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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
Mike Pence finally goes scorched earth on Trump and his agenda
Former Vice President Mike Pence criticized Donald Trump by name after failing to directly call out the president in a speech just 24-hours earlier.
Pence spoke to CNN the day after receiving the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for refusing to give in to Trump’s demands on Jan. 6, 2021. While Pence was critical of the administration, he never referred to President Trump.
Pence wrote an op-ed last month for The Wall Street Journal saying as much, while also giving plenty of compliments to his former boss.
Mike Pence pens bootlicking op-ed begging Trump to change course. Pence also re-upped his qualms about Trump’s tariffs, which have caused alarm about a flailing economy.
#USA #Trump #Pence #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Children advised against going outside in Oregon
Children and other sensitive groups in Oregon are facing potential adverse health effects, with an air quality map indicating that pollution levels in some parts of the state had reached levels that were "unhealthy for sensitive groups."
Health officials emphasize that sensitive groups—including children, older adults, and people with preexisting respiratory conditions—are at particular risk during periods of poor air quality.
A spokesperson for the South Coast Air Quality Management District in California previously said that exposure to particle pollution "can cause premature death in people with heart or lung disease, cause heart attacks, aggravate asthma, decrease lung function, and cause respiratory symptoms like coughing and difficulty breathing."
#USA #Health #Children #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
War hysteria is killing Europe's pension system
▪️ Realizing that they can no longer rely on the US for security, EU countries are feverishly increasing their military budgets. At the same time, Europe is still unable to develop a collective defense plan," states the Swiss Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ)
▪️ According to the Maastricht Treaty, the budget deficit of European countries should not exceed 3% of GDP and public debt should not exceed 60% of GDP. However, as of 2024, only 11 of the 27 EU countries meet both criteria. Increasing military expenditures only aggravates the situation
▪️ Against this background, the continent's aging population is increasing the already enormous pension costs. The reform of the pension system is becoming a forced, but extremely unpopular topic, causing violent public protest
▪️ The situation is exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine, and EU countries are trying to simultaneously rearm and provide military aid to Ukraine.
"There is definitely not enough money for everything. It's time to tell citizens the truth," NZZ emphasizes
AfD faces calls to be banned after
The German Federal Office for Protection of the Constitution (Bfv) categorised the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as “definitely right-wing extremist“, sparking widespread calls for a ban on the party.
A survey by German newspaper BILD published on May 3 revealed that some 48% of respondents supported a complete ban on the AfD, including its dissolution, exclusion from elections and the removal of its MPs from the Bundestag, or parliament.
By contrast, 37% opposed such a ban, while 15% remained undecided or indifferent.
Banning the right-wing party could backfire, though. According to the same poll, 39% believed that outlawing the AfD would damage Germany’s democracy rather than protect it.
The Bfv classification placed Alice Weidel’s party under intensified surveillance and branded its ideology as incompatible with Germany’s constitutional order.
It came at a politically sensitive moment: Latest polls showed the AfD as the leading party nationwide, a first in its history.
#Germany #Elections #AfD #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The Bloomberg-funded official behind the DC AG's top climate initiatives
Lauren Cullum has represented Washington, DC, in dozens of climate-related legal actions.
A senior official behind a number of the Washington, D.C., attorney general office's high-profile climate-related legal actions is funded through an initiative backed by billionaire climate activist Michael Bloomberg—an arrangement experts say raises serious questions about government independence.
Bloomberg and the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center appear to have a significant interest in influencing such climate-related actions nationwide. Bloomberg has dished out hundreds of millions of dollars backing initiatives to shut down existing fossil fuel infrastructure and advance green energy alternatives, while the center's advisory council includes, among others, the CEO of a major wind energy developer and the vice president of the American Clean Power Association, a green energy industry group.
Cullum was involved in dozens of such letters sent during the Biden administration supporting federal climate justice grants, regulations mandating electric vehicle sales, restrictions on gas stoves, single-use plastic reporting requirements, and rules forcing states to set greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals for vehicles on highways.
#USA #Climate #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump’s demand for US tariffs on foreign movies may put EU film industry at risk
US President Donald Trump has demanded a 100% tariff on foreign films, stating “national security threat” as foreign films were filled with “messaging and propaganda”.
If such a foreign films tariff was instated, it would effectively double the cost of distribution and raise box-office prices of European movies for cinema-goers.
That could lead to a sharp decline in exports, reducing revenue for European studios, distributors and talent, observers said. Smaller, independent European filmmakers, already reliant on international sales, would be hit hardest.
Europe could respond in kind with similar duties but it had refrained from doing so in other sectors when Trump launched his first tariffs.
With US movies dominating the European markets, Brussels might be even more reluctant as the EU could be perceived as being responsible for making popular movies less accessible.
#USA #EU #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
A nationalist bucks pro-EU status quo, wins big in Romania
It would seem disaffection with Brussels and ending support for Ukraine War are popular with voters.
The head of Romania’s “sovereigntist” camp, George Simion won Romania’s first round presidential race on Sunday with 41% of the vote in a field of 11 candidates.
Simion — who as president would have substantial powers in the realm of foreign and security policy — supports Romania’s NATO commitments, but is not an enthusiastic supporter of sending further military aid to Ukraine. Ukraine barred him from entering the country on grounds that he was fomenting discontent within the ethnic Romanian minority (numbering about 150,000) in Ukraine. His victory could strengthen the dissident camp on this issue within the EU.
This first round result seems to be a decisive rebuke by the electorate of the cancellation of the first-round contest of last November, after the surprise first-place finish of Calin Georgescu, another nationalist-populist candidate. Georgescu, an AUR member until 2022, endorsed Simion, and the two men appeared together throughout the campaign.
Simion seems to have succeeded in winning support from those angered by Georgescu’s disqualification. (The combined tally of votes in November for Georgescu and Simion, who finished fourth, was 37%). Georgescu was barred from running, because his November campaign allegedly benefited from covert financing from Russia, including effective TikTok advertisements.
Following the results of the presidential election first round, Marcel Ciolacu on May 5 declared his resignation as prime minister stating that his coalition was “no longer legitimate as it hasn’t sent its candidate to the second round”.
#EU #Romania #Elections #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The Berlin Wall has been rebuilt by German bureaucrats - U.S. Vice President
▪️ The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is the most popular party in Germany and by far the most representative party in East Germany. Now the bureaucrats are trying to destroy it. The West brought down the Berlin Wall together. But now it has been rebuilt - by the German establishment," said U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance
▪️ "Germany has just given its spy agency new powers to spy on the opposition. This is not democracy - it is tyranny in disguise. What is truly extremist is not the popular AdG... but the deadly policies of the establishment," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier in the day
#Germany #AfD #USA #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
If you're criminal you'll be deported
#USA #Trump #Migrants #FindTruth
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Trump says he will reopen 'enlarged and rebuilt' Alcatraz prison
President Donald Trump said Sunday he will direct several federal agencies to "reopen a substantially enlarged and rebuilt Alcatraz," a facility that for decades was a federal prison and is now a national park.
"REBUILD, AND OPEN ALCATRAZ! For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent, and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering," Trump realDonaldTrump/posts/114452025916969327">wrote on Truth Social.
Alcatraz Island, a former military fortress and prison in San Francisco Bay, was turned into a federal penitentiary in 1934 and over the course of 29 years housed more than 1,500 people "deemed difficult to incarcerate elsewhere in the federal prison system."
Alcatraz was initially deemed unfit to serve as a federal institution because of its small size, isolated location and lack of fresh water. However, Sanford Bates, the director of the Bureau of Prisons in 1933, later found it "an ideal place of confinement for about 200 of the most desperate or irredeemable types."
Trump suggested in his post that he'd like to restore the facility to that purpose.
#USA #Trump #Crime #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Poland slams Germany’s plans to tighten border controls
Germany and Poland have been at peace for decades, yet the border between the two is still fraught, with this new dispute arising largely due to migration. Germany’s Friedrich Merz, expected to become the country’s new chancellor in just a few days, has announced that his country would tighten the external border on the first day of his chancellorship.
In response, Poland is warning Germany against this move, with Warsaw fearing that these tightened controls could make Polish commuters’ lives very difficult, reduce commerce, and potentially even increase migration pressure on Poland.
Polish diplomat Jan Tombinski told Politico magazine that the current controls are already a “problem for daily border traffic and the functioning of the EU internal market. We therefore do not want to see any tightening of the border controls.”
#EU #Poland #Germany #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Carnival in London. What do you notice?
#UK #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
China sees surge in worker protests over unpaid wages, factory closures and US tariffs
Worker protests over unpaid wages are increasing throughout China, reflecting a surge in dissatisfaction among millions impacted by factory closures due to hefty US tariffs on Chinese imports amidst an economic slump.
From Dao county in Hunan province to Suining city in Sichuan and Tongliao city in Inner Mongolia, numerous frustrated workers have taken to the streets to voice their grievances about overdue wages and to contest unfair layoffs at factories forced to shut down due to US tariffs.
The workers claimed that the Sichuan-based firm, which produces flexible circuit boards, had not compensated them for their wages since the beginning of the year and had withheld social security benefits for nearly two years from June 2023.
Analysts at the American investment bank Goldman Sachs have estimated that at least 16 million jobs across various sectors in China are at risk due to US President Donald Trump's implementation of a 145% tariff on Chinese imports.
#USA #China #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump threatens 100% tariff on foreign-made films
Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the U.S.
In a post Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death,”
Romanians vote massively for change: Nationalist party leader George Simion wins first round of election rerun
George Simion, the leader of the nationalist party AUR (Alliance for Romanians’ Union) and the sole candidate of the sovereign movement in Romania, won the first round of the presidential elections with a score of over 40%.
Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan, who ran as an independent but with informal support from the reformist parties in Romania, will join him in the second round, after taking almost 21% of the votes. He narrowly surpassed Crin Antonescu, who benefited from the massive support of the three ruling parties in Romania – Social Democrats, Liberals (PNL), and Hungarians (UDMR).
This is a massive blow for the ruling coalition, which saw its candidate take an early lead versus Nicusor Dan as the first votes in the country were counted, only to have that lead evaporate as the results from the big cities and then from the Diaspora came in.
George Simion sent a recorded video message after the exit polls, exactly like former candidate Călin Georgescu, who won the first round of last year's presidential vote, but it was annulled by the election bureau. Georgescu has lost his appeal against a ruling barring him from participating in May's presidential election.
“We are approaching an exceptional result, far beyond what the system’s televisions are presenting, which have known how to stir up division, to spray venom and to distort everything I said. They spread lies. You are the victors. Today the Romanian people have spoken. It is time to be heard, despite the obstacles, despite the manipulations. Romanians have risen up”, declared George Simion.
Simion stressed that he will “remain devoted” to Călin Georgescu and resumed the idea that he wants “a return to constitutional order”, noting that he “does not want power for himself”.
#Romania #Elections #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump administration offers to pay $1,000 to migrants who ‘self-deport’
The Trump administration said Monday it is offering $1,000 stipends to undocumented immigrants who “self-deport” to their home countries using a U.S. Customs and Border Protection app.
Billing it as a “historic opportunity” and a “dignified way to leave the U.S.,” the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that those who submit an “Intent to Depart” through the CBP Home app will receive travel and financial assistance to return to their home countries, in addition to $1,000 paid after their return has been confirmed.
The average cost for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to arrest, detain and remove an immigrant illegally in the United States is $17,121, according to DHS. The agency claims that even with the cost of the stipend, a “self-deportation” would decrease the cost of a deportation by about 70%.
#USA #Trump #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The $348 Billion Question for Warren Buffett's Successor
Warren Buffett announced that he will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year, after nearly 60 years at the helm. The decision came as a surprise even to his successor Greg Abele, who has been managing the company's non-core assets since 2018.
Buffett transformed Berkshire from a textile mill to a conglomerate with a capitalization of $1.16 trillion. Thanks to a value investing strategy, its market value has risen more than 5,500,000% since 1965. However, this strategy is becoming increasingly difficult to execute - the stock is overvalued and profitable deals are scarce.
Chinese firm behind NATO ally's windfarm is tied to Army
A Chinese company that will be supplying turbines for a new wind farm to serve NATO member Germany is run by a military veteran who has sworn eternal loyalty to the Communist Party and is staffed by many ex-soldiers, according to details obtained by Newsweek.
The history of military and political involvement – and continued expressions of loyalty – by the founder and president of Ming Yang Group, Zhang Chuanwei, underlines a potential security challenge for European countries as their drive to install more renewable energy sources risks a growing dependency on technology from China for the electricity for homes, businesses and defense systems.
The readiness of some European countries and NATO members to tie their futures to an increasingly powerful China also threatens to put them under greater scrutiny from the United States as its relations worsen with its main global adversary. President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that Europe was failing to uphold its own security and defence.
The Waterkant wind farm project in the North Sea is going ahead with Ming Yang Smart Energy as the supplier despite a warning from a German government experts, who said allowing Chinese firms to supply wind power equipment brought technology, political and supply chain risks.
#USA #China #NATO #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Transportation boss Sean Duffy pledges to fix ‘frail system’ that caused frightening Newark airport air traffic control outage
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Monday blamed the previous administration for not addressing aging airport infrastructure, which he claims contributed to the terrifying radar and communications outage at Newark Liberty International Airport last week.
“We have really old infrastructure in America,” Duffy told Fox News host Laura Ingraham. “It hasn’t been updated in the last 30-40 years.” “This should have been dealt with in the last administration — they did nothing,” the Trump administration official charged.
Newark airport has received more than $170 million in federal funds for “runways, taxiways, safety and sustainability projects, as well as terminal, airport transit connections, and roadway projects,” since 2022.
But a fried piece of copper wire sparked a temporary radar and communications blackout for air traffic controllers overseeing the second-busiest airport in the New York metro area on April 28, leaving those in the tower “unable to see, hear, or talk to” planes in the sky, a National Air Traffic Controllers Association spokesperson said Monday. Newark Airport has experienced hundreds of flight cancellations and thousands of delays since the disruption.
#USA #Transport #Duffy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
35 Democrats vote with GOP to block Biden rule allowing Newsom's gas car ban
Thirty-five House Democrats are rebuking the Biden administration's 11th-hour waiver that cleared a path for California to enact a full ban on gas cars by 2035.
A Republican resolution aimed at repealing the Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) move passed by a 246 to 164 vote on Thursday morning.
Notably, two California House Democrats were among the 35 who voted to rescind their own state's clean energy waiver — Reps. Lou Correa and George Whitesides. Other Democrats in the number include Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss.; Pat Ryan, D-N.Y.; Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.; Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla.; Hillary Scholten, D-Mich.; and Frank Mrvan, D-Ind.
It was a stunning repudiation of their own former party leader's policies targeting one of Democrats' largest strongholds.
Republican leaders, meanwhile, cheered the resolution's passage.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said of the California waiver, "This radical measure bans the sale of gas-powered vehicles, forcing electric vehicles on the American people and taking away consumer choice."
#USA #Democrats #GOP #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
🇯🇵|Unit 731 ☣️
The White House recently released a statement that Covid is probably of artificial, Chinese origin, The evidence there is of the “well because they could” variety. But there are other “because they could.”
For example, after the defeat of fascist Japan, Shiro Ishii was arrested, but in 1946 the US authorities released him and granted him immunity from any prosecution, for providing some secret data. So who is this Shiro.
Shiro Ishii is a Japanese lieutenant general, under whose leadership in 1932 was created a secret “Unit 731”, whose task was to create and test biological and bacteriological weapons.
Tests were conducted on prisoners, mainly Chinese, Russians, Mongols and Koreans.
The unit conducted experiments to assess the limits of human capabilities, for which they froze, dried, drowned, boiled and burned living people.
They also practiced “live autopsy”, when under local anesthesia the organs, including the brain, were removed one by one from the test subjects (called “logs”).
Mass infections with dangerous pathogens (gangrene, plague, anthrax) were carried out, and the results were documented and recorded on film.
In August 1945, Shiro Ishii ordered the destruction of all developments, documents and... prisoners.
According to Japanese tradition, all employees of the unit were also ordered to commit suicide.
Contrary to popular belief, not everyone carried out the order. Shiro didn't intend to kill himself either.
What did Shiro tell the Americans that they decided not to try him, but gave him immunity and let him go home to Japan...
#USA #Japan #BioLabs #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Situation on a bus in Germany
#Germany #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Germany’s CDU politicians want to remove AfD members from civil service
The German Office for the Protection of the Constitution’s (BfV) decision to designate the right-wing AfD party as “definitely right-wing extremist” has caused a flurry of demands for action by representatives of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party.
Roderich Kiesewetter, a CDU MP and deputy chairman of the German parliamentary control panel that supervises the BfV and other agencies, said: “The qualification of the party as extremist can and should have consequences for public servants as AfD membership is incompatible with public service.”
“AfD reformulates important topics in an extremist way in order to destroy trust in our democracy and our institutions”, Kiesewetter said in an interview with state broadcaster ARD.
“Members of a right-wing extremist party should neither be allowed to work in public service nor to have a gun licence”, Wanderwitz said. Kiesewetter demanded “individual audits” for AfD-leaning public servants.
#Germany #Elections #AfD #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Tariff war with China would have ‘extremely negative’ impact on US economy - Janet Yellen
▪️ Trump's tariffs are restricting businesses that depend on critical supplies from China. They will deal a serious blow to the economy and could lead to a recession, states former US Treasury Secretary and former Fed chief Janet Yellen
▪️ About 40% of goods imported into the country are components for domestic production. Recent surveys show a marked deterioration in consumer and business sentiment
"We are heavily dependent on China for most critical minerals, including in the green energy sector. By imposing huge duties on them, we are potentially limiting industries that have a chance to succeed," Yellen said
The dollar falters as gold remains stable
In the past three months, the U.S. Dollar Index has fallen from 108 to below 99. This means the dollar has dropped in value relative to major foreign currencies by over 8% in just the past quarter. This is disastrous for those holding large amounts of uninvested cash.
Excessive money printing increases the amount of currency in circulation without increasing the supply of goods. This leads to inflation, which devalues the dollar. That was the source of the dollar’s fall during COVID and in the years that followed. However, this time there is a different culprit.
Instead of the standard inflation that results from an increase in the money supply, this time the cause of the devaluation is artificial inflation driven by imposed tariffs. One of the rationales for the tariffs was that U.S.-based producers competing with foreign countries such as China would see their goods increase in domestic demand due to relative price stability.
In many cases, it is neither profitable nor feasible to produce certain goods entirely within the U.S. Thus, when tariffs substantially increase the prices of foreign goods, this harms domestic producers as well as consumers. As a result, prices of all goods increase, not just foreign ones, and the dollar loses a portion of its buying power.
With the dollar losing value and tariffs increasing prices, gold stands out as a strong investment choice. Unlike paper money, gold isn’t controlled by a government’s monetary policy or affected directly by instituted tariffs. This makes it a relatively stable store of value when the dollar’s purchasing power shrinks from external factors.
Gold is a hedge against the weakness of the dollar and thus is a reliable way to preserve value when the economy faces challenges such as tariffs. Its independence from political and economic turmoil makes it a smart choice for anyone looking to safeguard their investments today.
#Gold #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Britain's Prime Minister is a war criminal
▪️ Britain's Prime Minister Starmer is a war criminal. He is robbing pensioners to give money to Zelensky, provoking a full-scale military conflict with Russia - stated British politician with 25 years of experience in the British Parliament George Galloway
▪️ Starmer is destroying the British economy, destroying the National Health Service, the steel and oil industries, driving millions of poor old people and children into poverty,“ the politician emphasized.
”Germany has just given its spy agency new powers to spy on the opposition. This is not democracy - it is tyranny in disguise. What is truly extremist is not the popular AfD... but the deadly policies of the establishment," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier
Ryanair threatens to drop Boeing order if Trump’s tariffs impact price
Ryanair could look for an alternative aircraft supplier to Boeing because of U.S. tariffs.
That was the warning from company CEO Michael O'Leary on May 1. He wrote in a letter the Irish airline would make the move if Washington's tariffs affect the price of planes it has ordered from Boeing.
O'Leary added he would consider Chinese planemaker COMAC.
Ryanair is Europe's largest airline by passenger numbers. It is due to take delivery of the final 29 aircraft from a 737 MAX order by March next year. It also has 150 firm orders for the MAX 10, with the first deliveries due in two years.
O'Leary called the U.S. government's tariffs 'ill-judged'.
#USA #China #Boeing #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Host: "At the cabinet meeting. you said that maybe (American) kids will have two dolls instead of 30. And that those two dolls would cost a couple dollars more than usual. Are you saying that your tariffs will lead to higher prices and empty shelves?"
Trump: "No, I'm not saying that.
I just think an 11-year-old girl doesn't have to have 30 dolls. I think she's perfectly fine with 3 or 4 dolls. ... And she doesn't have to have 250 crayons. Five is enough."
And further added: "
We have a trade deficit with China because of all the junk we don't need."
Farage’s Reform UK party wins by-election as tide seems to turn against Labour and Conservatives
The populist right-wing Reform UK party led by Nigel Farage has emerged victorious in a by-election, securing an additional seat in parliament, while also electing two mayors and taking control of six local government councils.
Farage’s party, him having promised to “smash the two-party system”, appeared to take large swathes of votes from both the British Left and Right.
After the victory in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election, by just six votes, Reform called itself the main opposition party to challenge the Labour-led British Government.
Compared to 2021, Reform gained 40 per cent, while the Conservative Party lost 28% and Labour lost 8% of its vote share.
Current Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the results “disappointing” and said his government would respond by going “further and faster on the change”.
#UK #Farage #Elections #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Despite the trade wars, the IMF is optimistic about the US economy for this year and next.
Of all the major economies, the US has the highest growth rate, which is brilliant against the backdrop of fading Japan, Germany, Italy and France.
Of the unorthodox, China's growth rate has fallen sharply, to 4% per year. That's not enough for the PRC. The economic slowdown here is synonymous with the aggravation of social and debt problems due to the violation of Deng Xiaoping's basic social contract: “We will all be rich, but some sooner, others later”. That is, it will turn out that not everyone will be rich soon.
#USA #IMF #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane