day one-hundred thirty-two (13. 617)

Former staunch critic turned ally of Trump, the hawkish long term senator from South Carolina Lindsey Graham dies suddenly after a short unexpected illness, having recently returned from a trip to Ukraine and championing increased sanctions against Russia at the relatively young age of seventy-one for the gerontocracy, whilst the country has been awaiting news on the health of former senate leader Mitch McConnell, hospitalised for weeks with no explanation or sighting, fuelling speculation that the Kentucky senator is dead or effectively so. It’s not outside of the realm of possibilities that Graham was assassinated by a Russian agent—not so much for his stance but to spook Trump, already a target for the killing of Iran’s former Supreme Leader. It is believed that the developments on McConnell’s heath are being withheld until the statutory filing date to prevent Kentucky’s Democratic governor from calling a special election before the mid-terms, leaving the seat vacant, South Carolina’s Republican governor can appoint a replacement for Graham. Iran launches retaliatory strikes on US bases in Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain after the US conducts attacks on coastal radar site and air defence systems, America insisting that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened.

day one-hundred thirty-one (13. 613)

Ukraine nearly completely cuts off the annexed territory of the Crimean peninsula during the height of tourist season, whilst Russia targets Ukrainian cropland with incendiary bombs to destroy its grain harvest. The US launches a fresh wave of attacks as Iran announces that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and continues to strike as ships attempt to transit—American negotiators speaking for Iran the day prior, saying that the Revolutionary Guard Corps regretted targeting tankers and expressed a willingness to return to dialogue. Accused of enabling illegal settlement in Gaza and the West Bank, the EU moves to place restrictions on the export of building materials and construction equipment to Israel.  

day one-hundred twenty-nine (13. 606)

Funeral processions held across Iran and Iraq for the former ayatollah have concluded with Ali Khamenei entombed at the shrine of Imam Reza in Mashhad. US strikes destroy railway bridges, other infrastructure and hit near the Bushehr nuclear power plant. American commanders insist Tehran does not control the Strait of Hormuz though the situation looks to be the opposite. Foreign minister Abbas Araqchi increases efforts to garner international support against US adventurism with counterparts in Oman, Türkiye and Pakistan over renewed fighting and tensions trouncing the ceasefire arrangement and further stalling negotiations. Israeli defence minister Israel Katz prepares the military to reengage Iran if needed.

day one-hundred twenty-seven (13. 601)

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has targeted US bases in Kuwait and Bahrain in retaliation to American strikes against Iran following attacks on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Washington restores economic pressure on Tehran, curtailing exports. The NATO alliance annual leadership summit begins in Türkiye. Israeli settlers are emboldened to take more land in the West Bank ahead of Netanyahu’s reelection bid. Damascus is rocked by bomb blasts during a visit from Macron to Syria. Team USA out of the World Cup, bested by Belgium, after pressure scandal.

from vanity to insanity (13. 582)

The preliminary findings of a Democrat-led House subcommittee have been published in a report that the Trump administration staged a hostile takeover of America’s semiquincentennary celebration to promote political ideology, self-enriching pet projects, the harvesting voter data and white Christian nationalism through a shadow corporation embedded within the Nation Parks Foundation, which hijacked the agenda from the independent, non-partisan and non-profit commission established by congress in 2016 to plan and execute the event. Charted as a wholly owned subsidiary under the parks foundation charity for public remove, Trump’s Freedom 250 sustained a relentless pressure campaign against America250 to hijack the anniversary for personal enrichment through transparent fraud and dissimilitude and selling access to the president, his Praetorian guard given a bonus in lieu of overtime with crypto-coins issued by the family crime syndicate and the same firm that organised the January Sixth rally being awarded contracts for July Fourth related events. Meanwhile, after the supreme court affirmed birthright citizenship, the acting attorney general directed prosecutors and law enforcement officers to monitor pregnant non-citizens and to try to prevent them from giving birth on US soil and whilst attending the opening of the Teddy Roosevelt presidential library (skipping Obama’s) quizzed the AI-generated hologram of Old Rough and Ready about the Panama Canal and lied to the press, whom had just witnessed the exchange, about how it went.

day one-hundred nineteen (13. 569)

The US and Iran agree to halt tit-for-tat attacks once again (American central command refers to it as “kinetic activity”) and resume negotiations, both sides standing down and allowing free transit—in coordination with Tehran for safety’s sake. The IDF destroys a tunnel in southern Beirut it claims was used by Hezbollah for munitions storage just hours after a truce was called in Washington between Israel and Lebanon. Eliminated from the next heat, Iran’s national football team heads home. Russia fuel supply troubles have knock-on effects for Central Asia, exposing their dependence on Moscow. Strikes at the Pakistani-Afghan border intensify.

lightning round (13. 565)

Without even being disclosed as satire with its ultimate tired-not-wired entry being “Having a ‘funny’ back page,” this early example of ragebait from Wit’s End September 1995 issue is an interesting time capsule of opinion (facetious, cringe—crass in hindsight or otherwise) of what was trending nearly twenty-one years ago. There’s a lot going on with this listicle of what’s deemed overrated, some of which still have resonance, like gender ambiguity, anything called a Summerfest, all-you-can-eat shrimp, being the host city of the Olympics, town-meeting with elected officials, morphing, zines. Others just seem bizarre for their inclusion like Pliny the Elder and conversion to Islam whilst incarcerated, 1968—and others, disparaging the likes of the alums of the Harvard Lampoon or Absolutely Fabulous, which made me rather upset. Check out the Reddit post above and let us know what stuck out for you—and maybe do a wellness check on that year.

day one-hundred fourteen (13. 549)

US senate narrowly votes to halt conflict in Iran without congressional authorisation, though Trump is expected to veto the war powers resolution. The US president announces that IAEA nuclear inspectors will go to Iran at “an appropriate time”—Tehran countering the claims on commitments made earlier by Trump and Vance, whilst secretary of state Rubio maintains that Hormuz must remain toll-free as UN takes action to evacuate sailors stranded in the Strait. Russia puts the annexed territory of Crimea under lockdown as a swarm of drones approaches. Belarus strives to remain neutral after Kiev issues an ultimatum and warms of consequences.

day one-hundred thirteen (13. 543)

Keir Starmer tenders his resignation as prime minister and leader of Labour, following a series of political crises and rifts internal to the party over economic and immigration policy and election strategy after the success of conservative Reform UK in the general election. Starmer is expected to be replaced by Andy Burnham before the end of parliament’s summer recess. The Iran delegation leave Switzerland after a day of productive talks, with a sixty day waiver on oil sanctions granted and agreeing with the US in principle to a roadmap for peace, allowing the IAEA to inspect its nuclear facilities. With secretary of state, Rubio headed to the region to allay security fears, it remains unclear what US vice president Vance and special envoy Witkoff and Kushner have accomplished, the president’s son-in-law preoccupied with massive demonstrations in Albania over a planned property development deal that would damage fragile swampland and corruption in the government that acquiesced to this project in the first place. Sticking-points regarding Iranian restitution and possible conditions being placed on unfrozen assets also remain—though the negotiations have settled on an island of optimism that a final peace settlement could be in place by February.

day one-hundred twelve (13. 541)

Despite yesterday’s indefinite postponement and Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz over deadly strikes in Lebanon (American forces in the region dispute this claim saying ship traffic continues to flow), diplomatic delegations scrambled to reach Lucerne to begin formal talks. Trump publically admits that the US is is four-weeks away from an even more debilitating oil shock. The US team consisting of the same ineffectual members, Vance, Witkoff and Kushner, dispatched in a succession of negotiations that quickly spiralled into war is in attendance. Israel announced it refuses to withdraw from its security zone south of Beirut, neither side directly represented in the talks. Discussions are expected to carry on for days with side sessions addressing maritime security, but the main focus is on the sticking points of deescalation and Iran’s nuclear programme—the proposal presently being to not allow inspectors and to dilute the existing stockpile to well below weapon-grade. Fuel sales are suspended in Crimea after a wave of attacks by Ukraine on the illegally annexed territory.

addendum (13. 535)

Underwriter Lloyd’s of London intelligencer branch that tracks maritime shipping data reports that Tehran’s and Muscat’s newly created Persian Gulf Strait Authority are mandating that vessels transiting the Hormuz take out special coverage through government approved providers. This insurance requirement is regarded as a prelude to tolls, which is probably the least worst thing to come out of the stultifyingly bad grand deal of Trump’s— a nominal fee factored into the cost of doing business that would be passed along to the consumer but a tax we think anyone would happily pay in exchange that Trump and his minions don’t embark on more empire-building adventures with the tolerance, forethought and follow-through worse than a package tourist. Despite the ceasefire announced yesterday between Hezbollah and the IDF, strikes continue with dozens more dead in southern Beirut, pressuring Iran to take action and respond to what hardliners are calling a blatant violation of the MOU with Washington unable to reign in Israel, whose minister of national security declared that “all of Lebanon must burn.” Direct negotiations stalled with the US, Pakistani interior minister Mohsin Naqvi returns to Tehran for meetings with high level officials.

day one-hundred eleven (13. 534)

Unveiling the new Air Force One, a used Qatari 747 gifted to the US president, Trump will hold cabinet meetings at Camp David over the weekend (he’ll make the short trip to upper Maryland by Marine One) as peace talks with Tehran scheduled to begin in Switzerland have been postponed, having only gone to the disfavoured official retreat one other time during his second term to discuss ending the war in Gaza. Defending his diplomatic blunder which at best solves some of the problems he started with the war and gives away too much to Iranian, putting the US in a far weaker position, Trump says, “We didn’t negotiate out of desperation—Iran did, they’re done. We’ll go through sixty days. They won’t get any money, not even ten cents.” The paint job ordered for the capitol reflecting pool on the Washington DC ellipse, costing fourteen million dollars, to turn it “American flag blue” for America’s birthday celebration is chipping and algae blooms have turned it toxic green.

synchronoptica 

one year ago: camping opposite Chinon (with synchronoptica) 

two years ago: Ursula K Le Guin’s webpages plus assorted links to revisit

three years ago: the Stars On cover series, promotional marketing for 2001 plus article spinning

four years ago: the Glastonbury festival (1971) plus the formula for streaming series

five years ago: Germany consolidates its capital, wandering lonely as a cloud, the gap in the Watergate tapes, the V2 rocket plus a unique Olympic medal

six years ago: North Korean UNICODE, Cher does West Side Story plus Jaws (1975)

day one-hundred eight (13. 525)

As the G7 summit concludes, Trump lashed out at a media reports of the publication of a leaked copy of the MOU furnished by CNN—telling world leaders that Obama bribed his way to secure the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the 2015 plan these governments supported and were not pleased with the unilateral and ultimately violent withdrawal from) in order to deflect from the fourteen-point memo’s commitment for restitution and relief from sanctions, squandering whatever political capital and goodwill he had accrued by retreating from the war he started, spending unaccounted billions and causing the death of thousands to not achieve the objectives cited for the conflict—chiefly preventing Iran from building atomic weapons, which it was not doing in the first place but definitely sees the need for now. Rather than apologising or offering thanks to allies and mediators for their patience and suffering, Trump only strangely A much worse and more brittle settlement than the JCPOA, the White House had pledged to release the details prior to Friday’s signing ceremony at the Bürgenstock Resort above Lake Lucerne—the Qatari-owned property chosen for its remoteness—but we are unlikely now to get much of a preview, if privy to the terms at all, I thought though the leak prompted a partial read-out. Threatening to return to bombing if Tehran backslides, Trump admonished them to “behave,” repeating a line from early failed negotiations headed by the US vice president, “if it works out, I’m going to take the credit—if not, I am blaming JD,” Trump suggests he might he stick around to sign himself with Iranian counterpart Pezeshkian (update: which they did). Meanwhile, Hezbollah and the IDF continue to clash in Beirut (Netanyahu says he has not seen the document and has not asked); the IAEA approaches Kazakstan to potentially store Iran’s supply of enriched uranium as negotiations continue, though Iran now pledges to destroy its stockpiles through dilution—this truce only extends the ceasefire for sixty days—and the first tankers leave Iranian ports, the US blockade suspended.

day one-hundred six (13. 516)

After several tense hours when an IDF strike of the suburbs of Beirut looked to sabotage the entire negotiations—one Trump said shouldn’t have happened, “Let’s not blow it—Iran and the US reached a tentative peace settlement and approved the memorandum of understanding, to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the American blockade of Iranian ports. Some twelve billion dollars of frozen Iranian assets will be released, with Europeans insisting that sanction relief must be conditioned on de-nuclearisation. The MOU is scheduled to be signed in Geneva on Friday and at this juncture, de-mining operations will start to clear the waterway to ensure safe passage—and whilst world leaders hailed the return to status quo ante bellum as positive, market reactions were less enthusiastic than expected, with energy prices not expected to come down soon and more time needed to restore lines of distribution and refining. It remains unclear whether Tehran will be able to impose tolls on transiting vessels. The issue of enriched uranium has been tabled for now and Israel was not party to the talks and has not yet responded to the outcome. Questions also remain with respect to Lebanon and the Israeli occupation at the southern border. Although calling it a grand deal, the United States is in a significantly weaker strategic position than when they started the war, failing to achieve objectives laid out for beginning the joint conflict in the first place and not substantively different than what was agreed to under the Obama administration in 2015 and uncertainty remains how enduring this peace might be.

public law 119-98 (13. 503)

Concluding a record-breaking agency shutdown of one hundred fifteen days, with lawmakers withholding money from immigration and customs enforcement hoping to pressure the weaponised bureau to reform after the death of two American citizens, congress, by the slimmest of margins along party lines voted to fund ICE and its parent department of Homeland Security. Arguably worse and further reaching than the Democrats securing no concessions to curb the agency’s thuggery and predatory practises, however, is the way the legislation was passed: with negotiations deadlocked, the GOP moved to sideline the Democrats entirely, bypassing the usual funding process of annual appropriations that require department heads to submit their yearly budget request and argue it before the competent congressional committee—a process that guarantees more oversight on the part of lawmakers—and giving DHS a three-year budget package that will last through the end of Trump’s term, seventy-billion dollars, through a process called reconciliation, an expedited parliamentary procedure used primarily safeguard presidential policy priorities, like the Big Beautiful Bill or Biden’s environmental laws or domestic microchip production, but not to fund government programmes out of cycle from being dismantled by the opposition. The Secure America Act was sponsored by Senator Lindsey Graham and signed by Trump immediately upon passage. With only a vanishingly small majority in the House and Senate, more departments and activities favoured by Trump—or the next administration—under this precedent could turn to reconciliation to keep budgets unbeholden going forward and nullify the minority’s ability to leverage influence through a lapse of appropriations.

day one-hundred-one (13. 495)

Israeli defence forces order a forced evacuation of the southern Lebanese city of Tyre ahead of impending airstrikes, as Trump promises that a deal with Iran is close and the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened in two or three days. Meanwhile Hezbollah officials urge Beirut to forge closer ties with Tehran and exit US-sponsored peace talks, which the paramilitary political party regards as a surrender. The IDF and Iran have called a separate truce to the fighting, contingent upon Israel refraining from further incursions into Lebanon—as the US administration admits that whilst Washington and Tel Aviv have many shared goals for peace in the Middle East, interests diverge at points and Israel has its own agenda beyond preventing Iranian nuclear ambitions.

day ninety-three (13. 478)

Catching the US unaware, Tehran announces that Israeli incursions into Lebanon, representing a violation of the separate ceasefire, and suspends further peace talks. Per Trump’s agreement with Netanyahu, Israel will not send additional ground troops into Beirut though it appears that deployment against Hezbollah has already begun. Despite the armistice holding in name, America has targeted more Iranian radar stations whilst US bases in Kuwait remain under assault. Though there is no deal, Trump is seeking to make edits to the framework of a settlement.

day ninety (13. 471)

In a seemingly unending iteration of market manipulation and Friday-to-Monday pump-and-dump, though the administration has diluted and democratised hedging and insider trading by opening wagering to all grifters of any means, Trump’s announcement of a meeting in the White House Situation Room to extend the already broken ceasefire—neither side apparently willing to resume all out war over tit-for-tat exchanges at American’s provocation—is being hailed as an end to the standoff, despite the framework of an agreement, the memorandum of understanding being in the works for weeks already, sticking points still unresolved and US commitment to removing the naval blockade and the reopening of the strait (without tolls), giving up the stockpile of enriched uranium, reparations and the exuent of US troops from the region matters still under discussion. Hardly exciting or newsworthy, notwithstanding Trump’s caricaturisation of a homecoming moment, and concessions to Trump’s demands do not seem forthcoming, so long as Tehran can wait it out and there is some profit to be made at the margins—regardless of the expense to global economy and the Iranian people. An emergency session of NATO convenes after an errant Russian drone hits an apartment building in Romania.

11x11 (13. 450)

o’dark ocho: an interesting linguistic coincidence  

wildlife gusher: a mysterious structure found in the middle of nowhere—click through to read some delightful and illuminating explanations, via Miss Cellania  

thomas jerome newton: a rereading of the novel The Man Who Fell to Earth in preparation for a rewatch of the David Bowie film  

富くじ: Present /&/ Correct’s collection of Mid-Century Japanese lottery tickets—see also 

spook hotel: the de facto capitol of US administered Venezuela  

kleptocracy: Trump drops his ten billion dollar lawsuit agains his internal revenue service and department of commerce in exchange for a two billion dollar slush fund to award loyalists and exempt himself and associates from future tax audits—via Kottke  

œnology methodology: the study and enjoyment of wine—see previously  

special envoy: Trump sends governor of Louisiana to Greenland to make “friends”  

night nurse: the forgotten author Dora Macy behind the Barbara Stanwyck classic  

public health emergency of international concern: World Health Organisation declares west Africa outbreak of ebola viral haemorrhage fever highly dangerous with the US CDC still not allowed to communicate with the UN body  

cowcumbers: the courgette was previously called so as they were only considered fit for bovines

day seventy-nine (13. 441)

According to Amnesty International, the Iranian regime has executed a record number of dissidents this year, using the war as cover for sham trials of protesters. Saudi Arabia incepts drones coming from Iranian territory, whilst a strike seems to have started a fire at a nuclear power plant in the Emirates, in possible retribution for hosting secret meetings with Israeli leadership. Trump is losing patience as hardliners in Tehran look to sabotage any deal with the US, the fragile ceasefire unravelling. Waivers on Russian oil at sea are allowed to expire with American sanctions reimposed. Hezbollah deploys wired, fibre optic drones against the IDF, impervious to jamming and detection.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a revivalist Rosicrucian (with synchronopticæ) plus NYC’s Subway Sun

twelve years ago: ocular floaters, chameleon ivy plus outrageous baby names

thirteen years ago: German breads 

fourteen years ago: more on Greek sovereign debt 

fifteen years ago: know your allergens plus translations needing a second opinion  

seventeen years ago: moving house and home