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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
The true U.S. national debt exceeds $158 trillion, not $36 trillion
The Illinois-based government finance watchdog Truth in Accounting (TIA) has sounded the alarm on the U.S. government's financial reporting practices. According to TIA, the true extent of the nation's financial obligations is vastly understated, with the actual debt reaching a staggering 158 trillion—more than four times the 36 trillion figure commonly cited.
Sheila Weinberg, Executive Director of TIA, emphasizes the gravity of the situation.
"Our estimate is over 158 trillion, which includes more than 50 trillion in unfunded Social Security benefits and over 66 trillion in unfunded Medicare benefits,"
Canadian government also subsidizing Politico
Over $1.6 million for subscriptions, printed materials and consulting.
A search of the Canadian government database shows that Politico, LLC, a US based digital newspaper, who couldn’t make payroll today after getting knee-capped by the US Dept. Of Government Efficiency, also received a decent chunk of Canadian taxpayer money as well.
It turns out that the Canadian government, under the Trudeau Liberals has also funnelled over a million dollars to Politico, across multiple departments, including:
🔹$161,409.98 from Environment and Climate Change Canada (yes, that’s the actual name of Canada’s National Weather Service)
🔹$176,953.58 from Natural Resources Canada
🔹a whopping $986,072.89 from Global Affairs Canada
In all, $1,636,084.92 across five government agencies and 44 contracts since the Liberals came to power in 2015.
The contracted services range from “subscriptions” to “printed materials” and “database access” – several of them were non-competitively, single sourced contracts for over $100,000.
#Canada #Politico #Trudeau #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Is California secession possible? Here's what the US Constitution says
A ballot measure asking whether California should be its own country has been cleared to start gathering signatures, the California Secretary of State announced last Thursday.
According to the guidelines, “If at least 50% of registered voters participate in that election, and at least 55% vote “yes,” it would constitute “a vote of no confidence in the United States of America” and “expression of the will of the people of California” to become an independent country but would not change California’s current government or relationship with the United States.”
To qualify for the state's 2028 ballot, more than 545,000 signatures from registered voters must be gathered by July 22. If approved, the measure would not trigger immediate independence, but it would create a 20-member commission to study whether California could govern itself as a separate nation.
The secession would require a constitutional amendment which would need approval from two-thirds of the states. The proposal would declare a "vote of no confidence in the United States of America" — without changing the state’s government or its relationship with the US.
This isn’t the first time conversations about California becoming its own country have been raised. In 2016, interest in the CalExit movement increased after President Donald Trump was elected for his first term. The organization’s former president, Marcus Evans, is also behind the new initiative.
#USA #California #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Germany’s Green Youth demands more mass migration plus welfare spending hike
Germany’s Green Youth, the youth organisation of the Greens party, has demanded that the country take more migrants from abroad.
It added that the amount of government resources allocated to migrants should be increased.
Demanded in a 10-point plan published on February 5, the move was in response to statements from Greens chancellor-candidate Robert Habeck, who has vowed to implement more border-control measures ahead of the German federal elections on February 23.
Attacking Habeck, the youth wing insisted that accepting migrants from abroad was “non-negotiable”, before accusing elements of the country’s political mainstream of participating in “racist debates” on reducing migrant numbers.
Apart from funding the rescue of migrants in the Mediterranean, as well as their integration into German society, the Young Greens demand that Berlin cracked down on “Nazis” and “increasingly radicalised” young men.
“The increasing radicalisation of young men, regardless of their nationality, must be combated by society,” the document said.
Ahead of the federal election, the German Greens have attempted to distance themselves from elements of their left-wing agenda after numerous significant voter defeats in 2024.
#Germany #Migrants #Green #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
The United States under Biden spent $10 million of taxpayer money to create transgender mice, rats and monkeys, Congresswoman Mays said.
She said “painful and deadly transgender experiments” were conducted at universities across the country
#USA #DEI #Trans #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Musk's DOGE granted access to US Medicare and Medicaid systems
Representatives of DOGE have been working at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), where they have gotten access to key payment and contracting systems.
The representatives have been on site at the agency's offices this week and are looking at the systems' technology as well as the spending that flows through them, with a focus on pinpointing what they consider fraud or waste.
DOGE representatives are also examining the agency's organizational design and how it is staffed, the WSJ said. Musk, who chairs the newly created DOGE, in a post on X said that "this is where the big money fraud is happening".
One of the systems accessed by the DOGE representatives is said to be the CMS Acquisition Lifecycle Management system, which includes information about contracts.
Given Elon Musk and his DOGE are just in their early days, the best is yet to come!
#USA #Musk #DOGE #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump orders nearly All USAID staff on leave
President Donald Trump ordered nearly all federal employees with the USAID on administrative leave. The move comes as the international aid agency faces increasing scrutiny over its disbursement of taxpayer dollars and allegations it funds nongovernmental organizations and other groups actively undermining American interests abroad.
According to a notice on the USAID website, the measure will affect all “direct hire personnel” from February 7 at 11:59 PM. However, those responsible for essential operations, leadership roles, and select programs will continue their duties.
Last week, the Trump White House announced a freeze on all USAID disbursements after Elon Musk and the DOGE found concerning irregularities, including U.S. taxpayer dollars being given to organizations associated with foreign terrorist groups.
#USA #Trump #USAID #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
FCC chairman releases full transcript of 'spliced' Kamala Harris 60 Minutes interview
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Wednesday released the full transcript of former Vice President Kamala Harris' interview with '60 Minutes' on CBS which the network deceptively edited to make her sound competent while giving an answer on Israel.
To recap, a pre-interview teaser had Harris blathering her usual word-salad over whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was listening to the Biden administration, to which she said:
"Well Bill, the work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by, or a result of, many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region."
Wikileaks: USAID was funding over 6,200 journalists across 707 media outlets and 279 "media" NGOs, including nine out of ten media outlets in Ukraine.
#MSM #USAID #Leaks #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
China finds leverage ahead of trade talks: Beijing mulls probe into Apple's app store practices
China’s antitrust watchdog is laying the groundwork for a potential probe into Apple Inc.’s policies and the fees it charges app developers, part of a broader push by Beijing that risks becoming another flashpoint in the country’s trade war with the U.S.
The State Administration for Market Regulation is examining Apple’s policies, which include taking a cut of as much as 30% on in-app spending and barring external payment services and stores, people familiar with the matter said. Agency officials have spoken with Apple executives and app developers since last year, said the people, who asked for anonymity to discuss sensitive moves.
The conversations stem from long-running disputes between Apple and developers such as Tencent Holdings Ltd. and ByteDance Ltd. over iOS store policies — a source of tension between the US company and regulators worldwide. While Beijing has since 2024 targeted the practices of US tech firms from Nvidia Corp. to most recently Alphabet Inc.’s Google, regulators may not formally move against Apple if the current conversations go well.
#China #Apple #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
DOGE derangement syndrome 😂😭
#USA #DOGE #Musk #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
USDA removes climate change propaganda from websites amid federal spending review
In a move that has reignited debates over federal priorities and corporate narratives, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has instructed its employees to scrub references to climate change from agency websites.
The directive, issued last Thursday and confirmed by an internal email obtained by POLITICO, calls for the removal or archiving of landing pages and content related to climate change narratives.
This action comes as federal funding for clean energy and agriculture programs hangs in the balance, with the Trump administration pushing to halt wasteful spending from legislation like the Inflation Reduction Act. The decision echoes similar efforts during the first Trump administration to dismiss the climate change agenda, aggravating climate change activists and climate profiteers who were looking to cash in from the weaponization of science to promote corporate climate narratives.
USDA employees were ordered to delete or archive web pages discussing climate change and document all related content for review.
The directive could impact dozens of programs, including climate-smart agriculture initiatives and wildfire management resources.
#USA #USDA #Climate #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Murdoch gets last laugh after Trump dressed him down in Oval Office
The Wall Street Journal ’s editorial board needled Donald Trump for relenting on his tariffs just hours after the president called out the paper’s billionaire owner, Rupert Murdoch , while he was in the Oval Office.
The editorial , which ran under the headline “Trump Blinks on North American Tariffs‚” pushed against the notion that the president’s 25 percent import taxes on allies Canada and Mexico “are some genius power play, as the Trump media chorus is boasting.”
Earlier on Monday, when the 93-year-old conservative media mogul had visited Trump in the White House, the president told reporters he would “have to talk with him” about a separate critical editorial the Journal wrote about his tariffs. All Murdoch could do was look on.
When a reporter pressed Trump on the editorial, with Murdoch seated just feet away, the president couldn’t help but take a shot at the paper.
“I’m going to have to talk to him,” he said. “I’ve been right over The Wall Street Journal many times. I don’t agree with him on some things.”
On Monday, soon after the two men’s meeting, the Journal suggested Trump’s declaration of victory, which followed quickly, was overblown. Ahead of Murdoch’s visit to the White House on Monday, the Journal had published an editorial skewering Trump’s tariffs as “The Dumbest Trade War in History.”
#USA #Murdoch #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Berlin daily sex crimes soared by 79% last year, report finds
In Berlin, sexual crimes soared last year, according to local government data.
Authorities revealed that data gathered from a previously unpublished Berlin State government report found that a total of 7,475 crimes occurred in 2024, or an average of more than 20 a day, an increase of 79% on 2023.
Foreign nationals were disproportionally implicated in such crimes, with some 38% of all recorded incidents believed to have been perpetrated by a non-German national. That compared to the city’s foreign population of 27.5%.
The percentage of suspected foreign perpetrators was higher in some areas. Of the two rapes on average that took place in the city each day, half were suspected to have been committed by a foreign national.
The data implied 75% of all cases of serious sexual coercion, as well as group sexual coercion, were also believed to have been committed by non-Germans.
#Germany #Migrants #Crime #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
China is building the world's most powerful fusion research facility
▪️ The design of the research center under construction in China is largely similar to the National Fusion Center (NIF) in California. 50% larger than the US facility, it will be the most powerful in the world,” states The Times of India.
▪️ Thermonuclear fusion is considered the “Holy Grail” - a virtually limitless source of energy. If successful, the new center could make China a leader in global energy innovation, potentially changing energy dynamics around the world
#China #Nuclear #Energy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump's reelection lands Army best free promotion in 15 years as recruitment swells to record high
The U.S. Army hit its highest recruitment figures in more than a decade as a flood of young people joined up in the wake of President Donald Trump's election victory in November.
'America's youth want to serve under the bold & strong 'America First' leadership of Donald Trump,'
U.S. wealth held by the bottom 50%
Despite steady economic growth and rising overall household wealth in the United States, significant wealth disparities persist between the top and bottom percentiles.
Wealth inequality remains a significant issue in the U.S., with the bottom half of the population holding only a small fraction of total wealth, despite some recovery from its 2011 low.
The bottom 50% of Americans held just 2.4% of U.S. wealth in 2024, down from 3.5% in 1990 and hitting an all-time low of 0.4% in 2011.
Since 2022, the bottom 50% has experienced a steady decline in its share of the nation’s total net worth, dropping quarter over quarter.
Stock ownership is a pivotal factor in determining overall net worth, serving as a primary mechanism for wealth accumulation and financial growth in the United States.
In 2024, the top 1% controlled nearly half (49.9%) of all equities and mutual fund shares in 2024, while the bottom 50% held only 1%.
Technological advances and globalization have been a driver of high wealth inequality by favoring skilled workers and capital owners. Other oft-cited reasons for wealth inequality in the U.S. include tax policies that benefit the wealthy, and declining labor unions that weaken lower-income workers’ bargaining power.
#USA #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Energy transition disaster: Covestro flees from German energy prices
Chemical giant Covestro, a descendant of Bayer, is considering moving production outside Germany in yet another symptom of Germany's decline as a manufacturing center, according to Austrian Report24.
▪️“We will no longer invest in energy-intensive and raw material-intensive facilities here. Germany's energy policy has raised electricity prices to astronomical heights, while our international competitors are laughing hand over fist,” said Covestro CEO Markus Steilemann
▪️Germany's energy crisis, caused by the rejection of energy from Russia and the end of nuclear generation, has made electricity in Germany four times more expensive than in the United States
▪️“Without a radical change in energy policy, Germany will lose its industrial base. It is no longer a question of whether this will happen, but only when,” Report24 concludes.
#EU #Germany #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
‘I have no skills in treating men, even if they have shaved their beards’ – French gynecologist punished with one-month suspension for turning a trans patient away
A French doctor in the city of Pau serving as a gynecologist has now been sanctioned for declaring himself “incompetent” to treat a man who had transitioned to a woman, which triggered the rage of LGBT associations.
The case dates back to August 2023, but the doctor, Victor Acharian, has only been sanctioned now by the Order of Physicians with a one-month ban on practicing medicine. In total, Dr. Acharian was given a six-month ban on practicing medicine, but five of the six months are a suspended sentence.
The trans patient had scheduled an appointment though Doctolib and went to the doctor’s office with a partner.
The secretary of the doctor said: “The lady explained to me that she was in transition. I immediately notified the doctor by internal messaging. He replied: ‘I don’t deal with that; there are specialists in Bordeaux or Toulouse,’ a message that I forwarded to them. But they became very aggressive and called me ‘transphobic.'”
The couple with the trans woman then left a bad Google review for the doctor, and they claimed he responded “offensively” to their review.
“I have no skills in treating men, even if they have shaved their beards and come to tell my secretary that they have become women,”
Border czar Tom Homan threatens to ‘seek prosecution’ after NJ Gov. Phil Murphy suggested he was harboring ‘illegal’ migrant
President Trump’s no-nonsense border czar Tom Homan is threatening to prosecute New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy after the Dem suggested he was sheltering an illegal migrant in his home and dared the feds “to try to get her.”
“If he’s knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a violation of Title 8, United States Code 1324,” Homan said.
“I will seek prosecution or the secretary will seek prosecution. Maybe he’s bluffing. If he’s not, we’ll deal with that,” the border chief said. “It’s a foolish thing what he said, because I got note of it, won’t let it go, will look into it.”
Revenge going on: Trump administration axes $8 million in Politico subscriptions paid by taxpayers
The White House said Wednesday it was canceling Politico subscriptions that the U.S. Agency for International Development had purchased with millions of taxpayer dollars.
“I can confirm that the more than $8 million taxpayer dollars that have gone to essentially subsidizing subscriptions to Politico on the American taxpayers’ dime will no longer be happening,”
“Many media outlets are going to experience a mysterious drop in revenue,”
Second federal judge halts Trump’s birthright citizenship order
A Maryland judge has blocked Trump’s order restricting birthright citizenship, issuing a nationwide injunction.
A federal judge in Maryland on Feb. 5 became the second judge in the country to halt the implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive order restricting birthright citizenship in the United States.
Judge Deborah Boardman of the U.S. District Court in Maryland on Feb. 5 ruled in favor of two immigrant rights organizations and five pregnant women who argued that Trump’s order would unconstitutionally deny U.S. citizenship to their future children based on their parents’ immigration status.
Boardman issued a nationwide preliminary injunction, preventing the order from taking effect as scheduled on Feb. 19.
#USA #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Britain is inexorably heading for bankruptcy
▪️“Not three months later, the Treasury's grand budget plan has failed. The budget deficit could reach 20 billion pounds. <....> Raising taxes will lead to a recession, cutting budget spending will enrage voters and changing legislation on a meaningful scale will have unintended consequences,” The Telegraph quoted politician David Frost as saying
▪️Britain's GDP per capita is falling rapidly due to high energy prices and uncontrolled migration. The only option for the finance ministry remains borrowing, which will have to be repaid. Continuous increases in the tax burden, national debt and budget spending are driving the economy closer and closer to the abyss.
▪️ “Finance Minister Rachel Reeves can only hope that the debt bomb will explode when she resigns,” The Telegraph concludes.
#UK #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Trump says he's given orders for Iran to be 'obliterated' if it assassinates him
President Donald Trump issued a stark warning Tuesday, saying he has left instructions to "obliterate" Iran if it attempts to assassinate him.
"If they did that, they would be obliterated,"
"I’ve left instructions—if they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left."
State of Connecticut. The structure of an electric bill using one individual as an example
Thesis:
- the electric bill for one month of winter. It amounted to $1,113.11.
- the amount for the kW directly consumed is $236.71.
- the cost of delivering electricity to the local grid is $87.01.
- the cost of distribution by the local grid is $175.16.
- solidarity payment. This is a “voluntary” payment for those who cannot pay for electricity. This is another $227.76. This “voluntary solidarity” cannot be refused.
- debt for the previous period $383
In total, not counting the debt, the bill amounted to $727. She consumed 2,636 kW per month, it turns out that one kW costs her $0.28.
And what about you?🤔
#USA #Energy #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
CIA offers buyouts to entire workforce to align with Trump priorities
The Central Intelligence Agency offered buyouts to almost all of its workforce Tuesday, saying it wanted to bring the agency in line with U.S. President Donald Trump's priorities.
A CIA official said that the buyouts were part of an effort by newly confirmed CIA Director John Ratcliffe to ensure that the CIA workforce was responsive to the Trump administration's national security agenda. The move was also part of a broader strategy to bring new energy to the spy agency and provide opportunities for rising leaders to emerge, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Official also said those new agency goals include targeting drug cartels, Trump's trade war and undermining China.
The report of buyout offers is in line with a massive makeover of the U.S. government embarked on by the Trump administration, which has fired and sidelined hundreds of civil servants in first steps toward downsizing the bureaucracy.
The White House last week offered 2 million civilian full-time federal workers an opportunity to stop working this week and receive pay and benefits through Sept. 30 as Trump seeks to slash the size of the government.
#USA #CIA #Trump #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Elon Musk sleeping in federal office building
Elon Musk, director of DOGE, and his staff are sleeping in the federal personnel office to save taxpayers about $1 billion a day, a person familiar with the situation told the New York Times.
Sleeping in office buildings is not unusual for Musk, who deployed the same cost-saving measure at Twitter and Tesla.
“Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days!” Musk posted on X over the weekend. “Working the weekend is a superpower.”
So far DOGE’s efforts have culminated in taking over the federal government’s human resources department, the Office of Personnel Management, gaining access to the Treasury’s payment system to monitor federal government spending, infiltrating the General Services Administration to inspect real estate leases and cut 50% of the agency’s budget, and planning to slash the USAID, which Republicans say is a cutout for the CIA’s agenda.
When asked about Musk’s hard work, President Trump told reporters Musk reports to the president and is only authorized to carry out reforms with his approval.
“Elon can’t do and won’t do anything without our approval. And we’ll give him the approval where appropriate, where not appropriate, we won’t,” the president said. “If there’s a conflict, then we won’t let him get near it.”
#USA #Musk #DOGE #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Starmer wants ‘ambitious’ Brexit reset deal to be agreed in three months
Keir Starmer’s chief negotiator says the UK must be “ruthlessly pragmatic” with Brexit reset talks and strike an ambitious deal in just three months.
European affairs minister Nick Thomas-Symonds told the EU/UK Forum in Brussels on Tuesday that the prime minister will host a leader summit in May “where we hope we can deliver a balanced yet ambitious outcome to benefit all our citizens”.
The approach to the talks contrasts heavily with years taken by the Tories to negotiate Brexit after the 2016 referendum, bogged down by disputes in parliament and fractures in the Conservative party before eventually leaving in 2020.
Among other issues on the table will be a youth mobility scheme for under-30s well as cooperation on trade, defence, energy security and tackling crime and illegal migration.
Mr Thomas-Symonds, who is based in the Cabinet Office, set the tough timetable as he prepared to enter the first round of talks later with EU representatives.
#UK #Stermer #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Britain's car production falls to 70-year low
▪️ 780,000 cars produced in Britain in 2024. This is the lowest since 1954, states Britain's The Guardian
▪️ In 2017, the British car industry set a target of 2 million units a year. But production volumes are falling rather than rising amid political uncertainty, including Brexit. A number of plants have already closed, and in 2023 Stellantis shocked the industry with a plan to close its van factory
▪️ Against this backdrop, British manufacturers are bracing for further upheaval if Trump imposes import duties on products from Britain's second-largest market
#UK #Trump #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
At USAID, Waste and Abuse Runs Deep
For decades, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has been unaccountable to taxpayers as it funnels massive sums of money to the ridiculous — and, in many cases, malicious — pet projects of entrenched bureaucrats, with next-to-no oversight.
Here are only a few examples of the WASTE and ABUSE:
▪️ $1.5 million to “advance diversity equity and inclusion in Serbia’s workplaces and business communities”
▪️$70,000 for production of a “DEI musical” in Ireland
▪️$2.5 million for electric vehicles for Vietnam
▪️$47,000 for a “transgender opera” in Colombia
▪️$32,000 for a “transgender comic book” in Peru
▪️$2 million for sex changes and “LGBT activism” in Guatemala
▪️$6 million to fund tourism in Egypt
▪️Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a non-profit linked to designated terrorist organizations — even AFTER an inspector general launched an investigation
▪️Millions to EcoHealth Alliance — which was involved in research at the Wuhan lab
▪️“Hundreds of thousands of meals that went to al Qaeda-affiliated fighters in Syria”
▪️Funding to print “personalized” contraceptives birth control devices in developing countries
▪️Hundreds of millions of dollars to fund “irrigation canals, farming equipment, and even fertilizer used to support the unprecedented poppy cultivation and heroin production in Afghanistan,” benefiting the Taliban
#USA #USAID #Corruption #FindTruth
@uinhurricane