for having substance abuse issues. The heroin business was news to a lot of people.
Johann Hari was the author of the politico article. At the time, he was promoting a book, Chasing the Scream, about the war on drugs. Johann Hari has a spotted reputation. “The author used to be the Independent’s star columnist, a prolific polemicist and darling of the left, until his career imploded in disgrace when it emerged in 2011 that many of his articles contained quotes apparently said to him but in fact lifted from his interviewees’ books, or from previous interviews by other journalists.”
The final bust, as Miss Holiday lay dying in the hospital, is part of the legend. A google search does not show what agency was responsible. Harry Anslinger may have been involved, and it may have been someone else. By this time, Elanora Fagan was in bad, bad shape. Years of drinking, and hard drugs, had worn her out. While the hospital bust may have hastened her demise, it is a bit of a stretch to say the Harry Anslinger killed Billie Holiday, because she sang “Strange Fruit.”

Lady Sings The Blues is the autobiography of Billie Holiday. I read it in 1978, and pulled it off the shelf recently. The copy I have is a 1972 paperback, issued in conjunction with the movie. A picture of Diana Ross is on the cover, as well as a price sticker from Woolco. The book sold for $1.25.
William Dufty was the ghost writer. His prose is easy to read, with the story flowing out like a Lester Young solo. The 1956 copyright is assigned to “Eleanora Fagan and William Dufty,” using the birth name of the singer. Mr. Dufty was a newspaper writer. “Dufty had one son, Bevan Dufty, with first wife Maely Bartholomew, who had arrived in New York City during World War II after losing most of her family in the Nazi concentration camps. She settled near Harlem where she met her best friend and Bevan’s godmother, Billie Holiday.”
“Bevan Dufty would agree. He’s one of the childless singer’s two godchildren. … “Holiday said motherf***** all the time, in her gravelly elegant way,” recalled Dufty, sitting in his City Hall office. His mother, Maely, a Czech Jewish immigrant who loved jazz, was close to many musicians and even managed the unmanageable Charlie Parker for a spell, learned to curse from Holiday. But with a European accent. Much of what Dufty knows of Holiday comes from his late mother, who was married to actor Freddie Bartholomew before her brief marriage to William Dufty, one of her seven husbands. Maely, who took her infant son by train to Philadelphia every day to attend yet another of Holiday’s drug trials, was so distraught by the singer’s death that she dedicated herself to helping recovering addicts. A number of musicians lived at the Duftys’ place while kicking the habit (William and Maely Dufty divorced not long after Holiday’s death, and he later married actress Gloria Swanson, who inspired him to write the book “Sugar Blues” about the dangers of processed sugar).”
“Billie Holiday’s bio ‘Lady Sings the Blues,’ may be full of lies, but it gets at jazz great’s core.” Autobiographies are, by their nature, self serving. This one has a great opening line … ” Mom and Pop were just a couple of kids when they got married. He was eighteen, she was sixteen, and I was three.” (“Her parents were never married. When she was born, her mother was 19, her father was 17 and they never lived under the same roof.”) Another source adds: “Some of the material in the book, however, must be taken with a grain of salt. Holiday was in rough shape when she worked with Dufty on the project, and she claimed to have never read the book after it was finished. Around this time, Holiday became involved with Louis McKay. The two were arrested for narcotics in 1956, and they married in Mexico the following year. (March 28, 1957) Like many other men in her life, McKay used Holiday’s name and money to advance himself.”
Louis McKay is at the center of another misunderstanding of facts. “The Hunting of Billie Holiday” claimed that Mr. McKay narked out Miss Holiday in 1947, and set up her first drug bust. LSTB tells a different story. Here, Miss Holiday meets Mr. McKay very briefly in 1931. Someone was trying to rob Mr. McKay. Miss Holiday said “He’s my old man,” and chased off the robber.
Fast forward twenty five years,, and Miss Holiday connects with Mr. McKay. “I hadn’t seen him since I was sixteen and he wasn’t much older and I was singing at the Hotcha in Harlem.” The two were married in 1957. They got busted as LSTB ends. Either Politico is wrong about the 1947 bust, or Miss Holiday did not tell the whole story. Either way, Harry Anslinger is not mentioned in LSTB.
Tallulah Bankhead is another missing piece of the puzzle. Reportedly, Miss Bankhead and Miss Holiday were close friends, and possibly lovers. That was over by the time LSTB was written. “When “Lady Sings the Blues” was being prepared, Miss Bankhead got an advance copy, and was horrified by what she saw. A fierce note was sent to the book’s publisher, and scenes were edited out. Miss Holiday was outraged. The letter that resulted is a poison pen classic. “My maid who was with me at the Strand isn’t dead either. There are plenty of others around who remember how you carried on so you almost got me fired out of the place. And if you want to get shitty, we can make it a big shitty party. We can all get funky together!”
Miss Bankhead does make an appearance in LSTB. On page 117, Miss Holiday is describing playing a maid, in a movie. She was not pleased at the typecasting. “Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got nothing against maids – or whores – whether they’re black or white. My mother was a maid, a good one, one of the greatest. My stepmother is Tallulah Bankhead’s maid right now, and that’s a part I’d even consider when they do her life story.” (Miss Bankhead had her own domestic help problems. In 1951, Evyleen Cronin, Tallulah’s maid and secretary, was accused of stealing $10,000-30,000 from Tallulah during her employment. … The case went to trial (much to Tallulah’s embarrassment) and Cronin was convicted.” Many embarrassing details about Miss Bankhead’s life came to light during this trial. Fanny Holiday, the stepmother, is probably a different person than Evyleen Cronin.)
Whatever it’s factual challenges, Lady Sings the Blues is a powerful book. Miss Holiday had a tough life, to say the least. As the singer for Artie Shaw’s big band, Miss Holiday was an integration pioneer, and every two bit cracker wanted to make trouble. Later, she was addicted to heroin, got busted, served time in prison, only to get out and suffer some more.
Three years after LSTB came out , things went from bad to horrible. “In early 1959 she found out that she had cirrhosis of the liver. The doctor told her to stop drinking, which she did for a short time, but soon returned to heavy drinking. … On May 31, 1959, Holiday was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York. … She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from pulmonary edema and heart failure caused by cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959.” … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Russell Lee took the social media picture in December 1940. “Lineup of workmen at union headquarters, San Diego, California, after the first batch of men are dispatched in the morning. Those remaining stand in line awaiting subsequent calls during the day” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah

I would rather work on my computer than watch the oscars. This is a choice. It is made less dangerous by facebook, which can alert me to every twitch of the ism police. It seems like some racist, sexist, misogynist, and ableist things were said Sunday night. I would be a terrible person if I were not offended by this behavior. Some people think that way.
One of the players is Quvenzhané Wallis, who is getting scads of career boost at the moment. Some speakers did not want to pronounce her name, and got in trouble as a result.
An observer throws this opinion out there: “Give your daughters difficult names. Give your daughters names that command the full use of tongue. My name makes you want to tell me the truth. My name doesn’t allow me to trust anyone that cannot pronounce it right … Give your children difficult names, so the world may learn how to unfurl its tongue in the direction of our stolen languages.”
I was known for most of his life as Cam. This is short for Campbell, my middle name. Whenever I was introduced to someone, I had to explain this name. Yes, it is just like a car cam, whatever that is. No, it is not Cal or Kim. It is Cam, C A M. After a while, it became a giant pain in the ass.
The parents responsible for this are kind, loving people. People make mistakes. Who knows what they were thinking when they decided to name their firstborn after an automotive part.
So, go ahead and give your baby an “unusual” name. They might like it. It may also be a source of embarrassment. Being a human being is tough business. Giving a kid a weird name just might make it a bit tougher. It might be a very selfish thing to do.
UPDATE This piece was originally posted in 2013. Two messages were received…. Luther, do not post your blog on my page ever again. Many of your viewpoints are racist, sexist, and marginalizing, and I do not want to be associated with them. … Ive already deleted you as a friend months and months ago over the ridiculous racist and sexist twaddle that spills from your mouth and onto Facebook and in person. Do not post on my wall. Do not like anything post of mine and, in fact, do not interact with me in any possible capacity. Thanks. … Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Samuel H. Gottscho took the social media picture September 18, 1961. “Helena Rubinstein, 655 5th Ave. Hair dryers” ©Luther Mckinnon 2025 · selah