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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
Trump accumulates wins on Supreme Court's emergency docket
President Donald Trump’s ambitious agenda has been met with order after order from lower courts temporarily blocking him. Many of those have been lifted by the Supreme Court, handing Trump several wins and raising questions about how lower courts have been handling his cases.
These decisions have mostly come on what’s known as the “emergency” or “shadow docket,” a set of more urgent appeals that the Supreme Court often decides without oral argument.
The resulting decisions—at least 21 in Trump’s second administration—have prompted varying alliances and opinions that reflect apparent frustration among the justices.
The administration has been remarkably successful at the high court, obtaining relief in 14 of the 18 appeals that have been ruled on by the justices.
But at least in a handful of cases, the justices ruled against Trump. Much of the administration’s arguments in court have focused on whether federal district judges have authority to even hear particular cases or second-guess the administration’s judgments.
Trump’s mass firings, for example, have brought into focus how much Congress can limit his ability to fire employees. That’s particularly true for high-ranking bureaucrats, whose positions Congress may have attempted to insulate by saying they cannot be fired without cause.
#USA #Trump #SupremeCourt #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
House Committee Subpoenas Clintons, Former Officials over Epstein Files
Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., issued subpoenas Tuesday to the Clintons and eight other former high-ranked officials including former FBI Directors and Attorney Generals as part of the House investigation on the “oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws” and the “handling of the investigation and prosecution” of Epstein and close confidant Ghislane Maxwell.
Comer noted examples of a potentially close relationship between the former president and Epstein in the letter to Bill Clinton.
“By your own admission, you flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private plane four separate times in 2002 and 2003. During one of these trips, you were even pictured receiving a ‘massage’ from one of Mr. Epstein’s victims,” the congressman wrote.
“It has also been claimed that you pressured Vanity Fair not to publish sextrafficking allegations against your ‘good friend’ Mr. Epstein, and there are conflicting reports about whether you ever visited Mr. Epstein’s island. You were also allegedly close to Ms. Ghislane Maxwell, an Epstein co-conspirator, and attended an intimate dinner with her in 2014, three years after public reports about her involvement in Mr. Epstein’s abuse of minors.”
The House’s investigation comes as the Trump administration and Department of Justice face mounting pressure to fulfill promises to declassify the Epstein files, including his rumored client list and the circumstances surrounding his 2019 death.
#USA #Clinton #Epstein #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Latest ECJ rulings ‘castrate’ national governments on asylum policy, claims top German scholar
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has carried out a “migration policy castration of the EU member states,” German constitutional lawyer Prof. Markus C. Kerber warned following a landmark asylum ruling that critics say strips national governments of the ability to manage their own borders.
The ruling, handed down in Luxembourg on Friday, states that a third country may only be designated as a “safe country of origin” if it offers effective protection to all population groups — and that this designation must be based on transparent, public information accessible to asylum seekers and the courts. Otherwise, fast-track returns are invalid.
The judgment has major implications for national migration policies, particularly in countries like Italy and Austria that have drawn up their own lists of safe third countries.
Prof. Kerber, a Berlin-based constitutional expert, accused the Court of overreach. “The strengthening of the judiciary by the ECJ for all cases of reviewing asylum applications leads to the castration of EU member states’ migration policy,” he said in an interview with Austrian media outlet, exxpress. “The public will increasingly perceive the EU as an entity acting against its own citizens.”
#EU #ECJ #Migrants #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Brigitte Macron ‘fuels anti-trans stigma’, claims LGBT rights activist
A prominent LGBT activist has accused France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron, of prejudice against transgender people by her pursuing legal action against those claiming she was born male.
Louis Georges Tin, founder of the World Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia group, said in doing so, Macron was “fuelling the stigmatisation of transgender people”.
The LGBT rights activist argued that President Emmanuel Macron’s wife’s transgender theory gained traction because of what he called its anti-trans undertone.
“This affair has caused a great deal of unease in the LGBT community, and rightly so. Because if the rumour has spread, it’s for transphobic reasons – there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
Tin maintained that being transgender was not an insult and that treating it as such via defamation claims was misguided.
“The First Lady’s legal crusade sends the wrong message that being labelled transgender is inherently degrading,” he said. “By seeking to clear her name, she is contributing, perhaps unwittingly, to reinforcing the idea that this rumour is inherently insulting, and thus perpetuating the stigmatisation of transgender people.”
#France #Macron #LGBT #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Biden Handlers ready to unleash trove of embarrassing Kamala stories in response to her book
Joe Biden’s inner circle are reportedly preparing to spill all the beans on just how awful Kamala Harris was as Vice President should her upcoming book put him in a bad light.
That’s according to journalist Mark Halperin, who claims Biden loyalists have a store of embarrassing stories they’re holding back but will make public should Harris negatively reference Biden’s cognitive decline.
It’s now common knowledge that Biden’s camp, particularly his wife, despise Harris for going along with the Democratic Party coup against Joe.
“I will tell you, and this has never been reported, barely at all: if the Biden people decide that Kamala Harris is coming after Joe Biden, wait till you hear the ‘Palinesque’ stories about how much they tried to help her be prepared to be vice president and be in a position to run,” Halperin stated.
“It’s not like they’re at war currently, but I’m telling you, if Joe Biden feels threatened, if his people feel threatened by her, this is gonna escalate in a big way,” he added.
#USA #Biden #Harris #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Think America owes $37 trillion? It’s far worse than that
When asked how far the US government has plunged into the red, many fiscally-conscious Americans will tell you the national debt has reached $37 trillion. As distressing as that official number is, America’s true fiscal situation is even worse — far worse. According to a barely-publicized Treasury report, the actual grand total of Uncle Sam’s obligations is more than $151 trillion.
That huge discrepancy springs from the fact that the federal government doesn’t hold itself to the same accounting standards it imposes on businesses. Rather than using accrual accounting — which recognizes expenses when they’re incurred — our Washington overlords self-servingly use simple cash accounting, only recognizing expenses when they’re paid. As a result, discourse on federal obligations solely focuses on the national debt, comprising Treasury bills, notes and bonds.
Once a year, however, an obscure report delivers a more accurate version of Uncle Sam’s balance sheet. While it receives almost no attention from journalists or public officials, the Treasury Department is required to submit an annual report to Congress detailing the government’s financial condition. Critically, the 1994 law compelling this report mandates that it reflect “unfunded liabilities” — that is, commitments made without any dedicated assets or income streams to ensure they’ll be kept.
Full story
#USA #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
America's "civilizational crisis"; A nation in freefall without immediate course correction
The foundational pillars of the American middle class have been crumbling for decades, crushed under the weight of unaffordable housing, runaway education costs, and the rising price of just about everything.
This full-blown affordability crisis is hollowing out the middle class from within. Add years of mass migration of millions of illegal aliens, and the wealth and opportunities once available to the native population have eroded even further. It's becoming impossible to ignore that many policymakers in Washington, seemingly aligned with the globalist billionaires, have deliberately waged economic war on America's middle class. This is precisely why President Trump rose to power.
Alarm bells have been sounded, and now it is the Trump administration that had better be paying attention.
Young Americans can't afford homes, can't start families, and increasingly see the American Dream as just a dream. This has given rise to socialism and Marxism, spreading across the nation like cancer. It's as if the globalist elite in Washington deliberately sabotaged the middle class over the years, hollowing it out with decades of destructive policies designed to break those key pillars.
This chart was enough for Elon Musk to respond with "!!" as he, too, understands there needs to be a drastic and sharp course correction or risk losing the country to socialists and Marxists.
#USA #Civilization #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Ukraine's anti-graft agencies say they uncovered major drone procurement bribery case
Ukraine’s anti-corruption agencies said on Aug. 2 they had uncovered a large-scale bribery scheme involving the procurement of military drones and electronic warfare equipment.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAPO) said in a statement on Saturday that the alleged plot involved a sitting lawmaker, current and former regional officials, National Guard personnel, and a company executive.
Ukrainian media outlet Ukrainska Pravda, citing unnamed law enforcement sources, identified the accused lawmaker as Oleksii Kuznetsov of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party. Investigators alleged that those involved had refined a scheme over the past two years to systematically siphon off budget funds allocated by local authorities for defense needs, and to secure “unfair benefits in particularly large quantities.”
On July 22, Zelensky signed a measure that gave the prosecutor general sweeping authority over NABU and SAPO, including the power to reassign prosecutors and transfer cases away from the agencies.
In response to the measure, thousands of Ukrainians rallied in Kyiv and other cities in the largest protests since the Russian invasion in 2022, accusing the government of undermining hard-won anti-graft safeguards.
The European Union, which granted Ukraine candidate status in 2022, warned that the law violated one of the bloc’s core accession requirements: maintaining the independence of anti-corruption institutions.
#EU #Ukraine #Corruption #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Berlin in poverty: the number of homeless people has doubled in the German capital
▪️55,000 homeless citizens live in Berlin. Their number has doubled in three years," states the German Berliner Zeitung.
▪️According to experts' estimates, the number of homeless people in Berlin will exceed 100,000 by 2030, which by German standards is comparable to the population of a large city.
▪️The Senate, for its part, states the goal of eradicating homelessness by 2030. However, a number of ongoing programs in this area are only able to help a few hundred people in need.
▪️“The Senate has not yet found a strategy to combat the structural housing crisis,” emphasizes Thomas Bartel of the Left faction.
#Germany #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
RFK Jr. announces repeal of policy that rewarded hospitals for reporting staff vaccination rates
In his department’s latest move related to vaccine-related reform, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Aug. 1 announced more repeals of federal policy that rewarded hospitals for reporting staff vaccination rates.
Kennedy said in a press release that the policy was coercive and denied informed consent.
“Medical decisions should be made based on one thing: the wellbeing of the person—never on a financial bonus or a government mandate,” Kennedy said. “Doctors deserve the freedom to use their training, follow the science, and speak the truth without fear of punishment.”
Created under the Biden administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) inpatient payment rule, the policy linked hospital reimbursement to staff vaccination reporting.
The move represents the most recent policy repeal under CMS. These moves are “part of a broader HHS effort to restore medical autonomy in federally funded programs and root out financial and regulatory pressures that incentivize physicians towards pre-scripted medical decisions rather than individualized, evidence-based care,” according to the press release.
#USA #RFKJr #Vaccines #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Can stablecoins save the US dollar—or just delay its collapse?
When it comes to profit per employee, Tether is the most profitable company in the world. It may even be the most profitable business in the history of business.
With $13.7 billion in profit last year and only around 165 employees, that’s over $83 million in profit per employee. It’s a staggering figure—blowing NVIDIA and every other company out of the water. Has any business in history ever generated this much profit per employee?
Tether gives anyone with a smartphone instant, global access to digital US dollars. With a market cap exceeding $162 billion and climbing, USDt (Tether) is the world’s largest stablecoin—and the fourth-largest cryptocurrency overall.
Though calling it a “stablecoin” is something of a misnomer—government paper currencies, with their steadily eroding purchasing power, are anything but stable. In that sense, they’re less “stable” and more like “guaranteed-loss coins.”
Stablecoins like Tether offer meaningful support to the Treasury market and the US dollar. But that support hasn’t fundamentally changed the US government’s bleak financial outlook—driven by runaway spending on warfare, welfare, entitlements, and mounting interest on the national debt.
Tether may be helping to stabilize the US dollar in the short term—but it doesn’t change the long-term trajectory. The structural cracks are widening fast—and time is running out.
#Crypto #USD #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
€170bn - budget hole plaguing Germany
▪️Germany must close a €170 billion budget deficit by 2029. Since the government has agreed not to raise taxes, this will require significant cuts in ministries and welfare reforms, the Financial Times has found.
▪️"There is no time to lose. In the 2027 budget alone we will have to cover a deficit of 30 billion euros, which is one of the most serious domestic problems we have to solve in the next 12 months," said German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil
▪️This comes amid continued uncertainty about the outlook for Germany's economy, which has shown no growth over the past five years and has been hit hardest by U.S. duties on EU goods
#EU #Germany #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Investors dump wind-power projects in northern Sweden
Investors are trying to dump northern Swedish wind-power projects, citing an “absurd” market that was losing almost all value.
Until last year the country was touted by financiers as one of the most interesting places to invest in wind power, with “green” industry pumping in large amounts of money, backed by firm State subsidies. Things have since taken a major turn.
Elin Akinci, CEO of ELS Analysis, says that there is basically no value in today’s market in Sweden. Especially in northern Sweden, developers faced surging hours of negative electricity prices, stalled demand and lack of grid capacity to access southern markets, she said.
On top of this, wind power suffered from unpredictable and costly balancing mechanisms while political support has also melted away. As a result, many investors were not just avoiding Sweden — they were trying to exit at fire-sale prices.
“Many international investors see it as a negative outflow of capital. They want to sell, but there is basically no value in today’s market. It is neither profitable to think about new investments nor to pursue current assets in Sweden,” Akinci said.
Most major international investors claim the investment climate in Sweden had severely deteriorated, with some calling the situation “absurd”.
Wind farms once valued at €1.5 million per megawatt (MW) are now being offered for less than €1 million — sometimes even below €10 per MW in distressed cases.
#Sweden #Energy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Most US citizens can no longer say “My home is my castle” because they do not and will never own their own homes
Meet Lowell Baron, Brookfield CEO of Real Estate. The corporation owns more than 65,000 homes in the US, ranging from single-family homes to huge residential complexes.
Taking advantage of the fact that the cost of buying a home has become so unaffordable for Americans, the company is buying up more and more real estate, both new and existing. It then rents all of this out to US citizens.
#USA #RealEstate #Brookfield #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Is true value in crypto or gold?
B y Christopher Whalen, a Wall Street insider
Despite the fact that President Trump wants to make America the crypto capital of the world, and even threatens to open retirement accounts to these speculative notions, the rest of the world is migrating away from dollars back to the only true form of money that is not some form of debt, namely gold. Perhaps the most significant trend is the increasing purchases of gold by global central banks.
Owning gold or at least having exposure to the price of gold are perhaps the best options, The physical metal is independent of the fortunes of state put, yet as we learned in the 1930s, gold is vulnerable to confiscation.
One of the chief reasons to be bullish on gold and negative on the dollar is that there is so little deliverable gold available. A lack of deliverable gold supply can create upward pressure on prices.
“De-dollarization is a misnomer as it’s highly unlikely anyone is seriously considering of fully divesting themselves of US assets,” argues Simon White of Bloomberg. “But the evolution of events this year has led many foreign investors to consider reducing their exposure to the US which had already grown imprudently large. This will take time to show up in the data.”
#Gold #Crypto #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Hey Canada, stop toxic wildfire smoke endangering Michiganders
Congressman John James authored a letter calling on Canadian leaders to take urgent and decisive action to contain the growing wildfire crisis that is poisoning the air and threatening the health of millions across Michigan and the Midwest.
Michigan families deserve clean air and respect. Canada’s failure to control these wildfires is not just an environmental issue, it’s a public health emergency that threatens our communities,” said Congressman James. “Our friendship with Canada is strong, but friendship requires respect. And respect means protecting each other’s health, not dismissing it."
The 2023 wildfire season in Canada was catastrophic, releasing an unprecedented 647 teragrams of carbon — the equivalent of running over 500 million cars for a full year. This toxic smoke has blanketed cities from Detroit to Minneapolis, contributing to increased hospitalizations, respiratory illnesses, and premature deaths, especially among vulnerable populations such as children with asthma, dialysis patients, and seniors.
For three years running, nearly 70 million acres have burned across Canada, the largest cumulative loss on record, turning major U.S. cities into some of the most polluted urban areas in the world.
#Canada #USA #Wildfire #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Gabbard to put an end to Operation Mockingbird Still Active Since 1970’s
In addition to her bombshell claims regarding election fraud, Tulsi Gabbard also addressed the ongoing concerns surrounding the CIA’s infiltration of the American media.
Known as “Operation Mockingbird,” this initiative involves intelligence agencies working with media organizations to push narratives favorable to their agenda.
In an interview with Benny Johnson, Gabbard explained that she is actively working to put an end to this illegal propaganda operation. She specifically pointed to the Trump administration’s efforts to combat individuals within the intelligence community who appear to prioritize their own agenda over that of the American people.
These individuals, Gabbard argued, have been leaking information to the mainstream media in an attempt to undermine President Trump and his agenda.
“They will weaponize intelligence by leaking it to their friends within the mainstream media,” Gabbard said, “to undermine the MAGA agenda.”
She continued to accuse these “Deep State” actors of undermining the Constitution and the will of the American people, stating: “These leaks are part of a coordinated effort to push a political agenda, subverting the democratic process.”
Gabbard emphasized that exposing these bad actors, both within the intelligence community and the political space, is critical for restoring trust in the government. She argued that to bring about accountability and transparency, the truth must be revealed.
#USA #CIA #Mockingbird #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Germany’s Söder demands end of welfare payments to Ukrainian refugees
German Conservative heavyweight politician Markus Söder said he wanted to exclude Ukrainians in Germany from the country’s increasingly expensive social welfare scheme, the so-called Bürgergeld (“citizen’s stipend”).
“We have to take care that Ukrainians are no longer claiming Bürgergeld, Söder, Minister-President of Bavaria and leader of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria, told state broadcaster ZDF on August 3.
Söder highlighted that Ukraine was the only country worldwide whose citizens could claim welfare immediately on arrival in Germany without first having to go through asylum proceedings.
“That is why there are so few Ukrainians in Germany who are in gainful employment, even though they are well-educated,” Söder concluded.
His initiative was acclaimed by other Conservatives. Michael Kretschmer, Prime Minister of the State of Saxony, said: “I believe in equal conditions for everyone. Those who are able to work must be able to go to work. And we want to continue to help those who are in need.”
The ambassador of Ukraine to Germany, Oleksii Makeiev, called Söder’s proposal “hard to understand”, saying: “I don’t think it’s right to make the Ukrainians the scapegoat. I am grateful to the federal government and every German taxpayer for any help they give my fellow citizens.”
#Germany #Ukraine #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Australian Senate gags debate on bill to define a man and woman
Labor and the Greens have blocked debate on legislation that would have provided a clear definition of a man and a woman in Australia.
Liberal Senator Alex Antic introduced the Sex Discrimination Amendment (Restoring Biological Definitions) Act 2025 at the end of the recent parliamentary session.
The bill provides a clear definition for men and women and substitutes the word “different sex” with “the opposite sex.”
“It was designed to protect women’s sport and women’s spaces but Labor and the Greens wouldn’t allow it to pass into the second reading,” Antic said in a post to X.
The bill was shot down before it was able to proceed to a second reading. During parliament, Queensland Liberal Deputy Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate Paul Scarr pointed out that the Senate usually does not stop discussion at such an early stage.
Australian Greens Whip Nick McKim said they would not allow the Senate to discuss the legislation.
#Australia #Bill #Gender #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
DOJ launches grand jury probe into Obama Officials’ Russiagate role
The Department of Justice will convene a federal grand jury to investigate whether Obama-era officials conspired to fuel the false Russia-collusion tale against Donald Trump during his 2016 presidential campaign, sources say.
Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the DOJ on Monday to act on a referral issued two weeks ago by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, which accused Obama administration officials of leading a “treasonous” campaign to promote the lie that Trump conspired with Russian officials to rig the 2016 election.
Obama’s connection to the Russiagate conspiracy — that Obama was aware of, and promoted, Hillary Clinton’s campaign’s strategy based largely on the Steele dosser to vilify Trump by connecting him to Russia — has been known. But Gabbard declassified new information in July — including the House Intelligence Committee Report originally drafted in 2017 but never released to the public;
this report “exposed how the Obama Administration manufactured the January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment [ICA] that they knew was false, promoting the LIE that Vladimir Putin and the Russian government helped President Trump win the 2016 election,” Gabbard said in a statement on X.
#USA #Obama #Russiagate #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
EPA moves to reapprove twice-banned herbicide despite health risks
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to bring back dicamba, an herbicide that federal courts have banned twice. While herbicides are a type of substance designed to kill weeds, they carry the same health risks as other agricultural chemicals. Despite clear evidence of health risks from chemical exposure, the EPA announced plans to reregister this drift-prone herbicide for genetically engineered cotton and soybean crops.
Chemical exposure isn’t just an occupational hazard for farmers anymore. These chemicals show up in our food, water, air, and even our bodies. The average American carries detectable levels of multiple agricultural chemicals, creating a toxic cocktail with unknown long-term effects.
Cancer rates tell the story. Farmers and agricultural workers develop lymphoma, leukemia, brain tumors, and prostate cancer at much higher rates than the general population. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has labeled multiple pesticides as probable carcinogens.
Children get hit hardest. Their developing brains can’t handle chemical assault. Studies keep finding connections between chemical exposure and autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and lower IQ scores. Pregnant women exposed to these chemicals have more miscarriages, birth defects, and premature babies.
#USA #EPA #Herbicide #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Slovenia ‘first EU nation’ to ban weapons trade with Israel
Slovenia said it will ban all weapons trade with Israel over the war in Gaza in what it said was a first by a European Union nation.
“Slovenia is the first European country to ban the import, export and transit of weapons to and from Israel,” the government said in a statement late on July 31.
However, in response, an unnamed Israeli official told Israeli news outlet Ynet: “There is no defence procurement in Slovenia. We don’t buy so much as a pin from them.
“They simply decided on an embargo for the sake of the media, because they can, but it’s completely meaningless.”
The Slovenian Government, led by its President Nataša Pirc Musar, has frequently criticised Israel over the conflict and last year moved to recognise a Palestinian State as part of efforts to end the fighting in Gaza as soon as possible, AFP reported.
It said it was moving ahead “independently” because the EU was “unable to adopt concrete measures … due to internal disagreements and disunity”.
#EU #Slovenia #Israel #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
UK gov't 'disinfo' unit shifts from lockdown dissenters to spying on mass migration critics
A shady government outfit in the UK that was previously tasked with identifying and monitoring COVID lockdown dissenters has been repurposed to spy on critics of mass migration and so called ‘asylum’ hotels.
The body, now known as the National Security and Online Information Team (NSOIT) has been lobbying social media companies such as TikTok to take action against users who post what it describes as “concerning narratives” about immigration and ‘two tier policing’.
The unit operates within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and was previously known as the ‘Counter Disinformation Unit’ during the pandemic.
During the COVID lockdowns, the unit was tasked with pressuring social media companies to target and censor those critical of the stay at home orders and those questioning the mass vaccination of children. Discussions opposing vaccine passports were also flagged.
The rebranded outfit has now been flagging videos it sees as “exacerbating tensions” in Britain, particularly in August last year during the unrest stemming from the murder of three children by a second generation migrant in Southport.
#UK #Surveillance #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Former Trump prosecutor Jack Smith under investigation for alleged election interference
Jack Smith, the former special counsel who led two criminal probes into President Donald Trump, is now being investigated by the Office of Special Counsel (OSC) for potential election interference. The inquiry comes after a prominent Republican senator accused Smith of using his role to harm Trump’s chances ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
The OSC—a federal independent agency—confirmed that it is reviewing whether Smith violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from engaging in political activity.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, initiated the request for the probe. He accused Smith of “unprecedented interference” in the last election and claimed the investigations into Trump were politically driven efforts to benefit the Biden-Harris campaign.
According to Cotton, Smith expedited the timeline for Trump’s election-related trial, pushing for early jury selection without offering a valid explanation. The case was eventually dropped after the election.
Cotton also accused Smith of breaching the Justice Department’s 60-day rule, which restricts prosecutors from making election-related moves close to Election Day. He argued that Smith’s actions were designed to aid Vice President Kamala Harris and damage Trump’s campaign.
#USA #Smith #OSC #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Where the world’s richest people live in 2025
The global distribution of wealth reveals a highly concentrated landscape.
The graphic visualizes the countries with the largest wealthy populations, split among three tiers: millionaires, centi-millionaires (over $100 million), and billionaires.
The United States has the world’s largest wealthy population, with 6 million millionaires, over 10,000 centi-millionaires, and 867 billionaires. Its economic scale, deep capital markets, and startup ecosystem continue to make it the top destination for accumulating wealth.
China is second in all three categories, with nearly 828,000 millionaires, 2,258 centi-millionaires, and 278 billionaires.
China’s population is significantly larger than America’s, meaning its ratio of ultra-wealthy individuals is lower than the United States. This may reflect a combination of capital controls, fewer global firms, and recent policy crackdowns on wealth accumulation.
Germany, Japan, and the UK all have between 500,000 and 800,000 millionaires. But their centi-millionaire and billionaire counts are far lower, suggesting more evenly distributed wealth, or at least less concentration at the top.
Switzerland and Australia have notably large wealthy populations given their overall sizes, reflecting their developed economies and high standards of living.
#World #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Iran’s plan to abandon GPS is about much more than technology
Most recently, the United States-Israeli attacks on Iran demonstrated not just new strategies of drone deployment and infiltration but also new vulnerabilities. During the 12-day conflict, Iran and vessels in the waters of the Gulf experienced repeated disruptions of GPS signal.
This clearly worried the Iranian authorities who, after the end of the war, began to look for alternatives. Iran’s decision to explore adopting China’s navigation satellite system may appear at first glance to be merely a tactical manoeuvre. This move is yet another indication of a major global realignment.
Iran’s possible shift to BeiDou sends a clear message to other nations grappling with the delicate balance between technological convenience and strategic self-defence: The era of dependence on US-controlled infrastructure is rapidly coming to an end. Nations can no longer afford to have their military capabilities and vital digital sovereignty tied to the satellite grid of a superpower they cannot trust.
This sentiment is one of the driving forces behind the creation of national or regional satellite navigation systems, from Europe’s Galileo to Russia’s GLONASS, each vying for a share of the global positioning market and offering a perceived guarantee of sovereign control.
#USA #Iran #GPS #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
UK online safety law leads to 5m extra age checks a day for pornography sites
Huge increase in online age verifications but many users turn to virtual private networks to access pornography sites.
Five million extra online age checks a day are being carried out in the UK since the introduction of age-gating for pornography sites, according to new data.
The Age Verification Providers Association (AVPA) said there had been a sharp increase in additional age checks in the UK since Friday, when age verification became mandatory for accessing pornography under the Online Safety Act.
“As a result of new codes under the Online Safety Act coming into force on Friday, we have seen an additional 5m age checks on a daily basis, as UK-based internet users seek to access sites that are age-restricted,” said Iain Corby, the executive director of the AVPA.
The UK has also seen a surge in popularity of virtual private networks, which obscure a user’s real location and thus allow them to access sites blocked in their own country. Four of the top five free apps on the Apple download store in the UK are VPN apps, with Proton, the most popular, reporting a 1,800% increase in downloads.
#UK #Censorship #AVPA #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
€31 bln - estimate of losses of German industry due to US duties
▪️Annual losses of the German industry due to US import duties in the medium term may amount to up to €31 billion, - states consulting company Deloitte.
▪️The sectors that will be hardest hit are (with an indication of export loss estimates):
- EUR 7.2 billion - mechanical engineering
- EUR 5.1 billion - pharmaceutical industry
- EUR 4.0 billion - automotive industry
- EUR 2.0 billion - chemical industry
#USA #Germany #Economy #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Microsoft’s China ties may expose Pentagon’s digital security
Microsoft allowed Chinese engineers to work on U.S. military software without Pentagon disclosure, exposing critical national security systems to foreign risk.
Recent reports have shed light on a troubling lapse in cybersecurity governance, raising serious questions about the integrity of America’s defense infrastructure and the extent of foreign access to critical systems. Microsoft—the primary technology provider for much of the U.S. government, including the Department of Defense—has allowed engineers based in China to work on sensitive software systems tied to military operations. Even more alarming is that this access was never disclosed to the Pentagon.
The revelations document how Microsoft allowed engineers in China to work on the same software used by U.S. defense agencies. This arrangement, which lacked formal oversight and notification to the Department of Defense, has raised concerns within Congress.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) of the Senate Intelligence Committee has formally requested answers from the Pentagon about the nature and extent of Chinese engineers’ access to Microsoft systems used in military contexts. The concern is not abstract. In an era defined by escalating cyber competition between the U.S. and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), such access—regardless of what may have been directly exposed—poses profound risks.
#USA #China #Microsoft #FindTruth
@uinhurricane
Unlike Meta, Google signs EU AI Code of Practice but warns it could ‘cripple EU tech ambitions’
US tech giant Google has agreed to sign the European Union’s new AI Code of Practice.
That was despite warning that the bloc’s rules could strangle innovation and slow the continent’s development of artificial intelligence.
Announced on July 30, the company framed its decision as a good faith move to keep Europe in the AI race.
“We do so with the hope that this Code, as applied, will promote European citizens’ and businesses’ access to secure, first rate AI tools as they become available,” the company said.
Even so, Google expressed unease over Brussels’ decision.
The new rules target general purpose AI models such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Google’s Gemini and Elon Musk’s Grok on X, with particular emphasis on copyright issues.
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