Tommy Robinson’s lawyer says that a Muslim prisoner in the same prison as Tommy has threatened to kill him. Despite the fact that Tommy is in solitary 23.5 hours a day, the Muslim was able to get a message to Tommy promising an acid attack against the latter’s wife. The threat included disturbingly specific personal details about Tommy’s wife.

In other news, the Austrian government has abandoned a Turkish-language version of the theory test required for a driver’s license.

To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.

Thanks to AF, Dean, Dora, Reader from Chicago, Srdja Trifkovic, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Notice to tipsters: Please don’t submit extensive excerpts from articles that have been posted behind a subscription firewall, or are otherwise under copyright protection.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

5 Top FBI Officials Exit Bureau

[…]

“It appears highly unusual for so many senior-level executives to depart in such a short span of time,” said Marc Ruskin, a 27-year veteran of the FBI. “These are essentially C-level executives, the top level of the FBI.”

Ruskin said that coupled with the firing of Comey and his deputy, Andrew McCabe, the departure of Page, and the Congressional scrutiny of Strzok, Wray appears to be “trying to completely clean out the bureau.”

“It’s essentially a complete house cleaning,” Ruskin said, noting that Smith, Marshall, Resch, Ghattas, and Tricoli all rose through the ranks during the tenures of Mueller and Comey.

— Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]



Dr. Mark Hausknecht Identified as Houston Cardiologist Shot to Death by Gunman on Bike

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — As police comb the area near the Texas Medical Center for a murder suspect, one of the district’s prominent hospitals identified the victim killed Friday by a gunman on a bike as a prominent cardiologist.

Cardiologist Dr. Mark Hausknecht was shot and killed while riding his bicycle to work in the mid-morning hours, Houston Methodist confirmed in a statement.

“Mark was a leader in the Houston Cardiovascular Associates and specialized in cardiovascular disease,” said Houston Methodist, which added that Hausknecht was part of the DeBakey Heart & Vascular Center…

— Hat tip: Dean [Return to headlines]



FBI Investigating Chinese Espionage in All 50 States

FBI Director Christopher Wray revealed on July 18 that the FBI is investigating Chinese economic espionage cases in all 50 U.S. states, and that China is regarded as the “most significant” long-term threat to the United States.

Wray, speaking to NBC at the Aspen Ideas Forum on July 18, said Chinese espionage “covers everything from corn seeds in Iowa to wind turbines in Massachusetts and everything in between.”

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using a set of unconventional warfare methods against the United States, designed to achieve the goals of war without the need for troop-on-troop combat. This includes subversive methods to infiltrate and undermine U.S. institutions, propaganda operations to alter public perception, economic warfare programs to steal from the U.S. economy, and more.

Many of these strategies were outlined in a 1999 Chinese military book, “Unrestricted Warfare.” Many of the tactics also pull from older subversive methods used by the Soviet Union, and go beyond them.

— Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]



Missouri Accident is Not the First Time That a Duck Boat Ride Has Turned Fatal

A duck boat accident in Missouri Thursday that left 17 people dead is one of several fatal tragedies involving duck boats since 1999.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Trump in Helsinki (II): A Long View

by Srdja Trifkovic

Five days after the Helsinki summit I am inclined to believe that President Donald Trump either knows exactly what he is doing—that there is uncanny finesse and foresight behind his bluster—or else that he is guided by an almost unfailing intuition, with similar results.

Trump’s refusal to parrot the Intel-deepstaters’ “Russiagate” narrative at last Monday’s press conference is a case in point. That refusal was perfectly justified, on factual as well as political and moral grounds. No evidence of any kind exists to prove Russian meddling in 2016, or thereafter. It never will be found, because Podesta’s and DNC mails were leaked, not hacked. The Meddling Myth is simply a tool the Deep State has used since December 2016 to torpedo Trump’s attempt at détente with Moscow. Its operatives saw it, rightly, as a threat to the maintenance of the neolib-neocon system of full-spectrum global dominance. It was right and proper for Trump to refuse to grand credibility to this narrative

The establishment went berserk. The key author of the Russiagate Lie John Brennan accused Trump of high crimes and misdemeanors. Commentators, politicians and former officials mentioned treason, blackmail, KGB Kompromat. The reaction has been so utterly unhinged, in fact, that it may be yielding unexpected results. According to a major survey released this week, only 45 percent of respondents said outside influence from foreign governments is a major problem in American elections: 68% of Democrats see “interference” as a problem, as opposed to only 22% of Republicans and 40% independents…

— Hat tip: Srdja Trifkovic [Return to headlines]



Austria Ditches Driver’s License Theory Test in Turkish

Learner drivers in Austria will no longer be able to take their theory test in Turkish, the transport ministry announced on Saturday, blaming the cost of translating the exam.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Farage Warns ‘Dishonest’ May: Brexit Betrayal to Spark Backlash ‘Like Nothing Before’

NIGEL Farage has launched a scathing attack against Theresa May, warning she should not “underestimate the passion” of Brexiteers as a betrayal of the referendum vote will spark a “backlash unlike anything we have seen in the country”.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Foreboding Letter From French Minister Gives Serious Warning About Islam in 1928

A letter by a French colonial minister sent to the Governor General French West Africa in 1928, provides insight into the understanding of Islam 90 years ago.

The French letter, translated by a conservative news blog, warns of Salafism, a branch of Islam with strict theological norms.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



French Court Denies Request by Tariq Ramadan to Drop Rape Charges

PARIS (AFP) — French judges have rejected a request by lawyers for Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan to drop charges of raping two women, a source close to the inquiry told AFP on Friday.

Ramadan, a Swiss citizen and Oxford University professor whose grandfather founded Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood movement, has been held since February on charges that he raped two women in France.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



German Army Mulls Recruiting Foreign EU Nationals to Boost Recruitment

Germany’s long-understaffed army has a new plan to boost recruitment: allowing foreigners from other European Union countries to serve in the unified armed forces (Bundeswehr). The defense ministry confirmed on Saturday that it was seriously considering the idea.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Merkel: Meetings Between Trump and Putin Should be ‘Normal

(AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel says that meetings between U.S. and Russian presidents should become “normal” again.

Merkel’s comments Friday came after President Donald Trump invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to the White House. Earlier this week, the two had a meeting in Finland.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



New British Information Unit Fighting ‘Alternative News’, Promoting Govt-Approved ‘Facts’

The British government has a new unit fighting “alternative news” websites, driving their stories down search engine results and pushing the official government narrative to the top.

Civil servant and government communication boss Alex Aiken said the Cabinet Office’s new Rapid Response Unit (RRU), which has begun a pilot, is not a “fake news unit” as it was dubbed when first reported in April.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Plot Thickens in France’s ‘Benallagate’ Scandal With Minister Under Fire

The most damaging scandal of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency deepened on Saturday as his interior minister faces a grilling over his response to a top security aide caught on video striking a young man at a Paris protest in May.

Opposition lawmakers have demanded that Macron, who has so far remained silent about the incident, explain the government’s response after the videos of aide Alexandre Benalla emerged this week.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Retail Sales Up 10.3% in Poland in June: Stats Office

Retail sales in Poland rose 10.3 percent in June compared with the same month last year, the country’s Central Statistical Office (GUS) said on Friday.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Return of Farage: UKIP Membership Soars After May’s ‘Treasonous’ Brexit Strategy

THE Ukip membership site crashed as more than 2,000 people have joined or re-joined the Eurosceptic party over the past two weeks, a senior party member has revealed.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Salvini to Form Populist Grand Alliance Ahead of 2019 European Parliament Elections

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini has announced his intention to form a grand alliance of populists from across Europe ahead of next year’s European Union parliamentary elections.

The populist leader of the League (Lega), which formed an anti-establishment coalition earlier this year with the Five Star Movement (M5S), made his comments on Friday, saying that he wanted to unite the populist parties to challenge the establishment parliamentary groups, Kronen Zeitung reports.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



‘Soros Brilliant, But Evil’: Bannon to Rival Open Society Foundations in Europe

After leaving the Trump administration, the former investment banker has been looking for new ways to promote his right-wing views, deciding that he will rival US billionaire George Soros’ Open Society Foundations (OSF), which is active in Europe.

Steve Bannon, the former chief strategist in the Trump administration, has announced that he will be establishing a foundation aimed at supporting right-wing groups across Europe. According to The Daily Best, Bannon wants to offer an alternative to George Soros’ Open Society Foundations, which he regards as a successful project, although he doesn’t share its agenda.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Sweden Invests Millions to Teach Migrants How to Have Sex ‘With Blonde Women’

The Swedish government wants to allocate 5 million Swedish crowns (around half a million euros) in migrant sex courses, news outlet Fria Tider reports. A portion of the money will be spent on the government’s sex information website “Youmo”, which provides translation in Arabic, Somali and Dari.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Tommy Robinson Lawyer: Judge Did Not View Evidence, Islamists Threatening Acid Attack on Tommy’s Wife

The judge who rushed to send activist Tommy Robinson to jail did not even watch the full video in which he supposedly breached contempt of court laws, his lawyers have claimed.

He is currently being held in segregation for his own safety in prison, but a radical Islamic extemist has managed to deliver a message to his cell threatening to kill him and attack his wife with acid.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



UK: London: Moped Thug Jailed After Stabbing Young Father to Death for His Watch

Jordan Bailey-Mascoll, 26, reportedly ‘smirked’ in court as he was given a life sentence for stabbing a stranger to death for his watch in Sadiq Khan’s London.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



UK: Revealed: How ‘Putin’s Spy Agency’ Hit-Squad ‘Including a Woman’ Carried Out Whirlwind 30-Hour Novichok Mission to Poison the Skripals

This is the extraordinary 30-hour assassination mission to Salisbury that Britain believes was carried out by members of Putin’s feared military intelligence service specially trained to hunt down and punish traitors.

A team of up to four spies including a woman are claimed to have been sent to murder double agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia — two agents to carry and administer the Novichok and two more as back up in case their comrades fell ill or failed.

Numerous security sources say the hit squad was probably made up of existing or former GRU agents not known to MI6 who may even have followed Yulia from Moscow to London on March 3.

Miss Skripal and her double agent father fell ill in Salisbury on March 4 and the assassins dumped the poison hidden in a perfume bottle in the Wiltshire city’s Queen Elizabeth Gardens where ill-fated couple Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley found it four months later.

— Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]



UK: Tommy’s Lawyer Reveals Terror Plot Against Tommy’s Wife

In a disturbing briefing to news outlets Jeremy Dein QC, Tommy’s lawyer, has revealed that a radical Islamic Extremist within HMP Onley delivered a message to Tommy’s cell that threatened to kill him and perform an ACID ATTACK on his wife. The message was supposedly sent from imprisoned Jihadist terrorist Sayful Islam, who like Tommy is from Luton, and it used his wife’s full name showing a frightening degree of knowledge about his family.

This has been reported in The Times and is an extremely worrying turn of events. Tommy is being held in solitary confinement for 23.5 hours a day for his own safety yet this message was able to be delivered to Tommy. In further information about what Dein says in the flaws about Tommy’s case he revealed that the Judge who sentenced him never even watched the full LiveStream he was convicted of!

Dein said that even communicating with Tommy had been difficult as it took so long for him to be brought out from his prison cell and also the specific sections of the contempt laws Robinson had broken were also not revealed in this complicated and muddled case. The decision on his appeal should be issued before the end of July. […]

Unity News Network has been one of the few registered news sites that has been reporting on Tommy’s case from the outset and throughout. We have sent our reporters to bring you livestreams of all the major #FreeTommy demos and these have been viewed by MILLIONS of people around the world as well as sharing viral graphics, images and videos on social media. We are slightly concerned that the initial interest in #FreeTommy is starting to wear off but we all need to keep up the pressure so you can start by sharing this article on social media, sharing Tommy stories and graphics on social media and keeping him in your thoughts and prayers.

— Hat tip: Dora [Return to headlines]



Ecuador Will Imminently Withdraw Asylum for Julian Assange and Hand Him Over to the UK. What Comes Next?

ECUADOR’S PRESIDENT Lenin Moreno traveled to London on Friday for the ostensible purpose of speaking at the 2018 Global Disabilities Summit (Moreno has been using a wheelchair since being shot in a 1998 robbery attempt). The concealed, actual purpose of the President’s trip is to meet with British officials to finalize an agreement under which Ecuador will withdraw its asylum protection of Julian Assange, in place since 2012, eject him from the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, and then hand over the WikiLeaks founder to British authorities.

Moreno’s itinerary also notably includes a trip to Madrid, where he will meet with Spanish officials still seething over Assange’s denunciation of human rights abuses perpetrated by Spain’s central government against protesters marching for Catalonia independence. Almost three months ago, Ecuador blocked Assange from accessing the internet, and Assange has not been able to communicate with the outside world ever since. The primary factor in Ecuador’s decision to silence him was Spanish anger over Assange’s tweets about Catalonia.

A source close to the Ecuadorian Foreign Ministry and the President’s office, unauthorized to speak publicly, has confirmed to the Intercept that Moreno is close to finalizing, if he has not already finalized, an agreement to hand over Assange to the UK within the next several weeks. The withdrawal of asylum and physical ejection of Assange could come as early as this week.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Inside WikiLeaks: Working With the Publisher That Changed the World

Authored by Stefania Maurizi via Consortium News,

Silenced and cut off from the outside world, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been confined to the Ecuadorian embassy in London for the last six years with no access to sunlight, fresh air, or proper medical treatment. Furthermore, last March President Lenin Moreno’s Ecuadorian government cut his access to the internet, phone calls and even visitors and journalists. For a man who has already been confined to the embassy for so long, these restrictions are particularly harsh.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Italy and Hungary Find Each Other as Allies on Migration and Values

Italy is a very significant factor in European politics and after a short break there is one again common ground for Rome and Budapest, Hungarian Ambassador to Italy Adam Zoltan Kovacs told Mandiner.

According to Kovacs, the Hungarian government sees several positive signs: Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto met his Italian counterpart Enzo Moavero Milanesi and the State Secretary for Family, Katalin Novak also visited Family Minister Lorenzo Fontana in Rome recently. He said it’s clear that regarding the family, the two governments share the same values.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Macedonian Police Find 44 Illegal Migrants in Truck

THESSALONIKI, Greece (AP) — Macedonian police say they have found 44 migrants hidden in a truck on a highway in center of the country.

Police said Friday they had pursued the vehicle late Wednesday until the driver stopped the van near a highway tunnel. The 44 migrants — 10 Syrians, 20 Pakistanis, 12 Afghans and two Indian — were found inside the vehicle, while the driver fled and evaded arrest.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



Survivor, 2 Bodies From Migrant Boat Wreck Arrive in Spain

A survivor of a capsized migrant boat brought to the Spanish island of Mallorca along with two bodies from the wreck has been transferred to a hospital for trauma treatment, Spanish authorities said Saturday.

— Hat tip: Reader from Chicago [Return to headlines]



America’s Delusional Self-Destructiveness

[…]

As the ignorant and self-righteous pundits work up their usual sideshow, our primary problem ironically is ignored: namely, the perverse moral psychology whereby we undermine our own interests. American universities and corporations now spend millions of dollars on implicit-bias training, even though the concept is sheer superstition. From Harvard and Stanford to high-tech corporations such as Google and Apple, employers go out of their way to hire people because they are female, or black, or Hispanic, and so on. Such persons may or may not be competent, and it goes without saying that if identity politics is the sole or primary criterion for employment, then they will probably be incompetent. Nevertheless, as Heather Mac Donald has documented, the “equal representation” is rapidly increasing, and universities and corporations are becoming more precise in their implementations of the aim.

Meanwhile, as we level ourselves down in the name of equality and diversity, China graduates four times as many STEM bachelor degrees as the United States and twice as many PhDs. A ruthless meritocracy, China does not lead students to believe things like affirmative action and implicit bias will compensate for their own inadequacies. Rather, the Chinese must accept fierce competition as a matter of course. …

In this process there are two common fallacies. The first is the disparity fallacy. It consists of mistaking mere disparity (or diversity, as it were) for evidence of discrimination. If, for example, the Harvard philosophy department has more men than women, or more whites than blacks, or whatever, then it will be assumed that discrimination is the reason. But though instances of discrimination still exist, mere disparity does nothing to prove them.

The second fallacy is related to the first one, and frequently motivates it. This is the social constructivist fallacy, which holds that at birth everyone is equal (or in other words, and quite bizarrely, the same), and all subsequent differences to be attributed to the environment. By this reasoning, all outcomes should be precisely consistent with the demographics of the population, and indeed they would, were it not for environmental differences—namely, economic inequality and, above all, discrimination.

— Hat tip: AF [Return to headlines]



UK: Transgender Prisoner Who Was Put in a Female Jail Despite Not Having Sex-Change Surgery ‘Sexually Assaulted Four Women Inmates Before Being Moved to a Male Prison’

A transgender prisoner has been accused of sexually assaulting four female inmates after being sent to a women’s prison, despite not having had reassignment surgery.

It is alleged the first attack took place within days of the inmate arriving at New Hall jail in Wakefield, West Yorkshire.

The prisoner, who has been living as a woman for more than two years, was seen visibly aroused during the assault at the high security complex.