The Thing About Moderating

 It's a page 3 type story over at Focus, but a bit comical to lay out.

Focus says....last year, as the moderator of public TV's ARD public forum show....Hart Aber Fair.....started to recruit and sign their new moderator (Louis Klamroth)....he was blunt and admitted he had a relationship going on with a environmental activist.  

The TV management folks in the middle of this? WDR (sub of ARD).   

This story has come out in  the past 24 hours and will be discussed a good bit.

WDR saw no problem.  

I would imagine from the public TV handbook on ethics....it doesn't say much about marriages, relationships, or sexual practices.  Just a humble guess here.

The chief problem....a wide public audience will say that Klamroth is unfairly influenced and he can't be an objective moderator.  To which....WDR will say where in the rule-book this 'idea' comes from?

If Klamroth had a far-right extremist or AfD Party person for a relationship-partner?  Well....WDR probably would say something at that point....but that also would not have been in the handbook of ethical issues.

Jumping upon ARD, WDR or any other the public TV council folks?  If it's not written down....it's not a rule.  

From the point of viewing future shows, that revolve around activists, with Klamroth still remaining as a moderator?  Your choice as a viewer....either accept the potential propaganda style, moderate with the mute-button, or view something from twenty-odd alternate channels.  My suggestion....there are fine comedy shows on Netflix that would resolve your viewing issue.

What I expect?  Klamroth stays on....the TV Council folks will spend a year writing a new ethics regulation...with push-back from the management people, and people who were somewhat negative about the TV tax.....going more negative about the monthly tax.  

A final word.....you could have a moderator with zero relationships in their background, and be simply fired-up to hype their agenda business or some radical political gimmick. So maybe there's a bigger landscape existing than one might imagine.  

How Many Germans Are Vegans?

 At some point in 2022....I sat and viewed a short discussion on a numbers report....saying Germany (population of 83-million)....had 2.6-million vegans.

If you do the numbers (I haven't really bought into the numbers being accurate...yeah, I'm skeptical)....it's around 3-percent.

What is generally suggested (Vegans talking about this)....is that from 2015 to 2020....the numbers doubled in nature.  

Reason?  I'd offer that a fair amount of public TV time was spent on the food angle, and suggesting you might be better off (health-wise).

Three reasons I skeptical?  First, a fair number of people just said they'd quit red-meat, and became turkey/chicken/fish orientated.  The vegan crowd wants to include them, but I'd say no.....they don't fit the profile.  

Second, a couple of years ago....some health study was done and found that eight out of ten folks who swore they were going Vegan....eventually quit within a year or two.  One of the odd reasons they give....meat sits better in their belly....than vegetables.  

Third, some folks find that they are missing B-12 (as a vitamin), and this often leads people back to some type of meat diet....even if it's just once or twice a week.

So I'll just say this....if you find some German gushing and pulsating over their new-found Veganism....don't ruin their day or say anything skeptical.  Just start counting the days and see if they make it past 100.  

The Social Council Idea

 There was one short thirty-second piece on Hart Aber Fair's public forum show last night which has been on my mind.

At some point in the German forum show....the environmentalist/activist (young gal) spoke up and said what we really needed now.....was a 'social council'.  Reason?  She says that Democratically-elected politicians....don't support the 'will' of the people.

At first, I thought, with my lousy German.....she meant some something like real leaders stepping forward.  Well....no, she means that besides the Chancellor, the Bundestag, the state governments, the city councils, the mayors.....there would be something created which was a 'social-contract' group....who supported the will of the people.

Where would the social council come from?  Unknown.

How would they fit with the Chancellor?  Unknown.

How would they cooperate or mingle with the Constitutional Court?  Unknown.

How would they equate to the police or legal process?  Unknown.

How would regular citizens 'talk' to the social council?  Unknown.

How would you put down the social council if they turned into some authoritarian-like and harsh reality group?  Unknown.

I'll just say this....shortly after she mentions this 'brilliant' idea.....the panel members kinda 'blinked' and you got the idea that this was plain crazy.  

So I went looking for what was really meant by 'social council'.  The Last Generation web page?  Well....it talks to this idea:

"The council will bring together people from all walks of life in Germany and, with the help of experts in politics, business, science and civil society, will draw up binding proposals on how we can proceed."

"Vegans and car lovers can come together to discuss solutions, because even they have a common cause: Protecting life on this planet and shaping the way to achieve this in a socially just manner."

"The government wrote the following into its coalition agreement: "We will establish and organize a citizens' council on specific issues through the Federal Parliament." 

I paused over this.  The council seems to be something that would involve talking, agreeing and then handing down mandates.  I thought for a minute....what the hell is the German state system, and the Bundestag/Chancellor thing in Berlin for?  

If the social council could not reach an agreement?  Well....then it'd seem that you'd have to create a greater social council.....to resolve what the regular social council could not accomplish.

At the end of the 1700s in France....things fell apart, and the king/queen were executed.  What came to replace them?  More or less....a committee or social council.  In the next ten years....they became a problem for French society.  As crappy as the monarchy had become in it's final decade.....the committee/social council became an even bigger failure.  

For some reason, I don't see this social council thing being accepted anyone much in German society.  If you can't vote them in, or out....what use are they?  

Soccer Issue

 A Hessen court came up this morning and said where you have major clubs meeting, and there's a chance of fights.....the bill for police protection should not be given to the local city or state government.

On average....where higher protection is mandated by the authorities....it's one-million Euro plus on cost for police man-hours.

What the court suggested?  Some split....but they were careful not to say what it ought to be.

What it means, if pushed (in the Frankfurt area stadium)?  Well....for a low-rank game and cheap seat....it's around 58 Euro currently, and going up to the 300 Euro range for the best seats.  So you'd have to add some security 'fee' into this, and figure at least 10 Euro more a game....for increased police protection.  And that's just for a one-third 'cut' of the costs.  

You go and figure near 70 Euro, with food/beer in the mix, and it's near 120 Euro for a soccer game experience.

The threat of fights?  There are various clubs which can meet, and there's almost zero extra security required.  I went to a Mainz game five years ago, and the local police brought in around 30 riot police to be on-hand....if trouble started up.  Back in the 1990s....when living in the K-town area....they had a game where almost 200 riot police were brought in.  

TV Show Tickets?

 I'm on a list (apparently something my German wife did) to get ticket offers to TV shows (all in the Koln region).

So today, the offer was 'free' tickets for a Sunday night show.  I would have to show up at the door at 9:15 PM....and the show would not close out/end, until 12:15 AM.  

I contemplated....what idiot would go and show up for a live telecast....knowing he wouldn't even be out of the parking lot until shortly before 1 AM.  Even if you stayed in the area overnight, you wouldn't reach a local hotel until 1:30 AM

My View On The 130 Kilometer Per Hour Speed Limit 'Gimmick'

 There's still a lot of push end the unlimited speed limit on Germany's autobahns.  I've done a fair amount of pondering over this and have five observations:

1.  If you ever go and really travel over the autobahn structure....you will notice that the vast majority of drivers are going 130 kph, or less.  I'd say it's probably close to 80-percent.  

I'll even say for myself....if it's clear (no rain) and almost no traffic....I might be traveling along at 140 to 150 kph.  But in normal situation?  I'm a 100 to 110 kph driver.

So this BS that you'd be saving all this CO2?  If 80-percent are already doing it....this huge savings that you talk about in climate chatter....is a joke.

2.  It may shock some people, but it's generally accepted that 30-percent of all German autobahns already have a speed limit (usually 100 kph).  In highly urbanized areas (particularly around the NW of the country)....it's mostly limited. 

It's rare that this ever comes up in conversation with environmentalists. 

3.  Because of EU restrictions, a lot of development has occurred with CO2 already.....so the newer vehicles are emitting less.  It would be more advantageous to convince the public to flip older vehicles for newer ones.  A simple fix?  Cut the sales tax in half if you are trading in a 20-year old car and buying a new one. 

4.  In highly urbanized areas (Frankfurt for example), this new 49-Euro Bahn monthly ticket would probably take more people off the road anyway....at least if you lived within 40 km of the city.  

5.  It's just odd....you can't show a single study how traffic speeds currently rank up.  You'd think a sensor system could be mounted on 300 locations of Germany, and tell you general speed limits of people....in a unlimited location.  Yet no one does that?  

Five German News Stories

 1.  Chancellor Scholz is off in South America and getting a fair amount of press chatter.  But then he hit Brazil....where in some joint press conference....Brazil's Lula made some odd positive comments over Putin/Russia.  Scholz had to stand there and knows there will be sharp criticism later.

2.  Hart Aber Fair public forum show ran last night (ARD, 9 PM).  Topic?  Climate change.  Newly hired moderator (Klamroth) came across pro-climate.  It was more of a propaganda hour than a forum discussion show.

3.  Supervisory Board for public TV meeting with WDR folks.....Hart Aber Fair show and moderator are going to be discussed.  My guess is that Klamroth (the moderator) will be told that he's compromised in some way, and he won't accept that.  WDR management will get the poke at that point....either react or you are the problem as well.

4.  Economists talking higher inflation for Germany for January.

5.  Decision if Berlin is allowed to re-vote comes today via Constitutional Court.  Several challenges going on, and it's possible that re-vote might be pushed back another month or two.  

City Story

 ZEIT had an interesting major article today....how German major urban areas are now socially divided.  

Data collected....basically shows that various neighborhoods are now in some way....existing as well-to-do, and some areas are existing in a poverty-like status.  

To be honest, if anyone went walking around in the 1980s West Germany....you would have noticed this, and I'm kinda surprised that it took these decades for the intellectual folks to wake up and realize how divided-up Germany has become.

Even in Wiesbaden, I would suggest the 'Westend' has become a prominent low-income or poverty-like status neighborhood.  Even if you asked to prevent or undo this....I doubt if any of the city leadership can redesign or re-invent the situation.

Another good example of this trend?  The Bahnhof district of Frankfurt, which is named by the locals as 'Junkie-Mile' or 'Junkie-Quarter'.  

Chat Forum From Last Night

 The German chat forum show....Anne Will....was on last night.  I finally caught up with it this AM.  

Topic?  German tanks going to the Ukraine, and if it's going to change things.

I probably watched about 30 minutes of the show.  

The Linke Party representative went to the position of more talks being necessary.  The Green Party journalist hyped up that neither the US or Germany seem willing to 'hurry-up' and get this war over.  And the sole neutral person in the group went to the position that you can never make Ukraine superior to Russia in these hardware deals.

The only odd thing that you tend to notice (not just the chat forum)....most pro-Green Party folks....don't have an ounce of support for Russia, it's position, or see Putin as a positive.  

Any Germans watching the show?  Well....no, you had NFL football on.....the Rheamann's reality show, and that crazy Jungle Camp conclusion.  

Six German News Stories

 1.  I was watching N-TV yesterday, and the German police admitted a interesting statistic on train travel, and assaults.

Acts of violence (use of knives)...in both trains and train-stations in Germany....doubled in 2022, over 2021 numbers.

336 acts.  Of this....82 were on the trains themselves, the rest in stations.

There were 14,155 total acts across the nation (in terms of any type of assault) in 2022, with around 55-percent being non-German in terms of 'who' committed the act.  

2.  Erdogan says 'yes' to Finland joining NATO.....not so much for Sweden.  This will present a dilemma.  

3.  Three elections in 2023 for Austria....first one was yesterday.  What to take home about the results?  The ÖVP Party (Chancellor's group) suffered some bad numbers, and the more right-leaning FPÖ Party is picking up more support.

4.  Months ago....Putin called up the UK PM (then Johnson), and talked up the idea of a rocket attack upon them.  Mostly BS, but it's headline news.

5.  Some chatter in Hamburg over the Minister of Justice (Green Party official) who may not have enforced the laws on this train-attack culprit....prior to his situation.  I would suggest some review will occur....perhaps even a truth commission. 

The chief problem?  Various laws are already on the books, and it just seems like they avoided reading over them or enforcing them.

6.  The Broadcasting Council (the overlords of public TV) wants to have a chat with the bosses of WDR (sub-network off ARD).  In this talk....Louis Klamroth (new moderator for Hart Aber Fair's public forum show) will have to appear.  He kinda hid his relationship with a known environmental activist until after he secured his new position. 

I would imagine the Council will tell Klamroth that as long as the forum show does not touch any environmental topic....he's OK.  On average?  I'd say in the past five years....they average a minimum of five shows a year on environmental hype.   

Explaining the Florian Silberreisen 'Scandal'

 This story starts back in 1984, with the album Perlen released by the Klaus Lage group in West Germany.   The band?  Pure rock, and this Perlen album set them off on the high trail.  Everyone in the country knew the album, and it was hot for probably 18 months.

On value?  It's an interesting album, and almost every tune is worth listening to.  

The biggest tune from Perlen?   The song 1000 und 1 Nacht (Zoom!).  It's a rather catchy piece and it's about a romance between a boy and a girl in their youth, and how they come back later in life to be a couple.  

At some point, maybe mid-way....one asked the other if they remember what they played as kids, and the answer given....'Indians'.  

Now if you asked me about this....at the time (1984)....you would have referred to Karl May-type movies (westerns) that were released throughout the 1960s/1970s.  

Diether Dehm was attached to the crafting of the song.  To him....even today, it's a special tune.

So, there's this highly known Slager-singer....Florian Silbereisen, who ran a show on Channel One (ARD) entitled "Der Große Schlagerabschied" and decided to sing this Lage tune.

At the point where "Indians" should have been uttered...."together" was uttered instead.  

Dehm is the guy who went to the police and filed a complaint....abusing the text of the original song.  For the record, and this is a bit interesting.....after his years in crafting songs....he got into politics for around sixteen years (Linke Party), and currently today, in some capacity serves as a advisor to Sahra Wagenknecht.

Jail-time here?  No.  But it would be a fine, and maybe even a civil suit....for just reshaping the song.

Some gut feeling this was done to be 'politically correct'?  Well....you would not think that Florian Silberreisen was big into being politically correct, but there's just not much of a reason to yank out 'Indians' and insert 'together'.

You would also not think that some ARD producer or influencer would have walked around said 'Indians' was wrong.  But maybe that's how this whole thing started up.

Silly thing?  You would think that.  But you know....in terms of creating scandals out of thin air, Germans seem to have an abundance to select from, and on highly valued scandals.....this probably doesn't rate from than a '5' (1-to-10 scale).  

Silberreisen will have to hire a 1,000-Euro a day lawyer, and spend a couple hours in some court....explaining what really happened and hopefully just admit he was reading text off someone's copy, and didn't even realize he screwed up.  Then he'll get some lecture by the judge....pay some minor fine, and the public might grumble....asking what really happened here?

For the record....is 'Indians' forbidden to use in Germany?  No.  That's the other odd part to this story.  Is playing cowboys and Indians forbidden?  No.  Is there a problem discussing cowboys and Indians?  Well...if there ever was a public forum wasted on a topic....yes, it'd be a rather harsh forum to sit through and discover the evils of the cowboy world, or old western movies.  You'd get the 'evils' lecture and feel guilty for enjoying western themes.  

Scandal-wise?  It's just not much to talk about.  

(FYI: Lage is 72 and still alive today.  It would be interesting to hear his thoughts on this)

What Were The Landsknechts?

 Well....in the period of mid-1400s to early 1600s (figure 150 years)....they were private German men who hired themselves out as contracted 'security'.  Some people use the term mercenary....I'd probably use the term 'hired-sword' or professional thug.  

Both the Catholic Church and the new Lutheran Church...as the Thirty-Years War (1525-beginning) opened up....used guys like this.  

The general problem with contracted situations like this?  They all required your contracts and financial obligations to be honored.  If you failed to pay....they didn't fight for you.

A lot of historians think of these folks as being in smaller groups (several hundred)....but if you go back to the late 1400s....the 'Black Guard' were noted with almost 8,000 members.  

Similar in nature to the French Foreign Legion of today?  I would suggest that.  You might run into aristocrats who served as Landsknecht members....or former bakers....or just teenage guys on an adventure path.

What happened to end the era for the Landsknechts?  As each generation came and went....they went to lower standards.  From the aspect of professionalism and training, things reached a point where Kings were able to train their own folks....without hiring out a contracted force.  

Four German News Stories

 1.  New Russian propaganda piece out....making a statement that maybe Berlin needs to be 'liberated' now....over this tank business.  

2.  Political polling says presently....the CDU-CSU Party is at the highest point in 18 months....at 29-percent....leading all other parties.

3.  Some kind of 'rumor' that suggests that some of the attacks on Silvester....in Bonn...were coordinated/planned.  There's also a 'rumor' that some group chatted about the idea of kidnapping a policeman.  BS?  Well....it's in WELT and I would imagine you have some active minds in some chat-room....making a wild suggestion like this.  

Cops and emergency services will be hyped-up about this.  

4.  There was a meeting of bigwigs in the education sector of Berlin/Brandenburg.  Top discussion item?  They see the trends, and predict for the next twenty years.....finding/recruiting teachers will be awful hard.  

49-Euro Monthly Bahn Ticket A Done Deal?

 Well....NO.

So virtually everyone in the German federal gov't has come to an agreement on the railway/bus ticket....now going to a 49-Euro a month deal.  It would start on 1 May.

The general argument existing now?  Whether it'll be solely in digital form, or in some paper print-out.

The deal?  You could buy the ticket, then ride any non-high-speed rail situation in the country.  No mileage limit.  

Only thing hindering this whole 'dream'?  The EU?  There's some speculation that the massive amount of federal money poured into the Bahn system to make it 49-Euro.....will be seen as illegal.  Odds of this?  Well....I'd put it near 50-50.  

A great deal?  If you live in a highly urbanized area....yeah.  If you live in a town of 100,000 or less.....you had a very limited public transport situation and this cheap deal doesn't really improve your life.

A Anti-Migrant 'Thing', Or More?

 In recent days, the hype has been up in Germany, over the knife attack on the train up in the Hamburg area.  There's more pro-deport discussions and lack of integration chatter.  But is that really the full landscape?  I would suggest a 'bigger' landscape.

Germans like order, safety, stability, and generally....no chaos.  They aren't getting it.

If you walk around any of the urban centers now (Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Dusseldorf)....people are in a vigilant mentality.  It's not just the migrants.  You have various drugged-up Germans, who react in a situation and want to show you their knife, or starter-pistol.

There is little respect for property.  You have graffiti in most towns.  If you stop at a public toilet site on the autobahn....it's a 90-percent chance that it's crapped-up and in disrepair.  

The number of paranoid schizophrenics walking around Germany presently?  Probably at a all-time record.

This may launch as some pro-deport agenda or anti-migrant agenda, but the truth is....it's just not the safe landscape that you might have encountered in the 1980s.  

That Train-Knife Attack

 After watching the N-TV update.....it's a pretty weird story you get out of this stateless-Palestinian attacker on the train from 3 days ago.

So the trouble from early 2022 (January) revolves around this knife guy....being in Hamburg, and getting into an argument/fight in front of a methadone treatment center in town.  

There were three guys there, and some discussion/argument starts up.  The stateless-Palestinian guy gets defensive (no explanation for this).

In the end, a knife comes out.  Cops arrive.  Charges?  Well....dangerous bodily harm and theft.  Typically, you get up to five years, and with a knife....most of the time, you'd be looking at two years of prison time.

It would appear that the stateless-Palestinian convinced the lawyer and court.....he had a drug problem, and with rehab....he'd be all better.

So the court said....lower sentence, if you do rehab.  Drug therapy?  Well...methadone.  Typically, you'd have an examination and someone would note behavior, needle marks for heroin, etc.  

It's hard to say if this were seen/noted.  Maybe he just said this, and the shorten sentence came....with him doing methadone, for no logical reason.  

Just pretty weird, to which people won't be able to get over the whole stabbing situation.

Where this is going?  There's supposed to be a state committee meeting shortly, and to appease the public....some kind of change is likely to occur.  

The World Is Supposed to End: 19 Oct 1533

Michael Stifel was a mid-40s fairly known monk, personal friend of Martin Luther, and a 'wiz-kid' at mathematics.

At some point, he decided that the Bible held a 'numbers-secret' and that you could predict the end of the world on a certain date (19 October 1533).  In fact, he even said it would occur precisely at 8 AM (German time).

A fair number of Germans at the time, at least around the Annaburg area of Saxony-Anhalt, believed the prediction.

As days and week passed (after 19 October), the trust dissolved.

After a while, in the region of Saxony-Anhalt, they had this saying....if you needed to calculate something that made no sense, 'you need to think like a Stifel' would be uttered (for sarcasm effect).

On the positive side?  Stifel was pretty persuasive on the idea of negative numbers.  At the time, Church authorities made it blunt that negative numbers could not exist (you couldn't get less than zero).  By keeping the topic going.....it would eventually be accepted negative numbers are just as valuable as positive numbers.  

Five German News Stories

 1.  The director of the Public German Utilities Association said in an interview via WELT...he doesn't really expect natural gas or electrical costs...to go down.  It's a permanent situation in his mind, which will anger a lot of working-class Germans.

2.  Bio-fuel (the E-10 gas situation) on the list to disappear?  This is being rumored presently by the Environmental Ministry.  

Presently, E-10 fuel is about 3 cents cheaper than regular unleaded, and I would suggest the bulk of car-owners buy it instead of regular unleaded.  

Chief logic to end it?  You were taking an agricultural product and for pricing on the market.....it makes sense to limit agricultural products strictly for the food consumer.

3.  I sat and watched ARD (public TV) news last night.  Big VIP political showing up in Borkstedt at the station....over the knife attack onboard the train with stateless-Palestinian (rather routine now....everyone refers to anyone that was Palestinian before.....as 'stateless' now).  

The Interior Minister?  She gave several minutes of chat, and basically asked a blunt question....how was this guy still walking free, with several issues in the open?  This last crime....convicted upon....he attacked two men with a knife, and just spent 11 months in prison....then released.

The cops also noted, back in 2016....the same guy assaulted someone, and cut their face with a knife, and all he got was a one-year suspended sentence.  

My suspicion is that this will be drawn out as a public concern for several weeks, and the SPD-coalition will have do 'something' to appease the public.  

4.  Polling in the Berlin-city election indicates that the SPD candidate (for mayor)...might not win.  The CDU Party candidate (Wegner) is slightly ahead.

Election set for the 12th of Feb.

5.  National gas reserves in Germany presently at 83-percent (it's been a harsh January).  More than enough presently to survive the winter without measures applied.

Q-and-A

 1.  What'd the EU say about Musk and Twitter at the WEF forum.....that sanctions may come if he does not shut down 'some' forms of speech?

What Věra Jourová mostly said....either he'd comply or they'd cut off Twitter access....IF they write this law. 

So what law?  Unknown, and anything that Twitter gets dragged into....you can expect most all newspapers, news networks (public and private)...to feel the same 'pain'.

I'd also offer....never once has she indicated what she wants to be shutdown or censored.  It seems to be mysterious in nature....if not shared among people.

Finally, with a simple VPN....you can defeat most of what they suggest, unless they want entire networks shutdown.  

It just sounds like a lot of intellectual BS....to protect people from propaganda.  

2.  This knife attack guy up in north Germany....just released prior to this train attack?

What the police say from the Hamburg region....he'd been held for some violent act, and then got released.  Based on how they describe the guy....I'd probably describe him as missing some mental abilities.  But typically....that's usually not enough to permanently hold a guy, unless the judge signs the papers.  I should note.....last year, he stabbed a guy.  Appears like he is mostly always violent in some way.

3.  Harsh article via WELT (by Jan Fleischhauer) on deportation efforts?

Well....what he pointed out....a number of German states are run by SPD, Green or Linke Party governments.  Their general policy is to delay deportation as much as possible.  

It is true....it's not a federal thing, here in Germany....deportation is handled 16 different ways.  Berlin trying to correct this with the fed?  No....they absolutely do not want the power to force deportation.

The tough part of this discussion....it's all being dragged out into public discussion once again, with some folks having to defend the lack of forced deportation (making it seem like a national problem).  

4.  Why is 'stateless Palestinian' uttered so much on public TV (ARD/ZDF)....concerning this knife guy on the train?

Well....some journalists are hyped-up to always say that  the Palestinians don't have a homeland.  I should add....the Hmong people fit into this idea....the Kurds fit....the Roma folks fit.  I would imagine in this frame of mind....the Scots of the UK might be homeless (if I were drunk enough), and maybe the Basque folks of Spain.  

But using the phrase would be like me saying 'short dwarfs' when the appropriate term would just be 'dwarfs' alone.  

Beer Prices

 I was looking at a German business article today, and the hype was....in just the next three years, there's an expectation that if you walk into a restaurant and order a beer....it'll be near 7.5 Euro for a half-liter glass.

That $8.17 a glass for Americans.

Shocking?

Course, this is for the better and premium-tasting beers.  The cheapo stuff in a can will probably still be in the 1-Euro range.

Was There A Plan To Kidnap The Health Minister (Lauterbach)?

 Well....yes.

What you can generally say is that some fringe right-wing group (oddball characters, to include a retired school teacher from Mainz)....had this plan that they could corner Lauterbach somewhere, and kidnap him.

On the BS-level of accomplishment (1-to-10)?  I'd give if a '1' at the max.  Lauterbach is a cabinet secretary and gets both chauffer service and government guards.  It's silly to think that you'd grab the guy.

Yesterday, the federal gov't filed criminal charges against members of the group....in Koblenz.

Odds of lengthily jail sentences if guilty?  I'd suggest a minimum of five years of prison.

The two odd parts of the story?  Charges now come up....after the initial arrest back in April of 2022....nine months later.  The teacher involved (from Mainz)....the lady was a religion teacher for the public school system....now retired.  

The whole thing is 4-star material for a TV movie script....if you ask me.

Five German News Stories

 1.  Putin had some student PR session yesterday (for public TV consumption).  So he chats up on the fact that Germany is still occupied (controlled by the American Army).  

I was entertained by the idea.  Since 1945, it is true....the US Army has maintained a presence in Germany.  For probably a decade after the war, there was a fair amount of control extended over Germany.  Since the mid-1950s....zero control.  But Russians might easily perceive what Putin has said and believe it.

2.  Just an odd thing you notice via Focus this AM.....long chat about knife attacks in Germany, and they point out that the federal apparatus (PKS) doesn't really put out the national story.  There are no statistics to analyze.

3.  From the railway car stabbing episode.....I chatted on from yesterday....cops now say the guy had a record (around a dozen times that he'd been brought before a court).  

A process was underway to deport him.....from what N-TV news had hinted.

Most accounts describe the guy in a state of confusion.  They don't say 'drugged-up' but you get the impression that he must have been on some type of drug.

4.  About a month ago....both ZDF and ARD (public TV) went on a big positive hype of the 'far-right' gov't of Brazil going away, and 'trusted' Lula was to return....bringing in stability.  President Steinmeier of Germany even traveled over and was part of the change-over.

Well....WELT wrote up a big piece today.....suggesting all this positive chatter in recent days by Lula about the great things going on in Venezuela and Cuba...pretty much wrecked all the good beliefs of the German political system.

5.  The German Economic Institute did a study.  In major cities of Germay.....one out of every three families are in an apartment that this too small.  Finding a place bigger and within cost is typically the problem hindering their movement.  

Update Over Knife Attack On Train

 From my essay report 3 hours ago....German cops now say the guy involved had given them false information about his homeland to start with....he's not a Syrian....he's a Palestinian.

Wounded 7....2 dead.

Police also say that he has some kind of record....mostly sexual and misbehavior type issues (suggesting he's somewhat unbalanced). 

As the train stopped, he did try to leave the platform.....witnesses helped to hold him until the police arrived.

Mental exam probably, and I doubt that he ever gets real charges....being sent off to a facility.

Been in Germany around a decade....nothing said over what he did for a living.  

It's like I preach....you have to be vigilant wherever you go these days. 

Can A German Business Refuse Cash (Bargeld)?

 I saw where this came up today....in legal chatter here in Germany.

So the law is....whatever is put up for sale....from cars to underwear....has to be in Euro.

However, a business can say that it will only deal with credit cards or bank cards.....instead of cash.

Finding such a place?  I can't think of any place where I've been in the past five years....where credits were 'it'.  

I've been in twenty-odd bakeries or small shops....where they were blunt....ONLY cash, no card machines.  But every year, it gets to be more rare that cash only situations occur.  

Knife Attack This Afternoon

 What the police say...onboard a train from Kiel to Hamburg....some guy went nuts and attacked seven folks (minimum)....two dead.

Occurred around 3 PM.  

Not a lot of facts, no motivation explained.

Attacker is described as a Syrian, and has a visa.

Just Two Observations

 1.  All this chatter and hype over the long-delayed decision to send tanks to Ukraine...really amounting to 14 Leopard II tanks?  Yes.

I think a number of retired military folks are just laughing over the hype, the crisis-like discussions, and how 14 German-made tanks would contribute to the end of the war.  

Adding to this....then you open up to the idea that on any given morning....like all things German....at least one of the fourteen tanks will be in the garage because a 19-Euro part failed, and you need the services of a certified tank-mechanic (79-Euro per hour).

2.  The newest German discussion is held within medical circles.....should a German doctor perceive his 'client/patient' is mentally or physically not up to driving....report them to the police?

I think this would certainly help to lessen the clinic visits, as older people perceive their doctor to be a threat.  

But realistically....why limit this to doctors?  If Johan, the 8-year old brat next door felt you were mentally unfit....why couldn't he report you to the cops?  Or the bakery lady?  Or your grocery clerk?  

The World Is Supposed To End: 1 Feb 1524

 Months leading up to 1 Feb 1524....a group of astrology folks in London had predicted a massive flood would occur on 1 Feb 1524.

As the days approached, it's estimated that between 10, 000 and 20,000 London residents had decided the prediction was correct...packed up, and actually left London for high-ground.

Days passed, and the crowd would eventually return, with no flood occurring.  

Eight German News Stories

 1.  Well....Chancellor Scholz said 'fine', and has agreed to the release of the Leopard II tanks to the Ukraine.  I'd say very intense pressure has occurred within the Bundestag (even Greens have taken a pro-release position).  Timing?  Only thing left.  Tanks will not go in remaining days of January, or Feb apparently.  

2.  Activist from the Lützerath protest, have gone to a new 'brand/message'.  Release from yesterday describes a new initiative....“Lützerath Lebt” (translates to Lützerath Lives).

Activist who was explaining this....then said "We must turn away from our current capitalist system. The fight is also taking place in Lützerath,"

Yes, back to the anticapitalistic theme.

Among the things they seek to hype....defund the police.  Sound familiar?

I would offer among working-class Germans....the anti-police position is a joke, and there's a lot more respect for police in Germany, than in the US.  

3.  There's a GEZ 'reminder' letter going out across Germany to people who have not set up their TV-media tax business.  By law, you have to answer the letter, or you end up with a summons.  You will only get the letter....if your apartment/house is noted as not paying the monthly/yearly fee.

4.  There is a story going around (BS-factor is 50-50)....that Putin has ordered various upgraded defense measures around his work/home area.  Some belief that the Ukraine will try to kill him.   Odd that it comes up now....almost a year into the war.

5.  'All Quiet on the Western Front' (2022 German movie) is now up for an Oscar (Movie of the Year).

What I'll say in comparing it to the 1930 version....both are in the 'epic' category....I might lean more toward the 1930 version, but the graphics/bombing scenes....make the 2022 a great movie.

I should note....in competition is Top Gun: Maverick and likely to outdraw most of the competition. 

6.  German science report on N-TV....inner core of the Earth spinning more slowly than normal.  They actually are suggesting that this might reflect upon the length of the day eventually.  Imagine a 24-hour day going to 26 hours?  

7.  EU Commission has come to a new reality....if you were a migrant and asked for asylum....once refused, your deportation matter ought to come up and be forced.  This appears headed to a regulation/draft law.  

Some Germans are thinking this would be the relief they've been looking for.....that the matter would no longer be politicized to the extent it is now.

8.  Within my state of Hessen....there are various communities which are considered 'dead-zones'...meaning they have no cellphone reception.  This has turned into a political 'hot-potato'.   

Various parties now want the commercial sector to resolve this.

One of My Hundred Odd Interests: Göbekli Tepe

 I probably spend thirty man-hours a year, reviewing podcasts and reports on the Turkish site....Göbekli Tepe.  It intrigues me on purpose, the archelogy explanations, and the reason why it was covered over (buried).

So I've come to this theory of the necessity of burying it.  

Usually in history, when crap happens and societies disintegrate.....they burn down buildings, rip statues apart, and destroy civilization.  In this case.....none of that happened.  Some folks (probably at least a hundred) took to covering a monument-type site.  

From the hundreds of questions asked....why bury it....often comes up.

Around thirteen-thousand years ago....something happened, and probably around a thousand years pass....where some stonemason folks go to building the site.  

My theory, this was supposed to be a educational or religious type site....to remember a great disaster that occurred.  For years and years, it served that purpose.  Then one day.....a new disaster came and folks got the idea that the old disaster was not worth remembering.....they went to the new disaster theme.  

Rather than tear this site apart....the locals simply buried it.  They probably figured that one day....interest would return.   

The World Is Supposed To End: 1033 AD

 The first big fake 'world-is-supposed-end' episode occurred in 1033 AD. 

What you can generally say....some Catholic authorities proclaimed that Jesus had been dead for 1,000 years, and that on this particular year (1033)....a second-coming was going to occur, and that the end of 'times' was discussed openly. 

It's safe to say that panic started up in Europe, and spread around to the four corners. 

Folks prepared for the end....gave up farming....sought refuge because they expected bad times. Going with this....a pretty crappy spring weather period started up, and helped to convince folks this was all tied together. 

By the end of the year....to explain this in a religious way....why the end had not come....the Catholic folks said that Jesus didn't necessarily die in 1033....that it might have been 1034 or 1035. They seemed to be not that sure about the event. 

The fact that this is not talked much about today? I think a lot of Church leadership in the decade after 1033....were fairly embarrassed about how things occurred, and how some folks literally destroyed their lives over the anticipation of the end-of-times chatter.

Three Odd Things You Notice Out of German News Today

 1.  The Post folks (the leadership) say that home delivery should go from a Mon-Sat schedule....to five days, and even possibly four days.  

However, there is some funny wording to this....if you were urbanized....five days would virtually guaranteed in some ways.  If you were rural....the odds would be a four-day-a-week schedule.  

How this will come across to Germans?  Most packages now....like from Amazon or the electronic shops....would still flow via Fedex or any of the regular delivery guys.  What you typically get in terms of envelops....are limited in nature.  

This happening in 2023?  Very doubtful, and I think this is something that is still three or four years way from occurring.

2.  Russians making a threat over Germany providing tanks to the Ukraine?  Yes.  It was rather blunt this AM.

There are various pay-backs that could occur, and this is one of the reasons why the Chancellor keeps pushing back against supplying tanks.  

3.  This inventory of German Leopard II tanks, ordered by the new German Defense Minister?  

It should have taken no more than an hour to assess what was there....active, and what was there....in the garage.  This idea that it would take a week or two?  BS.  

Five German Stories

 1.  The German public forum show....Hart Aber Fair....was on last night.  Topic?  Health stuff....mostly over how much booze is healthy to drink, and cannabis-weed legalization.

So, the Health Minister was on the panel, and he's pushing the idea that he wants cannabis legalization to be so cheap....that black-market weed won't exist anymore.  Even in Colorado where legalization occurred....the black market still survives on today.

I should note....legalization is still months and months away.  I doubt it'll even occur in 2023.  The drafting of the regulation to allow it?  Still stuck in the Health Ministry....lot of negativity about where this would lead onto.  

2.  Rheinmetal (the tank-making company in Germany) is ready to ship out 29 tanks (purchase deal) in May.  They even say that the final number (probably 2025) would be 139.  

3.  Ford in Germany is cutting 3,200 jobs in Koln.  Lot of heartburn with the employees.  Some of this restructuring is because of the approaching E-cars only period (2030), and you simply won't need so many people for the work.   This was openly discussed back in 2015 when the E-car deadline was announced.....there would a lot less people to make such cars.

Job market being able to use these people?  All of the car companies are facing the same trend, and there's limits to their sklls.  

4.  Schlager music star Florian Silbereisen in trouble?  Well...the Fulda public prosecutor is investigating the guy over copyright abuse.

For some public TV show....there's one single word sung, which conflicted with the way the actual song (going back to the 1980s) was written.  Word taken out?  'Indians'.

Reported to the authorities by the writer of the song?  Yeah.

What some believe (no facts) is that internally within the show production....they went 'political' and said singing with the word 'Indian' was 'bad'.  Sounds pretty bogus, but this is going to be dragged into court, and several production folks (including Silbereisen) will have to make a statement.   Worst case scenario?  The Schlager show folks are portrayed as 'woke' and end up paying some kind of damages to the guy who wrote the song lyrics.  

5.  The CDU Party commissioned a study to be done over ZDF, ARD, and RTL (two public TV networks, one commercial network).

End result?  The study says in most cases....the Green Party and SPD Party always comes off as fairly positive.....the CDU Party comes off less-than-positive.

The CDU folks say there's a lack of diversity.  

Generally, if you'd asked most working-class Germans....they would have said this already in the 1960s with the SPD and CDU parties.....and when the Greens finally began to arrive in the 1990s....they were slipped over to the positive image.

Odds of anything coming out of this study and whining?  Zero.  

We might see an effort by ARD and ZDF to explain the fake nature of the study and they are super-balanced with all politics....to which most Germans would just start to laugh.  

Activist Story

 It's a page 3-type story today....the 'Last Generation' environmentalists say that they want to (in Feb) expand their protest to ALL of Germany.  What that means?  It's left to your imagination.

Personally, in the Wiesbaden region....no one has had to face up to the glue-gimmick or protest angle from the activist....yet.

Are they recruiting teenage kids to get active?  Well....no one says.

To be honest about this....whatever message or 'brand' they are selling...it's just not coming across to the average working-class German.  

Odd Story

 Just odd....ZEIT, Bild and Deutschlandfunk....all have a political slant story this AM....that the CDU Party folks are having a private chat with the FDP/Greens....suggesting that Scholz and the SPD coalition.....is crap, and they should break up....joining for a CDU-FDP-Green gov't.

On my BS-meter....I'd give the chat business a '1' on this talking place (probably true), but in terms of happening....it's a wild crazy idea, BUT all legal.  

The German gov't is based on the idea that coalitions will come and go.  If the FDP and Greens walk out on Scholz.....the only gov't possible is then a relationship with the CDU/CSU.  If they refuse, then you have two scenarios left....a new election or the President allows for 2nd-place CDU-CSU to talk to the Greens and FDP....for a new gov't.

For the record, currently....the CDU-CSU folks are up around 32-percent in polling....leading everyone (if there was another election currently).  The SPD is in a pretty crappy third position.  

My scenario how this would work?  I think the Greens would ask for the Chancellor job, which would be nearly impossible for the CDU-CSU to accept.

Maybe some changes in priorities would convince the Greens to accept a CDU-CSU guy as Chancellor....which means Merz becomes the new Chancellor.  

What minister jobs would go to the CDU-CSU?  Interior Minister, Labor Minister, Minister of Defense, Minister of Health, Minister of Housing and Development, Minister of Economic Development.

Same date for next election?  Yes, that would not change  (fall of 2025).

Just odds on this crazy talk?  I'd say less than a 30-percent chance.  But if you approached most working-class Germans, they wouldn't say it's a bad thing....just agreeing it's really a far fetched idea. 

The person who might be the most shocked right now?  Merkel....because of all people that she disliked....this Merz guy was probably in the number one or two position.  

Five German News Stories

1.  If you watched the big public forum show on ARD last night (9:45 PM, the Anne Will Show)....the topic was the Ukraine war situation.

At some point, Will (the moderator) brings in the new Defense Minister (Pistorius).  On tanks going to Ukraine?  He basically says....a decision will be made soon (quote, unquote).  In simple terms, his Party is still preferring NOT to hand any tanks over.

I would strongly suggest that the longer this gets debated....public sentiment goes to handing some tanks over to the Ukraine, and it goes against the SPD position.  Oddly, both the Greens and FDP are for handing tanks over.  

2.  National election to be held on 14 May, for President and the 'House'.  How this will go?  Anyone's guess.

3.Via Focus, some Norwegian general has surveyed data (conflicting reports) and says at present in the Russia/Ukraine war....Russia has either dead, missing or wounded....at 180,000.   

BS-factor?  Probably a '5'.  

I personally doubt if Putin himself even knows, or if the military structure wants to tell the story even to the inner circle.

4.  Pressure building up for medical clinics....to halt the mask requirement (for Covid).  

5.  Fairly long ARD news piece on long-Covid.  Medical report stating worldwide....around 65 million people with it.  They (ARD) suggest the current German number of people suffering from long-Covid is around one-million.

A lot of this circles back around the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which has been a 'thing' for several decades.  

Scholzing

 It's an invented word....no one is sure who invented but the definition of scholzing comes across as a communication effort (speech, promise, written material)....that always has good intentions tied to it, and in the days or weeks that pass...nothing much comes from the communications effort. 

Bullshit artist....is what we used to call it in the 1970s/1980s.

Even German teenagers chat over the use of the term now. 

What's the Real Blockage on German Tanks to Ukraine?

 Basically, this trail leads back to two elements....the leadership elements of the SPD Party, and this fear of Russian retaliation upon the German homeland.

So to topic number one....if you go to 1919 and review the political spectrum....the election that year centered on 38-percent of the public voting for the SPD Party to lead the nation after the Kaiser left.

They had been around for about 45 years at that point, and identified mostly to a political platform of being Marxist-lite...meaning they were fairly left.  

When 1914 came with the war....the party split roughly 50-50.  You had pro-war sentiments with some SPD voters, and you had some antiwar sentiments with others. 

It's safe to say that the antiwar folks split off in the years of 1914 to 1919, to become the Communist Party of Germany.  Yeah, a bit of a shock....one year they were both lined up in terms of ideology, and the next year....all split off  

After the war, up until the early 1930s....the SPD Party generally won most of the elections, but they were always in the 35-percent range....meaning most people in Germany weren't thrilled with their promises or platform action.

After 1945, the SPD Party went back to general left-of-spectrum business, and into the mid-1960s....they were pushing the agenda of closer/better relations with the Soviet Union.  The sales pitch....a friendly situation meant war would never arrive between the two 'friends'. 

From the top dozen folks of the SPD Party today?  I would imagine in their mind....the war will end at some point....oil and natural gas from Russia will be turned back on, and friendly relations will occur again.  If you asked most Germans at random (on the street)....they aren't that optimistic about Russia or Putin. The old relationship will likely not return in the next forty-odd years.   

So, this leadership would say....why offend our 'friend' by releasing twenty to forty tanks to the Ukrainians?  If the Bundeswehr (the Army) were the ones deciding this?  They'd likely say what idiot would want tanks that are broke 30-percent of the time, and in the garage x-number of days a year?

To the second issue....war escalation?  About every week or two via ZDF or ARD (public TV), they bring up nuke war chatter.   I'd suggest that one out of every twenty-five Germans has some fear of this and it's continually on their mind.

I think as the 'Cold War' concluded in the early 1990s....a lot of things around the country evolved.  On the list of thousand things to worry about....for the typical German....'war' disappeared from that list.  Most Germans worried more about wolf attacks than war.  

It reached a point with the Merkel-generation where under-funding the Bundeswehr was perfectly acceptable and figured to be a way of showing 'trust' to the Russians....'we-just-aren't-going-to-threaten-you' as being a national policy.

A year into this Ukrainian/Russia war....the idea of tanks crossing the Fulda 'Gap' and invading Germany?  Just about impossible with the heavy losses of Russian tank inventories.  If you view video of the past month from burned-out tanks....there's even tanks appearing on the battle field from the 1960s era...meaning they've reached a depot point where the reserve situation is bleak.

So what you generally see is a theatrical show.....with SPD leadership talking and stomping their foot....'any day now, we will release the damn tanks'....then grinning a day later while admitting that day of release won't be this month.  

It's almost like being in a relationship with a known slut, and she keeps promising you hot 'spicy' sex and all you ever get is a kiss on the cheek. 

My advice to the Ukrainians.....you might want to find another 'friend' besides Germany. 

Five German News Stories

 1.  Rebuilding Ukraine after the war ends?  WELT this AM says 1.25 trillion Euro.  

2.  The property tax mess?  For the non-German, the Constitutional Court of Germany handed down a ruling a couple of years ago....that the property tax situation was unfair.  So the Bundestag spent some time reframing the situation.  

To make this work....they wanted a data base created out of thin air....which you (not the gov't)....would fill in the data.  By 1 Feb, your deadline will arrive.  Presently, they figure around 55-percent of people have successfully finished their input.  

The rest?  It's simply not easy to log on and get the system to accept your data.  Most people have reached a point of frustration, and told the state tax offices that it's impossible to accomplish. 

So here's the two odd pieces of the story.

First, people are beginning to realize that property taxes are going up, and the general promise that it wouldn't amount to much (say 3 to 5 percent)....that's probably not going to be the truth.  

Second, while the gov't held all this data, and never had to force people into creating a database from scratch.....there's a lot of suggestions out there that things were screwed-up.  The odds that you might put in a lesser amount of square meters for your house, and never get caught?  I'd say it's fifty-fifty.  

3.  Someone polled the German public....asking if it was important that Minister jobs for the gov't was split 50-50 among men and women.  Roughly six out of ten Germans said it has zero importance.  

4.  Watched a piece off N-TV this AM....talking over German pension folks (over 65) now going to the public welfare offices in higher numbers (12-percent increase since 2021).  

A lot of them are surprised over what they got upon retirement, and its simply not enough to survive.  

5.  The Minister of Agriculture is drafting up a regulation to forbid exotic pet importation into Germany.....saying there's a lot of crazy pet situations and it can't continue.  

What Was Tutti Frutti

 For a non-German who might have heard the name of this TV show, but no idea what it was.....a brief introduction.

In the early glory days of RTL (the first commercial TV network)....in January of 1990 came this evening show called 'Tutti Frutti'. 

RTL, unlike ZDF or ARD (the public TV networks) was going after younger viewers, and wanted to be known as the anti-intellectual network.

So Tutti Frutti was a weekly gameshow.  There were 140 episodes by the time they ended it in the spring of 1993.

Length?  45 minutes.

It ran on Sunday evenings (late) for the first season.  As I remember it....by season, it flipped to Friday evenings.  Season three jumped back and forth from Friday to Saturday.

So the emphasis of the game....was erotic stuff (boobs, jokes, strip-tease, etc).  Contestants?  They were both male and female.  

Winning anything?  Well....typically the big winner of the night would walk away with 3,000 DM's.....roughly $1,500.....which was a big deal in the early 1990s.

Here's the thing about it....it was clearly drawing a ton of advertising revenue in for the new network, and ensured their survival in the first couple of years.

As much as you can say that it was 'crazy' stuff for TV.....West Germany in this era of 1970s/1980s....was full of hyped-up sex via newspapers and red-light districts.  Things are way more conservative today, than it was forty years ago.  

Why it ended?  It was a hot fad, that came and went.  

You can bring up Tutti Fruitti with most Germans who are over 60, the bulk of them will admit that they watched a number of episodes.  They might say it was pretty silly, but highly erotic in nature.  If you asked if a show like this could survive today?  They'd laugh and say no.  

Their success, I think....was hooked up to a 'limit'.  It was pure strip-tease stuff, with a few boobs shown, and highly suggestive jokes.  That was it.  And I should note....they copied the format from Italian TV from the late 1980s.  

Just Odd Chatter On the Tanks To Ukraine Issue

 This morning....topic came up....the previous German Defense Minister had ordered no inventory of operational versus non-operational tanks since the war started.  

This was to prevent any impression (within the German gov't).....that they had 'extra' tanks around which they could spare.

Apparently, yesterday....this topic came up and the new incoming Defense Minister realized the impact of this.....then gave the order....audit and count all German tanks, period.

The sad thing here if you think about it....the FSB (former KGB) of Russia....probably had a better count on German tanks....than the Chancellor or Defense Ministry. Putin could have called up Scholz any afternoon, and said....hey, I counted active tanks versus inactive tanks and you slipped sixteen over yesterday on the numbers chart.  

Four Observations

 1.  There's a new listing out for the Stuttgart-21 rail project.  Originally, the estimate was in 1995 around 2.5-billion Euro.  

After the city gov't flipped in the first stage of construction, and the new gov't tried to revamp the project (cutting pieces) and the vote went against the changes...the new estimate came to around 4.5-billion Euro. Presently, the amount is up around 9.8-billion Euro.

It'll easily cross the 10-billion line in the end.  

Opening date?  December 2025....still three years away, and I'd suggest another billion will be added at the end.

2.  Berlin, in the weeks now leading up to the mandated 2nd attempt at the election (Feb)....had a poll.  Number one issue?  Affordable housing. 

Just about every single solution on the table requires more money than the city has at present.  So resolving this is next to impossible.

I should note in polling....the CDU will get near 23-percent in this city election, but the SPD and Greens will have enough (39-percent combined) to get control of the city government.  

3.  Some German think-tank has given the number of C02 'tons' a wag, and says your personal amount should be three 'tons'.  If you exceed that....you should pay for the extra used amount.

If you go and browse the material....you'd have to figure C02 into literally everything....the coffee you bought today....the newspaper that came to you digitally (instead via paper)....the visit by the postal guy....the catfood you bought....the beer delivery method (glass versus can)....and so on.  You'd likely reach the stage of evaluating the single ply toilet paper to the 2-ply or 3-ply.  

Just sitting down with your spouse and discussing the ride into the city to hang out at some Christmas market....would mean a 10-minute discussion how C02 use would be involved, and if you could afford some leisure time.....OR if it was better to just sit in your carport and wish you were there.

4.  Discussion going on in Germany about nipples.

Apparently both Instagram and META are having a policy change review....allowing images of nipples in pictures.  There's some belief with German commentary that booby pictures will get the green light (it was offensive for the page 3 Bild newspaper crowd, and the booby pictures disappeared in the 1990s in Germany).  

Kinda funny how things evolve, then double-back two decades later.  

At the present rate, I'd say boobs on TV shows (like it was in the 1980s in West Germany) will come back into full fashion.  

Six German News Stories

 1.  The Health Minister (Lauterbach, SPD Party) of Germany brought up some odd topics yesterday....there are now studies to say the more often you get Covid....the less effective your immune system is, and oddly enough....higher rates of dementia (just one of several problems that were laid out) are expected down the road. 

Yeah, it was pretty blunt news and will beg for more studies.  Probably going to be a new term invented here (Covidmentia, where around age forty, your university degree is now worthless because you can't think anymore).  

2.   RWE (the company) is going after the activists at the demonstration site of the past week....saying individual activists themselves....will be taken into court for damages and cost.  

This might turn into a fairly complicated and costly affair for the activists.

3.  The suggestion that Germany will turn over Leopard tanks to Ukraine?  Based on all the chatter at Ramstein's meeting yesterday...I'd give it less than a 30-percent chance of happening.

4.  Largest percentage ever, in 2022....volunteering/going into the German Bundeswehr (Army) at age 17.  Some folks freaked out at the numbers and saying it's a sign of poverty-growth, and they want a limit on the underage recruits.  

I'll just say....that if your apprentice applications aren't getting results at age 15 or 16 (especially up in NW Germany where the problem is apparent)....the signing up for the Army at 17 is the only possible path to take.

5.  Some odd chatter has started up in the SPD Party about a cabinet shuffle, and that maybe this 50-50 split on men/women in the leadership positions isn't working as well as they thought it would.

6.  Some vegan-butcher shop opened in Dresden, and folks seem all hyped-up about this bold new experiment.  

Thirty General Rules To Follow In Germany

 1.  When you walk out of the house.....have a fifty-Euro-cent piece somewhere on you....for the 'cost' of public bathrooms.  Also, remember that since the 1980s...around 50-percent of all public toilets have been closed off.  

2.  Have the Bahn railway app on your phone, and be prepared for a plan 'B'.  Note that when they say the car has Air Conditioning...it's built for a temperature up to 34 C (93 F).  Beyond that....the AC is crap.  

3.  In any highly urbanized landscape....be vigilant.  In the middle of Frankfurt, Berlin or Hamburg....trouble always lurks.  

4.  If anyone presents themselves as a policeman in plain clothing (even with a badge)....be skeptical of who they present themselves.  Be respectful but doubtful.

5.  At any car accident situation....don't take your cellphone out to take pictures. 

6.  The most expensive gas, beer, and snacks...will always be at a autobahn stop.

7.  Germans will often present themselves as experts on things....so if they are lacking knowledge or presenting a false reality....don't say much of anything, it'll hurt their feelings.

8.  At a pub, German beer typically comes in the .3-liter, the .5-liter and sometimes (rarely) the 1-liter.  With the average .3-liter, you can probably consume one per hour (average weight) and avoid being drunk.  If you've had two of the .5's?  Walk home.  Cops take this pretty serious if you drive while drunk.  Also, there is this beer called 'Elephant Beer'....which is 7.2-percent alcohol.  Don't get silly and think you can drink two of those in a 90-minute setting.

9.  If you promise to arrive at x-time....don't show up late, unless you want a Q-and-A over why you were late.

10.  German women often dress in outdated fashion, provocative styles, and odd form.  It's best not to say anything positive or negative...try to avoid gazing.  Some Germans may have sixteen different tattoo drawings on their body, and want you to ask about the significance of each. 

11.  If there is any hint of ice/snowfall....given a choice of going off in the car...avoid it.  If traveling via train with heavy storm action predicted...have an idea of a hotel to stay at because of cancellations possible.

12.  A number of city parks around major German cities have become drug 'empires'....so you might want to avoid them after dark.  Also, don't be shocked if standing in a park, with some German nearby....amazed that they have thumbs and spending ten minutes admiring their thumbs, while under the influence of a drug.

13.  Recycle. Recycle.  Recycle.  Don't get caught violating the general rules, or expect a lecture.

14.  For every intellectual you might meet on the German street....there's a dozen non-intellectuals, and one idiot-intellectual (the guy who is continually wrong on everything).  Learn to categorize the bunch, and avoid the idiot-intellectual as much as possible.

15.  One out of every eight people you meet on the street in German....are a guest, or migrant.  So if you (the non-German) feel out of place....don't worry, there's others like you.  

16.  Don't get drawn into discussions on aliens or UFOs or bigfoot.  Germans are the least likely people on Earth to have any acceptance on these topics. 

17.  Unless you like hearing about your German friend's past dozen vacations....in great detail for two hours....don't bring up travel or trips.

18.  If you scan the front page of BILD (the newspaper) for 3 minutes, you have enough knowledge to chat with any German on the top ten stories brewing in Germany for the day.  Note: intellectuals in Germany don't read BILD or ever quote from it.

19.  If a German wants to get 'friendly' with you....the key moment will be when you add each other to WhatsApp.  Don't go expecting Twitter or Instagram, or META/FB entanglements.

20.  If you don't quote ARD/ZDF (public TV networks), then you might be accused of fake news or being 'lateral-thinking'.  Always watch public TV chat forums....to think the 'right way'.  

21.  The massive bulk of Germans don't invest and consider the stock market to be a fraud.  So avoid discussions on the topic.

22.  While it's questionable....probably one out of every twenty-five Germans will claim gourmet-cooking status....making a 3-course meal in 90 minutes out of raw ingredients.  If invited to a situation like this...always praise the cook....to the point that they are getting misty-eyed.  If they mentioned they used msg in the preparation....it's not gourmet and limit the misty-eyed comments.  

23.  If some German associate has invited you to a lunch with curry sauce in the mix....be aware that there are different levels of 'hot', and if the cook says it's REAL hot....skip it.

24.  If engaged in a conversation with a German on privacy expectations....just accept the fact that their 'line-in-the-sand' is a lot more than the typical non-German.  They don't even want Goggle-Earth to share the appearance of the backyard.  They also don't want META to send them advertising which relates to past searches they may have done on the internet.

25.  If you ask a German if they'd like a drink (soda or beer), and they respond with 'danke' (thanks in English).....that literally means 'no'.  If they answer with the statement of 'bitte' (meaning please)....then yes, they'd like the drink.  

26.  Probably a quarter of society has a problem with open windows, and fresh air.  'Stiff' neck syndrome, body-ache syndrome.....take your pick.  So if visiting and wanting fresh air....be ultra careful about asking if the window can be opened.  

27.  If visiting Munich during Oktoberfest....expect about half the crowd to be drunk, silly, wasted, and laughing over any marginal joke.  About ten-percent of this group will wake up over by the 'hill' where the medical crews dump them off after assuring they aren't in mortal danger....remembering little to nothing of the past six hours.

28.  Bottled water comes in several different versions.  If you want just plain regular water....ask for still water.  

29.  Accept the fact that getting to an understanding on 'du' and 'sie' (the two versions of the word 'you')....might require a 30 minute lecture by a German.

30.  Things in Germany run in an order.  Don't question the order.  Don't try to evolve the order.  Don't think that science is involved in the order.  Don't ask for simple explanations of the order.  Just accept it.  

Is There A Limit To What Germany Can Handle Via Migrants/Immigrants and Asylum Seekers?

 I sat through the 2013-to-2017 era here in Germany, and had several chats with Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis, Russians and one Ghanaian.  So I have a different prospective than most folks (including Germans).

There's a lot of hype now within the Bundestag....that things aren't working well with the 'guests'.  Some Germans (probably nearing 30 to 40 percent)....want a limit assigned.  

So I'll make these eight observations:

1.  Integration is pure 'hit-and-miss'.  You could have 2,000 folks a year arrive in Stuttgart, and find that fewer than twenty fail on integrating into German society.  You could have 600 folks arrive in Hamburg, and more than a hundred fail on integrating into the system.  Some states/cities have better programs than others....it's  mystery that no one can understand.

2.  You have x-number of folks arrive from a non-war country and want their economic distress to be the key feature of accepting them....then you find that they are at twenty-five years old....have mostly what you'd consider a 6th grade education and it'd take four years to teach them German, and get through some job-skill situation, with the German government covering their lifestyle for the four-year period.  While no one wants to admit....there is a negative Euro-trade-off situation that is brewing.  

3.  A fair sum of people...wake up around a year into their transition into Germany...discovering that their old crappy life in the old country....measures up to the same crappy level in Germany because they don't have the job skills to be anything other than a shelf-stocker or gas station clerk.

4.  A number of the younger migrant guys end up with juvenile bad-boy behavior, and become magnets for police woes.  You only solve public worries of safety....by hiring more police.  

5.  Older migrant folks will point open lifestyle issues in Germany....make for serious trouble with young male migrant population.  It's like mixing booze, drugs and sexual behavior together....getting a wild mess to control.

6.  German authorities will readily admit....across all of the major urban zones in Germany.....affordable housing is crap, and long-term strategy or fixes.....seem to always be BS.  Trying to size immigrant population into this mess?  It just makes for a bigger mess.

7.  Various states are unlikely to deport failed visa applicants....while other states are very likely to deport the folks.  It differs state to state, and no one can explain the science or lack of science to this.  

8.  While all of these hang against the current program....Germany desperately needs migration in it's future....to carry the weight of industry and craftsmen.  

One Funny Memory From the 2020 to 2022 Covid Era Here in Germany

 Somewhere along September 2020....a whole bunch of mandates came down about what could be open or not....so barbershops got onto the closed list around October of that time frame.

So until spring of 2021...around April....you couldn't visit a barbershop.  

At some point, even my German wife made a comment about my ragged hair situation...to which I butchered up my hair....cutting it myself.

This became an odd trend in early 2021....guys would appear on TV and look pretty bad in terms of their hair.  Then you'd occasionally notice this one guy out of forty....who must have found a private barber to cut his hair.....against the stupid mandate rules.  

When they did lift the ban.....then you had extra rules in place.  You had to mask up while getting the cut.  You had to accept a hair-wash...meaning another five to eight Euro for a guy's haircut.  You had to have an appointment time, and meet the 'window', or lose your slot.  

I'm reminded of all this today....having gone to my local Turkish barber, and the zero rules mentality with the shop today in 2023.  

What I Think Of the Aldi Mini-Grocery Concept?

The concept goes this way....the grocery chain....Aldi....does research and determines areas where a small 'mini' shop would make sense.

My description?  It's about 3 meters by 12 meters in size, and probably has around 180 different grocery items on the shelves.  

It's the kind of shop I'd put next to a small train station or a bus stop.  You swipe your credit card to enter.....pick up what amounts to your snacks for the day, or some 'quickie' meal for the evening.  

I haven't personally been in one, so I can't say if they have booze or beer on the shelf.

It's certainly not a real grocery, and it's the kind of place where you'd only stop on your way to work or returning home. 

The nifty thing?  It's open 24 hours a day....and unmanned.

If it came to my village....it'd probably be a success....but we have no space at any of the four bus-stops in the village.

Right now....it's probably in the couple of dozen around Germany, and still more of an experiment.  In ten years?  I expect several thousand to exist.  

Three Observations

 1.  Somewhere out of yesterday (Thursday), I spent an hour watching bits and pieces of the World Economic Forum highlights. 

Key chatter?  The Siemens AG 'boss' did a talk that we all need to do our part in 'stop eating meat'.  It went along some chatter that a billion people need to step up....volunteer...give their 'all' in the fight to halt meat eating.

Personally, it might make health sense to consume half your meat intake in chicken/turkey....but beyond that....it's just not going to sell well to the general public.  It'd probably serve health benefits more if you aimed at sugar, and cut 50-percent of your daily sugar intake.

2.  This whole 'should we (Germany) give tanks to Ukraine' thing progresses along each day.  There must be 2,000 man-hours a day wasted between the Chancellor, the cabinet folks, and the German Defense Ministry.

At the end of each day....ARD/ZDF (the two public TV networks) do their best to encapsulate all of this into four lines of information....which seems to drift slightly each day.

3.  German Post says strike will occur shortly....asking for 15-percent of a pay-raise.  Around regular Germans....there's no hype or worry....like most of what they order now....comes via Amazon or special delivery service.  There's probably less than a dozen envelops that come to the house in an average month now.  

"We Are Simply Afraid" Story

 So as the demonstration business is wrapping up in the Lützerath region (the activist action against the RWE coal site in NW Germany).....there's an odd story brewing.

People in the villages around Lützerath have signed up a 'petition-like' letter....sending it to the local police chief, the district administrator and the local mayor.  

Their complaint?  The activists have unsettled the area. Wild characters running through the neighborhoods....in hoods/masks....throwing firecrackers...daubing walls of buildings, etc.  The accusation is that damage was done to buildings and fields around the villages (locally, this was not in a harvest season).

At this point....the protest is considered 99-percent done, and the affair is ended.  So there's not likely to be any action to make the local residents happy.  

Permanent bias against the protest crowd?  Well....yeah, that's the problem here because the locals saw the activist's negative side.  You had juvenile behavior, reckless actions, and poor planning all in one single setting.  As much as the RWE situation might have been considered negative.....the protest itself became just as big.

The sad thing....because of inaction by politicians and police....the locals probably would have been better off to protest themselves and be activists.....against activists.  

Seven German News Stories

 1.  Just odd....ARD (public TV, Channel One) did a live one-on-one prime-time interview (moderator Tina Hassel and the new Defense Minister....Boris Pistorius) last night.  

They got through the first half of this 15-minute interview....Pistorius was doing very well....then some technical glitch occurred in the studio, and the remaining big question that Hassel wanted to ask....what of the Pistorius chat with Ukraine's PM....never got answered.

Maybe just luck....maybe a timed glitch.  Hard to say.

2.  Soccer news: Rudi Voller moves up to the chief of the DFB....national soccer league headquarters.  

3.  Over the last day or two....several police raids in my local region of Hessen....against Covid test-centers that were doing a fraudulent test business.

4.  N-24/Welt piece:  German federal gov't having to admit they are sitting on around 1-billion Euro of Covid masks....sitting in warehouses/depots around the country.  Very likely they will never be used. 

5.  Major demonstrations in France yesterday....against pension/retirement reform.  More than 1-million people came out.

6.  Aldi (the German grocery chain) has been running a test-grocery (the mini-store type) up in Utrecht, Netherlands.  After six months, it's a bit odd to admit....almost no customer came in to use it.  

7.  Ukraine's PM (Zelenskyj) made a BS statement yesterday....suggesting that Putin's appearances are being accomplished by stand-in's or body-doubles.  The trouble here....even 50-percent of Russians will suspect this is true.  

A Funny German Law

 There's a German law that says if a town has 2,000 or more residents....a post office is mandated.

Currently....around 140 German towns meet the 2,000 residents, but have no post office.

The Bundestag is having a discussion over this.....asking why the 140 cities can't have a post office, and if the law has to change.

What's really happened here?  The Post folks have 'farmed-out' the job to local grocery stores, tobacco shops, or newspaper shops.

An example....in my village....we had a post office for years, then it got dealt to the local stationary/newspaper/lotto shop.  I would take a guess that 50-percent of the income for the business...is postal related now.  

In these 140 towns?  I would make a guess that the local grocery or tobacco shop had a conversation over some deal.....deciding the income wasn't worth the hassle.  

What will likely come out of this review?  I would imagine a new law where you have to have 3,000 residents....to qualify for a village post office.  

Just a Weird Ethical Problem

 WDR, a sub public TV network under ARD.....runs a national chat-forum show called 'Hart Aber Fair'.  Monday nights....9 PM.  I tend to rate it one of the top three forum shows.  For a number of years, it was run by Frank Plasberg (roughly 20 years of moderation).  I'd give him mostly positive marks.

He retired, and Louis Klamroth was announced back in September as the incoming new moderator.  My humble guess....WDR probably had six months to review choices, and Klamroth knew he had the job back in July.

So, here's the odd thing....Klamroth has a on-going relationship with Luisa Neubauer.  She's with Friday's For The Future....the activist crowd.

In all the discussions between ARD/WDR.....Klamroth did not bring up this fact....until August, shortly after the network announced his promotion. No one did much after that point.

Problem now?  Well....there's something about corporate guidelines, and keeping your life within a boundary.  

How long has he and Neubauer been a couple?  Unknown, and normally.....it shouldn't be anyone's business.  But then you draw up ethical situations, and the way that people will perceive his moderation of topics.  If he comes across as pro-activist or pro-environmentalist....then the value of the show drops.

In a normal company....the leadership would call in a lawyer or two....review the company policy and reach some determination if he can faithfully carry on the job, or if he deceived the company in any way.  I'm guessing virtually no one in ARD will ask questions about your relationship situation....in the interview process.  

What I'll predict?  ARD will try to proceed ahead and hope that Klamroth doesn't select any environmental topics to talk about for the next year, and somewhere in 2024.....promote him to some management position and ease him out of the mess.  

I'll just say this about journalism.  We've reached a stage where people are generally skeptical of your intentions as a journalist.  If you get awful defensive about a conservative topic (halting mass immigration) or some liberal topic (E-cars)....as a moderator, then your effort is challenged.  Moderation is a science in some ways....you are supposed to ask questions and get people motivated to answer with facts or logic.  If you can't perform at that level....you might want to look for new work.  

My Take On The World Economic Forum (Davos)

 Over the past two days, I've probably watched around two hours of 'hype' from the 'show'.

Generally, I'll say four things:

1.  It takes a massive amount of carbon to get the guests all there, and supported over a one-week period.

2.  The guests all give the same basic speech that they've given over the past five years....nothing new.  News people are stuck....trying to repackage/rebrand the chatter.

3.  A lot of 'fix-it' advice given out.....without demonstrated results to back up the 'theories'.  

4.  If the 2,000 hookers flown in rumor is true.....lot of action after 7 PM going on.

Three Ways That German Public Forums Are 'Tilted'

 I generally don't complain about the way that ARD/ZDF (public TV in Germany, Channel 1/2)....run public forum shows.  

Most of the time, you can make the case that they are balanced, covering one of the top ten problems facing the public, and have somewhat smart folks to debate the topic.  

Where the forums are 'tilted' or unbalanced?  

1.  If you have a moderator and five guests....then you wake up ten minutes into the show to find that four of the guests have a blunt/pointed view on something and the 5th guest is the only one to present an opposing view....the show is 'tilted'.

2.  If you lead into the discussion with a 2-minute 'fact-video'....realizing that 'fact-video' was 50-percent misleading or loaded with propaganda....then the whole discussion that occurs after that is wasted time and effort.

3.  When you have a moderator who is unable to control the talk or the guests....the show becomes more of a circus than a forum.

Five German News Stories

 1.  This video piece from the Lutzerath demonstration site in the NW of Germany....had a unique feature of Greta Thunberg being arrested by the state police.  

You can find the video on YouTube and if you watch it a couple of times....yeah, it's pretty much a 'staged' event where it was scripted for some PR reason.  

But lets be honest....a lot of the Fridays-For-The-Future and Last-Generation action is developed as a public relations gimmick.  

2.  Lot of unusual speculation over the crash of the helicopter in the Ukraine that killed the Interior Minister and his senior staff members.  

3.  The CDU/CSU Party is calling for a limit on asylum applications (per year)....the hint is that it'll less than 200,000.  

4.  The Bavarian head of state (Soder, CSU) has openly said now that Bavaria aims to hire 6,000 new teachers in the next five years, and they are willing to 'steal/recruit' them from the 15 other German states.

Here's the thing....if the state apparatus developed a strong HR-head-hunter situation....they'd go out and find the higher quality teachers throughout Germany, then offer them moving/resettlement costs and 25-percent higher pay, thus starting a teacher 'war'.  

To get payback....I wouldn't recruit beyond age 35.

5.  Lufthansa has made a offer to the Italian gov't to buy ITA.  

Here's the view of ITA....back in Oct of 2021....they took over Alitalia, which was in serious financial condition.  For probably over 20 years....Alitalia was marginally surviving.  Maybe ITA has improved the value of the purchase, and long-term....Lufthansa might see a benefit.  

Court Story

 Just an odd side note to the activist action going on at the coal site in NW Germany.  RWE (the owner of the property) now says it's got lawyers working with the police....there will be a court action against the protest crowd.

Amount discussed in the news?  More than a million Euro.

Where this will lead to?  Well....if there was a backer or foundation in the financial support of the activists....then the court will allow that backer to be sued.

I'd not going to suggest its crazy, but it's a radical trend that hasn't been done much.  

My guess is that folks who were arrested....will be brought to court and asked if they were compensated.  Those who answer yes.....will be asked who paid them, and that will lead the court to the guilty party.  If you answer no.....no compensation and later money is found to have been transferred to your account....well, you might be in for some difficult court action, and tax evasion.  

When Is A Tank....Not A Tank?

 I've watched probably a fifty man-hours of TV over the past year that went into the Russia-Ukraine war, and got deep into tank-chatter.  

Continually, you see confusion from journalists and politicians (not just Germans, but to include Brits as well)....over what makes a tank into a 'tank', and why a vehicle like the German-made Marder...is not tank.

Heavy armor is meant to be a weapon against other heavy armor.  

When you look at infantry fighting vehicles, or armored-personnel-carriers....they are built to be a bit faster, using lighter armor, using a 20mm (usually) cannon, and a 7.62 machine gun.  In the 'shell', it hauls besides the crew of three.....six infantry guys.  

There are different strategies to the two 'weapons'.  You wouldn't send a Marder up against an actual tank.  If you were on patrol status and knew a village was tank-less, the Marder makes perfect sense in getting control of the village, and getting six guys per Marder into a safe position, or out of a dangerous position.

Cost of a German-made Leopard II tank? Around 14-million Euro.

Cost of a US-made Bradley Fighting Vehicle (roughly the capability of the Marder)?  Around $3.2 million.

So logically, the lighter Marder or Bradley would fit better in a landscape where Russian tanks are no longer a serious discussion.....adding to the fact that surveillance capability by the Ukrainians gives them the chance to leave a serious tank-threat area when the warning is given.  

Activist Story

 It' a page two story....at least in Berlin.  I doubt if any of the public TV networks even mentioned this Monday or Tuesday.  

Around 3:30 AM on Monday....a fire started up in a garage in Berlin.  The vehicles there?  A small Amazon delivery 'fleet' (the vans).  Cops say the number was around 25....totally burned up.

So the original story was that something occurred there, and it was just accidental in nature.  The police reassured everyone....this was not arson. 

This morning (Wed)....the new word on the street is that climate activists readily admit that they were behind the fire.

What was in their 'letter'?  The comments..."plundering of the planet"...."fire of solidarity".

If true, there's probably going to be some type of shift by the prosecution folks and police....seeing the activists as criminal in nature.  

NATO

 I sat this morning and watched around 10 minutes of hype/chatter from Henry Kissinger, talking at the World Economic Forum....that the Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO.

I have generally mixed feelings over this.  

For a number of years....NATO was around sixteen members.  Presently, they are at 30 members.

The whole emphasis or logic to the organization, from day one....was that the one and only threat was the Soviet Union, or Russia. In this combined structure....there would never be a war because the Russians understood the combined threat.  At least, that was the logic.

Trying to find 'friends' of Russia today, who would agree to a military-counter-relationship?  Well....everyone in this potential group has moved up a step or two because of capitalism.  You can go into various neighbors of Russia....to find the middle-class fairly happy, and not exactly thrilled over any military 'adventures'.

As for the Ukraine 'now' joining NATO?  You'd just antagonize Russia (particularly Putin and his 'crew') even more.  As bad as it currently is....within Russia....they'd slip to the next level of propaganda.....saying it's us-versus-them. 

If I were writing a script for the next couple of months?  Russia will attempt some spring offensive, with a huge lack of tanks/APCs, and the offensive will show little to no pay-back....except for more dead Russian men.  Eventually, some idiot will suggest that a Russian fall-offensive is now in the works.....with another 150,000 fake reservists called to active duty.

On equipment losses, by the time you consider used-up artillery, limited bullets/rockets/missiles, lost fuel tankers, destroyed fighters and helicopters, and the tremendous loss of tanks and armored personnel carriers....you have no real offensive capability.  Even if Russia (Putin) wanted to admit this....the recovery stage to rebuild....would amount to twenty years and a vast amount of the GDP for that two decades.  

The right position is simply provide a limited amount of equipment to Ukraine, and simply play out the clock.  Eventually....Russia will not exist as a single unified country, and the necessity for NATO to exist....will finally be settled.  

Q-and-A: Germany

 1.  Why is there a nursing shortage crisis in Germany today?

I've had three German nurses (one of which gave up German employment and is a nurse in Australia) in recent years....lay down the conflict.

It goes to three chief reasons: (1) lack of respect, by both the management folks and doctors, (2) staffs are stocked to a minimum....so you run from one patient to another throughout your shift, and (3) pay-scale by the 10th year....doesn't work.  

Answer?  Well....presently, there's efforts to import nurses in from lesser countries (from beyond the EU).  A lot of folks shake their head over this because it requires German language classes in the mix.  

2.  Are all sixteen German states producing the same scale of tax revenue proportionally?

NO.  You can go back over decades, and see that this has never been the case.  Typically....NRW, Hessen, Bavaria, Baden-Wurttemberg, and Lower Saxony....pull in the bulk of the nation's tax revenue.  

3.  If you have a bag of glass to dump at your village recycle point, and there's a glass which is red or blue, and your bins are only transparent, green or brown....which bin will you put the red glass into?

By German logic/rules.....the green bin.  Don't ask why.

4.  Is there some kind of weird compression stockings scandal going on in Germany?  (the type you'd wear in a hospital or recovery setting)

Well....yeah, this is the current story....cops kinda walked into.  Up in Koblenz, some criminal gang (the really bright guys) had this idea of getting into compression stocking business.  

Their idea....get a deal going with doctors....to issue prescriptions for a particular type, and recommend particular stores in the Koblenz area.  The doctors were promised some type of 'reward' for each one.  

Yeah, I'll admit this is pretty crazy.  A cheapo set of the stockings run around 20 Euro.....while a premium set was 80 to 100 Euro.  There are some that go up into the 100 to 150 Euro range. 

Doctors will likely be disciplined in some way, and fined.  The guys behind this might be lucky to just pay a fine.

5.  Fake police now a problem in Germany?

What the real cops say....nationally, since 2018 when they started to really watch this....the fake cops have taken around 120 million Euro.  

The scam usually works in urbanized areas.....with high-end hotels in the landscape.  The fake cops approach some non-German tourist....flash a fake badge and say that there are counterfeit bills being circulated.....they'd like to see the bills in your purse/billfold.  You cooperate....thinking they are real police, and they then walk away with a couple of your bills.

My general advice....if approached by anyone in civilian clothing claiming to be German cops (flashing a badge)....just keep walking and pay no attention to them.  If they are in uniform....it's real cops and respect the authority.  

I'd say before Covid came along....there were two or three cases like this in Wiesbaden every week.