News Round-Up: Woke British Bank Lying about Farage, Poland Against EU Climate Policy and Corrupt Bidens
Every week, the editorial team of Freedom Research compiles a round-up of news that caught our eye, or what felt like under-reported aspects of news deserving more attention.
Over the past week, the following topics attracted our attention:
The lie came out: British private bank Coutts closed the account of politician and presenter Nigel Farage because of his views
Country musician Jason Aldean angered the so-called liberals with his anti-crime song, the TV channel pulled it from the air – but the song's popularity sky-rocketed
Poland fights EU's 'authoritarian' climate policy
FBI document: Ukrainian energy company paid Joe Biden a large sum of money, the then VP forced out the country's attorney general investigating the company
Burger restaurant chain banned workers from wearing masks at work
A major British bank lied: Nigel Farage's bank account was indeed closed for ideological reasons.
Former British politician and current TV presenter Nigel Farage announced at the end of June that a bank he had been a customer of for more than 40 years had suddenly decided to close his account.
Farage is best known as a politician for campaigning for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. He was a long-serving chairman of the UK Independence Party and later founder and leader of the Brexit Party. It was his political views that he considered one of the possible reasons why the bank suddenly wanted to close his account. He also said it could have been because political opponents had falsely accused him of receiving money from Russia.
The private bank which closed his account denied any political motives behind the decision, explaining to Farage that it was a "commercial decision". The BBC, citing “people familiar with Coutts'”, also wrote that this was the case – Farage's account at a private bank serving wealthy clients was closed, according to the article, because the amount of assets he held with the bank had fallen below the threshold to be a client.
But now it has emerged that the bank lied and Farage's account was indeed closed for ideological reasons. Farage managed to get hold of an internal document drawn up by the bank about him. Farage commented on Twitter that it was a document portraying him as if he was a serious criminal. "From the tone of this document, I must be one of the worst human beings to have inhabited this planet," he said.
The 40-page memo highlights the same issues as Farage himself originally suspected – one are his political activities that contributed greatly to Brexit and another his alleged links to Russian money, which he does not have, and which, according to the document itself, do not exist.
One of the reasons given for the end of the relationship is that he has been in contact with Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic. Djokovic is a negative character, apparently, because he did not vaccinate against Covid-19 and was essentially persecuted and not allowed to play tennis because of his decision. Farage visited Djokovic and his family in Belgrade with his TV crew in January 2022.
The document also notes that Farage shared a joke on his Twitter account by actor and comedian Ricky Gervais, which was about 'transgender' people. In the sketch, Gervais talks about "old-fashioned women – the ones with wombs".
Farage's relationship with former US President Donald Trump and his views on the immigration policies are also criticised. On the negative side, his criticisms of the 'green agenda', the move towards carbon neutrality and vaccines, are also highlighted. The document also confirms that Farage's wealth is commercially sufficient for the bank to continue with him as a client. However, the committee that drafted the memo, concluded that the client relationship could not be continued with Farage as they "did not think continuing to bank NF (Farage - HS) was compatible with Coutts given his publicly-stated views that were at odds with our position as an inclusive organisation."
In addition to the bank's lying, suspicions have been raised that the BBC's source in the article mentioned above, “people familiar with Coutts'”, which sought to 'air' Farage's initial allegations, was the bank's parent company's manager as one of the authors of the article, BBC business editor Simon Jack, was seen the day before sitting next to Alison Rose, head of the NatWest Group, which owns Coutts' private bank, at a charity dinner.
Farage also says he has now tried to open an account at ten other British banks, but has not been successful.
The British public is very upset about the issue. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also condemned the bank's behaviour. "This is wrong. No one should be barred from using basic services for their political views. Free speech is the cornerstone of our democracy," he said on Twitter.
Sadly, what happened to Farage is not that unusual – in a previous story on the subject, we gave a number of examples of people with 'unsuitable' views being refused financial services.
A country musician angered liberals with an anti-crime song and the channel pulled it from the air: the song's popularity sky-rocketed.
US country musician Jason Aldean released a song and music video this week with the central message that small towns in America look after their own – violence will not be tolerated and will be met with a gun if necessary, and lawless rioting like that seen in the country's big cities in the summer of 2020 will not be allowed.
Aldean explicitly warns in his song "Try That in a Small Town" that violent crime and insulting police officers and the US flag will be met with a strong response in small towns. "Yeah, ya think you're tough? Well, try that in a small town, see how far ya make it down the road. Around here, we take care of our own, you cross that line, it won't take long for you to find out, I recommend you don't," the lyrics say.
The lyrics are accompanied by images of violent robberies, rioting in the streets and destruction of people's property in 2020.
Perhaps predictably, the self-described liberal crowd went into a frenzy over the song and its message. For example, Aldean was criticised by gun ban enthusiasts, who claimed that many mass shootings actually take place in small towns. It was also claimed that the location where the singing part of the video was filmed was wrongly chosen – a black man was lynched in front of the same courthouse in 1927, which is in the background while Aldean sings.
Podcaster Jim Stewartson, who describes himself as an anti-disinfo activist on his Twitter profile, called the song "incitement" and demanded its removal from “everywhere”. "This is one of the most dangerous, irresponsible videos from a mainstream artist I have ever seen. @Jason_Aldean is openly radicalizing his fans into white nationalist vigilante violence," he posted.
Although Aldean's song was not removed from everywhere, it was taken off the air by Country Music Television (CMT). Naturally, the channel has now also been criticised for this woke censorship, which has included pointing out the hypocrisy behind the decision – a lot of mainstream artists sing about drugs, violence, sex, etc., but an artist with a clear message to act against violence is censored. The popularity of the song, however, benefited from the ban, as is often the case. For example, on Youtube, the song was viewed and listened to 346 000 times on Tuesday. By Friday morning, it had already been viewed 8.2 million times.
A similar story happened in June with the documentary film "What Is a Woman", which is about so-called transgenderism and the ideology surrounding it. Twitter initially signed an agreement with the film's distributor to show it on the platform for free for 24 hours. However, some time later, it wanted to back out of the agreement because the film did not follow the latest gender ideology “decrees” of how to talk about men and women – a man who calls himself a woman is called a man by another man in the film and a father refers to his 14-year-old daughter as a woman, even though she now defines herself differently. Twitter said it would allow the film to be uploaded, but would restrict its visibility and flag it as "hateful conduct". When the distributors of the film made this behaviour public, users themselves started to share the film, as did Twitter owner Elon Musk, who disagreed with his staff's view. As it happened, the result was that the film got a lot more attention because of this fact and went on to become the most watched documentary in the world. By mid-June it had already been viewed by 180 million people.
FBI document: Joe Biden received a large sum of money as VP for demanding the dismissal of Ukraine's chief prosecutor in the interests of an energy company.
This Thursday, US Senator Chuck Grassley released a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) document from June 2020 detailing allegations that President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden received $10 million from a Ukrainian oligarch for acting on behalf of the oligarch's company, The New York Post reports.
According to the document, the oligarch owner of the natural gas company Burisma Holdings and politician Mykola Zlochevsky described to an FBI informant in Vienna in 2016 that "it cost 5 [million] to pay one Biden, and 5 [million] to another Biden".
This was allegedly in return for Joe Biden, as Vice President of the United States at that time, to ensure that the investigation into suspected money laundering and tax fraud in Ukraine involving Burisma went nowhere and that the country's Prosecutor General, who was leading the investigation, was removed from office. That is what happened in March 2016, when then Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko agreed to replace the Prosecutor General, for Joe Biden threatened to cut off Ukraine's billion-dollar loan guarantee if he did not.
At the same time, since 2014, Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden was on the Burisma board, receiving a hefty monthly fee - $50 000.
The released document shows what Burisma's owner Zlochevsky himself thought of his 'cooperation' with the Biden family. In addition to paying them, he told the FBI informant about the circumstances of Hunter Biden's hiring: he would "protect us, through his dad, from all kinds or problems." At the same time, Zlochevsky admitted that Hunter Biden is so stupid that even his dog is smarter than the man. According to Zlochevsky, he did not pay Joe Biden directly, but did so in a scheme that would take investigators 10 years to find the records.
In addition, Zlochevsky pointed out that he has 17 audio recordings of meetings with Bidens, two of which include Joe Biden.
Biden has been asked repeatedly about Burisma, but has publicly denied any personal involvement with the company. Prior to the 2020 presidential election, he repeatedly said he had not even spoken to his son about his foreign business dealings. In October 2020, The New York Post published an article, based on material found on Hunter Biden's laptop, which in itself described Joe Biden as having lied and having met with the same Burisma representatives, his son’s so-called business partners. Social media platforms at the time restricted the sharing of the article or limited its spread under pressure from the FBI. In addition, a public letter signed by 'more than 50 former senior intelligence officials' was quickly organised, saying that the story had 'all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation'. In reality, the release of this information had nothing to do with Russia – Hunter Biden, who is also known to have a drug problem, had simply taken his laptop to a repair shop and never came to pick it up. The computer was handed over to the FBI, and when it was clear that they had no interest in investigating it, the material was passed on to Rudy Giuliani, the lawyer of Donald Trump who was the sitting President at the time.
Poland lodged a court challenge against the EU's 'authoritarian' climate policy
The Polish government has lodged four complaints with the European Court of Justice against the European Union's (EU) climate policy, calling it authoritarian and asserting that they will not allow Brussels to dictate on these issues, Notes From Poland reports.
Three of the cases concern EU decisions to ban the sale of new internal combustion cars after 2035, to increase the greenhouse gas reduction target and to reduce the so-called CO2 emission allowances that are distributed free of charge.
The complaints follow on from an appeal last week against EU rules on Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF). LULUCF also infringes on the competences of member states, according to the Polish government.
"Does the [European] Union want to decide in an authoritarian manner what kind of vehicles Poles will drive and whether energy prices will rise in Poland?" asked Polish Climate Minister Anna Moskwa in a Twitter post earlier this week.
The Polish government has been a constant critic of EU climate and environmental policies. Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the ruling party PiS, has called the climate policy "madness and theories without evidence” and "green communism". Moskwa also confirms that Poland has opposed climate plans all along. "At every EU council, we have been against and voted as a government against every single document in the Fit for 55 package," she said. Under the targets set out in the package, the European Union must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030 compared to 1990. "It is no secret that we were against the whole package, we are against increasing climate ambition and the way [these efforts] are carried and forced [upon member countries]," Moskwa added.
Burger restaurant chain bans workers from wearing masks at work
US burger restaurant chain In-N-Out is banning its employees from wearing face masks at work unless they have a doctor's note, AP reports. Internal company correspondence leaked to social media shows that the new rules apply to employees in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Utah. A memo explaining the decision cites "the importance of customer service and the ability to show our Associates’ smiles and other facial features while considering the health and well-being of all individuals." The mask and other similar protective equipment can be worn by anyone who needs it for protection purposes – for example, painters.
The rules come into force on August 14 and those who do not comply could face disciplinary action, including being fired.
In California and Oregon, restaurants will not be subject to the same company requirements, as both states have laws in place preventing employers from banning masks.
The company's new rules are a subject of criticism by health officials. For example, Dr. Judy Stone, a specialist in infectious diseases, cited the fact that six out of 10 adults in the United States suffer from chronic diseases and are therefore at risk of developing severe Covid-19, as a reason for wearing a mask. The fact that studies have shown the mask-wearing to have neglible effect in blocking the spread of respiratory viruses was not mentioned by Stone in her commentary.
At the same time, the ban of face masks or other facial adornments by the company, may also be seen as an excessive policy.
Such a confrontation with authorities is not the first for the In-N-Out burger chain. In October 2021, a number of In-N-Out restaurants in California were fined and temporarily closed because the business refused to serve clients on the basis of showing proof of vaccination, the so-called vaccination passport. "We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government. It is unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe to force our restaurant associates to segregate customers into those who may be served and those who may not," a spokesperson for the company commented at the time.