I originally put up this post to supplement the “sticky” fundraiser post after I started having severe Internet problems, and couldn’t update any posts. My Internet connection seems to have returned to normal, more or less, without my even having to call the phone company yet again. Someone at the head office must have reattached the string to the tin can.

Since this post was also sticky, I used it to include some new material, once I could do updates again. Update: Also, Sunday night’s news feed has been posted; look below the fundraiser post.

I worked on six videos today with Vlad, but now something has gone wrong with DTube — there’s always something — and none of the videos will play. Two of those videos were about Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, so while we’re waiting for DTube to fix itself, I’ll present an overview of what’s happening in Italy.

Mr. Salvini is pushing for a snap election. He’s been getting a lot of resistance from his coalition partner, the 5-Star Movement, which is making governing that much more difficult. Yet the Lega — Mr. Salvini’s party — is much more popular than M5S, and Mr. Salvini is the most popular politician that Italy has had in decades. He has by far eclipsed Luigi di Maio, the leader of M5S who serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economic Development.

Matteo Salvini has evidently decided that his wave is currently cresting, and now would be the best time to put his case to the voters. If the latest polls are accurate, after the election he will most likely be able to form a government without recourse to the 5-Star movement, perhaps in coalition with Forza Italia (the party of the former prime minister and notorious satyriast Silvio Berlusconi) and Fratelli d’Italia (the party of Giorgia Meloni), and possibly other right-wing parties I’m not as familiar with.

Mr. Salvini is candid, refreshing, and entertaining, and I look forward to his tenure as prime minister. Since assuming the office of interior minister, he has done something very unusual for a politician: he has kept his campaign promises. Even hobbled by the ball and chain of M5S, he has done what he told the voters he would do, to the best of his ability.

Below is a selection of Italian news stories from the past week (hat tips to Reader from Chicago).

From Breitbart:

Salvini Victory: NGO Ship Gives Up on Landing Migrants in Italy, Heads to Malta

The German-based NGO Sea-Eye have announced they will not be challenging the closed port policy of Lega leader Matteo Salvini, opting instead to head for Malta to drop off migrants.

The Sea-Eye vessel Alan Kurdi announced on Friday that they would be changing course from the Italian island of Lampedusa and heading instead to the Maltese port capital of Valletta, Il Giornale reports.

From Voice of Europe:

Italy Vows to Expel Nigerian Migrant Who Sent a Woman to the Hospital After Attacking Her on a Tram

Italy’s national populist interior minister Matteo Salvini has vowed to expel a Nigerian migrant who on Friday sent a passenger riding a Florence tram to the hospital after attacking her.

The attacker, a 22-year-old Nigerian illegal migrant, has already been deported twice, once in 2017 and once in 2018. She punched a 36-year-old woman who sat in front of her, minding her own business, on the tram.

Following the unprovoked assault, passengers on the tram were forced to restrain the aggressive migrant woman until police could arrive to arrest and take her to jail.

From The Express:

EU Divided: Brussels Sends Italy Warning Over Migrant Rescue Law

THE EUROPEAN Commission sent a thinly veiled warning to Italy’s populist leaders on Tuesday, saying it would have to look into whether a controversial new law targeting charities operating migrant rescue ships was in breach of EU rules.

Migrant arrivals to Italy have all but dried up since the populist government took power last year, clamping down on illegal immigration and tightening the country’s asylum rules. The Commission will “analyse” the new legislation in order to “verify whether it is compatible with European law,” a spokesperson for the bloc’s executive said shortly after the decree was approved by senators in a major victory for Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and his far-right League party. The decree drafted by Mr Salvini, who also serves as deputy prime minister, hardens sanctions on humanitarian ships that seek to bring migrants rescued in the Mediterranean to Italy instead of taking them back to Libya, the main jumping off point for African migrants hoping to reach Europe.

Another one from Breitbart:

Italy Heading to Elections as Populist, Border Control Salvini Prepares to Go it Alone Without Coalition

The junior coalition partner in Italy’s left-right populist government is pushing the country towards fresh elections as the pro-border control League party led by Matteo Salvini continues to dominate in the polls, and relations between the two governing parties collapse.

Matteo Salvini called on the Italian Prime Minister to recognise that the government had collapsed overnight Thursday, demanding a vote of no confidence and fresh elections. While the populist leader, who has dominated the media landscape over his successes on curbing immigration, praised the achievements of the government so far he said it was not capable of more while the constituent parties squabbled and the best thing for Italy now is an election as soon as possible.

The Express again:

Italy Crisis Erupts as Italian Coalition Collapses — and it is Terrifying for Brussels

ITALY is engulfed in crisis after its coalition government collapsed following months of internal bickering, which could trigger the rise of a right-wing grouping spelling disaster for the EU.

The leader of Italy’s ruling Lega party, deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini, declared the governing coalition to be unworkable and said the only way forward was to hold fresh elections. The shock announcement follows a period of intense public feuding between the right-wing Lega and its coalition partner, the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement, and it throws the eurozone’s third-largest economy into an uncertain political future.

Finally, another Breitbart:

UN Criticises Salvini Decree That Fines Migrant Transport NGOs Up to €1M

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has condemned the new migrant decree enacted by Italy saying it is concerned about the much heavier fines for migrant transport NGOs.

The UNHCR responded to the decree, which was passed into law earlier this week, defending the migrant transport NGOs for picking up migrants off the coast of Libya,L’Express reports.

In case you missed the fundraiser, it’s still here. Just scroll down a little bit on the main page (or click this link).

Sunday lunchtime update: I was finally able to post last night’s news feed. Scroll down; it’s below the fundraiser.

I’m having severe Internet problems at the moment. I can sometimes access some web pages, and sometimes none at all. I can generally publish new posts (thank the Lord for that!), but I haven’t been able to update existing posts. An exception: last night’s news feed was too large; I was never able to get it to post.

I can receive emails, but I can’t send any, which is infuriating. In case you’re wondering why I haven’t answered most of today’s mail, that’s the reason.

This also means that I can’t post this morning’s (Sunday’s) update for the sticky fundraiser post. Therefore, consider this new post to be the final Day Seven fundraiser update. I’ve given up the idea of a Sunday meditation on the “normalcy” theme, because the current situation sure as heck ain’t normal.

The phone company hasn’t been any help so far. They don’t care; they don’t have to care — they’re the PHONE COMPANY.

I’m making this post sticky, so you’ll see it first. Scroll down one post for the Saturday update. Scroll down further for lots of new posts since the fundraiser began.

A reminder: this is how I raise sufficient wherewithal to keep this site going and buy occasional groceries, so please hit the tip cup (or this link). Alas, there isn’t enough money in the world to persuade the phone company to get off its collective $@!&%$?! and do something about my Internet problem.

I’d have to be willing to move to a major urban area to guarantee myself a reliable Internet connection. And, as much as I love the Counterjihad, I’m not willing to do that. I’m used to the Deplorable Virginia Outback, and this is where I intend to stay.