The Hurricane spins around hotspots of tension and conflict. Feel free to suggest your stories, opinions and ideas: UIHEN@protonmail.com
Pfizer hires former top FDA official
Pharma giant Pfizer announced that Patrizia Cavazzoni, a former top official at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), will rejoin the company as Chief Medical Officer.
Dr. Cavazzoni was most recently Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Before joining CDER, she held several senior executive positions in the pharmaceutical industry for nearly two decades, including at Pfizer, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi. During her prior tenure at Pfizer, she led clinical sciences and development operations for the company across multiple senior roles.
Cavazzoni was one of several top officials, including the agency’s second-in-command, to leave ahead of the Trump administration taking office.
Cavazzoni’s appointment could resurface criticism leveled at the FDA for a “revolving door” between the agency and the companies it regulates. Past FDA Commissioners Robert Califf, Scott Gottlieb and Stephen Hahn have all taken roles in industry after their time leading the FDA. Gottlieb joined Pfizer’s board of directors, a position he still holds.
#USA #Pfizer #FDA #FindTruth
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Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees
Starbucks plans to lay off 1,100 corporate employees globally as new Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol streamlines operations.
Niccol said Starbucks is also eliminating several hundred open and unfilled positions.
“Our intent is to operate more efficiently, increase accountability, reduce complexity and drive better integration,” Niccol wrote in the letter.
Starbucks has 16,000 corporate support employees worldwide, but that includes some employees who aren’t impacted, like roasting and warehouse staff. Baristas in the company’s stores are not included in the layoffs.
Earlier in the year, Starbucks reversed its open-door policy and now requires people to purchase if they want to sit down or use the store’s restrooms.
Starbucks’s change comes as the coffee chain has been uninviting to many coffee drinkers due to homeless people lingering in the cafe.
#Economy #Starbucks #FindTruth
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Columbia hires Trump’s former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, to teach course on diplomacy
Columbia University has enlisted former secretary of state Mike Pompeo to teach a course on public diplomacy.
Pompeo will join Columbia’s Institute of Global Politics (IGP), housed within the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), as a Carnegie Distinguished Fellow for a one-year appointment, starting on March 1 and lasting through February 2026.
"The Institute of Global Politics at Columbia SIPA is honored to welcome former Secretary of State Pompeo to its current cohort of IGP Carnegie Distinguished Fellows," a university official told. "During his tenure as a Distinguished Fellow, Secretary Pompeo will meet with students, engage with faculty and university leadership, and contribute to ongoing policy work within IGP."
Pompeo will join fellow former secretary of state Hillary Clinton, who became IGP chair in 2023 and teaches a fall semester course, "Inside the Situation Room." In September, dozens of anti-Israel students gathered outside Clinton’s "sham class," branding her a "war criminal" and urging attending students to walk out. Clinton "fully endorses IGP’s mission, including its commitment to welcoming experts with a diversity of political perspectives," a university official told.
#USA #Pompeo #IGP #FindTruth
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Starmer’s Brexit betrayal could spark another UK energy crisis
Energy bills for the average UK household will rise by £111 per year from April – a jump of 6.4 per cent, higher than was forecast by most analysts. That means, since Keir Starmer entered Downing Street in July last year, the average energy bill has risen by £281 – an almost exact reversal of the £300 Labour promised its policies would save us during the General Election campaign. British companies, meanwhile, are paying the highest electricity costs in Europe.
That Net Zero is the primary cause of Britain’s energy woes is now undeniable. The dash towards renewables means that how much electricity we can produce domestically depends largely on the weather.
But as if homegrown climate policies were not damaging enough, the Labour government is also hoping to yoke Britain to the EU’s climate policies, which are even more punishing. Starmer’s much-vaunted post-Brexit ‘reset’ is set to involve signing the UK back up to the EU’s emissions-trading scheme (ETS). The scheme works by allowing companies to buy credits for the amount of carbon emissions they plan to use each year.
Since Brexit, the UK has operated its own ETS. Although the UK and EU carbon prices began at roughly the same level, the two schemes have since diverged, making UK carbon credits significantly cheaper than on the continent. Any merger with the current EU ETS would therefore increase the cost of carbon-intensive industry in the UK. Signing up to the EU ETS would mitigate this, but would also increase costs for British-made goods that either remain in the UK or are exported beyond Europe. There is no rational reason for a British government to want to do this.
#EU #UK #Starmer #FindTruth
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Why Germany’s far right hates the Bauhaus movement
At a time of political tension in Germany, the Bauhaus – arguably one of most influential architecture, art and design schools in the world – has become the target of far-right attacks.
Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) and a member of the regional parliament of Saxony-Anhalt in eastern Germany, has blamed his area’s economic problems on Bauhaus modernism.
His unlikely diagnosis came in response to the regional conservative CDU government’s “think modern” campaign, which seeks to attract investment into the area and cites the Bauhaus movement as an example of locally grown excellence.
Tillschneider asserts that for the area’s economic stagnation to be resolved “we do not need to think modern, we need to think conservatively.” He rejects Bauhaus ideas as diffused with communist ideology. With these attacks, Tillschneider has started a quasi-re-enactment of a historical culture war over German national identity and social anxieties.
Full story
#Germany #AfD #FindTruth
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Crime forces Brooklyn McDonald’s to ban teens and card customers at the door
A Brooklyn McDonald’s now requires patrons under 20 to show ID and be accompanied by a parent due to escalating violence and vandalism.
The location has a long history of crime, including assaults, shootings, and over 100 annual 911 calls.
Recent incidents include masked juveniles attacking a security guard and causing chaos, prompting the drastic policy change.
The restaurant’s struggles reflect NYC’s broader crime surge, with assaults at their highest since 2006 and critics blaming soft-on-crime policies.
The new age restriction has sparked protests but also praise for restoring peace, highlighting the city’s failure to ensure public safety.
Crime in New York City is escalating, and a Brooklyn McDonald’s has resorted to extreme measures to protect its employees and customers.
#USA #McDonalds #Crime #FindTruth
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Alibaba makes AI video generation model free to use globally
Alibaba on Wednesday said that it has made its video generation artificial intelligence models free to use, further ramping up competition with rivals like OpenAI.
The Chinese giant said it is open sourcing four models that are part of its Wan2.1 series, the latest version of the company’s foundational AI model that can generate images and video from text and image inputs.
These models will be available via Alibaba Cloud’s Model Scope and Hugging Face, a huge repository of AI models. They will be accessible to academics, researchers and commercial institutions globally.
Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed shares closed nearly 5% higher.
Open-source AI tech has been thrown into the spotlight since Chinese firm DeepSeek rattled global markets in January, after claiming its artificial intelligence model was trained at a fraction of the cost of leading AI players and on less-advanced Nvidia chips.
DeepSeek’s model is open source, like Alibaba’s, meaning it can be downloaded and modified by others.
#China #Alibaba #AI #FindTruth
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Trump’s new crackdown on China is just beginning
President Trump’s tough talk on China typically centers on tariffs. But a closer look at the decisions he has made since taking office shows that the president is considering a far wider set of economic restrictions on Beijing, ones that could hasten America’s split from a critical trading partner.
The Trump administration has so far proposed expanding restrictions on investments flowing between the United States and China. It has appointed officials who, because of national security concerns, are likely to push for more curbs on Chinese investments and technology sales to China. And Mr. Trump has ushered in a 10 percent tariff on Chinese imports, a move that he called an “opening salvo.”
After years in which officials from both parties gradually pared back America’s economic relationship with China, Mr. Trump’s moves suggest that he is prepared to sever ties more aggressively.
The pronouncements could be “a bargaining tool” for Mr. Trump to kick off negotiations with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.
The main wild card in how far the United States will go appears to be Mr. Trump himself. The president is interested in potentially striking a deal with Xi, in part because of China’s failure to live up to the terms of an agreement the two leaders signed in early 2020. Current and former advisers say Mr. Trump takes a more transactional view to issues like Chinese investment than many of his more hawkish advisers, a position that could result in continuing economic ties in exchange for a deal that he feels benefits the United States.
#USA #China #Economy #FindTruth
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‘US will no longer protect Europe’: Pan-EU movement Volt pushes for EU army
The pan-European political movement Volt Europa has launched a petition demanding the creation of a European Union army, citing growing uncertainty in EU-NATO relations and increasing tensions with the US.
Volt Europa is active in more than 30 countries and “encourages citizens to rethink and shape politics in their cities, in their countries and across borders in Europe”, according to its website. Five members from the Netherlands and Germany represent the pro-EU Federalist Party in the European Parliament as part of the Greens group.
The group argued on February 25 that the US was no longer a reliable partner and that Europe must take its security into its own hands.
“The US will no longer protect Europe. The Trump administration has made this perfectly clear,” Volt stated on its petition website. “During the Munich Security Conference, the US destroyed the transatlantic bond which lasted for 80 years,” it added.
“US troops might even leave the European continent as part of a punitive peace imposed upon Ukrainians and Europeans by Putin and Trump. We have been left on our own,”
Over 50 deaths linked to 'unknown disease' in Congo
The World Health Organization has reported that there is a deadly "unknown disease" spreading in one region within the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Local health officials in Congo are partnering with the World Health Organization to investigate. The phrase "unknown disease" primarily means that the disease has not yet been identified.
In previous cases, the cases are linked to a known disease, but a lack of available testing leads to lack of certainty. For example, there was a separate report of an "unknown disease" in December of last year in Congo that was later attributed to illnesses from malaria and respiratory illnesses.
The latest numbers from the WHO's Africa Region show that there are 431 cases linked to the outbreak and 53 deaths since January.
Early investigations traced the outbreak's origin to three kids, all under 5 years old, who developed symptoms after eating a bat carcass. Symptoms included fever, headache, diarrhea and fatigue – which later progressed to signs associated with hemorrhagic fevers and death.
#Congo #WHO #Health #FindTruth
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Karoline Leavitt dunks NY Times reporter over comparison of Trump to Putin
Some of the mainstream media journalists have been taking to the Twitter/X to express their outrage over the decision by the Trump White House to remove the White House Correspondents' Association (WHCA) from the process of vetting prospective pool reporters for press access to the administration.
“Legacy outlets who have participated in the press pool for decades will still be allowed to join, fear not," press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during the Tuesday press briefing. "But the White House will also be offering the privilege to well-deserving outlets who have never been allowed to share in this awesome responsibility."
Bongino to join Patel at FBI as Deputy Director
President Trump has tapped Dan Bongino, a hard-charging Trump supporter and one of America’s most popular and prolific conservative commentators, to serve as deputy director of the FBI.
A top podcaster, former Fox News host, New York City Police Department officer, and 12-year veteran of the Secret Service, Bongino is a close friend of FBI Director Kash Patel and will now serve as his right-hand man at the FBI, Trump announced on Truth Social Sunday.
Trump’s choice of Bongino to join Patel at the FBI as its deputy came just three days after the Senate confirmed Patel’s nomination, 49 to 51, with Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine the only two Republicans to vote against him. The appointment is the latest sign that Trump is committed to aggressively cleaning house at the FBI.
Bongino, along with Patel, a former public defender and Justice Department lawyer who became a MAGA firebrand, will report to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of the Office of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to uncover threats and safeguard national security.
While Patel has experience as a lawyer and high-ranking official in federal intelligence agencies during Trump’s first term, Bongino has practical law enforcement experience as a former police officer and Secret Service agent. Both have excoriated the FBI over its role in facilitating the investigations Trump has faced since 2017, including submitting faulty foreign intelligence court applications in the Trump-Russia investigation.
#USA #Trump #Bongino #FindTruth
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House democrat ‘rooting’ for Canada, Mexico in Trump’s trade war
Rep. Jasmine Crockett is cheering on America’s top trade partners amid President Trump’s push for stiff tariffs against them. Ms. Crockett, Texas Democrat, said Friday on “The Breakfast Club” that Canada and Mexico can see through Mr. Trump’s threats.
“Canada has really been the one to call it out. The fact that I am rooting for Canada and that I am rooting for Mexico a lot is really wild,” the lawmaker said on the radio show. “But they are really the ones speaking truth to power right now.”
She added, “They can see what it is, and they were like, ’We are not messing with this crazy regime from Mar-a-Lago’ and basically calling them thugs.”
The president’s reciprocal tariffs would target trading practices that the Trump White House deems unfair, including other countries tariffs, taxes, subsidies and exchange rates. The reciprocal move is set to go into effect on April 1.
And on April 2, the Trump administration will roll out tariffs on foreign cars and pharmaceuticals that start at 25%. The idea behind those duties is to convince car manufacturers to build plants in the U.S. to avoid the steep tariff.
#USA #Canada #Mexico #FindTruth
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Serbian president slams USAID for inciting regime change, demands journalist say how much money her outlet has received
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić told TV Insider that U.S. President Donald Trump directly mentioned Serbia as a place where USAID wanted a regime change.
“Someone was only waiting for additional tragedies, meanwhile preparing different types of scenarios for some new riots and for some new attacks on the state. And that is nothing new, and it can be seen through the words of President Donald Trump. The president of the US directly mentioned Serbia as a place where they wanted a political change of government. Those who received American money to overthrow the government,” said Vučić.
In July of last year, the government of Serbia issued a joint statement with USAID regarding $18 million of new funds for a “development partnership.” The July statement noted that the new “funds will be used, among other things, to improve public procurement procedures in Serbia, improve access to justice for citizens, improve environmental protection and energy security, promote a stronger media environment, improvement of economic opportunities for vulnerable groups, as well as for greater competitiveness of the Serbian economy.”
Vučić admitted during his TV interview that money has been received and used, but primarily for “senseless projects that were supposed to cover the eyes,” while the real intent of most funding was to overthrow the government. Asked about the “many videos” of himself and other officials thanking USAID for funding projects, Vučić said that “when someone gives you 1,000 euros, it is up to you to still politely say ‘thank you.’”
#USA #Serbia #USAID #FindTruth
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Rearmament in Germany: Ammunition production should now be taken over by automotive supplier workers
Welcome to the year 2025:
Germany holds elections, Friedrich “BlackRock-Buckstuck” becomes German Chancellor and Germany switches to a war economy.
In Germany and Europe, the turnaround now seems to be gaining momentum. German arms companies are expanding and converting their production. This is because a clear signal has come from the USA: NATO protection under the Trump government can no longer be relied upon. The next German government under Chancellor Merz has already signaled that rearmament is unavoidable.
Rheinmetall is switching production: Employees of the automotive division can produce ammunition
Rheinmetall could relocate two of its plants
where civilian components for vehicles are currently manufactured, could be converted to production for the Group's military division.
“In the armaments business, Rheinmetall is currently exploiting every opportunity to increase production volumes, especially in the ammunition sector,”
the Dusseldorf-based company announced on Monday (February 24).
Rheinmetall intends to manufacture mainly products or components for the “Weapon and Ammunition” division at two German locations that have so far been part of the civilian division. The sites in question are in Berlin and Neuss.
#Germany #NATO #Military #FindTruth
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How the CCP infiltrates American media and academia
The Chinese Communist Party is using disinformation and lawfare to target Americans, particularly Falun Dafa practitioners, as part of a whole-of-government strategy.
Leaked communications and whistle-blowers have revealed the CCP’s plans. The CCP uses tactics such as bribery, disinformation and manipulation of the media and legal systems. Western journalists and influencers are used to spread propaganda and trigger lawsuits and legal investigations.
The strategy, known as “The Three Warfares,” involves psychological warfare, media warfare, and legal warfare to achieve its goals, and has been successful in influencing Western media and academia.
Experts, including Levi Browde, Col. Grant Newsham, Gregory Copley and Ronald J. Rychlak, warn that the CCP’s tactics pose a significant threat to the US as they can be used to manipulate public opinion, influence politicians and ultimately shape legislation and policy.
Full story
#USA #China #MSM #FindTruth
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Analysts warn of costs and chaos amid US tariff uncertainty
‘It will eventually mean that other countries and regions trade more with each other than with the U.S.,’ economics author Michael O'Sullivan said.
As tariffs put in place by the Trump administration begin to take hold, America’s trading partners and industries are struggling to calculate what the ramifications might be.
Because tariffs are a tax paid by importers and typically passed on to consumers, economists predict that they will result in higher prices for many goods and could add to inflation, which already wiped out more than 20% of the U.S. dollar’s value under the Biden administration and is once again on the rise.
“The real losers in the renewed interest in and implementation of tariffs, whatever the justification, are consumers—both in the United States and abroad, who will encounter higher prices and less ability to purchase the goods they want,” economist Ryan Yonk, senior fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research, told.
#USA #Economy #FindTruth
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4 Nations anthem singer intentionally changed ‘O Canada’ lyrics over Trump’s 51st state comments
The Grammy-nominated singer Chantal Kreviazuk who performed “O Canada” ahead of the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game deliberately changed the lyrics to the Canadian national anthem as a direct shot at President Donald Trump’s previous statements toward America’s northern neighbor.
A representative for Kreviazuk confirmed to CBC that the singer had purposefully changed the lyrics “in all of us command” to “that only us command.”
The rep also indicated that it was a response to the growing political tension between the United States and Canada and, in particular, Trump’s continuing quips that the U.S. would make Canada the 51st state.
Kreviazuk posted several images on her Instagram story before she went out to perform, including a video of herself in her dressing room where she called singing the anthem, “what an honor.”
Another post on her Instagram was a photo of the changed lyrics written on her hand.
#USA #Canada #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Ukraine war at 3: The victory we demanded and the attrition we got
February 24 marked the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. With the war entering its fourth year and serious diplomatic moves toward peace finally underway, it’s an appropriate time to look back on the U.S. approach to the conflict.
The well-connected national security reporter David Ignatius summarized the Biden administration’s strategy by saying, “It was a sensible, cold-blooded strategy for the United States — to attrit an adversary at low cost to America, while Ukraine was paying the butcher’s bill.”
These maximalist goals have led to a high cost in human life and economic destruction, with no clear gain. Ukraine has failed to regain any significant territory in the last two years and the very same issues that have been at the heart of the conflict since the beginning, such as Russia’s desire for a neutral Ukraine that was not affiliated with NATO. It was, or should have been, obvious even before the war that a failure to recognize Russia’s interest in some form of Ukrainian neutrality risked tragedy.
Rather than continuing the carnage and destruction of the last three years, it is past time to begin to play these cards wisely at the negotiating table in pursuit of a better future for Ukraine.
#USA #WarInUkraine #NATO #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Apple to Invest $500 Billion in U.S. Expansion, Plans Texas Factory for AI Servers
Apple revealed plans on Monday to invest $500 billion in the United States over the next four years, a move expected to bolster American manufacturing, semiconductor production, and artificial intelligence infrastructure. The announcement includes the construction of a 250,000-square-foot factory in Houston, Texas, which will assemble AI servers, and the creation of 20,000 research and development jobs across the country.
Apple CEO Tim Cook made the announcement in a post on X, stating, “As a proud American company, we’re thrilled to continue to make significant investments in the US. Today, we’re announcing a $500 billion commitment to support American innovation, advanced manufacturing, and high-tech job creation.”
The move follows reports of a meeting between Cook and President Donald Trump last week, as Apple seeks to navigate potential tariffs of 10% on Chinese-made products imposed earlier this month. The company previously received waivers from China tariffs during Trump’s first term.
#USA #Apple #Economy #FindTruth
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House leadership lays out target list of Biden climate rules to cancel
House Republican leadership has unveiled a list of 10 Biden-era climate and energy regulations to overturn using the Congressional Review Act (CRA).
The California Clean Air Act Waiver, allowing stricter vehicle emissions standards, is a primary target, criticized for increasing vehicle prices and complicating manufacturing.
Republicans argue that the Biden administration’s climate policies are based on flawed science and prioritize ideological goals over practical solutions.
The methane fee provision of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act is another target, with Republicans claiming it will drive up energy costs and harm domestic energy producers.
The House’s effort to roll back these regulations aims to restore accountability, transparency and common-sense energy policies, signaling the end of unchecked government overreach.
#USA #Biden #Climate #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
US consumer confidence drops in February, marking biggest fall since 2021
Consumer confidence fell sharply in February as Americans grew more pessimistic about the future of the economy with inflation and President Donald Trump’s tariffs top of mind.
The Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index fell seven points to 98.3 this month, down from 105.3 in January, the largest monthly decline since August 2021. The index that measures consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions dropped even more, about nine points, and is now below the threshold that usually signals a recession ahead.
Part of the increasingly negative outlook is due to anxiety around inflation, which accelerated faster than economists expected in January. Soaring egg prices, which are expected to continue climbing, have been the most visible reminder.
Respondents to the Conference Board’s latest survey expressed concern over rising prices but there was also a “sharp increase” in the mentions of trade and tariffs, the business research group said.
President Trump said Monday that his tariffs on Canada and Mexico are starting next month. It’s a move experts have warned could hurt economic growth and worsen inflation.
#USA #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
NED and Victoria Nuland are left without money
The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) can't access the congressionally appropriated funds it uses to sponsor “almost all” of its grants and operations, leaving nearly 2,000 contractors around the world without funds for the first time in 40 years. In 2023, it spent $38.5 billion on 330 projects in 11 countries.
A very interesting point - unlike USAID, NED is legally a private foundation. But it receives 95% of its funding from the US Congress. It gives an understanding of the scale of the sums that are swirling in American lobbyism.
Former Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland is an ambassador of the foundation, and previously served on its Board of Directors. During Ukraine's 2014 Maidan, NED gave about $65 million to train activists, build civil resistance networks and fund coverage of the protests.
Of course, it's not just Ukraine; in Kazakhstan in 2020, NED allocated more than $1.2 million for “corruption exposure” campaigns. These efforts preceded the massive protests in January 2022, which began over rising fuel prices and escalated into anti-government demonstrations. Much of the projects focused on “investigating and exposing kleptocratic systems” related to natural resource extraction.
#USA #NED #Nuland #FindTruth
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Majority of German Muslims choose left-wing parties in election, poll shows
Almost four in five German Muslim voters backed left-wing parties in the country’s national election, a new survey has shown.
In the 2025 Bundestag run-off on February 23, 77 per cent of Muslim voters with German citizenship opted for left-wing parties, according to a poll revealed on February 24 by the Elections Research Group.
The hard-left Die Linke party emerged as the top choice, securing 29% of Muslims’ support. Following closely behind, the Socialist Party garnered 28%, while the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance picked up 16 per cent. The Greens, though, picked up just 4%.
Parties including the Christian Democratic Union and Alternative for Germany, dominant elsewhere, managed only 12% and 6% respectively, among Muslims.
This left-leaning tide starkly contrasted with other voter groups, handing Die Linke a notable edge in areas with significant Muslim populations, such as Berlin’s Neukölln borough. Die Linke notched an overall 8.8 per cent nationally, winning six constituencies but its Muslim voter base punched above that weight.
#Germany #Elections #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump plans ‘gold card’ alternative to green cards for ‘high level people’
President Trump on Tuesday previewed his plans for a new visa program he was calling the gold card, describing it as “somewhat like a green card, but at a higher level of sophistication.”
The blingy new program would allow “very high-level people” a new “route to citizenship,” Mr. Trump said. The price tag, he said, would be about $5 million.
Mr. Trump revealed his gold card plan to reporters in the Oval Office, where he was signing his latest round of executive orders, including one related to tariffs on copper imports. His commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, filled in some of the details.
Mr. Lutnick explained that “the Trump gold card,” as he called it, would replace the EB-5 visa program, which similarly provides a pathway to citizenship for wealthy foreign investor types but has been an avenue for fraud. Mr. Lutnick implied that the administration would be more discerning as to who might qualify for a gold card, though details were scant at this early stage.
“We’re going to make sure they’re wonderful world-class global citizens,”
“It will be people with money and people that create jobs.”
Egg prices predicted to soar more than 41% in 2025: USDA
Egg prices are predicted to increase by 41.1% in 2025, according to a report released by the Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Tuesday. In January, the federal agency had predicted a 20% increase.
The predicted price hike comes as a result of rising bird flu cases, which have had a substantial impact on farms. According to the report, retail egg prices went up by 13.8% in January, after rising by 8.4% in December. Overall, egg prices in January were 53% higher than the year before.
The national average price for eggs hit $4.95 a dozen for shoppers in January. An increasing number of commercial egg layers are being affected by the bird flu outbreak. The report estimated 18.8 million commercial egg layers were affected by bird flu in January.
#USA #Economy #USDA #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Alec Baldwin Threatens Trump Impersonator; “I’d Snap Your F**king Neck In Half”
A crazy video has emerged of Alec Baldwin threatening to “snap” a Trump impersonator’s neck “in half” after being confronted in public.
The comedian, Jason Scoop, often carries out such stunts while badly dressed as Trump in a suit and wig, yet this is the most off the chain exchange to date.
Scoop heckled Baldwin while he was getting luggage out of his car outside his New York home, and brought up the fatal shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of “Rust” in 2021.
“Alec, it’s your favourite president!” Scoop said in a Trump voice, adding “Look, Alec, I will offer you a total pardon ’cause I wanna be friends, right? I wanna be friends. I will give you a total pardon for murdering that woman if you kiss the ring.”
Baldwin appeared to be remaining calm but then got right in Scoop’s face and told him “Look at me. I want you to look at me. You got a camera on me here? You realise my kids live in this building? But I want you to know something. I want you to be real careful. If this camera wasn’t here, I’d snap your f–king neck in half and break your f–king neck right here. You know that, don’t you?”
The actor also told Scoop that he would “shove that camera up your ass.”
#USA #Trump #Boldwin #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
GOP lawmakers question endless military spending
In a House subcommittee hearing on U.S. national security on Tuesday, a handful of Republican lawmakers voiced support for general restraint and called for cuts to Pentagon spending, citing the debt and deficit.
“The United States have no business in making conquests, nor in aspiring to any kind of empire,” said freshman Rep.Congressman Eli Crane (R-Ariz.). “The principal object of government is to secure the happiness of society, not to extend the boundaries of an empire.”
Crane added, “Does it concern you guys that we’re $36 trillion in debt, (with an) annual deficit of $2 trillion as we sit here and talk about the United States’ global involvement? Do any of you guys wonder when that tipping point is going to be?”
“America first does not mean America alone,” said the Heritage Foundation’s Brent Saddler.
Despite these warnings, the committee members largely focused on spending and how America’s $36 trillion debt could threaten national security.
Lawmakers also brought up the Pentagon at the hearing. “I want to point out that Pentagon spending is on the chopping block,” commented subcommittee chairperson Rep William Timmons (R-S.C.). “It's (discussion around Pentagon spending cuts) not only going to be on the role of foreign aid. It's going to be across the board because we have $36 trillion in debt, and we have a $2 trillion annual deficit.”
#USA #Pentagon #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump wants Ukraine’s rare metals. Putin just offered Russia’s
Moscow would be open to allowing U.S. access to Russia’s rare minerals, President Vladimir Putin said Monday, as the Trump administration pushes Ukraine to sign over half its mineral wealth as repayment for U.S. support in the war.
In an interview broadcast on Russian state television Monday evening, Putin also endorsed President Donald Trump’s proposal for three-way nuclear arms control talks with China.
“We could come to an agreement with the United States — the United States would cut defense spending by 50 percent, and we would cut by 50 percent. And the People’s Republic of China would then join in if it wanted. We think the proposal is good, and we are ready to discuss it.”
The Russian leader spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping by telephone earlier in the day and affirmed their countries’ “comprehensive partnership” as “true friends,” according to official statements.
Putin also chaired a meeting on rare earth metals production. He stressed that Russia possesses significantly more natural resources than Ukraine.
“We would be ready to offer cooperation to our American partners if they showed interest in working together,” he said. “We certainly have substantially, and I want to emphasize this, substantially more resources of this kind than Ukraine. Russia is one of the leaders in reserves of these rare earth metals.”
#USA #Ukraine #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
According to Agostino Carrino, a jurist and philosopher from Italy, the Ukrainian question has been dividing parties and press organs transversally for some years, but any discussion should begin by recognizing that:
1) Ukraine is not a national state, like Italy or France, but a multi-ethnic state;
2) within it lives a strong Russian minority, which, rightly or wrongly, does not want to be governed by Kiev;
3) the Russian Federation (always rightly or wrongly) fears a military alliance like NATO "on its doorstep".
Europe, which condemned the invasion of Ukraine, but referring to the historically outdated concept of state sovereignty, failed or did not want to address to the Mazzinian concept of self-determination of peoples, imposing on Zelensky a referendum - controlled by the UN - to ascertain the state options of the various Ukrainian cultural ethnic groups.
Europe itself does not exist, because, as Carrino writes, “a political Union is not built on the needs of finance, of the market, which by nature do not know borders, but on the convergence of interests dictated first of all by security (and power), which presupposes the idea of an institution that is structurally political and which therefore considers as the founding and legitimizing prius, not a “constitution”, but rather the political organization and therefore the criterion derived from the political homogeneity of the acting entity”.
Thus, not being a subject of world politics in the generally accepted terms, Europe is not capable of developing any specific proposals even in the area of its own security, not to mention solving more complex problems of world politics.
#UN #NATO #WarInUkraine #FindTruth
@uinhurricane