Globalism 101: Chosen by Polish Parliament as the New PM, Donald Tusk Vows Loyalty to the EU and the US, Calls for ‘World Mobilization’ To Help Ukraine

Tusk is showing his globalist colors on day one.

As was fairly expected, caretaker Prime Minister, conservative Mateusz Morawiecki, was not able to form a government, and Parliament chose opposition leader Donald Turk as the new designate Premier.

Tusk laid out his political program to parliament Tuesday ahead of a confidence vote scheduled for later in the afternoon.

Tusk finally became prime minister nearly two months after the national elections. While ruling PiS was the most voted party, a coalition of parties, ranging from left-wing to moderately conservative, led by Tusk, was able to form a majority.

Tusk was Poland’s prime minister from 2007 to 2014 and European Council president from 2014 to 2019.

Deutsche Welle reported:

“Speaking to lawmakers on Tuesday, Tusk expressed a vote of confidence in the European Union. ‘We are all the stronger, all the more sovereign when not only Poland is stronger but also the European Union’, he said.

Tusk has vowed to improve Warsaw’s relations with Brussels, which have been plagued by tensions during the past eight years of Law and Justice (PiS) party rule.”

Read: Conservative Polish Government Blasts Germany Ahead of Legislative Election, Say Berlin Pushes Liberal Donald Tusk to Bend Country to Globalist EU Policies

PiS nationalists repeatedly clashed with Brussels. The EU has blocked tens of billions of Euros in grants and loans from the bloc’s COVID pandemic relief program as well as development assistance.

To get those funds flowing again, Warsaw will need to reverse changes to the judicial system criticized by Brussels.

“On Tuesday, Tusk said he would go to Brussels this week and ‘bring back billions of Euros’, referring to the frozen funds. Still, laws to amend the justice system will need the assent of the president, Andrzej Duda, who comes from PiS ranks.

If Duda vetoes the legislation, Tusk’s coalition doesn’t have the three-fifths majority in the lower house of parliament to override it.”

Nationalist PiS party also remains quite influential since they are still the largest single party in parliament.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/12/globalism-101-chosen-polish-parliament-as-new-pm/

Swiss banks charging Russians for frozen accounts

Nearly $9 billion in private funds have been blocked due to sanctions

Some Swiss financial institutions have begun charging their Russian clients fees on frozen accounts; these sometimes accrue interest payments years in advance, Vedomosti reported on Tuesday, citing bankers and a brokerage firm.

A source in an auditing company told the outlet, citing an employee at one of the Swiss banks, that commissions on the blocked assets of Russian citizens are charged years in advance.

“The idea is that there is an account, it needs to be serviced, and it doesn’t matter that a person cannot use the banking service, in fact it is still provided,” one of the banks explained.

Two sources in law firms confirmed to Vedomosti that they’d heard of cases of Swiss banks charging fees on frozen funds, but not of them accruing interest years in advance.

“It seems counterintuitive, but nowadays anything is possible,” a person familiar with the matter told the outlet.

PostFinance, a financial services company and a unit of Swiss Post, told the news outlet that it does not charge commissions on immobilized Russian funds. A number of other financial institutions, including Julius Baer, UBS, Zurich Cantonal Bank, Vontobel and Pictet Group, did not respond to requests from Vedomosti.

By slapping interest payments on Russian assets, banks are passing on to their clients the significantly increased costs of compliance procedures, and possibly a premium for the risk of fines being imposed on them, Donat Podniek, partner at KPMG in Russia and the CIS, told Forbes Russia.

Under pressure from Western regulators, Swiss banks are gradually shedding their Russian clients; however, they continue to serve some large customers, economists say. A number of major Swiss banks such as UBS and a Swiss subsidiary of the US investment bank JP Morgan continue to work with Russians and even take on new clients, according to Sergey Ishkov, co-founder of the fin-tech firm Skyfort.

Switzerland has an estimated 7.7 billion Swiss francs ($8.81 billion) of Russian assets frozen in its financial institutions, the latest estimates from the country’s national agency overseeing sanctions showed.

The current estimate includes properties and luxury cars belonging to sanctioned Russians, as well as profits from cash deposits, bonds, and shares.

https://www.rt.com/business/588938-swiss-banks-russian-frozen-account-fees/

Israel Open To Truce Deal With Hezbollah, Wants US Troops Deployed As Peacekeepers

Despite daily exchanges of fire, and deaths on both sides of the border, the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has not yet spiraled into unlimited war. At a moment Israel's military remains bogged down in its biggest counter-terror operation ever in Gaza, certainly Israeli leaders are hoping to avoid a major northern front battle.

Likely this desire to contain the conflict is what is behind fresh remarks by Israel’s defense minister Yoav Gallant, who on Monday told reporters that his country is open to inking a possible agreement with Iran-backed Hezbollah for 'security guarantees' to stabilize the Lebanese border.

"If Hezbollah will allow an agreement process, and I won’t go now into its details, but clearly it cannot be that it does not include a situation in which there is a safe distance from our fence to forces that could shoot into Israeli territory or forces that could take action inside Israel. If this is possible, with the appropriate guarantee, we can talk about it," Gallant told the press briefing. He wants the threat to Israel's population to be removed.

Soon after Oct.7, Israel began evacuating dozens of towns and settlements near the border, to within 2km of it, after Hezbollah rockets began raining down. Gallant floated a deal that would allow Israeli residents to return.

Commenting on the defense minister's words, Al Jazeera cited Israeli sources to say that the plan envisions American and French peacekeeping troops on either side of the border:

He did not give any more details, but Israeli sources have been quoted as saying that this would involve the deployment of French troops on the Lebanese side of the border and American soldiers on the Israeli side of the border.

So France and America would give some sort of security guarantees.

The idea of the White House agreeing to put US boots on the ground related to the conflict remains highly unlikely, given also the Pentagon's past disastrous experiences in Lebanon, such as the 1982 Marine barracks bombing. To position US troops within kilometers of Hezbollah would in effect make them sitting ducks.

A similar plan was floated by Israel related to the 2006 war, but it merely resulted in an enlargement of UN peacekeeping forces in the south, which had no mandate or capability to disarm Hezbollah.

Israeli retaliation in southern Lebanon has grown bigger and bigger…

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-open-truce-deal-hezbollah-wants-us-troops-deployed-peacekeepers

Rumble Hit With "Unprecedented" Cyber Attack After Posting J6 Security Cam Footage

Free speech video hosting platform Rumble was hit with an “unprecedented” cyber attack shortly after new security camera footage from January 6 was posted on the platform.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/rumble-hit-unprecedented-cyber-attack-after-posting-j6-security-cam-footage

Ukraine's Largest Mobile Network Hit By Major Cyberattack Blamed On Russia

Ukraine has accused Russia of being behind a major cyberattack against the country's main mobile network Kyivstar, which has left masses of customers without phone or internet access. The outage has reportedly even left one city, Sumy, without its mobile air raid sirens, crucial for warning residents of inbound Russian drones or missiles.

Kyivstar says it was targeted in a "powerful hacker attack" which Ukraine's security services are currently investigating. The network is responsible for about 24 million mobile customers and supplying internet access to some one million homes. Businesses too have been impacted.

"This is definitely a cyberattack and the probability that Russian entities are behind it is very close to 100%," chief executive officer of Kyivstar, Oleksandr Komarov, said Tuesday. He called it the result of "illegal interference" and linked it to the ongoing Russian invasion. "The war with Russia has many dimensions and one of them is in cyberspace."

Bloomberg cited him further as saying "It’s the biggest such attack since the Kremlin started its invasion in February, 2022." Ukraine's ministry which oversees infrastructure says it is hoping to restore service within hours.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) is also involved and has pointed the finger at Moscow, describing, "One of the versions currently being investigated by SBU investigators is that the Russian special services may be behind this hacker attack."

PrivatBank, which is Ukraine's largest, documented that some ATM machines were not working and could be "unstable" or "have no connection". Dutch parent company Veon says it's urgently working with Kyivstar on "additional security measures" to prevent such hacks in the future.

At the same time, Ukraine's intelligence services have recently owned up to hacking operations targeting Russia, including an operation reportedly targeting Russia's national tax and financial accounting systems.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ukraines-largest-mobile-network-hit-major-cyberattack-blamed-russia

Google Loses On Every Count In Play Store Antitrust Case With Epic Games

Google just lost its first antitrust trial, as a San Francisco jury returned a decision that Google harmed rival Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite, in the $48 billion dollar app store Android market. Google is facing multiple antitrust cases in different parts of its business, this is the first trial to reach a decision. So what happened? And what does it mean going forward?

Three years ago, Epic’s CEO Tim Sweeney launched a dramatic legal assault against Apple and Google for monopolizing the on-ramp to the phone. This case didn’t come from the left or right, but from the commercial world. It was part of what I called a civil war in American business, as smaller companies across the economy began marshaling against dominant big tech goliaths.

Epic sued both Apple and Google to break their ironclad control over app stores. Here’s the Wall Street Journal summarizing the case:

Epic’s case centered on Google’s dominant position in the market for apps on mobile devices running the company’s Android software, and the fees it charges for developers on its Play Store.

The game developer in 2020 began encouraging Fortnite players to pay Epic directly for purchases of in-game items, rather than using systems developed by Google and Apple. Both tech giants kicked Fortnite out of their app stores…

It became clear during the trial that Google’s goal was to maintain its dominance by preventing the emergence of other app stores.

Google worried about a “contagion effect” with other gaming companies if Epic were to move its flagship title Fortnite away from the Play Store, according to company documents the developer presented at trial.

The tech giant paid $360 million to Activision Blizzard and millions of dollars to 19 other game developers as part of an initiative called Project Hug, an initiative Epic argued was aimed at discouraging them from developing rival app stores. The search company argued the payments encouraged gaming companies to make their titles available in the Play Store.

The judge also ruled that Google had destroyed relevant trial evidence, and told the jury to weigh that behavior in its decision. Here’s Sean Hollister in the Verge on what happened after the jury heard the testimony and judicial instructions:

After just a few hours of deliberation, the jury unanimously answered yes to every question put before them — that Google has monopoly power in the Android app distribution markets and in-app billing services markets, that Google did anticompetitive things in those markets, and that Epic was injured by that behavior. They decided Google has an illegal tie between its Google Play app store and its Google Play Billing payment services, too, and that its distribution agreement, Project Hug deals with game developers and deals with OEMs were all anticompetitive.

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/boom-google-loses-antitrust-case

32 million small businesses are about to get blindsided

Have you heard of the Corporate Transparency Act? Most of the estimated 32 million small business owners, including sole proprietors, whom the new law affects have not. It was just recently put on my radar by a handful of people — quite a shock for a measure that takes effect at the start of the new year!

A new reporting rule under the law means that businesses will need to file information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (a bureau within the U.S. Department of Treasury), including personal information about the people who are associated with the business, or risk penalties for noncompliance. This is being done in the name of "fighting money laundering." Sure.

The law is another administrative hassle that adds to small business owners’ paperwork requirements and takes entrepreneurs away from more productive economic activities.

If you are not familiar with FinCEN, its mission is “to safeguard the financial system from illicit use and combat money laundering and promote national security through the collection, analysis, and dissemination of financial intelligence and strategic use of financial authorities.”

Of course, the law includes around 20 exemptions, such as publicly traded companies, U.S. operating companies with 20 or more full-time employees and $5 million in sales, and some others, which means that the burden of this rule falls primarily on small businesses, including solopreneurs (aka one-person entities).

While it is not uncommon for unsavory folks to use certain business structures to create shell corporations to launder money, actual instances of this are few and far between. This rule will impact tens of millions of law-abiding small businesses.

FinCEN estimates it will take three hours for initial compliance (but who knows, depending on if you have to track down the information they are asking for or if you have questions). Then you will be responsible for letting FinCEN know of any future updates and changes.

First, this is an unnecessary invasion of privacy for small businesses, creating a database filled with personal information. And it is hard to believe the law will do anything meaningful to stop money laundering or that the burden it generates will justify any possible small benefit to come from it. Not to mention the security risk of having yet another database full of information for cybercriminals and foreign adversaries to target.

Moreover, it is another administrative hassle that adds to small business owners’ paperwork requirements and takes entrepreneurs away from more productive economic activities.

Of course, there is also a fee of $85 to milk from the small businesses already burdened by this compliance — that is, if you understand what you are doing and don’t need to hire some type of adviser to assist you, which will cost you much more.

And, again, very few people even know about the law.

https://www.theblaze.com/columns/opinion/32-million-small-businesses-are-about-to-get-blindsided

Landmark Fluoride Lawsuit Restarts In January: Here Are Four Reasons You Should Care

After eight years in legal limbo, the second phase of the fluoride lawsuit will begin in January. Will we see the end of water fluoridation in the United States?

On Monday, December 4, Judge Edward Chen called for the second phase of the long-delayed fluoride lawsuit to resume in person in San Francisco on January 31, 2024. The proceedings will be the latest hearings in an eight-year legal battle between the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Fluoride Action Network (FAN). The battle began following the EPA’s 2016 decision to deny the plaintiff’s petition under the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The FAN is attempting to prove that fluoride is a neurotoxin and should be regulated or banned under the TSCA.

What’s at stake is nothing less than the future of water fluoridation in the US. Heralded as one of the CDC’s top achievements of the 20th century, the practice of adding fluoride to the water supply has long been deemed a common sense activity carried out by every modern city. To even question the safety of such a practice is to be derided as a conspiracy quack and rejected by polite society.

Nevertheless, concerns about the health dangers associated with ingesting byproducts of phosphate mining have existed since water fluoridation began in the 1940s. The FAN and its co-plaintiffs are simply the latest in a long line of scientists and activists who have opposed the practice of water fluoridation on several counts, including health dangers, bodily autonomy, and financial waste.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/government-corruption/landmark-fluoride-lawsuit-restarts-in-january-here-are-four-reasons-you-should-care

‘F*cked And Racist’: Student Reportedly Failed Quiz After Answering Men Can’t Get Pregnant

A Seattle student reportedly failed a quiz after asserting men can’t get pregnant.

A tenth-grade Ethnic Studies World History teacher at Chief Sealth International High School failed the student, who turned in an “Understanding Gender vs. Sex” assignment that did not align with left-wing LGBT ideology, according to 770 KTTH. The student responded to the quiz by saying only women can become pregnant and only men have penises, per the outlet.

“I keep trying to wrap my head around how it is legal to teach inaccurate information and force students to answer against their beliefs or receive negative scores,” the student’s mother, who asked to remain unnamed, told the Jason Rantz Show.

Students were tasked with answering a series of true or false and multiple-choice questions regarding pronouns, sexual orientation and reproductive anatomy, the outlet reported. The student reportedly marked question four, which was the statement “All men have penises” as true. The student also reportedly marked question seven, the statement “Only women can get pregnant” as true. The teacher claimed both answers were incorrect, according to the Jason Rantz show.

The student’s “frustrated and angry” mother was “met with silence” when she complained to the school, according to the outlet. She reportedly expressed concern about political beliefs in the classroom, citing the gender identity issue as one of many examples.

https://dailycaller.com/2023/12/12/student-failed-quiz-men-pregnant/

Nutrient in meat, dairy found to fight cancer – just make sure it comes from clean animals

New research out of The University of Chicago has found that meat and dairy are much more nutritious than many people think.

Rich in a nutrient called trans-vaccenic acid, or TVA, meat and dairy products can actually be beneficial for cancer patients because of TVA's anti-cancer properties.

According to the findings, TVA infiltrates tumors and kills cancer cells. Cancer patients with high levels of TVA in their blood were found to respond much better to treatment than cancer patients without it.

Vegans and vegetarians consume very little TVA, which makes these diets not as effective, at least in this particular sense.

Interestingly, fattier cuts of beef and lamb were found to contain much higher levels of TVA than lean cuts, suggesting that the anti-cancer power of meat and dairy is found in their saturated fat, which has been demonized by the government for decades.

"The anti-cancer power of the dairy-derived fatty acid comes from its ability to turbocharge certain immune cells known as T cells, which recognize foreign invaders and prompt the immune system to kill them," a report about the study explains.

"Researchers said that eating foods rich in this compound or giving it to cancer patients as a supplement could have measurable benefits in decreasing the size of tumors."

http://www.stationgossip.com/2023/12/nutrient-in-meat-dairy-found-to-fight.html

Russia says 18 arrested in Crimea over alleged plan to assassinate Russian-installed officials

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) said on December 11 that its officers had arrested 18 people it alleges are pro-Ukrainian agents suspected of planning assassinations of Russian-installed officials in Ukraine's Russian-annexed Crimea. They include the peninsula's de facto governor, Sergei Aksyonov; the speaker of Moscow-controlled Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov; and the de facto mayor of the Crimean city of Yalta, Yanina Pavlenko. In October, the FSB said it detained a man in Crimea on suspicion of plotting an assassination of Russian-friendly former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleh Tsaryov. Last week, Ukrainian authorities claimed responsibility for the killing near Moscow of pro-Russian Ukrainian politician Illya Kyva.

https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-arrests-crimea-assassination-plans-ukraine/32725910.html