Orbán’s foreign ‘fellow travellers’ cite privacy to shield state-funded payouts – English Danube Institute, a center of Viktor Orbán's international unfluence network, cited “safety concerns” and “right to privacy” to keep high-paying government-fund

Also, this piece kinda sucks, here's the one with the actual investigative reporting: english.atlatszo.hu/2026/04/08/o...

So the Benedict Option is not actually about withdrawing from modern society . . . it's about making money hating queer people internationally. Who could have predicted this?!?!?!

The Infowars news is funny, yes. But more importantly, it is an outright rebuke of Alex Jones' evil.

It's testament to the strength and resilience of the Sandy Hook families who survived this bullshit for more than a decade as well as the Onion, which didn't give up on this for the last 18 months.

The 2026 STRONGWILLED Survey! Welcome to the new STRONGWILLED platform – we are so glad you are here! We created a survey for you all because we’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to read and hear this coming year. The ...

Have you taken the STRONGWILLED reader/listener survey yet? So far my favorite response has been "please don't die" because guess what? That's the plan! I will never die and I will never stop writing about the harms of religious authoritarianism :) www.strongwilledproject.com/the-2026-str...

I was! But I don't have a ton of nostalgia for it for some reason

I'm watching the original Star Wars trilogy with my 10yo and he likes the old-school special effects a LOT better than modern CGI and keeps wistfully telling me that C-3PO and R2-D2 are the types of AI he was hoping for instead of what we got.

I firmly believe we should make fun of JD Vance for almost everything EXCEPT his eyeliner. I truly wish every person in the US could try out eyeliner, especially masc-presenting ppl. Emo music imprinted on me during an impressionable age, what can I say?

(Also don't be fatphobic dicks about anyone)

Hopecore: Why JD Vance is Giving DL Hope | STRONGWILLED Get more from STRONGWILLED on Patreon

Do you want to hear me yap about how JD Vance's horrible week is good news for us all? Well, then you are in luck! New hopecore episode is out today: www.patreon.com/posts/hopeco...

Anyways now the worst people in the world are funding their lifestyles because Substack is investing in them and I am back to trying to figure out how to publish on platforms that are much less intuitive to weird writers like me.

One thing I can't get over is how easy Substack made it for authors to publish and monetize their work and then capitalized on us all. I fell in love with that platform because they had a footnote button and the interface was easy to use. A footnote button! That's all it took for me.

The 2026 STRONGWILLED Survey! Welcome to the new STRONGWILLED platform – we are so glad you are here! We created a survey for you all because we’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to read and hear this coming year. The ...

You can follow my work deep-diving religious authoritarianism over at STRONGWILLED -- and fill out a survey about what content you would most like to see from us: www.strongwilledproject.com/the-2026-str...

I truly hate AI, I will never stop trying to hold Christian fascists accountable for their beliefs and their actions, and I believe the long-term impacts of religious authoritarianism deserve to be processed by anyone who is ready for it.

In the same manifesto, Palantir's owners argued that we need a national military draft, that soft power is over, and that we were too hard on Germany and Japan after World War II. I don't think that company should be allowed to exist anymore.

Our current timeline is truly determined to squash this bizzaro relationship America has with the Bible and I for one am here for it. These guys are going to get more and more Christian as they flame out and we are all very much paying attention to that.

I've long thought that American Christianity shouldn't be categorized by denominations/sects or even stated theology.

I think instead it should be categorized by how people in those communities view and discipline children.

The 2026 STRONGWILLED Survey! Welcome to the new STRONGWILLED platform – we are so glad you are here! We created a survey for you all because we’d love to hear from you about what you’d like to read and hear this coming year. The ...

If you have appreciated our STRONGWILLED content and have some thoughts on what you want to see in the future, come take our survey! www.strongwilledproject.com/the-2026-str...

Kids are not a business. Discipline (especially defined by corporal punishment and immediate obedience to authority) does not build character, it just sets up abusive authoritarians to maintain power.

One thing I hope we all do moving forward is refusing to engage with patriarchal Christianity on the terms that it has set for itself. Who cares about their stated theology -- why can't we study and engage with it as a political/social movement built on the backs of abusing children?

@prisonculture.bsky.social My conservative parents "won" by staying true to their core beliefs and values . . . and are now estranged from the majority of their kids and grandkids. Now they just hang out with other miserable estranged parents.

There's a very good essay to be written about the profound emptiness of *winning* when your project itself is joyless and cruel.

One thing I hope we all do moving forward is refusing to engage with patriarchal Christianity on the terms that it has set for itself. Who cares about their stated theology -- why can't we study and engage with it as a political/social movement built on the backs of abusing children?

This is such an important insight.
It’s exactly why every evangelical church I was ever in had folks who loved the quip about “making disciples the old-fashioned way,” and also why those same folks crash out spectacularly when their children display any sort of independence or individual will.

STRONGWILLED Recovering Autonomy after Religious Authoritarian Parenting

I think this is one of the most under-expored topics when it comes to unpacking how Christian nationalists got into power in the US. And that's why I created my STRONGWILLED project -- helping people see how powerful parenting methods are (and how to heal): www.strongwilledproject.com

and it's all connected! Abused kids grow up into adults who don't know how to identify/stand up to abuse

Are there any sociologists or anyone else doing research on this topic or using this framework? To ensure these communities don't get into power again we are really going to have to hone in on ensuring they don't get to abuse their children in the name of god and receive protections.

As I have been writing on James Dobson for years now, it always strikes me how far-reaching his parenting methods were. Conservative Catholics loved it, as did Mormons, JWs, and some mainline people too. People are bound not to the Bible, but to the ways they force their children to obey.

Parenting is inherently political, and Christian parenting and family experts (who all became incredibly politically active) have understood this -- in part, because these communities were desperate to ensure their racist, patriarchal ways were replicated in homes and in society.

I've long thought that American Christianity shouldn't be categorized by denominations/sects or even stated theology.

I think instead it should be categorized by how people in those communities view and discipline children.

In that same interview Vance also said the conservative who most influenced him in his life was James Dobson . . . I feel like Vance is going to leave Catholicism and go back to his evangelical roots soon

He's really not beating those allegations anymore