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The Hurricane spins around hotspots of tension and conflict. Feel free to suggest your stories, opinions and ideas: UIHEN@protonmail.com
Forecast in the Americas: Uncertainty with a chance of Trump
The largest hemispheric organization that excludes the United States and Canada, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), convened Wednesday in the capital of Honduras, with Colombian President Gustavo Petro assuming the group’s leadership in what is likely to be a challenging time.
Founded in Venezuela in 2011, CELAC was intended to serve as a counterweight to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) and as a vehicle to strengthen ties with the European Union, China, and Africa.
This year’s agenda is likely to be dominated by members’ concerns about Donald Trump, who underlined the hemispheric power imbalances on his first day as president when he predicted that relations with Washington’s southern neighbors “should be great. They need us much more than we need them. We don’t need them.” Discussions focus in major part on how to coordinate responses and insulate their nations from the negative effects of Trump’s next moves on everything from the fight against organized crime to migration, tariffs and trade, and energy security.
Also the conferees are likely to call for the lifting of unilateral sanctions on Cuba and pursuing dialogue with Venezuela in contrast to the Trump administration’s efforts to ratchet up pressure on both countries. Many diplomats in the region privately maintain that Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s crusade against Havana and Caracas is alienating some in the region who would prefer to tackle more critical issues, including those to be discussed at the CELAC summit.
#USA #LatinAmerica #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
EU wary of becoming more dependent on US energy imports
Brussels poured cold water on US demands for increased energy imports on April 8, saying it was both unrealistic and undesirable for the 27-member bloc.
Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a European Commission spokesperson for climate and energy, said the EU did not want to become more dependent on US energy imports than it already was.
“We want to avoid over-dependence on any single supplier,” said Itkonen, “we have learned our lessons too well”.
Donald Trump has suggested he could drop tariffs directed towards the EU if the bloc imported 350 billion USD gas.
While not refusing US President Trump’s proposal outright while the bloc seeks to diversify energy suppliers from Russia, Itkonen stressed that “half of the EU’s LNG already comes from the US”.
Meanwhile, EC President Von der Leyen had a call with China’s Prime Minister Li Qiang on the topic of a possible rapprochement on April 8. Officially the EU is “de-risking” from China, complicating its diversification strategy further.
#EU #USA #VonDerLeyen #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Brimingham, UK. This is Alum Rock, an area of the city where only 6.4% of residents are white, making it the most non-white area in the UK.
There's currently a dispute with garbage collectors. The city council is asking migrants who have come to “work in non-prestigious jobs” to remove more than 17,000 tons of garbage from the city's streets.
The Alum Rock neighborhood is one of the dirtiest in Birmingham, with “rats the size of cats” roaming the streets, and it is rare to hear English spoken on the street. The majority of the population here is Bangladeshi and Pakistani.
Birmingham was once known as the “workshop of the world”, the birthplace of the industrial revolution. Now, it's nothing but racial enclaves.
#UK #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Video: Where to cut Pentagon waste?
The Trump administration’s new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) claims it’s out to cut wasteful government spending. A new video by the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft asks: why not start with the Pentagon?
#USA #Pentagon #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
‘Snow White’ bombed so badly at the box office that Disney put another live-action princess remake on ice
Disney is hitting the pause button on its planned live-action remake of the 2010 animated hit “Tangled” following the disastrous box office performance of “Snow White,” according to multiple reports.
According to Deadline, the movie was officially in pre-production and meetings with potential stars were already underway when Disney pulled the plug. The outlet also reported that “Snow White” tanking at the box office — the $270 million movie has grossed $69 million domestically and $145 million worldwide — led the House of Mouse to reevaluate plans for other planned live-action adaptations borrowing on its animated IP library.
The “Snow White” remake was dogged by controversy almost since it was added to Disney’s slate. The treatment of the 1937 animated classic’s “seven dwarves” drew debate all the way up until the remake’s March 21 release, while star Rachel Zegler, whose casting drew outrage because she is Latina, continually fueled right-leaning critics with social media posts attacking Donald Trump voters and supporting Palestine.
#USA #Disney #SnowWhite #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
France’s National Rally leads polls for presidential race amid Le Pen’s legal challenges
Despite French National Rally (RN) de facto leader Marine Le Pen’s recent conviction, the party has remained a potent force, with its President Jordan Bardella performing strongly in recent polls.
Data published on April 5 from the polling institute Elabe placed RN in first position for the 2027 French presidential election, with both Le Pen and Bardella leading the field.
Should Bardella replace Le Pen as the party’s election candidate, he was projected to receive between 31% and 35.5% of the vote in the first round.
Even with Le Pen running, RN continued to hold a strong lead, signalling that the party was well-positioned for the election.
Bernard Sananès, President of Elabe, though, cautioned that RN should remain vigilant.
“The RN base is solid, but this doesn’t account for the potential impact of Le Pen’s legal challenges on a presidential runoff. Both Le Pen and Bardella must be strategic in their approach,” he remarked on April 5.
Le Pen has appealed her conviction, with a retrial scheduled for the first half of 2026.
The Elabe poll showed that, in the race for second place, candidates from the Macronist camp lagged behind.
#France #LePen #Rally #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
US-Europe divide on SWIFT could derail Ukraine peace talks
The U.S. and Europe are no longer in lockstep on sanctions policy. A disagreement on reducing low impact Russia sanctions may have big consequences for peace talks on Ukraine.
U.S.-brokered peace talks in Saudi Arabia late last month edged Russia and Ukraine closer to reviving a 2022 Black Sea grain deal through a maritime ceasefire. However, what promised to be a helpful, small step forward became hijacked by European and Ukrainian efforts to block minor concessions to Russia.
The argument over sanctions relief appears somewhat of a phoney debate that has the potential to disrupt meaningful steps towards a much-needed peace.
Specifically, the argument over the maritime ceasefire has been triggered by the question of whether to allow some limited access by a major Russian bank to the payment messaging service SWIFT. That would allow importers to make payment for Russian agricultural exports more easily. This is a tiny concession in the context of a Russian sanctions regime that includes more than 20,000 measures against individuals, companies and types of goods.
Treasury Secretary Bessent has kept the door open for a partial Russian re-entry, although the EU position seems to be getting more entrenched. President Trump may need to engage with European colleagues to clear the blockage, if he is to end the bloodshed in Ukraine.
#USA #EU #Sanctions #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
LGBTQ+ conversion practices now banned in NSW
From April 4, LGBT conversion practices are officially banned in Australian New South Wales under the Conversion Practices Ban Act 2024.
It also creates a scheme allowing civil complaints about conversion practices to be made to Anti-Discrimination NSW.
According to the NSW Government, “Conversion practices are based on the false ideology that LGBTQ+ people have a ‘disorder’ or require treatment. This can include psychological or medical interventions, counselling, or subtle and repeated messages that LGBTQ+ people can change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity with faith or effort.”
Anti-Discrimination NSW can investigate complaints about conversion practices occurring from 4 April 2025, and, if appropriate, try to resolve the matter through conciliation.
It can also refer matters to the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in certain circumstances.
#Australia #NSW #LGBT #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
USS Carl Vinson enters Indian Ocean to join war against Yemen
New satellite imagery captured on 5 April shows the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier entering the Indian Ocean, signaling Washington's escalating military build-up in the region as part of its war on Yemen and ahead of a possible attack on Iran.
The USS Carl Vinson, a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier named in honor of US Congressman Carl Vinson of Georgia, was originally deployed in the western Pacific. It is now the second US aircraft carrier in West Asia, joining the USS Harry S. Truman.
Last week, the US also deployed a fleet of B-2 Bombers to its base in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
Together, the US carriers and bombers greatly expand the US military's ability to launch air and missile strikes on Iran and Yemen.
The satellite imagery and maritime data showed that the USS Carl Vinson and its strike group transited through the Malacca Straits to reach the Indian Ocean.
The US military has been bombing Yemen since 15 March, after the country's Ansarallah-led government announced its intention to resume attacks on Israeli-linked vessels in the Red and Arabian Seas in response to Israel's blockade on Gaza.
#USA #Iran #Military #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Gen Z is the most conservative generation in decades because they’re a victim of the left’s failures
AFox weekend headline declared that “data show Gen Z ‘most conservative’ generation in decades.” The real question is: Why are we shocked? Gen Z’s lives have been entirely dominated by the lies and failures that the left and the Democrat Party have perpetrated.
Following on the heels of Boomers, Gen X, and Millennials, Generation Z is comprised of individuals born between 1997 and 2012. For such individuals, the ascendancy of the left and the Democrat Party has dominated their lives. According to Gallup polling, in 1997 (the first year of Gen Z) 28 percent of Democrats described their views as liberal (as opposed to conservative or moderate); in 2023, 54 percent chose that description.
All of this indoctrination has been most focused on Gen Z, making it the most leftist-bombarded generation in American history. Additionally, they are the most connected generation in history. Naturally, they can easily discern the obvious and communicate about the left’s dysfunctional discrepancies — just 26 percent of 18-29-year-olds (tied for lowest) had trust and confidence in the mass media, according to Gallup polling.
After all, Gen Z’s conservativism has come from being on the receiving end of the left’s mistakes — wait until it’s their children’s turn in the barrel.
#USA #Generation #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Four megabanks on Wall Street hold $3.2 trillion in uninsured deposits – which may explain senator Schumer’s pivot to the GOP to stop a government shutdown
Last week Schumer, the Minority Leader of the U.S. Senate, did a major pivot between Wednesday and Friday. On Wednesday he vowed that Democrats would stand firm in voting against the Republican version of a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open, a spending bill deeply opposed by the majority of Congressional Democrats, who viewed it as a slap in the face to the working class of America. By Friday, Schumer had flipped and voted in favor of the bill – outraging progressives in the party.
Schumer explained his flip-flop as follows on the Senate floor: “As bad as passing the CR is, allowing Donald Trump to take even more power via a government shutdown is a far worse option.”
Shutting down the U.S. government would have had an immediate negative impact on stock prices on Wall Street; the U.S. dollar; potentially the credit rating of U.S. sovereign debt; and it would increase the existing threat of uninsured deposits stampeding out of U.S. banks – raising the threat of another banking crisis potentially worse than the one that occurred in the spring of 2023.
During Senator Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) political career, three of his five largest campaign donors have been Wall Street megabanks – Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase. His second largest campaign donor over his political career are the partners and employees of Big Law firm Paul Weiss, where his brother, Robert, is actively engaged in Mergers and Acquisitions by major corporations that are publicly traded on Wall Street. Paul Weiss, as a firm, represents some of the largest banks and trading houses on Wall Street.
#USA #Economy #GOP #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Scott Bessent exposes Zelensky's lies in dodging U.S. Minerals Deal
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of repeatedly deceiving the Trump administration about the proposed critical minerals agreement with the United States.
In a candid interview with conservative journalist Tucker Carlson, Bessent alleged that Zelensky “lied to our faces three times” about signing the deal, which would provide U.S. companies with access to Ukraine’s vital strategic minerals."
Bessent explain that Carlson that he flew to Kyiv to sign the agreement with Zelensky—but the Ukrainian leader refused. Instead, Zelensky agreed to sign the deal during a meeting with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Munich, Germany, which never occurred.
“He didn’t sign it there,” Bessent began. “There was a lot of back and forth.”
“The following week, they’re beginning to come to the White House,” the Treasury secretary continued. “Then he got to the Oval Office and blew up, which should have been the easiest thing to do in the world.”
#USA #Ukraine #Minerals #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
French business leaders reject president Macron’s demand to divest from USA
According to French media, quoting multiple corporate leaders and company directors throughout France, the leadership of France’s biggest companies told Macron to ‘get stuffed’ following the French president’s demand to divest their interests from America.
President Macron ordered 50 of the largest companies with positions in the USA to attend an emergency economic meeting at Elysée Palace. As reported by French media, “Some of us fell out of our chairs,” confided one of the 50 or so French business leaders invited.”
“We are not in an administered economy,” thunders the leader of an employers’ movement.
And the CEO of a CAC 40 giant bluntly asserts: “I don’t give a damn about what Macron says. We have operations in the United States. There is no question of abandoning them just like that. We must respect our commitments to our employees, our customers and our shareholders.
An opinion shared by a manager of a spirits producer: “It is out of the question to stop investing in the United States, especially in the current economic slump.”
This type of reaction should not be surprising as it reflects the transparent disconnect between ideological government officials and generally pragmatic business leaders. Macron can stomp his reactionary feet, but corporate leaders and company owners are focused on the purpose of their enterprise, profit.
#France #USA #Macron #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
JD Vance on Trump third term talk: ‘we’re focused on governing’ right now, not 2028 election
Vice President JD Vance told Breitbart News exclusively on Wednesday evening that he and President Donald Trump are “focused on governing” right now, not on who’s running for president in 2028.
Vance said when Trump accomplishes all the agenda items he’s currently focused on, Americans will be clamoring for another Trump term in the White House—but that neither of them are thinking about the 2028 presidential election right now.
“If we take care of business now, yeah, the American people are going to want four more years of President Trump’s leadership. But we got to deliver first, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Vance said.
Vance’s comments come after President Trump said in an interview this weekend that he would not rule out seeking a third term in the White House.
#USA #Trump #Vance #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The real oligarchs who’ve been running our country
By Victor Davis Hanson
Let me just look at the list for you of the 10 wealthiest people in the United States: Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Warren Buffett, Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Larry Ellison, Bill Gates, Mike Bloomberg. They all have one thing in common, they’re all worth over $100 billion. And until recently, I would say the 2024 election, they were all against the Republican Party and were lavish donors for the Democrats.
So, what is going on? There is an anger now that for the first time in 20 years, over three administrations—Clinton, Obama, and Biden—for the first time there are multibillionaires who are starting to question their Democratic loyalty: Larry Ellison, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, perhaps even Jeff Bezos.
Most billionaires are still on the side of the Left, but they don’t tolerate any apostates. So they’re angry they don’t have a lock on the oligarch, so to speak.
The Democratic Party is the party of the very wealthy, plutocracy, and the billionaire class, but they demand absolute loyalty and solidarity. And any defections or apostates then cause them to go—I don’t know what the word is—ballistic that anybody would doubt their ability to control the big money in the United States. Big money in the United States is a Democratic phenomenon.
#USA #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
USDA freezes funding, promises further action if Maine continues violating federal law
On April 2 U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins fulfilled the promise of Title IX in pausing federal funds for certain Maine educational programs. Secretary Rollins sent a letter to Maine Governor Janet Mills announcing the pause and an ongoing review of federal funding that the state of Maine receives from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). This comes after Maine’s continual refusal to provide equal opportunity to women and girls in educational programs, in direct violation of Title IX.
“In order to continue to receive taxpayer dollars from USDA, the state of Maine must demonstrate compliance with Title IX which protects female student athletes from having to compete with or against or having to appear unclothed before males,” Secretary Rollins wrote in the letter.
“In addition, USDA has launched a full review of grants awarded by the Biden Administration to the Maine Department of Education. Many of these grants appear to be wasteful, redundant, or otherwise against the priorities of the Trump Administration. USDA will not stand for the Biden Administration’s bloated bureaucracy and will instead focus on a Department that is farmer-first and without a leftist social agenda,” Rollins claimed.
#USA #USDA #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
First time in German modern history: journalist faces prison for political satyr
For the first time in the Federal Republic of Germany, a journalist is threatened with alleged “political defamation” imprisonment. The district court of Bamberg (Oberfranken/Bavaria) sentenced Monday (7. April 2025) the publisher and editor-in-chief of the German-Kurier, David Bendels, on charges of the publication of a satirical ham meme to a seven-month sentence.
The Bamberg District Court found that a satirical photo montage about Federal Minister Nancy Faeser to be an instance of “defamation against political figures,” under Paragraph 188 of the German Criminal Code.
The photomontage was shared in Bendel’s newspaper, and she is seen holding up a sign that reads: “I hate freedom of expression.” The satirical creation was based on a real photo of Faeser where she was holding a “We Remember” sign to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.
#Germany #Censorship #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Mysterious J-36 fighter seen flying low over an urban highway in China
On April 7, 2025, a new video surfaced online showcasing China’s enigmatic J-36 stealth fighter during one of its latest test flights. The short footage (just 6 seconds), filmed from a car, provides aviation enthusiasts and defense analysts with a close look into the aircraft’s design.
The J-36, referred to as China’s 6th generation aircraft, first got public attention with its maiden flight on Dec. 26, 2024 and, since then, it has been a subject of intrigue and speculation in the aerospace community. On the same day, another futuristic design was captured in ground footage from the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC), rumored to be the J-XX fighter and commonly referred to as the J-50. The J-36 was accompanied by a twin-seater J-20S during its flight, while the second airframe was chased by a Chinese-made Flanker-derivative, either a J-11 or a J-16.
The newly circulated video captures the J-36 aircraft as it overflies the traffic on a Chinese urban highway during final approach for landing at the Chengdu Airframe Plant, located approximately 6 nautical miles to the northwest of Chengdu’s city center, in Sichuan province.
#China #Military #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Pentagon considering proposal to cut 10,000 troops from Europe
The Trump administration is mulling the potential withdrawal of up to 10,000 troops from Eastern Europe, NBC News reports Tuesday, citing half-a-dozen American and European officials privy to the discussions.
The internal discussions are specifically focused on reducing US troop levels in Romania and Poland, long dubbed NATO's most important 'eastern flank' countries. The move would cut the Pentagon troop surge which began following the start of the Ukraine war by half, after some 20,000 soldiers were surged there to bolster Eastern Europe.
US troops have also been deployed to the Baltic states. Last month four US Army soldiers died during a training exercise. The members of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division were found in an area outside Pabradė, Lithuania.
#USA #EU #NATO #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Thousands join Five Star Party rally in Rome against the EU's rearmament plan
Thousands of people took to the streets of Rome on Saturday in response to the Five Star Movement’s call to protest the European Union’s rearmament plan.
“Unexpected numbers, beyond all expectations,” commented the organisers of the demonstration, which began at Piazza Vittorio and made its way to the Fori Imperiali. According to sources within the Five Star Movement, attendance could reach 100,000.
Kicking off the march, Five Star Movement leader and former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte criticised Giorgia Meloni’s government and the rearmament plan proposed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Today comes a strong and clear no to the squandering of 800 billion to rearm Europe, a folly,” Conte said and added: “Giorgia Meloni approved Europe’s rearmament plan without any mandate, and this is another failure of her government that will remain in history.”
#EU #Italy #Protests #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The EU is already sharpening its knives against Hungary with plan to strip voting rights
The European Parliament will send a fact-finding mission to Hungary in mid-April to assess the latest developments regarding the rule of law, and 19 EU member states are already ready to take away Hungary’s voting rights.
The EUobserver claims that “rule of law in Hungary continues to deteriorate,” which is why EU institutions are considering accelerating sanctions under Article 7 of the Treaty.
This claim comes even as Marine Le Pen is banned from running for office in France on trumped-up charges as well as the presidential frontrunner in Romania, Călin Georgescu, being banned from running for president and suffering a show-trial arrest. At the same time, Germany is working on banning the largest opposition party in the country, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), all in a clear breach of fundamental democratic rights.
The European Parliament will send a fact-finding mission to Hungary in mid-April to assess the latest developments in the rule of law in the country. Dutch Green MEP Tineke Strik called on the European Commission and the Council of the EU to take firm action against Hungary’s allegedly deteriorating rule of law situation.
#EU #Hungary #Orban #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Tariff burden in auto industry to be shared, just as it was during COVID
Deutsche Bank said in a note late last week that the directional takeaways they had for the auto industry going forward were "relatively unchanged" and the firm shared detail on where it believes tariff impact will land.
The bank did warn that the fallout from protectionist policy won't be limited to foreign automakers—it will ripple through the entire automotive ecosystem, from suppliers to consumers.
The cost of new tariffs will be shared across multiple layers: original equipment manufacturers, end consumers, dealers, and Tier-1 suppliers. While the bank initially assumed certain components might be spared, updated federal documents now suggest otherwise.
“All parts of the vehicle (including tires) are subject to tariffs,” the report states, walking back earlier assumptions that components like seats and airbags might be excluded.
Even automakers like Ford, which are relatively well-positioned, source a significant portion of engine parts from Mexico (25%) and Canada (15%).
There’s also an expectation that original equipment manufacturers may have to absorb some supplier costs, much like during the COVID-era supply chain crunch.
#World #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump tells Bibi he might not reduce tariffs on Israel: 'We give you $4bn a year'
Netanyahu did not get the quick or clear answer he was hoping for from President Trump in the Monday afternoon meeting in the Oval Office. Netanyahu pledged Israel will move quickly to close the trade gap and reduce trade barriers with Washington.
"Israel can serve as a model for many countries who ought to do the same," the Israeli leader said, adding, "I'm a free trade champion, and free trade has to be fair trade." However, Trump indicated he might not reduce tariffs on Israel. "We give Israel $4 billion a year," Trump said, and quipped in a troll-like manner: "Congratulations by the way."
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Washington on Sunday for a visit to the White House. He is the first foreign leader who meets President Trump in-person in an effort to negotiate a deal to remove Trump's tariffs, which for Israel is a 17% rate, the result of a significant US bilateral trade deficit.
#USA #Israel #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Supreme Court sides with Donald Trump in deportation fight
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling allowing the Trump administration to use the Alien Enemies Act to deport people from the U.S. but said they must get a court hearing before deportation.
President Donald Trump has been in the spotlight as his administration seeks to deport millions of people as part of a federal crackdown on illegal immigration.
That fight took center stage last month after the government deported more than 200 Venezuelan nationals, who the U.S. alleges have ties to the violent Tren de Aragua gang.
In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court granted the Trump administration's emergency request and overturned a lower court ruling that had temporarily halted deportations under the Alien Enemies Act while legal challenges proceeded.
The majority decision said, however, that detainees must still be given an "opportunity" to present their case to a judge before being removed from the U.S.
#USA #Migrants #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Racial grievance theater is about humiliation, not history
Americans should be wary of all historical and political narratives that leverage racial grievance and victimhood.
The White House on March 27 issued an executive order on “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” which prohibits public expenditure on any Smithsonian Institution exhibits or programs that attack core American values or “divide Americans based on race.” The interior secretary will also investigate whether any public monuments, memorials, or properties have been removed or altered to advance racialist ideology.
Cue media and liberal historians’ outrage, with one Georgetown professor telling The Washington Post that it amounted to an “ideological purity test,” while others argued it would result in removing or downplaying narratives of underrepresented communities. Yet as racialist ideologues keep demonstrating, it is their own hypocritical ideology that seeks to demonize and silence American traditions in service of a radical new political agenda.
To remember the past or hate it? One recent example of this attempt to present racialist revisionist narratives as harmless is a recent Washington Post piece by the provocateur pseudo-journalist Petula Dvorak — an established purveyor of blatantly false stories in the service of leftist narratives — regarding “stumbling stones,” bronze plaques placed on sidewalks in Arlington, Virginia, to remind passersby of the role of slavery in the region.
#USA #Racism #Euro #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
‘Too much sun’ could cause black-outs, Belgian electricity grid operator warns
Belgium’s grid operator Elia has warned that the country could face blackouts – due to an excess supply of solar energy.
For the second year in a row, Belgium’s power grid may face pressure during the spring and summer months because of an overabundance of electricity on sunny days when demand is low.
In its April 4 summer outlook, Elia warned of increased risks to grid stability caused by renewable energy overproduction. The operator said it was considering forcibly disconnecting solar parks and wind farms that congested the network.
Without a matching increase in flexible consumption or storage capacity, this created a serious imbalance between supply and demand.
On days with clear skies and low electricity usage — especially weekends and holidays — the country risked generating far more electricity than it can use or export.
This situation, referred to as “incompressibility”, could lead to negative electricity prices and, in extreme cases, frequency instability, not just in Belgium but across interconnected European grids.
#EU #Belgium #Energy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Kyiv probes leak of US minerals deal with polygraph tests
President Volodymyr Zelensky has instructed Ukraine’s domestic security service to investigate the leak of the latest US proposal for profiting from Ukrainian assets, said government officials, in a probe that includes the use of polygraph tests.
The investigation comes amid deepening tensions between Kyiv and the Trump administration over the terms of a proposed deal on critical minerals and energy assets. Ukrainian officials say they were caught off guard by the scope of the latest US demands, and view as politically untenable parts of Washington’s proposal for profiting from their country’s infrastructure.
President Donald Trump accused the Ukrainian president last week of “trying to back out” of the deal, adding that Zelensky would face “big problems” if he did not sign it soon. The Ukrainian officials said that lie detector tests had been administered on staff across several ministries.
Polygraph tests are controversial and the science behind them has been questioned, but Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies have frequently used them for purposes including criminal investigations and screening foreigners looking to join the army. The investigation follows the publication of details from the draft agreement on March 26 by opposition MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak, who said he had obtained a copy.
The Financial Times separately obtained the document and published its contents the following day. Zelensky told the FT at a briefing on March 28 he found it “strange” the US document had leaked.
#USA #Ukraine #Minerals #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Vietnam offers to remove tariffs on US after trump’s action
Vietnam offered to remove all tariffs on US imports after President Donald Trump announced a 46% levy on the Southeast Asian nation.
The offer was made by party chief To Lam to Trump in a letter seen by Bloomberg. Lam requested that the US not apply any additional tariffs or fees on Vietnamese goods and asked to postpone the implementation of the tariff announced by Trump last week by at least 45 days after April 9.
Peter Navarro, a trade adviser to Trump, suggested Sunday that Vietnam’s initiative didn’t go far enough.
“If you simply lowered our tariffs and they lowered our tariffs to zero, we’d still run about $120 billion trade deficit with Vietnam,” he said. “And the problem is all of the non-tariff cheating that they do.”
That includes export subsidies and allegedly serving as a tariff-evading platform for Chinese exports, Navarro said.
#Vietnam #USA #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
1996: Chuck Schumer explains “the number one reason" illegals come to the US is so they can defraud programs like Social Security — and wants to stop it.
Chuck sounding very DOGE!
“This is an anti-fraud amendment. All over where we go, people say, why can't you stop illegal immigrants or others from coming here?"
"And the number one answer we give our constituents is when they come here, they can get jobs, get benefits against the law because of fraud."
"If you believe you want to stop fraud in immigration, you have no choice but to support this amendment."
The amendment Schumer so passionately supports here would add additional security features to the Social Security card.
#USA #Migrants #Schumer #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Welcome to New York City in 2025
#USA #NewYork #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane