That Updated Car First Aid Kit Rule?

 Yeah, starting 1 January 2022....if you drive a car in Germany...that mandatory first aid kit (hidden in the trunk) MUST contain two masks (for Covid purposes).

I admit...it's not clear if a standard medical mask will meet the rule, or if it has to be a FFP-2 type (this regulation was not written in a clear manner).

Usually, when you go to the garage every other year....the mechanic checks the date on your first aid box, and if it's out of date (no one ever opens it)....he'll replace it with a garage kit (usually 5.50 to 10 Euro, depending on quality).

Stupid?  Well, they (the German authorities) believe that you might be in some situation where you must enter a gas station or 'something', and you might not have a mask.

In the glove box of either car my wife has....sits a minimum of five masks.  I admit....some have been used forty-odd times when out in the car.  

Just another stupid regulation (because of the first aid connection)?  Probably....but if you get stopped on a Friday-evening alcohol check....they tend to ask for the registration and request to see your first aid kit if the car is over five years old.

In all my years around Germany....have I ever seen anyone actually use the first aid kit?  Well....no.  Some Germans probably would say it's not sanitary enough to meet their situation.  Yet it sits there....just in case you did get a mild cut while driving.  If you asked Germans what's in the kit.....other than mentioning bandages...most have no other idea because they've never opened the kit.

Disco and Covid

 This story came up via NDR (regional public TV for NW Germany), and it's a complicated piece.

There's this disco up in Kampen (Isle of Sylt) called 'Joy'.  Back on Christmas eve, they ran a big party....under 2G-Plus rules (meaning you were vaxed-up/recovered, AND tested).  

Eight-hundred folks showed up.   No masks required because it's 2G-plus conditions.  All within the regulations of the region.  

Well....ONE guest apparently had Omikron.

The order has been sent out via the health authorities.  ALL of the 800 people now must enter home-quarantine, and WILL NOT be allowed to party up on New Year's Eve.  Two weeks of home-quarantine?  That is the suggestion.

So each of the 800 is contributing 336 of their personal man-hours for Covid safety, from which....the vaxed-up status and the test didn't really matter.

Odds of anyone ever attending another party?  It'd be curious to ask about their feelings.  Course, maybe it was a five-star party and worth the home-quarantine business.  

Hamburg, 9-11, and a August Arrest

 So, this is a story that you can twist around and wonder where exactly it goes.

For historical discussion.....back in 1996, some Jihadists existed in Hamburg, Germany.  Khalid Shaikh Mohammed knew of the group and had this talk with Bin Laden about expanding the purpose of the Hamburg Jihadists.  They became the core of the 9-11 'gang'.

Yesterday, the Germans opened up and admitted an arrest from August, which had mostly been kept under wraps.  Focus discussed the matter to some length.

For at least a year, the German authorities have been closely monitoring Darknet.....the internet site where you buy drugs, weapons, and 'whatever'.  

This Hamburg Moroccan came up and attempted a purchase of a pistol.  Back in August, the details were laid out and the police came to arrest the guy.  What shocked them apparently was that he was in the midst of a major plan to attack/kill as many people as possible.  

The state authorities of Hamburg admit there are over 250 Jihadists that they monitor, and throughout the city....with another thousand-plus associated folks who have violent tendencies.

Everything that existed in 1996.....is still there today.  

Russia in the News

 I saw this in the AM today.....Russia's Putin stood up and said....for all foreigners coming into Russia, there is a new medical exam required.

What they are looking at in this exam?  Drugs, HIV, TB and sexual diseases.  

Deal starts today.

Problem?  Well....what is said now...is that even after the initial episode....every three months that pass, you have to renew the medical exam (minimum of a blood test, but could include a CT scan).

Cost factor?  I looked at the list and if this were a pure blood-test situation....it'd be a hundred to two-hundred Euro.  CT scan?  That might bring the cost up another notch, but I doubt if it has much value.

Upsetting the Germans?  It's already highlighted as a big negative.

Personally, I don't see a big issue in mandating a TB test for anyone entering a country.  The drug test?  Well....if you were a Cannabis user.....you probably would fail, and that would be a big issue.

Crisis stuff?  No.  But I would imagine the journalists for ARD/ZDF are going through some review, and there might be limitations to who can go over for a year to be their Russia correspondent.  

Triage Chatter For the Future

 Last night, if you watched German public TV news (either ZDF or ARD).....you got a strong dose of news chatter over triage-talk.  

For those curious....the German medical system in the past month....worrying over Omikron coming and wrecking their health system...advocated how they'd allow triage (prioritizing) to occur at the front door of the hospital.   The triage angle goes along two lines.

First line: if you have someone who is dragged into the hospital with serious Covid, and the doctor doesn't think they will make it.....they will just deny them 'service' (not real help).  

Second line:  if you are non-vaxed, you'd be graded at a lesser scale over the vaxed person.

No one in the German health system has ever advocated triage, so to the majority of Germans.....this is a puzzling trend to suddenly pick up and push.

Challenged in court?  Yes, and yesterday....the Constitutional Court had a case where a disabled person said it was unfair to put them onto this prioritizing situation.  The Court agreed, but then said.....there is no law to define this.  So they turned to the Bundestag and basically said...over the next year, you need to write this law that gives disabled people another right that non-disabled can't have.

Likely to be challenged again in court?  I would suggest this isn't over and it'll get more messy.

But here's the thing.....the more you think about triage being accepted....why stop at just medical stuff?

Why can't you triage public TV and just say there's necessity for one public TV network....not two?  Or maybe suggest one public TV network of the two offer news while the offer curtails news production?

Why can't you triage immigration/migration, and just say there's a priority of who you accept?

Why can't you triage alcohol, and say there is a limit to how much wine, beer or hard booze that can be sold/served to you?

Why can't you triage living spaces in urbanized areas with housing shortages?  If you are permanently unemployed or at retirement.....maybe you should be triaged-out of the urban zone, to some rural district?

All of this leading to more regulation, and more management over your common lifestyle?  More or less.  

If you don't like triage?  Well....then living in Germany probably isn't a long-term thing and you might as well start planning some exit.  This whole discussion, I suspect, is going to get more intense....with various questions leading onto more questions.   

Several New Covid Ban Rules

If you live in the south of Germany, in Baden-Wurttemberg....there are some new ban rules.

First,  curfew starts at 10:30 PM....meaning you need to head out by 10 PM to avoid getting confronted by the cops on the street/road.  Curfew ends at 5 AM.

Second, vaxed-up people will be exempt from 2G-plus situations where you MUST test as part of entry into a facility.  However, this exemption is only good if you vaxed-up in the past 90 days or less.  On the 91st day, you must do the test procedure, if ordered.  Complicated?  Yeah, just more regulation on top of a mountain of regulation already.

Finally, if your local area has a 7-day infection rate of 500 or more.....plus you are non-vax/non-recovered....you have a personal curfew of 9 PM.  This tends to mean anytime after 9 PM....the cops see you on the street or in a parking lot.....you will be a magnet for asking for your 'pass' or status.  

To be honest, it's reaching a point where you need to print out the rules (six to eight pages) and carry them with you.  Life has become a fairly complicated mess.

Legal Covid - Triage Court Case

 The German topic of triage is now headed to court.

So, in this Covid-era, it's been openly discussed in the medical community that they don't have the assets to treat everyone, so triage will occur....meaning they will assess you at the front door.  If you have X and they don't think you will survive....they will just deny you service and in simple terms....let you pass on.

If you'd suggested five years ago in Germany that denial of health services would eventually occur, most Germans would have laughed.  Today, it's gotten to the point of being serious.

So this disabled German heard the discussion....got upset, and has lodged a complaint in the court system. SWR reports the basic facts/background.

The Federal Constitutional Court now has the case.

Some decision today?  Well....they might agree to hear the discussion and offer some legal advice.  They might tell the medical folks that triage is illegal.  They might even say it's perfectly legit.

The thing is....the entire German medical system was made to handle X, Y and Z.....then nothing else.  I don't think the working-class German ever sat there and pondered over the extent or landscape of the medical system.

But here's the thing....why would you limit triage to just Covid?  Why not weigh the guy/gal upon entering the emergency room, and if they are 40 kg over their normal weight.....just refuse them as well?   The doper-guy who overdosed....why are you letting the guy into the hospital....just let the guy die out in the parking lot.  The smoker who has cancer....why are you bothering to spend precious medical support on that gal?  

I'm sure the Court folks won't agree with me, and probably will just try to sort this one Covid discussion.  If the court agrees with triage?  Well....at that point, the whole angle of someone paying x-amount for health insurance, and then been denied that service....comes into play.  It would seem  like a refund should occur for the tens of thousands you paid over the years for national health insurance.....although you would be dead by that point.  

UPDATE:  The court (in the last hour) came back to hand the situation to the politicians.  There has to be some law written....to give those with disabilities....more benefits when triage is applied.  'More rights than others'?  This will be interesting to watch how the SPD-Greens-FDP writes this, and if it will be challenged in court or to the EU level.  The EU standard?  Well....everyone has X, Y and Z rights....with no one getting extra rights.  The fact that non-vax folks will start to claim disability situations in this 'mess' and get the extra rights themselves?  It wouldn't shock me.  

Two Movies

 Over the past two weeks....via German TV, I've watched two movies.  

The first was a BBC/RAI/ZDF production of 80 Days Around the World.  Eight episodes.....45 minutes each (no commercials, because it was on public TV - ZDF).

So, if you read the book by Jules Verne, watched the 1956 movie (David Niven) or the 2004 movie.....this has basically no real relationship to them, which is rather odd.  Oh, I agree....there is a bet. There is a travel segment.  There are a couple of major characters.  And it comes to the same conclusion in  the end.

So the criticism.  It seemed awful cheaply produced.  The Fogg character in this attempt is portrayed as a woeful guy....weak, and unable to carry through on decisions.  Passepartout is a black guy, who faces racism left and right in the movie.  Forte (the reporter) is a woman.  

I made it through second, third, and eighth segments of the movie.  It was like watching a woke-series, and delivered like a two star soap opera.  Verne wrote the piece to be 'fun' (enjoyable).  This was more like an adult lesson on 'how to be a loser but succeed'.  Fogg?  He's got all kinds of problems (never mentioned by Verne) and ought to be working at some cheese cake factory, or serving drinks at a pub.

So here's the odd thing.....as bad as I saw the series.....the three networks who built this loser of a movie have decided upon a second series (another eight episodes).  There's probably some other bet, and maybe some travel off into Africa or South America.  

I'm just shaking my head....if you've watched the 1956 or 2004 version....this 2021 movie is crap.  They might as well remake Passepartout as a trans-gal, have Fogg sitting in a mental institute at the beginning, and have everyone fall into a tiger-pit at some point of the movie.

So onto the second movie review, from ARD (Channel One, public TV) from last night....entitled: Eldorado KaDeWe.  

This is based somewhat on the Jewish family that ran the KaDeWe department store in Berlin, and their woes from 1918 to the mid-1930s.  

So there are six episodes to this....all running last night (Monday) and starting at 8:15 PM.  Yes, it ran to around 1:30 AM....without commercials or breaks.  Why?  Unknown.  I would have done this over a one-week period....an hour at a  time.

Unusual effects....about 30 minutes into the movie, you suddenly had a scene where it was modern-day Berlin (a car in the background).  Then you began to notice about every ten to fifteen minutes.....another modern scene built into the movie.  Weird?  Yeah.  The only thing I thought was that they simply didn't have the budget for a purely 1920s/1930s movie, and just eased modern scenes/landscapes into the movie.

Wild sex built into this?  Well....there's several scenes over the five hours where bondage, lesbians and kinky stuff are built into the story-telling.  

About two hours into this.....I began to shake my head.  The situation was more of a lusty soap opera, than a historical piece.

All historically correct?  WELL....NO.  This lead character in the piece....Fritzi (female daughter of the store owner) who carries the bulk of the movie as a lesbian....was a totally made-up character.  The owner didn't have a lesbian daughter.  So this lesbian angle....probably used for 25-percent of the entire movie....was just a created piece for public interest.  

(Note: maybe the 80 Days Around the World movie should have gone and made Fogg into a lesbian....it might have improved the movie)

The Nazi angle toward the final two hours?  Probably accurate.

As for some standing to the 1920s era?  I give them four-stars for that effort.  It's one of the few German movies made to explain and detail the era, which I think is one of the interesting periods of German history.

Trying to watch it?  I'd suggest you take only one segment (45 minutes) per evening, and try to avoid connecting the modern-day scenes to the movie (someone probably should edit out those segments).  I'd also just try to forget about the historical account of the Berlin store....it's just a half-true/half-fictional situation.  Finally.....if you are into lesbian stories/dramas and hot-lusty scenes.....I'd give it four stars.  

Airline Chatter

 I've chatted about this several times,  and I noticed via N-TV (commercial German news) the topic came up again today.....the bills for flights to return Germans from being stuck overseas when Covid started in 2020.

The court decided in the past two weeks that it's a legit bill....so the debt is now handed to the Germans who were stuck.

How many emergency flights were arranged?  Well.....260.

Bills to be sent out?  They are now down to the final 7,000 bills (starting originally at 54k).

It's about a quarter-million Germans who were stuck somewhere on the Earth and unable to get scheduled flight home.

Total cost of the whole 'rescue'?  It's up to the mid-90-million.

A fair number were peeved about being stranded, and likely suing their airlines for that problem.  

What I found interesting about this whole deal....the EU actually contributed around 30-odd million Euro to the rescue package....so no one is really paying the full price on this situation.  

Me being almost in the middle of this as well?  Interestingly enough, I had two tickets to Japan for late March, and I came all the way up to 7 days prior to leaving....when I realized that we'd never be able to return.  Luckily, the airline offered me a free cancellation (getting my money back).  Otherwise, I probably would have sat in Japan for two to three months before some rescue deal occurred.

German Covid Chatter: 26 December 2021

 1.  The federal authorities for law enforcement (LKA) say that 11,000-plus Germans are now under investigation for having/buying a fake shot-record vaccination slip.  In talking about this.....they kinda hint that more people fall onto the list each day.  If you figure investigation time, court man-hours.....this will likely drag onto late-summer 2022.

2.  The Ministry of Interior has a FBI-like office and they were asked if they were counting lateral-thinkers (the anti-vax crowd in Germany).  Well....'no' was the response.  Between the anti-Covid folks and the conspiracy folks......it would amount to a tremendous amount of surveillance, and I seriously doubt that they have that kind of manpower or desire to dig into that many German's personal lives.  

How many would fall into these two groups (anti-Covid/lateral thinkers and the conspiracy folks)?  Anyone's guess but it'd probably go to 5-million easily.  

First-Class Chatter

 I noticed this story off RBB (Berlin public TV) this AM....the topic is offering first-class/upgraded situations on local subway travel.

Some folks finished up a study on Berlin public transportation.  What they generally say is that a fair number of residents in Berlin make enough.....that they'd actually be enticed to use public travel more....if 'something' was offered.

The hook to this?  A fair number of the people who make better incomes in the region of Berlin....now live outside of the city....in the suburbs.

Is first-class subway (S-Bahn or U-Bahn) travel enticing?  I've used the offerings of Frankfurt and would generally say that it's just not that big of deal, and the more costly ticket isn't worth the cost.  

Better quality cabins?  You probably won't find it being some big improvement (not like the ICE trains).  Wi-Fi?  It's standard now for the most part.  Scented air?  Don't count on it.  More audits to ensure the lower-class doesn't sneak on?  Maybe.

I just can't see what you'd offer to me.....to suggest I pay 4.50 Euro instead of 2.90 Euro for this one-way trip.  Maybe if it was a sealed-off half-cabin, with a coffee shop in the middle.....offering up Starbucks-quality coffee at a regular price.....it might entice me to ride.  But if this is a 45-minute trip.....I'd want more than just coffee for that 7.50 Euro one-way ticket.  

Ag Minister Speaks

 I sat and watched N-TV German AM news this morning.  

The new Agricultural Minister came on and was interviewed.  So he brings up three interesting things about to occur in 2022.

First, food prices are going up (he doesn't suggest prices).  Part of this is a German public hype over animal welfare and that farmers have to concerned over their animals.  

If you were asking me to guess....I'd say meat prices will escalate by 25-percent over 2022.  A lot of this will be fee/tax driven.

Second, he's overly concerned about chunky/fat Germans, and that something has to occur with sugar, fat and salt in grocery products.   How this develops?  Anyone's guess.  

You might walk into a grocery and the potato chip bag might only contain healthy product chips.....that have zero taste, and you won't buy the product.  It'd be crazy but Germans are pro-regulation without realizing the consequences.

It wouldn't shock me if they mandated the size of a Coke/Pepsi can....that the product could only be 100 calories. 

Third, he got onto the topic of cannabis being legalized in 2022, and that some type of 'boom' will occur with the 'hemp' industry. 

Conversations Always Start With Covid

 I sat last night....in the midst of Germans (having just met them), and the very first topic of conversation was....Covid.  They were working-class type folks.

What you can say?  They don't really believe the bulk of what the Health Minister says...they doubt the jab business makes that much difference....life is awful regulated over this stuff....the virus drives everyday life more than anything else, and their lives have been affected by the virus in terms of economics (either retired early because of business collapse, or laid off temporarily because business lessened in a dramatic way).

I'll say this about German society....virtually everyone now has an opinion, and they are openly critical about a dozen-odd factors of Covid.

It is a divided society.....pro-vaccination and non-vax folks.  You might be around folks who got forced into the corner to be vaxed-up, but their enthusiasm is pretty marginal.  Most folks remember 2019 like it was yesterday, and no one sees those days returning anything soon.

It's not like Germans are consumed over Covid....but each evening, the 8 PM news on ARD (Channel One, Public TV) leads off in 80-percent of cases with Covid.  Even at 8:15 PM, there might be a 15-to-20 minute 'special' to expand on the day's Covid news. So you get a strong dose and some would suggest a unhealthy dose of 'fear porn' or 'hyped-up worry'.  

If you asked me....do people drink more because of this?  No, I wouldn't go at this direction.  It just comes up as you board a bus or train....or at the office....or while dealing with the bakery shop lady.  You have to live with an imaginary 700-lb bear in the middle of your house.

Covid Chatter

 I sat and watched N-TV news this afternoon (German commercial news network) and they talked up this subject that the Bavarian Health Minister Klaus Holetschek brought up.

Holetschek said....if you are a non-vax kind of guy.....you ought to be paying more for your healthcare insurance.

I sat there for a while and thought about it.  Then I came to the idea that I felt he was half-way right.

You see....why stop on just non-vax people?  If you smoke cigarettes or chew tobacco......your health insurance ought to be 25-percent more per year.  

Hard drinking folks?  Conduct the liver test and if you are a serious drinker of alcohol.....hike that guy's health insurance by 25-percent a year.

Weigh the guy every six months.  If he/she is 30 pounds over their normal weight.....hike the cost of the health insurance by 25-percent a year. 

If you have unusual sport activities.....jumping out of planes or swimming in shark infested waters.....hike that health insurance up by 25-percent a year.

If you eat meat....your health insurance ought to go up by 25-percent a year.

If you have really weird sexual habits.....your health insurance ought to go up by 25-percent a year.

If you tend to drive over 160 kph a good bit (100 mph)....your health insurance ought to go up by 25-percent a year.

If you show any drug habit (LSD, meth, etc), your health insurance ought to go up by 25-percent a year.

Based on this lifestyle thing.....we might get people to paying 250-percent of normal health insurance, and lead people back to pretty boring and dull-eating habit lives.

In fact, if you swear that you are only eating roots, berries, and herbs.....I could see cutting your health insurance by 35-percent.  If you live under a bridge and consume only river water....maybe you ought to get a 8-percent discount on your health insurance.  

Me cynical about this whole non-vax thing?  If you have a fully vaxed-up guy (with a booster shot) and he still gets Covid....bad Covid....and goes into the hospital for serious treatment (ICU)....then I'd like to know the medical history to the guy.  If he's got really bad numbers on Vitamin D....I'd like to know why.  

My Suggestion For the German Road Ahead in the Covid Era

 It won't be pleasing for some German enthusiasts....but here's my suggestion.

Go take Christmas, New Year's Eve, Rosenmontag, Easter, Oktoberfest, the various wine fests, public celebrations.....then cram them all into June, July and August.  

Yes, re-date all of them.  

Have Junefest in Munich, in early June, with plenty of beer-drinking.

Arrange for Christmas to be around the 1st of July.  I admit....drinking hot gluhwein probably isn't a plus-up, but I could drink cold gluhwein instead.  

Run New Year's eve four weeks after Christmas....around the very end of July.  Approve the fireworks and celebrating.

Then have the wine fests and Fasching business (parades, etc) in August.

Get it all done in a low-Covid period.  

Yes, just accept the fact that Covid will never go away, and it's better to have cultural events in a non-threatening period.

I know some of you Germans will say these are all written into stone, to which I'd say 'no'......you can write a simple script and allow regular traditions to morph/change.  

Crazy?  Well....who knew that some silly bat disease would get out of some lab in Wuhan and destroy civilization?  

Three Funny Stories Over Covid

 1.  It's come now that the London police are under investigation.  Reason?  Well....it was reported to them that members of Prime Minister's group were having a Christmas party.....while lockdown was going on.  This (the party) took place around the 18th.  

What'll happen?  Well....someone down the line (within police leadership) will have to admit that they just ordered a stand-down.

But here's the thing.....once you admit a party did occur and the PM himself knew it was underway, during a lockdown....there's not much left for the PM to do....except resign.

I look over the story and am mostly amused.....there are a thousand reasons you'd resign as PM.  Attending a Christmas party under forbidden status....isn't one that you'd expect.

So there are at least ten guys/gals sitting there....freshening up their resume and in hopes that Johnson resigns in the next month over this.  But....there's this one problem....if any of them attended the party business as well....they can't run.  

2.  PM Johnson of the UK came out with a Christmas theme 'get-a-shot' message video.  So, it's worked into the 'brand'....that getting 'jabbed' like being a messenger for Jesus Christ, and this all follows along with Christ 'teachings'.  

I sat there....thinking this was a joke.  No, he actually worded it in this way....get a jab, and be a messenger of Jesus.  

After a while....it just hit me....it's like a cult message that you'd expect.  

3.  Finally, over the last two months....a lot of hype has occurred in Germany over getting a booster shot (to the original two shots).  

I noticed in the past week....the new hype has gone that booster #1 is NOT enough, and that you may need to conclude a booster #2 within three months of booster #1.  The odds that booster #3 is somewhere in the campaign for March/April?  I'd give it a 50-50 shot at this point.  

Will the public go along with this?  There's a certain group out of the 65-odd million who are vaxed-up.....who probably won't do the booster #1 until the 8th to 9th month (meaning they won't even call a doctor or reserve a time for the booster) for three or four more months.  I'd take a wild guess that 20-percent of vaxed-up Germans are going along with this strategy.  

Natural Gas Chatter

 It's not anything to panic about, but I noticed this off N-TV (German commercial news) this AM....that around a week ago, the Russians trimmed off their natural gas pipeline flow into Germany.

What this means in the flow of natural gas?

Well....Poland actually gets a good bit of it's gas off a German distributor, who buys it off the Russians.  If there is no flow to the Germans.....there's nothing much to sell to Poland. 

Reasons for this flow issue?  Well....this gets down to several, and none really make that much sense, unless the true aim was to get the Germans moving toward approval of the Nord Stream II pipeline.  Paperwork-wise?  It's just sitting there....no one is aggressively working via the Germans to make it operational.

This also leading to longer-term contracts?  I would tend to agree with that....the Russians would probably like to have a guaranteed profit laid out.

Creating a panic?  No.  There are enough alternate sources to make it through the remainder of the winter.  But if this were a permanent method of handling natural gas....it'd be a different story.

Hurting the ultra-wealthy class in Russia?  Yeah.....I'm guessing they are sitting there and generally expect Euro to flow in, and this is a bit disturbing.  

Old Gal Story

 German federal law dictates the conditions of 2G.....meaning you enter a place/facility....vaxed-up or recovered from Covid, and it's handed to the states to manage this (or define where it will be used).

So if you are a restaurant or bar....allowed to stay open in these times, you have to manage customers in a blunt/direct way.  If you tried to look the other way?  Cops and inspectors come around....inspecting.  Fines and shutdowns are possible.

So Focus brought up this story out of NW Germany.  Older gal (75) shows up at a restaurant for a birthday bash of a friend.  She's done her job......she's jabbed-up and meets all conditions. 

The restaurant staff has to conclude her entry.

Well....the old German gal asks for their vaccination status and their ID.  They say NO, that's not the game.....they don't have to offer the same situation.

Old gal gets bit angry, and they block her way into the restaurant.  She is eventually denied entry.  

So, here's the thing....the law is written in one certain way.....only the customers are audited and reviewed.....if you were a customer and wanted an assurance that they are immunized?  Well....no, it's not written that way. 

Could the pub or restaurant have people who are NOT 2G compliant?  Yes, but probably with the assurance of a Covid test that they are OK.    

Screwed-up?  This will be openly discussed for a while but it's the funny way that the law was defined and written.  I'm pretty sure as we get deeper into a regulated life....challenges will be mounted, with most likely failing.  The problem here....each time some event occurs like this, you'd flip on this logical mind, and ask stupid questions.  The regulated world isn't built for someone who asks logical questions.

Can we blame the commercial world for this mess?  No.  They were handed some regulation to comply with, or get heavily fined.  If the government said to check everyone's backpack or handbag for knives.....they'd have to do it.  

How The Germay/Omikron Script is Written?

 Well....here's the key point, they figure currently....for each newly infected guy/gal, there's likely in the range of four people who will be infected before tests are done to quarantine guy/gal number one.  So you can do the math as a German politician and come to realization that in about four weeks (end of January)....ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE, unless you put people on shutdown status.

Omikron being more of active situation than regular Covid or Delta?  Well....yeah, that also figures into this.

So the script says that at this peak (figure the entire month of Feb....basic services, deliveries, fire and police support, and medical help....will be hit and miss.  

It's not that they all need hospitalization....just that each single person will figure into a ten to fifteen home-quarantine/recovery situation.  

Garbage pick-up?  I figure at least one or two pick-up's in Feb for my village....simply won't occur because there's not enough crew to make it happen.

Postal delivery?  I would estimate that three to five days in Feb....will be non-postal days because there's just not enough personnel around.

Grocery operations?  The local grocery will be open but the crew of ten or so folks stocking shelves and clerking?  There might just be three or four people there....running a marginal operation.

Train scheduled screwed up?  It wouldn't surprise me a quarter of all schedule trains for a week or two are cancelled because of a lack of drivers.

Trying to get a medical appointment via my local clinic doctor?  I might get the message that he and his four nurses are out and won't be recovered for ten days.

This is what I expect.  

It's not doom or gloom.....you just accept the fact that this is going to slide through the local community and deliver six weeks of harsh reality.  

Parking Story

 Some weird event in a Wiesbaden parking garage (underground, two levels, at the heart of the shopping district) yesterday.

So much traffic flow, that everything literally stopped within the underground garage.  Cops had to be called and took about two to three hours to get the crowd out, and reset the system.  

Covid Chatter: 24 Dec 2021

 1.  The 'boss' of the Frankfurt soccer club (Eintracht Frankfurt) came out pretty critical over the 'ghost game' idea (no fans allowed in the arenas).  Lot of economic talk and losses for the club....that consequences will occur.  

It is hurting the future of major league soccer but there's simply no plan 'b'. 

2.  In my region....the city of Limburg had the idea of running a longer Christmas Market than normal.....all the way to the 29th of December.  Word came out yesterday, because of new state regulations....it'll close today (24th).  

3.  The Frankfurt Opera facility has heavily condemned the new regulations....limiting an audience to 250 max.  It's supposed to start on 28 December.  As he says.....why bother even opening the place to a small group.

4.  The 7-day infection rate (per 100,000) is now down to 280 (roughly half of what it was a month ago).

5.  I noted off N-TV this morning....all sixteen German states now report Omikron in their region.

6.  One aspect hyped up for months.....was German contact-tracing.  This is where you had one guy who'd been tested positive.  The local health officer would sit and analyze the guy's path over the past 24 hours and contact people to get them tested.

Well....N-TV talked about this element, and the health authorities now admit that things have reached a level where just about no one is able to accomplish contact-tracing.  It's simply a form....left blank....just too many people and not enough health officers to make it work.

7.  70.7-percent of the German population is fully vaxed-up, reports N-TV.  On the booster rate?  It's around 35-percent presently.  

Chatter on the 2nd booster?  It's rarely mentioned but some journalists suggest it'll be apparent by mid-summer 2022. 

Triage in the News

 I was sitting and viewing a N-TV item this afternoon....over Covid.

So triage gets brought up a lot.  In German circles.....triage means that there is limited support medically, and someone is going evaluate you.  They will end up giving you x-amount of service or marginal-amount of care.  

What's this mean for Covid folks?  Well.....you could be identified by your husband or wife for some really bad situation, and an ambulance is called.  You get to the emergency room, and they evaluate you at the front door....then ask, are you vaxed-up or recovered?  If you answer non-vax?  Well....in a triage moment, that doctor could say it's a priority for vaxed-people or recovered people, and you get just plain regular service, no ICU help, or no ventilator.

There's this Freiburg area legal scholar who has reviewed legal situations and basically said.....doctors should have the right to regard a non-vax guy/gal as a second-rate patient....denying them service.  It doesn't matter if you paid the same insurance deal, or lived the same lifestyle.  

There are various other folks who have the opposing view and suggest otherwise.

The fact that we've arrived at some point to discuss how to divide people?  This is a bit of an amusing discussion.  If you'd brought this up ten years ago.....people would have jumped all over the triage idea of denying medical service.

Yet, here we are.

My view?  I have three observations:

1.  If you wanted a serious confrontation at the emergency entrance of hospitals....where relatives or friends are ready to confront in a emotional and hurtful way....this discussion is the way to start that conflict.  You'd have to have at least ten police at each emergency room....ready to take on action that they probably don't want to get involved in.

You'd just end up with police hurt, who probably are non-vax and wounded because of consequences by the doctors.....now they (the policeman wounded) won't get service either.

2.  If this does make sense.....why not ask if they smoke, and deny them service for that 'act' as well.  Maybe we could weigh people at the emergency room door, and deny them service if they are more than 30 pounds over their ideal weight.  That would make perfect sense.  Adding to this....why offer emergency care for overdose folks?  We might be able to empty out 10-percent of all patients in a hospital in a matter of just twenty-four hours.

3.  Finally, realizing how crappy your local service is, and how triage would affect you.....it's quiet possible that your friends or relatives would realize the local mess, and drive you an hour or two....to some remote and less used facility....getting you into that facility for your Covid.  Covid-Taxi service?  You might be dragged 500 kilometers to a hospital with a state hospital unit that would take you.

If you ask me.....is this whole mess working to divide society and create parallel universes?  I'd say yeah.....without a plan or understanding of consequences.....this is a pretty weird deal.  

Covid Chatter Story

 There was an interview done today between N-24 (the German commercial news network) and Alexander Thoss.

Thoss is an interesting guy.  Across Germany....he's a big-time poker player.  He's also the founder/CEO of Home Deluxe Gmbh (they sell home saunas and hot tubs).  

So he had Covid a long while back.....got over it.....then got vaxed-up twice (fully vaxed), and then this past week was in Abu Dhabi.  To get there, he had to be 2G-plus (meaning he was tested prior to boarding the plane).

After wrapping up the trip, boarded the plane (after taking another test) and arrived in Germany.....where a number of hours later, felt sick and tested via the PCR test.....to find that he has Omikron.

If you interviewed the guy.....he'd probably tell that Covid itself is like a poker-game and even if you held a straight flush and felt fantastic....the Covid guy next to you might have a royal flush and destroy your whole game experience.  

Tests

  My wife (German in nature) works for a company that asks each employee to do the 'quickie' self Covid test at home twice a week (usually Monday and Thursday).  They actually buy the kits (probably a case of 500 of them....Chinese-made of course) and just hand them out via the office breakroom.  So each week, she brings two kits into the house and stacks them on the kitchen table.

My job, as 'technician-to-all-geeky-matters'....is to open one kit up on the mornings required, and conduct the test on her.  It takes roughly three minutes to get a 'mark' (you just hope and pray it's one single negative mark and not the double-mark-meaning-positive).  She takes a picture of the results, and reports this to the company secretary, who keeps some record if the government guys ever come to audit the company.  

German kids basically do the same thing at school.  They arrive on a Monday morning.....each has a kit on his/her desk, and prepares for the procedure.  You can probably blindfold most German kids and they've done it enough to do it without seeing the kit.  A positive result?  Well...that makes things interesting in the class. Because false positives do occur, you usually get a second kit and hopefully it slips over to the negative side.

Otherwise?  You get hustled out of the class.....a call goes to the parents, and you end up at some clinic for the PCR test.  

All this self-testing satisfactory for train and bus mandates?  WELL....NO.  That's the amusing thing.  Companies and schools will accept the self-test.  The police, bus people, and train authorities won't accept self-tests, and you are supposed to show up for citizen's test labs (free of course) IF you don't have the vaccination or are not recovered.  You boarded a bus at 7 AM and a ticket/Covid test audit is done, and you haven't completed the citizen's test lab....you will get invited to a court-house situation and likely fined.  

Hurting the public transportation sector?  If you are a non-vax person....the odds are that you've given up on buses and trains, and will use a motorcycle, bike or car to reach work each day.  On the trust-level, you probably have given up some positive view of the system.

How long will this heighten situation continue?  I would assume until we reach early April when the numbers will decrease and public fascination will drop like a rock.  

Wind-Generator Chatter

 N-24 (German commercial news) brought up this topic today....that the Greens are reviewing options (within the government) to hinder German states (16 of them) from halting or limiting windmill generators.

To explain this trend....when you go back to the 1980s when wind-generators started up around Germany, they were mostly a phenomenon that was accepted by the public.  No one 'cancelled' projects in that first decade or two.

Somewhere around 2000 to 2010.....as the number of wind-generators grew (into the thousands)....people  started to develop this anti-wind-generator attitude.  

I should note currently, there are about 29,600 on-shore wind-generators in Germany (as of 2020).

This negative attitude?  Some of this was based on simply landscape preferences.....folks didn't want to observe a large flat range (miles and miles) where sixteen-odd generators were 'mounted'.  Some of the attitude was about placement....folks didn't want a generator within a km or two of their village or farm (the health worry issue).  Some of this was based on a fake-scare tactic that taking down forty trees to put up a flat area and three wind-generators...was going to kill birds, mice or other creatures.

So as permits were applied....people stood up at meetings and voiced concerns...a fair number of permits were refused.  

Companies were a bit shocked and unprepared for this type of 'fight'.

In my own region, there's been a fight to put up a group (maybe five or six wind-generators) on a hillside.....where at least two-hundred trees would have to be cut.  This permit has gone almost nowhere because of local opposition.

The Greens?  Well....if you look at the plan to take down nuke-power and coal-power over the next couple of years, then wind-generators have to be increased.  They need to halt state and local opposition.   They'd like for states just to write enough legislation....to hinder the anti-generator crowd and remove the legal obstacles. 

As for the notion 'if-they-fail'?  The grid requires x-amount of power, and the system was never designed to be a 100-percent 'clean' grid.  This coming year (2022) might be an interesting period to observe legal entanglement creation or worry over the electrical grid.  

Implications/Path For Legalized Marijuana Sales in Germany

 Before the end of 2022, I feel pretty confident that Germany will have passed the legislation to make Cannabis/Marijuana sales legal in Germany.  So I'll offer these general predictions:

1.  While the massive control apparatus will be in the federal rules written, it will be up to each state (16 of them) to run the legalized sales. 

2.  Cost decreasing because of legal sales?  NO.  You now involve brick-and-mortar establishments, which mean rental costs, heat, electricity, advertising, and employee cost (to include health insurance, pension tax, etc).  If anything, I expect the average cost of a gram to escalate over the illegal cost by 25-percent (yeah, it will be shocking to realize this).  Don't forget....sales tax will also be figured into this mess (figure 19-percent).

3.  Illegal sales still continuing?  Yes, without any doubt.  Just on cost factor alone, probably one-quarter of all weed sales in the country will still be done illegally (my prediction).

4.  The same guys selling illegally today on the street....hired to run store-front weed shops?  NO.  

While they had the knowledge on the product....on running a actual store-front, I don't see them being that capable (or trustworthily). 

5.  How quick will this take off?  Just a humble guess here, but I would imagine at least 300 cities/towns in Germany have at least one weed shop opened in the first month of legalization.  In a city like Mainz (200k residents), there's probably going to be six to eight 'head-shops' around town.  In Frankfurt (750k-plus residents), there might be twenty 'head-shops'.  

6.  Open hostility by the government that illegal sales still occur.....a year into legalization?  No doubt.  But just on cost factor alone....a lot of people will ask why legal weed is 25-percent more than illegal weed.

7.  Finally, the government will have a legit/accurate method of assessing how much weed/Marijuana is used by Germans on a daily/weekly basis.  It'll be openly discussed.  

The 'Be Prepared' Story

 A couple of years ago....Chancellor Merkel came out and made a 'big-deal' over being prepared for a massive blackout.  The chatter went this way.....you ought to have a week's worth of food on hand....if things shutdown.  At the time...a fair number of Germans asked the question....is there something you aren't openly discussing?

My wife (German) reacted to the discussion and went a fair bit aggressive.....there is now a corner of the basement with ten days worth of canned goods, and the second freezer sits there now (stocked up).  

So today, while watching N-TV (commercial German news).....the 'be-prepared' situation came up again.  The scenario?  Large-scale and long power outage or massive snowfall.

Who says this?  The German Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance.

I looked at their list and it became obvious....a good bit of this revolves around the idea that you need food which requires no boiling/cooking.  Camping rations?  More or less.  They even suggested 20 liters of water (per person) in this stash.

Older Germans (going back to the 1940s/1950s) kept a fair amount of food in the house and probably were capable of handling two weeks of a blizzard easily.  Today?  There are people out there with no more than 48 to 72 hours worth of food in the apartment.  They are in the habit of continually shopping every other day....keeping a 'small footprint' in the kitchen.

Is this all over-hype?  Well....you don't know.  I will admit....most Germans would be absolutely shocked if their electrical power went out for twelve-plus hours.  Most shoppers would be shocked how quick their grocery shelves went bare if a 48-hour blizzard swept through and dumped tons of snow on the roads....preventing deliveries.  

Maybe the hype is worth the effort.  

Covid Chatter in Germany

 1.  Focus brought up this discussed item today.....Omikron worries the authorities so much.....that basic services (even fire and police) will be challenged as the 'wave' hits.

So they've discussed the incubation period...it's a good bit less than regular Covid....they assess it at 3 days.  The general idea discussed is that you'd cut the quarantine time (regularly assessed at 14 days).  

Practical?  No one says much and everybody will have a different reaction to Omikron.  

2.  Around 5,000 Germans held a protest-march in Munich last night.  While majority were peaceful....a handful went into aggressive behavior (around a dozen arrested).

As lockdown occurs....it's likely that the protest situation will expand out.  

3.  I noticed in Spanish news that they went to a must-wear-mask routine for urbanized outdoor situations.  If you are in an outdoor market or shopping district area.....the mask now must be worn.

4.  For a number of weeks, there's been this political discussion going on of a open-database (names, addresses, vax-status) to be created in Germany. Presently, no such database exist.

I noticed this morning that the key German for data protection/privacy (Kelber).....has spoken up to this topic and asks the question....is this really necessary?  He's asking this because of potential misuse/abuse.  

It's difficult to predict how this will evolve or be settled.  States might make the case that only they can handle this and it must be a state-operated situation, without federal or police interference.  

General German reaction?  Well....if you go back 15 years ago, when Google started to have imagery to show people's backyards/property.....that got a lot of anti-data collection people pepped-up.  Germans get hyped about Facebook privacy (lack there of), and just having street cameras around in public places is a mild issue discussed.

Germany and Covid: 22 Dec 2021

 1.  Last night, via German public TV news....the Health Minister (Lauterbach) said that a shutdown of sorts will occur in January, but likely not go for more than the month itself.  All of this because of the quick pace of Omikron?  More or less.  Winter sports (skiing affected)?  Yes.  Actual details?  Zero.  The sixteen states to agree to this?  That's not on the table yet and some of the states might not be so agreeable for a full and absolute shutdown.

2.  Starting 28 December, 'ghost games' are back on the schedule for soccer....meaning just players, ref's, and management at the stadiums.  Hurting clubs?  Well....a lot of clubs were limited to participants at the stadiums anyway.  I doubt if anyone is making 2019 levels of profit.  

3.  7 Jan is the next German federal/state meeting on Covid.  This shutdown discussion likely occurs on that day, and runs (I'm guessing here)....to 31 Jan (Monday). 

EU Covid Vaccination Rule Effective Now

 If you were a EU resident, and vaxed-up.....your vaccination is now good for NINE months, period.

At that nine-month-one-day point, the 'pass' is no longer valid unless you did a booster.

How this is going to be taken?  Well....it's hard to predict this part.  Some Germans have it in their mind that this was a one-time thing.  Most of them might accept the logic and go for a booster around the ninth-to-tenth month.  Some....might not show back up unless 'forced' in some way.

This all agreeing with the effective nature?  If you go to various studies....using either Modernia or BionTech....both start to weaken seriously around sixth-to-eighth month.  The virus guys may agree with this 9-month deal, but come right back to suggest it being closer to six months, than nine months.  

Gondolas?

 There's a great piece written up on Focus today....on the topic of Gondolas and how several German cities are reviewing the idea of introducing them for mass transit.  I'd recommend a read of the article. 

There's a study done now....looking at Munich and the idea of a 4.5 km long Gondolas 'network'.  Covid did come along to lengthen the study, and it'll be released in 2022.  

You can speculate a bit on this, but until one major city goes to placing a network....say two or three lines of 2-to-3 km's long....you can't predict the success rate of this.

Personally?  I look locally at my town of Wiesbaden and it could very easily connect to Mainz, and have a downtown-to-downtown run of twelve minutes.  Put in a stop or two on each side of the river, and this would make perfect sense.  

In Frankfurt?  I could see three or four networks.  

How The New Covid Ban Rules Look?

 N-TV (commercial news) is discussing what was said in Berlin this morning, so the basic features are:

1.  Christmas applications.  If you are non-vaxed and gathering for Christmas dinner....it's supposed to only be your immediate family (not the extended family).  How you will ask this and get a response from the relative/friend?  Unknown. 

2.  New Year's Eve.  It's worded kinda funny.  It appears that it doesn't matter on your vax status.....it should just be limited to your household itself....no other contact.  Any kind of extended party (like your co-workers, friends)?  That appears to be totally forbidden.  

3.  Night-clubs and disco operations?  They appear to be on the closed status.

4.  Soccer games or concerts?  There will be a limit on participants/fans.

5.  Big lockdowns?  They weren't on the list, yet. 

6.  Hint on infrastructure?  Well....it was worded in the way to say they expect a lot of people by the end of January to be quarantined at home, and various things....won't work in a normal way.  It's possible that you might have a fire in your house and only three guys show up to battle it (my interpretation).  You might call for the police and still be waiting six hours for some crew to arrive.  You might show up at the post office in your town....to find just one window open. 

More stuff to come?  Probably the week after New Years.....there's probably another meeting and more stringent things to occur as Omikron builds up.  

Governmental Fear of Omikron?

 Over the past couple of weeks, since Omikron 'fear' came out....what you can generally say is that the German authorities (federal and state) are worried that the hospital system over the next two months is going to reach a stage of collapse.  News sites and public news kinda hint this.

Is this a legit fear?  

Well....you take three thing and merge into a scenario.

1.  Most everyone anticipates a 'speed' situation where you wake up in late January and around 20-percent of the public has a bout of Omikron.  Call it the wave-after-wave-after-wave script.

2.  Most experts do agree.....the effect of Omikron is less than regular Covid or Delta....but you still end up with what is a decent 'blast' of flu to keep you quarantined and forced to stay in your house for two weeks. 

3.  Then you come to food/service/medical attention and realize that a lot of things just aren't going to work with two months of Omikron 'roaming around Germany.  Bus service, trains, ambulances, dental operations, police, fire departments, grocery stores, prisons, water, sewage, garbage-pick-up, etc.

You could be sitting there to watch the evening news and note some totally new gal giving it (never seen before) and she admits that news person #1 through #10 are not available.  

You might walk into your local grocery to note of the twenty-odd people who are normally there....there's just two and the shift-boss is some 19-year old migrant guy who marginally speaks German.

You might call your local garage for a urgent repair....to discover the six-man staff is now down to one guy and your repair can't be schedule for at least four weeks.

You might be at the corner grocery and wanting to buy beer.....only to discover that your favorite beer is zeroed out and it might be two weeks before a delivery truck to haul a pallet in.

It's not the serious nature that worries people....it's just the rapid spread and two-week recovery process.  

Nuke Power

 In the past year, a lot of chatter has come up within the EU over the idea of saying natural gas/nuke power.....are sustainable, and should be supported.  

Chief reason for this chatter?  If you glean through all of the news outlets....this goes to two consequences....higher cost for electricity and potential blackouts.

If you live in Germany....you are accustomed now to the idea that there might be two or three extremely short blackouts each year.....usually 30 to 60 minutes in length and tied to a weather issue.  I had a conversation in the mid-1980s with a German who talked to the issue in the mid-1960s....that folks generally expected a couple of four to eight hour blackouts each year.  

The average German, if confronted today with a 8-hour blackout....would ask a lot of stupid questions.  Personally, I think the politicians and electrical companies would prefer to avoid stupid questions, and most likely have arrangements to buy power off the French or Polish electrical grid.....at higher prices.

If the EU were to ease (force) the German government into accepting nuke plants?  It'd be a shocker to some folks.  But here's the chief problem....there's so much money and effort tied into shutting down the German nuke plants....that if the EU says nuke power is 'clean' and agreeable.....it would cost a ton of money to revamp the plan and bring nuke power back onto the grid.  That extra cost?  It'd go right onto your electrical bill.  

So it's something you ought to view from a distance, and wonder how the EU will handle this for 2022. 

Violent Weekend

 We had two rather unique episodes occur in Wiesbaden over the weekend.

For those unfamiliar with the city....it's an urbanized area that was for decades...'quiet'.  You didn't have much on crime, violence, or weird stuff.  For an American family based out of the area....you didn't have any fears much and letting 14-year old 'Junior' wander around the city wasn't a big deal.

So to the first of these events....from midnight on Sunday morning....some guy started acting weird and made a knife threat on a person or two.  Waving the knife around....he got immediate attention, and folks started calling the police.  Within minutes, they were on the scene and detained the guy.

Drugs likely in the mix?  No one says that but I would imagine he was on 'something'.

The second episode?  A couple hours prior to the knife guy.....on the far west part of town....two guys are crossing a street and some guy is approaching the two.....pulls a pistol out and shoots at them.  One of the two crossing the street is hit.....serious wound.  Cops are called and a search starts up.  They never find the guy.

The stranger?  Just a situation out of a random situation.  

It's just not as safe as it was in the 1980s.  

Kids and Vaccines Story

 This was a predictable moment.

So up in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.....the health authorities got all hyped up to go and vaccinate kids from the evil Covid.

We should note.....ONLY the vaccine Biontech has been approved for kid-use in Germany.  Moderna has NOT been approved.

So what Focus says.....at one vaccination center in Germany (Olpe).....they started vaccinating kids with the unapproved Moderna.  

How this happened?  It sounds like so-and-so talked over the phone, and someone made the mistake of saying Moderna rather than Biontech.  

A police situation?  Well....after this was all told to the parents....yeah, they insisted the police be called and there is this report over this.

How many affected?  So far, no one wants to discuss this.  You kinda get the impression it might only be dozens.

The problem, if you stand back and admire this.....folks get overly enthusiastic to go and 'save' people.  So it doesn't take much for some program to get twisted around and screwed up like this.  Has any kid reported issues so far?  No.  

Even TP Increases in Price

 Yes, business news today carried the note....toilet paper in Germany is going to be 20-percent more expensive.  

Not really a shock anymore. 

I went to my favorite dining experience in Wiesbaden this weekend.  When the end came with the bill?  Well....it was around 15-percent more than what it was say 2 years ago.  Everything is moving up.  

E-Car Story

 This morning, I noticed this story from N-TV (commercial German news).  For several years, there's been hype over getting public E-Car charging stations out into the general public.  

Someone did a study and found that 60-percent of all German cities, towns and villages.....have zero charging stations.

I sat and considered my local area.

In my village (4k residents)....there's zero charging stations, and there's no one much clamoring to have a public station.  If you did buy a E-Car.....you'd charge it off your garage or carport charger.

The nearest public charger?  About a 8-minute drive away.....there's a grocery store which has a public charger or two.  In Wiesbaden itself, I can identify around a dozen public chargers.  Most all sit idle whenever I drive past them.

Is it more expensive to use a public charger versus your carport charger?  Generally, the economic experts say you pay 25-to-40 percent more for the public charger business.  

Personally, I don't see the return on investment for these public chargers....not unless you were at some autobahn site,  and limited options.  

Covid Tickets

 Back in the early spring of 2020.....a lot of Germans were off in South Africa, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, etc....stuck.  The return flight business just ceased to exist because of Covid.

Several weeks went by.  Folks kinda got desperate.....they wanted to return to Germany.

So the German government went to Lufthansa, and asked if they'd arrange flights.  Yes was the answer, but they weren't free.  So embassy operations were told to identify the folks....get a number and within a week or two....the flights started.  The German couples/families had to sign a piece of paper....saying they'd pay the one-way flights back to the government.

Total amount in the tally?  Around 95-million Euro.  Number of folks?  67,000.  

Well....folks didn't think this was legal.  So they took this to court.

The court decided yesterday....yes, it was legal.

Shock?  I think all of the people involved figured it was a lost cause, but went to the court deal to see if they could get out of some portion  

Why You Might Wish For An Early Spring

 The new German Minister of Economics (Green Party Robert Habeck) came out yesterday (Friday) and said in a blunt statement....if Russia goes into a Ukraine invasion situation.....the federal government will step up and knock off the opening of the natural gas pipeline (Nord Stream II).

So the consequence likely coming?  At some point in January, I kinda expect the military situation to develop (call it a half-ass 'walk' of the Russians into a small area on the eastern coastal area of the Ukraine).  Germany will do the no-approval for Nord Stream II, and then you start to hear of lessening gas flow from the 1970s pipeline into Germany.  

Winter shortage of natural gas?  In a matter of just two to three weeks....whatever they have for back-up.....will be used up.  The alternate piplelines....from the North Sea area will be surged up, but there will be a mini-crisis to develop and the Green Party will get a fair amount of blame.

It's a scary scenario, and if you asked most Germans about their own natural gas.....they can tell you what they typically use, but they have no real idea about where it came from. 

Wishing for an early spring?  Well.....it might be something to wish upon.

The Loss of Trust

 For several weeks, up in Hamburg, Germany....the regional government had continually reported that the bulk of infected folks (from Covid).....were non-vax people.

Well....this week, if you viewed NDR (regional public TV)....there's some discussion going on, and accusations of fake information.

So, some reporters from from "Welt" and "Süddeutscher Zeitung" got active....dug through the data, and came to this conclusion....the authorities really don't have any factual data to say folks are vax'ed-up or non-vax, who end up in a ICU unit.

What's going on?  Health authorities are mandated to come to a factual point on each case of Covid.  It doesn't appear that they've gone to the point of getting such data.  Hospitals just as much in the problem?  Yeah....at least a third of the incoming Covid folks weren't drilled for the data.

Now, you can imagine yourself....bad off and laying in your apartment, with your wife or friend worried....so they call the ambulance and a crew arrives in hazmat suits to carry you to the hospital.  Your shot-record, vax-card, or cellphone?  Probably the last thing that you'd think about as they dragged you to the ambulance.

This brings you to the obvious issue.....all this fact-stuff handed out....to show the 'bad-boy' non-vax people as a problem?  You can't assume the story is true.  The fact that public TV journalists just repeated the story and never challenged this?  This is a funny element of the story.....in the end, it's the print-media journalists that just woke up and said.....you know....the story 'smells' bogus.

What happens now?  I think everyone will quietly stop jerking around on the vax-versus-non-vax element.  Maybe in a couple of months, this will be resolved, but it's going to take a while to gain trust back.

'Borrowed Time' Story

 This week, I read through a piece on Focus of a German forensic expert....who'd done around 230-odd autopsies out of Hamburg in 2020.....of Covid victims.  

It required me to put it down and ponder a good bit.

So the key elements of this story.....this guy (Klaus Puschel) normally did crime victim investigations, but 2020 erupted with a lot of Covid deaths out of the regional area of Hamburg.  At the conclusion of this effort....looking at bodies and medical history....he says basically the vast majority had previous ailments/problems (lung/heart).  

Some people knew of their problems.....some didn't know anything.  

In my own words....he lays out the case that all of the 230-odd people were living on 'borrowed time' even before Covid arrived.  Their previous ailments/problems were an open-door to Covid being severe.  

'Borrowed time' is something we tend not to think much about.

A  lot of us probably walk around for a decade or two.....having stupid health habits...smoking a pack a day....eating a pretty fatty diet....marginally working out....continually in a bad mental state, and never think much about the borrowed time factor.

What Covid has actually done, if you think about this.....it's erased the length of the borrowed time, and reset the clock.  Folks who thought they get away with a decade or two of stupid health stuff....are running out of borrowed time.  

Puschel ends his story with some advice....'stay fit'.  

New 'Boss' of the CDU Party?

 Friedrich Merz finally pushed back the pro-Merkel crowd and was elected the new party 'boss' yesterday to the CDU.

Long time coming?  You can go back around twelve years ago and view how the Merkel enthusiasts cornered him at various opportunities.  In 2020?  Same deal....he was pushed back.  Early in 2021....the Merkel-clone Laschet was the selected Chancellor candidate for the party and lost badly.  In this run for the party 'boss'?  He had basically two Merkel clones opposing him for the past two months as talks continued on.

You can more or less say the Merkel era has closed out for the party now, and things probably will progress in a different way.  

On debate style?  He has an aggressive ability and usually wins arguments.  What remains of the Merkel-clones?  I'd say five or six still hold strength in the party.  

The Thing About Test Kits

 This is a story about the quality of 'test kits' and why you have to always be skeptical of what you see or think.

Around fifteen-odd years ago in Germany.....we had a murder to occur, and the German CSI guys took out the DNA test kits and took samples.  Killer 'X' was established.  

A month or so passed.....another murder occurred.  German CSI guys did the DNA test kit sample.  Oddly enough....it matches up with Killer 'X'.

Over the course of maybe four years.....there's several  killings.....which all seem to lead to this one Killer 'X'.  In one case....a  break-in of a summer cottage, with some description of the person....the DNA kit identifies this teenage girl as Killer 'X' (suggesting from the description.....she was 15 years old).

All of this is worrying the federal police.  Maybe fifteen-odd deaths....teenage girl....killing folks.  They've invented a name for the person.....the 'phantom-killer'. 

One day....some German police detective stood up and  looked at everything.  Nothing made sense.  These were murders across Germany.  Nothing connected these in the slightest sense.  All committed by a teenage German girl?

He looked a plain regular DNA test kit.....German company.  He asks some questions.  They come to admit that they pack everything into the kit....but they don't make the swabs themselves.  He asks about that.....well, it leads to a Austrian company.

The guy drives down across the border to this swab company.  He comes to a small building.....probably not more than a dozen people working there.  The only thing they do....is make swabs.  

It's a summer day, and things are a bit hot.  He walks in and is given a tour by the 'boss'.  The 'boss' kinda indicates....they make a lot of swabs....for various folks.  At this point of the tour....some healthy Austrian gal more or less walks by....fairly sweaty and carrying a fair number of loose swabs in her hands.

The detective stood there....realizing that he'd found the 'Phantom Killer'.....it's just that she hadn't really killed anyone....she just left her DNA on the swabs.  The swabs were not pure and clean.  

So ended the case of the 'Phantom Killer'.  Up until that point, this was a five-star murder thriller.  Now it was mostly about a sweaty and lusty Austrian gal, with big hands.  

Germany and Covid: 17 Dec 2021

 1.  Omikron finally arrived in Wiesbaden (reported last night).  The deal is this....two school kids apparently have it (each going to a different school in the city).  The city health authorities gave the order for the other for all the kids in each class to do a couple of days of quarantine, then do a PCR test today.  Anyone's guess how many will test positive.  How they got it?  I would take an educated guess that both ride the city bus system and somewhere there....it got passed around.  

2.  This Covid vaccination booster (the 3rd shot) being effective on Omikron?  I sat this morning and was kinda surprised.  The German Health Minister, via Focus reporting.....hints that a 4th shot might be necessary....to get effective antibodies up to around 70-percent.  Before this stuff.....most people were thinking after wrapping up the first/second shot deal.....they had a minimum of nine months before the booster talk would occur.  While most  German senior citizens were vaxed-up around Jan/Feb 2021....the average guy/gal didn't get reached until the April-through-July period. 

3.  More stringent ban rules coming?  Well....RKI (German agency for the government that surveys numbers for the virus) did a chat about this (reported via Focus), and they suggest that the rate of decreasing numbers aren't going down fast enough.  With Christmas next week.....I doubt if any big meetings will occur....but after the 26th....there's probably a meeting or two, and some federal-state situation to offer up more ban rules.

4.  From sports news this morning, I noted that the England Premier League (big league soccer) has cancelled five games because teams couldn't field enough players to 'mount' a game (Omikron infection).  

5.  Finally, some survey was done on economic status in this Covid era.  End result?  Around 16.1-percent of German society is considered at the poverty level now.....an all-time high. 

2G Story

 A couple of weeks ago.....as the Covid numbers edged up in Germany....the virus folks and politicians sat down, and decided serious ban-rules had to occur.

So the 2G rule (vax'ed-up or recovered) had to be put into effect into each state if you were going to any kind of clothing, department or electronics shop.  NO, it didn't include grocery stores, garden shops, car parts places beverage establishments or pharmacies. 

The belief by most people (NON-political types) is that this would force people to vaccinate.  There was no science behind this or general PhD study to say people in TV shops were big-time possibilities for Covid.  

Well....today in Lower Saxony....the state court said enough.  This 2G rule isn't something in the law that you can document or say it makes legal sense. 

It's suspended now (at least in this one state).

Odds of this going to remaining 15 states?  I'd say it's a 99-percent chance.  Yeah, it is too late to make a difference....on that I will agree.  

The whole 2G/3G/2G-plus/2G-plus-plus situation?  Legal minds will probably start to ask stupid questions and eventually decide that either the Constitution has to change or this has to dismantled.  

The Hessen 350-Booze 'Rule'

 So there are some new Covid ban rules, and the curious one....once the 7-day infection rate goes to 350 or above (3 days straight)....public sales of booze is forbidden.

That means bars, restaurants, cafes, etc.....can't sell booze.

An exemption?  Well....if you sell gluhwein at a Christmas market.....that got some type of exemption.  

So if it bounced up and down for two weeks straight....349,  390, 333, 318, 400, 328, etc...?  It wouldn't trigger the 350-rule.

That's the 350 rule?  Well....NO.  If you run a dance hall, night-club, disco or brothel.....the 350 rule is invoked on you as well.  

Why 350?  Well....it's a nice round number.  Other than that....there is no science to really detail this out for someone who wants to make sense out out of this.  Personally, I would have said the rule was 353.....just to make the point that numbers don't matter that much.

If you had some lusty 10-minute session scheduled with a hooker on a 350 situation?  I guess you'd have to cancel, and just wait until we reach a 349 situation for 3 days.  

Compulsory Vaccine Mandate

 This morning in the Bundestag....the first draft was presented to mandate the Covid vaccine to a couple of professions (namely nurses and rest-home caretakers, those in the medical field).

What happened?  Twenty folks in the FDP said no.  This presents a problem to the SPD and Greens.  If they don't get the votes....they'd have to count on the CDU or Linke Party to support this.

Where this might lead onto?  Well....getting the mandate passed through is a question mark at this point.  I don't see the CDU supporting it, and the Linke Party has had some differing opinions on how it'd work.  

Another vote?  Probably.....but you can't be sure of the remaining FDP 'yes' votes staying at the same level.  

The Congress Hall

 If you were ever stationed around Germany near Nuremberg.....you've probably heard or even visited the Congress Hall.  

There is a bit of history to it.  

Some locals hyped up the idea in the early 1930s....that Nuremberg needed an open-air theater of huge proportions.  Along came the Nazi Party, and via some sales gimmicks....they got some 'thumbs-up' from Hitler.

The design?  I'd say it's about 90-percent of what you'd see in a NFL stadium....horse-shoe shaped....on the SE part of town.  Work started around 1937, and the basic structure was mostly done by 1940, but the war business trimmed back manpower and capital.  So it's unfinished.

Size?  What you generally see is three connecting parts.  The main part is 275 by 26 meter, and around 65 meter tall.....the two connecting pieces? 24 meters by 57 meters.  Yeah....it's huge.

It is from a architecture prospective....impressive....yet unfinished.  

From 1945 on....it's just stood there.  Occasionally the state or federal government would slide some money over to do some  renovation but it's never been picked up and carried to the finish-line.

Yesterday....the city finally said 'enough' and there's some seven-year project announced, and in the range of 150-odd million Euro to wrap this up.  The odds of problems and this going up to 300-odd million?  Better than 50-percent I would wager.

Purpose and use?  An outdoor theater....more or less.  

Negativity over this?  A lot.  The historians generally see it as a Nazi memorial of sorts.  Some just want it left as it is.....useless and empty.  Tearing it down?  There was a lot of effort to make this a success....something in building construction today that is hard to find.  

The interesting thing to me is that the parking lot around the 'arena' has been used (at least prior to Covid) for local fairs/shows.  The fact there are two U-Bahn/tram stations within ten minutes walking of the arena?  There are tons of things you could use the facility....if it were ever finished.  

So around 2028....you might hear a bit over the new 'finally' completed Congress Hall....that only took around 90 years to complete.  

Threats Spiral?

 If you'd come up three years ago in Germany and said some new virus would arrive....get people extremely aggravated and frustrated....politically divide society....then trigger some folks to suggest violent outcomes/threats to be made....I would have said that's crazy.

In the past month or two....with the numbers going up weekly and various new ban rules coming into play, patience has generally run out with probably a quarter of German society.  I'd even argue that another quarter of society is growing 'tired', burned-out, and distressed.  

The idea of threatening journalists and politicians?  Both draw attention because of the positions they occupy.  Politicians are the ones engaging on ban rules, with journalists in a sales routine of the ban rules 'products'.  

I don't think the protests or demonstrations are having that much of an affect....except it gives the frustrated gal/guy a chance to mingle with like-minded folks for an hour or two.

Making the threats?  Purely a stupid idea that will end up with police taking you down to the station, and some judge having to mess with you....potentially sending you off to prison for two or three years where extra Covid ban-rules will exist over your life. 

In simple terms....Covid has made some Germans a bit crazy.  Some syndrome name to be created out of this?  I'd suggest that.  Maybe something like Paranoid Covidphrenia.

It's to the point where you could be running a bakery and have someone come in at 7 AM....without a mask, and when you politely suggested that they mask up....they go berserk and start utter profane comments about your dog or your limited intelligence.  They think anti-rule thoughts all throughout the day, and this pandemic lifestyle is ruining their peace.

Journalists in the middle of this?  You can't help but notice that there's probably 'bundles' of Covid news or Covid-chatter throughout the day on Channel One/Two (public TV).  Some folks are trained well enough now to mute the sound when they've had too much.  

As for jail reforming the threat crowd?  If you end up with several hundred positioned in prison for two years....what exactly will be the outcome when they finally emerge?  Happy and positive people....or bitter types?  It's just something you tend to wonder about. 

New Party Boss For The CDU By Friday?

 After the dismal numbers of the September election.....the party boss of the CDU Party (Merkel's group) finally stepped down (Laschet).  

In the past month or two....there's been a campaign for the selection process.  Basically three guys.

There's the hyped-up intellectual (Rottgen), the pro-Merkel clone (Braun), and the pro-business anti-Merkel anti-clone (Merz).....please note, this is my description of the three.

If you asked me within party circles....who leads now, it's probably neck and neck between Merz and Braun.  

What's it mean as the announcement occurs?  Well....the party is geared toward this guy/his agenda for the next four years.  It does not mean he's the Chancellor candidate in 2025.  Also, it's possible that the guy fumbles this badly, and gets fired within twelve months.

At this point...until the fall of 2025....the CDU is simply an opposition party to the Scholz SPD-Green-FDP coalition.  In the opposition corner?  CDU, CSU, the Linke Party (far left) and the AfD folks (far right).  It's not that great of an opposition group.

CDU in trouble with the five state election in 2022?  I would argue that they have zero traction in two of the state elections, and really need a comeback of sorts....to improve the numbers.  

To the statement that Merkel 'limped' along the party in the past two years? In some ways, she tried to bring the better 'clone' into the mix (AKK, from out of Saarbrucken).  That idea was a dismal failure, and left the party to the executive committee....who went to the carbon copy of Merkel.....picking Laschet to be the party boss and Chancellor candidate. 

In simple terms....the party needs a new boss and new enthusiasm.  

Masks

 After almost twenty months of mask requirements, I can make four observations from here in Germany:

1.  From the fifteen-odd brands that my wife and I have procured (either bought, or gotten via her place of work)....I will say that three were of extremely high quality, two were of dismal and unacceptable quality and the rest in between (acceptable).  

I bought some batch of five that simply didn't fit.  It didn't matter how you pulled the draw-string....these were made in some crappy way, with no emphasis on quality.  I bought another set of twenty-odd masks which were a decent price but were made of some inferior material.  

There just wasn't a lot of control over the mask industry, or audits done to take some masks off the market.

2.  Masks laying around parking lots.  About a month or two into forcing people to wear masks indoors....you started to notice masks laying on the ground of parking lots.  

As bad as it got in 2020....it's twice that bad now.  I probably walk through various grocery parking lots and note at least five to ten on each trip now.  

3.  Since spring of 2020....I've probably come across 20,000-odd Germans with the mask on.  Out of every ten guys that I come across....one will be wearing the mask in the wrong fashion (below the nose, ill-fitted and allowing air in, or just too loose).  On women, it's probably one out of every forty.  

Why the difference....male to female?  Unknown.  Maybe guys really don't care about the fit....it's just the wear that matters.

4.  Suspicion of long-term wear of a single mask?  Well....you'd hate to ask this.....to find that one guy out of a hundred is still wearing the same mask that he bought from six months ago.  Generally, the experts say a typical mask is made for a eight-hour shift.  For a retiree who only needs it for grocery or medical trips....one mask probably can survive a week of wear.   

5.  Finally, it's just painfully obvious that 99.9-percent of all masks....are Chinese-made.  I've even come to note various attempts to 'suggest' to you a German-product, with a German name on the package....with even a German address of the key developer/maker....but obviously have the 'made in China' note somewhere on the box.   

Booster 'Hole'?

 This morning, I read over a piece on Focus, and it's a curious (even comical) situation on this booster-hype for Covid.

Over the whole past month....hour after hour....hyped-up chatter via politicians, journalists and virus experts in Germany.  They wanted to get everyone on the 'path' to get the 3rd shot (the booster).  

So here's the thing.....between Moderna and Biontech....apparently the government (before the new SPD-Green-FDP coalition arrived)....had a regular schedule on their mind.....that you'd get your booster around the 9th to 12th month.  That means a handful of folks would get it in January, and around April through July.....the bulk of folks would get their 3rd shot.

That was the production cycle that each company signed up to.  

This new 'talk'?  Lauterbach and crew were now hitched up to the idea of a bulk situation here in December, and really taking off in January....something like a million-plus vaccinations per day.  

Well....the vaccine ain't there.  

What the companies tell the government?  An average delivery pace for December through March, and bigger bulk deliveries as you get into April/May.

The gap or missing vaccination amount?  Sixty-million doses.

What will happen here?  Just being a normal capitalist.....I'd take a guess that both Biontech and Moderna will say fine.....we can achieve one-third of the missing amount in January, and the rest in February....holding out their hand for the pay-off.  How much?  Unknown, but someone will have to find cash for this gimmick to work.

Timelines changed?  Lets be honest here....to do this massive million-plus a day....the general plan is to haul in dentists, pharmacy folks, and animal-veterinarians (on top of regular doctors) to give the shots.  

I would be guessing that something starts in late January (mostly with senior citizens) and the regular folks don't get an invite until mid-March.  

The shock by the Health Minister?  This sudden reason for surging on the booster?  It wasn't on anyone's mind three months ago.  Everyone had the idea that vax episode one (first and second shot) were a nine to twelve month thing.  The necessity of driving the bulk of the nation over the next two months for a booster?  Either there's something they aren't telling people, or the necessity seems to be over-reacted.  

Generally, I think these studies accomplished in past couple of months....saying the antibodies are going 'pretty fast' and effective nature is dismal by the sixth month.  But at the same time.....you really don't want to admit this.  Suggesting to folks that you've lost one-third of your antibodies by the 100th day....probably dissolves some confidence.  

Revision 99 to the 'plan'?  Come and gone, I would say.   

Local Covid Ban Rule Protest

 With all the hype recently about protests and demonstrations.....I saw where the city of Wiesbaden had a protest Monday evening.  

Based on news accounts.....the account goes this way....some folks (around 30)....gathered up near the shopping district just after 6 PM Monday evening.  The group quietly walked around for about 90 minutes....not yelling or screaming....just carrying candles.  

The police?  Based on several accounts I've seen.....they just monitored the protest. 

Back in the summer, I personally viewed a pro-refugee protest in Wiesbaden.  If you counted the protest crowd, the folks just standing there viewing it, and the police presence.....probably around 75 people.  Some speeches were made....flags were waved....police just standing at a distance, and I sat....sipping through a chilled beer at a sidewalk pub on a warm afternoon.

Several Covid Stories

 1.  Several weeks ago, across Germany, there was hype of cancelled fireworks on 31 December (New Years Eve).  The reasoning was prevention of Covid (yeah, as silly as it sounds).  The wording?  It was never clear.

So yesterday, the Premier-President of Hessen (my local state)....made it crystal clear.  While you can't fire off fireworks in public parks or metro public areas....there's no ban for selling fireworks or using them in your own yard/garden.  

2.  The new Health Minister had some kind of agenda figured up....to get everyone hyped up on the 'booster' shot.  It didn't really mattered if you finished up your second shot two months ago.....he wanted everyone on the 'wagon' to get a booster (even though it has no advantage for the Omikron variant).  

Well.....he woke up yesterday to learn that no matter which vaccine you talk about....there just ain't enough 'juice' for some magnificent booster program.  The two primary companies were a bit surprised over the sudden logistics change and admitted....'no, we can't deliver on this new schedule'.

Getting a 'solution-date'?  Probably in the next day or two....a schedule will arrive but I doubt if they can deliver what they want for at least six to eight weeks.  

What was the logic for the booster?  Well....this was explained back three months ago.  They figured shot one/two would be good for about ten to twelve months originally, then they changed the words to say nine months.  Some medical folks now say the antibody strength is mostly gone by nine months....so they want six months to be the new goal.  

3.  The 'League of Doctor Dooms'?  Yesterday, the Health Ministry announced that a group of nineteen virus experts from across Germany are now 'hired-up' (paid in some way) to meet regularly and provide 'advice' to the new coalition government and the Health Minister.

The basic idea?  If you stand back and admire it.....they would have x-solution for this problem and 'agree'.  The Health Minister would try to push that as the national solution.  

Problems?  The sixteen German states....run by politicians....might have various issues and bump up against the Health Minister.  The idea being discussed.....science should run governmental decisions.  

Will the nineteen 'Doctor Dooms' even agree on things?  This might be another problem.  

4.  Late yesterday, there was some highly confusing chatter from the government (I'll even admit four different sources of news.....gave difficult to understand changes in ban rules).

So, the jest of this involves the booster shot business.  Once you dig into what the government said.....if you were going to a place that required 2G-PLUS (meaning you were vaxed-up or recovered, AND tested).....you could skip testing if you had the booster shot.

What kind of places?  Well....I looked it up.  Concert halls, disco operations, night-clubs, and places of prostitution.  Yes....brothels.  

Restaurants or pubs?  NO.  None of them were involved in the 2G-PLUS stuff.

The confusing business?  The way it continually got explained....people felt they meant restaurants and pubs being 2G-PLUS, which they weren't in that category.

Driving people to get the booster?  Maybe,  All of this on that tray of continual rule/ban changes?  Well....that's the chief problem that most people are discussing....change after change.  If you stepped out of the country for two months and came back in....you'd have to sit down and read the current regulations because Covid rules continually change.  

5.  Vaccine 'credit-cards'?  Some pharmacy operations in Germany are selling a vaccine-pass credit-type card.  You walk in....show your vax record, and they make up a nifty-pass (as they say....you might need it if your cellphone battery ran out).  Cost?  10 Euro.  

The issue I see....if we get to the point of boosters every five or six months.....you'd have to continually go back to a pharmacy to get a new updated card.