Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a.k.a. “Coonman”, has apologized for a 1984 medical school yearbook page in which he appeared either in blackface, or wearing a KKK robe — no one is sure which of them he is. Numerous Republicans and even a few Democrats have called for Dr. Northam to resign his office.
In other news, the UK has convicted its first defendant charged with female genital mutilation. As it happens, the convicted woman is Ugandan, and not a Muslim.
To see the headlines and the articles, click “Continue reading” below.
Thanks to Insubria, Reader from Chicago, SS, Vlad Tepes, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.
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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.
It’s Official: Italy’s Economy Has Slipped Into Recession
It’s official: Italy is in a recession.
Output in Europe’s fourth-largest economy contracted by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, on the heels of a 0.1% drop in the quarter before that, the Italian National Institute of Statistics, known as Istat, said on Thursday. A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Jobs Report Beats Expectations, Adding to Week of Market-Boosting Economic News
As a new month got underway, investors had their second helping of big economic news this week in the form of the government’s jobs report for January, which came after the Fed meeting earlier this week helped boost the market.
For the second month in a row, job creation in the United States blew past expectations with a surge of more than 300,000 new nonfarm payrolls positions. A Briefing.com consensus estimate had forecast a gain of 160,000 jobs in January, but the actual figure from the Labor Department ended up showing a rise of 304,000.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Elizabeth Warren Apologizes to Cherokee Nation for Taking DNA Test to Prove Native-American Roots
Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren has apologized to the Cherokee Nation for taking a DNA test to prove she had Native-American ancestry, taking a step to smooth over the lingering controversy as she prepares to formally launch her 2020 presidential campaign.
“Senator Warren has reached out to us and has apologized to the tribe. We are encouraged by this dialogue and understanding that being a Cherokee Nation tribal citizen is rooted in centuries of culture and laws, not through DNA tests,” Cherokee Nation spokeswoman Julie Hubbard said in a statement.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Holocaust Scholar: Respond to Anti-Semitism — Even if You Are Accused of Islamophobia
During a lecture on Holocaust Memorial Day at Uppsala University, the American professor and historian Deborah Lipstadt talked about the difficult situation for Jews in Sweden.
This problem must be addressed — despite the risk of being called Islamophobic, she said.
Lipstadt is Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Georgia, United States.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Man Charged With Hate Crime in Terror Plot at Toledo Synagogue
An Ohio man accused of plotting an attack against a Toledo-area synagogue was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury, according to federal agents.
Damon Joseph, 21, also known as Abdullah Ali Yusuf, is charged with attempting to provide material to support ISIS, attempting to commit a hate crime, and possessing firearms in furtherance of a crime of violence stemming from his plan to attack at least one Toledo synagogue.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
McClatchy Follows BuzzFeed, Vice, And Others in Cutting Staff
This morning, Craig Forman, CEO of McClatchy Company, emailed all staff to say about 10 percent of the newspaper chain’s employees would be offered voluntary buyouts. All of the details were not immediately available, though a meeting was called for 2 p.m. today at the Miami Herald— the chain’s most significant newspaper — to offer details. “This will be a one-time opportunity,” the email reads. “We do not anticipate another.”
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Ralph Northam Apologizes for Medical School Yearbook Photo With Blackface, KKK Robe
Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam apologized Friday for appearing in a “racist and offensive” photo on his 1984 medical school yearbook page that showed one man dressed in blackface and another in a KKK robe, while giving no indication he plans to resign.
Northam — who has been under fire this week for comments made about a third-trimester abortion bill in his state — admitted to being one of the people in the photo, though it’s not clear which costume he is wearing.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Remember That Gay Couple Married by RBG? They Just Got Charged With Rape
The pair stands accused of raping a young man at a party in Houston.
Missing Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg used her power as a justice of the peace to marry a gay couple in 2014.
Tuesday, that couple was charged with rape.
“David Daniels, 52, and his conductor husband Scott Walters, 37, were arrested in Michigan, where they live, on Tuesday night,” according to DailyMail.
RBG made headlines when she married the couple less than five years ago. A year later, the Supreme Court upheld a ruling that allowed gay marriage to become the law of the land.
| — Hat tip: Vlad Tepes | [Return to headlines] |
Report: Oxycontin Manufacturing Sackler Family Sought to Profit Off Booming Anti-Addiction Market
The Sackler family, who made tens of billions of dollars by getting Americans hooked on OxyContin, also looked to profit off treating the addicts they created according to newly unredacted portions of a recent lawsuit filed by the Massachusetts Attorney General.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Silicon Valley Restaurant Chef Says Patrons Wearing MAGA Hats Won’t Get Served
A chef at a Silicon Valley restaurant has put out the word that patrons wearing “Make America Great Again” baseball cap are not welcome in his establishment and will not be served.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
SPLC Hires High-Powered Defamation Lawyer to Defend Tax-Exempt Status in Rico Lawsuit
On Thursday evening, Baltimore attorney Glen Keith Allen, who is suing the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) for racketeering, wire fraud, defamation, and other claims, told PJ Media that the SPLC has hired a high-powered attorney to defend them in the case. Among other things, Allen’s suit demands a court judgment against the SPLC’s 501c3 tax-exempt status, which could seriously cripple the organization.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Radical German Antifa website Indymedia published detailed instructions for assassinating specific AfD politicians as part of the 2019 Euro election campaign.
The post was published on Jan. 30 by the Anti-German Antifa Underground (AAU).
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Austria: More Than Half of Suspects in Murders of Women in 2017 Were Foreigners
More than half of the suspects involved in murders where women were the victims have foreign backgrounds, according to Austrian Family Minister Juliane Bogner-Strauss.
Ms Bogner-Strauss said that in 2017 Austria had seen 203 suspects involved in the murders of women and of those, 126 were foreigners. Among the foreigners were 62 asylum seekers — over a quarter of all suspects, Kleine Zeitung reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Catalonia’s Separatist Leaders Go on Trial
For up to 15 months nine Catalan separatist leaders have been in jail. On February 4th they and three others are due to start what will be the first of many days in the Supreme Court as the oral phase of their trial on charges of rebellion and misuse of public funds gets under way. The charges, which could potentially result in sentences of up to 25 years in jail, arise from an unconstitutional referendum and illegal declaration of independence in one of Spain’s largest and richest regions in October 2017. For supporters of Catalan independence, it is a political trial. For many Spaniards it is retribution for a conspiracy to break up their country. It is also a test of the impartiality of the country’s judiciary.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
EU Confirms Visa-Free Travel for Brits Across Europe After Brexit — Deal or No Deal
One of the most persistent Brexit scare stories was disarmed Friday after the European Council themselves announced Brits would enjoy visa-free travel across Europe after Brexit.
The announcement states that British citizens are free to travel in Europe for 90 days in any given 180 day period, noting that because the United Kingdom has stated it would not require EU citizens to have short-stay visas after Brexit, it would not require the same in return.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Woman Attacks Bus Ticket Inspector
In Padua
(ANSA) — Padua, January 31 — A Nigerian woman without a bus ticket on Thursday attacked an inspector on a bus in Padua, breaking his finger and causing two dislocations, local sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Mother on Trial for Cutting Daughter’s Hair as Punishment
Incident happened 2 yrs ago
(ANSA) — Belluno, January 29 — A Romanian woman living in Italy is standing trial for cutting off all her adolescent daughter’s hair as punishment for her not getting up on time to go to school. The trial is taking place in Belluno and the incident occurred two years ago. The girl is being assisted by a lawyer and she may sue her mother.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Poland Agrees New State Pension for Mothers Who Dedicated Lives to Bringing Up Families
Lawmakers in Poland’s lower house of parliament have approved a “maternal pension” for women who have raised four or more children and who deserve “gratitude and respect” for their contribution to society.
The legislation was passed with 259 on favour, 20 against (134 abstentions) in the conservative Law and Justice party-controlled Sejm on Thursday, Radio Poland reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Quarter of Swedish School Pupils From Foreign Backgrounds
Around one in four students in Swedish schools now come from a foreign background as schools across the country are becoming more and more segregated, according to a new report.
The new report claims that while the school system across Sweden has seen a growth in the number of foreign-background students, it has also seen segregation to the point where in one municipality there exists a school with students who are 90 percent from foreign backgrounds and another in which they are only four percent, SVT reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Swedish Journalist Threatened by Imam During Mosque Investigation
A Swedish newspaper has reported a threat to one of its reporters by a local imam to police after the journalist investigated a school said to be linked to a local mosque in the city of Gävle.
The reporter, who works for the newspaper Gefle Dagblad, met with the manager of the Muslim school who admitted that there was a link between the school and the Gävle mosque which has been under investigation by the paper for several years, Expressen reports.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: 200 ‘Highly Professional People’ Ready to Stand for Farage’s New Brexit Party
The newly-registered Brexit Party backed by Nigel Farage could run 200 candidates including “QCs, directors, business people, all sorts of highly professional people” if the Tories deliver “Brexit In Name Only”, or BRINO.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Free Speech is Dying in Its Birthplace
Britain is the home of parliamentary democracy and classical liberalism — but that legacy has been fading rapidly lately as the British government has taken it upon itself to police words.
In 2003 the Communications Act banned all online posts that cause “annoyance, inconvenience or needles anxiety to another.”
And since then, things have only gotten worse.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Khan’s London: No Prison for Teenager Who Left Former U.S. Ambassador With ‘Horrific Injuries’
A teenager who knocked a 74-year-old former British ambassador to the United States unconscious on the London Underground and left him with “horrific injuries” has been let off with a 12-month referral order and a £500 compensation charge.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: London Remains Financial Giant as Project Fear Departure Predictions Fall Flat
The predicted exodus of banks and jobs in financials services from London simply hasn’t happened. When will those media outlets and politicians who tried to scare people witless in 2016 apologise?
A new report by Reuters lays bare the reality: hardly any jobs have moved to Paris or Frankfurt, there is only a modest increase in recruitment abroad and the big boys, some of whom helped fund the Remain campaign, are staying in London.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Mother Becomes First Person to be Found Guilty of Female Genital Mutilation in UK
The mother of a three-year-old girl has become the first person to be found guilty of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the UK.
The Ugandan woman, who wept in the dock, was convicted after the Old Bailey heard she tried to “shut up” accusers with witchcraft.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Man Jailed After Raping 11-Year-Old Girl in Car
Shamol Miah has been given a short prison sentence after he drove a “very young and vulnerable” girl to a secluded area in his car, and raped her.
Nottingham Crown Court heard the 33-year-old approached his victim, who was aged just 11, in the centre of Mansfield in May last year, and swapped mobile phone numbers with the girl.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Only 18% of Remainers Refuse to Contemplate Leaving EU, YouGov Finds
Whilst the well-funded Loser’s Vote, anti-Brexit brigade continue to delude themselves, the country is moving on. The vast majority of Brits now accept that the UK will be leaving the European Union.
New polling by YouGov has analysed both Remain and Leave voters as to their current positions. They find that amongst Remain voters, the majority would now accept a so-called ‘soft’ Brexit or a deal with the European Union that resembled what Theresa May is currently seeking to renegotiate.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
UK: Short Sentences for Gang Who Gave London Tube Row Victim Permanent Brain Damage
Thugs who left a man in a coma and with permanent brain damage after a minor row at a London underground station will be out of jail in just months, after they were handed short sentences.
Ali Ali, 20, Gessica Goti, 22, and Mohamed Abdulle, 22, were given jail terms of between 16 months and four years, while Fiona Abdillahi, 18, was handed a suspended sentence after the gang’s “incredibly violent attack” at Oxford Circus tube station in London on November 5, 2017.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
World Hijab Day vs. No Hijab Day
Today is World Hijab Day and No Hijab Day. In Rotterdam, the Netherlands, there was a pro-hijab manifestation. Quite embarassing for the women behind the No Hijab-movement…
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Xavier, 14, and his friend were waiting for a bus outside Wyndham Vale train station in the city’s south-west on Sunday evening when they were set upon by a group of up to 30 African youths.
| — Hat tip: SS | [Return to headlines] |
Millions of Demonstrators Expected to Flood the Streets of Venezuela’s Capital
Caracas, Venezuela — Millions of demonstrators are expected to flood the streets of Venezuela’s capital on Saturday. Students are hard at work, making signs for what’s shaping up to be the mother of all protest marches.
“We are really scared to go to the streets but we know this time it’s something really worth fighting for,” said Ana Ferreira, a student leader.
They are fighting to force President Nicolas Maduro out of office. But his rival and interim replacement, Juan Guaido, warns it won’t be easy. Dictatorships don’t give up without a fight, he said.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Sorry M5S-League Abstained in Venezuela Vote — Tajani
‘Just told Guaidò we recognise him as president
(ANSA) — Brussels, January 31 — European Parliament President Antonio Tajani on Thursday voiced his disappointment at the 5-Star Movement and League, Italy’s government partners, abstaining in an EP vote that recognised Venezuela’s self-declared interim president Juan Guaidò as de facto head of state, heightening international pressure on the OPEC member’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro. “I have just announced to Guaidò that the EU Parliament recognises him as interim President of Venezuela,” Tajani said on Twitter.
“It’s disappointing that the M5S and League (!!!) and many in the (Democratic Party) abstained, without taking sides against the dictatorship of Nicolas Maduro.
Tajani is No.2 in Silvio Berlusconi’s centre-right Forza Italia (Fi) party, a League ally.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
The Hungarian government has excoriated the leadership of the European Union and “European Socialists” across the bloc for “following the orders” of a network centred on billionaire activist George Soros to increase mass migration.
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
Italy: Sea-Watch3 Held for Breaching Norms Says Toninelli
‘Registered as pleasure yacht’ says transport minister
(ANSA) — Rome, February 1 — The Coast Guard has impounded the Sea-Watch3 migrant rescue ship at Catania due to the violation of norms on navigational safety and safeguarding the marine environment, Transport Minister Danilo Toninelli said Friday. “We are talking of a vessel registered as a ‘pleasure yacht’, which is not qualified to carry out migrant sea rescue operations,” he said.
“It appears obvious, given that it is substantially a yacht.
That is not allowed in Italy”.
The Coast Guard said earlier they had found “irregularities” on the German NGO ship whose 47 migrants landed in Catania Thursday after a deal with the EU. The “non-compliant” elements were said to involve “both the safety of navigation” and “the respect for norms on safeguarding the marine environment,” sources said.
The ship will not be allowed to leave Catania until these matters have been cleared up, sources said.
| — Hat tip: Insubria | [Return to headlines] |
Spain: Influx of Immigrants Increased by 131 Percent Last Year
The arrival of immigrants to Spain seems unstoppable. Last year the influx of immigrants increased by 131 percent.
After the Government of Pedro Sanchez announced the withdrawal of the concertinas on the border fences with Africa and authorized the berthing of several ships with migrants, it stimulated trafficking mafias
| — Hat tip: Reader from Chicago | [Return to headlines] |
More leftist media layoffs? Pretty soon there will be too many coders in the job market; this new batch of layoffs should learn to do something else useful, like learning to pour concrete. Should be lots of new jobs available building Trump’s Wall.