Free Republic

Together the two have generated some of the most vital moments of democratic change in the modern era Religion and populism have become dirty words in progressive circles, but despite common assumptions, their combination could serve as a resource for the sort of democratic renewal many societies need. There is plenty of evidence to support the view that religion and populism are bad enough in themselves and even worse when combined. The so-called “Christian-Democracy” of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, widespread support of Donald Trump by white evangelicals in the United States, the Hindu nationalism of Modi, and the Islamo-Kemalism of Erdoğan...

Thousands of people have protested in Budapest in support of a university founded by US-Hungarian billionaire George Soros that plans to leave the country amid strong pressure from Hungary’s right-wing government. Students from Central European University (CEU) and other universities including ELTE and Corvinus attended the rally in front of the Hungarian parliament. Protesters voiced support for CEU, which said in October that it would start admitting students to a new campus in Vienna if the government did not acknowledge its legal status by December 1. The government has rejected CEU’s claim that it complies with a controversial law requiring...

The United States and Hungary were the first countries to reject the UN’s migration pact. However, many countries have since followed in their footsteps. The pact is primarily criticized because it doesn’t differentiate between legal and illegal migration. Hungarian officials claim it harms sovereignty and legitimizes illegal migration. Austria is the first country to follow Hungary’s example. Concerning the UN package, Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache said that Austria disagreed with 17 out of the 23 points. Austria would vote against the package to prevent “bad development,” he said, adding that the line between legal and illegal migration must not be removed....

FULL TITLE: Unfixable? Several nations have tried to restore democracy after populist strongmen. It was never the same. In April, aided by massive gerrymandering, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling coalition crushed opposition in Hungary’s national elections, claiming a supermajority in the parliament. The prime minister — who had used two prior terms in office to dominate media outlets, alter electoral rules so that urban areas were massively underrepresented and seize control of the top courts — moved to further consolidate his power. He is pushing Central European University, a leading academic institution backed by George Soros, whom Orban has demonized,...

Much has been reported in the past few days on the decision by the European Court of Human Rights that the designation of the Prophet Mohammed as “pedophilic” in the context of a 2009 seminar led by the Austrian Islam-critic Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is not legally covered by the right of free expression of opinion. The waves caused by this decision were detectable even in the USA, where the popular Fox show, “Tucker Carlson” dedicated a full segment to the case. Independent of whether this was a “scandalous decision,” it indicates a disturbing trend: a re-clericalization of public space in which...

Holocaust Survivor Who Cheated Death In Pittsburgh Shooting Is Pro-Trump October 30, 2018 By Alyssa FisherHolocaust survivor Judah Samet said he doesn’t believe President Trump’s harsh rhetoric bears the blame of the mass shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue, where 11 people were killed at prayer, the Washington Post reported.Samet narrowly avoided the shooting — he was four minutes late to morning services at the Tree of Life Congregation on Saturday, enough time for officers to stop him in the parking lot, the Forward reported.He expressed fear at the rise in anti-Semitism and white nationalist groups but said he doesn’t think...

The migrant caravan is like something out of a future, apocalyptic dystopia—or, to go back in time, perhaps an image from Exodus—where thousands of men, women, and children trudge a thousand miles under the hot tropical sun across hot tarmac and dirt roads, hoping to land on America’s doorstep, in search of opportunities not to be found in the failed, crumpled, venal, socialist states from which they hail.What is President Trump to do? Welcome them all in, as one interpretation of Pope Francis’s recent exhortations seems to imply? Turn them back? If so, how? Persuasion? Water cannons? Trump has...

The true story of Count Laszlo Almasy, the Hungarian explorer and hero of the film The English Patient, is told in MI5 files released to the National Archives today. In the film, Almasy, played by Ralph Fiennes, is a disfigured patient in an Italian hospital who had been the handsome young lover of an Englishwoman (Kristin Scott Thomas) in pre-war Cairo. The truth is more prosaic. Although Almasy was a Hungarian explorer and airman who mapped the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and was prominent in pre-war Cairo society, he was no hero. He was a bungling Nazi intelligence officer who,...

After Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, Estonia has also left the UN migration pact. “In forming the governing coalition, we agreed that we make decisions only by consensus. The government has today failed to reach agreement at the Cabinet meeting on support for the UN migration pact. Therefore, the government will not join the agreement, “wrote Prime Minister Jüri Ratas (Center Party) on Thursday on Facebook.The comprehensive management of immigration is important for all countries, emphasised Ratas. However, the laws of Estonia are already in line with democratic and European principles. This also applies to the future. For the...

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán discussed Hungarian-US relations and central Europe’s energy supply with United States Energy Secretary Rick Perry in Parliament on Tuesday, his press chief told MTI. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán discussed Hungarian-US relations and central Europe’s energy supply with United States Energy Secretary Rick Perry in Parliament on Tuesday, his press chief told MTI. The meeting, which was also attended by David B. Cornstein, the US ambassador to Hungary, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó and Antal Rogán, the cabinet chief, also covered general political issues, Bertalan Havasi said. Parties at the talks agreed that historical traditions and Christian roots...

Billionaire globalist George Soros boasted in 2016 that he was budgeting $500 million to fund "migrants on the move," according to a recently reemerged column he authored for the Wall Street Journal.

Addressing a commemoration event at the Rákoskeresztúr Cemetery, where victims of the Soviet retaliation after the revolution are buried in unmarked graves, Justice Minister László Trócsányi said November 4 was “a national day of mourning but also a day of progress”. The heroes and martyrs of 1956 must be remembered and thought of with gratitude, the minister said in the cemetery’s national park of mourning. “1956 spoke to the conscience of Europe and the world,” Trócsányi said. “Nothing has moved the conscience of the free world as the Hungarian revolution.” “October 23, 1956 was borne out of hope, and this...

FULL TITLE: EU votes for total ban on organizations opposed to mass Muslim migration, thought police to be created “The Parliament is concerned by the increasing normalisation of fascism, racism and xenophobia and calls on EU states to ban neo-fascist and neo-Nazi groups.” The problem with this is that the EU labels as “neo-fascist” and “neo-Nazi” all those who oppose their agenda of mass Muslim migration and want to preserve European states as free societies. “MEPs argue, that there is a legal laxity towards ‘right-wing organisations’ in some member states and that this is one of the reasons behind the...

Hungary is preparing to hold a country-wide national consultation on its family policy, which has already resulted in an increase in marriage and a decline in abortion and divorce. The Fidesz-KDNP government has chosen to support couples with children rather than accept mass migration to ameliorate long-term demographic issues, to the chagrin of its critics in the European Union’s power elite. “In recent years, finding the proper response to Europe’s demographic decline has become one of the biggest sources of disagreement between European and Hungarian politics,” observed Dr Zoltán Kovács, official spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Cabinet Office, in...

Soros, a Hungarian-born Jew who has spent a large part of his fortune funding pro-democracy and human rights groups, has repeatedly been targeted by Hungary’s right-wing government, in particular over his support for more open immigration.In the latest case, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has backed a campaign in which Soros is singled out as an enemy of the state. “Let’s not allow Soros to have the last laugh” say billboards next to a picture of the 86-year-old investor, a campaign that Jewish groups and others say foments anti-Semitism. The Israeli Ambassador said: “In no way was the statement (by the...

Although some pundits, mostly on the left, have denounced criticism of left-wing billionaire George Soros as anti-Semitic, it is important to note that Israel has officially stated that criticism of Soros is legitimate because he "continuously" seeks to undermine the Israeli government and he funds organizations "that defame the Jewish state." These same Soros-funded groups also seek to prevent Israel from defending itself, according to the Israeli government. In July 2017, Israel's ambassador to Hungary criticized a government-funded billboard campaign that showed a photo of Soros and stated, "Let's not allow Soros to have the last laugh." The campaign was...

Sixty-two years ago, a peaceful student demonstration in Budapest turned to a bloodbath in a single, explosive moment. The Communist secret police fired on the ranks of the students, slaying many on the spot. It is no exaggeration to say that this uprising captured the attention and imagination of the world. For good reason, it is widely known as the first major threat to Soviet control in Central Europe. Despite the shining promise and rallying cry for a “Free Hungary,” that ideal was not to be realized for at least another generation. The Soviets responded quickly and cruelly. On Nov....

German television station ZDF spoke to a German couple who had made the move to Hungary. Valentin and Jennifer Duräder, a couple in their 20s, explained that they were afraid to raise their then unborn child in a post-migrant crisis Germany. More and more French are seeking to escape to what they see as the safety of Budapest according to a new documentary called Hungary: the Promised Land that was broadcast on French television this week, France Info reports. In other words, Muslim migrants have now made migrants out of peaceful Europeans who were once safe in their own homes....

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - They were together only a few hours. But that brief union of a celebrated, 3,000-year-old bust of the Egyptian queen Nefertiti with a modern bronze nude body touched off a furor. Some Egyptians are calling the art project at Berlin's Egyptian Museum an insult to their culture and demanding the return of the ancient bust, charging it isn't safe in German hands. The museum director, Dietrich Wildung, answers that his museum's most famous piece was never at risk and defends the videotaping of Nefertiti's head on a nude torso as a legitimate artistic experiment. The tape...

Hungary has banned gender studies from universities due to low enrollment, which causes waste of tax payer money, and because there are no more than two sexes. From Fox News: Left-wing critics say it’s academically problematic, politically unheard of in a democratic society, and argue gender studies degrees do lead to jobs. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been called the Donald Trump of Europe, signed the decree, which went into effect Saturday, removing gender studies from a list of approved master’s programs, though students already enrolled will be grandfathered in. “The Hungarian government is of the clear view that...