hindsight is 2020

Son of an immigrant father from Malta and a multigenerational Hoosier mother, former investigative journalist, Naval intelligence officer, Rhodes scholar and present polyglot, municipal executive and US presidential contender Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg (BOO-tih-dʒidʒ) has a surname that in Maltese means “father of chickens.”
No relation I think but Buttigieg shares his last name with poet and second president of independent Malta (the first elected one, the last governor-general given the office as caretaker when the former UK colony became a republic in 1974), Anton Buttiġieġ. What a welcome antidote this candidate offers for the current state of affairs and seems to be the champion, among others, to hang our hopes on.

wir retten die bienen

Breaking developments on a story we’ve been watch for a few weeks now from TYWKIWDBI, the state legislature of Bavaria (previously) has announced that it will enact a petition to save vital pollinators and insect populations in general by reforming agricultural practises, boosting organic farming, reducing run-off and providing more oases for bees and butterflies, fully adopting the demands without setting it before a plebiscite—as its popularity and political will have already been sufficiently demonstrated. Protests begun in February have resulted in a rather landmark shift in attitude translated to real change in the course of a couple of months, passing unanimously through parliament.

animus in consulendo liber

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the intergovernmental military alliance between twenty-nine North American and European countries (up from twelve founding members) came into existence through a treaty agreed upon by member states on this day in 1949—signed with the charter coming into force in August of the same year.
With administrative and operational headquarters split between the Belgian capital and the city of Mons, the organization expanded from an invitation for the Benelux countries to join the pact of mutual assistance struck by France and the UK with the Treaty of Dunkirk in March of 1947, to come to one another’s aid in case of aggression by the Soviet Union or a resurgent Germany. Inclusion of West Germany in May of 1955 prompted the Soviet Union to create the Warsaw Pact. On NATO’s fortieth anniversary in 1989 when it would begin to still the dissolution of its chief foil and counter valance, the organization officially adopted a hymn—its motto above Latin for “a mind unfettered in deliberation). The present flag was first hoisted and flown in October 1951, replacing an earlier version that was essentially the coat-of-arms of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), designed to be straightforward and inoffensive (though suggestive of this rather antithetical corporate logo) and emphasise a mission of peace.

alma-ata

Via Calvert Journal, we are introduced to the determined documentation and conservation efforts of Dennis Keen to capture and preserve the Soviet murals, bas-relief and mosaic that adorned Almaty, the capital city of the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, Russian appellation above.  After the creation of an independent Kazakhstan, the capital was moved to Astana. Though importantly host to the Baikonur Cosmodrome which tied the far-flung republic to Mother Russia, there was yet the sentiment that “the mountains are high and the Emperor is far away” that needed these public displays as a reminder and to show that art was not the domain of the elite. Visit the links above to explore an outstanding gallery of civic monuments and architectural interventions that inform and reflect the city’s character.

5x5

villa göth: six introductory videos on the architectural style of Brutalism (previously)

underdogs: a funny Apple advertisement manages to cover its entire suite of devices

murder she drew: an interview with talented, veteran courtroom artist (see also) Marilyn Church, via Boing Boing

no conclusion: Trump is now vacillating on releasing the Mueller Report to the public

xarabank: Malta’s unique and colourful fleet of buses recently retired make a comeback fully electrified 

wideraufbau

Based on the findings commissioned by General Lucius D Clay on the reconstruction of post-war Germany, on this day in 1948 US President Harry S Truman signed into law the European Recovery Program—ERP—unofficially known as the Marshall Plan, named in honour of former five-star general and US Secretary of State George C Marshall who carried out its execution.
Looking back, some regard the plan’s legacy as outsized and that significant economic recovery was already underway—West Germany receiving significantly less funds than Allies UK and France yet making far greater strides towards rebuilding and resuscitation—and was the investment mechanism responsible for the creation of transnational corporations beholden to no government or regulating body, all in the name of fighting the spread of Communism and cementing American culture and values, but whatever the judgment on balance, the level of integration and cooperation the plan fostered helped test and trial latter day institutions like the European Union that developed from the European Coal and Steel Community and domestically for Americans, the plan along with others signaled a willingness to cultivate a more global outlook rather than keep their stance of isolationism.