day thirty-nine (13. 325)

Though loath to give regular updates to the press outside of social media posts and interviews with softball outlets, Trump and Hegseth held a second briefing since the war began with twenty-four hours to go until his ultimatum for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, seemingly unbothered about the consequences for the Middle East and broader worldwide economy to include potential for war crimes for wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure—dismissing the notion with whataboutism and saying having a nuclear weapon is a war-crime. Israeli Defence Forces are warning Iranians to avoid train travel, not waiting for Tuesday’s cut-off. Trump also used the occasion to reiterate his displeasure with NATO and allies in the Far East for their lack of help. Tehran rejected an earlier proffered forty-five day ceasefire, saying it wants a permanent resolution and guarantees that it won’t be attacked again, plus a withdrawal from Lebanon. The UN will revisit a modified proposal to patrol the vital waterway, short of military intervention. Alone in Iraq after other peacekeeping forces left, a dozen US soldiers are injured in an attack on a forward operating base in Erbil.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a 1933 law to restore the professional civil service (with synchronopticæ) plus Trump checked by investor uncertainty

thirteen years ago: honouring the service of small, disposable things, barge-camping plus East German electronic keyboards

fifteen years ago: more on Germany’s Energiewende 

sixteen years ago: concerns over CERN coming online 

seventeen years ago: Sarah Palin given another platform 

 

the soiling of old glory (13. 321)

The Pulitzer prize winning image, captured on this day in 1976 by Boston Herald photographer Stanley Forman, who was the only recipient to be awarded the honour consecutively also for his Fire Escape Collapse, depicts a violent assault during the Massachusetts capital’s desegregation crisis of public schools. From a series of protests and counterdemonstrations in front of city hall, the image depicts professor, defence attorney and civil rights activist Ted Landsmark being attacked by a teenager named Joseph Rakes with a swinging flagpole as opposed to a joust from the angle of the photograph. Rakes was convicted for assault with a deadly weapon and carries the stigma of being known as “the flag kid,” and Landsmark, narrowly avoiding being seriously injured parlayed the incident, the scene widely publicised, to highlight racial tensions in the region and was later hired by the mayor to improve outreach and workforce development opportunities.

synchronoptica

one year ago: First Contact (with synchronopticæ) plus a font based on the typeface on the almighty dollar

twelve years ago: Emoji Nation, recent additions to the French lexicon, little big world plus an aerial archaeological survey of German landscapes

thirteen years ago: miniature dioramas 

fourteen years ago: cyber security 

sixteen years ago: enhanced pat-downs 

day thirty-six (13. 320)

Permanent members of the UN security council France, Russian and China have rejected the Bahraini proposal for military intervention to reopen the Strait of Hormuz as some ships are granted safe passage, including Japanese and French flagged vessels—unclear what negotiations are taking place. Tehran rejects a US request for a forty-eight hour Easter armistice as a rescue mission is underway for the pilot of a crashed advanced F-35 E fighter jet that originated from RAF Lakenheath brought down in Iranian territory by a missile. Following a massive joint US-Israeli airstrike on the campus of Iran‘s premier university, Trump reminds that time is running out on his extended ultimatum, promising that unless shipping lanes are restored ”all hell will rain down on them—glory be to God!“

synchronoptica

one year ago: music from the Meat Department collective (with synchronopticæ), assorted links worth the revisit plus an appreciation of Bob Fosse

thirteen years ago: camouflage for facial identification 

fourteen years ago: taxation treaties plus a solution for the eurozone currency crisis

fifteen years ago: the toll of unemployment 

moot court (13. 314)

The first for a sitting US president, Trump will attend oral arguments as the supreme court holds a hearing on a lower court ruling that struck down his executive order limiting birthright citizenship (see previously here and here). The appeal, if upheld and overruling the earlier verdict, will upend the established view that under the fourteenth amendment to the constitution, all individuals are conferred US citizenship regardless of the status of their parents whom are born on US soil. Though unclear whether his attendance will intimidate the justices and put a thumb on the scales but we can presume to know what Trump’s objective is. Previously, the president had entertained attending a hearing which ultimately ruled his reciprocal tariff scheme illegal but decided against it, saying it would be a distraction. The case on today’s docket won’t be decided likely until the early summer but this preliminary session will shape the trajectory of the arguments. Much more at the links above.

day twenty-two

Very much on brand with garbage modus operandii, Trump announces that he is considering ”winding down“ war with Iran after having destroyed world order, despoiling the climate further and severely disrupted the global economy, having accomplished nothing positive. One good that may come out of all this, aside from the realignment eschewing American dominance and trust may be that the international community is finally pushed away from petroleum once and for all and embraces in earnest green energy.

The US administration signls drawdown as more troops and battleships head to the Middle East, possibly in support of a publicised bit of war-gaming to capture and occupy Iran’s Kharg Island and/or undertake an even more daunting task of confiscating Iran‘s remaining stocks of enriched uranium. Regardless of what America does, Iran does not seemed poised to let go of its greatest bit of leverage--even more important than the vital water route--in simply refusing to surrender as it continues to target US outposts, host nations and collaborators, firing missiles as far away as Diego Garcia and threatening terror attacks on tourist destinations worldwide.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the physics of pasta (with synchronopticæ), Musk to brief Pentagon on China, assorted links worth revisiting, tv feeds from all over the world plus a supposed secret offer for the US to join the Commonwealth

twelve years ago: the West threatens to sanction Russian oil 

thirteen years ago: off-world prospecting 

fourteen years ago: radio silence plus no pie for you

drôle de guerre (13. 277)

Though punctuated with sanctions on Nazi Germany and naval blockades, the eight-month period from the invasion of Poland up until the evacuation Dunkirk was referred to the title (en française) by the press or the Phoney War (also Sitzkrieg auf deutsch—earlier in British papers as the “Bore War” though the Americanism came to be preferred so as not to confuse with the Boer War barely a generation removed) for its notable lack of military action on the part of the Allied forces in response, despite extensive war-gaming and drawing up battle plans that became obsolete as Germany continued its expansion with the invasion of France and the Low Countries and the Soviets attacked Finland, hoping that negotiations would lead to peace and appeasement. Allegiances strained and uncoordinated in the current situation prosecuted by US and Israeli forces against Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the reluctance of America’s allies to materially support an offensive campaign peddled in no way to the Gulf states nor partners is understandable and even advisable—given that the foreign policy catastrophe came at a substantive juncture of negotiations between the US and Iran in Geneva and a nuclear deal seemed within reach, talks progressing in the final stages that could have averted conflict that was by no means imminent or inevitable. Whether coerced or bored deal-making, Trump chose violence with global repercussions with no clear off-ramp, as a consequence that was far from unpredictable the world is stymied between TACO and the strategic deficit captured by eighteenth century Prussian military theorist Karl von Clausewitz’ adage that the adversary gets to vote, objectives however poorly defined unmatched by defiance resistant to might.

day twenty (13. 276)

Following an Israeli airstrike on the Iranian south natural gas field, Tehran retaliated with more attacks on energy infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf states including Kuwait and Qatar—prompting Trump to threaten to “massively blow up” the rest of the damaged reservoir. Whilst the US administration denies any foreknowledge of the Israeli plan, sources tell the press it was coordinated and approved by Trump as leverage to re-open the Strait of Hormuz, which when the fighting pauses, Iran proposes a transit fee, like for the Panama Canal. Saudi Arabia is contemplating a military response to the constant volley of missiles and drones on its territory. Fuel prices continue to climb, jumping by as much as forty percent in Europe.

synchronoptica

one year ago: the MAGA aesthetic (with synchronopticæ), Sweet Georgia Brown (1925) plus assorted links worth the revisit

twelve years ago: conspiratorial thinking 

thirteen years ago: springtime rituals plus debating de-extinction

fourteen years ago: more on sovereign defaults 

seventeen years ago: Malagasy names 

day sixteen (13. 267)

Rebuffing calls from allied Gulf states under attack for their hosting of American assets (materiel and business interests declared legitimate targets and intimating that some strikes are being carried out covertly by US and Israeli aggressors) for ceasefire negotiations, Trump rejects talks outright saying that Iran is demanding too much and expresses surprise that the conflict spread, insisting again he has decimated the oil export hub of Kharg Island and may destroy more facilities for target practise. US federal communications commission chair has accused media outlets of putting out fake news and hoaxes regarding the special operation and threatens to take away their broadcasting licenses unless they correct course. Separately, the Pentagon announces a major overhaul for the journalistically independent military newspaper Stars and Stripes, labelling it a “woke distraction.”People are being arrested for posting images of war damage in the Emirates and elsewhere. Formula One grand prix scheduled for Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in April have been cancelled as the Iraqi national team prepares to travel to Mexico for play-offs for the upcoming World Cup, FIFA ignoring overtures to call off the North American venue. The Iranian national women’s soccer team withdraw their applications for asylum in Australia and plan to return home. The supplies of anti-ballistic missile interceptors continue to dwindle. Ukraine says Russia is replenishing drones. Switzerland denies request by the US for fly-over rights. Over eight hundred civilians have been killed in Lebanon by Israeli bombardment.

synchronopticon

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronopticæ), the four pillars of consumer rights plus veto through inaction

twelve years ago: everyday objects rendered useless 

fourteen years ago: impressions from Prague plus UAVs in warfare

fifteen years ago: buried news and hidden connections 

 

they’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for forty-seven years—and now, i, as the forty-seventh president of the united states of america am killing them (13. 263)

Speaking earlier with Fox News, Trump referenced the 1979 Iranian revolution without mention of the US undermining efforts towards democratic reform and echoed previous ambitions announced a few days prior of “hitting the country very hard” and to “watch what happens to these scumbags.”

During a wide-ranging and cringe-inducing press conference, US secretary of war Pete Hegseth, among other topics—including remarks that the press was not delivering good headlines for this special operation and that David Ellison couldn’t take over CNN soon enough, War Widening should be Iran Shirking, Iran Going Underground—questioned Mojtaba Khamenei’s ability to govern, given his public absence since being appointed the Supreme Leader, saying without evidence that the ayatollah’s son was likely wounded and disfigured in the same air attack that took out the family compound. On this day of al-Quds march ( روز جهانی قدس , Jerusalem Day)—observed annually on the last Friday of Ramadan in support of Palestinian statehood, president Masoud Pezeshkian, took part in seeming defiance in response to Hegseth’s comments that all leadership was in hiding, whilst Israel announced funded for militias in eastern Gaza to oust Hamas through clandestine raids and abductions deep within the beleaguered territory and UN secretary general Antonio Guterres travelled to Beirut in solidarity, calling on Israel and Hezbollah to halt the fighting that has engulfed the country in violence without respect to the sovereignty of the populace.

day fourteen (13. 260)

The US has temporarily waved sanctions for Russian crude and for oil in tankers stranded at sea, unable to pass through the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman, reiterating the plan to provide naval escorts. Meanwhile oil producing states in the region are contemplating pausing production with limited land-storage capacity and no ships to fill, with the process of restarting drilling not as simple as turning the spigot back on. İncirlik NATO airbase came under fire and is in lockdown and smoke billows over the financial centre of Dubai. A US refuelling plane was downed in Iraqi airspace and a rescue operation for the five crew members is underway, whilst there are also discussions to move anti-missile systems, running in short supply, from South Korea to the Middle East to protect American assets. Preliminary investigations into the bombing of a girls’ school in Minhab puts the blame on American misfiring and faulty intelligence. Historical Safavid-era buildings of the Ali Qapu and Rashk palaces in Isfahan province were destroyed by joint US and Israeli airstrikes as devastating assaults continue in Beirut.

synchronoptica

one year ago: spiritual boxes (with synchronopticæ) plus vintage Czech record sleeves

thirteen years ago: fiscal planning 

fourteen years ago: help for Japan in the Fukushima aftermath 

seventeen years ago: pot o’ gold 

 

8x8 (13. 255)

should make you think: the Ig Noble commitee and ceremony (see previously) moves to Zürich permanently out of fear for its international laureates coming to the US  

multisource authentication: the madding task of logging on to any platform, ostensibly for security reasons, also is unpaid labour to train AI  

ʰ-bomb: a typographical mystery surrounding one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most celebrated sacred spaces—via MetaFilter  

asterisms: learn about the night sky by creating one’s own constellations with Neal Agarwal (previously)  

saint-michel d’aiguihe: the chapel of St Michael of the Needle built atop a volcanic plug and has a secret reliquary—via Miss Cellania    

diacritics: kernels, ʻokinas and curly quotes 

short imagined monologues: the void would very much like you to stop screaming into it—see also  

rebel alliance: Minnesota’s badge of resistance to ICE terror

day eleven (13. 250)

Describing the assault as a “short-term excursion” and ahead of schedule, Trump announced, after speaking with Vladimir Putin, that the war on Iran would end very soon, vacillating from earlier projections that it could go on for several weeks, but how soon depended on Tehran, refusing to say whether the new Supreme Leader was a target for assassination, as Israel has declared. Australia grants asylum to members of the women’s national football team stranded after the Asian Games. Air raids in Beirut continue and in the Iranian capital, targeting civilian infrastructure. Syria signalled support to Lebanon for the disarmament of Hezbollah and massed troops on their shared border. NATO defences in Türkiye have intercepted a second missile entering its airspace, deploying jets to protect Cyprus as the RAF patrols over Jordan.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more from artist Len Lye (with synchronopticæ), art vandalism as protest plus erasure of the Black Lives Matter street mural

thirteen years ago: a papal conclave plus a souvenir from the Canary Islands

sixteen years ago: complaints and compliance plus dwindling attention spans

seventeen years ago: Americans’ fear of socialism 

the shield of the americas (13. 242)

As war continues to rage in the Middle East—Trump promising to unleash unseen devastation on Iran after Tehran’s gesture of contrition for misfiring on its neighbours as a sign of weakness and imminent surrender, though the apology didn’t really signal a real change in tactics with exceptions for American assets and which may make it their eyes data centres legitimate targets, Amazon cloud services severely depreciated after servers in Bahrain were damaged—the US president is hosting a summit with like-minded leaders from Central- and South America at his Doral golf resort outside of Miami, also the venue slated for the G20 later this year. Leaders from Bolivia, Chile, the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Honduras, Paraguay and strangely given Trump’s threats over control of the canal Panama are scheduled to attend. Not invited to are three of the hemisphere’s largest economies in Brazil, Colombia and México and neighbours to the north over ideological differences as Trump tries to rally support for his Donroe Doctrine and sphere of influence among a cohort of the apparent willing whom have joined the alliance (see also) with a multinational military cooperative to counter cartels and organised crime, spearheaded by Kristi Noem. After the kidnapping of the Venezuelan president and affecting a hollow regime change, leading up to the event, Trump told the press that Cuba was on the brink of collapse and were actively negotiating for a reprieve from the crippling embargo imposed by the US, intimating that secretary of state Rubio—Lil Marco as Trump referred to him during their 2016 presidential runs, the son of Cuba immigrants, would be the country’s viceroy, a prize he has always strived for. Afterwards Trump jets off to Dover Air Force base to receive the dignified transfer of the bodies of US soldiers killed so far.

7x7 (13. 235)

back alley: the Canadian (purported) regionalism laneway and its distinctions—see also  

butterfly net: a magnetic mount turns insect encounters into digital entomological specimens  

mctuscan heaven: a spectacular Garage Mahal—see previously  

special envoy for the shield of the americas: Trump reassigns Kristi Noem from DHS secretary in first major personnel shake-up of his second term  

＊: following its refusal to compromise its ethics rules on autonomous weapons with no human involvement, Pentagon declares Anthropic a supply-chain risk—see also  

hypercard: more hypermedia projects from Apple’s development kit that predated the World Wide Web, including an emulation of Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies—see previously  

from cork to kingston: politician’s speech is a linguistics lesson in the influences of colonialism

day five (13. 230)

Though there are disputed claims about the breadth of the US-Israeli dominance of the region with Iran stating it retains control of the Strait of Hormuz and Trump saying there are no enemy vessels in the waters, their naval power obliterated and offering US carriers as escorts for tankers, the belligerent spectacle seems beyond reproach with double the shock-and-awe campaign of the opening volleys of the 2003 Iraq war, hitting some two-thousand targets in Iran with over fifty thousand troops deployed and two hundred aerial assets launched from two carrier groups. Bombing continues in Beirut as Iranian missiles hit the Qatari Al Udeid base, the largest American presence in the Middle East. France is also sending its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier from the Baltics to the Mediterranean to safeguard its interests. Meanwhile the casus belli is still unclear with regime change being walked back and Trump expressing a desire to install some one from the current government into a leadership role—as with Venezuela—though admitting that they have killed most of the line of succession and there’s less emphasis for popular revolution and the narrative shifting from preemptive attacks under pressure by Israel to defensive countermeasures that Iran was going to fire the first shot, the inimical fog of war recently cited in attacks on trawlers in the Caribbean. Though most of Iran’s missiles and drones have been intercepted, Kiev offering to send its effective anti-drone nets to the region, markets and economies are yet in turmoil with no end in sight.  Airstrikes continue on Tehran as preparations are made for the late Ayatollah’s funeral and the expert assembly readies to appoint his son, Mojtaba Khameni, as the new Supreme Leader—Israeli avowing to assassinate whomever is put into the role.

synchronoptica

one year ago: US vice president Rufus DeVane King (with synchronopticæ) plus more on the Triadic Ballet

twelve years ago: world time zones diverging from true solar time 

thirteen years ago: over-apostrophisation 

preventative strikes (13. 219)

Amid ongoing talks, in which Trump expressed his displeasure with the situation, arguing that Tehran was not “negotiating in good faith” and a massive build up of US naval and air assets in the region, Israeli defence forces have launched attacks, targeting several ministries in the capital and in multiple cities. Provoked, we are sure how this will play out—with retaliation on Tel Aviv, giving the Americans the excuse to intervene militarily, an option that the administration refused to rule out. Thirty-three minutes later, Trump announces “major combat operations” in Iran, accusing them of trying to restart its nuclear programme.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a wall of sound audio sampler (with synchronopticæ) plus a diplomatic melt-down in the Oval Office

twelve years ago: Johnny Fedora and Alice Blue Bonnet 

thirteen years ago: fractured futures plus the Day of Unplugging

fifteen years ago: the grammar of emoticons plus the economic states of Iceland and Ireland

sotu (13. 208)

Speaking for nearly two hours and maintaining a triumphant tone despite economic and geopolitical realities and protests within the chamber from Democrats and their eventual walk-out en mass, Trump’s record-setting for the longest state of the union address claimed that he had successfully rebuilt the country that his predecessor, Joe Biden, had managed to destroy in four short years—“a turnaround for the ages”—with a series of surprise cameos supposedly representing the American spirit. “Our country is winning again—in fact, we’re winning so much that we really don’t know what to do about it.” The refreshingly succinct rebuttal, the official response delivered by the opposition in a tradition going back to 1966, was delivered from a television studio offsite by newly elected Virginia governor Abigail Spanberger, simply asking, “Is the president working for you?” The only disappointment counter to his narrative that was mentioned was the recent decision of the supreme court that ruled that most of Trump’s tariff regime was illegal with the war in Ukraine only garnered a passing acknowledgment without recognition of the four-year anniversary and no reference was made of the Minnesota ICE protests and deaths, nor the Epstein files nor Greenland, nor Cuba though there was much sabre-rattling over Iran and having “received” Venezuelan oil, further glutting global oversupply. Read more fact-checking (also here) of what was said from NPR at the link up top.

7x7 (13. 205)

merrie melodies: Turner Movie Classics (TMC) has acquired Looney Tunes and will begin pairing the animated shorts with the main features from Warner Brothers studios as they were originally shown in theatres  

el mencho: Mexico deploys thousands of troops to quell violence after death of cartel boss 

taco tuesdays: Trump global tariffs come in at a lower ten percent rate 

there’s no grace period so that’s a way in which i see us losing the interstitial: arguments for deplatforming oneself 

slava ukraini: Zelenskyy’s address to the nation on the fourth anniversary since the Russia invasion, extending an invitation to Trump to see who the real aggressors are  

i’m sorry but you can’t just name a weather event bombogenesis: tracking the winter storm slamming the North American eastern seaboard and other news 

all ages: the concert archive of Lynn Fisher—via Waxy

synchronoptica

one year ago: the Ukraine war enters its fourth year (with synchronopticæ), assorted links worth the revisit plus Marbury v Madison

twelve years ago: revolutionary plaza plus positive psychology

thirteen years ago: Freistaat Flaschenhals plus the waning potency of pesticides

fifteen years ago: arch villains  

sixteen years ago: spending priorities 

supercluster (13. 178)

Though finding PfRC’s rather standoffish and neglected handle, via Web Curios, in the vast undifferentiated Bermuda Triangle between the Creative Portfolios Gallery, the Canadian Nature & Arts Scatter and the Geometry Dash Arena, given our level of engagement with the platform and only occasionally checking-in, we’re not surprised our granularity hasn’t coalesced around a larger group. Not sure what kind of data connections feed these nodes and nebulae (see also for some more online geocaching) but certain those profiles more active on the site have found their niche and those they identify with—and whilst more interaction might shift one to the Highlands of Resistance or the Vale of Swedish Progressives or the German Antifa Expanse, there are social media bubbles topologically, cosmologically grouped (some mixed metaphors for invented topolects), enclaves and Twitter exodus exclaves but, thankfully no charted lands as refuges for toxic tribalism, shitposters and reply guys. Plug in your name and check out this map of Bluesky and get to know what’s in your local neighbourhood and constellation. Hopefully the network effect has taken hold and free exchange, journalism, fandom can be taken back from moribund and algorithmic platforms.

under destruction (13. 173)

The annual Munich Security Conference (previously), hosted in the city’s Hotel Bayerischer Hof, attendees fresh from informal talks held at the castle Alden Biesen in Belgium’s Limburg province, opens today with remarks from former German ambassador to the US and MSC chair Wolfgang Ischinger and Bavaria leader Markus Söder, warming up with a bit of a quip, exclaiming what happens in Davos doesn’t need to stay in Davos and donning a pair of aviator style sunglasses like those sported by Emmanuel Macron, but the comic relief quickly turned more serious in the milieu of “global insecurity” and challenged trans-Atlantic ties, stressing allies should be accorded respect and treated as partners—though pointedly welcoming the American delegation and US secretary of state, slated to address the conference on Saturday. To attempt to set the tone, Chancellor Merz followed (unusual for German leadership to deliver the keynote address), remarking that he though the titular motto was a bit grim but the situation needs to be put in even harsher terms, declaring that the world order no longer exists—rebuking US criticism of Europe and reinforcing the call to rebalance their relationship and move forward from its “self-inflicted” dependency, “Our holiday from world history is over.”