Sunday, November 13, 2022

Four German News Stories

 1.  The German Interior Minister (Faeser, SPD) is chatting up the idea of limiting cash payments to 10,000 Euro....to halt money-laundering.  To be honest, the EU has been discussing the idea for a while, and a number of European countries have already put this rule into effect.  

Would this be a big deal?  Most average Germans probably never pay cash in amounts more than a thousand Euro.  If you renovated some part of your house....requiring 12,000 Euro, then most folks would do a electronic transfer when the bill was presented.  

I doubt if you find more than one-percent of society complaining about this limit.

2.  Heavy criticism has come up over the idea of zero days at home, if you test positive for Covid.  Basically, the politicians are open to the idea equating Covid to a cold....which just isn't selling.  Currently, the rule is 5 days of sick leave if you test positive.

3.  Bavaria has a law that is a bit different from most German states....in dealing with the 'Last Generation' activists.  Their law is a preventative measure.  If you are detained/arrested and they have the feeling you will repeat the action....they can hold you in a jail for 30 days.  So they've been recently using the law in that manner.

At the federal level?  There's some review going on to add more laws.....making it likely that jail-time will become a normal thing for the environmental protesters. 

4.  We had an odd robbery in my region.  Over in Zwinkenberg (between Darmstadt and Frankfurt)....at a grocery...two guys showed up in clown make-up and red wigs....demanding cash.  

It would appear no one really took them serious, and then they showed stun-weapons....using them on one employee.

Cash taken?  Cops are suggesting it's just a couple of hundred Euro.  Escape vehicle?  Mercedes....non-German plates on it.  

2 comments:

Daz said...

Regarding number 3. Charging people with or retaining people on thought crimes rarely helps to maintain a free and open society.

How much fascism will the West endure?

Schnitzel_Republic said...

Generally, most German states have laws that say...after an arrest...the judge just releases you, and you agree to be 'good'. You agree to return in 30 to 60 days for a brief court presence. Unless you damaged something or assaulted someone...your lawyer can get you out on guilt situation with probation or just a plain 'warning'.

In the Bavarian view....by the time they figure the waste of fire/rescue and the police, with 'damage' done...they aren't willing to forgive/forget. My humble view is that they've got better things to do. So the law (created to handle radical Islam in the past decade), is crafted to fit this type of situation as well.

You'd only get to jail, if you commit to glue-endangerment (my term) and the reaction by the police is to get you to a frame of mind....either go elsewhere to be activists, or chill out for a while in jail.

Finally, I just don't see the general public falling over themselves to be pro-Last Generation. If you were pursuing public sentiment, the agenda so far has been marginal.