It's a bit of an odd story that popped up in the German news today, via ARD (public TV, Channel One).
So, this reservist German soldier, who joined back in 2015 (volunteer)....came to some point where he'd joined the Islamic religion. Note, based on the ARD story, it doesn't appear that he was Muslim before.
An occurred in the past year or two....where a ceremony was going to be held, and he needed to shake hands with another member member (female, story doesn't relate if this was an officer, NCO, or junior enlisted). The guy took his religious stance, and said 'nein' (no) and refused to shake hands.
The Bundeswehr then did it's review, and eventually said 'enough'.....if you can't shake hands, then you can't stay in the military. They dismissed the guy.
Well....as you might imagine, he hired up a lawyer and challenged this on religious grounds.
This got all the way up to the Pfalz 'high court (the highest in that state), and they reviewed how this was handled.
Today, they stood up and said that the method of discharge was standard, and that the basis of men and women in the military (and throughout German society)....is a state of balance.
Going to the Supreme Court of Germany? Maybe, they'd have to agree to hear, and it might be six months before that comes up.
It's a curious position to take....on religious grounds. If they had reversed this, you would assume that dozens of future issues would pop up.....like him taking orders from a female, or being treatment by a German military female dentist.
I got into a discussion around five years ago with a Syrian over the practice, and he laughed. You just couldn't find Syrians who go to this extreme (at least in the old Assad days).
Friday, November 29, 2019
Thursday, November 28, 2019
Saturday Event
Here on Saturday, there's supposed to be this big corrective action to occur....finally bringing leadership to the SPD Party (the left-of-center group). Their 'boss' quit in mid-summer, and they've had this gimmick running along....giving each member of the party a chance to advance their agenda, and redraw the whole enthusiasm landscape for the SPD voters.
Two choices exist. Each duo has a male and female.
The public TV folks have been busy for weeks and talking over the big action.
Frankly, if you turn and view public numbers....the SPD is now anchored down at roughly 15-to-16 percent across the whole country, and the big numbers from from four years ago (really stretching back to 1947)....are gone. The hype no longer exists....the Green Party took the bulk of their voters.
So this six-month period of searching.....wasted? Yeah, more or less. It's a curious 'fall from grace'. This was the party that represented the common man, the working class, and the labor community.
Two choices exist. Each duo has a male and female.
The public TV folks have been busy for weeks and talking over the big action.
Frankly, if you turn and view public numbers....the SPD is now anchored down at roughly 15-to-16 percent across the whole country, and the big numbers from from four years ago (really stretching back to 1947)....are gone. The hype no longer exists....the Green Party took the bulk of their voters.
So this six-month period of searching.....wasted? Yeah, more or less. It's a curious 'fall from grace'. This was the party that represented the common man, the working class, and the labor community.
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Night-Time Work Curtailed?
If you've watched the German Bundestag (parliament) operation over the past couple of months....they've had two episodes with members collapsing (fainting).
So they had a meeting or two, and discussed the idea of not just lessening night-time hours, but also lessening debate time. Oddly enough, virtually all of the political parties signed up for that...except the AfD Party (anti-immigration group), with their response being that you need strong healthy debate.
The curious thing about this late operations business, is that if you look at actual video...a fair number of members by 5 PM usually pack up and leave. Based on the camera scan, you might be able to say that 60-percent of the seats are empty by that point. So you need to ask the question....are they just debating to empty seats mostly?
So they had a meeting or two, and discussed the idea of not just lessening night-time hours, but also lessening debate time. Oddly enough, virtually all of the political parties signed up for that...except the AfD Party (anti-immigration group), with their response being that you need strong healthy debate.
The curious thing about this late operations business, is that if you look at actual video...a fair number of members by 5 PM usually pack up and leave. Based on the camera scan, you might be able to say that 60-percent of the seats are empty by that point. So you need to ask the question....are they just debating to empty seats mostly?
The Relationship Story
German public TV (ARD, Channel One) carried a short piece tonight.....hyping up the German perception of the German-American relationship as pessimistic.
The German deal? 64 percent of Germans (via a Korber Foundation poll) say the relationship is 'bad' or 'very bad'.
The US deal? Roughly 75-percent of Americans say that the US-German relationship is 'good' or 'very good'.
I sat and pondered over the difference, and will offer three observations:
1. A lot of what is described as 'bad' or 'very bad'....if you went and asked the German about this....it goes directly back to Trump. If you had any Democrat President, then the German perception would flip over a one-month period and be very near 50 to 70 percent 'good or very good'.
I know....it's a silly thing to suggest, but public TV since November of 2016.....has been on a roll, and it really doesn't matter what Trump says or does....it's all bad from this point,
2. Do Germans actually worry about the relationship? No. You can walk into any German pub and put the topic to a dozen working-class people, and frankly, they've got a hundred things that they rate higher as an issue, and they really don't care.
It's been that way for a long time, and the TV journalists have never grasped that end of the spectrum.
3. Finally, not that it really matters, but most American really don't track German events. Most probably could not name the Chancellor, with 5-percent maybe even naming Kohl (he's been out of office for over 20 years). There's more going on with Mexico, and Americans might track there than they do with most of the European countries.
So a big deal, about nothing? More or less.
Don't worry....either in one year, or five years....President Trump will finally go, and some Democrat will show up. Germans will weep over the arrival....get emotional (chatty about JFK), and talk about the wonderful arrival of intellectuals to repair the German-American relationship. If they want to believe that 'path'.....let them.
The German deal? 64 percent of Germans (via a Korber Foundation poll) say the relationship is 'bad' or 'very bad'.
The US deal? Roughly 75-percent of Americans say that the US-German relationship is 'good' or 'very good'.
I sat and pondered over the difference, and will offer three observations:
1. A lot of what is described as 'bad' or 'very bad'....if you went and asked the German about this....it goes directly back to Trump. If you had any Democrat President, then the German perception would flip over a one-month period and be very near 50 to 70 percent 'good or very good'.
I know....it's a silly thing to suggest, but public TV since November of 2016.....has been on a roll, and it really doesn't matter what Trump says or does....it's all bad from this point,
2. Do Germans actually worry about the relationship? No. You can walk into any German pub and put the topic to a dozen working-class people, and frankly, they've got a hundred things that they rate higher as an issue, and they really don't care.
It's been that way for a long time, and the TV journalists have never grasped that end of the spectrum.
3. Finally, not that it really matters, but most American really don't track German events. Most probably could not name the Chancellor, with 5-percent maybe even naming Kohl (he's been out of office for over 20 years). There's more going on with Mexico, and Americans might track there than they do with most of the European countries.
So a big deal, about nothing? More or less.
Don't worry....either in one year, or five years....President Trump will finally go, and some Democrat will show up. Germans will weep over the arrival....get emotional (chatty about JFK), and talk about the wonderful arrival of intellectuals to repair the German-American relationship. If they want to believe that 'path'.....let them.
Audi Jobs Report
So it did come out today....by 2025, almost 9,500 jobs with Audi will go away. 2,000 new jobs will be created, but mostly have to do with their E-Car line.
A problem? Here's the thing....I suspect that VW, Porsche, Ford-Germany, BMW, and Mercedes will go the same way. You could see well over 80,000 car industry jobs gone in five years.
Folks were talking about this development five years ago. Part of this relates to what the car companies think....that Germans will be drawn to E-cars. E-cars have fewer parts, and the assembly is less complicated. So the logic is to downsize.
If Germans don't buy the E-cars at the expected pace, or this issue with the grid not having enough power to run E-cars occurs? Well....that will be an interesting bridge to cross in 2025.
But this will also complicate up the talk from 2014/2015 that Germany needs more immigrants to take up jobs as people retire. That discussion will dry up....if there isn't enough jobs for the incoming crowd.
A problem? Here's the thing....I suspect that VW, Porsche, Ford-Germany, BMW, and Mercedes will go the same way. You could see well over 80,000 car industry jobs gone in five years.
Folks were talking about this development five years ago. Part of this relates to what the car companies think....that Germans will be drawn to E-cars. E-cars have fewer parts, and the assembly is less complicated. So the logic is to downsize.
If Germans don't buy the E-cars at the expected pace, or this issue with the grid not having enough power to run E-cars occurs? Well....that will be an interesting bridge to cross in 2025.
But this will also complicate up the talk from 2014/2015 that Germany needs more immigrants to take up jobs as people retire. That discussion will dry up....if there isn't enough jobs for the incoming crowd.
Flag Burning in Germany
Up until now, in Germany....you could get all hyped-up and burn a national flag, and not get into trouble.
Well....things are about to change. This got brought up this morning via N-TV news (commercial German news).
There's been fits of anger over Turkey, the Kurds, and Israel in the past couple of years, with protests going on, and flags being burned. Basically, it's inciting a bunch of folks, and the Germans want the flag burning stopped.
So this law is being drafted up. The Federal Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht made a statement over the draft. She says the bill will come up to the Bundestag before 1 January 2020.
It'll basically say that the burning of any 'state emblem' will be a criminal act. The prison time being discussed? Up to two years, with some type of fine (unknown on amount).
Likely to be challenged in court? Absolutely.
The cops? I'm guessing they are shaking their heads because it'll just mean a tough situation where they view a flag being burned....stage an arrest....then face off a thousand angry protest folks in attempting to grab one single Kurd, Turk, or German out for a jail episode.
Typically, up until the last decade....the only flags that ever got burned on German streets were American flags. Oddly, they did nothing in that period. So now? This whole Turk and anti-Turk business has churned up public reaction in Germany. So the law will cover all flags in this situation.
Well....things are about to change. This got brought up this morning via N-TV news (commercial German news).
There's been fits of anger over Turkey, the Kurds, and Israel in the past couple of years, with protests going on, and flags being burned. Basically, it's inciting a bunch of folks, and the Germans want the flag burning stopped.
So this law is being drafted up. The Federal Minister of Justice Christine Lambrecht made a statement over the draft. She says the bill will come up to the Bundestag before 1 January 2020.
It'll basically say that the burning of any 'state emblem' will be a criminal act. The prison time being discussed? Up to two years, with some type of fine (unknown on amount).
Likely to be challenged in court? Absolutely.
The cops? I'm guessing they are shaking their heads because it'll just mean a tough situation where they view a flag being burned....stage an arrest....then face off a thousand angry protest folks in attempting to grab one single Kurd, Turk, or German out for a jail episode.
Typically, up until the last decade....the only flags that ever got burned on German streets were American flags. Oddly, they did nothing in that period. So now? This whole Turk and anti-Turk business has churned up public reaction in Germany. So the law will cover all flags in this situation.
This 'Green Room' Robbery
Around 5 AM on Monday morning.....two guys broke into the Dresden 'vault' that housed a collection of items worth billions. The alarm went off....the camera caught the action, and cops reacted. The two guys staged their escape. So far, no one has found them.
Insider job? Yeah, probably (cops suggest this).
What they went after? Via the camera, they had intent on one single area of the collection. Value? Some suggest over a billion, if on the market.
But here's the thing, they (the cops) also suggest that nothing from this list of items could ever be sold in any real auction or sale. So they think it's a private guy who funded it (the robbery) and he just wants it for his own personal stash of goods.
What was in this group of items? All items from the 1670s to 1730s of Saxony, under Augustus the Strong. Appears to be all diamond and diamond sets.
Evidence of DNA? This is the key thing from today's news.....somewhere in this break-in....they hope for some evidence to show up.
Insider job? Yeah, probably (cops suggest this).
What they went after? Via the camera, they had intent on one single area of the collection. Value? Some suggest over a billion, if on the market.
But here's the thing, they (the cops) also suggest that nothing from this list of items could ever be sold in any real auction or sale. So they think it's a private guy who funded it (the robbery) and he just wants it for his own personal stash of goods.
What was in this group of items? All items from the 1670s to 1730s of Saxony, under Augustus the Strong. Appears to be all diamond and diamond sets.
Evidence of DNA? This is the key thing from today's news.....somewhere in this break-in....they hope for some evidence to show up.
Monday, November 25, 2019
Two Police Stories
First, way up in far NE Germany on Saturday night....at Anklam (a town of 14,000)....at a facility that's mostly for sports events and rented affairs, all 'hell' broke loose.
The facility (the Volkshaus) was supposed to be rented for a disco event. What the cops say is that a fight or two started up, and the cops were called. In the end, 30-plus cops were required to establish the peace.
The center of this mess? Roughly 200 guests of the disco who'd formed up into two fighting groups.
Injuries? Well, enough to require an ambulance or two.....nothing to extent that lives were at risk.
So what triggered this? If you look over local reporting....they tend to all point at excessive alcohol use by the guests. People simply reached the point of being out of control.
If you look around Germany over the past decade, a lot of the fest operations and private large parties have gone to hiring professional bouncer groups/private security.....to throw problem-people out when required. Based on various accounts, this disco party had marginal security, and the cops were the last resort to handle mass brawls.
The second story? Another drunken fight started up in Dusseldorf, at a Turkish hookah bar. In this small fight....a couple of guys were fairly wounded, and their 'friends' took them over to the university hospital in the local area.
There.....the 'friends' quickly wanted to take charge of the emergency room, and cops had to be called in this case. The 'friends'? Well....cops now say that this was a crime clan group, and the hospital staff reached a point of being in fear for their lives. So cops were called.
This is an ongoing story that emergency room crews talk about in metropolitan German cities....with gangs delivering their friends, and expecting treatment to be accelerated if you show some knives and weapons.
The facility (the Volkshaus) was supposed to be rented for a disco event. What the cops say is that a fight or two started up, and the cops were called. In the end, 30-plus cops were required to establish the peace.
The center of this mess? Roughly 200 guests of the disco who'd formed up into two fighting groups.
Injuries? Well, enough to require an ambulance or two.....nothing to extent that lives were at risk.
So what triggered this? If you look over local reporting....they tend to all point at excessive alcohol use by the guests. People simply reached the point of being out of control.
If you look around Germany over the past decade, a lot of the fest operations and private large parties have gone to hiring professional bouncer groups/private security.....to throw problem-people out when required. Based on various accounts, this disco party had marginal security, and the cops were the last resort to handle mass brawls.
The second story? Another drunken fight started up in Dusseldorf, at a Turkish hookah bar. In this small fight....a couple of guys were fairly wounded, and their 'friends' took them over to the university hospital in the local area.
There.....the 'friends' quickly wanted to take charge of the emergency room, and cops had to be called in this case. The 'friends'? Well....cops now say that this was a crime clan group, and the hospital staff reached a point of being in fear for their lives. So cops were called.
This is an ongoing story that emergency room crews talk about in metropolitan German cities....with gangs delivering their friends, and expecting treatment to be accelerated if you show some knives and weapons.
Sunday, November 24, 2019
The Two Laws in Germany That You Must Remember in an Emergency
In some event of a car crash, an accident, there are two German laws that you need to focus on and always remember as a non-German.
The first law (created in the 1960s) says that you must stop and provide basic first aid to those injured or wounded.
The law was centered on road accidents, which had seen a serious increase in the 1950s, and was supposed to relieve you (the innocent bystander) of mistakes in a first aid situation. You have to remember....to get your license, you had to take a basic first aid course.
The law says that on any city street, county road, or autobahn....in the event of an accident, you will stop and render help. If you've stopped and simply linger around....watching the event as a 'show'.....it's an act that can get you police attention and possibly a serious hour in court.
The second law (created in the past two years) says that you can't stand around and take pictures of an accident scene. This also means if in a vehicle and allowed to pass the 'crash'....you can't have your phone out and snapping pictures as you pass the wounded area.
Journalists with waivers? Yes.
Tracking you down via social media usage of the photos? The police could do so, if pressed by authorities.
So use common sense, and if in some spot where an accident has occurred....the last thing you want to do is be seen taking photos of the scene. Offer first aid, if necessary, and then quietly leave the area when emergency services have arrived.
The first law (created in the 1960s) says that you must stop and provide basic first aid to those injured or wounded.
The law was centered on road accidents, which had seen a serious increase in the 1950s, and was supposed to relieve you (the innocent bystander) of mistakes in a first aid situation. You have to remember....to get your license, you had to take a basic first aid course.
The law says that on any city street, county road, or autobahn....in the event of an accident, you will stop and render help. If you've stopped and simply linger around....watching the event as a 'show'.....it's an act that can get you police attention and possibly a serious hour in court.
The second law (created in the past two years) says that you can't stand around and take pictures of an accident scene. This also means if in a vehicle and allowed to pass the 'crash'....you can't have your phone out and snapping pictures as you pass the wounded area.
Journalists with waivers? Yes.
Tracking you down via social media usage of the photos? The police could do so, if pressed by authorities.
So use common sense, and if in some spot where an accident has occurred....the last thing you want to do is be seen taking photos of the scene. Offer first aid, if necessary, and then quietly leave the area when emergency services have arrived.
Reminder On Always Being Vigilant
This is one of those stupid crime stories that remind you that there are two versions of Germany (old Germany with safe streets, and new Germany where things can be tense).
Yesterday in Wiesbaden (Saturday)....bus traffic around the city ought to be minimum (kids not going to school, and half the population off for the day).
Around 7:45 in the morning....over by the train station and the bus points there....the bus starts to pull up.
Two young gentlemen (both in early 20s) are standing there to enter the bus. For whatever reason, they 'bump' each other. Cops can't really explain why or paint the landscape for this moment.
But things start to get a bit tense.
There's some comments made by one guy....maybe some counter comments by the second guy, and then all hell breaks loose. One of the gentlemen pulls out a knife, and goes to slashing on the second guy (head, neck, ear). Luckily, he misses any serious arteries.
While this event was unfolding....cops are actually conducting a patrol and see some part of the event. So they are quickly reacting.
The knife dude? He's woken up to reality, and takes off into the train station.
Ambulance is called and the injured guy is not too badly hurt (required stitches on the wounds).
Additional cops are called, and the security cam scouts the inside of the train station....where they find the knife guy and arrest him.
So here's the odd part of the story which doesn't fit too well, told by the local news source Wiesbadenaktuell.....the knife guy is from Bebra. That's a far distance away (almost two hours by car, and getting to Wiesbaden by train would take near 3 hours). It's way up past Fulda.
Charges? It's going to be fairly serious....with the injuries suffered by the other guy....dangerous bodily harm. If this were just a fight, without the knife, he could have counted on 3 months to five years in prison. With the knife involved and the serious nature of the wounds....it's probably 6 months to ten years that the jury will be looking at.
What provoked the guy? Unknown. Why such a quick reaction....going to the knife? Unknown. Drug usage somewhere in the middle of this? I might be asking that question. There is a drug-zone about 500 feet away from where all this action occurred. It could be that the guy hadn't scored on his morning 'hit' yet and was low on cash.
But here's the thing, it really didn't take much to set this guy off, and this is what you tend to view as troublesome about Germany today....in urbanized areas. Frankly, I never considered Wiesbaden to be some urbanized zone. You could have walked around in the late 1970s at 10 PM on a Friday night, and never find much trouble. It was a humble and quiet town (the opposite character of Frankfurt).
You went to Frankfurt for excitement. You went to Wiesbaden....well, mostly to 'chill-out'. Wiesbaden was where you sipped apple-wein, sat on park benches, and strolled through the green landscape.
So this was a reminder why you always have to view your surroundings and be vigilant. Things are never quiet as safe as you think.
Yesterday in Wiesbaden (Saturday)....bus traffic around the city ought to be minimum (kids not going to school, and half the population off for the day).
Around 7:45 in the morning....over by the train station and the bus points there....the bus starts to pull up.
Two young gentlemen (both in early 20s) are standing there to enter the bus. For whatever reason, they 'bump' each other. Cops can't really explain why or paint the landscape for this moment.
But things start to get a bit tense.
There's some comments made by one guy....maybe some counter comments by the second guy, and then all hell breaks loose. One of the gentlemen pulls out a knife, and goes to slashing on the second guy (head, neck, ear). Luckily, he misses any serious arteries.
While this event was unfolding....cops are actually conducting a patrol and see some part of the event. So they are quickly reacting.
The knife dude? He's woken up to reality, and takes off into the train station.
Ambulance is called and the injured guy is not too badly hurt (required stitches on the wounds).
Additional cops are called, and the security cam scouts the inside of the train station....where they find the knife guy and arrest him.
So here's the odd part of the story which doesn't fit too well, told by the local news source Wiesbadenaktuell.....the knife guy is from Bebra. That's a far distance away (almost two hours by car, and getting to Wiesbaden by train would take near 3 hours). It's way up past Fulda.
Charges? It's going to be fairly serious....with the injuries suffered by the other guy....dangerous bodily harm. If this were just a fight, without the knife, he could have counted on 3 months to five years in prison. With the knife involved and the serious nature of the wounds....it's probably 6 months to ten years that the jury will be looking at.
What provoked the guy? Unknown. Why such a quick reaction....going to the knife? Unknown. Drug usage somewhere in the middle of this? I might be asking that question. There is a drug-zone about 500 feet away from where all this action occurred. It could be that the guy hadn't scored on his morning 'hit' yet and was low on cash.
But here's the thing, it really didn't take much to set this guy off, and this is what you tend to view as troublesome about Germany today....in urbanized areas. Frankly, I never considered Wiesbaden to be some urbanized zone. You could have walked around in the late 1970s at 10 PM on a Friday night, and never find much trouble. It was a humble and quiet town (the opposite character of Frankfurt).
You went to Frankfurt for excitement. You went to Wiesbaden....well, mostly to 'chill-out'. Wiesbaden was where you sipped apple-wein, sat on park benches, and strolled through the green landscape.
So this was a reminder why you always have to view your surroundings and be vigilant. Things are never quiet as safe as you think.
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Numbers Story
This was a story which appeared in Deutsche Welle this week, and I pondered over it for a while.
So what they report, from a study by DAK (the insurance company) is that roughly a quarter of the kid-population in Germany suffers from mental illness. Yep, one in four.
A legit survey? What they looked at....was actual data from their customer base for 2016/2017. So it's not imagined or what-if questions....it's actual bill data.
The issues? It's not that clear. A high percentage (24-percent) had what they called psychological anomalies, which could be a hundred different things at work. Some (in the 2-percent range) were depression related. Roughly the same number came up for anxiety or panic attacks.
So the question is....is there a serious problem brewing here?
In the old German village I lived in....one of the kids that my son associated with in school was diagnosed as an alcoholic by age thirteen. After about a year with their routine programs failing, the kid got sent off for six months to some rural valley in Finland. That apparently worked. I looked the neighborhood....it was a quiet village, no big issues but I might suggest that 10 percent of the kids were a bit 'nutty'.
I do agree....being a German involves regimented lifestyles and rules (lots of them). Maybe there is a stress factor that kicks in.
But I suspect if you went to most German adults and did profiles on them....roughly the same number (25-percent) would show up as psychological issues. Maybe this isn't that big of an issue then.
So what they report, from a study by DAK (the insurance company) is that roughly a quarter of the kid-population in Germany suffers from mental illness. Yep, one in four.
A legit survey? What they looked at....was actual data from their customer base for 2016/2017. So it's not imagined or what-if questions....it's actual bill data.
The issues? It's not that clear. A high percentage (24-percent) had what they called psychological anomalies, which could be a hundred different things at work. Some (in the 2-percent range) were depression related. Roughly the same number came up for anxiety or panic attacks.
So the question is....is there a serious problem brewing here?
In the old German village I lived in....one of the kids that my son associated with in school was diagnosed as an alcoholic by age thirteen. After about a year with their routine programs failing, the kid got sent off for six months to some rural valley in Finland. That apparently worked. I looked the neighborhood....it was a quiet village, no big issues but I might suggest that 10 percent of the kids were a bit 'nutty'.
I do agree....being a German involves regimented lifestyles and rules (lots of them). Maybe there is a stress factor that kicks in.
But I suspect if you went to most German adults and did profiles on them....roughly the same number (25-percent) would show up as psychological issues. Maybe this isn't that big of an issue then.
Friday, November 22, 2019
The Trail Story
I live in a valley, with a hillside that separates our little valley from Wiesbaden (off in the distance 4 km away). This hillside is a curious location, having a tower, restaurant, and hotel. Named the Kellerskopf, it has winding trails around it, with several parking lots where people park their car and walk the trails.
I've probably walked these trails on at least three-hundred occasions. On a warm spring day, over an hour, you might bump into twenty people. Some are professional 'walkers'....some come with their dogs....and some bike along the trails.
Well....on Thursday (all of this in the regional news....Wiesbadenaktuell).....two couples with dogs each....bumped into each other.
No one says what started this, but some type of argument developed. Police aren't sure of what was said, or if some insult was spoken. My humble guess is that it was something related to the dog business....maybe one was walking the dog without a leash, or maybe their dog was too aggressive.
But this argument reached a level where the two lady 'walkers' felt unsafe, and one of them pulled out their 'bear-spray' (irritant spray), and gave a dose to the mid-50s guy and his female friend. Then the two ladies quietly walked away....while the irritant-affected couple spent a while trying to clear themselves.
Ten years ago, you never had to worry about Germans carrying around 'bear-spray'. Today? I would take a guess that one out of every ten Germans (especially women) carry the stuff in their purse or jacket.
The law? Well, you can buy and use the stuff for protection against animals. Use against humans? Forbidden and illegal. If the cops were to stop and frisk you....they generally won't say anything. If you used it against some kid and stayed around for the cops to arrive....that would be a legal problem for you.
The cops have taken the report from this guy, and are appealing for help in identifying the two women. I kinda doubt that they will come forward.
I point this all out because it's a troubling sign of where things have gone over the past decade or two....with Germans prepared for trouble, and in some case, triggering the trouble themselves.
I've probably walked these trails on at least three-hundred occasions. On a warm spring day, over an hour, you might bump into twenty people. Some are professional 'walkers'....some come with their dogs....and some bike along the trails.
Well....on Thursday (all of this in the regional news....Wiesbadenaktuell).....two couples with dogs each....bumped into each other.
No one says what started this, but some type of argument developed. Police aren't sure of what was said, or if some insult was spoken. My humble guess is that it was something related to the dog business....maybe one was walking the dog without a leash, or maybe their dog was too aggressive.
But this argument reached a level where the two lady 'walkers' felt unsafe, and one of them pulled out their 'bear-spray' (irritant spray), and gave a dose to the mid-50s guy and his female friend. Then the two ladies quietly walked away....while the irritant-affected couple spent a while trying to clear themselves.
Ten years ago, you never had to worry about Germans carrying around 'bear-spray'. Today? I would take a guess that one out of every ten Germans (especially women) carry the stuff in their purse or jacket.
The law? Well, you can buy and use the stuff for protection against animals. Use against humans? Forbidden and illegal. If the cops were to stop and frisk you....they generally won't say anything. If you used it against some kid and stayed around for the cops to arrive....that would be a legal problem for you.
The cops have taken the report from this guy, and are appealing for help in identifying the two women. I kinda doubt that they will come forward.
I point this all out because it's a troubling sign of where things have gone over the past decade or two....with Germans prepared for trouble, and in some case, triggering the trouble themselves.
Asylum Story Saga
About four weeks ago, I essayed a piece over a Lebanese crime gang boss in Germany.....who had been deported back in the summer, but had returned in the past couple of weeks....saying his life was in danger in Beirut, so Germany had to accept his asylum application (in Bremen).
To bring you up to date now with the latest, his application went to the top of the file, and BamF (the agency for asylum applications) failed him. It was in record time.....less than a week. To be honest, it's a huge negative for the Interior Ministry for this application to occur, and having the guy arrive back in Germany.
But in the mix of things.....BamF had made a mistake or two in the disapproval process....giving the guy a full chance at an appeal.
Appeals can take a year or two....but again, it went to the top of the pile, and yesterday....the court rendered it's verdict....the appeal is disapproved.
In their wording, they said he could be swiftly removed now. There's supposedly a jet (private operation) reserved and the cops intend to deliver him into Beirut in short fashion.
The end? Well.....I have my doubts.
If you look at his record....he's been on the police files since 1989....having been caught and convicted 19 times (theft, drug sales, robbery, etc). He hasn't allowed the German legal system to hold him down. The Germans oddly enough, have never desired to put him in for significant time....they just want him to leave the country.
So all of this brings up the problem of asylum travel and open borders. The present system (up for decades now) has glaring holes in it, and it's becoming more of a public topic for corrective actions. The problem is....no one wants the old 1980s border police situation where you had to identify yourself each time you crossed the border.
In the case of this Lebanese crime boss, I would fully expect him to be back in Germany within a month after arriving in Beirut. This is his 'backyard' and 'home'. The German legal system has never been able to deal with the guy, and he feels 'safe' here. For the coalition government, it means trouble in explaining their security situation to the general public.
Update: Sunday morning (24 hours later). The failed asylum-crime boss was scheduled to be flown out on Mon/Tuesday. Well....at some point on Friday, two associates came to the jail-house to visit their 'friend'. Cops wanted to pat both down....with one guy going ballistic after they found a knife on him. This guy goes and makes a number of death threats on the cops (bad sign of things to come). He gets banned from the visit. The cops decide, based on Interior Ministry advice....not to waste time, and put the failed asylum crime boss on a Learjet Saturday morning, and send him straight back to Beirut. His lawyer is visibly upset, thinking he had the weekend to work on more appeals and delay the deportation.
The end? I highly doubt it, and I'd go and predict the guy is back in Germany within the next week.....maybe this time.....undercover.
2nd Update: Via N-TV this morning. What they are reporting on this failed asylum crime boss....now deported....is that there is going to be two bills handed to the court.
The first is for the July deportation and they seek 65k Euro for all the hassle, travel cost, etc....for that deportation. The second is for the deportation Saturday and the associated cost....figure this to be upwards to 30,000 Euro minimum (especially for the private jet being hired).
How to collect this? Well, the judge will hand it to the police to find property owned by this guy in Germany (cars, watches, houses, etc). Anything confiscated, will be put to an auction and the money forwarded to BamF for the deportation process. So, the current bill....up around 100,000 Euro.
Private bank accounts? No one brought this up, but you'd have to figure with the drug shipping and distribution business....he has to have a fair sum stashed away somewhere. Odds of getting the money back? Unknown. But it does present an interesting twist to the whole story. If he returns again? I'm guessing they will seek a bond from him for any new situation, and require him to settle up before new paperwork is accomplished.
To bring you up to date now with the latest, his application went to the top of the file, and BamF (the agency for asylum applications) failed him. It was in record time.....less than a week. To be honest, it's a huge negative for the Interior Ministry for this application to occur, and having the guy arrive back in Germany.
But in the mix of things.....BamF had made a mistake or two in the disapproval process....giving the guy a full chance at an appeal.
Appeals can take a year or two....but again, it went to the top of the pile, and yesterday....the court rendered it's verdict....the appeal is disapproved.
In their wording, they said he could be swiftly removed now. There's supposedly a jet (private operation) reserved and the cops intend to deliver him into Beirut in short fashion.
The end? Well.....I have my doubts.
If you look at his record....he's been on the police files since 1989....having been caught and convicted 19 times (theft, drug sales, robbery, etc). He hasn't allowed the German legal system to hold him down. The Germans oddly enough, have never desired to put him in for significant time....they just want him to leave the country.
So all of this brings up the problem of asylum travel and open borders. The present system (up for decades now) has glaring holes in it, and it's becoming more of a public topic for corrective actions. The problem is....no one wants the old 1980s border police situation where you had to identify yourself each time you crossed the border.
In the case of this Lebanese crime boss, I would fully expect him to be back in Germany within a month after arriving in Beirut. This is his 'backyard' and 'home'. The German legal system has never been able to deal with the guy, and he feels 'safe' here. For the coalition government, it means trouble in explaining their security situation to the general public.
Update: Sunday morning (24 hours later). The failed asylum-crime boss was scheduled to be flown out on Mon/Tuesday. Well....at some point on Friday, two associates came to the jail-house to visit their 'friend'. Cops wanted to pat both down....with one guy going ballistic after they found a knife on him. This guy goes and makes a number of death threats on the cops (bad sign of things to come). He gets banned from the visit. The cops decide, based on Interior Ministry advice....not to waste time, and put the failed asylum crime boss on a Learjet Saturday morning, and send him straight back to Beirut. His lawyer is visibly upset, thinking he had the weekend to work on more appeals and delay the deportation.
The end? I highly doubt it, and I'd go and predict the guy is back in Germany within the next week.....maybe this time.....undercover.
2nd Update: Via N-TV this morning. What they are reporting on this failed asylum crime boss....now deported....is that there is going to be two bills handed to the court.
The first is for the July deportation and they seek 65k Euro for all the hassle, travel cost, etc....for that deportation. The second is for the deportation Saturday and the associated cost....figure this to be upwards to 30,000 Euro minimum (especially for the private jet being hired).
How to collect this? Well, the judge will hand it to the police to find property owned by this guy in Germany (cars, watches, houses, etc). Anything confiscated, will be put to an auction and the money forwarded to BamF for the deportation process. So, the current bill....up around 100,000 Euro.
Private bank accounts? No one brought this up, but you'd have to figure with the drug shipping and distribution business....he has to have a fair sum stashed away somewhere. Odds of getting the money back? Unknown. But it does present an interesting twist to the whole story. If he returns again? I'm guessing they will seek a bond from him for any new situation, and require him to settle up before new paperwork is accomplished.
The Welfare Case Story
I sat and read through this Swedish article this morning on Nyheteridag's news page.
So this guy comes up to the police and says there's welfare fraud going on. The cops are obligated to investigate.
What they find is that there's this Iraqi-converted-to-Swedish citizenship (2015, four years ago) that got himself onto Swedish welfare. Note, it's for both himself and the wife. It's for a sum around $950 to $1000 in Kroner.
The suspect? Well, he's the Defense Minister of Iraq (currently), and resides mostly all year-round in Iraq....showing up in Sweden when necessary to prove he's still unemployed and living there.....then returns to his 'day-job' in Iraq.
For the cops, there's some legal problems here. First, by Swedish law....every time you move....you have to go to the city-hall and note the new address. So he hasn't done this since 2015. His income there in Iraq? It's not being reported, and that's another legal problem.
The apartment provided to the welfare couple? Well, that got brought up....he's sub-leased it onto someone else. So he's making income off that welfare situation as well.
What'll happen? No one says much from the news site. My guess is that the cops will hand the evidence to the local prosecutor and he'll have to stage some type of court situation....requiring the Iraqi guy to show up. My guess is that the Iraqi guy and his wife will refuse to show up in Sweden. Then quietly, the welfare payments will stop, and the payment for the apartment rental will close out.
The end? Well, maybe....except you notice that this guy's kids are also in Sweden, and you kinda wonder if they are welfare as well, or just attending the university there.
No jail time? Typically, if you were Swedish.....conducting welfare fraud....well over a year or two, you'd be doing some type of jail-time (maybe just a few months). But if he doesn't show up to court, they really can't proceed on.
So this brings me to the obvious question.....how many more fake welfare cases like this exist in Sweden? A hundred? A thousand? You just don't know. We might all agree that it might be smart to stage a 24-hour period for every single welfare case in Sweden to show up with a 12-hour warning (on a Monday). The odds of this? Zero.
But here's the thing....as long as you have a tax revenue bucket overflowing.....you really don't care about strict rules or enforcing them.
So this guy comes up to the police and says there's welfare fraud going on. The cops are obligated to investigate.
What they find is that there's this Iraqi-converted-to-Swedish citizenship (2015, four years ago) that got himself onto Swedish welfare. Note, it's for both himself and the wife. It's for a sum around $950 to $1000 in Kroner.
The suspect? Well, he's the Defense Minister of Iraq (currently), and resides mostly all year-round in Iraq....showing up in Sweden when necessary to prove he's still unemployed and living there.....then returns to his 'day-job' in Iraq.
For the cops, there's some legal problems here. First, by Swedish law....every time you move....you have to go to the city-hall and note the new address. So he hasn't done this since 2015. His income there in Iraq? It's not being reported, and that's another legal problem.
The apartment provided to the welfare couple? Well, that got brought up....he's sub-leased it onto someone else. So he's making income off that welfare situation as well.
What'll happen? No one says much from the news site. My guess is that the cops will hand the evidence to the local prosecutor and he'll have to stage some type of court situation....requiring the Iraqi guy to show up. My guess is that the Iraqi guy and his wife will refuse to show up in Sweden. Then quietly, the welfare payments will stop, and the payment for the apartment rental will close out.
The end? Well, maybe....except you notice that this guy's kids are also in Sweden, and you kinda wonder if they are welfare as well, or just attending the university there.
No jail time? Typically, if you were Swedish.....conducting welfare fraud....well over a year or two, you'd be doing some type of jail-time (maybe just a few months). But if he doesn't show up to court, they really can't proceed on.
So this brings me to the obvious question.....how many more fake welfare cases like this exist in Sweden? A hundred? A thousand? You just don't know. We might all agree that it might be smart to stage a 24-hour period for every single welfare case in Sweden to show up with a 12-hour warning (on a Monday). The odds of this? Zero.
But here's the thing....as long as you have a tax revenue bucket overflowing.....you really don't care about strict rules or enforcing them.
Thursday, November 21, 2019
Apartment Story
This curious rent-story popped up in regional news (Hessen), via HR (our public TV network).
For a decade now around Frankfurt....folks have whined about the lack of affordable apartments. In particular, university students are extremely affected.
So via the city's effort, and a commercial company.....there's a building set up to help college kids.
But there is this reality to it.....you basically get 13 square meters (140 sq ft), which amounts to a tiny studio apartment, with heat and wi-fi provided as part of the deal.....for 570 Euro (roughly 700 US dollars). It's a heck of a lot of money for almost nothing.
The other reality, which was only understood after kids began to move into it.....approximately half of the occupants of the building are migrants and immigrants.
Planned this way? No one is really laying the details, but it would appear that the company desperately wanted city approval to build on the site, and promised to two chief concerns of the political landscape in Frankfurt. Quid pro quo.....more or less.
So are the migrants, via the state mechanism....paying the 570 Euro as well? Yes. But if you dig into it, the state (or the city itself) are paying the money for them.
Money-maker? No doubt. I would take a wild guess that the company has a plan on the books to get their investment money rather quickly....maybe even in eight to ten years, and the real profit here is the decade after that. Will the building be around in twenty-five years? That's really the question.
For a decade now around Frankfurt....folks have whined about the lack of affordable apartments. In particular, university students are extremely affected.
So via the city's effort, and a commercial company.....there's a building set up to help college kids.
But there is this reality to it.....you basically get 13 square meters (140 sq ft), which amounts to a tiny studio apartment, with heat and wi-fi provided as part of the deal.....for 570 Euro (roughly 700 US dollars). It's a heck of a lot of money for almost nothing.
The other reality, which was only understood after kids began to move into it.....approximately half of the occupants of the building are migrants and immigrants.
Planned this way? No one is really laying the details, but it would appear that the company desperately wanted city approval to build on the site, and promised to two chief concerns of the political landscape in Frankfurt. Quid pro quo.....more or less.
So are the migrants, via the state mechanism....paying the 570 Euro as well? Yes. But if you dig into it, the state (or the city itself) are paying the money for them.
Money-maker? No doubt. I would take a wild guess that the company has a plan on the books to get their investment money rather quickly....maybe even in eight to ten years, and the real profit here is the decade after that. Will the building be around in twenty-five years? That's really the question.
Repeat Frustration Episode
Throughout 2017 and 2018, there were always a fair amount of anti-Trump hype and newspeak via German public TV (both ARD and ZDF). I think you could have predicted that after the 8 November 2016 election, and the amount of displeasure and dissatisfaction.
The level of expectation on 9 November, that they would wake up and this Clinton-win situation would be the highlight of the day, and in reality....it was like waking up to your dog having run away, and the garage burned to the ground overnight.
I sat in a German class on 9 November, where the German instructor (a female) came in and this was the major topic of the morning....where she needed to release some frustrations.
At one end of the room, she started to ask the students about their frustration and anger. I sat at the opposite end and hoped that the 'game' would play out by halfway to me.
The Syrians and Iraqis....barely knew of the election, and frankly.....had higher priorities on their mind. The other members of the group did express their shock and jolt of the situation.
Then it came to me to express my pain and suffering, in German....no real shock, no jolt, no great loss. Hillary Clinton didn't have the charisma of Barack Obama, and this whole election was attached to her lack of intensity over charm. I probably should have fallen apart emotionally and wept over her loss....it would have made the German instructor happier.
I look upon the past three months, and the amount of nightly coverage over the impeachment 'chatter', and the amount of hype by ARD and ZDF (the public TV networks). They get their info via CNN, the NY Times, and the Washington Post. The feeling is that it's all coming to an end......finally Trump's era will dissolve away and things will brighten up with something new and different (mostly that a Democrat can return to the office and carry on affairs).
So here's the thing....I kinda fear this repeat of the 9 November episode, where utter hysteria and trauma will be the topic of the day.....as perhaps the impeachment fails in the end.
Lots of Germans in this path of misery? No and that's the odd thing. If you went to most working-class Germans....this whole discussion item isn't on their list of top fifty priority items. It's mostly people who watch their nightly news via ARD or ZDF, and are intensely attached to the battle of 'right' versus 'wrong'. I would suggest that it's only about 10 to 20 percent of Germans who are influenced or persuaded by this agenda.
In a simple way, I just haven't bought onto the 'sales-pitch' of something happening along a certain path. I judge things by reality and actual numbers. Just suggesting that impeachment will occur.....isn't a reality because you require certain numbers to make this possible, and the numbers simply aren't there. In the end, you end up with aggravated Germans trying to control something that they can't control.
The level of expectation on 9 November, that they would wake up and this Clinton-win situation would be the highlight of the day, and in reality....it was like waking up to your dog having run away, and the garage burned to the ground overnight.
I sat in a German class on 9 November, where the German instructor (a female) came in and this was the major topic of the morning....where she needed to release some frustrations.
At one end of the room, she started to ask the students about their frustration and anger. I sat at the opposite end and hoped that the 'game' would play out by halfway to me.
The Syrians and Iraqis....barely knew of the election, and frankly.....had higher priorities on their mind. The other members of the group did express their shock and jolt of the situation.
Then it came to me to express my pain and suffering, in German....no real shock, no jolt, no great loss. Hillary Clinton didn't have the charisma of Barack Obama, and this whole election was attached to her lack of intensity over charm. I probably should have fallen apart emotionally and wept over her loss....it would have made the German instructor happier.
I look upon the past three months, and the amount of nightly coverage over the impeachment 'chatter', and the amount of hype by ARD and ZDF (the public TV networks). They get their info via CNN, the NY Times, and the Washington Post. The feeling is that it's all coming to an end......finally Trump's era will dissolve away and things will brighten up with something new and different (mostly that a Democrat can return to the office and carry on affairs).
So here's the thing....I kinda fear this repeat of the 9 November episode, where utter hysteria and trauma will be the topic of the day.....as perhaps the impeachment fails in the end.
Lots of Germans in this path of misery? No and that's the odd thing. If you went to most working-class Germans....this whole discussion item isn't on their list of top fifty priority items. It's mostly people who watch their nightly news via ARD or ZDF, and are intensely attached to the battle of 'right' versus 'wrong'. I would suggest that it's only about 10 to 20 percent of Germans who are influenced or persuaded by this agenda.
In a simple way, I just haven't bought onto the 'sales-pitch' of something happening along a certain path. I judge things by reality and actual numbers. Just suggesting that impeachment will occur.....isn't a reality because you require certain numbers to make this possible, and the numbers simply aren't there. In the end, you end up with aggravated Germans trying to control something that they can't control.
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
That Berlin Murder
So it's been around 24 hours since that murder in Berlin of the Doctor Richard von Weizsäcker....son of the former German President Weizsäcker. Stabbing episode, as he was about to give a medical lecture to some folks on fatty livers.
The cops came out today, and it's reported by Spiegel now....that this 'nutcase stabber'....had an odd motivation....a historical one.
So the guy wanted revenge on the Weizsäcker family for what amount to a action by this guy's dad for being the chief director of a chemical company in Ingelheim back in 1962 (four years). Apparently, the company was accused of for delivering deadly chemicals for the Vietnam War. Court case never could establish this as a fact.
The guy came to realize that the father was dead, so killing the son was the only way to extract revenge.
Knowledge of this dead doctor over the chemical business or the connection to the Vietnam War? It doesn't appear to exist.
So this is about a delusional guy....having some fifty-year grudge, that didn't really affect himself? Yep....total nutcase.
Judge handling this? I would imagine that he'll call for a review, and have the guy committed in a secure facility. Sad ending....respected doctor killed by some delusional guy with a weird agenda.
The cops came out today, and it's reported by Spiegel now....that this 'nutcase stabber'....had an odd motivation....a historical one.
So the guy wanted revenge on the Weizsäcker family for what amount to a action by this guy's dad for being the chief director of a chemical company in Ingelheim back in 1962 (four years). Apparently, the company was accused of for delivering deadly chemicals for the Vietnam War. Court case never could establish this as a fact.
The guy came to realize that the father was dead, so killing the son was the only way to extract revenge.
Knowledge of this dead doctor over the chemical business or the connection to the Vietnam War? It doesn't appear to exist.
So this is about a delusional guy....having some fifty-year grudge, that didn't really affect himself? Yep....total nutcase.
Judge handling this? I would imagine that he'll call for a review, and have the guy committed in a secure facility. Sad ending....respected doctor killed by some delusional guy with a weird agenda.
Hessen and Wolves
If you opened up the Frankfurt region copy of Bild (the German newspaper) today, you would notice a small story a couple of pages into it....relating to the Hessen problem of wolves. What the regional experts now say is that they think in the whole state of Hessen now....there's 33 wolves.
For the environmentalists....it's super-positive.
For the farm owners, it's a pretty questionable problem, and fairly negative.
As long as the state folks pay off farmers for lost sheep or cattle....things will go along to some degree. At some point, two kids walking from village 'A' to village 'B'....along some wooded path....will encounter a wolf, and end up in some attack situation. At that point, the locals will demand attention with the environmentalists hyping patience, and quietly one night....some local anonymous hunter will put an end to that wolf and the local threat.
It is the essential 'good wolf' versus 'bad wolf' situation, and only one real outcome in the end. It's not the 1820s where you could just overlook a wolf attack on kids.
Gang Crime and It's Path In Europe
It doesn't matter if you are talking the UK, Sweden, the Netherlands, or Germany....gang crime is at it's highest level of existence in the past fifty years (even WW II).
So you might ask the question....why?
This leads back to what I would suggest three essential issues brewing.
1. You have a significant number of young men....who are unemployed, or possibly lacking any real skills (including language barriers) that would lead onto jobs or an 'anchor' in life.
Politicians mostly stand there...acknowledging the problem exists, but have no real solution to throw at the 'lacking' issue.
2. The gangs are the band-aide of sorts for metropolitan cohesiveness. It's easy to get lost or not be noticed by the local community, if you exist in Amsterdam, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, etc.
This is why you don't find gangs in villages of 500 to 2,000 residents.
The preoccupation of the gang? Mostly to challenge society or authority, just to make up for boredom, or provide a cash flow for activities (illegal of course).
3. Cops might have an effect on the gang issue, but you'd have to bust the gang or it's membership, then rely upon the local prosecutor or judge to do their job....which they really don't want to inflate numbers or get noticed for sending the bad-boys away.
Resolving this? Well....eventually, there will be enough voters in the city or the country....to pursue far-right-wing behavior as the solution (whether you agree with the tactic or not). You could have avoided that political solution, but the trend just kept showing lack of determination or willing nature to correct bad behavior.
So you might ask the question....why?
This leads back to what I would suggest three essential issues brewing.
1. You have a significant number of young men....who are unemployed, or possibly lacking any real skills (including language barriers) that would lead onto jobs or an 'anchor' in life.
Politicians mostly stand there...acknowledging the problem exists, but have no real solution to throw at the 'lacking' issue.
2. The gangs are the band-aide of sorts for metropolitan cohesiveness. It's easy to get lost or not be noticed by the local community, if you exist in Amsterdam, London, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, etc.
This is why you don't find gangs in villages of 500 to 2,000 residents.
The preoccupation of the gang? Mostly to challenge society or authority, just to make up for boredom, or provide a cash flow for activities (illegal of course).
3. Cops might have an effect on the gang issue, but you'd have to bust the gang or it's membership, then rely upon the local prosecutor or judge to do their job....which they really don't want to inflate numbers or get noticed for sending the bad-boys away.
Resolving this? Well....eventually, there will be enough voters in the city or the country....to pursue far-right-wing behavior as the solution (whether you agree with the tactic or not). You could have avoided that political solution, but the trend just kept showing lack of determination or willing nature to correct bad behavior.
Explaining the German Gas Tax
For the record, German diesel tax added to the value of a liter....amounts to 47-Euro cents. For gas? It's 65-Euro cents.
Then on top of that....the 19-percent VAT is added.
When you pull into an Esso station in Germany, and the morning price for a liter of fuel is around 1.44 Euro....the vast majority of that is tax.
So this brings me to an curious question, with no true answer.....when 2030 arrives, and no new gas/diesel cars are sold, and we enter this period of e-cars....won't there be an enormous 'hole' in the German budget with the missing tax revenue?
Well, this is rarely if ever discussed by the news media or politicians.
Electrical taxes likely to spin up? I would take a guess that the current taxation rate on electricity will have to not just double, but likely triple. But this also brings up the problem if people pursue solar panels, and skip around taxation on electricity.
A bigger problem down the line? More than likely.
Then on top of that....the 19-percent VAT is added.
When you pull into an Esso station in Germany, and the morning price for a liter of fuel is around 1.44 Euro....the vast majority of that is tax.
So this brings me to an curious question, with no true answer.....when 2030 arrives, and no new gas/diesel cars are sold, and we enter this period of e-cars....won't there be an enormous 'hole' in the German budget with the missing tax revenue?
Well, this is rarely if ever discussed by the news media or politicians.
Electrical taxes likely to spin up? I would take a guess that the current taxation rate on electricity will have to not just double, but likely triple. But this also brings up the problem if people pursue solar panels, and skip around taxation on electricity.
A bigger problem down the line? More than likely.
BREXIT Election Twist?
Late last night, I was looking at UK news, which is fairly hyped up because of the approaching election. Boris Johnson of the Tories is opposed by Corbyn of the Labour Party. Johnson is pro-BREXIT.....Corbyn is anti-BREXIT.
So in this debate that was held....Corbyn made it clear, he was going to have a second referendum done up on BREXIT. The public would have to vote a second time. Then he said.....if the majority voted BREXIT again, he would support it, and make every effort to leave the EU.
I sat for a while looking over the comment. It was a bit of a shocker and designed to get strictly anti-BREXIT votes.
The problem here....is that he didn't really explain 'how' he would leave, or that he could do any better job than PM May (utter failure), or PM Johnson.
The odds of another vote? It would only occur if Corbyn were to win the election. Public sentiment? Various polls have occurred over the past two years, and it's safe to say that the public is still divided, and it would be awful close to a 50-50 situation.
72-percent of people were registered and came out to vote in the BREXIT referendum. This is the only area where you might have influence and change the outcome....getting an extra 3-million people hyped up and getting them to show up to vote this time.
Calls for another referendum? It's easy to say that a vast number of people want this....but they are anti-BREXIT. And you have to wonder.....if they failed on a second election, and the pro-BREXIT people won it again....would things improve in any way?
So in this debate that was held....Corbyn made it clear, he was going to have a second referendum done up on BREXIT. The public would have to vote a second time. Then he said.....if the majority voted BREXIT again, he would support it, and make every effort to leave the EU.
I sat for a while looking over the comment. It was a bit of a shocker and designed to get strictly anti-BREXIT votes.
The problem here....is that he didn't really explain 'how' he would leave, or that he could do any better job than PM May (utter failure), or PM Johnson.
The odds of another vote? It would only occur if Corbyn were to win the election. Public sentiment? Various polls have occurred over the past two years, and it's safe to say that the public is still divided, and it would be awful close to a 50-50 situation.
72-percent of people were registered and came out to vote in the BREXIT referendum. This is the only area where you might have influence and change the outcome....getting an extra 3-million people hyped up and getting them to show up to vote this time.
Calls for another referendum? It's easy to say that a vast number of people want this....but they are anti-BREXIT. And you have to wonder.....if they failed on a second election, and the pro-BREXIT people won it again....would things improve in any way?
High Profile Murder
It is covered via front pages in Germany, and probably shocked a number of political folks.
So what Focus is reporting......at a Berlin private hospital....Doctor Fritz von Weizsäcker, who was the son of the former Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker, was approached by some stranger, and stabbed during a lecture.
One police officer was on the scene and tried to stop the event, but failed. He was also stabbed.
End result....the policeman is still alive but the doctor is dead.
The lecture? This is the odd thing....there were only twenty-odd people there, and it was about fatty livers. Based on reporting, there is no indication that the doctor knew the attacker, and this was just random.
The attacker? Unknown figure so far....alive....captured by people in the audience.
Here's the thing....the dead doctor's father was a highly noted figure in German politics for over 30 years, and the name Weizsäcker is a name that people remember. This is certainly not a political murder, and one might suspect it was just a nutcase loose in the hospital and picked him at random. But it's going to draw discussions.
Update: Afternoon. Cops say this attacker is in his late 50s, and from the Pflaz. There is a suggestion or two that he is a mental issue guy, but still no real indicator of why he attacked the doctor. Still a totally random episode......no terrorism angle or jealousy episode.
So what Focus is reporting......at a Berlin private hospital....Doctor Fritz von Weizsäcker, who was the son of the former Federal President Richard von Weizsäcker, was approached by some stranger, and stabbed during a lecture.
One police officer was on the scene and tried to stop the event, but failed. He was also stabbed.
End result....the policeman is still alive but the doctor is dead.
The lecture? This is the odd thing....there were only twenty-odd people there, and it was about fatty livers. Based on reporting, there is no indication that the doctor knew the attacker, and this was just random.
The attacker? Unknown figure so far....alive....captured by people in the audience.
Here's the thing....the dead doctor's father was a highly noted figure in German politics for over 30 years, and the name Weizsäcker is a name that people remember. This is certainly not a political murder, and one might suspect it was just a nutcase loose in the hospital and picked him at random. But it's going to draw discussions.
Update: Afternoon. Cops say this attacker is in his late 50s, and from the Pflaz. There is a suggestion or two that he is a mental issue guy, but still no real indicator of why he attacked the doctor. Still a totally random episode......no terrorism angle or jealousy episode.
Tuesday, November 19, 2019
Bus Story
Local PR piece today by the Wiesbaden local press.....on the arrival and operational status of three new E-buses (the battery buses).
In thirteen months....they will have a total of 56 of these e-buses, and by the end of the contract.....140 total.
So in the mix of the news piece....they admitted that the range is 120 to 200 kilometers, and it's heavily dependent upon how much heat/cooling....that you are putting on the battery load.
Use just in town? Well....that's part of the story that they admit. It won't be used for regional passengers. For the regional folks, they are buying hydrogen buses (delivery in 2021 apparently).
So in the midst of a harsh winter or extreme summer.....you basically have around three hours of use before you need to return the bus into the battery-charging area, and get a replacement bus (another bus with around three hours of service).
Why not just buy all hydrogen? No one says much.
The odds by 2024 that they admit the battery bus routine is a chaotic problem, and they need a new solution to replace them?
This past winter, the Trier bus authority had their delivery of e-buses to occur, and were a bit shocked about 90 minutes into a shift (extreme bitter cold)....that they needed to go back to the lot and recharge. The company involved? They didn't say much, and I doubt that they really did much testing in cold temperatures. The basic solution? Well, no one says but I would imagine that you trimmed the heat required (from 18-degrees C down to 12-degrees C).
In thirteen months....they will have a total of 56 of these e-buses, and by the end of the contract.....140 total.
So in the mix of the news piece....they admitted that the range is 120 to 200 kilometers, and it's heavily dependent upon how much heat/cooling....that you are putting on the battery load.
Use just in town? Well....that's part of the story that they admit. It won't be used for regional passengers. For the regional folks, they are buying hydrogen buses (delivery in 2021 apparently).
So in the midst of a harsh winter or extreme summer.....you basically have around three hours of use before you need to return the bus into the battery-charging area, and get a replacement bus (another bus with around three hours of service).
Why not just buy all hydrogen? No one says much.
The odds by 2024 that they admit the battery bus routine is a chaotic problem, and they need a new solution to replace them?
This past winter, the Trier bus authority had their delivery of e-buses to occur, and were a bit shocked about 90 minutes into a shift (extreme bitter cold)....that they needed to go back to the lot and recharge. The company involved? They didn't say much, and I doubt that they really did much testing in cold temperatures. The basic solution? Well, no one says but I would imagine that you trimmed the heat required (from 18-degrees C down to 12-degrees C).
Monday, November 18, 2019
The Holiday Season and Being Vigilant
We are around nine days away from the local Wiesbaden Christmas market opening up. The regional news....Wiesbadenaktuell....carried a piece today on the opening.
The thing about this article....first, it has one significant picture and it predominately features two policemen in armor-vests, and carrying weapons. Second, it talks mostly to the idea of your protection during this holiday season.
The city wants you to know that entry barriers will be put up, and maintained by private security forces.
The city wants you to know that a temp-facility will up and operational for the police near the market. My take is that it's there mostly for them to warm up after walking around in the extreme cold.
The city wants you to have a safe and happy Christmas...while remaining vigilant. Basically, it'd be helpful if you notice anything suspicious and report it.
The market, for all intensive purposes.....has become a target area. I would say that 10-percent of the visitors think about it. The bulk of people? They still come for the food, good company, and gluhwein.
If you'd come to the market in the 1990s....there was generally one to two patrols of police walking around, and it was mostly to pick up on drunks. Today? There's probably three patrol patrols (minimum of two police each, sometimes four police). Added into the mixture....at least a dozen cameras that are permanently mounted on local structures.
It's a sad part about the Christmas market, and the draw of the crowds now. It's part of the safety business that you have to accept. Even if you went to a smaller village operation for their market....you'd still have the potential threat, and some police patrolling.
The thing about this article....first, it has one significant picture and it predominately features two policemen in armor-vests, and carrying weapons. Second, it talks mostly to the idea of your protection during this holiday season.
The city wants you to know that entry barriers will be put up, and maintained by private security forces.
The city wants you to know that a temp-facility will up and operational for the police near the market. My take is that it's there mostly for them to warm up after walking around in the extreme cold.
The city wants you to have a safe and happy Christmas...while remaining vigilant. Basically, it'd be helpful if you notice anything suspicious and report it.
The market, for all intensive purposes.....has become a target area. I would say that 10-percent of the visitors think about it. The bulk of people? They still come for the food, good company, and gluhwein.
If you'd come to the market in the 1990s....there was generally one to two patrols of police walking around, and it was mostly to pick up on drunks. Today? There's probably three patrol patrols (minimum of two police each, sometimes four police). Added into the mixture....at least a dozen cameras that are permanently mounted on local structures.
It's a sad part about the Christmas market, and the draw of the crowds now. It's part of the safety business that you have to accept. Even if you went to a smaller village operation for their market....you'd still have the potential threat, and some police patrolling.
Sunday, November 17, 2019
AfD's Trip to Damascus
Sometime tomorrow....a plane will lift off from Germany, and carry a couple of AfD Party officials (right-wing) over to Damascus, Syria. Note, it's not a direct flight, and I can't even say that it's limited to one hub or two hubs.
Purpose of the trip? They intend to show that Syria is now 'safe'....meaning that the unsafe-label that the Bundestag has granted to Syrians for relocation or migration....is now unnecessary.
I sat and pondered over this.
First, to get into Damascus International Airport.....there's only four airlines currently supporting flights there. From Europe? None. Moscow will have occasional flights. Beyond that....the rest are all Middle-Eastern related (Doha, Beirut, Baghdad, Basra, etc). In a single day, I doubt if they handle more than 20 flights.
If you were talking about before the war....oh, that's different, they were handling between 5.5 and 6 million passengers a year.
The lack of direct Frankfurt or Berlin flights into Damascus? That pretty much destroys the first level of the AfD's reasoning.
Then you get to reporting by Deutsche Welle, where they (the four AfD guys) say they will meet with the Assad government. You really can't be sure of anything they say....being truthful or reliable. Even Syrians in Germany will grin and admit this.
Finally, we get to the key emphasis here....the AfD guys want to return and hype that the Russians are really ensuring the safety situation, and that peace has returned to Syria.
Odds of anyone really believing in this trip being productive? It's hard to say. Maybe if there were serious peace efforts going on, no Turkish military operations being conducted, and some direct flight two or three times a week into Damascus, I might buy this motivation to change the policy. But it's just not at the level where you could change the policy.
The amusing thing that might come out of this? Assad's people might come and start up a vacation advertisement campaign in Germany.....suggesting it's a great place to spend a week. Prior to the war, they might have had a point, but today? No.
Purpose of the trip? They intend to show that Syria is now 'safe'....meaning that the unsafe-label that the Bundestag has granted to Syrians for relocation or migration....is now unnecessary.
I sat and pondered over this.
First, to get into Damascus International Airport.....there's only four airlines currently supporting flights there. From Europe? None. Moscow will have occasional flights. Beyond that....the rest are all Middle-Eastern related (Doha, Beirut, Baghdad, Basra, etc). In a single day, I doubt if they handle more than 20 flights.
If you were talking about before the war....oh, that's different, they were handling between 5.5 and 6 million passengers a year.
The lack of direct Frankfurt or Berlin flights into Damascus? That pretty much destroys the first level of the AfD's reasoning.
Then you get to reporting by Deutsche Welle, where they (the four AfD guys) say they will meet with the Assad government. You really can't be sure of anything they say....being truthful or reliable. Even Syrians in Germany will grin and admit this.
Finally, we get to the key emphasis here....the AfD guys want to return and hype that the Russians are really ensuring the safety situation, and that peace has returned to Syria.
Odds of anyone really believing in this trip being productive? It's hard to say. Maybe if there were serious peace efforts going on, no Turkish military operations being conducted, and some direct flight two or three times a week into Damascus, I might buy this motivation to change the policy. But it's just not at the level where you could change the policy.
The amusing thing that might come out of this? Assad's people might come and start up a vacation advertisement campaign in Germany.....suggesting it's a great place to spend a week. Prior to the war, they might have had a point, but today? No.
Disco Story
The term 'disco' is still actively used in Germany. I know....for most folks from the US, disco has been dead for almost 30 years.
In today's Germany, a disco club is mostly a bar that attempts to have taped music, cheap drinks, and survives off people who are mostly over the age of thirty.
This term came up in the news this week....over in a small town in the Brandenburg area of Germany.
Trebbin is a town of 9,000 residents, and is mostly known for a historical 'slant'....going back to the middle ages.
On the NE end of town, they have a disco....named 'Diskothek Kulti'. Typically 'kulti' means that they are sophisticated and very open to different cultures and societies. At least that's what Germans will say.
Now, if you were to drive up and stand in front of Diskothek Kulti....looking at the building, you'd say that it's more of a historical building than a disco. It simply looks like a 700-year old fortress type building. Locals will tell you that it was built in 1911, and in recent years....became one of the few 'night-clubs' in Trebbin.
From the exterior...it just doesn't appear to be a disco.
Why bring up the disco? Well....last weekend (Saturday night).....all 'hell' broke loose.
Two guys were set to enter the disco, and the entry-control folks (the bouncers) said 'no way'. Reason for barring them? Well....what the disco folks say is that the two more or less did a sneak-in game two weeks prior....trying to enter without paying at the door.
The two guys being barred? They pulled machetes on the entry-control people.
Yes, it got pretty tense.
With some minor injuries, the entry-control guys got smart, and pushed back....then locked the door. A group kinda assembled on the outside, and the use of machetes were centered on getting the door knocked down.
The group? Well, journalists from Bild say it was a combined group of Syrians and Afghan guys. Old or young? No one says. Usually, older guys don't go around looking for trouble, or carrying machetes. So I would take a guess that this group were mostly 18 to 25 years old.
Cops were called at this point, and the group scattered out and left.
The thing about this is that you have a couple of stupid-behavior young guys, who go off and do some threatening things, and this gets people all peppy, defensive, and anti-migrant. The actions of two.....suddenly get a thousand labeled as trouble-makers, when it's really only two stupid guys who start the mess.
As for the disco? I would imagine it's probably open for business this weekend, and the customers aren't that freaked out. The bouncers? They might be prepared for more intense battles, if required. As for the two guys who started all of this? Nope, they haven't been found or arrested, and my guess is that they are avoiding public view for the time being. You really wouldn't want to be arrested and sent off to jail....with the other prisoners noting you as the 'disco-team'.
In today's Germany, a disco club is mostly a bar that attempts to have taped music, cheap drinks, and survives off people who are mostly over the age of thirty.
This term came up in the news this week....over in a small town in the Brandenburg area of Germany.
Trebbin is a town of 9,000 residents, and is mostly known for a historical 'slant'....going back to the middle ages.
On the NE end of town, they have a disco....named 'Diskothek Kulti'. Typically 'kulti' means that they are sophisticated and very open to different cultures and societies. At least that's what Germans will say.
Now, if you were to drive up and stand in front of Diskothek Kulti....looking at the building, you'd say that it's more of a historical building than a disco. It simply looks like a 700-year old fortress type building. Locals will tell you that it was built in 1911, and in recent years....became one of the few 'night-clubs' in Trebbin.
From the exterior...it just doesn't appear to be a disco.
Why bring up the disco? Well....last weekend (Saturday night).....all 'hell' broke loose.
Two guys were set to enter the disco, and the entry-control folks (the bouncers) said 'no way'. Reason for barring them? Well....what the disco folks say is that the two more or less did a sneak-in game two weeks prior....trying to enter without paying at the door.
The two guys being barred? They pulled machetes on the entry-control people.
Yes, it got pretty tense.
With some minor injuries, the entry-control guys got smart, and pushed back....then locked the door. A group kinda assembled on the outside, and the use of machetes were centered on getting the door knocked down.
The group? Well, journalists from Bild say it was a combined group of Syrians and Afghan guys. Old or young? No one says. Usually, older guys don't go around looking for trouble, or carrying machetes. So I would take a guess that this group were mostly 18 to 25 years old.
Cops were called at this point, and the group scattered out and left.
The thing about this is that you have a couple of stupid-behavior young guys, who go off and do some threatening things, and this gets people all peppy, defensive, and anti-migrant. The actions of two.....suddenly get a thousand labeled as trouble-makers, when it's really only two stupid guys who start the mess.
As for the disco? I would imagine it's probably open for business this weekend, and the customers aren't that freaked out. The bouncers? They might be prepared for more intense battles, if required. As for the two guys who started all of this? Nope, they haven't been found or arrested, and my guess is that they are avoiding public view for the time being. You really wouldn't want to be arrested and sent off to jail....with the other prisoners noting you as the 'disco-team'.
ISIS-Germany Story
Our regional public TV network (HR) carried part of this story.....the arrest of a returning ISIS female member.
So earlier in the week, I'd essayed a piece over Turkey forcing Germany to accept back Germans who were in the ISIS war in Syria.
On Friday evening, as the plane delivered the young lady (21)....cops were standing by, and did their arrest routine. Charges? Membership in a terror organization. Under the German criminal code (129 a/b)....it's a pretty serious offense, and you could get between one and ten years....depending on the severity of the situation.
Other charges? That's an interesting thing too....they found two additional charges to stick on her....a war-weapons act violation, and war crimes against property.
Will all of these young ladies that Turkey forced back upon Germany have charges? That's yet to be the case. It may go only against those with evidence.
One might go and suggest that even if you got three years of prison time....it'd be a heck of a lot better to spend three years in a German prison.....to live under Turkish prison status.
The end of the story? I kinda doubt it. The journalists tell a good bit of story, but don't tell you if the ISIS husband (non-German) is still alive. If he is....I expect some legal help to mount some effort to bring the husband out of Turkey, and into Germany....yet he'll be up for war or terror charges, and face the same court action (probably with longer and more stiff prison terms). The story (if it develops) would be a magnet for negative attention for the coalition government.
So earlier in the week, I'd essayed a piece over Turkey forcing Germany to accept back Germans who were in the ISIS war in Syria.
On Friday evening, as the plane delivered the young lady (21)....cops were standing by, and did their arrest routine. Charges? Membership in a terror organization. Under the German criminal code (129 a/b)....it's a pretty serious offense, and you could get between one and ten years....depending on the severity of the situation.
Other charges? That's an interesting thing too....they found two additional charges to stick on her....a war-weapons act violation, and war crimes against property.
Will all of these young ladies that Turkey forced back upon Germany have charges? That's yet to be the case. It may go only against those with evidence.
One might go and suggest that even if you got three years of prison time....it'd be a heck of a lot better to spend three years in a German prison.....to live under Turkish prison status.
The end of the story? I kinda doubt it. The journalists tell a good bit of story, but don't tell you if the ISIS husband (non-German) is still alive. If he is....I expect some legal help to mount some effort to bring the husband out of Turkey, and into Germany....yet he'll be up for war or terror charges, and face the same court action (probably with longer and more stiff prison terms). The story (if it develops) would be a magnet for negative attention for the coalition government.
Saturday, November 16, 2019
Police Story
It was an unusual police 'tactic' that occurred over here by my town in Germany last night. About three miles away, is the autobahn (A3) and there is a rest-stop (gas station as well) right there on the Autobahn.
So around 11 PM last night....a hundred German police show up and they start to split off traffic on the autobahn, and for seven hours....they search through 250 vehicles that are forced into a police check-point.
What they were looking for? Just about everything. Drugs, illegal immigrants, buglers returning from a successful night, untaxed smokes, etc.
It's reached a stage where the public is grumbling on a continual basis, and politicians need something to reinforce the stance that they are fighting crime.
From the chatter....out of the 250-odd vehicles, apparently around a dozen situations are in violation of some law. Drugs kinda figured into about half of the situations (drivers doped up). Some idiots had illegal knives which were confiscated. Three guys were noted for not having a driver's license.
Over the past year, in several German states....they've resorted to this Autobahn stop situation. It'll probably be something of a regular event in the future.
So around 11 PM last night....a hundred German police show up and they start to split off traffic on the autobahn, and for seven hours....they search through 250 vehicles that are forced into a police check-point.
What they were looking for? Just about everything. Drugs, illegal immigrants, buglers returning from a successful night, untaxed smokes, etc.
It's reached a stage where the public is grumbling on a continual basis, and politicians need something to reinforce the stance that they are fighting crime.
From the chatter....out of the 250-odd vehicles, apparently around a dozen situations are in violation of some law. Drugs kinda figured into about half of the situations (drivers doped up). Some idiots had illegal knives which were confiscated. Three guys were noted for not having a driver's license.
Over the past year, in several German states....they've resorted to this Autobahn stop situation. It'll probably be something of a regular event in the future.
Use of 'Besserwisser'
Just my humble opinion, but I think that twenty to thirty years ago....Germans just rarely used the word 'besserwisser' in their regular vocabulary. Today? You might bump into a several people everyday now....that use the expression at least once or twice a day.
What's besserwisser mean? In the German mind, it's a blunt, direct, and somewhat derogatory term....meaning 'know-it-all'. Germans can direct it at intellectuals, journalists, politicians, company managers, and just about anyone who goes to correct them on their understanding of things.
Use in political dialog? Well, it's getting more common....that Germans grumble about the amount of political news dished out to them daily, and how they are told things which just don't make sense, or seems to be in a world of illusions.
You'll see Germans who use the term on kids within the Greta-movement. You'll use of besserwisser for discussions on pension reform. You will see besserwisser used within the area of immigration and migration.
In a lot of these besserwisser cases or uses.....you stand there looking at the situation that developed, and how the statement 'Society's needs come before an individual's needs' fits into the discussion.
Is this all leading to more conflict....more arguments....more frustration with the world around us?
What's besserwisser mean? In the German mind, it's a blunt, direct, and somewhat derogatory term....meaning 'know-it-all'. Germans can direct it at intellectuals, journalists, politicians, company managers, and just about anyone who goes to correct them on their understanding of things.
Use in political dialog? Well, it's getting more common....that Germans grumble about the amount of political news dished out to them daily, and how they are told things which just don't make sense, or seems to be in a world of illusions.
You'll see Germans who use the term on kids within the Greta-movement. You'll use of besserwisser for discussions on pension reform. You will see besserwisser used within the area of immigration and migration.
In a lot of these besserwisser cases or uses.....you stand there looking at the situation that developed, and how the statement 'Society's needs come before an individual's needs' fits into the discussion.
Is this all leading to more conflict....more arguments....more frustration with the world around us?
Green Party Conference This Weekend
The German Green Party is holding a big conference this weekend (actually started yesterday morning)....in Bielefeld. Several minutes were spent last night on the primary public news to lay out the weekend and objectives. So what you should take away with this?
First, the Greens want to write into the Constitution a right to housing. They aren't really saying a lot about how the words will reflect the situation, or how each metropolitan region would correct current problems. Nor are they saying much over affordable housing shortages in major cities.
Cost impact? You just don't know....it could get into the tens of billions spent over five years to correct problems, with angry people voicing opposition to building new neighborhoods in 'protected' areas.
Second, the Greens want a federal law which dictates no more than a 3-percent rent increase per year. So if you came up and renovated a building....spending three years in this project, and pushed 7-million Euro into the renovation project, expecting to push the rent up by 40-percent at the end? Well, it wouldn't happen. Naturally, it begs the question then....why bother with renovation projects? If you were into property speculation and making money.....you'd just go and buy an 1960s apartment building, order everyone out, tear it down, and build a fresh new building at the correct rent that you desired. I know....it's harsh, but with their idea of fairness, there's not much incentive to renovate or update a building.
Third and final....Robert Habeck got up and delivered his Chancellor-speech. Dramatic piece....standing in front of a green leafy background....speaking almost like an American Southern Baptist minister.
For the Greens, he's probably the most noted member since the party began. He does project charisma and charm. Presently, I would suggest that neither the CDU or SPD have anyone to compete at his level.
Next Chancellor? Probably. But you have to wonder.....most of his chatter is about the climate, and catastrophic events to come in the future. Green voters may come out in maximum numbers, but more than two-thirds of German society will vote for someone else....it's just that votes are so divided....the Greens might actually win.
First, the Greens want to write into the Constitution a right to housing. They aren't really saying a lot about how the words will reflect the situation, or how each metropolitan region would correct current problems. Nor are they saying much over affordable housing shortages in major cities.
Cost impact? You just don't know....it could get into the tens of billions spent over five years to correct problems, with angry people voicing opposition to building new neighborhoods in 'protected' areas.
Second, the Greens want a federal law which dictates no more than a 3-percent rent increase per year. So if you came up and renovated a building....spending three years in this project, and pushed 7-million Euro into the renovation project, expecting to push the rent up by 40-percent at the end? Well, it wouldn't happen. Naturally, it begs the question then....why bother with renovation projects? If you were into property speculation and making money.....you'd just go and buy an 1960s apartment building, order everyone out, tear it down, and build a fresh new building at the correct rent that you desired. I know....it's harsh, but with their idea of fairness, there's not much incentive to renovate or update a building.
Third and final....Robert Habeck got up and delivered his Chancellor-speech. Dramatic piece....standing in front of a green leafy background....speaking almost like an American Southern Baptist minister.
For the Greens, he's probably the most noted member since the party began. He does project charisma and charm. Presently, I would suggest that neither the CDU or SPD have anyone to compete at his level.
Next Chancellor? Probably. But you have to wonder.....most of his chatter is about the climate, and catastrophic events to come in the future. Green voters may come out in maximum numbers, but more than two-thirds of German society will vote for someone else....it's just that votes are so divided....the Greens might actually win.
Friday, November 15, 2019
A Discussion Over E-Cars
I sat yesterday for a while and was pondering over the 2030 date for all gas and diesel new car sales in Germany to cease. It's mandated....by law, at this point.
So if you examine the scenario, somewhere around early 2028....the car companies (Opel, VW, Porsche, BMW, Ford, Audi) will likely make an announcement that they are on the last schedule of production, and at the last quarter of 2029.....they will stop producing gas and diesel cars.
In my scenario, I anticipate that enthusiasm for the battery cars simply won't arrive as politicians or environmentalists suggest. I even go as far to suggest that the one-million battery-car point will not be reached until the end of 2024. For the companies who've heavily invested in this technology....it's a high risk situation. They really need some pay-back to occur.
Once you get hit with this reminder in early 2028 about the production schedule....I kinda expect all 'hell' to break loose, and a tremendous number of Germans to arrive at the dealers by May 2028, and demand acceptance of an order for a new gas car. I also expect the dealers and manufacturers to admit by that point (early summer 2028) that they've reached maximum sales and capacity for the plants.
The tens of thousands who show up late? I expect them to question the situation, and go over to Toyota, and various Asian companies....to pre-order from them, in a fit of desperation to get the gas car before December 2029.
In fact, I expect a minimum of 10,000 Germans to go and pre-order cars, which will be accepted and then quietly pushed into a garage and sit there for a minimum of five to ten years, and then 'activated'....with acceptance of battery cars being a dismal choice.
I'll even go and suggest that several thousand Germans will take their life savings....buying several (maybe ten to twenty cars)....putting 100 km on them, and storing them for ten years. Then they will offer each gas car (valued originally at say 35,000 Euro) and resell them as used but practically brand-new, for 45,000 Euro each.
It'll be a better return rate than mutual funds or bonds.
The politicians may think they can mandate this and outwit the public, but the enthusiasm for e-cars simply isn't there. In the end, the public may outwit the politicians.
So if you examine the scenario, somewhere around early 2028....the car companies (Opel, VW, Porsche, BMW, Ford, Audi) will likely make an announcement that they are on the last schedule of production, and at the last quarter of 2029.....they will stop producing gas and diesel cars.
In my scenario, I anticipate that enthusiasm for the battery cars simply won't arrive as politicians or environmentalists suggest. I even go as far to suggest that the one-million battery-car point will not be reached until the end of 2024. For the companies who've heavily invested in this technology....it's a high risk situation. They really need some pay-back to occur.
Once you get hit with this reminder in early 2028 about the production schedule....I kinda expect all 'hell' to break loose, and a tremendous number of Germans to arrive at the dealers by May 2028, and demand acceptance of an order for a new gas car. I also expect the dealers and manufacturers to admit by that point (early summer 2028) that they've reached maximum sales and capacity for the plants.
The tens of thousands who show up late? I expect them to question the situation, and go over to Toyota, and various Asian companies....to pre-order from them, in a fit of desperation to get the gas car before December 2029.
In fact, I expect a minimum of 10,000 Germans to go and pre-order cars, which will be accepted and then quietly pushed into a garage and sit there for a minimum of five to ten years, and then 'activated'....with acceptance of battery cars being a dismal choice.
I'll even go and suggest that several thousand Germans will take their life savings....buying several (maybe ten to twenty cars)....putting 100 km on them, and storing them for ten years. Then they will offer each gas car (valued originally at say 35,000 Euro) and resell them as used but practically brand-new, for 45,000 Euro each.
It'll be a better return rate than mutual funds or bonds.
The politicians may think they can mandate this and outwit the public, but the enthusiasm for e-cars simply isn't there. In the end, the public may outwit the politicians.
Wind-Generator Discussion Extended
The German Bundestag picked up the discussion item this week of distance on wind-generators for energy. Early in the week, it was leaning toward a goal of 1,000 meters (1 km, or .6 mile).
For those who aren't aware, wind-generators since the early 1990s have been on this 'turbo-like' goal of placement around Germany. There's a goal out there.....that they will make up 65-percent of the grid action....by 2030.
So this funny thing started up twenty years ago, and it's really sharpened up in the past five years...anger and frustration over the placement of wind-generators....too near houses and communities.
What people say is that there a 'vibration' that exists. Animals react funny if the wind-generators are too close to houses. People claim an unhealthy aspect, in reaction to the rotating blades.
True or false? What you can cite as a fact is that birds are flopping into them....on a daily basis. You can cite that some field mice are affected. Beyond that....there's not exactly any university research teams digging in human reaction or to share how vibration is to be measured.
Current placement of wind-generators? You can go back to the 1990s and find that the highest priority was just to find elevated areas where wind was sufficient, and they might have been placed within 300 meters of houses. In the past decade, a lot of community pressure has been put on the approval stage, and it's safe to say you can't get any closer to a kilometer of a housing area....but's not a written law.
So the CDU Energy Minister (Altmaier) said that it's drafted up and the CDU-CSU-SPD coalition should pass such a law.
But it's a funny thing.....the SPD Environmental Minister (Schulze) stood up and said 'no'.....if you do something like this, then half of the lands that might be considered for placement.....will be forbidden. So the SPD, along with the Greens, and very likely the Linke Party.....will stand against the law on 1-km placement.
Naturally, you'd stand there and laugh over this discussion. Community leadership, city councils and mayors.....are the ones with the final say, and they can disapprove any application, and mandate not just one kilometer, but any distance within their city limits.
But lets go back to the whole goal of 65-percent wind-power by 2030. It's already mandated that coal and nuke power will disappear by that point, so you absolutely have to have wind-generators continue at a hefty pace (which isn't the case for 2018 or 2019).
The question is.....are we entering a five-year period where reality approaches, and they can't reach 65-percent....thus having to admit that in public, and retreat from their nuke or coal stance? Or will they just bluff everyone, and buy non-German nuke or coal power from Poland or France after 2030....at hefty rates?
For those who aren't aware, wind-generators since the early 1990s have been on this 'turbo-like' goal of placement around Germany. There's a goal out there.....that they will make up 65-percent of the grid action....by 2030.
So this funny thing started up twenty years ago, and it's really sharpened up in the past five years...anger and frustration over the placement of wind-generators....too near houses and communities.
What people say is that there a 'vibration' that exists. Animals react funny if the wind-generators are too close to houses. People claim an unhealthy aspect, in reaction to the rotating blades.
True or false? What you can cite as a fact is that birds are flopping into them....on a daily basis. You can cite that some field mice are affected. Beyond that....there's not exactly any university research teams digging in human reaction or to share how vibration is to be measured.
Current placement of wind-generators? You can go back to the 1990s and find that the highest priority was just to find elevated areas where wind was sufficient, and they might have been placed within 300 meters of houses. In the past decade, a lot of community pressure has been put on the approval stage, and it's safe to say you can't get any closer to a kilometer of a housing area....but's not a written law.
So the CDU Energy Minister (Altmaier) said that it's drafted up and the CDU-CSU-SPD coalition should pass such a law.
But it's a funny thing.....the SPD Environmental Minister (Schulze) stood up and said 'no'.....if you do something like this, then half of the lands that might be considered for placement.....will be forbidden. So the SPD, along with the Greens, and very likely the Linke Party.....will stand against the law on 1-km placement.
Naturally, you'd stand there and laugh over this discussion. Community leadership, city councils and mayors.....are the ones with the final say, and they can disapprove any application, and mandate not just one kilometer, but any distance within their city limits.
But lets go back to the whole goal of 65-percent wind-power by 2030. It's already mandated that coal and nuke power will disappear by that point, so you absolutely have to have wind-generators continue at a hefty pace (which isn't the case for 2018 or 2019).
The question is.....are we entering a five-year period where reality approaches, and they can't reach 65-percent....thus having to admit that in public, and retreat from their nuke or coal stance? Or will they just bluff everyone, and buy non-German nuke or coal power from Poland or France after 2030....at hefty rates?
Thursday, November 14, 2019
The Continuing Criminal Saga
About two weeks ago, I essayed a piece over a Lebanese crime boss here in Germany. The guy had been caught with enough illegal activities....that BamF (the agency handling migrants and visa-holders)....said 'enough' and deported the guy.
The guy spends a couple of weeks in Lebanon, and suddenly shows up in Bremen....asking for asylum and saying he is 'at risk' in Lebanon.
This got the Interior Ministry all pepped-up, and got public attention. They (the Interior Ministry) really needed this to go away (quick).
So the request was handled by BamF, reviewed in a record amount of time (typically, it might be 90 days, but this was stamped 'failed' in roughly five days).
The ministry had a private jet rigged up and was ready to deport him this week.
Well....yeah, it's kinda funny. BamF screwed up on the paperwork. No one says much over how (you just kinda wonder if it was an accident or intentional). So now, the BamF guys say that they are giving the guy two days to file an appeal.
What happens then? I'm guessing people will correct the original form and response, and then stamp it 'failed' again.
But this brings you to the point of wondering.....these ought to be competent folks at BamF, with significant training. They ought to have lawyers in the background and validating all the paperwork before stamped 'passed' or 'failed'. Why would they run a marginal program like this, and screw up?
The odds that the appeal might force six months of Bremen-lifestyle upon the guy and allow him to stay there.....as a crime-boss? It's a humorous thing to imagine. You would think that they'd just be better off prosecuting him on crimes charges and put him into a prison situation for a decade, but they really didn't want to even go that far.....they just wanted him out of the country.
The guy spends a couple of weeks in Lebanon, and suddenly shows up in Bremen....asking for asylum and saying he is 'at risk' in Lebanon.
This got the Interior Ministry all pepped-up, and got public attention. They (the Interior Ministry) really needed this to go away (quick).
So the request was handled by BamF, reviewed in a record amount of time (typically, it might be 90 days, but this was stamped 'failed' in roughly five days).
The ministry had a private jet rigged up and was ready to deport him this week.
Well....yeah, it's kinda funny. BamF screwed up on the paperwork. No one says much over how (you just kinda wonder if it was an accident or intentional). So now, the BamF guys say that they are giving the guy two days to file an appeal.
What happens then? I'm guessing people will correct the original form and response, and then stamp it 'failed' again.
But this brings you to the point of wondering.....these ought to be competent folks at BamF, with significant training. They ought to have lawyers in the background and validating all the paperwork before stamped 'passed' or 'failed'. Why would they run a marginal program like this, and screw up?
The odds that the appeal might force six months of Bremen-lifestyle upon the guy and allow him to stay there.....as a crime-boss? It's a humorous thing to imagine. You would think that they'd just be better off prosecuting him on crimes charges and put him into a prison situation for a decade, but they really didn't want to even go that far.....they just wanted him out of the country.
Terror Piece
In the local region (Frankfurt-Wiesbaden), this is the top news of the past two days.
The problem is that it continually reminds people of the migration business and the dividing line of integration. This group is composed of two Turks (without a German passport), and a German-Macedonian.
You'll have some Germans who suggest that migration represents a threat to society, and you will have other Germans who will make the case that 95-percent of immigrants don't go off to cause problems, threaten public safety or people, or are deadweight for society.
At some point three years ago, one political figure in a public forum did sum up the problem correctly (I thought).....some people have mental issues in dealing with society or respecting the rights of others. Those, as he summed it up.....need time in a facility to get their senses back.
Solidarity Tax Chatter
Back in 1990....the German Bundestag sat into motion the 'Solidarity Tax', which was to rebuild East Germany. Billions would flow over, and this was built as a temp-tax (yeah, shocking that they did that). They set the limit for 30 years. So there has been a lot of chatter about this, and it's supposed to end shortly.
But as you might figure.....the Bundestag really don't want the tax to end.
So the discussion picked up this week, that the affect of the tax on 90-percent of society.....ought to dissolve away. In their mind, it would only be kept for businesses and 'rich' people (How rich? They aren't saying).
Legal? Well, they had an analyst on TV who kinda shrugged and said it'd get drawn up to the Constitutional Court, and they'd probably say on the current paperwork, it's illegal, and give the Bundestag a year or two to correct the matter (probably calling it a totally separate tax).
It basically figured up your regular income tax, and then on top of that.....5.5-percent was added. So if you paid 1,000 Euro on income tax a year....roughly 55 Euro more was tossed the final bill.
A big deal? For the working class guy, I would figure 120 to 240 Euro will be coming back to him. However, if you were a business owner and paying 100,000 Euro a year on taxes.....it would be a fair chunk of money.
And if you were going to ask how the new group's money into the pot would be spent? Don't bother.....there's always another opera house to be built or statue for Berlin to be bought.
But as you might figure.....the Bundestag really don't want the tax to end.
So the discussion picked up this week, that the affect of the tax on 90-percent of society.....ought to dissolve away. In their mind, it would only be kept for businesses and 'rich' people (How rich? They aren't saying).
Legal? Well, they had an analyst on TV who kinda shrugged and said it'd get drawn up to the Constitutional Court, and they'd probably say on the current paperwork, it's illegal, and give the Bundestag a year or two to correct the matter (probably calling it a totally separate tax).
It basically figured up your regular income tax, and then on top of that.....5.5-percent was added. So if you paid 1,000 Euro on income tax a year....roughly 55 Euro more was tossed the final bill.
A big deal? For the working class guy, I would figure 120 to 240 Euro will be coming back to him. However, if you were a business owner and paying 100,000 Euro a year on taxes.....it would be a fair chunk of money.
And if you were going to ask how the new group's money into the pot would be spent? Don't bother.....there's always another opera house to be built or statue for Berlin to be bought.
Wind Power Story
There's debate going on in the Bundestag this week about wind-generators. The topic? They want to establish a footage from villages or houses (to mandate it). The current chatter? 1,000 meters (roughly .6-mile or 3,280 ft).
The wind industry says that if this was passed....it basically cuts out half of the public space that they could put wind-generators.
The possibility that this rule (if passed) could decrease future placement? That's the thing you have to worry about. With nuke-power and coal-power being decreased over the next decade....wind-power needs to continue along at a certain pace. As well.....you need to put wind-generators where there is an actual wind pattern.....otherwise, it's worthless.
Odds of passage? I'd say it's a 99-percent chance at this point.
Defending the footage? Well, here's the thing.....very little research has been done on health aspects (the vibration business). There's strong belief in the public view, that the vibration is a negative thing. You'd think that a university would pick this up and state numbers and facts.
The wind industry says that if this was passed....it basically cuts out half of the public space that they could put wind-generators.
The possibility that this rule (if passed) could decrease future placement? That's the thing you have to worry about. With nuke-power and coal-power being decreased over the next decade....wind-power needs to continue along at a certain pace. As well.....you need to put wind-generators where there is an actual wind pattern.....otherwise, it's worthless.
Odds of passage? I'd say it's a 99-percent chance at this point.
Defending the footage? Well, here's the thing.....very little research has been done on health aspects (the vibration business). There's strong belief in the public view, that the vibration is a negative thing. You'd think that a university would pick this up and state numbers and facts.
The Impeachment Hearings Via German Public TV?
Yes, they are devoting one of their lesser used public networks (usually for Bundestag chatter) for live coverage, and a translator converting it into German.
There are three observations I can make about this:
1. Frankly, out of 82-million....I seriously doubt that there's more than 1,000 Germans who are watching this 'intently'. It's starting in mid-afternoon, and running through the mid-evening hours.
Germans have a set pattern about shows, and viewing. In particular, if soccer games are on, you can figure the majority of men will be watching the game, rather than this.
So I would suggest it's mostly a waste of man-hours and resources.
2. A priority for working class Germans? No.
They just aren't that hyped up about the Trump issues or some impeachment process. They've got a hundred personal or German-related issues, of more importance.
The public TV management crowd not grasping that? I don't think they really care....one way or the other....they just want to make the intellectual folks happy.
3. Finally, you come to this odd problem....opening doors to 'knowledge' that folks weren't told about or warned about.
Whenever this Ukraine chatter comes up in the impeachment hearings....it begs questions....like where this actually started (the billion dollar 'gift' from the US to the Ukrainian company).
Then the hearing reveals that Joe Biden in this matter, and his son is an employee of this Ukrainian gas company (actually on the board).
A German would review this and ask.....if Germany gave a 'gift' like this, and some SPD or CDU bigwig was in the middle of the 'gift', and their son or daughter was a board member of that company in the Ukraine.....there would be a massive call by opposition parties (something that the US doesn't have) to have a commission spend four months finding the 'truth'.
In the German scenario, there would be 'hell-to-pay' for the political figure, and the German tax office would be real curious about the true payments to the son or daughter. In the true sense, someone would be dismissed from the Bundestag.
So by having this out in the open and on German TV, you might be opening up more questions by the public on why German public TV news didn't explain all the details, and asking if there are more details that were not explained.
As for my last comment? If you stepped into a German pub....this just doesn't rate as a top ten conversation topic. Folks might even be more concerned about the firing of the Mainz soccer coach.....then the impeachment chatter.
There are three observations I can make about this:
1. Frankly, out of 82-million....I seriously doubt that there's more than 1,000 Germans who are watching this 'intently'. It's starting in mid-afternoon, and running through the mid-evening hours.
Germans have a set pattern about shows, and viewing. In particular, if soccer games are on, you can figure the majority of men will be watching the game, rather than this.
So I would suggest it's mostly a waste of man-hours and resources.
2. A priority for working class Germans? No.
They just aren't that hyped up about the Trump issues or some impeachment process. They've got a hundred personal or German-related issues, of more importance.
The public TV management crowd not grasping that? I don't think they really care....one way or the other....they just want to make the intellectual folks happy.
3. Finally, you come to this odd problem....opening doors to 'knowledge' that folks weren't told about or warned about.
Whenever this Ukraine chatter comes up in the impeachment hearings....it begs questions....like where this actually started (the billion dollar 'gift' from the US to the Ukrainian company).
Then the hearing reveals that Joe Biden in this matter, and his son is an employee of this Ukrainian gas company (actually on the board).
A German would review this and ask.....if Germany gave a 'gift' like this, and some SPD or CDU bigwig was in the middle of the 'gift', and their son or daughter was a board member of that company in the Ukraine.....there would be a massive call by opposition parties (something that the US doesn't have) to have a commission spend four months finding the 'truth'.
In the German scenario, there would be 'hell-to-pay' for the political figure, and the German tax office would be real curious about the true payments to the son or daughter. In the true sense, someone would be dismissed from the Bundestag.
So by having this out in the open and on German TV, you might be opening up more questions by the public on why German public TV news didn't explain all the details, and asking if there are more details that were not explained.
As for my last comment? If you stepped into a German pub....this just doesn't rate as a top ten conversation topic. Folks might even be more concerned about the firing of the Mainz soccer coach.....then the impeachment chatter.
Mental Trauma Story
There is a great Focus article out there this morning which talks to a significant issue brewing in Germany.....immigrants and asylum-seekers in Germany, with serious mental trauma (PTSD)....into the thousands....who are on a long-term waiting list to get help.
Why the long wait? Well....there just aren't that many health experts in Germany who handle PTSD type situations. I won't call it a 'new' science, but there hasn't been this big national need for it, like you see in the US.
The only publishable data on this....comes from 2017, and the national numbers say that roughly 21,000 migrants and immigrants into Germany in that year....sought some type of help with their trauma business.
Waiting for help? You could be on a list for seven months before being seen.
Setting the stage for a long-term crisis? Even if you got fairly desperate and finally agreed to seek help.....you'd still have to wait additional months, and that just aggravates the strain on people.
Why the long wait? Well....there just aren't that many health experts in Germany who handle PTSD type situations. I won't call it a 'new' science, but there hasn't been this big national need for it, like you see in the US.
The only publishable data on this....comes from 2017, and the national numbers say that roughly 21,000 migrants and immigrants into Germany in that year....sought some type of help with their trauma business.
Waiting for help? You could be on a list for seven months before being seen.
Setting the stage for a long-term crisis? Even if you got fairly desperate and finally agreed to seek help.....you'd still have to wait additional months, and that just aggravates the strain on people.
Police Raid Story
There's a police report in our regional public TV news this morning which centers again on gang-crime activity.
What the cops report is that roughly 200-odd police were detailed out for raids in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Koln, and Dusseldorf.
Suspects? Some Azerbaijan gang, that dealt in smuggling people into Germany. From Wiesbaden, two folks were arrested as part of the gang.
Crimes being tossed at the gang? People-smuggling, faked documents, and money laundering. They were charging folks from 3,000 to 10,000 Euro to get them from Azerbaijan to Germany. You can figure in just moving ten people across....they were making a minimum of 50k Euro in profit.
Again, I'll point, the German cops are always a step behind, but they will eventually catch up to these gangs and their activity.
What the cops report is that roughly 200-odd police were detailed out for raids in Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Koln, and Dusseldorf.
Suspects? Some Azerbaijan gang, that dealt in smuggling people into Germany. From Wiesbaden, two folks were arrested as part of the gang.
Crimes being tossed at the gang? People-smuggling, faked documents, and money laundering. They were charging folks from 3,000 to 10,000 Euro to get them from Azerbaijan to Germany. You can figure in just moving ten people across....they were making a minimum of 50k Euro in profit.
Again, I'll point, the German cops are always a step behind, but they will eventually catch up to these gangs and their activity.
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Tesla Factory in Germany?
Yes. The announcement came as a bit of shocker....it's to be in Brandenburg region.
Various areas had been checked out, but folks were a bit shocked that it'll be in the area of Grunheide (about 12 miles east of Berlin).
Jobs? Well, that's a curious piece too....a minimum of 6,000 employees, maybe going up to 7,000.
Why in Grunheide? Unknown. Population? Around 8,600. It's a quiet town....probably a dozen small lakes, with a mixed assortment of swampland and forests. Near a autobahn? Yes, A10....no more than a mile away from the town.
Railway going into the town? No. You'd find a S-Bahn station about two miles to the west of Grunheide.
A massive fight to prevent trees being cut down? Well....just about everything around this town is wooded or protected swampland. So it's hard for me to see this as a wise pick. You could have gone into the Pflaz or Hessen....to find people more pro-jobs and accepting to commercialization.
Why so close to Berlin? That's not really detailed in the explanation. There is a technology revolution going on in Berlin, with start-up companies appearing almost monthly. I won't call it a Silicon Valley, but this might have been half of the logic in picking it so near to Berlin.
The fact that it's only 8 miles away from BER (the new airport, yet to open)? It's a curious part of the story. People have suggested that a massive building boom would occur in this region around BER (once it opened). More housing, more apartment, and maybe this ties into the long-term plans of Tesla.
Various areas had been checked out, but folks were a bit shocked that it'll be in the area of Grunheide (about 12 miles east of Berlin).
Jobs? Well, that's a curious piece too....a minimum of 6,000 employees, maybe going up to 7,000.
Why in Grunheide? Unknown. Population? Around 8,600. It's a quiet town....probably a dozen small lakes, with a mixed assortment of swampland and forests. Near a autobahn? Yes, A10....no more than a mile away from the town.
Railway going into the town? No. You'd find a S-Bahn station about two miles to the west of Grunheide.
A massive fight to prevent trees being cut down? Well....just about everything around this town is wooded or protected swampland. So it's hard for me to see this as a wise pick. You could have gone into the Pflaz or Hessen....to find people more pro-jobs and accepting to commercialization.
Why so close to Berlin? That's not really detailed in the explanation. There is a technology revolution going on in Berlin, with start-up companies appearing almost monthly. I won't call it a Silicon Valley, but this might have been half of the logic in picking it so near to Berlin.
The fact that it's only 8 miles away from BER (the new airport, yet to open)? It's a curious part of the story. People have suggested that a massive building boom would occur in this region around BER (once it opened). More housing, more apartment, and maybe this ties into the long-term plans of Tesla.
Theft Story
I often essay about crime, and the changing times in Germany.
It came up in local news (Wiesbaden) that they had a 'tree-thief'. What the cops say....over in the Biebrich area of town (over by the river), there are some parks and some landscaping operations. Well....in October, cops got called on four occasions in the area.....plants, shrubs and trees stolen.
Yes, dug up and taken away.
Maybe you could write off one single instance....but to have four of these occur? Value so far? Cops are suggesting it near 1,000 Euro.
I just can't see this being some Ukrainian, Serbian, Russian, or Lebanese crime gang. And I seriously doubt there's any profit or 'gain' off this robbery. But the sad thing is that the cops have to put man-hours into this.....question locals, and try to solve this 'mystery'.
It came up in local news (Wiesbaden) that they had a 'tree-thief'. What the cops say....over in the Biebrich area of town (over by the river), there are some parks and some landscaping operations. Well....in October, cops got called on four occasions in the area.....plants, shrubs and trees stolen.
Yes, dug up and taken away.
Maybe you could write off one single instance....but to have four of these occur? Value so far? Cops are suggesting it near 1,000 Euro.
I just can't see this being some Ukrainian, Serbian, Russian, or Lebanese crime gang. And I seriously doubt there's any profit or 'gain' off this robbery. But the sad thing is that the cops have to put man-hours into this.....question locals, and try to solve this 'mystery'.
Tuesday, November 12, 2019
The 'Rest' of the Pension Supplement Story
One key feature of the weekend deal by the CDU-CSU and SPD parties....was how the 1.5-billion Euro for the cost of this supplement for pensions would occur. In the news for Monday....most all news groups left this out of their stories.
My German wife had a curiosity about this side of the story. So after reading through numerous pieces, she finally came to the method to find this 1.5-billion Euro in the budget pot. It was another tax.....which isn't on the books, nor has it been voted upon.
Back in the 2017 election period....the SPD Party came up and spoke to this fantastic way of a new taxation....financial transactions. Those 'rich' people who buy and sell stock stock and bonds....would pay a tax each time this was accomplished. No one ever said the end-result, and you kinda figured that must not be very much.....just enough to 'stir the pot'.
After the 2017 election, and upon the partnering process....the CDU-CSU folks frankly told the SPD.....no, this financial transaction tax wasn't going to be a piece of reality. The thing is....by this point, the Greens and Linke Party also liked the idea.
I sat and looked over the concept, and in two minutes.....I asked the question, this tax only works, if you buy via a German investment house (like the Frankfurt Borse). If I took my money and went to Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam, or Warsaw....I could walk into their investment house, and buy stock or bonds (non-German of course), and avoid the tax. This is precisely what the CDU-CSU folks talked at length about.
So in the early months of 2018, as the coalition talks progressed....the SPD came to realize the key problem with this, and said that they'd press the EU to make this across all of Europe. In the months since that point, no one in the EU has said much. My humble guess is that a number of European countries really don't like this idea very much. But there is belief that something will happen.
As you look at the pension supplement business....NONE of this will occur until you get into 2021 (odd how it's a promise but so far off). The possibility that the EU will pass legislation by that point? It's an unknown thing.
For the little investor....the guy holding 100,000 Euro in his portfolio.....this tax idea may not amount to much. For the guy who holds 300-million Euro of stock and trades at least 300 times a year? Yeah, it might amount to a couple million easily.
You then come to the final question....what happens in 2021 if the financial transaction tax has not been fixed by the EU and mandated across all of the European members? My guess is that the SPD will get it passed....one way or another, and you see Frankfurt investors drop out of the trade scene there.
It's a silly situation to discuss or imagine as a national strategy to cover the cost of repairing the marginalized pension program, but hey....this is the Merkel coalition, and they resolve all problems....one way or another (even if it creates another problem in the process).
My German wife had a curiosity about this side of the story. So after reading through numerous pieces, she finally came to the method to find this 1.5-billion Euro in the budget pot. It was another tax.....which isn't on the books, nor has it been voted upon.
Back in the 2017 election period....the SPD Party came up and spoke to this fantastic way of a new taxation....financial transactions. Those 'rich' people who buy and sell stock stock and bonds....would pay a tax each time this was accomplished. No one ever said the end-result, and you kinda figured that must not be very much.....just enough to 'stir the pot'.
After the 2017 election, and upon the partnering process....the CDU-CSU folks frankly told the SPD.....no, this financial transaction tax wasn't going to be a piece of reality. The thing is....by this point, the Greens and Linke Party also liked the idea.
I sat and looked over the concept, and in two minutes.....I asked the question, this tax only works, if you buy via a German investment house (like the Frankfurt Borse). If I took my money and went to Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam, or Warsaw....I could walk into their investment house, and buy stock or bonds (non-German of course), and avoid the tax. This is precisely what the CDU-CSU folks talked at length about.
So in the early months of 2018, as the coalition talks progressed....the SPD came to realize the key problem with this, and said that they'd press the EU to make this across all of Europe. In the months since that point, no one in the EU has said much. My humble guess is that a number of European countries really don't like this idea very much. But there is belief that something will happen.
As you look at the pension supplement business....NONE of this will occur until you get into 2021 (odd how it's a promise but so far off). The possibility that the EU will pass legislation by that point? It's an unknown thing.
For the little investor....the guy holding 100,000 Euro in his portfolio.....this tax idea may not amount to much. For the guy who holds 300-million Euro of stock and trades at least 300 times a year? Yeah, it might amount to a couple million easily.
You then come to the final question....what happens in 2021 if the financial transaction tax has not been fixed by the EU and mandated across all of the European members? My guess is that the SPD will get it passed....one way or another, and you see Frankfurt investors drop out of the trade scene there.
It's a silly situation to discuss or imagine as a national strategy to cover the cost of repairing the marginalized pension program, but hey....this is the Merkel coalition, and they resolve all problems....one way or another (even if it creates another problem in the process).
Next 'Fall' of the Thomas Cook Episode
This morning, via the folks left to maintain or run Thomas Cook (the bankrupt travel agency)....it was announced that if you'd paid into the pot for 2020 trips....those were cancelled. No trip.....no refund.
What is left in the refund pot? Roughly 110-million Euro, that was supposed to be paid out for the folks screwed in 2019. So, it'll even go less now.
No one is saying how many had flights or entire packages arranged for the 2020 period.
Germans are often obsessive about planning way ahead....going nine months ahead and arranging for a vacation isn't that unusual, with money put down on trips at that point.
Triggering more frustration with the system, and lack of adequate insurance? For a lot of people.....they are not going to forget this episode in this lifetime, and trust with travel agents probably dropped a good bit.
What is left in the refund pot? Roughly 110-million Euro, that was supposed to be paid out for the folks screwed in 2019. So, it'll even go less now.
No one is saying how many had flights or entire packages arranged for the 2020 period.
Germans are often obsessive about planning way ahead....going nine months ahead and arranging for a vacation isn't that unusual, with money put down on trips at that point.
Triggering more frustration with the system, and lack of adequate insurance? For a lot of people.....they are not going to forget this episode in this lifetime, and trust with travel agents probably dropped a good bit.
Terror Action Prevented
In local news from Frankfurt, there was apparently some massive police raid this morning (minimum of 100 police involved) on three terror suspects.
Location? Offenbach (in the shadow of Frankfurt).
What is said so far? These three had some type of Islamic terror action in their mind, for the Rhine Valley region. All three are in age range of 21 to 24.....had some type of weapons or explosives planned out....and intended to kill a significant number of people.
No one says where this attack was planned....at least not yet. Non-Germans? Well....one guy is said to be a German of Macedonian descent, and the other two are of Turkish descent.
My guess on the cops? They continually monitor Darknet now, which used to be how you bought or traded illegal stuff across Germany, and these three idiots might have thought that they were completely safe in communicating there and trying to arrange for weapons or explosives.
All of this shows....the German cops are aggressive about this business, and continually catching these guys before they commit an action.
Location? Offenbach (in the shadow of Frankfurt).
What is said so far? These three had some type of Islamic terror action in their mind, for the Rhine Valley region. All three are in age range of 21 to 24.....had some type of weapons or explosives planned out....and intended to kill a significant number of people.
No one says where this attack was planned....at least not yet. Non-Germans? Well....one guy is said to be a German of Macedonian descent, and the other two are of Turkish descent.
My guess on the cops? They continually monitor Darknet now, which used to be how you bought or traded illegal stuff across Germany, and these three idiots might have thought that they were completely safe in communicating there and trying to arrange for weapons or explosives.
All of this shows....the German cops are aggressive about this business, and continually catching these guys before they commit an action.
ISIS Fighters Discussion
It's pretty much locked in now....that Turkey will deport some ISIS 'fighters' who are of German citizenship.....back into Germany this week.
The Germans aren't happy about the matter, and the Foreign Minister (Heiko Maas, SPD), is having meetings with the Turks....to gain knowledge over the names and their past crimes.
What the Germans want is some type of crime list (proof) of past war crimes, and they'd immediately lock the guy up and call for some international committee to stage a war crimes situation.
Will the Turks cooperate? It's hard to say. The Turks simply know they are holding these German individuals who were into the ISIS war machine. I don't think they know to what level. Witnesses? Where? Who? Most of the victims probably aren't around to provide answers.
What'll eventually happen? As soon as they arrive on German soil....some type of holding situation will be started, but I expect some legal experts to step in and challenge the holdings in court. This is basically the issue that triggered the US to stage the Gitmo-operation, if you think about implications and where rights can lead you.
Chancellor Merkel in the middle of this? I would suggest that she will have little to nothing to say about this, or issue directives. Even Maas (as Foreign Minister) has limited abilities. It'll end up in the lap of the Germany's Attorney General, and there simply isn't a mechanism to handle this type of mess. There is a law that says you can't leave Germany and go participate in some civil war.....but upon return....if the court is involved, you are simply talking about a sentence of two to three years, and then you get released.
In blunt terms, you need a war crimes commission to occur, and the EU simply isn't in some role to do this.
The Germans aren't happy about the matter, and the Foreign Minister (Heiko Maas, SPD), is having meetings with the Turks....to gain knowledge over the names and their past crimes.
What the Germans want is some type of crime list (proof) of past war crimes, and they'd immediately lock the guy up and call for some international committee to stage a war crimes situation.
Will the Turks cooperate? It's hard to say. The Turks simply know they are holding these German individuals who were into the ISIS war machine. I don't think they know to what level. Witnesses? Where? Who? Most of the victims probably aren't around to provide answers.
What'll eventually happen? As soon as they arrive on German soil....some type of holding situation will be started, but I expect some legal experts to step in and challenge the holdings in court. This is basically the issue that triggered the US to stage the Gitmo-operation, if you think about implications and where rights can lead you.
Chancellor Merkel in the middle of this? I would suggest that she will have little to nothing to say about this, or issue directives. Even Maas (as Foreign Minister) has limited abilities. It'll end up in the lap of the Germany's Attorney General, and there simply isn't a mechanism to handle this type of mess. There is a law that says you can't leave Germany and go participate in some civil war.....but upon return....if the court is involved, you are simply talking about a sentence of two to three years, and then you get released.
In blunt terms, you need a war crimes commission to occur, and the EU simply isn't in some role to do this.
Gangs Taken Down
I often essay about crime and clan-gangs in Germany, and their 'trade'. Well....this morning, via HR (our Hessen public TV network)....there's an updated story on a police raid from yesterday in the Rhine Valley region.
This raid took down forty-three individuals.....one as young as 19 and the oldest in his mid-70s.
What the cops say is that their chief passion was in the drug trade.....cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, and ecstasy pills.
Also picked up in the raid....a submachine gun, lots of cash (in the hundreds of thousands), a boat, and a 100-k-plus sports car.
Added charges? The news folks say money-laundering is figured into this as well.
This raid took down forty-three individuals.....one as young as 19 and the oldest in his mid-70s.
What the cops say is that their chief passion was in the drug trade.....cannabis, cocaine, amphetamine, and ecstasy pills.
Also picked up in the raid....a submachine gun, lots of cash (in the hundreds of thousands), a boat, and a 100-k-plus sports car.
Added charges? The news folks say money-laundering is figured into this as well.
More EU Regulation
The EU kinda surprised folks and passed a new regulation yesterday....over cars. As January 2022 comes up....if you sell a new car in the EU....it has to have certain things on it. The list?
1. A 'black box' (similar to what airplanes currently have). It'll have to be somewhat indestructible but they didn't add that particular wording.
2. An alert system that will pick up on your fatigue or lack of attention.
3. An interface into the alert system that would allow for the installation of a alcohol-detection system. They aren't saying the system has to be in the car, but that some likely 'usb' connection will connect to the interface.
4. The reverse-assistance will now be mandatory (considered an optional item for most all car-makers).
5. Intelligent Speed Brake technology has to be included. It will be a detection system that senses you are approaching too rapidly and automatically slow the car down.
Cost factor? Well....no one is saying much other than it will add significantly onto the purchase of a new car. If I were taking a guess...just the reverse-assistant by itself will run around 700 Euro. On the 'black box'....maybe you could just have a flash-drive in some key area of the interior....maybe it's cost could be kept for 150 Euro. The Speed Brake technology is around but currently, you'd have to pay a minimum of 700 Euro and most might label it around 1,200 Euro. Maybe if you packaged all of this, and had it made in China....you could do this for 600 to 800 Euro total.
So 2,000 Euro added to the cost of even a cheaper car (like the VW Polo)? Yeah.
Then I'd start to worry about the quality of the 'Black Box', and if it were to break....just how quick would I have to replace it. Folks disconnecting their 'Black Box'? Well....I would imagine about a year into the mandatory installation.....the EU picks up on trends and has to create some 1,000 Euro fine if the cops stop you and it's disconnected.
So you are going to ask....is this really necessary? In the mind of the EU bureaucrats....the accident rate across Europe can be decreased. Just mandating the Speed Brake technology might cut 10-percent of accidents (minimum).
The alcohol-detection connectivity to the system? I would imagine that if you ever get a DWI....there's likely to be some ten-year mandated period for this detection system to be hooked up. This might decrease accidents as well, but then you have to wonder....just how easy will it be to disconnect?
As for the 'Black Box'? You will likely end up with two-hundred-odd police hired in each country who have the responsibility of analyzing every single accident and each single 'Black Box'. Responsibility of accidents? This will turn into a harsh reality for some folks....where it'll seem like a airline accident rather than a car accident.
As for the EU-skeptics whining about this? They will have a point about the mandatory nature. If you did all of this and a quarter of all accidents disappear in a year or two.....it might have been worth the effort. My guess is that people will drift over to used-car sales, and the 2021 models (without the 'Black Box') will popular and stay around for forty-odd years. Then you come to the privacy 'geeks' who will see the 'Black Box' as a evil part of the EU agenda.
Bold new world coming.
1. A 'black box' (similar to what airplanes currently have). It'll have to be somewhat indestructible but they didn't add that particular wording.
2. An alert system that will pick up on your fatigue or lack of attention.
3. An interface into the alert system that would allow for the installation of a alcohol-detection system. They aren't saying the system has to be in the car, but that some likely 'usb' connection will connect to the interface.
4. The reverse-assistance will now be mandatory (considered an optional item for most all car-makers).
5. Intelligent Speed Brake technology has to be included. It will be a detection system that senses you are approaching too rapidly and automatically slow the car down.
Cost factor? Well....no one is saying much other than it will add significantly onto the purchase of a new car. If I were taking a guess...just the reverse-assistant by itself will run around 700 Euro. On the 'black box'....maybe you could just have a flash-drive in some key area of the interior....maybe it's cost could be kept for 150 Euro. The Speed Brake technology is around but currently, you'd have to pay a minimum of 700 Euro and most might label it around 1,200 Euro. Maybe if you packaged all of this, and had it made in China....you could do this for 600 to 800 Euro total.
So 2,000 Euro added to the cost of even a cheaper car (like the VW Polo)? Yeah.
Then I'd start to worry about the quality of the 'Black Box', and if it were to break....just how quick would I have to replace it. Folks disconnecting their 'Black Box'? Well....I would imagine about a year into the mandatory installation.....the EU picks up on trends and has to create some 1,000 Euro fine if the cops stop you and it's disconnected.
So you are going to ask....is this really necessary? In the mind of the EU bureaucrats....the accident rate across Europe can be decreased. Just mandating the Speed Brake technology might cut 10-percent of accidents (minimum).
The alcohol-detection connectivity to the system? I would imagine that if you ever get a DWI....there's likely to be some ten-year mandated period for this detection system to be hooked up. This might decrease accidents as well, but then you have to wonder....just how easy will it be to disconnect?
As for the 'Black Box'? You will likely end up with two-hundred-odd police hired in each country who have the responsibility of analyzing every single accident and each single 'Black Box'. Responsibility of accidents? This will turn into a harsh reality for some folks....where it'll seem like a airline accident rather than a car accident.
As for the EU-skeptics whining about this? They will have a point about the mandatory nature. If you did all of this and a quarter of all accidents disappear in a year or two.....it might have been worth the effort. My guess is that people will drift over to used-car sales, and the 2021 models (without the 'Black Box') will popular and stay around for forty-odd years. Then you come to the privacy 'geeks' who will see the 'Black Box' as a evil part of the EU agenda.
Bold new world coming.
Monday, November 11, 2019
Another Problem to be Fixed?
It's an interesting statistic, and I kinda wonder any German would care about this. Officially, on the books....around 2.3 billion pieces of clothing (from t-shirts, to bras, and just about everything in-between).....is put on the racks to be sold in Germany each year. You can do the math....82-million residents somewhere in the mix.
So here's the thing....around 80 to 90 percent of this gets sold. This leaves the German politician, the German bureaucrat, and the environmentalist all in a huff. The rest of this is becoming harder and harder to sell or dispose of.
Yes, as you can imagine....the Environmental Minister (Schulze, SPD Party) wants a law to fix this.
Why so many items left over? I would offer three observations on this:
1. First, clothing designers aren't exactly picking trendy fashion items or colors. I can walk into the men's department of a major German shop, and stand there laughing over the color trends. It's just not something that I'd go and spend twenty Euro upon.
2. Cheap clothing has a marginal curiosity for people. There's a particular German shop known for cheap t-shirts....nothing more than three or four Euro. It's the type of stuff that will bleed colors on the first wash, and have holes appearing one single summer. Even kids will put their hand up and say no....if offered this type of t-shirt.
3. Quality has slipped an awful lot on the German clothing market in the past twenty years. Virtually everything is made either in China, or Vietnam. Around five years ago, I bought a forty Euro jacket, and after three months....various parts of it were falling apart.
I can understand the feeling of the shops and negativity over having pallets of stuff in the warehouse to dispose of. But here's the thing.....do you really want the government to start making up laws to prevent this? This almost sounds like the old GDR (East German) mentality where everything was going to be micromanaged and you could never find your size for a pair of pants.
The odds of another clothing tax occurring out of this discussion? One can only hope this isn't the end-all solution to this.
So here's the thing....around 80 to 90 percent of this gets sold. This leaves the German politician, the German bureaucrat, and the environmentalist all in a huff. The rest of this is becoming harder and harder to sell or dispose of.
Yes, as you can imagine....the Environmental Minister (Schulze, SPD Party) wants a law to fix this.
Why so many items left over? I would offer three observations on this:
1. First, clothing designers aren't exactly picking trendy fashion items or colors. I can walk into the men's department of a major German shop, and stand there laughing over the color trends. It's just not something that I'd go and spend twenty Euro upon.
2. Cheap clothing has a marginal curiosity for people. There's a particular German shop known for cheap t-shirts....nothing more than three or four Euro. It's the type of stuff that will bleed colors on the first wash, and have holes appearing one single summer. Even kids will put their hand up and say no....if offered this type of t-shirt.
3. Quality has slipped an awful lot on the German clothing market in the past twenty years. Virtually everything is made either in China, or Vietnam. Around five years ago, I bought a forty Euro jacket, and after three months....various parts of it were falling apart.
I can understand the feeling of the shops and negativity over having pallets of stuff in the warehouse to dispose of. But here's the thing.....do you really want the government to start making up laws to prevent this? This almost sounds like the old GDR (East German) mentality where everything was going to be micromanaged and you could never find your size for a pair of pants.
The odds of another clothing tax occurring out of this discussion? One can only hope this isn't the end-all solution to this.
More Leipzig Chatter
Around two weeks ago, I essayed a piece on a 'attack' in Leipzig (in the east of Germany) where a construction site in the south of town was heavily damaged.
At the time, I noted that this end of town was under a fair amount of renovation (both to streets, and in terms of some new buildings....apartments....etc, going up). The city and private investors were spending a big chunk of money. This end of town though....has become heavily socialized by university students and alt-left individuals (even tourist sites chat about the trend).
So it got into Bild (the German national newspaper)....that the city officials of Leipzig have added up the various 'attacks' and damage, and said 'enough'. They are now offering 100,000 Euro for information leading to the arrest of those involved.
Part of this issue, as Bild points out.....leads back to a physical attack on a real estate guy. The curious thing about this amount of reward...is that it's the highest in roughly forty years for left-wing individuals (leading back to the RAF days of the 1980s in West Germany).
The thing about this series of attacks.....these guys even set fire to the construction cranes, and probably endangered those collapsing onto cars, property, and possibly even people.
So it's not just one attack....the series has generated public hostility.
The renovated neighborhood? Connewitz.
What happened over the past thirty years? This part of town.....to the far south of Leipzig....was an area that was left out of most upgrades and renovation. It became a cheaper place to live, and various students moved in....took up residence, and in some ways....gave it 'character'. It's artsy....it's a student pub area....it's simple.
The city plan? It probably got presented at least three years ago, and negativity was brewing even then over the improvements coming and the more modern look. So there's hostility brewing and nothing much that can halt this. More attacks? Probably, but there's going to be added security along the way, and likely to be arrests with real jail time for damage done.
At the time, I noted that this end of town was under a fair amount of renovation (both to streets, and in terms of some new buildings....apartments....etc, going up). The city and private investors were spending a big chunk of money. This end of town though....has become heavily socialized by university students and alt-left individuals (even tourist sites chat about the trend).
So it got into Bild (the German national newspaper)....that the city officials of Leipzig have added up the various 'attacks' and damage, and said 'enough'. They are now offering 100,000 Euro for information leading to the arrest of those involved.
Part of this issue, as Bild points out.....leads back to a physical attack on a real estate guy. The curious thing about this amount of reward...is that it's the highest in roughly forty years for left-wing individuals (leading back to the RAF days of the 1980s in West Germany).
The thing about this series of attacks.....these guys even set fire to the construction cranes, and probably endangered those collapsing onto cars, property, and possibly even people.
So it's not just one attack....the series has generated public hostility.
The renovated neighborhood? Connewitz.
What happened over the past thirty years? This part of town.....to the far south of Leipzig....was an area that was left out of most upgrades and renovation. It became a cheaper place to live, and various students moved in....took up residence, and in some ways....gave it 'character'. It's artsy....it's a student pub area....it's simple.
The city plan? It probably got presented at least three years ago, and negativity was brewing even then over the improvements coming and the more modern look. So there's hostility brewing and nothing much that can halt this. More attacks? Probably, but there's going to be added security along the way, and likely to be arrests with real jail time for damage done.
680,000 Number
There was a news piece this morning via N-TV (German commercial news network) that hyped up homelessness in Germany and the national numbers (680,000 out of 82-million).
It's an interesting topic for me.
Germany is one of those countries that you can walk into the social office of each 'county' and announce your situation. The system is built to help pick you up. Course, there are little stumbling blocks.
Lets be honest here and admit....if you attempt to announce your situation in Frankfurt or Hamburg....there's marginal housing for folks in your situation. Just in general....these highly urbanized areas are in serious problems when it comes to any housing.
But out of the 680,000....how many are drug addicts, alcoholics, or people in serious emotional or mental issues? No one can cite those numbers. If you walk around Frankfurt, I'd say that almost 80 to 90 percent fall into those three categories. In their case, plain housing help or social help won't cut it. These are individuals who probably need a place in a permanent facility, and be 'fenced-in'.
The odds of the public buying into that? No....no one wants to really step up and sign onto the idea of permanently putting folks into facilities that involve a closed door. It's the same problem you see in the US and highly urbanized areas (like NY, Philly, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Portland, etc).
A likely public chat forum coming out of this discussion? Maybe, but their chatter will be for simply more funding, without really affecting or changing the outcome.
It's an interesting topic for me.
Germany is one of those countries that you can walk into the social office of each 'county' and announce your situation. The system is built to help pick you up. Course, there are little stumbling blocks.
Lets be honest here and admit....if you attempt to announce your situation in Frankfurt or Hamburg....there's marginal housing for folks in your situation. Just in general....these highly urbanized areas are in serious problems when it comes to any housing.
But out of the 680,000....how many are drug addicts, alcoholics, or people in serious emotional or mental issues? No one can cite those numbers. If you walk around Frankfurt, I'd say that almost 80 to 90 percent fall into those three categories. In their case, plain housing help or social help won't cut it. These are individuals who probably need a place in a permanent facility, and be 'fenced-in'.
The odds of the public buying into that? No....no one wants to really step up and sign onto the idea of permanently putting folks into facilities that involve a closed door. It's the same problem you see in the US and highly urbanized areas (like NY, Philly, Chicago, Houston, Seattle, Portland, etc).
A likely public chat forum coming out of this discussion? Maybe, but their chatter will be for simply more funding, without really affecting or changing the outcome.
Forum Discussion
Last night, via German public TV (Channel One, ARD), they ran a live public forum show (9:45 PM)....the Anne Will Show.
It was mostly to talk over the pension supplement reform business, but they had the temp-chief of the SPD (Malu Dreyer) and the chief of the CDU (AKK, who also serves as the Defense Minister).
I ended up watching the last 25 minutes of the forum, which I would say that it'd drifted off the pension topic and gotten to the disarray of politics in Germany (at least perceived by journalists).
Journalists seem to have woken up in the past year and grasped that there really isn't that much being achieved by Chancellor Merkel and that the country needs new leadership. Their blunt criticism is mostly over the failed idea of AKK filling the shoes (at least they believe that), and there is this vacuum forming in the German political world.
If you engaged in a chat in some pub with working-class Germans.....they'd let you know that frankly, they don't care to this degree. It's not like the Chancellor is going out to save them, their families, or their neighborhoods. If the news folks just had one single story over an entire week about the Chancellor....that would be fine with most of these people.
It seems now that about half of the German nightly news is consumed over the political spectrum, and trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
As for the shaking of the 'leadership-tree'....well, there should have been some effort within the CDU Party after eight years of Chancellor Merkel (in 2013), to bring on a replacement. The Party didn't seem interested, and they stamped a 'pass' on that.....as well in 2017.
Some of these forum shows attempt to bring on interesting topics.....in the end with this one....there's just not much to chat upon. If you want a new Chancellor.....you need to wait until the fall of 2021, and then assemble the choices for the public to select from.
It was mostly to talk over the pension supplement reform business, but they had the temp-chief of the SPD (Malu Dreyer) and the chief of the CDU (AKK, who also serves as the Defense Minister).
I ended up watching the last 25 minutes of the forum, which I would say that it'd drifted off the pension topic and gotten to the disarray of politics in Germany (at least perceived by journalists).
Journalists seem to have woken up in the past year and grasped that there really isn't that much being achieved by Chancellor Merkel and that the country needs new leadership. Their blunt criticism is mostly over the failed idea of AKK filling the shoes (at least they believe that), and there is this vacuum forming in the German political world.
If you engaged in a chat in some pub with working-class Germans.....they'd let you know that frankly, they don't care to this degree. It's not like the Chancellor is going out to save them, their families, or their neighborhoods. If the news folks just had one single story over an entire week about the Chancellor....that would be fine with most of these people.
It seems now that about half of the German nightly news is consumed over the political spectrum, and trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
As for the shaking of the 'leadership-tree'....well, there should have been some effort within the CDU Party after eight years of Chancellor Merkel (in 2013), to bring on a replacement. The Party didn't seem interested, and they stamped a 'pass' on that.....as well in 2017.
Some of these forum shows attempt to bring on interesting topics.....in the end with this one....there's just not much to chat upon. If you want a new Chancellor.....you need to wait until the fall of 2021, and then assemble the choices for the public to select from.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)