Random News and Notes 13 April
We start in Hungary where long-time PM Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party were handily defeated in nationwide elections. Péter Magyar, leader of the Tisza party, is set to become the new Prime Minister in Hungary. Despite all the doom casting, Magyar and his party are center-right and in some cases – particularly immigration – quite a bit further right than Fidesz and Orban.
before 2035. On every substantive question that defines the European left-right divide, Magyar sits exactly where Orbán sits.
What he promises to change is governance, not ideology. Anti-corruption reforms, rule of law, meritocratic appointments, unlocking frozen EU funds. A voter who backed Orbán for border security and national sovereignty can vote for Magyar without abandoning a single conviction. The only thing that voter has to abandon is tolerance for theft.
Orbán did not lose the argument. He lost the trust.
The real difference, as I see it anyway, is that Magyar is not a corrupt Putin/Russian puppet. This isn’t going to be some pro-EU, pro immigration leftist government despite what Frau Von Der Leyen says.
The David E Grange Jr Best Ranger Competition wrapped up yesterday. The winners were team 49, Sgt. Drew Schorsh and Spc. Caleb Godbold from the 75th Ranger Regiment.
The competition is open to active duty, Ranger qualified and coded troops across the Army. It has been held annually since 1984.
RLTW!
President Trump has picked a dumb fight with Pope Leo XIV. It is a fight he cannot win and the optics are less than good. This is not going to go the way Trump thinks it is.
Full disclosure; this editor is a Catholic, and attends Mass nearly every week. I do not ascribe to the belief that Papal Infallibility extends beyond some very specific Ex Cathedra instances. I think Leo is very wrong – both temporally and spiritually – about the things he made statements about recently. But I also think that attacks made out of spite – very much like the ones Trump launched – are counterproductive. YMMV
Eric Swalwell ahs suspended his run for the California Governorship. He has been credibly accused of sexual improprieties with staffers. The Cali congressman, in office since 2013, denied the allegations as ‘flat false’ in a video and X post, saying he’d handle the personal battle separately from his campaign. Reports from the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN detailed claims including a former staffer’s assault accusations from 2019 and 2024. There have also been videos released showing Swalwell with a hooker in a Vegas hotel room.
Swalwell is probably best known for f*cking a Chinese spy, Christine “Fang Fang” Fang. Fang fled to China when the allegations of her spying surfaced.
The US Naval Blockade of Hormuz has started. This is not a full closure of the strait. The only vessels being refused passage are those bound for or coming from Iranian ports and those who paid the Iranian ‘toll’.
Ships bound to or from friendly – KSA, Kuwait, UAE etc – will be allowed passage. The US is demining the strait to ensure safe passage.