Word Wednesday.

Synonymous

 
Adjective.

1: having the character of a synonym; also: alike in meaning or significance.

2: having the same connotations, implications, or reference.

-synonymously, adverb.

(1610)

“I had decided that if there was a God, he was a cruel sonofabitch to allow the things he allowed. Especially since he claimed his name was synonymous with love. It seemed to me that he was little more than a celestial Jack the Ripper, offering us, his whores, rewards with one hand, smiling and telling us he loved us, while with the other hand he held a shiny, sharp knife, the better with which to disembowel us.” – The Complete Drive-In, Joe R. Lansdale.

A Wee Bit Late.

In his latest video, Lance Wallnau has a prayer:

“The left needs to shut up and Father, we just pray in Jesus’ name that your hand will be on this president and on his marriage and on his wife, that their ears will be deaf to the salacious, cruel accusations and toxic utterances that are coming at them from all directions. And I pray for a swift and speedy blocking of this subject from entering into the middle of the national narrative.”

You need to keep up, Lance. Rather late in the day to ask Jehovah to stomp all over Ms. Daniels. As for being salacious, cruel, and toxic, it seems the Tiny Tyrant has all those covered, with more to spare. It really takes a special kind of man to go out and cheat on his wife while pregnant, and after giving birth to yet another heir. That’s a particular cruelty, one which will reside in Ms. Tiny Tyrant’s head forever.

As for the national narrative, when has the Tiny Tyrant’s salacious, cruel, and toxic behaviour not been a part of it? Donny is guilty of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and cheating all over the damn place. That’s all on him. The man is a walking scandal of criminal activity. I can’t speak for all The Left™, but this little part of it is not going to shut up, so I’m afraid yet another prayer has fallen on deaf ears. The only reason the lunatic fringe wants this all hushed up is that you can’t stand people looking at your hypocrisy, supporting an adulterer in spite of your so-called morals and family values. Oh, that spotlight is hot, isn’t it? Unfortunately for you, right wing asshole christians are more likely to be lapping up every bit of, um, exposure given to Ms. Daniels, more than the average person. Fundamentalist christians have a fatal attraction to porn, and the more they yell about it, the more they are watching and listening. Repression never works the way it’s supposed to, and you’d think you idiots would figure that one out, but no. Even remonstrations use clickbait titles: Don’t watch super-whore Stormy’s interview!, knowing that ‘super-whore’ is a magnet to christians. So, it would be you fucking idiots feeding the frenzy you’re upset about.  If I were a god, I wouldn’t pay attention to you either.

That’s not all that Lance has been praying about:

Wallnau warned that if “the midterm elections prove that the fury and froth and madness stirred up by propaganda by the left” is effective enough to shift control of Congress, then this nation will never have peace or unity because “there is a corrupt root so strongly embedded” in the Democrats.

“I’m telling you now,” Wallnau declared, “the spirit of darkness wants to neutralize this presidency in September [sic] of 2018, but we decree and declare that there is a turning over of the tables for the sake of Jacob my servant, Israel my chosen, for that reason this man was given a title a honor as president. Though he did not know God fully when he started, he knows that there is a God of Israel right now. Father, we pray, though you have been a God who hides himself, that you will now reveal your arm and foil even the false signs of false prognosticators, counselors, coordinators and schemers working within the political apparatus, the media apparatus, the television, the entertainment, the grassroots organizing, even to dry up the resources of those who are using their wealth as a mechanism to choke the future of the United States.”

Y’know, it wasn’t that long ago we had democracy. Eight years of it. And while it wasn’t as good as it could have been (as with all things), it was pretty good. Made a lot of progress, and there wasn’t so much as a whiff of scandal of any kind. No porn stars, no hush money, no cheating, no sexual assault, no harassment, no mass amounts of criminal activity.  I’d be absolutely thrilled to have that again, and I’m hardly alone in that one.

“Though you have been a God who hides himself“, oh yes, for thousands of years! Actually, since this god was dreamed up and cobbled together. Nice of you to sort of admit it, Lance.

The full thing is at RWW.

Banksy Blitz NYC.

One of the new Banksy murals in Midwood, Brooklyn. Benjamin Sutton.

One of the new Banksy murals in Midwood, Brooklyn. Benjamin Sutton.

Banksy’slatest series of interventions in the New York City streetscape continued apace today. This afternoon the artist revealed on Instagram that a mural in the Midwood section of Brooklyn that had come to widespread attention last week is in fact his doing.

The mural is a characteristically coy commentary on capitalism, although it is accompanied by a smaller piece that depicts a seal. The pair is located in Midwood, at Coney Island Avenue and Avenue I. The larger one features what looks like a real estate developer (equipped with both a briefcase and a hardhat) brandishing a whip in the shape a rising red line graph, while a procession of children, a woman, an elderly person, and a dog flee. Nearby, a smaller mural whose connection to the theme of gentrification is indecipherable, features a seal balancing a ball — formed by the unpainted circle where a sign used to hang — on its nose.

It’s always interesting, tracking Banksy, and this is no exception. Benjamin Sutton at Hyperallergic has the story.

2018 Sony World Photography Awards.

The Great wall of Namib. © Paranyu Pithayarungsarit, Thailand, Shortlist, Open, Landscape & Nature (2018 Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards.

The Great wall of Namib. © Paranyu Pithayarungsarit, Thailand, Shortlist, Open, Landscape & Nature (2018 Open competition), 2018 Sony World Photography Awards.

Oh, such amazing photography, glimpses of all the worlds within our world! I had to bookmark, because I have too much to do today and I have to be good and asleep early (5:30am wake up), but I’ll work my way through eventually. Have a wander and see wonders!

This was via Atlas Obscura, which highlighted twelve landscapes, including the one above.

Stephen Hawking, Demon Puppet.

Naberius, most valiant Marquess of Hell, and has nineteen legions of demons under his command. He makes men cunning in all arts (and sciences, according to most authors), but especially in rhetoric, speaking with a hoarse voice. He also restores lost dignities and honors.

Naberius, most valiant Marquess of Hell, and has nineteen legions of demons under his command. He makes men cunning in all arts (and sciences, according to most authors), but especially in rhetoric, speaking with a hoarse voice. He also restores lost dignities and honors.

Mike Shoesmith, of chemical assault fame, has taken a break from whinging on about the evils of women. Apparently, Mr. Shoesmith sees the late Stephen Hawking as being a demon puppet, nothing more, because Billy Graham.

…“[Graham] is a hundred percent devoted,” Shoesmith said. “The Lord sees his heart, gives him a tremendous ministry, and who do you think is sitting in the background going, ‘I have to do something about this, this guy is sold out, I have to do something’? Who do you think is sitting in the background doing that? The devil, right?”

No.

“So, in 1942, that is when Billy Graham’s ministry really takes off, and who do you think was born in 1942?” he continued. “Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking comes from a long line of atheists—his father and all these people—so I believe the devil said, ‘OK, this guy was just born and I’m going to use this guy. This guy is already primed to accept my message that there is no God. He is already primed for it, he is going to be awash, immersed in atheism all his years as a child, I’m going to take over this guy’s life.’”

A great many people were born in 1942. I’m sure a fair number of them were not christian, and Graham was just another con artist, nothing more.

“I believe Stephen Hawking was kept alive by demonic forces,” Shoesmith said. “I believe that it was the demonic realm that kept this man alive as a virtual vegetable his entire life just so he could spread this message that there is no God.”

Oh FFS. Do you know what the word virtual means, Mr. Shoesmith? I don’t think you do. Mr. Hawking was not a vegetable, in any sense. To the contrary, he was a very active person, and he spent most of his life spreading the wonders of physics. He really didn’t spend much time on atheism, and he certainly was not the equivalent huckster to Graham. Mr. Hawking was very lucky indeed to have been born in a country with healthcare. If he had been born in Ustates, his life would have most likely been brutal and short, with his grieving parents left under a crushing mountain of debt. So, if this was Lucifer’s doing, rather looks like he’s the good guy, doesn’t it?

Shoesmith went on to assert that if Hawking had simply reached out to God, Jesus would have cast the demons out of him and he would have been completely and miraculously healed.

Thanks to medicine and tech, Mr. Hawking was able to live into his seventies, which is pretty good for someone with such a serious disease, whereas that weak ass god of yours once again displayed a compleat inability to do jack shit. If Jehovah wanted to impress the fuck out of Mr. Hawking, could he not have shown up momentarily and cured him? That seems to be more the way to get a dedicated convert, no?

Anyroad, it’s well beyond shitty of you to run down a brilliant scientist and all around good man, after he’s dead of course, because you would never have the spine to do it when he was alive. Thanks ever for confirming yet again that you asshole christians are truly awful people.

The whole mess is at RWW.