tc-800b

On this day in 1973 during senatorial investigation the White House deputy chief of staff revealed the existence of a secret taping and tapping system installed in the Oval Office and Camp David and on chief telephone lines. Richard Nixon’s predecessor, Lyndon Johnson, had installed a similar system in the White House during his administration to preserve historical moments, which Nixon had initially removed.
Two years into his presidency, however, Nixon conceded that there was no alternative other than an audio record to preserve conversations and decisions and had the elaborate, voice-activated system installed covertly, known only to a select few aides and the secret service. After the revelation, citing executive privilege Nixon refused to turn over the tapes to the senate committee, knowing that they contained incriminating proof that the president conspired to obstruct justice by directing that the Federal Bureau of Investigation halt their investigation into the Watergate break-in. Nixon’s compromise offer was to release summaries to the office of the special prosecutor, which was rejected and precipitated the so-called “Saturday Night Massacre” when Nixon tried to dismiss the prosecution and intermediaries resigned rather than do so. The audio recording system was removed a few days after its existence became public knowledge on 18 July but a legacy of over thirty-five hundred hours of record, most of which has not been reviewed or transcribed, remain.

judicial advocacy

For those of us playing along but liable to fall for the prat-falls of distraction and chaos in civil affairs Fresh Air steps in once again with a helpful synopsis and discussion of those events of greater gravity that may have gotten buried by design or apathy with the Trump regime’s work-around to its poor and stymied legislative track-record by bolstering the influence and power of the judicial branch (a kritarchy in the making) with a sort of gerrymandering that makes the law-givers more supportive of the triumvirate’s executive’s agenda.
Trump’s handlers have discovered a means to short-circuit the democratic process and duly expressed mandates of society by installing judges whose conservative interpretation of the law and the US constitution leaves few matters untouched ironically by the guarantees of freedom from compulsion and coercion. Landmark rulings of this past session have—like the perversion of corporate personhood—have twisted the intent of the protections of the First Amendment to broaden its coverage to the extent that even safety regulations become an imposition and grievous infringement, affecting the standard of American exports and in general its considerable largess oblige. While I can patently say that such interpretations are abusive, it’s also fair to say that voters are responsible for not having done a better job in protecting and cherishing democracy’s norms and institutions—especially for suffering fools such as these. Being a participant on the world’s stage is not being a dues-paying member of some exclusive country-club.

minor arcana

Via Boing Boing, we’re treated to a suite of Tarot cards generated with a procedural, algorithmic model that is similar to the technique used in video games to create virtual universes and randomised, extended landscapes and textures. This demonstration from developer Watabou was an entrant to a symposium dedicated to exploring the craft of making software that makes things.

illegals programme

Though not adapted for prestige television until a few years after the revelation, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation’s infiltration into a network of sleeper agents of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR RF, Слу́жба вне́шней разве́дки) carrying out long-term, deep-cover assignments in target countries—the US and the UK—that culminated in July of 2010 was code-named Operation Ghost Stories.
The modus operandi was to pose (some assuming stolen identities) as ordinary citizens and ingratiate themselves to academia, industry and government in order to obtain intelligence on US posture and economic strength. The spy ring of ten members was uncovered just days after of then-president Dmitri Medvedev’s visit to the White House and is blamed by some as the initial cause of the collapse in good will between Russia and the Obama administration.

pre-crime

Thanks to a FOIA request filled by a group that advocates for greater transparency in algorithmically based decision making, we are given a glimpse into how software companies are peddling predictive policing to law enforcement authorities across several jurisdictions. Whether or not the programme has any merit in preventing infractions before they are committed, the best practises and techniques outlined in the training guide make concessions to the accuracy of its precognitive abilities by encouraging intrusion and over-policing and seeking out minor offenses in order to boost metrics.

no, you’re the puppet!

Idiot Trump’s predictable, petty

antics at the NATO summit are fomenting a dangerous distraction as the real and consequential crisis in the making (despite all the tantrums and threats) is the turning of Erdoğan’s Turkey away from its Western allies and towards Russia—a re-balancing act whose execution is seemingly more and more perfectly polished. I hope that the other members aren’t fully taken in by this side-show.