The Guardian: Here lies danger. Hungary is on the verge of full-blown autocracy

“Their task, should they get to power,” says Orbán of those who oppose him, “is to execute ‘the grand plan’.” Europe, he claims, is about to be invaded by tens of millions of people from Africa and the Middle East and “if Europe does nothing, they will kick down our doors. The history of the conquered nations will be rewritten by others, and those who are still young will see how they become minorities in their own country.”  

Forget the fact that Hungary has practically zero immigration from those regions, and that the EU request that they should take in 1,300 was fiercely resisted, resulting in the erection of two rows of barbed-wire fence at the border with Serbia and Croatia, and the deployment of a civil militia – which could always be used for other purposes – to patrol it. More importantly for now, he tells his hard-core supporters that all who oppose him under the “independent” banner are in fact undeclared Soros candidates ready and willing to carry out the wicked financier’s orders. “Our strength lies in unity: one camp, one flag. We need everyone working together,” he declares, adding that he understands that people may be frightened by the prospect.

If they are frightened, of course, it will have been because of Orbán’s own version of “project fear”, the only thing that could shield him from the mounting charges of financial and social corruption. It is because he has instilled fear into those who oppose him, chiefly through loss of employment. He has control of all civil institutions and has already succeeded in having the main paper of opposition, Népszabadság, closed down.  

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The Guardian: Vatican to hold exorcist training course after 'rise in possessions'

According to a priest from Sicily, the number of people in Italy claiming to be possessed had tripled to 500,000 a year, and an Irish priest has said demand for exorcisms has “risen exponentially”. [...]

But some warn that “deliverance ministry” can be a form of spiritual abuse. Critics also say LGBT people and those with mental health issues are targeted for deliverance in the belief that their sexuality or psychiatric problems are the result of demonic possession. [...]

“It’s only in recent years that the demand has risen exponentially,” he told the Irish Catholic. “What I’m finding out desperately, is people who in their own minds believe – rightly or wrongly – that they’re afflicted by an evil spirit. [...]

But, he said, “some Christians are sometimes treating mental health issues as if everything is spiritual. So if someone tells a church leader they are suffering from depression, sometimes the response is that everything can be treated with prayer. The extreme end of that is exorcism.”

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Bloomberg: Students Flip the Script on Gun Violence

Here’s what’s different this time. First, while we’ve seen many similar marches in the Trump era, this was the first major one largely organized by kids. While they undoubtedly garnered support from adults and celebrities, children were the most prominent voices calling on people to participate and speaking at the march in the nation’s capital, which was the focus of much media coverage. It’s also the first time that youth have had such prominent voices on the issue in the media. After past school shootings, we’ve typically heard more from parents. [...]

A second big change, Pariser said, is that the students who have spoken out after the shooting haven’t generally been accused by mainstream political figures of politicizing the event. That’s probably because adults typically do not see kids as having political agendas. In the past, people who have been vocal about the need for gun reform after massacres have often been charged with trying to take advantage of a tragedy to promulgate their beliefs. This was another norm that needed to change before such events could finally force lawmakers to do something.

Third, Pariser said, these kids have given other students a playbook to follow the next time young people are targeted in a shooting. Future victims are likely to copy the Parkland students in speaking out about the violence, being direct about the political failings that led to the events, vocally demanding that lawmakers fix the problem, and knocking down conspiracy theories.

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The New York Times: A New Cold War With Russia? No, It’s Worse Than That

For all the tension, proxy conflicts and risk of nuclear war that punctuated relations between Moscow and the West for decades, each side knew, particularly toward the end of the Cold War and collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, roughly what to expect. Each had a modicum of trust that the other would act in a reasonably predictable way.

The volatile state of Russia’s relations with the outside world today, exacerbated by a nerve agent attack on a former spy living in Britain, however, makes the diplomatic climate of the Cold War look reassuring, said Ivan I. Kurilla, an expert on Russian-American relations, and recalls a period of paralyzing mistrust that followed the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution. [...]

From the Kremlin’s perspective, it is the United States that first upended previous norms, when President George W. Bush withdrew the United States from the Antiballistic Missile accord, an important Cold War-era treaty, in 2002. [...]

Each time Russia has been accused of having a hand in acts like the seizure of Ukrainian government buildings in Crimea or the 2014 shooting down of a Malaysian passenger plane over eastern Ukraine, in which nearly 300 people were killed, Moscow has responded with a mix of self-pity, fierce denials and florid conspiracy theories that put the blame elsewhere.

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The Atlantic: Trump's Legal Threats Backfire

Back when he was a private businessman, Trump learned how to use law as a weapon. The lesson he took from that is that if your pockets are deep enough—and your conscience dull enough—it doesn’t matter that you are wrong. The other party will go broke before you will lose. [...]

The new bottom line: If you are famous enough—and disliked enough—it doesn’t matter whether you are right. The other party will become world-famous and super-wealthy before you can win. [...]

Trump University set the precedent: after years of stalling, an election eve settlement. Michael Wolff sent the message: Even without a settlement, it’s still lucrative to defy the president’s lawyers. Stormy Daniels is now executing the plan. Her success may embolden still others.

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