the palmer raid (11. 980)

Occurring in the background of the First Red Scare in America, a nationwide campaign against the real and perceived divided loyalties of immigrants and ethnic groups settling in the US after World War I and the Bolshevik revolution—President Woodrow Wilson rallying against “hyphenated Americans” pouring “the poison of disloyalty into the very arteries of our nation life” who must be crushed as agitators and anarchists, the first of the surprise onslaughts organised by Attorney General Alexander Mitchell Palmer took place on this day in 1919 (the date picked as it coincided with the second anniversary of the storming of the Winter Palace). After a failed attempt to suppress a labour revolt in Buffalo, the Attorney General, who named one young J Edgar Hoover to head the Justice Department’s investigation bureau, convinced the Congressional Appropriations Committee to give him a budget of one and half million dollars to undertake his plan, saying there was a coordinated effort by radicals to rise up and “destroy the government in one fell swoop. The bureau worked with local authorities to conduct violent raids on the Union Russian Workers with several by-standers also injured and apprehended. While only a few hundred individuals were eventually deported of the ten-thousand arrested, the measure was nonetheless terrorising and many with no affiliation to these groups had their lives ruined. The following year, with the police actions happening at a regular pace, the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) was established to combat entrapment, warrantless searches and seizures and unlawful detention.

prêt-à-porter (11. 979)

Via Messy Nessy Chic, we are directed a curated trove of US military uniforms (over fourteen thousand) given the studio and cat-walk treatment—recently declassified but providing no clue about the purpose of the catalogued collection which spans from the 1970s to the 1990s. Artist and photo researcher Matthieu Nicol came across this find whilst browsing for vintage pictures of food (see also) and decided to salvage the pastel-coloured intersection between lethal functionality and the world of fashion and design from archival obscurity. Though not professional models for these prototype suits and ceremonial dress, the certainly look like any glossy fashion show montage produced today. Many more images at the links above.

ampelkoaltion (11. 978)

In a press conference, German chancellor Scholtz dismissed his Finance Minster Christian Linder (of the pro-business, laissez-faire Free Democrats—FDP, the yellow party, forming a coalition government along with the SPD—Social Democrats, red, and the Green Party) for being impossible to work with and hindering reforms meant to jump-start the country’s flagging economy, depressed by inflation and the war in Ukraine. Visibly upset and unable to contain his frustration, Scholtz’ made his decision despite appeals for the governing group to remain resolute and unified in the face of Trump’s re-election and will lead to a confidence vote as early as mid-January with the possibility of snap elections in March.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: Enceladus, an exoplanet from 1917, US weapons sales plus Berlin’s beer brush tower

nine years ago: experiencing the forest as animals do, Frtiz Haber’s dreadful excellence plus how blood influences the brain

ten years ago: the fall of the Berlin Wall plus more linguistic studies

twelve years ago: Obama reelected plus more arithromania

free and fair (11. 977)

Amid reckoning, quarterbacking and finger-pointing, supporters of Kamala Harris mourning her campaign’s loss following her sobering concession speech. Urging her voters never to give up, the harrowing hours between the closing of the polls, watching the precincts’ returns and ultimately the race going to Trump, resistance seemed to yield to reflection—as a collective amnesia waxed and waned about the consequences of elections, simultaneously forgetting and embracing the regression, chaos of the first Trump administration and the way it has hollowed out democracy and transformed the Republican party (the Democrats to held hostage to an extent to candidates not necessarily of their choosing) and returning to old grievances, distrust, deflection and xenophobia that never went away. It is a bleak time for the US and the world—the people of Palestine and Lebanon and Ukraine besieged and posed to be fully abandoned, America abrogating its responsibilities for environmental stewardship and of course emboldening other aspiring authoritarian regimes—and the best we can do right now is to be mindful of those in the most precarious situation right now subject to Trump’s policy agenda: the opposition, minorities, migrants and any of othered by allowing others to define us and write our narrative.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a collection of consumer electronics catalogues (with synchronoptica)

seven years ago: clockwise and counter-clockwise, mail-order meals plus therapeutic quilting

eight years ago: a shire to defeated campaigns

nine years ago: six degrees of separation plus assorted links to revisit

ten years ago: Kowloon Walled-City

varietà antica (11. 976)

Via Pasa Bon!, we are directed to the Italian scientist Isabella Dalla Ragione who scours medieval archives, cloistered orchards and Renaissance paintings for produce that has disappeared from daily cuisine to bring some diversity back to the table in the form of gnarled but hardy and delicious apples, pears, peaches, quinces, grapes and other forgotten heirloom fruit. Dalle Ragione’s family home with its ancient grounds has become a showcase and incubator for this effort as the interviewer acts as a docent through a quite remarkable gallery of art works that display this culling of an overwhelming abundance of cultivars down to monoculture, hoping to reverse the trend. With a little detective work, an amazing catalogue of outmoded varietals emerge from generally overlooked details, instilled themselves with symbolism and hence the importance of accurate representation to convey the message. Much more at the links above.

omg monteagle—if someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time (11. 975)

Guardian columnist Marina Hyde welcomes the arrival of the fifth of November, admonishing us to remember another guy—Guy that tried to blow up the whole system of government, quite literally even if Fawkes and compatriots might argue that the thirty-six barrels of gunpowder were a metaphor. Ultimately thwarted by an internal leak, a warning to a relative in the House of Lords on a piece of parchment—“that could have also been a social media post on X (which back in the seventeenth century was known as Twitter)” and publicly condemned by ye olde fake news media, the failed insurrection is a day of celebration for Britain.

your terror is the hallmark of a functional state and nausea us the most civic emotion (11. 974)

McSweeney’s contributors have a selection of postings for US election day, finally arrived after a seemingly endless and surprising campaign which may still be far from over. There’s the usual advice columns and election day bingo plus this list of “I voted” stickers for voters outside of the narrow band of battleground precincts that have been receiving all the coverage and overtures by dint of America’s electoral college system and minoritarian rule. We’re sure they’ll be updates through the day.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica), WoTY: AI plus The Sinister Urge

seven years ago: imaginative play

eight years ago: more links to enjoy plus election influence peddling

nine years ago: Hilbert Hotels, Rasputin’s daughter plus esoteric influences in aerospace

ten years ago: theorising language families, circadian rhythms plus urban algae

so it goes (11. 973)

Illustrator Igor Karash reimagines the disassociation and chiaroscuro of Kurt Vonnegut’s classic Slaughterhouse-Five, following protagonist Billy Pilgrim’s time-jumps across a far-flung utopian planet, a mundane existence as a suburban eye-doctor and World War II Dresden during the fire-bombing. The commission coming as Russia began its invasion of Ukraine, Karash drew from his experiences of reluctant, ridiculous conscription and connections to a besieged land, finding Vonnegut’s message and mantra PEOPLE DO NOT LEARN FROM THEIR PAST particularly resonant—also drawing from his many readings of the author’s work, being available in translation in the Soviet Union by dent of his criticism of the West and anti-war message.