Rudi Faust

My deck was stolen!!! If anyone sees any of these cards for sale please let me know immediately. 🙏🙏🙏

This deserves much more attention. Hungary’s incoming PM just admitted on the record that Viktor Orbán used Hungarian government funds to finance CPAC. His exact words: “I believe the state should never have financed them in the first place, it was a crime.” He is opening a criminal probe in Hungary. This demands a parallel investigation here. Federal law bars any foreign national, including a foreign government, from directly or indirectly giving money or anything of value in connection with a U.S. election. It also bars any American from soliciting or accepting it. CPAC is the flagship networking event for Republican candidates, members of Congress, and the conservative political operation. Money flowing from a foreign government into that ecosystem is exactly what the statute was written to stop. We need answers. How much did Orbán’s government send? Who received it? What was it spent on? Did any of it underwrite electioneering, candidate travel, or political messaging in the United States? Congress should demand records. The FEC and DOJ should open formal investigations. CPAC should disclose every dollar received from any Hungarian government entity or state-linked institution. Foreign governments do not get to buy influence in American elections. Not from the left. Not from the right. Not ever. msn.com/en-us/news/pol…

Call me a radical if you must, but heavily taxing cancer drugs and other life-saving pharmaceuticals is bad policy - if if they're (gasp!) made abroad. cato.org/blog/taxing-me… "A foreign spy is a threat to national security. The medicine that cured your kid is not." - @mfcannon

The birthright citizenship case is really helpful. It is helping Trumpists realize: 1. They don't support the U.S. Constitution. (They're not remotely "constitutionalists.) 2. Their desired outcomes are not very popular and the Constitution won't be changed.

Considering that the E-3 AWACS plane seems to be on the taxiway at Prince Sultan base, and how precisely it was hit in the radar dome area, I am wondering whether Iran managed to pull off its own Spiderweb operation with remotely piloted FPV drones (perhaps using the Saudi cellphone network.) This strike also required a high level of satellite ISR that Iran probably can’t get on its own. Russia? In any case, this was not the result of a lucky missile spraying debris.

U.S. General Christopher Cavoli on Patriot systems in the Ukrainian army: “Frankly, I was just a little bit dubious in the beginning. It’s a complicated system. We trained guys for a long, long time to be able to operate it. The Ukrainians put their best people on it and took to it like a fish to water. In fact, we’re now learning from some of their employment techniques.” 🇺🇸🇺🇦

Headlines that would have seemed insane in 2010: - Drone superpower Ukraine guards Gulf states - Ukraine trains NATO troops - Ukraine kills 35,000 Russian soldiers per month - Ukraine forces Russian Black Sea Fleet to retreat - Hungary vows not to become a Ukrainian colony

1994 – Nukes surrendered for “guarantees” 2014 – guarantees meant nothing, Ukraine was asked to give up Crimea for “peace” 2014-2022 - pretend russia's war is a "civil war"🤡 2022 - russia starts full-scale war 2026 – Donbas for “new security guarantees”

‼️Statement on the Orbán Government Accusing Me, an Investigative Journalist, of Espionage‼️ Today, the Hungarian government has filed a complaint against me for espionage. Accusing investigative journalists of espionage is virtually unprecedented in the 21st century for an EU member state. This is typical of Putin’s Russia, Belarus, and similar regimes. I have spent over a decade documenting how Russian spies and interests have penetrated Hungarian politics, so I am probably the least surprised by this. Despite growing signs that the Hungarian government acts as a Kremlin ally and copies the Russian model, I still trust that parts of the Hungarian state—and the judiciary—follow the Hungarian constitution, not that of the Russian Federation. I have never engaged in espionage. I see my work as journalistic counterintelligence—from exposing the hacking of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry by Russian actors to revealing the activities of Hungarian pro-Kremlin propagandists. Defending myself publicly would be easier if I were not bound by source protection. But that remains my top priority. I cannot reveal who provides me information or what I receive, including from within Hungarian state structures. If I were not a journalist, I could list many facts proving it is impossible for the Hungarian state to genuinely believe I am spying. Certain meetings, contacts, and information gathering could never have happened otherwise. This baseless accusation now forces me to share details of a specific investigation, including a conversation with a confidential source that appears to have been wiretapped. Normally, this would appear in a finished article or my upcoming book—not here. (It will appear there as well.) Since 2023, I have investigated whether the relationship between Péter Szijjártó and Russian officials exceeds legal limits. The published audio, where I’m heard talking to a source, mentions that communication between Szijjártó and Sergey Lavrov is recorded by EU intelligence services. Less attention has gone to my point that this relationship raises strong suspicion of political intelligence activity and influence operations in Russia’s interest. These are serious claims and hard to prove. As a journalist, I cannot force anyone to speak or hand over documents. That is why gathering this information has taken so long—and why I spoke to that sensitive source (while the conversation was secretly recorded). Serious claims require serious evidence, and I believe I have gathered some. I have not engaged in espionage. I have not cooperated with any foreign intelligence service in surveilling Szijjártó. Instead, I tried to verify earlier fragments of information about Szijjártó–Lavrov communication. I sought to identify the channels and phone numbers used, and whether a secret channel—possibly used by Russian intelligence—exists. In other words, whether Szijjártó uses a hidden device or number unknown even within the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. This was only one part of my research. The other, more serious topic is this: Since at least 2016–2017, EU and NATO intelligence services have had indications that large amounts of cash and precious stones may have been transported from Russia on Hungarian government aircraft or private jets used by government figures. Officials from at least six countries made such claims to me. These signals did not come from monitoring Hungarian targets, but, for example, from intercepting Russian officials discussing or preparing such shipments. Alongside Szijjártó–Lavrov communication, I examined how baggage screening and handling works on such flights, which officials travel with what luggage, whether more packages arrive from Moscow than depart, and how such shipments could be handled discreetly. I know how serious this is, and I would not have written even this much—but since I do not know what else may be taken from the edited recording, or what fabricated accusations (like, for example, that I was seeking such details to commit terrorism) may follow, I believe I must share this now. Why do I investigate all this? According to many sources familiar with the Hungarian state and counterintelligence, there is no independent body in the Orbán system able to investigate or act if a senior official is suspected of espionage. Government members direct intelligence services and set expectations. The services lack both tools and authority to investigate a government member. I knew this would be difficult when I chose to pursue it. But few people in Hungary can or dare to do this, so I felt it was my duty. We have now reached the point where the Orbán government—of which Szijjártó is still a member—aware of my reporting plans and the risk they pose, has preemptively accused me of espionage. I am a Hungarian patriot. I serve the public. As an investigative journalist, my job is to hold power accountable. Neither political theater nor legal threats will deter me.

Talking to Iranians who have fled to Armenia, I have heard largely the same. One a few days ago told me: "I don't know anyone who was killed in the strikes. I know 22 people who were killed by the regime in January."

People act like TSA is the only way to do airport security. That’s wrong. Several airports—including San Francisco—use private contractors to do screening. They haven’t missed potential terror attacks, and they don’t have mile-long lines right now. We don’t have to accept chaos.

The rightoids going to Hungary to praise its "traditional values" while everything there falls apart and the ruling party is ridden with pedo scandals are cut from the same cloth as the leftoids going to Cuba to throw rave parties and praise Communism amidst nationwide blackouts.

One of the wildest intercept videos I have ever seen. First glowing projectile: very likely a Stunner interceptor launched from David’s Sling, climbing toward the incoming MRBM warhead. Second glowing projectile: the incoming MRBM warhead descending toward the ground, evading the interceptor. Third glowing projectile entering from the right: very likely a Tamir interceptor launched from Iron Dome, approaching the MRBM warhead on a near-horizontal trajectory and successfully destroying it. In fact, you can see the interceptor’s flight path begin with a very shallow climb before reversing and flying toward the ground on a very shallow descent. The trajectory and intercept must have occured at the very limits of the system’s safety envelope. H/T to @Etienne_Marcuz for the video.

Incredible reporting by the team at WSJ. The government is covering up its crackdown on political opposition with bogus charges and claims of assaults. They are defaming hundreds of people and erasing the first amendment

CBS obtained video of the DHS killing of an unarmed man in Texas that DHS concealed for nearly a year, which clearly contradicts claims that he violently rammed anyone. He is shot with his brake lights on, car not moving or barely moving. Another DHS crime.

The reality was the Russian Geran supply chain shared many, many, components with Iran's Shaheed supply chain. And both were using the UAE to buy and smuggle Geran/Shaheed electronics from the West. Iran has stopped the Geran/Shaheed supply chain by attacking the UAE.

Ukraine is helping the US counter the Iranian drone threat with hard-earned battlefield expertise. Russia is feeding targeting information to endanger our people and interests. Ukraine is a capable ally. Failing to recognize that is a strategic mistake we make at our peril.

"Kiriyenko’s Hungary task force is in active contact with campaign operatives linked to the Orbán government." @VSquare_Project vsquare.org/goulash-kremli…

I took heat for Ukraine support from constituents whose feeds were flooded with ‘Ukraine Bad’ slop. Moral appeals went nowhere, but when I explained that supporting Ukraine gave us insight into both enemy tactics and countermeasures to save US lives in future wars, they got it.

The notion of finding an acceptable regime figure is pure fantasy. Remember the regime just killed 30,000 protestors. It would be an ethical and moral disaster to ally ourselves with anyone with such blood on their hands.