Kim

@Ex_spurt@aus.social
469 Followers
775 Following
5.1K Posts
He/Him. AI free since 2024. Your friendly local, mostly retired guy. Likes sciencey stuff, cars (especially the electric and/or heavily armoured kind), wandering around in the bush, mucking around with food. Ex electrician, cavalry soldier, salesman, business manager, consultant, public servant. Proud dad and step-dad. Eternally frustrated customer of https://scorpinc.solutions. Regrets the demise of flying boats. Opinions are my own and subject to change.
LocationWhadjuk land
Shoe size11.5

This will do wonders for China's incursion into the Pacific

Three Pacific nations in Trump's expanded travel ban list | RNZ News
https://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/564249/three-pacific-nations-in-trump-s-expanded-travel-ban-list

Three Pacific nations in Trump's expanded travel ban list

It's part of President Trump's crackdown on foreign nationals from countries that fail to meet "established benchmarks and requirements" for remaining in the US.

RNZ
#NeverAgain but probably...
Israel, as a nuclear armed state, is saying things like "Tehran will burn" and "the residents of Tehran will pay a heavy price." Western countries siding with Israel should at least be asking for guarantees of no nuclear weapon use
Someone needs to invent IceMagic but for gravy and Mash Potato

via Alistair on Bluesky June 14, 2025 at 11:27 AM:

======

Hi everyone

I was denied entry, detained, and deported from the USA over the last 48 hours because of my reporting on the Columbia student protests

I arrived back in Melbourne hours ago and had my phone handed back to me upon landing

[QANTAS] held onto the phone for the duration of the flight at the request of the Trump administration

15 hour flight + 12 hour detention + 15 hour flight = one of the harder experiences of my life

I had it easy, one woman had been in that detention room 4 days when I arrived, she’s still there

- They were waiting for me when I got off the plane
- They knew (or it felt like they knew) everything about me
- I had cleaned up my online presence expecting ad hoc digital sweeps; I was not prepared for their sophistication
- Sophistication almost certainly facilitated by Palantir

If you are deleting social media ~48 before your flight to the US, *it is already too late.*

- My phone contents were immediately downloaded, on threat of deportation
- In retrospect I should have denied search and accepted immediate deportation; in general I was too compliant, too trusting, too hopeful

They just came out and said it:

“We both know why you’ve been detained…it’s because of what you wrote about the protests at Columbia”

I'll be writing all this up with more detail shortly. For now I'll just say---I believe what I say and say what I believe. The offending posts are all online. Find out for yourself if my words post a danger to the US and *subscribe to my substack*

https://www.kitchencounter.blog

======

Kitchen Counter | Alistair Kitchen | Substack

Essays about the world we create. Click to read Kitchen Counter, by Alistair Kitchen, a Substack publication with hundreds of subscribers.

TIL that the highest ranking Generals in the Iranian forces are only two stars. Somehow thought they would have loaded themselves up a bit more

I watched the parade in all its glory so you don’t have to.
(abc coverage on YouTube)

How bizarre.

It started with what appeared to be a military museum presentation of historical military uniforms.

The fashion show commentary over the loudspeakers was definitely a thing.

If Trump was going for something similar to one of those parades in Moscow or Pyongyang, I’m not sure he hit the mark. For one thing, no flag-waving crowds lining the parade. It looked like a double barricade and a line of police blocking what crowds did show up.

Most participants marching or driving down the street look… ashamed, or disappointed, to be there. It has more of an ancient world feel of a defeated army being paraded before the victor.

The tank parade was a bit more ominous, accompanied by some instrumental guitar rock music.

It didn’t look like many people showed up, with a lot of the shots showing empty space on both sides of the street. When they showed the people who did turn up, they looked bored. The officials looked bored too. Whatever was on their phones was often more important. Trump looked utterly disappointed. Most of the soldiers looked like they just wanted it all to be over.

I noted the Australian AC/DC song played patriotically by the live band.

I’m sure the phone calls to Kim Jong Un and Putin is going to go badly when they ask about the lack of ICBMs on display.

They didn’t even acknowledge The Cold War! (Which makes sense, I suppose. It was “cold”.)

Drones were paraded along with the other vehicles. I’m sure there weren’t any DJI drones. Surely not.

Robots made an appearance in the parade. Robot dogs, unmanned tanks, marching bands… no Atlas units yet. Don’t worry, Boston Dynamics will sell them a Terminator one day.

The fashion show commentary recommenced for a final display of dress uniforms.

Trump had West Point graduates swear their allegiance to him. Prepared propaganda promoting West Point, and an upcoming movie about the Rangers was played.

Some live country music rounded out the end of the two hour display of military patriotism. The singer said “good night” in the middle of the day.

Oh.

And it started raining.

Literally, it rained on his parade.

lol

They've got enough war crimes on their hands without Australia getting involved too

News live: Australian military won’t play a role in Middle East conflict, PM says
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/jun/15/australia-news-live-anthony-albanese-secures-meeting-with-donald-trump-us-president-australian-man-bali-sunday-ntwnfb

News live: Australian military won’t play a role in Middle East conflict, PM says, as Wong urges Iranian foreign minister to ‘return to diplomacy’

Follow today’s news live

the Guardian
Can see they're new to this. Crews are normally at attention in the hatch on parade, not cheering themselves. This looks more like a Summer Nats parade than a military one
Even Tiananmen Square had better formation than this. #NoKings #MilitaryParade