america the unbeautiful (12. 316)

Guardian contributor Alexander Hurst, reflecting on a recent roadtrip with a friend from Washington, DC to New Orleans—in part retracing the path of Alexis de Tocqueville—presents a thoughtful travelogue that encapsulates the aesthetics of sprawl and alienation that informed the MAGA mindset—those without an internal moral compass—long before it came home to roost with the return of Trump. “Like fish in water, I wonder if Americans are even aware how they swim in it,” Hurst writes of the inuring indignities of suburban living—sold as a dream still despite the nightmare monotony, congestion and estrangement of off-ramp after off-ramp leading to “rectangle islands of stuff, surrounded by parking lots leading to other little islands.”

synchronoptica

one year ago: Sagrada Família (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: the origins of tempura, email for trees, Google’s Art Palette plus Expo '70

eight years ago: FOIA inspired cocktails plus next generation phreaking

nine years ago: Italy’s answer to absinthe plus the Butcher’s Broom

ten years ago: the Fourth Crusade

pocket veto (12. 308)

As of this posting (timestamps are important as we’ve gleaned from every episode of the NPR Politics podcast), the continuing resolution to keep the US government funded and in operation has yet to be signed into law by Trump. Normally a failure to endorse after a ten day period, de facto the bill becomes law, but the titular technicality occurs when the president cannot return the bill to congress because it is adjourned, as it is for Monday (Sundays also excepted)—and the language of the CR has the provision that for the purposes of the bill that the remainder of the fiscal year constitutes one congressional day (with no pro-forma members present to keep the legislature open) despite returning in session on Tuesday, meaning that deadline never arrives—an unusual proviso perhaps to hedge his bets. Something legally ambiguous that cannot be overridden that Trump could keep in his quiver to exercise at will, the GOP were perhaps expecting more resistance from the Democrats, which could explain the reversal of party leadership—with a shutdown, which is in effect, and solely owned by the Republicans.

the customer is always right (12. 307)

On this day in 1962, JFK delivered a speech before congress establishing four pillars of basic consumer rights, amid a backdrop of historic lack of recourse against deceptive claims and faulty products which led ultimately to corporate liability and lessening the burden of proof on the injured party of demonstrating negligence on the part of the manufacture or advertiser, enumerating: the right to safety, the right to be informed through clear and accurate labelling, the right to choice affected through anti-trust legislation and limits of patenting to control monopolistic practices and the right to be heard via voicing complaints and concerns—expanded to include the right to include access to basic and essential goods, the right of redress in the form of fair settlement, consumer education and the right to a healthy workspace. A decade later, the principles were formalised in the US Consumer Product Safety Commission working across a range of agencies, both domestic and international, and World Consumer Rights Day, observed on the anniversary of the original address since 1983, sponsored by the NGO that also publishes Consumer Reports.

u is for upper canada, where the poor slave have found rest after all his wanderings, for it is british ground (12. 302)

This 1846 hand-coloured primer was printed as an abecedary (see previously here and here) for the Philadelphia Anti-Slavery Fair, authored and distributed by a pair of activist Quaker sisters, Mary and Hanna Townsend, realising that change could only be affected by including the young before they were inculcated otherwise with racist and oppressive ideas handed down. This volume was conserved and shared by the State of Mississippi Department of Archives and History and the whole alphabet, the rhyming couplets are reflective of the time and a bit paternalistic but worth reading, is showcased courtesy of Kuriositas at the link up top. I is the Infant, from the arms / Of its fond mother torn, / And, at a public auction, sold / With horses, cows and corn.

 synchronoptica

one year ago: a psychoanalytic board game (with synchronoptica), Pi Day plus assorted links to revisit

seven years ago: celebrating the life and achievements of Stephen Hawking, the Norwegian Porridge Feud plus more praise for Professor Hawking

eight years ago: Trump’s rentier economy, more links to enjoy plus the thawing of the tundra

nine years ago: six-plus decades of space exploration, the making of 2001 plus the statues of Dublin

ten years ago: Iceland drops its bid to join the euro-market, even more links to revisit plus the digital attention deficit

pro tempore (12. 275)

Inaugurated on this day in 1853 (see below—public ceremonies were held on 4 March with a few exceptions when the date fell on a Sunday from 1793 until 1933), William Rufus DeVane King became the thirteenth vice president of the United States—serving until his death about a month later. Previously a representative from North Carolina (under the constitutional age requirement of twenty-five but attaining that age by the time congress convened and then sworn in), senator of Alabama and ambassador to France and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, King assisted in the drafting of the Comprise of 1850 and generally held moderate positions (insofar as possible for such things) on slavery and westward expansion, opposing secession while resisting efforts to abolish enslavement in the congressionally administered District of Columbia. Suffering from a bout of tuberculosis, which would summarily be his demise, King was in residence at a sanitarium in Matanzas Cuba at the time of transition and by dint of a special act of Congress was administered his oath there by a consular officer. King and subsequent successor to the presidency, James Buchanan, were able to survive the political scandal of their long-term homosocial and homosexual relationship, having lived together for thirteen years, despite being mocked publicly as Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy respectively by the Jacksonian camp. Shortly after the ceremony, King made his way back to Washington, expiring two days after his arrival, never having discharged any act in his capacity with the office remaining vacant until thr inauguration of Buchanan in 187, with John C Breckinridge, often summoned to the White House to speak with Harriet Lane, Buchanan’s niece and acting First Lady—one of eleven such designees but never a divorcee to service a bachelor or widower, an accomplished hostess, for private office with the president.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a televised version of the Star Wars saga with product placement (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Berlusconi returns 

eight years ago: pan to the right, Kellyanne Conway plus Türkiye takes a cue from MAGA

nine years ago: a trafficking board game plus a plant-identifying app

ten years ago: numeracy from The Simpsons, assorted links worth revisiting, executive functions plus the legacy of Bauhaus

ultra vires (12. 264)

US district judge William Alsup in San Francisco issued a decision that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) must rescind directives sent to some departments and agencies ordering them to fire employees serving under their probationary periods—that it was overreach on their part, illegal and “in no universe” can OPM direct other bureaus to hire or fire. Although the defence maintains that the memoranda did not constitute a direct order, the judge citing substantial evidence to the contrary from unions, media and personal accounts sided, after another case had been dismissed for want of standing, and petitioning for legal remedy and relief, believing those dismissed are likely to win on the merits of their case. The initial ruling, pending a later evidentiary hearing, is limited in scope, however, and only pertaining a few agencies, the Bureau of Land Management (park rangers), the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and subsequent to this decision, parts of government that layoff employees, not included among the defendants, are doing so of their own volition and not entangled by legal proceedings.

done a lot of foolish things, that i really didn’t mean (12. 260)

Honouring his musical hero on this day in 2009, US president Barak Obama invited Stevie Wonder to the
White House to bestow a Gershwin prize on the artist, a distinction from the Library of Congress for popular music and lifetime contribution, given in the tradition of the fraternal collaboration that produced Rhapsody in Blue and many other standards from the American Songbook. The first recipient was, with input from public broadcasters PBS and NPR, was Paul Simon with a gala performance in 2007 including Philip Glass, Alison Krauss, Grover and Elmo and Art Garfunkel. The below promise was a campaign song for Obama’s bid for presidency and he doubted whether their relationship would have been sustainable if they had not been mutual fans.

marbury v madison (12. 258)

In the aftermath of the fiercely contested US presidential election of 1800 (see previously), a three-way race among incumbent John Adams, Aaron Burr and Thomas Jefferson, with Jefferson ultimately winning with the electoral college by a very narrow margin. Once realising that they were unseated Adams and the Federalist party attempted to fill as many judicial vacancies as possible with loyalists and avowed “anti-Jeffersonians”—mostly circuit judges, during the last days in office. One of these appointees was a wealthy businessman and lawyer from Maryland, the plaintiff, William Marbury—nominees approved by the senate en masse. The new judges received their commissions and sworn in, however, for a few, it was not accomplished before inauguration day—including for Marbury—Jefferson instructing his secretary of state, James Madison, to withhold those commissions not yet delivered and declare them void. The ensuing lawsuit, elevated to the supreme court, was decided on this day in 1803, ruling that Marbury was legally entitled to his commission and withholding it was a violation of his rights—issuing a writ of mandamus and ordering the matter be remediated, but more over established the principle of judicial review, meaning that the courts have the power to strike down statues and legislation that run counter to the constitution, understood as the national codex and not just a statement of political ideas and aspirations and gives the judicial branch the responsibility to review the acts of the legislative and executive.

9x9 (12. 257)

johnny 5: artificial intelligence and inkblot tests—see previously  

hop-on, hop-off: a new train route through Central Europe allows passengers to visit cities at their own pace  

boone and wesson: the disturbing trend of aggressive baby names in the US—see also, see previously—via Miss Cellania

sixth-tenths of a letter: the depth of natural history visualised as pages in a book  

ok boomer: Chinese netizens’ approach to uncomfortable questions is reply at random (一都乱会, everything is chaotic, xīqiè dōu shì hǔnluàn de) and defuse intergenerational conflict 

bluelights in the basement: RIP Roberta Flack  

protect & survive: Shades another post-apocalyptic UK mini-series in the vein of Threads and The Day After Tomorrow

express limited: a collection of Showa-era Japanese gate entry tickets, a unique surcharge of the train system 

integrated information theory: Richard Dawkins (previously) chats with AI, asks it is it conscious

bullet points (12. 252)

As an encore to the stochastic terrorism being unleashed on the US federal workforce following thousands of probationary period employees being illegally fired and a milquetoast reception to the original threat of deferred resignation, DOGE (at the urging of Trump to ramp things up) has issued another mass-email on Saturday to some two million civil service employees requesting a list of five things that they accomplished this past week. Responses are due Monday at midnight with one’s supervisor courtesy-copied. Aside being unlawful, desperate and a sign of overplaying one’s hand, it’s agonising in regards of crafting an acceptable list and I am sure that far more time will be spend in commiseration and consultation on how to justify one’s work as an organisation, further taking away from productivity in the name of greater efficiency after a week of increased workload due to chronic understaffing, bidding a tearful farewell to those being purged, the chaos of the hiring freeze, manoeuvring the return-to-office mandate with inadequate desk space and general doom-scrolling about what comes next. If we are made to submit the bullet points, I am sure the follow-up abusive email will be a loyalty test, if the termination notices don’t come first. Not sure if mass non-compliance or malicious compliance is best but I can think of some recommended answers: “Supported and defended the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” or in the vein of wrong answers only “Did a DEI,” “spent forty-hours correcting maps and globes with a sharpie to read ‘Gulf of America,’” “Did a tonne of ketamine,” “Played golf and danced on stage with a chainsaw.”

conspicuous gallantry (12. 246)

On New Year 2021, the US senate established a commission to redesignate Department of Defence properties previously named in honour of Confederate army figures of the American civil war, including the military installation established in 1918 outside of Raleigh North Carolina as an artillery range, whose namesake General Braxton Bragg, also a veteran of the Mexican-American and Second Seminole War, was considered among the worst leaders and poor advisors to president Jefferson Davis of the break-away states and often cited by historians as a major contributor to the Confederacy’s ultimate defeat. The garrison was reflagged as Fort Liberty in the summer of 2022, at a cost of over six-million dollars. Last week, Secretary of Defence Hegseth issued a memorandum directing the army to rename Fort Liberty back to Bragg again—though not the original eponym but rather one PFC Roland Leon Bragg (among hundreds of suggestions from the public nominated to the committee during its initial commission), a paratrooper and mechanic in World War II, awarded a high commendation for commandeering a German ambulance during the Battle of the Bulge and rescuing a fellow soldier by getting him to a hospital in Allied Belgium. Neither the Pentagon nor the department of transportation have released estimates on the price tag of this switch and is telling typical of how this administration skirts congress and the law (plus the spirit of the change) by picking out an uncelebrated, obscure individual who did not have a Wikipedia page until the day of the announcement.

50501(12. 238)

In response to the unlawful and anti-democratic dismantling of the administrative state by DOGE and Elon Musk’s minions, costly disruption in the name of efficiency but aimed to roll back labour (return the spoils system) and civil rights, with the apparent carte blanche of Trump, organisers from all fifty states are holding fifty calls to action under one movement, protesting in solidarity with federal workers, eighty percent of whom have duty locations outside the capital. Occurring on the Presidents’ Day federal holiday after an initial illegal purge of civil service employees, the non-partisan rallies are calling for the removal of the unelected bureaucratic who has grabbed unfettered and compromising access to sensitive government databases and pay systems to further his pet project. 

synchronoptica

one year ago: a token of affection found in Gdańsk (with synchronoptica), the geography of the Moon, finding one’s centre plus assorted links worth revisiting

eight years ago: more links to enjoy 

nine years ago: Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory

ten years ago: even more links, herbal resources mapped, Finnish history, naming and shaming plus US restrictions on immigration

eleven years ago: Germany’s energy Autobahn

st valentine’s day massacre (12. 235)

The purge of US federal workers, beginning with employees serving their probationary period that started in earnest yesterday and continues through the Presidents’ Day long weekend, with the DOGE advisory panel—not a governmental entity and with only derived authority—summarily terminating large swaths of critical workers—not necessarily new to their departments and agencies but many perhaps merely promoted or reclassified within the past two years—arbitrarily and without cause from high- and lower-profile sections including the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, NASA, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Aviation Administration and Homeland Security to the National Nuclear Safety Administration and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, imperilling public safety, health, security and basic services across the country. Not only does this put the public at risk by handicapping safeguards, enforcement and disease and weather surveillance, eliminate the successor generation of scientists and educators in government roles and clear out decades of institutional knowledge and experience, the deletion of workers and agencies with flagrant disregard for procedure, collective bargaining agreements, contracts or labour rights is the onset of a constitutional crisis, the executive no longer respecting the separation of powers by failing to commit funds duly appropriated by the separate and coequal legislative branch for their express purpose—and just barely, so far, abiding by decisions from judges ordering pauses and offering up what speed-bumps they can muster. The US is witnessing the transformation into a dictatorship already in the dismantling of the administrative state, however, and it won’t take ignoring a lawful order to set it off, the regime openly threatening justices who would stand in its way and forwarding appeals to a supreme court solidly in support of its agenda and end-state. Elections have consequences and those polities that voted for this, to hurt Black and Brown people and everyone else—as well as businesses that donated and lobbied—should brace for impact as the first to feel the brunt of their support. It is difficult to say if they can connect the causation or even if there might still be a chance for future reform.

fork in the road (12. 192)

Trump, through the Office of Personnel Management, extended an invitation to the two-million strong US federal workforce for a deferred resignation with retention of pay and benefits, by hitting reply (or reply-all) to the email with the text “resign,” through the end of September, the fiscal year, by next Thursday. The offer for essentially seven months of paid administrative leave is in align with the DOGE agenda to reduce the number of government employees (one virtually unchanged since the 1980s but supplemented through contracted jobs) and push out those disloyal to Trump’s politics. The email goes on to detail the pillars of reform, as outlined in the flurry of executive orders issued on day one of the administration as promoting a return to one’s physical office and ending telework—though many remote workers have no office to return to and there’s an economic argument to be made for home-office since utilities are borne by the employee and not the government—a culture of performance, a more streamlined and flexible manpower—which seems to run counter to the first pillar—and enhanced standards of conduct. For those who wish to remain, OPM extended its gratitude for renewed focused on serving the American people but could not give full assurance regarding the future of their positions or agency, with plans of restructuring, realignment and relocation as well as the reclassification of civil servants to strip some labour protections. The mass-email shares the same subject line as the ultimatum that Musk gave to Twitter staff after buying the social media platform, hoping force out those who didn’t share his mission, vision and goals, and offered a parachute of three months of severance pay—numerous workers quitting in droves and never receiving the promised pay package. Many federal workers, congressional opposition and unions were sceptical of this offer—noting the real estate developer’s penchant to stiff contractors and renege on deals after work was completed and questioning the legality of such a proposition, coming hours after Trump wrested the power of the purse away from congress by ordering the impoundment of grant and loan programmes, domestically and abroad (see above), pending a compliance review. Such a coerced purging of the “deep state” (see below) would potentially gut many agencies which the public depends on for safety and services—“national security” positions are exempt but not well defined.

  synchronoptica

one year ago: Desert Island Discs (with synchronoptica) plus Plato’s Gorgias

seven years ago: reforesting Iceland, artist Alexandra Dillon, illustrator Gary Taxali plus IKEA founder passes away

eight years ago: a US government hiring freeze, ransomware plus purges at the US state department

nine years ago: assorted links to revisit, forty things turning forty plus the human chin

ten years ago: EU disunity plus early photoshopping

senate select committee (12. 188)

Created on this day fifty years ago by a vote of eighty-two to four in the US upper house of congress, sponsored and chaired by namesake, Democrat senator Frank Church of Idaho, the bipartisan group charged with investigating various allegations of abuse and overreach of the CIA, the NSA, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service as the opening of a series of such inquiries earning the monicker for 1975 as the “Year of Intelligence,” whose findings resulted in the establishment of a permanent panel on espionage and reconnaissance. Among the more shocking revelations were of the existence of MKULTRA, involving unwitting citizens in mind control experiments, operations that infiltrated political, pacifist and civil-rights organisations, dragnet domestic spying abetted by telecommunication providers and Family Jewels, a covert programme that targeted foreign leaders for assassination, many of these projects uncovered by the press though the government agencies maintained plausible deniability and the the public was unaware of the full scope of them.

Published in six volumes the following April, the recom-mendations led to a presidential executive order banning the killing of foreign leaders (like with pictured dart gun loaded with shellfish toxin, as an untraceable and lethal weapon) issued by Ford and reaffirmed by Carter and Reagan (watch the numbering—they are sequential and skipping a few means it is classified, starting with EO 14147) and the publication of an NSA watch list that included activists, journalists, actor and Church himself. After briefing before congress (testimony was not unauthorised by the Ford administration’s advisors), Senator Church appeared on the news programme Meet the Press (previously)—discussing No Such Agency without mentioning it by name, warned:

In the need to develop a capacity to know what potential enemies are doing, the United States government has perfected a technological capability that enables us to monitor the messages that go through the air… Now, that is necessary and important to the United States as we look abroad at enemies or potential enemies. We must know, at the same time, that capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left: such is the capability to monitor everything—telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.

If this government ever became a tyranny, if a dictator ever took charge in this country, the technological capacity that the intelligence community has given the government could enable it to impose total tyranny, and there would be no way to fight back because the most careful effort to combine together in resistance to the government—no matter how privately it was done, is within the reach of the government to know. Such is the capability of this technology…

I don’t want to see this country ever go across the bridge. I know the capacity that is there to make tyranny total in America, and we must see to it that this agency and all agencies that possess this technology operate within the law and under proper supervision so that we never cross over that abyss. That is the abyss from which there is no return.

franklin mint (12. 182)

Via fellow peripatetic and internet caretaker Messy Nessy Chic, we are directed towards the first officially circulated coin of the United States, known as the Fugio cent, purportedly designed by Benjamin Franklin owning to its similarity to his earlier continental dollar coin, struck as samples for potential currency but never put into circulation. Minted in 1787, the obverse features a sundial with the common Latin dictum “I fly”for such installations (see previously) and the English adage to “mind your business,” referring to being attentive to one’s budget and household. The reverse is decorated with thirteen chain links, representing the colonial states (see also) with the third motto of “We are One”—transitioning back to the Latin of “E pluribus unum” of the Great Seal of the US. A horde of several thousand of these pennies was discovered at the Bank of New York in 1926 and given out as souvenirs to clients until the intervention by the American Numismatic Society two decades later, recognising their historical and colletable value and the remaining sixteen-hundred remained together.

american carnage 2 (12. 166)

Don’t visit the official White House website. It’s been thoroughly trumpified already…

crowd size (12. 196)

Marking the fiftieth US presidential inauguration, the second swearing-in of Ronald Reagan and deputy George H W Bush was, due to inclement weather conditions, a televised ceremony inside the capitol rotunda, organisers compelled to curtail the public event over sub-zero temperatures, cancelling parades and other fanfare. A repeat ceremony was held the next day in the venue of the Capital Centre basket ball stadium in the Maryland suburbs with attendance of the replacement event in the thousands as compared to the ninety-six that had shown up for the first one. High school bands that had travelled to DC to perform were rescheduled for a Memorial Day march held at Disney’s EPCOT theme park attended by Reagan.

synchronoptica

one year ago:Australia in infrared (with synchronoptica) plus epigraphic letters

 

seven years ago: US government shuts down due to a lapse in appropriations, “Things that Weaken the American” plus more nostalgia for the early internet

eight years ago: updating the chain of command portrait wall plus assorted links worth revisiting

nine years ago: the archetypal wild man, space blossoms plus more links to enjoy

ten years ago: unpegging the Swiss franc plus Japanese onomatopoeia

constitiuent political entity (12. 167)

We enjoyed this rather mind-blowing rundown of singular and obscure facts about each of America’s fifty states, trivia that stands out as improbable and due to the absence of citations (helpfully there are timestamps with smooth transitions that index each), though apparently one-hundred percent, unequivocally true, nonetheless compels one down rabbit holes, like for Nebraska’s standout detail (do you know anyone from there? A work colleague introduced herself with “I’ll bet you’ve never met anyone from Nebraska”) in the village of Monowi, supposedly named after an unidentified Native American term of wildflower for their profusion, which is the only incorporated area in the US with one resident, differential privacy enacted for the 2020 census reported that the population had doubled but this was confirmed to be a form of noise, a buffer to protect the privacy of an easily identifiable individual. The sole resident, mayor and chief librarian maintains the five-thousand volume collection of her late husband and it her capacity as the municipal government, has granted herself a liquor license to operate a tavern for passers-through on the premises. What’s your home state’s niche fact? Which one is your favourite? The array of geographical expanses were also interesting and counterintuitive. The video presentation is thirty-minutes and fifty seconds long, referencing the number of the original colonies and the number of states. Let’s hope they give this treatment to the EU next.

room s-216 (12. 161)

Even in the era of modern travel, no United States presidential inauguration ceremony have been attended by foreign heads of state, an honour or onus accorded to the respective diplomatic corps of embassies by tradition. While RSPVs are still pending for this sixtieth event invitees include the Chinese president Xi, El Salvadorian president Nayib Bukele, Georgian president Salome Zourabichvilli, Argentine president Javier Milei as well as Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, Benjamin Netanyahu and AFD party co-chair Alice Weidel have been invited—the office of Olaf Scholz confirming the chancellor’s presence was not requested. Russian spokesmen acknowledge the same for Putin. While Trump says he also did not invite Zelenskyy, but would welcome him if the Ukrainian president showed up. After the public administering of the oath of office and address at noon on the steps of the Capitol, the president will withdraw to the Capitol’s President’s Room for a portrait and to sign transition documents. The ornate chamber was added in 1859 as a hot-desk in the senatorial wing as an office of convenience for the president to sign last minute legislation into law at the end of a congressional session and for the upper chamber to discharge its constitutional responsibilities when it comes to advising on treaties and nominations. Once executive terms became staggered with respect to congress in the 1930s, this formal function was rendered effectively obsolete and only has seen occasional use by the commander-in-chief, presently a venue for senate press-conferences and granted supreme court chief justices during the impeachment trials of Clinton and Trump. Before Trump’s 2017 waiving the waiting period for former military officers to serve in the cabinet that allowed retired Marine Corps General James Mattis’ nomination to be approved, the room was last used for its intended purpose in the Johnson administration for signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965.