NEWS SUMMARY-INTELLIGENCE REPORT SATURDAY 2/2/2019  NEWSDUMP EDITION

(UPDATES, ADDITIONS, EDITING ETC. POSSIBLE UNTIL 815 AM EASTERN US TIME)


Good Morning and at the top of the newsdump.....


They say a picture's worth a thousand words and a word and a picture are creating controversy surrounding the Governor of  Virginia, Democrat Ralph Northam.

Its all found in the yearbooks of Northam.    His yearbook at the Virginia Military Institute nicknames him:

"Coonman"

an expression with racial overtones.

Then there's the yearbook from his medical school which includes a picture apparently with Northam in blackface on his page in the book with a hooded and robed Ku Klux Klan man standing next to him.

Northam appeared before the media to say among other things:

"I am deeply sorry for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt that decision causes then and now...."

The calls for his resignation came fast and furious Friday evening and into the night and not just from the Republicans.

Democrats up and down and here, there and everywhere from prominent Virginia Democrat Terry McAuliffe to presidential candidates Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julian Castro all calling on Northam to step down.

Also Democrat Party front organizations Planned Parenthood and the NAACP joining in the chorus for his resignation.

For the moment Northam says he will not resign.


Its Act 12 of the Yellow Vests protests in France as the protests focus on the thousands
injured by the police using in most cases "flash bang" rounds.   Those who have died being hit by vehicles during the protests will also be remembered in a "Wall of Shame" in Marseille today.

The Yellow Vests Breaking News post is......HERE

Opposition protesters taking to the streets of Venezuela on behalf of Interim President Juan Guaido and in favor of new elections in the country today.

The regime of Nicolas Maduro maintaining a grip on power including control of the police and military but other nations from Latin America along with the US, Canada and the UK plus European countries are pressuring Maduro to back down.

Meanwhile, the government of Turkey is being pressured to stop buying gold from Venezuela.   Venezuela is reported to have exported 900 million dollars worth of gold to Turkey last year for refining and return to Venenzuela, but its believed that something else is happening.

The United States suspects that the Turks are exporting Venezuelan gold to Iran in violation of US sanctions on that country.

Iranian media reports an attack on a paramilitary base in the southeastern part of the country.   One dead, five wounded.

The attack on a base of the Basij, religious police affiliated with the Revolutionary Guard of Iran,
occurred during a Saturday morning flag raising ceremony.

The United States has pulled out of a nuclear arms treaty with Russia for 180 days, effective today February 2nd..

The US says that Russia is using a weapons system in violation of the INF Treaty

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says that if Russia destroys that system, US participation in the treaty can resume.

Today Russia responded by pulling out of the INF Treaty as well.

The judge handling Roger Stone's trial on charges brought by Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller says she's considering a gag order in the case.

US District Judge Amy Berman Jackson considering the notion of a gag order for all sides of the case claiming the matter is a "criminal proceeding" and not a "public relations campaign".

And after a week of bitter cold across much of the USA the groundhog had his say this morning about the weather ahead.

Here in Pennsylvania Punxsutawney Phil failing to see his shadow foreshadowing an early spring.

And that's the way it really is Saturday morning February 2nd, 2019.