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

What is now being done to children in Tehran is being done to hide what is happening to children in Gaza under Internet blackout

https://mastodon.social/@Al_Quds_News14/114674776671114443

"Those with the clearest view are the ones bearing the brunt of such attacks. Whether it’s the sheriffs, police, or Border Patrol, “it was brutal violence,” said Ron Gochez, a community organizer, who was part of the protests. “What they didn’t think was going to happen was that the people would resist.” Over eight hours on Saturday, he said, after a battle with Border Patrol—“and it was a battle, because there were people throwing back tear gas, people throwing anything that they could to defend themselves and to defend the workers that were being surrounded”—the Border Patrol retreated. “And the hundreds of workers that were in the factories around them were able to escape,” Gochez recounted. “They were able to go to their cars and go home. That was only thanks to the resistance that allowed them to go home that night.” If any community was going to fight back without apology, it was this one.

What we are witnessing in Los Angeles is not only a protest; it is self-defense."

https://newrepublic.com/article/196328/los-angeles-protests-act-self-defense

Trumps federal regime: Muahaha! We're gonna do politically targeted federal funding cuts against California!
Constitution schmonstitushon...

California's state governor: Well then... we'll just not pay taxes into the federal budget that you treat as your personal economy.

Trump's federal regime: That's criminal tax evasion! You must give us everything and we don't have to give you anything, because... we said so and fuck the people.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/08/newsom-warned-tax-evasion

Right-wing "states' rights activists": ...
...no, we meant "states' rights" as in "to impose racism", actually...
...actually, yay the feds, go dictatorship!

🇮🇳 India: COVID-19 cases are on the rise, 21 deaths in 48 Hours.

Among the dead: a 22-year-old woman, a 23-year-old woman, and a 27-year-old man.

The surge in COVID-19 cases this year is due to 4 variants – LF.7, XFG, JN.1, and NB.1.8.1.

Source: https://www.patrika.com/en/national-news/covid-19-resurgence-21-deaths-in-48-hours-active-cases-exceed-4300-19645501

@auscovid19

As well as  Pride month (check out @FediFollows today for recommended follows), June is also 🔊 AudioMo month on the Fediverse.

AudioMo is really simple: just record a piece of audio every day and post it with the hashtag #AudioMo. It can be ambient sound, speech, music... anything. Don't worry about it being good enough or if you miss a day, it's just for fun 🙂

The official account at @audiomo has more info, and follow the hashtag #AudioMo to hear what others are posting.