Scott Bradford: Off on a Tangent
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Adobe Firefly
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A pro-democracy protest at Disney’s Magic Kingdom escalated into an apparent coup d’état Saturday afternoon. The protest against King Iger, which had been organized on social media by the Disney Freedom Front, began around 10:00 a.m. at the north end of Main Street and soon moved into the King’s Park area outside Cinderella Castle, known informally as “The Hub.”

As the crowd grew, the King’s Security Force erected a barricade between the park and the castle and called-up reinforcements from regiments in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. When soldiers began arriving around mid-day, protestors taunted them and bombarded them with character pins and Dole Whip. Skirmishes broke out around the periphery, and sporadic gunfire could be heard in the Main Street and Liberty Square sections of the capital.

Around 2:30 p.m., as gunfire intensified, witnesses reported seeing protestors overrunning security barriers, crossing the moat bridge, and entering the castle. Cinderella Castle has a decorative moat but is not protected by a drawbridge. The king’s former residence at Sleeping Beauty Castle, now his summer retreat, has a functional moat and drawbridge. These protections were thought unnecessary when the new castle was built in 1971.

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Vatican Media
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Updated

The cardinal electors in conclave at the Vatican have made Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost the 267th supreme pontiff. Prevost, who is 69 years old, took the name Leo XIV. He is the first pope from the United States, the second pope from the Americas, and the first pope of the Augustinian order.

The successful election of the new pope was announced around 6:10 p.m. CEST (12:10 p.m. EDT) with white smoke billowing from the Sistine Chapel’s chimney and bells ringing in Saint Peter’s Square. The holy father was introduced to the faithful about an hour later with the traditional announcement:

Annuntio vobis gaudium: HABEMUS PAPAM! Eminentissimum ac reverendissimum Dominum Robertum Franciscum Sanctae Romane Ecclesiae Cardinalem Prevost qui sibi nomen imposuit Leonem XIV.

I announce to you a great joy: WE HAVE A POPE! The Most Eminent and Most Reverend Lord Robert Francis Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Prevost who has taken the name Leo XIV.

The Catholic Church entered a sede vacante (vacant seat) period with the death of Pope Francis, the 266th supreme pontiff, on April 21. A conclave was held beginning yesterday, May 7, to elect the next successor of Saint Peter. Members of the College of Cardinals who were under the age of 80 at the time of Pope Francis’s death were eligible to serve as electors. There were 135 eligible cardinals; two did not attend for health reasons. A two-thirds supermajority vote is required to elect a pope.

Leo XIV was elected on the fourth ballot of the conclave, which was the first ballot of today’s afternoon session. The new pope then vested in the “room of tears” before greeting the faithful from the balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica saying, “Peace be with you!” and offering his first blessing “Urbi et Orbi” (“to the city [of Rome] and the world”).

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Virginia Major Party Primaries, 2025

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Seal of Virginia
Seal of Virginia

Virginia’s major party primary elections will be held on Tuesday, June 17, 2025. Off on a Tangent makes recommendations to primary voters in state- and federal-level races in Virginia and local elections in Loudoun County whenever nominees will be chosen through a contested public primary.

Political parties are private organizations that should have no formal standing in our political system. As private organizations, they are free to choose their nominees through whichever process they wish—common methods include conventions, caucuses, private “firehouse primaries,” and direct nomination by party leaders. But in Virginia and many other states, the Democratic and Republican party duopoly has given itself permission to hold public primaries at the taxpayers’ expense.

Public primaries in Virginia are “open.” Any registered voter may vote in any single party primary held on a given day, regardless of whether they are an actual member of that party.

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Scott Bradford is a writer and technologist who has been putting his opinions online since 1995. He believes in three inviolable human rights: life, liberty, and property. He is a Catholic Christian who worships the trinitarian God described in the Nicene Creed. Scott is a husband, nerd, pet lover, and AMC/Jeep enthusiast with a B.S. degree in public administration from George Mason University.