How Orban Went From Invincible to Underdog in Hungary
Source: Bloomberg Politics · Bias: Center
Summary
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has spent the past 16 years perfecting what he calls an “illiberal laboratory” in the European Union member state, holding it up as an election-proof model for nationalist allies such as US President Donald Trump.
How Orban Went From Invincible to Underdog in Hungary
Center
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban has spent the past 16 years perfecting what he calls an “illiberal laboratory” in the European Union member state, holding it up as an election-proof model for nationalist allies such as US President Donald Trump.
A Florida family was completely devastated by the tragedy that unfolded on Monday after a father went to pick up a child at day care in Plantation.The man, who was not identified publicly, believed he had dropped off the child in the morning and went to work. At the end of the day, he went to the day care and let out a scream after finding his horrific mistake.'He opened the door, then slammed it shut. ... And he let out this scream.' The child was found dead in the back seat of the car.Leslie Novoa, the owner and director of A World of Discovery Academy, explained to the South Florida Sun Sentinel why the staff didn't react when the child wasn't dropped off that morning.Novoa said the man and his wife would alternate dropping off two kids at the day care. On that day, they called to inform them that they would not be dropping off the older child.When they didn't drop off any child, Novoa said no one found it suspect."This is a tragedy that happened to them and to all of us," said Novoa, who said the family had been very caring and very loving in their interactions.Novoa said the man had expected to pick up the child and only realized what happened when he opened the back door of the car."He opened the door, then slammed it shut," Novoa said. "And he let out this scream."Plantation Police said they were called to the day care on a report of "a deceased child in a vehicle."Firefighters responded to the emergency and confirmed the child had died.RELATED: Michigan parents charged with murder and torture after their 7-year-old boy dies with disturbing weight The National Safety Council said about 37 children under the age of 15 die each year on average after being left in a vehicle."Nearly every state has experienced at least one death since 1998," the group added. "In both 2018 and 2019, a record number of 53 children died after being left in a hot vehicle."About half of the hot-car deaths result in charges against a parent, and of those, about 80% result in convictions. Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!
After LeBron James decided not to return to the Lakers for his unprecedented 24th NBA season, teams are clamoring to sign one of the greatest players of all-time, who apparently isn’t factoring money into his free-agency decision for the first time in his career. The competition has gotten so intense that even the governor of Minnesota,...
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) attempted an end-run strategy to pass President Donald Trump's anti-voting-rights SAVE America Act through Congress — only for a contingent of Republicans to block it and deal him a fresh humiliation. And MS NOW commenters were quick to react."Mike Johnson just tried to get the SAVE America Act through the House," said anchor Katy Tur, quoting Punchbowl News' Jake Sherman that it "went down in flames" and turning to reporter Mychael Schnell. "What exactly happened?"For starters, said Schnell, Johnson attempted to force it through by attaching it to the annual defense budget bill, or NDAA, "a very core, important piece of must-pass legislation." It was a plan concocted by conservative hardliners, led by Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL)."She has taken it upon herself, amid the President's pressure campaign, to pass this bill, to say that she would not pass any bills in the House unless the Senate acted on this legislation," said Schnell. "The Senate left town, so that opportunity was off the table" — but she said she would stop her protest if it were put to a vote in the House.Meanwhile, Schnell said, "Speaker Johnson chose a different route, trying to combine the two during this procedural vote," only for 14 House Republicans to block it, leading to the failure of a routine procedural vote.The bottom line, she continued, is that "it's a massive embarrassment and a blow to Speaker Johnson. It's never good when a rule vote fails. But the interesting thing here ... is that the left hand isn't really aware of what the right hand is doing when you talk about Republican leaders, because last week, President Trump had taken to Truth Social and said he did not want these Republicans in the House to be holding hostage these procedural rules in the NDAA in order to get the SAVE America bill passed," and Luna and Johnson still did it anyway.As a consequence of all this, said Schnell, "the House floor is right now paralyzed" and "there is still no movement in the SAVE America Act." There's simply no path to get it passed, she said — "but conservatives and the president himself are not yet ready to accept that reality." - YouTube www.youtube.com
The New Jersey Republican was missing for months with no explanation for his constituents. He explained in a House floor speech that after his diagnosis, there was no timeline for recovery.
MAGA world is incensed after Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Amy Comey Barrett sided with the liberal justices—and even wrote the majority opinion—rejecting the Trump administration’s attempt to gut mail-in voting.The court on Monday ruled to uphold a Mississippi law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after the election, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day. The decision effectively saves similar grace periods around the country, especially in big Democratic states. That was enough to set off Republicans.“A shockingly wrong opinion,” wrote Republican Senator Eric Schmitt. “Justice Barrett joins with the liberal justices to hold that federal election law does not preempt states who allow late mail-in ballots to be counted. This is terrible for election integrity. Another reason we must pass the full SAVE American [sic] Act.” “Remember Election Day?” said GOP Representative Abe Hamadeh. “This disastrous SCOTUS decision, authored by Justice Barrett, guarantees we’ll keep drifting away from it—as our sacred elections get bogged down by endless mail-in ballots and never-ending counts.”Trump supporters outside of Congress made their discontent clear, as well. “Barrett. AGAIN. WTF,” former Fox News host Megyn Kelly wrote.“Amy Coney Barrett was a gigantic fucking disaster of a Supreme Court appointment. Absolutely horrible in the long run. She totally forgot who appointed her to the Court,” right-wing influencer Joey Mannarino said. “Scum of the earth.” “Barrett is the biggest conservative judicial disaster since Souter,” conservative writer Hans Mahnke commented. “The difference is that few conservatives expected much from Souter whereas Barrett was supposed to be the future of the Court. The worst part is that she’ll be there pushing leftist policies for another 40 years.”This isn’t the first time the Trump appointee has seemingly backstabbed the movement that put her in position to be nominated for the Supreme Court. Conservatives also raged against Barrett last year after she joined the court’s liberal justices in dissenting against a decision granting Trump emergency relief to use the “Alien Enemies Act” to deport immigrants at whim.
The opening weekend of the Great American State Fair in Washington, D.C., was, to put it simply, miserable. It was extremely muggy, with rain pouring down seemingly every hour. A child rolled around in the grass, crying and screaming, “I. WANT. TO. GO. HOME!!!” Creed’s “Higher” blared over the loudspeakers, and a sparse crowd milled about the various exhibitions. The bare-bones setup—flimsy, fake two-dimensional columns that looked like something Wile E. Coyote would run into while chasing the Road Runner—left much to be desired, as America’s 250th anniversary was celebrated with kitsch and ennui rather than grandeur and appreciation. More than anything, the event lacked energy—and people. There wasn’t any line or wait to get in. The vibe was more conference-like than celebratory, and the state exhibits varied wildly in effort and presentation. Utah and Guam had particularly involved setups, while others like South Carolina felt totally sterile. Connecticut and Maine shared a space that looked like the waiting room of a pediatrician’s office, while Hawaii and Alaska didn’t have anyone attending to visitors. There were $25 pretzels, an AI George Washington, an interactive “Loyalist or Patriot?” test, and a whiteboard wall full of messages from attendees, one of which read “a felon and predator resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave!!”“It feels more like a campaign event than a fair,” said M., a D.C resident who didn’t want to be named and was visiting with his wife and son. “There was potential here. I think that the state exhibits they had, some of them were very well done, others didn’t really have much effort put into them.… My four-year-old enjoyed the carousel, but I think that if this was done a little bit more thoughtfully it could’ve been really fun. I’ve been going to state fairs for most of my life, I’m from Minnesota. And so seeing what a really thought-out, well-done state fair looks like—it’s an incredible experience.” Bit of a flimsy set up at the Great American State Fair pic.twitter.com/4H1YauQgp4— Malcolm Ferguson (@malc_ferg) June 29, 2026“Kind of disappointing they don’t have anywhere to sit, especially if you get food—you’re just standing,” said Virginia resident Anita, as we were being ushered out of the “rain-or-shine” event Sunday afternoon due to the weather. “Right now, we’re being postponed because of lightning. Where are we all supposed to go? We drove two hours, we’re not just gonna go jump in the car. It’s kinda sad there’s not a backup plan.” “I think if [Trump] wanted to make a bigger splash, he should’ve gotten Disney, or somebody who knows how to do this,” said Haven, another D.C. resident attending the fair. While many states and artists opted out of the event, corporations did not. The presence of companies like Northrop Grumman, United Health Group, Chime, and others was very apparent.“I understand that people are advertising here, that there’s sponsors,” said a visitor named Ryan. “Coming in and seeing SpaceX, or like Micron was kind of like, ‘Oh, I wasn’t expecting that.’ But it’s America, so maybe I should’ve.” When asked about defining American moments of their lifetimes, attendees’ answers were about as bleak as the scene, as almost all the answers included 9/11, Covid-19, and pretty much every war the U.S has been in. “The Revolutionary War, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Iraq War,” said Haven. “It’s a shame you think of war first.” Of course, not everyone was underwhelmed by the fair.“I know how much [President Trump] loves the country, so I’m not the least bit surprised that they’re going all out,” said Nicki Hannigan, in her seventies, who came all the way from Grand Rapids, Michigan, with her husband, Jack.“There’s not a weed in this grass!” Jack said. “I don’t know if anybody’s noticed that, but that takes some doing. If the administration can do that well, they can do a lotta stuff well.” “Well” is relative, as the event has been shrouded in tumult as Trump took over. What was originally supposed to be a weeks-long blockbuster festival to celebrate the nation turned into a politically charged event, where even B- and C-list artists like Flo Rida, Milli Vanilli, Vanilla Ice, and the Commodores dropped out. Soon, nearly a dozen states did too, as it became more and more obvious that Trump was using this event for partisan purposes. As everyone bailed, Trump petulantly declared the fair would instead be kicked off with a rally that he would headline—but even that didn’t get much of a turnout. That timeline of chaos still felt prescient, as the haphazard, thrown-together nature of the event stood out more than anything.
