Chamblee54

It is not everyday that a meme quote turns out to be legitimate. Today is that day. @angrywaterman.bsky.social posted a drawing of Benjamin Franklin, along with “Make yourself sheep and the wolves will eat you.” When you type the phrase … you cannot copy text off an image … and feed this to google, you learn that Mr. Franklin wrote a letter to his sister Jane Mecom, on November 1, 1773. BF was in London on some business or another, and making people angry with his words. The revolution was coming, and BF was encouraging resistance to the empire.
“Maidencane” by Chad B. Anderson · A person … we never learn if they are male or female … has a troubling childhood memory. The incident was right before mother left, taking the older brother. The storyteller is left with his father, for the rest of a troubled childhood. One day, they get a phone call from brother, who remembers the seminal incident in a totally different way. Maybe they are just a fucked up person, who nonebody ever liked. This is the first story of a collection, which is going on the shelf until I finish the popular book I requested, that just came in.
Recycling blog posts is supposed to be a lazy option. I find a boring post with good pics … Confederate soldiers from the recent unpleasantness. Later, there was a book report about Janis Joplin. Most of the youtube links don’t work. One that does work is Janis telling Dick Cavett “I can tell you’re a swinger by those shoes” I click on a click to Peggy Caserta, and learn she has died. She also claims that “Going down with Janis” was ghost written trash. The only reason she went along was to fuel her heroin habit. I was disillusioned, again.
I was talking to someone hard of hearing. I said tariff. He thought I said terrorist. That may be a bit of cosmic confusion there. Tariffs are economic terrorism. Donnie’s slapdash tariff tossing on Canada and Mexico may have severe economic repercussions, which the orange haired wonder does not fully comprehend. Tarifs were a major cause of the War Between the States. The North wanted high tariffs to protect industry. The South wanted low tariffs to facilitate the sale of cotton to Europe. Of course, if you say that now you are condemned as defending slavery, but history does not …
One of the images I put up with my weekly notes had a silver dollar sized black spot on his forehead. Since this was a Confederate soldier from the recent unpleasantness, this black spot led to speculation. The identifier was googled on the appropriate Library of Congress page, and a raw copy of the photograph emerged. It was a formal portrait, seen here in a cardboard frame that was popular for such keepsakes. The soldier was no doubt alive when the portrait was made. Similar spots are seen elsewhere in the photograph, no doubt due to the ravages of age.
Is anything more boring than hypocrisy? It is obvious that it exists. The old story about the church, with room for one more hypocrite, is no doubt true. But so what? Just because you have strong opinions, and share them promiscuously with anyone within earshot, does not mean you have to actually do what you say you believe. You just have to say it with conviction, and people will congratulate you because you really believe it. Yes, the middle three letters of believe are lie. So much of our media meandering is pointing out examples of hypocrisy that prove nothing.
“It’s at the core of bullying, believing that your own rights prevail over others paid right to hear.” There is a conflict in the concept of free speech. Yes, you have a right to speak, but does that mean I have an obligation to listen? With canned entertainment available everywhere, many people feel it is their right to play their chosen sounds, regardless of other people. This extends to discussions of touchy subjects, like politics, religion, or God forbid, racism. Some people wield their opinions like a blunt object weapon, and if you do not submit to their authority …

WHAT? THE ABYSS! HELL · I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK! SHIT · NIETZSCHE IDIOT
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche is a favorite of stupid people who want others to think they are smart. Almost nobody who throws those nifty quotes around has actually read the context. If they did read FWN, it is probably in English, and not in German. When you quote a legendary smart fellow out of context, in translation, you are probably going to screw things up. In this cartoon, FWN is chatting with some other legendary philosopher, whose identity has been obscured. Some lady walks by. The two heteros have a sexist conversation about her. The lady wants nothing to do with them.
macro Isreal · vow nuclear apartheid · activist profits
The concept of “greater Israel” has been around. The tools for the creation of this ethno-state are rhetoric, guns, and money. Warren Zevon wrote a song called “Lawyers Guns and Money” which is another way of putting it. On October 7, I knew two things. Israel would exponentially retaliate, way beyond what should be allowed. This killing spree would be supported by a hideous propaganda campaign. Both these things have come true, and it is not over yet. Iran has been paying the price for Israel’s existence for a long time, and is going to get revenge.
forgotten worry · have speedometer cocktail · faster greener best
I have not forgotten to worry about writers block. Maybe a speedometer cocktail would help, but not unless the repair shop police came through on DUI patrol. There has never been an auto shop like S&M clutch and brake, on Monroe Drive just off Ponce. Many a clever person noticed that sign in its heyday, and nobody seems to know what happened to it. There was also a speedometer repair shop on Spring Street, just up the hill from the Cheetah. That neighborhood has been gentrified to the point of boredom, while Monroe/Boulevard stubbornly putrifies.
Tammy edible · Spokesperson anal “MAGA” · lit liberal fraud
I used to know someone, who said, of a woman who was not pretty but had a vagina, that she was “edible.” Maybe that is what the spokesperson for anal “MAGA” would say about Tulsi Gabbard. A few years ago, I saw Tulsi on JRE, and was impressed by her opposition to wars of choice. Across the table at Manuel’s one night, a person started screaming that Tulsi was a Russian asset. In her confirmation hearing today, Tulsi refused to throw Edward Snowden under the bus, and spoke of the CIA sponsoring Al-Queda. Telling the truth is a dangerous hobby.
Smokes to compensate · challenge buffet metaphor · Too Much cubicle
You can always find an excuse to smoke, or drink, or do any form of damaging behavior that provides a temporary fun fix. The justifications for bad behavior is one of the oldest preoccupations of the mind of man, right after the transformation of waste, which Patti Smith said was the oldest, and she should know. She did a song, rock and roll n$$$$$, where she flamboyantly shouted the six letter word and got away with it. Maybe the new age will allow us to focus on racial dysfunction, without the alluring distraction of six letter words. So it goes.
RACIST ATTITUDE · WHAT? HAPPY CRY “OFFENSIVE” · MAYBE I FEEL REAL
This will not be drabblized in all caps. Racist is the six letter racial slur that you are forbidden to not say, as opposed to her codependent partner that you are forbidden to say, and strongly discouraged from thinking. When the AI thought-police are on duty, even thinking the verboten six letter word, without proper melanin based authorization, will result in severe penalties. You will be forced to shave your head, by your own hand, and proclaim that I feel real. Sylvester spins in her grave so hard that the wig falls off. The new order is on the way.
law banning U.S. · mean fortunate President · solution stay tuned!
This is another step in the drabble degeneration. It is key to remember that in an audio format, you can just spew out your hundred words, and go for it. In the blog format, you have to worry about widows … the one or two words left all alone on a line at the end of a drabble. These look gnarly and are to be avoided, and if doing so results in shaving a word or two off the generating drabble, then that is the way it has to be. You should never ever let rules get in the way.

News came out that the New Georgia Project had settled an ethics complaint with the State of Georgia. NGP, the signature non-profit creation of Stacey Abrams, was accused of spending millions of dollars supporting her run for Governor in 2018. This is not surprising to people that have been paying attention to @staceyabrams.
“Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2014 as an offshoot of another nonprofit called Third Sector Development. … Raphael Warnock chaired the organization for more than two years, from when it first became an independent 501(c)3 in 2017 to January of 2020.”
Chamblee54 wrote two posts about the problems with NGP. 112118 102622 These articles are based on a 2015 story in Creative Loafing, The New Georgia Problem. When Ms. Abrams emerged in 2018 as a Gubernatorial candidate/media sensation, her work with NGP was usually mentioned. It turns out that NGP had a LOT of problems. To be fair, Ms. Abrams was mostly a fundraiser. She had little to do with the day to day operations of NGP.
Atlanta Magazine also ran a 2015 story about the problems at NGP. “William Perry, founder of Georgia Ethics Watchdog, believes the lawmaker should make her financial records from her voter registration work public, especially now that more than a year has passed since the 2014 election. One issue that concerns Perry is the lawmaker’s potential ability to use different funding sources—which include a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, a 501(c)(4) advocacy group, a political PAC, and personal campaign funds—to further the cause of voting registration.
Apparently, the money goes both ways here. Just as money intended for political campaigns can go for voter registration, money intended for voter registration can be diverted to promote a candidate. In the words of William Perry, “It gives cause to worry when there’s someone stirring so many pots. In a perfect world, anything you’re doing that would influence a campaign or an election should be disclosed. It’s a glaring example of what makes people sick about politics.”
Atlanta Magazine had another amusing item in 2015. “Nsé Ufot, executive director for New Georgia Project, declined to share a copy of Third Sector Development’s latest financial records. “Our 990 [form] will be publicly available in the coming months,” she told us in an email. When asked about her latest fundraising effort, Abrams declined to comment.”
Ms. Ufot was mentioned in 2023. “The move comes as the group’s tax filings indicate that its former executive director — who was hand-picked by Abrams in 2014 but fired last year without notice — owes the organization thousands of dollars in “non-work-related” reimbursements. The former director, Nsé Ufot, who left the group last year after heading it for eight years, denies owing money and calls the allegation “a fucking lie.”
In 2018, Voter Suppression® … and implied racism … was the central issue of the Abrams campaign. In the earlier investigation of NGP, spokesman Raphael Warnock was eager to cry racism. ”Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock, the senior pastor at First Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta and a spokesperson for NGP, said that many people of color in Georgia saw the tactics as part of a long history of voter suppression. “This narrative of voter suppression is one that communities of color understand and understand deeply, and it will backfire on those trying to suppress votes.”
“But there is an aggressive subpoena that, Abrams says, “essentially demands every document we have ever produced.” She calls it a “fishing expedition” meant to “suppress our efforts.” A spokesperson for the New Georgia Project, the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church, was a little more explicit. “I see this move by the secretary of state as the latest effort in voter suppression in the state of Georgia.”
Pictures today are from The Library of Congress. Martha McMillan Roberts took the featured photograph in March 1941. “Good Humor man comes to trailer camp on Saturday afternoon. These children are sons of torpedo plant workers in Alexandria VA”

Lilianne O’Likk: “I have a problem with objectivity. I always think it’s a pose. Why would I be moved to spend five or six years of my life on a subject that I was neutral about? With this book, I clocked my subjectivity from the start. Cold-eyed subjectivity is what you need to write a good book. I’m extremely tough on Eve. The fact that I love her doesn’t mean I’m going to be soft on her.”
This quote is from “Lili Anolik on Eve Babitz …” It is one of the podcasts I found yesterday, while writing a book report on Hollywood’s Eve: Eve Babitz and the Secret History of L.A. Hardcover, by Lili Anolik. The book is all over the place. This book report will follow suit.
A primer is in order. Eve Babitz was a groupie. A pretty young lady in California, who partied with many famous people. Eve wrote a few books. One, Slow Days Fast Company, is pretty good. After the eighties hit, and she joined AA, a slow decline set in. In 1997, she set herself on fire, and nearly died. The next twenty four years were spent processing all that input. Chamblee54 wrote book reports on SDFC and I Used To Be Charming, a collection of magazine articles written by Eve.
“The adjective scale goes descriptive, comparative, superlative … good better best … i am not sure which one is applies to normal.” This thought came up in a chat conversation, and is a good way to start this appreciation of Hollywood’s Eve … I am not sure how this is going to work, which is another Babitz Bestie. Eve … I would say EB for the middle-nameless Eve, but Eve is only one letter longer. We should be grateful that Sol and Mae did not have a son named Steve . … maybe i should just listen to the podcasts I found with Lili Anolik, dig dirt on google, and finish this post later. I can always find something in the archive for chamblee54.
I am validating my admiration for Lili Anolik. First, it is pronounced Ann-o-lick … vaguely suggestive, but not anal ick. (Maybe Eve thought Lili was Miss Anal-Ick when she decided to answer the phone calls, and they bonded over the analickiness.) I found a bunch of podcasts that she did while self promoting. Lili Anolik on … was only 10 minutes long. It provided the tasteful quote above.
How Long Gone is two over-the-hill potheads talking trash, until their guest appears. The babblethon at the start is going to last longer than the first podcast. At 22:47, they send Lili a “zoomie”. I listened to about ten minutes of Lili talking about what shoes her husband … a New York Dermatologist … wears. Listening to this pablum is too much work, even for art.
I thought it would be cool to include a link to Dr. Anolik. When googling “Lili Anolik husband”, the first result is When You’re Married to a Dermatologist, All You Need Is Eye Cream. When the pothead podcast opens, they are hustling Soft Services Buffing Bar, a skin care product. One of the young men cannot afford to use SSBB on his XXL butt. Product promotion is a lifestyle choice.
Fortunately, a third podcast had some solid information. The Eve story has a clear beginning, middle, and end. When Lili connected with her, Eve was a mess. The next passage is a google-docs-transcript from podcast number three. It has been edited for easier reading, not accuracy. Just like Eve.
“I finally did get to her, she was living in, it wasn’t squalor, it was so much more extreme. It felt almost like she was a cave dweller. I mean the level of filth, and the darkness of that apartment, and the stench of that apartment, was so extreme, it was just despair…. it was madness, she smelled like madness. I mean it was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my life and if I went into that apartment, I don’t think I’m a squeamish person, but I would have to walk around the block like four or five times before I call a cab or Uber.” …
Lili mentioned the Eve aroma in the book, but not in such graphic terms. The book was published in 2019, and created in the years before that. Eve died December 17, 2021. She had Huntington’s Disease, which may have been a factor in the squalor that Lili saw. At some point before her death, Eve went into assisted living.
This is a repost from 2023, which was a more simple time than today. Pictures are from The Library of Congress. The Hollywood’s Eve series is available. two three four