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Not gonna lie: military parades are boring, and I’ve seen military parades in Moscow. Yes, that one. The main draw is the hardware even while working towards a world in which they will beaten into ploughshares.
Also not gonna lie: I totally would have been there if it wasn’t for Cheetolini making this about himself. Instead, I cooked a great meal for the fam and we watched an episode of Doctor Who.
Day totally not wasted.
(eta; a frosty beverage for @ObakeBakaNeko )
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There are some roads big enough to host a respectable “look at how bad ass we are” parade, but they are inconveniently located further away from the White House. As @mindysan33 says, the ideal location for a large parade is actually a long stretch of grassy park. (My organization used to hold an annual events there before the pandemic).
It was specifically designed that way: big military parades benefit from a large central square or avenue where large formations can be reviewed by an autocrat; something the US fundamentally oppose(d)(s). So, no Red Square or Champs-Élysées in DC for a king to review his armies.
To tell the truth, I think it’s just that, like everything else in this administration, it was done half-ass at the last minute. Were the soldiers shuffling down the street on purpose? Maybe? But as anyone in marching band will tell you, that shit takes practice and planning. It doesn’t magically happen, especially not by a probably not sober ex TV personality cosplaying as a badass supreme military commander for his boss.
Absolutely! It’s actually a quite friendly city, even with the fascist in office. But it will be much better once he is gone, and if anything worth visiting survives. 
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Same here! I’ve heard the same ensemble play “Push It” on another occasion.
No Sousa, though. 
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Hegseth can’t plan a proper parade yet he’s planning on invading Greenland. Wonder if he takes the brunt of Trumpy’s ire and loses his job? Trumpy will need to blame someone and Biden doesn’t fit the bill here. 
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< chef’s kiss.gif >
I was hoping for this. What if FfvC held a parade and nobody came…
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Managed to get to the No Kings gathering at the nearest largish city, where there was a pretty impressive turnout for a county that goes hard for Donnie. The Lt. Governor spoke for a bit, and everyone was pretty fired up and energetic. Good to know some of my neighbors are still in the fight.
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I went to the “No Kings” protest in St Paul MN at the state capitol.
Despite recommendations from state officials that people avoid attending any political rallies in MN while the shooting suspect is still at large (and “No Kings” was apparently on his list of possible targets that was found in his car) and despite reported official cancellation by the protest organizers, the event went on. It was delayed a bit, and some last minute changes were made. The mood was, as you can imagine, somber, made even more so by a solidly-cloudy and damp day.
MN Gov Tim Walz and Lt Gov Peggy Flanagan had been scheduled to speak, along with MN AG Keith Ellison. Unsurprisingly, neither Walz nor Flanagan attended. Ellison did speak, and began with a eulogy of MN State Rep Melissa Hortman, then segued to invoking MLK and stressing the need for us to keep showing up. Also speaking were Nekima Levy Armstrong, and some others I don’t recall now—poets, activists.
My friends and I had joined the group that gathered about a half-mile away and then marched to the capitol. It was quite a crowd. We couldn’t get close enough to hear all of the speakers clearly, but we were able to catch some of it. In the photo below, we were about halfway back. The crowd was bigger than what you see in the photo, because at the front it also spread out to the sides.
“Thousands of protestors gather to protest the Trump administration during the No Kings protest outside the Minnesota State Capitol on Saturday, June 14, 2025 in St. Paul. (Ellen Schmidt/The Minnesota Star Tribune)”
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Me. 
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What are these protest size estimates based on?
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Washington DC is very compact. The famous downtown area where all the monuments and government buildings are is an area of approximately 2 square miles. It’s easily walkable. There is really not much in the way of long, wide, grand avenues — at least not those filled with famous architecture that would be the kind of backdrop Trump is looking for. The whole thing was folly.
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I don´t think that will be another parade. But if someone want to please the boss, maybe they could ask Macy´s for some balloons.
I´m not sure If he would like this one.
And ask Rio for some advice with vibrating parades and lavish floaties.
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https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/newsom-vs-trump-2672364990/
A state withholding federal taxes is unprecedented, except for a brief period during the Whiskey Rebellion when farmers in Pennsylvania refused to pay the whiskey tax. It’s also logistically complex because federal taxes are paid by employers and state residents directly. But what Trump is doing to destroy the nation is also unprecedented; 95% of his executive orders exceed his constitutional authority.
The state of California is the nation’s biggest “donor state,” meaning it pays **$**83 billion more to the federal government every year than it receives— nearly three times as much as the next biggest donor state. In addition, California taxpayers contribute more than any other state to total federal taxes, according to Internal Revenue Service data. In FY 2023-24, California’s “total federal taxes were $806 billion — nearly twice as much as Texas, which contributed $417 billion, and more than twice the $384 billion New York contributed.” So whatever damage our toddler-in-chief hopes to inflict on California’s governor and state economy will assuredly ripple throughout the national economy.
(Bonus: photo showing just how awkward Trump’s forward lean is.)
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At least Putin cared enough to call him.
President Putin called this morning to very nicely wish me a Happy Birthday, but to more importantly, talk about Iran, a country he knows very well. We talked at length. Much less time was spent talking about Russia/Ukraine, but that will be for next week. He is doing the planned prisoner swaps - large numbers of prisoners are being exchanged, immediately, from both sides. The call lasted approximately 1 hour. He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end.
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You must end your war.
No. You end YOUR war.
No, you first.
No, only after you.
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