2 u.s.c. § 192

On the heels of an extraordinarily antagonistic, rambling press conference that saw one news organisation stripped of their White House credentials, bullied ascendant Democrats and Republicans who lost elections, antithetical Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III tendered his resignation at the request of Trump, his announcement upstaged by presidential tweet.
Though his tenure was highly contentious, Sessions’ continued presence lent an air of legitimacy to an investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections to the Russian oligarchy—which Trump never forgave his earliest supporter for recusing himself from (reportedly, the two were not on speaking-terms)—and protests are mobilising to ensure that whomever replaces Sessions at the department’s helm will not obstruct the investigation and allow it to continue unimpeded. To put this chaos in context, with little to no power in government, Democrats and patriotic Republicans were still able to curb Trump’s worse inclinations and impulse, and now that they’ve managed to gain a toehold—one-half of one-third of the branches of the federal government is certainly more than that though it sounds small—the Trump syndicate is terrified by what the “power of inquiry” in Democrats’ hands (to their chagrin, congressional Republicans changed the rules on House led investigations back in 2015, making it easier to subpoena individuals unilaterally, and failure to respond to a summons means one is in contempt of Congress) could reveal about the US Grifter-in-Chief.

brand loyalty

As Deezen informs, though we’re coming to the party a little late with the campaigning ostensibly over and only the ballots left to be tallied, a freshly organised Centre for American Politics and Design has distilled and grouped the logos of over a thousand recently concluded political races in order to forward the dialogue on the role that graphic design plays in democracy.

Tools at the archive all for users to filter and
adjust how they compare and contrast the posters and perhaps identify common elements and and better understand how messages are limned. The aggregator, which is also a good means of uncovering how a platform and race might invoke name recognition through convergent branding—we think—will be a good resource and application going forward as well.

sore-loser

Our faithful chronicler, Doctor Caligari, informs that among many other premieres and momentous occasions that occurred on this day, in 1962 Richard Nixon, a sixteen year political veteran, delivered a rather acrimonious concession speech to a gathering of supporters and reporters after learning of the electoral win of incumbent Pat Brown, who would remain the governor of California, a traditionally Republican stronghold at the time, for another term. The contender lashed out at the media, snarling, “you don’t have Nixon to kick around any more, because, gentlemen, this is my last press conference.” Be careful what you wish for.  Brown was defeated and replaced by Ronald Regan in the 1966 race but his son, Jerry Brown Jr. went on to become the thirty-fourth and thirty-ninth and current governor of the state.

6x6

spitzmaus mummy in a coffin and other treasures: Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum’s guest curators, Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf

siss-boom-bah: antique Japanese fireworks catalogues

invaderz: a twist on the classic arcade game whose advancing armada evolves (relatedly) during play

a declaration of future independence: antiquarian JF Ptak shares the scarce text of Czechoslovakian president Edvard Beneš’ nullification of the Munich Agreement, which was promised to usher in “peace in our time”

not the stockholm syndrome: Swedish capital takes a stand on the privatisation of public spaces (previously), via Super Punch

暦:dioramist and art director Tatsuya Tanaka (previously) is sharing a daily calendar of his miniatures assembled from the everyday, via Nag on the Lake